Wodin

This has a;lready passed the P500 mark so it's coming out. I've signed a NDA so not sure what I can say at the moment. I will post some AAR's if possible.

I've been asked to test the solo spaect if Bloody April by Terry Simo GMT games. If you have the slightest interest in WW1 airwarfare I suggest you check it out and pre order. Solo apsect is from the Allied side only but it is really a two player game. Lots of planning etc involved. Links below. http://www.gmtgames.com/p-307-bloody-april-1917-air-war-over-arras-france.aspx SOme great AAR's further on in the link below. http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?13@788.CaJvas99UFf.277@.1dd43edd/92 Below is something terry posted over at consim "The main components of air combat in WW1 are portrayed in Bloody April. Wind and Weather have a huge impact and are complex than depicted in Downtown/EV. Differences in altitude have a huge effect in WW1 combat and the Time to Climb calculations (which are fairly easy with the counter tracking) but are more complex than DT/EV. Flight mechanics will be familiar to players of the earlier games but have more depth in that there can be gliding flight and spinning flight. However, only one type of flight can be selected for the entire game turn -- so Level, Climb, Dive are your standards and Gliding/Spinning flight are more exceptions. So both simpler and complex than DT/EV. Combat for the initial clash is the same as DT/EV but now can be extended into a Dogfight to depict the longer engagement times of WW1 -- so more complex if getting into a Dogfight. Aircraft taskings -- definitely more complex with the number of options although they are all fairly simple - there is more detail. Recon, Arty Coop, Contact Patrols, Balloon Busting, Bombing, Trench Strafing -- so more complex there. Detection and Visual Sighting are both simpler and more complex in BA vs DT/EV as you now take into account being Tally on a target to improve your odds of engaging -- there are three states that a flight can be in the game -- Undetected, Detected and Visually Identified (Tally). The ability to track individual pilots/crews with named/rated aircraft can be viewed as adding a level of complexity. Rulebook will shorter in length than DT/EV but packed with rules. Tables are still needed for certain actions but I've always found the DT/EV/BA tables easy to use. As best as can be cobbled into a boardgame, I feel we have captured the essence of what WW1 air combat would be like at a strategic/tactical hybrid level. You'll have daring escapes by Recon aircraft, Dogfights that last minutes vs seconds and quick kills. Dashing Balloon attacks through heavy AA. You'll have 60-80 aircraft doing what most games only show 2-4 aircraft doing in previous games. There is a narrative to the missions -- you'll dread seeing Jasta 11 show up behind your Offensive Patrol and know that someone isn't coming home. You'll have wind gusts and dud engines. Navigation errors, Flaming Onions, Artillery shoots. Flying on the deck looking for your advancing troops or enemy points of resistance. Bombing raids on railyards and lines of communications. This is not Wings of War or a simple game of WW1 combat although it is also not a detailed modeling of the actual maneuvering of aircraft in combat but the hunt and the chase to get to combat is modeled very well. All of the taskings will give you a unique perspective on what those guys went through - especially the recon 2-seaters. More complex than DT/EV -- yes in alot of ways, no in others. I rarely refer to rules while in play but the charts are used regularly. There are Optional and Advanced rules that can be omitted to make the game less complex so that would be up to the individual player. Anyway - hope that explains a bit more. I hope to start posting some updated examples of play as we finish up the last bits of rules tweakin."

Due to a tumour I'm on testosterone replacement...something I have been lacking for years...I've noticed I'm alot quicker to temper and even rage at times...probably no more then other men but it's taken me by surprise. I had a famle hormone count at 175,000 instead of 150 to 300 and zero testosterone...now my female count is at 4,500 still way to high but it's getting there.

OFF: Arse Splinters

Just reading that RE8 article and something was said in the a letter to the editor...so OFF: The Devils Contraption

Wow...love all thos eletetrs to the Editor from WW1 pilots...excellent reading...the old pilots are the best source developers have...

I've bought alot of WW1 books from them...great publisher.

I stand corrected...fool that I am...wasn't thinking to be honest..I googled WW1 pilot poem and that came up so made assumptions wihtout fully thinking about it. I also was thinking of Contact,Clear....

We should do some research and find something in a poem or book that was said or written by a WW1 flyer...something that sound sright and is from the horses mout so to speak. I do know Tumult in the clouds has been used alot...but I feel there is a reason for that...it sounds right..I for one would be very happy with that name...as like i said it's from a poem from a WW1 pilto who also wrote that superb book Winged Victory.

