Bandy

First off, thank you Baltika for the tactical advice and "tutorial" on resetting the way points. I didn't know that could be done... haven't seen it mentioned anywhere before, or in the manual (maybe I should read it again ). Also, I am truly speechless regarding your "voicepack" release! Amazing, great work. Rick, I don't think that "shooting down the whole flight" is a realistic option the way the game is set up stock, and depending on how you want to fly the game: more "historically" (where-ever that point lies...) or "arcade" (shoot'em up...), and by no means am I passing judgment here, I enjoy the full-flame satisfaction on occasion, but for me at least it does get tired after a while. I count myself lucky if I or my flight get a bomber, maybe two or three, and then head home. The hardest thing to accomplish is to get my flight mates to survive the encounter at all!!! I try to last in order to win the overall campaign by ensuring that more of the squadron survives, than by winning individual battles. BoB is tough... I have tried the head-on approach with very limited success (will definitely incorporate the pilot hitboxes now, thanks Balt!), and after the first pass, have found it difficult to regain a good tactical approach afterwards, ie: you just end up chasing the bombers' tails and your AI wingmates get shot up, badly... Historically, I've read some RAF BoFrance and BoB accounts of approaching Luft. formations high and to the front quarter, zooming thru the formation, and around for pass after pass from the sides, and this has worked for me, but of course my AI don't fly like that... As you mention ammo is a limiting factor, 16 seconds of .303 I think on hard ammo setting? Armour is poor on the early fighters, so dodge around a bit when approaching the formation, never stay pointed at a bomber for longer than a second or two, then get out of the way. Your anticipation to fire and aim has to be right on, something I aspire to... Good luck!

Remember the original FE, oh a year ago now? Remember the first time you saw a German AI "play possum" and land anywhere to avoid a hopeless tactical situation, BUT then take off when you flew away??? (nothing insinuated here, I just never saw a British AI do this! ) Just a quick survey to see if anyone else still observes this behaviour, because I cannot remember the last time I saw AI play possum... I thought it was a wonderful piece of code [if it has been deleted...]. In fact (dare I say this???) I'm starting to miss the "soft landings" BUT only because now EVERY aircraft taken out of combat goes in for a burton. Shouldn't an AI opponent with only a shot out engine be able to land? Have you noticed that if you hit the AI engine, the prop slows and then stops (wonderful!!!), the pilot is still there in the cockpit, BUT THEN he suddenly disappears a few seconds later and the a/c goes out of control in a most realistic manner. However, this happens all the time now. Can there be no middle ground? Opinions welcome...

Hi Baltika, FE expansion has occupied what little time I have to fly, plus I've been away for a while on work (and looking for work), but was I surprised to see your BoB voice pack! I remember reading about the concept in the thread, but I never thought it would pan out so quickly. Very impressive. This is easily the best campaign around... Thanks for all the hard work.

You must be very proud, and rightfully so.

I have an ATI X1900XT 512 mb, 2.66 GHz dual x 2 (not that there is any multithreading... yet) and 3 GB RAM, so it appears not to be card related at least. TK did mention that he is aware of the issue, since many have really voiced dislike, but as you said, what aspect of it, or whether all of it will be fixed, is unknown. NB: thanks for the lead on trying to fix it, but if your robust system can't handle the fix without a hit to FPS, then it appears we will have to wait'n'see.

see here...

I feel your pain. Do you also get the jagged tile edges showing up just under the horizon fog at the margins of the screen(see here)? I do not see them on your images above, but they are not taken from the cockpit. Could that be related to TIR4???

My 4th mission into a Camel campaign, and not a single loss yet from my squadron! Morale is soaring, and Plt Off Thompson made Ace today with 5 kills, in-one-mission!!! We were on an offensive patrol over the hun lines when we spotted our target, a handful of DFWCV's several thousand feet below us and heading slowly for our lines, no doubt loaded with Tommy knockers. However, I was reluctant to give up all that altitude we fought for going over the lines, as the archie was murderous, especially around those bridges... So I decided to hang out a while at 7000+ ft. and shadow them for a while, you know, wait for just the right moment to pounce. Bloody good thing I did, for sure enough, what looked like nearly two flights from a Jasta of Albatri appeared seemingly out of nowhere from the clouds less than a mile away, but a few thousand feet below. I wasn't sure if they had seen us yet, so I ordered the boys in and followed afterwards to pick off the unwary. We did surprise them; I'm sure almost everyone got one on the first pass, but it was hard to tell in all the confusion exactly who was going down in flames. After sending 2 of the DV's "West" myself, and not being able to see any of my mates in need, I figured that was enough and dove out to make a run for the lines, signaling anybody in sight to follow for home. When we got back I was damn surprised to see all the boys made it back safely, and at the debrief found out all had prevailed well over the enemy. Plt Off Thompson was absolutely on fire in the cockpit, metaphorically speaking of course... He should receive a medal for this action, and while he is a mediocre pilot at this point (or, I thought he was anyways), he has become the first Ace in the squadron and undoubtedly increased the morale of the unit. [and oh, only mod was to decrease the AimAngles by about half for each level of skill. All settings hard except targeting/HUD. I can hardly wait for the new WeaponsEditor to come out, it is taking on average a handful of bullets per plane, and that is just too easy, though I'm loving seeing the AI doing so well... STILL HAVEN'T SEEN A SINGLE ACE with 3 campaigns going, nearly 2 dozen missions post-Expansion...] Thompson's stats are really not that impressive (this screen was grabbed after his wild mission, just for illustration), but funny enough to see all the junior pilots with higher morale than all the officers! What does CND mean???

