Long lasting Pilots are getting heavy

[Olham 164]

Each time I have a pilot who lasted so long, that he has collected many confirms and medals,

and more than anything: hours, then I feel he is getting heavy.

His achievements are a burden; his many hours make me feel an old veteran instead of a

light-hearted young rookie.

And mine has "only" 80 hours on his account now - I wonder how Lou, Creaghorn or Hasse Wind

must often feel with far "older" pilots.

Apart from these 3 fellers - is there anyone out there, who feels the same?

[themightysrc 5]

HI Olham,

 

I wouldn't say I feel 'heavy', but Vic's 115+ hours is my best achievement in this game, and although his dossier got f***ed over during the recent reload I was forced to make, I feel right in continuing on from where I left off. I may edit his record to suit, although I'll never be able to recreate the claims record for the 24 he knocked down. It doesn't weigh on me in the least: it proves to me that I've done something right - for once!

[Slartibartfast 153]

Me I would be happy to just make 30 hours my problem though is I get to reckless and go for the kill and I always end up in dogfights below 500ft which a WW1 kite really shouldn't be doing... I just have to transfer my patience in real life across to the virtual world...

[Olham 164]

Mighty, I don't mean to say, that he is always heavy on my shoulders. I am always "high",

when we have finished a patrol or even a scrap, and my wingmen are still all with me.

A feeling of a good achievement.

 

Slarti, without any kidding, honestly: carry on flying like that; fly like a wild rover; a mad devil;

try to win the war single handedly.

That is exactly what I did in the first 1 1/2 years in OFF.

And I am sure, it was the ONLY way for me to get to where I'm now: flying in a more serious

way; trying to explore how it might have been in real life; being content with smaller achieve-

ments, like bringing everybody back to our field in one piece.

 

Sooner or later you may have enough of this "style", and only then are you really ready

for trying it the other way. Until then: have fun, enjoy it!

Edited August 28, 2011 by Olham

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Olham, I have felt exactly what you describe when one of my pilots begins to climb into the 'veteran' range. I've reached a point where I try to fly every mission as if it were the very first and the very last for any particular pilot. If I can fly in the moment and work to strike a balance between surviving the mission and giving it my all I seem to have the best luck of staying alive while still "doing my duty". None the less, once my virtual self has 50+ hours under his belt I can get a tad fidgety. Here's Havard's logbook as of about fifteen minutes ago:

 

 

 

It takes me a few moments to get into the proper mindset each time the young Lieutenant heads out on his next mission, and it's still very early in the war, and relatively quiet. Imagine the mantra chanting I'll be up to when and if this lad makes it to the arrival of the Fokkers.

 

.

[Olham 164]

Yeah, I can feel that with you. I hope for him, that when the Eindeckers and Rolands come, they won't send him out alone anymore.

[Wayfarer 5]

.

 

Olham, I have felt exactly what you describe when one of my pilots begins to climb into the 'veteran' range. I've reached a point where I try to fly every mission as if it were the very first and the very last for any particular pilot. If I can fly in the moment and work to strike a balance between surviving the mission and giving it my all I seem to have the best luck of staying alive while still "doing my duty". None the less, once my virtual self has 50+ hours under his belt I can get a tad fidgety. Here's Havard's logbook as of about fifteen minutes ago:

 

 

 

It takes me a few moments to get into the proper mindset each time the young Lieutenant heads out on his next mission, and it's still very early in the war, and relatively quiet. Imagine the mantra chanting I'll be up to when and if this lad makes it to the arrival of the Fokkers.

 

.

 

You actually saw enemy aircraft by March 1915 (never mind shooting them down)! I didn't see a single enemy aircraft until June 1915. Are you using a mod?

 

Olham, I know what you mean. I've never got any medals, but my first pilot logged over 50 hours and it was kind of liberating, in a way, after he was killed. It meant I could try new things that might prove fatal but weren't going to lose all that time.

[Olham 164]

Yeah, indeed - the way we're wasting lives...

 

For the mods, I can highly recommend Bletchley's mods for the various parts of the war.

You need to get the free Jones Generic Mod Enabler to use them; then follow Bletchley's

instructions (see the download section).

You must only remember, if you have more than one pilot, to switch on and off the right mod for the time period.

Edited August 29, 2011 by Olham

[Wayfarer 5]

Yeah, indeed - the way we're wasting lives...

 

For the mods, I can highly recommend Bletchley's mods for the various parts of the war.

