Mr. Lucky

In campaign, the AI is very good. I've been shot down when I couldn't understand why...like Pike's experience. I saw the DH2 behind me starting to get on my six, I immediately banked and turned, saw the tracers, turned tighter and the tracers stuck with me, chewing me up til I crashed. I can assume it was an ace because his shots were very effective.This happened in about 3 seconds. Another time, I made a mistake. I was out of ammo, leaving a fight and heading for home. I saw a plane in the distance behind me and I doubled back to see if it was my wingman. I wasn't concerned if it was enemy as the only ones left were those I'd dispatched and if still flying were in no condition to do me harm. Turns out it was an ace that came in from somewhere else, had already shot down my wingmen and proceeded to chew me up as I tried to dive away from him. Frustrating? yes. Unfair? Yes. Realistic? I must admit, sure seems like it. It's hard not to take risks to ensure the health of your mates, but quite often, you place yourself in death's grip doing so. It's difficult to just cut and run to save your own skin. But sometimes, if you want to live...

I posted this because I just had to tell somebody and my wife just doesn't get it. It's mostly about the status of my computer's performance running OFF. Specs: Intel P4 3.2 GHZ., Soyo MB 800 MHZ buss, 2GB ram at 400 MHZ, ATI Radeon 3850 Video card. When BHAH first came out, I could barely squeek by with settings of 4,2,2,4,3. Now, thanks to OBD's patches and what appears to be AMD/ATI finally unlocking the potential of their video chipset, I am now running with settings of 5,3,3,5,5. and 4x AA So, given the winter hiatus in 1916 Flanders, I decided to try a different campaign to test the settings. I joined the USAS 13 Aerosquadron in 1918 flying the Spad XIII whichI was previously unable to do. The aerodromes, forests and towns would play like a slideshow and the Spad flew poorly. This time, I was absolutely amazed. I took off with two wingmen for a recon mission over the front lines. It eas nice and smooth with smooth frame rates. The scenery, whispy clouds, all was breathtakingly beautiful. Not cartoonish at all. A lasting tribute to the work of the OBD team. It really shined when, after the recon patrol was over, I spied one extra flight member who's planform showed me it was a DVII. I won't go into details, but the red and white scheme of the DVII's was absolutely stunning but, again, realistically shaded, not cartoonish. Due to improvements in the Spad, I was able to hold my own and actually dispatch three DVII's who were poached by my wingmen, That's OK, because they were in turn shot down by the ace that got me later, while I was out of ammo, but I survived. As always happens, the incredible graphics, AI, flying all deliver an incredible and evocative experience. Mere words cannot do it justice. But even on my outdated machine, I'm getting good performance now. The only real stutters I get are from my hard drive when something loads, esp. artillery sounds and other aircraft in the vicinity which can serve to give me an unfair heads up that somethings in the area. I don't get stutters from airfields and scenery anymore, somewhat more like a slight slowing or slide instead of skip so that the graphics overload is barely noticeable. Just incredible.

Uh oh..sorry...Betty Rubble is not hot. She is a modern independent woman who is recognized for her intellect and abilities and is not to be regarded as a sexual object.

Quick questions: 1. Why do riding breeches have the large area in the thigh? 2. Can you briefly explain the British ranks and shoulder pips? Thanks

Yeah! He had that hot Betty Rubble next door to look at through the blinds!

I see now...using it as a replacement for the briefing map! Good idea and doesn't assault my DID paper map sensibilities. Now, I found the uires folder and backed up/pasted but is that all I need for the briefing map? I don't use the in-game map otherwise. Do I need to change the maps in the WWI scenery folder or is that only for in-game maps? And where is this folder? I haven't found it. Nevermind...found it. Answered my own questions.

OK, I'll bite then. Follow the money. Without gloom and doom, these people become superfluous and no longer draw the money and notoriety. We all need to be better stewards of our environment and even 'above all man' will benefit from better ecology and efficiency. But this earth moves much more slowly and it does evolve and respond to changes over time, so these knee-jerk reactions are mostly sensationalism. Modern scientific method is to now conjure a conclusion and then find any evidence to support it, ignoring evidence to the contrary. They no longer observe, study and then conclude. We can all do a better job ecologically and we're learning now, it's even in our economic best interest to do so. The earth is a dynamic, complex, extremely adaptable environment, that, while seemingly fragile, moves with geological slowness and determination. We do not have enough data over the few years we've been recording to reach definite conclusions but only theories which may portend disaster. Theories that portend happiness and prosperity don't attract money and attention. Gloom and doom do. Man is not so powerful or omnipotent that the earth can't wreak havoc and destruction on us, and neither are we so powerful to destroy the earth. We may destroy ourselves, but the earth will outlive us. It's all in what you choose to believe and how much actual learning you're willing to do. In short, reason and long term ecology/energy culture is a sustainable answer.