Thanks guys, much appreciated! Its great that the first 3rd party aircraft post-Expansion is one of the Nieuports. They are all wonderful. Just waiting for them to show up in the downloads section now... Still waiting...

Even before the EP, I was coming up low and fast on a Salmson in a DVII or VIIf (can't remember), in for a quick kill, when the AI pilot all-of-a-sudden goes vertical on me, the rear gunner tracked both Lewis' on me with great accuracy, and that was that. Even got a screen shot of my demise. I'll look for it, love the screenies... :yes:

Anybody else terribly confused? Perhaps if a consensus is reached the definitive SLPowerDry (Watt) values and engine mass parameters for the INIs can be posted? Very interesting thread...

I haven't had any CTd's with campaigns since the Expansion, do you have to be flying a French Sq. as a player to get them?

Hi, Tried to extract the SE5 cockpit.ini in order to change the view yaw variables for a better check-6, post expansion (damn that headrest!!!), and I cannot find it in the aircraftobject.ini There is a file of that name, but it only has a a 1/2 doz. lines or so and seems to deal with cockpit texture appearance, I think. Most other a/c now also have a file like this, but also have the standard cockpit.ini, and I don't remember seeing these other cockpit files before... Are they new? I also noticed there are 2 aircraftobject.ini's now in the Expansion, which makes sense, and I DID look in both. It was late, I wanted to get some flying in last night, so I just may have missed it, but I did double check. Perhaps fresh eyes other than mine can spot it... If so, thanks and please let me know, I'm sure to be embarrassed...

OK, I think I meant I looked in those 2 cat files (rather than the other I mentioned, I constantly confuse those things even though I can find my way around--enough to be dangerous as they say...). I'm at work, and can't look again. Did you find it there for sure? Or the short cockpit.ini file I mentioned above...?

You know, I've only been involved since FE came out just less than a year ago, but I do remember how difficult it is to find this or that when you're not familiar with the CombatAce site structure. It is great when folks post the links for the FNGs... till they can find their way around. Makes for good community. And BTW, I agree, the search function for downloads is pretty crappy.

Yes, thanks for the Camel fix... was hoping it just wasn't me Onto the SE5... It handles like a STONE. Has anyone tried to take off with bombs onboard? If you don't start with the throttle at 100%, you end up still on the ground with no runway left. Even with the throttle wide open at the absolute inception of the mission, you barely make it off the ground in time. In flight, where do you start with the disparaging remarks on its handling traits. It accelerates and climbs poorly, you really have to push to get it into a dive, and it stalls at a significantly higher speed than any other a/c I've flown so far in the Expansion. Some of these traits are likely near the mark with the real historical a/c, BUT I cannot believe that an aircraft so widely used and relatively successful actually flew like that, till the end of the war!!! Agree/disagree???

Peter, While I hear and share your excitement re: The Expansion (now that I've installed it properly, it's a gem), my condolences on the incompatibility of the last generation FMs. For a while there (well, maybe a very fleeting thought), I thought TK was waiting to see what your "final" FMs looked like before he released The Expansion. On some points I disagree with you on the AI and the damage modeling. It could be just the return to the stock Green to Ace settings, but some AI fly like they are pithed (a biology vivisection term where you "disable" the CNS of a frog...). Others are down-right squirmy, and a real challenge to nail before you run out of ammo, BUT I still think your AI had the devil in them... Also, had the right upper 1/3rd of a wing taken off while in a DR1, and it could not maintain airworthiness, THEN had the same thing happen in a Camel and managed to land it with some difficulty. A minor issue of distributing lift, I think, but still... Once you find your second wind (if it isn't already on the 3rd or 4th go-round) I can hardly wait to see how you implement the new flight dynamics... :fans: PS: I have limited experience (so far) in flying all the new Camels one after the other, but what is up with the 130??? Now THAT is a nervous flyer... I also miss the spinning mini spar prop... Or is it just my install?