You need to get the free Jones Generic Mod Enabler to use them; then follow Bletchley's

instructions (see the download section).

You must only remember, if you have more than one pilot, to switch on and off the right mod for the time period.

 

That was probably the thing. I didn't start using Bletchley's Mods until early 1916. I must admit, if I ever come to be a P4 player I would like to go back to that early period, with an armed BE2 observer and appropriate enemy aircraft around.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

You actually saw enemy aircraft by March 1915 (never mind shooting them down)! I didn't see a single enemy aircraft until June 1915. Are you using a mod?

 

.

 

No Wayfarer, I have yet to see any enemy air activity. However, I've been assigned several balloon busting missions and airfield attacks since starting with 4 RFC. The Captain and I successfully knocked down a Hun sausage on one such outing, and destroyed two enemy planes on the runway of an aerodrome sitting right on the edge of the mud during another. We were allowed to turn in claims for those, and frontline ground troops provided witnesses that earned us confirmation of these three 'kills'. We also hit another Boche aerodrome and destroyed two more planes on the ground but did not receive confirmation of those as they were well into enemy territory, even though we had photos of the destruction we had caused, (HQ said it wasn't proof enough...brass hats...feh).

 

.

[Hasse Wind 46]

To tell the truth, I've recently been avoiding flying missions with my best pilot. I've invested so much time and effort into him that the thought of losing him is indeed difficult. I should get on with the year 1917, but it's hard. Still, King and Country need his services, and I can't delay their call forever.

[Olham 164]

Don't think too much about it, Hasse Wind.

You could say to yourself, that you know he won't survive the whole war - and then make the best of it.

That's how I do it.

[Lewie 7]

I got a good lesson early on with my first ever pilot, he was in a Camel squadron in Dec 1917 and got jumped by overwhelming forces on his first sortie and wasn't even that far across the front. He lucked out in having a crash on the Allied side that wounded him for a couple weeks. This experience gave me a good idea of how difficult this sim can be. I've lost a few pilots who I've played boldly.

Edited August 29, 2011 by Lewie

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

"There are bold pilots and there are old pilots, but there is no such thing as an old, bold pilot."

[Hasse Wind 46]

I've started flying again, using my best pilot. So far, so good. The weather's been so bad that I haven't encountered many enemy aircraft. But the Albs are out there somewhere, searching and hunting...

[Olham 164]

When does he fly, Hasse Wind, and which Squadron? Did the Albatros D.II just appear at the front?

[Hasse Wind 46]

Captain Bernard Greene, MC, is a pilot in No. 20 Squadron, flying the Fee in October 1916. Yes, the Albs have just arrived at the front.

[Olham 164]

Seems you are flying from Clairmarais? Perhaps you should avoid the area southeast of your base.

Jasta 2 with their Albatros D.II are based northwest of Cambrai.

[Hasse Wind 46]

If the brass hats tell me to take my flight to Jasta 2's area of operations, then that's where I'm going. C'est la guerre, even though I may not like it.

[Shiloh 12]

I think I feel something similar Olham as I just had a pilot reach the 40 mission/36 hour mark but I would stop short of calling it heavy. I feel more like I get 'bored' with a pilot once I get past 20 missions or so. It starts to feel mundane flying over the same landscape with the same guys. Perhaps that's why guys fly so many pilots at one time to keep things fresh.

 

There was a line from "Band of Brothers" that Lt. Speirs said to a private who was fearful of dying. It was something like "come to accept the fact that you're already dead" and then you can fight without fear. I try to keep that in mind each mission I fly. I suppose many WWI pilots got to the point that they stopped "feeling" and didn't care one way or another whether they lived or died.

 

On another note, there's always something exciting about starting a new pilot flying from an airfield you're not familiar with, sporting a new craft with a new paint job, etc. That is why I just started a new pilot from RFC-24 flying the SE5a Viper in April 1918. I never fought in 1918 so it should be an interesting experience.

Edited August 31, 2011 by Shiloh

[Olham 164]

... there's always something exciting about starting a new pilot flying from an airfield you're not familiar with, sporting a new craft with a new paint job, etc.

That's right - I feel a similar excitement every time.

Some airfields are situated nicer than others. My last great discovery: Marchais, Marne region (Jasta 14).

 

My long-living pilot now even comes to the nasty part of the north European year: November - February. Arrrgh!