It freaks me out enough seeing the inside of my neck sometimes...I'd hate to see the inside of my face Is this the wish for schitt, department ? I wish I had that line when my kids were still kids.

I won't get into the environ 'mental' debate here but I will say I certainly enjoy flying my smoke-belching DFW over Flanders and polluting the skies of France and Belgium

I've also noticed increases in performance with the patches and addons so they must be doing more optimizations. can now run BHAH on settings that would cripple my PC when it first came out. Allowed me to delay upgrading for a bit.

Does that mean (for the Brits mostly) that a flight will have planes A,B,C etc?

Great add on, great work, great God! An understated good work guys.

I thought it was very good. I saw it on PBS as well and was somewhat impresses by the enthusiasm the boy showed for going to war and the effort that everyone expended trying to help him get in.

That's like Oddball in Kelly's Heroes, the tank commander with three Shermans. When asked if he could keep the Tiger tanks busy, he replied: 'The only way I got to keep them busy is to let them shoot holes in me!'.

Thanks guys, Roger wilco

That's part of the immersion in OFF we've seen little of in other sims. It pulls you in and you feel unexpected emotions. Not on the same scale as real combat I'm sure, but more than just sitting in front of a screen. I remember the shock and horror I felt the first time I saw my wingman blown up by a burst of flak. He was there one second and the next he was just pieces tumbling out of the sky.

This behaviour has been noted previously. Like me in my Spad being followed by a DRI from 10000 down to the deck. There was some speculation that the AI , while not necessarily knowing their aircraft's performance better, so much as being able to do thousands of calculations per second and therefore knowing the absolute limits and setting themselves there without going over. That doesn't however explain AI aircraft overcoming drag, weight and power. It currently is a limitation of CFS3 that the devs may overcome eventually.So far, I have NEVER been able to outrun an AI aircraft no matter what I was flying. Either in a dive or climb. My only salvation in running away has only ever been getting down to where the AI won't pursue steadily and start climbing and diving. Olham's right, the reported techniques of using one's aircraft's performance advantages in speed or power are nullified. For now.

I flew a bombing raid against a railyard which turned out to be positioned directly on a rail line but lying athwart. I was under the impression that they were better placed in the addon. Was it already done in the patch? Just curious.

In retrospect, probably one of the best war movies I'd seen was The Best Days of Our Lives about a soldier, sailor and airman and how they had to adjust to life after the war. One was an officer/pilot who became a soda jerk, one was a sergeant that was a banker and the other was a young man that lost both his hands. I think it was made shortly after WWII. Unusual for that time.

I was referring to the movie made during the war. The new one had everything wrong except the name and model of the B17. The movies Hollywood put out are made for the ignorant masses and grossly irritate those of us with knowledge or experience. Like...how could a lower budget film like Kelly's Heros get Sherman tanks but a major epoch like Patton had to use modern M61 tanks? And notice how they pick on a theme that is spurious initially but they carry it through. The B17 at the beginning came in with one gear up and did burst into flames. Then at the end, the ground crewman says 'My God, they've got one gear down' like it means a crash is inevitable. Like Top Gun (don't get me started) fixating on flying through the jet wash.

Siggi, can you tell where you got the images for the campaign menu page?

Would've liked to see it about the Lanc crew too. Do you know if it was a night or day crew? The most poigniant part for me in Memphis Belle were the letters the PR officer had to read.

Spanish Air Force ME109's with the engine mod. Same with the HE111's IRC. But nothing can beat the looks and lines of a Spitfire. I've seen maybe 1 or 2 films that were true to the book or close to it. I never look forward to the film if I've read the book, I already know it'll be butchered so I'm jaded before even going in. The Sharpes' Rifles series was pretty close to the books, but still not quite. Master and Commander was VERY close even in dialogue, butit was a mixture of elements from several of O'Brians books. One thing that really frosts me (not aviation related) is when they make the rifles sound like little pop guns or popcorn, esp. black powder rifles.

I liked Chicken Run where they used many themes from The Great Escape. One chicken was in 'solitary' throwing a baseball against the wall. BTW, the true Memphis Bell was a real story about a real B17 and her crew and was done during the war I believe. I met the pilot Colonel Morgan. The remake in the 80's? was supposed to be true, but the story wasn't factual. Hollywood isn't the reason for peoples ignorance, it just feeds the reason, their own laziness. They'd rather be told what to do and think rather than seek out the truth for themselves. Rickety was spot on. As much as I love you guys, it always strikes me funny how no one seems to understand the American soldier and his motivation. I remember it was during a visit to Australia that I finally ran into someone who voiced appreciation for what we were doing in the Indian Ocean. Couldn't even get that in our own country.

It got moved. We started on the 29th. Don't know what prompted the decision.