Siggi

Personal markings/colour-schemes are the C.O.s' business.

No, nope, nein, nix, niet, nada, nish-nippori.

Brilliant stuff.

It's now RoF (Rise of Flight) and was released a few months ago. Presently it's pretty much down the pan. You can find a forum for it at Sim.HQ.

Lou, your C.O. persona is up on the board (Elder), need a flying-persona name for you too.

RNAS-1 it is then. They get the twin-gun Tripe later on as well, and while it loses a bit of agility compared to the one-gun model it still flys rings around the Albs (just tried out the N17, Tripe and 2-gun Tripe).

I edited my last post: RNAS-1 has the N17B available, and transitions to the Tripe on jan 16th 1917.

Eh? I had to have a quick look after that. 2-RNAS doesn't get either the Pup or Camel. RNAS 3 and 4 do, but are on Strutters until then (in fighter roles). All of the RNAS units get good planes, but in all cases not until well into 1917. The Bosche are spoiled for choice, so much so they can be picky about the locations from which their scouts are operating, never mind which actual types they go for. At the end of 1916, beginning of 1917, however, us lot are rather stuffed. And I don't think going from Strutter bombers to Strutter fighters is quite going to cut the bally mustard. However, you're the C.O. and you have the last word. But I feel obliged to point out that at this stage in the air war a foot put slightly wrong could lead to an increased incidence of AWOLs and outright desertions. The Fokker Scourge lowered morale considerably and we're still badly out-classed in terms of scouts. The Pup is our latest and best plane and we'll be lucky to get any at all anyway. RNAS-1 has the N17B available, and transitions to the Tripe on jan 16th 1917.

IT support for home and small businesses (self-employed) and make custom parts for a particular model of air-rifle (a small side-line that brings in a bit of extra cash). I also do the occasional website.

Allied scout units... I've been going through the lot and we have a pretty poor choice of immediately-available kit. The Pup is the best of the bunch, but the earliest that becomes available is Dec 24th 1916. Which is doable, if pilots who become elegible for transfer before that date stay in the bomber outfit until dec 24th. Otherwise it's the DH2-110 or the N11 or N17 (from Nov 10th). The DH2-110 is a real floater but I held my own against four Albatri DII, shooting down two before running out of ammo. But my survival was largely dictated by the DIIs' poor behaviour at very low altitude. The N17 (and I assume also the N11) is very nimble but has a lousy gunsight and one of the wings fell off. So, unless there is a roar of disapproval, I'm going to go with RFC-54 and the Pup for the allied scout unit. Which means no transfer out of the bombers until nov 24th at the earliest. I have a lot of time on the Pup and it's a grand plane. As more squadrons open up in the timeline we can switch to another if it's wished, but RFC-54 transitions to the Camel eventually (quirky but a real killer in the right hands). If we get enough pilots over time I'll add additional units for availibilty anyway.

Well, without meaning to sound harsh (I don't mean it to be), it's either a case of dumbing down the rules or smarting up the hardware. Or those players with a genuine need improvising with forbidden functions just enough to make themselves combat-capable without over-using the forbidden function and cheating. Nobody's looking over your shoulder and there is the spirit of the rules as well as the letter. Do what you have to do to overcome the limitations you find without TiR. And let's face it, using TAC, even full time, you're still at a serious disadvantage in an actual dogfight without TiR. With TiR, there is absolutely no excuse for breaking the rules. Without it, do what you have to do to give yourself a fair chance (that will still be less of one than that enjoyed by those who do have it). We're all adults and all honourable players, and as such know what's right and fair. My recommendation remains the same though, get a TiR by hook or by crook asap.

Print Screen is a one-thing-at-a-time save function, it copies one image to the computer's Clip-Board. Therefore it's good only for taking one picture.

Ras, no offence old chap, but that name...really. The King's Regulations clearly stipulate the need for a real name when signing up for military service. We simply don't hand out planes to Doodles or Dandies, Yankee or otherwise.

I believe if you have a target right in front of you and hit the padlock button it attaches to it? Or the enemy plane nearest to your centre-view?