[TaillyHo 2]

I think I feel something similar Olham as I just had a pilot reach the 40 mission/36 hour mark but I would stop short of calling it heavy. I feel more like I get 'bored' with a pilot once I get past 20 missions or so. It starts to feel mundane flying over the same landscape with the same guys. Perhaps that's why guys fly so many pilots at one time to keep things fresh.

 

There was a line from "Band of Brothers" that Lt. Speirs said to a private who was fearful of dying. It was something like "come to accept the fact that you're already dead" and then you can fight without fear. I try to keep that in mind each mission I fly. I suppose many WWI pilots got to the point that they stopped "feeling" and didn't care one way or another whether they lived or died.

 

On another note, there's always something exciting about starting a new pilot flying from an airfield you're not familiar with, sporting a new craft with a new paint job, etc. That is why I just started a new pilot from RFC-24 flying the SE5a Viper in April 1918. I never fought in 1918 so it should be an interesting experience.

 

Well you can have your cake and eat it too in this regard if you do a bit of research and then transfer your long time (and getting boring) pilot to a new squadron (equipped with a different aircraft). You get this right and it's effectively the same as starting a completely new campaign - only you get to carry over your existing rank, medals and reputation!

 

Of course, it can go very badly - as it did for my 30 something hour F.E2b pilot (Pixton) last night. I decided to translate his pusher experience to an outright fighter context and move across Bertanges (East to West) to join Lanoe Hawker's 'elite' '24 squadron and fly DH.2s!! All very exciting stuff - I was itching to fly the plane AND fire the gun again after all those hours of being an aerial chaffeur for my F.E2b observer/gunner . . .

 

On a balloon-bust mission first-up, my flight of 5 get bounced by 4 Einies. I concentrate on flattish turns and positioning for a while, but then chase an opponent in a steep dive - lose him - over-rotate in the dive and only just get it pulled out in time - find myself with two Einies in close proximity - get shot-up fairly badly and my engine is damaged - stall due to lack of engine power, and spin in - captured - POW for the remainder!

. . . end of story.

[Shiloh 12]

Wow TaillyHo - I forgot all about that. You go into the preference file and change one of the settings if I remember correctly - the Jasta #? I would like to move up from the D.III as well so that will work out perfectly.

I'm sorry to hear of your man Pixton - a mighty stout fellow he was and a master of that Fee for a good long time. Well I'm sure that happened pretty often when pilots became very familiar with a certain craft then they flew a totally different one - it forces you to change your whole mindset really.

Edited September 1, 2011 by Shiloh

[TaillyHo 2]

Yes, it's very easy to 'transfer', my friend. Go into your game folder/campaign data/ pilots and find the right Pilot Dossier text file (this is actually the hardest step in the process!!).

 

Make a note of the pilot number you normally select for that pilot in OFF itself, and then look for that number +1 in the 'Pilots' folder. You'll see straight away when you open the file whether its the correct pilot or not - just make sure you have the right guy before you make any changes!

 

Making a copy of the 'Pilot Dossier' file and sticking it on your desktop before you make the change is a good idea too (just in case in all goes pear-shaped).

 

Once you have opened the file you want, one of the first few lines will show the Jasta # he is currently flying for. Simply change that number to whatever Jasta you wish him to transfer to. Save and exit.

 

The only thing you can stuff up is if you try to transfer him on a date prior to when that Jasta was established. In that case you'd either chose a different Jasta, or 'time advance' your man a bit further thru the war until you get to the establishment date for the new Jasta, then transfer. Personally, I'd feel if I couldn't transfer my pilot within a short period of whatever his current serving date is, it would probably be better to start a new pilot in the other Jasta - but hey, that's just me.

 

In the scenario you mention, I'd do some research in OFF (as if you were going to enlist a new pilot) to see which Jastas already have whatever plane you want to fly (and/or which ever region you want to fly in); or which Jasta will be the first to get it.

 

Good luck - hope you can re-invigorate your campaign, Shiloh!

Edited September 1, 2011 by TaillyHo

[Shiloh 12]

This is fantastic - thank you TaillyHo! I will change him over and perhaps advance him forward 2 weeks - I'm currently on June 12 - as if he went on leave and that will get me to the Albatros D.V that I've been wanting to fly. Those were introduced to at least a few Jastas late June/early July 1917 from my initial research.

 

On another note I just flew 3 missions with my new pilot on the SE5a Wolseley Viper and I think I'm in love.