If it was a woman I send it back...had enough of them for awhile.

I know that I shall meet my fate Somewhere among the clouds above; Those that I fight I do not hate, Those that I guard I do not love; My country is Kiltartan Cross, My countrymen Kiltartan's poor, No likely end could bring them loss Or leave them happier than before. Nor law, nor duty bade me fight, Nor public men, nor cheering crowds, A lonely impulse of delight Drove to this tumult in the clouds; I balanced all, brought all to mind, The years to come seemed waste of breath, A waste of breath the years behind In balance with this life, this death. by W.B. Yeates Obviously can't use the whole poem but how about this line.. tumult in the clouds so OFF Tumult in the Clouds It would be a good idea if we can find something that was wriiten by one of the flyers...as a sign of respect.

He got me something from amazon!!!

FE2 always seemed\looked abit comic book to me. Good fun though.

OFF: Falling Angels. OFF: Brave and the Bold. OFF: A long way down.

OFF: Take the cylinder out of my kidneys

I just like to mention that Hauksbee has gone above and beyond with an act of generosity that is overwhelming. I want everyone to know what a kind, generous man he is and he is a credit to this forum and the OFF community. May he always fly out of the sun and bag many a Hun (or Tommy,Pilou, Doughboy). Happy Hunting Hauksbee from a very grateful forum member Wodin (Jason).

OFF: Crates, Buses, War and Death. OFF: Up the Blue. OFF: Cockades vs Crosses. OFF: Ripping Canvas.

Over Flanders Field: Splinters in your arse...it's that realsitic.

@ UK_Widowmaker...I did see your post!! Forgot to say thanks for the info...I may have struck very lucky though...

Rise of Flight does it well. I like it. Stops the cockpit looking like a static 2d picture where the world moves around it rather than it moves arounf the world. Really does ass a touch of 3d to the cockpit. Even if it's just minor movement. As for running your head may not bob around but it certainly doesn't stay perfectly level..unless your floating which is what FPS feel like with out some. From alla counts yu got thrown allaround the cockpit in combat...certainly doesn't feel that way at the moment.

Most sims have it these days...it helps give the cockpit a 3d appearance aswell. FPS have it but so do sims like RoF and CLOD and even FE and the other Tripwire sims. I suppose it's head shake or something in a sim. Olham way to expensive I'm afraid. Disabled sinngle parent can't afford that sort of many on luxuries. So Olham did you undertans what I ment and is it in?

Please I beg you Mr OFF P4 developer to put head bob into the sim. The only part that really jars and shows it's age is the static cockpit (Unless you have track IR which I can't afford). I'd pay an extra $5 ontop of the preceived sim price if you put head bob in. Thanks

I say plane packs aswell...

I posted this over at Sim HQ as I couldn't get on here for abit for some reason. After reading about the new bits and bobs for P4 I'm even more excited about it. So here is my immersion post. Been playing the other sim recently with the career mode. It looks beautiful and the flight models on the whole feel right, though DR1's flying with half a top missing wing seems odd and you can't mention these things as you get shouted down. Anyway as I was saying the planes are beautiful...though the scenery for me is to comic book like, especially the towns and no mans land looks aswful. This does effect immersion to a point but not the amount I felt was missing in the sim. I fly a mission and then have no real enthusiasm to fly another, that lets get out there and have anyother go is missing. It for me just doesn't have any immersion at all. Why I can't really be sure, maybe the spawning enemy\planes so you know that they don't exist once they disappear so you know there is nothing else going on in the world. The career mode is OK and the chrome to try and give it some immersion like the character bio's don't really work, it's something you read once maybe and then as it just gets recycled anyway it soon becomes something you don't look at.. I don't want to be told about my character, I have an imagination for that, I do want the world I fly in to feel like it's WW1 though. This is where OFF P3 shines and shines brightly. A whole war is going on outside your cockpit. Planes are out doing missions that have nothing todo with you. There is an actual ground war going on aswell, even to the point of matching the real life dates of particular battles. It has the buckets full of immersion goodness. More immersion than any other sim I've played, as all the others except one or two others which are renowned as classics are very sterile. Thats the word, sterile. It's like the beautiful woman who is great to look at but has zero personality. With this in mind OFF P4 is the most eagerly anticipated sim for me so far out of 27 years of gaming. P.S I would have posted this in the other sims forum but I'd just get ripped to bits. To scared to say anything negaticve about that game;)

What can I say...the most anticipated sim release ever for me and thats after 28 years gaming. No other can come close.