If you look at the killboards you will see a space at the bottom of each column. Running totals will be kept there. The killboards are not spread-sheets by the way, just simple tables. You chaps with no TiR, I'm afraid you're the sterling lads who circumvented the medical officer's prohibition on flying-duties due to poor eyesight/stiff necks and finagled your way into the RFC/GAS. I dare say you'll find a way to cope, and with xmas looming on the horizon you may even get a packet from home with some whizzo bit of kit knocked up by pater in the shed. :wink2:

Sub Flt Lt Sidney Williams 2 RNAS St Pol sur Mer 29th October 1916 08.15hrs Enemy planes over the field, took off with flight to engage. Long bursts into two Albatross scouts which went down into woods near Capelle le Grande. 11.30hrs Enemy planes reported near the field, took off with flight to engage but could find nothing at our low altitude, returned without incident. ______________________________________________________________ 30th October 1916 15.20hrs Arty Obbo. Our flight engaged by at least five Fokker Eindeckers at 6000ft, approx five miles west of Lille. We were escorted by DH2 scouts. During the fight over our obbo station I fired into three EIIIs and drove them down. I did not follow, prefering to maintain the safety of my altitude. Three of my chaps reported seeing an EIII I had fired into going into the ground, but without knowing if they'd all seen one or seperately saw three I can make only one claim in good conscience. The fight lasted at least ten minutes with both my chaps and the DH2s wheeling around ever lower with the EIIIs. Half an hour later I spotted two trying to close with us at 5000ft as we left our station to return home but they gave up when we outran them. Our flight returned safely without losses. ___________________________________________________________________ 1st November 1916 10.00hrs Recce flight. Engaged by a flight of Alb DII a good 20 miles on our side of the lines. One got through our escort and tried to engage me, I turned into him and got on his tail and drove him down from 6000ft to 5000ft with a number of bursts. Large pieces came off him but nobody saw what happened to him after that. Climbed back to height and made our way to our station over the lines and took notes for 20 minutes or so. On the return flight, at almost the exact same position as our outward leg, a lone DII engaged us. I got onto his tail and chased him down to 3000ft with multiple bursts and observed him crash into the ground. Diary note. Today was my second trip over the lines. The noise of the barrage is frightful, even at 6000ft. There is a pall of smoke and the smell! Then the stress of constantly having to look out for enemy machines, it does tire one. We were escorted by our latest type, four Sopwith Pups. A very good looking machine. They kept the DIIs off our backs and we lost sight of them before arriving over the lines, but shortly thereafter a single one reappeared and stayed with us for a while. I do hope the others were ok. I now have four claims pending, two Eindeckers and two DIIs. None I've encountered so far have put up much of a show, they all appear to have been flown by novice pilots. Long may that continue, I have no illusions about my own skills.

You'll end up on an almighty fizzer you will, doing that to HM's property.

I've been trying to find the file but no luck. I think it might not be generated until one has flown a mission with the pilot. Anyway, ask Creaghorn how to do it, he's the one who told me. Louvert, I did consider having medals and promotions handled by humans rather than the game, but decided against it for a number of reasons: a) It would add very little, if anything, to a non-MP game. b) Hard work. c) With pilots dying a lot it would be somewhat pointless. d) Some people could tend to get pissed off if they felt they'd been slighted. Best to treat it as it was in reality, dealt with by people far higher up the food-chain than us. The OFF Manager is Sir Hugh Trenchard. Rgr that on the Strutters though.

Creag's told me how to set the date via a file, so there's now a choice...2-RNAS with Strutters or RFC-25 with Fe2s. Any preferences?

I've just noticed that my enlisted bomber-pilot in 3rd Wing RNAS shows up as a fighter pilot in both QC and campaign mode. This appears to be affecting the type of missions, as the first campaign-mission was a 'Lone Wolf' sortie. Is this easily fixable or should us DiD chaps find a new unit?

Excellent, thanks Creag. In that case it's 2-RNAS with Strutters or RFC-25 with Fe2s.

Ah. You better get posting Balders. Remember chaps, the linked logbook isn't mandatory, it's an optional extra. You can sort out your own arrangements for logs/diaries etc as you wish.

Ok chaps, it's 2-RNAS, which can also be set to start bang on the 5th nov without the need to advance time (choose the start-date as you select the unit while enlisting your pilot).

Thanks Mack, I'd discounted those without checking, assuming they'd have the same issue. 2-RNAS it is then.

Hang fire on this, we have a problem with 3-Wing RNAS coming up as fighters instead of bombers. I'm going to check RNAS-2...