Ah, yah probably downloaded it already, but anyways... 1) I find the Camel infinitely twitchy in hard mode, and the DR1 so very capable in that German sort of way (nothing bad implied at all, fact quite contrary) . They are a tense match for each other, it could go either way... The only thing that I noticed odd is that they both require constant forward stick in level flight... I even checked whether my joystick was out, it wasn't. Is this a historical trait??? I flew the 110 HP Camel and the 130 HP back to back, and they are different handling planes, as they should be. Some pilots swore off one or the other. 2) I backed my original FE folder up, and for a quick fix last night just "patched over" it. It worked, I had loads of fun, but I also have some environment graphics issues at the horizon and in the sky (and likely others). Looks like a clean install is needed sadly... 3) The AI is very capable (I got nailed about half the time ), yet in my limited experience with the expansion, probably not as "driven" as Peter made them (for good or bad, I'm not sure yet...). But that is a very subjective opinion at this point and I reserve to change my mind with time... 4) To make sure my joystick wasn't buggered up (see #1), I flew Instant Mission (also to see if TK had changed the Instant Mission, or added another choice for it which would have been nice; he hasn't...[disappointed]) and the SPAD XIII handles mighty differently now. Thus I think changes to all early planes is to be expected since TK has introduced some very nice spins and stalls, and who knows what else at this point. Maybe Peter has his work cut out for him? But he is a better judge of that. Overall, my opinion is likely tainted by the fact that, out of expediency and a desire to play with the little time I had this weekend, I simple tried to patch it over. I still had a lot of fun. I can only imagine what a real Camel flew like, and this is as close to it as I imagine. I keep having to check whether I have inadvertently hit game speedx2 by mistake. But still, the Camel was a notoriously nervous flyer, and that "notoriety" has not been achieved in hard mode; it could have been harder, but maybe it wouldn't have had as much commercial appeal perhaps (?). Those who think that the stock a/c roll too easily will think the same thing. IMHO, the jury is still out on whether I got as much out of my $30 this time around... Then again, the U.S. dollar is tanking It is so much more than a patch, but not a new game.

Downloading right now... I also remember TK saying a while back (when he announced the pending add-on) that he was going to implement a new AI opponent system where you could run into the same AI ace (and I suppose his unique skinned AC), and develop a rivalry until one of you was vanquished. Or something like that... A very exciting and immersive idea!!! I wonder how the reality of that thought has played out...

Several accounts mention that some pilots liked to sneak up and use/fire the upper Lewis on the underside of unsuspecting foe. Same with the Dolphin Lewises later on, tho many removed those for the weight...

Just flew a few RFC missions spanning 1916 to 18 in which the German 2 seaters (Whalfisch, DFW, and I think the Aviatik) seemed to fly very aggressively, acting most uncharacteristically like fighters than bombers or recon aircraft. In my experience I do not remember this happening to this level before, and have PM'd Peter about it to get his opinion. While I certainly do not have a problem with more aggressive AI a/c (thank you Peter!!!), and I have flown 2-seaters in that manner myself with my back-against-the-wall, but it just seems out of place if they aggressively dogfight more often than not... Has anyone else experienced this recently, or earlier? Unfortunately I do not remember if they were single missions, or early campaigns, or a combination. It may have something to do with the code in the mission-task given them, I don't know.

Not sure if this is relevant, as I don't know if your ground targets are shooting at each other, but are you familiar with Heck's Active Battlefield Mod? He ran into some problems with this lovely mod, and figured that it had to do with the total number of actions that were going on, and it resulted in the mission stats not showing up upon termination. AFAIK, it was never resolved. Is this also the case for your mod as well? I cannot remember what variable was increased in what file in the game (will try searching for it), and it helped somewhat for short missions, but for me, using this terrain mod always resulted in no mission stats for longer missions. Also, perhaps post over at the 3rd Wire forum and get TK's opinion...

AG, This is a really good idea, and nice work! If I may make a constructive comment, most of the longer guns were kept behind the lines, or "muddy area" on the terrain tiles. If it isn't too much of a PITA, perhaps some of the targets could be hidden amongst trees, behind farm hedges, and grouped into batteries etc. This would in a simple way add to the whole mod. In a any case, I'm loving it!

I totally agree about the "funky poop"... It just seems wrong when it happens... I flew the Salmson in some really memorable missions a while ago, but was waiting around for a campaign with an option to fly them was offered, as I generally find the complexity/surprises of campaign missions to be much superior to flying single missions. TexM, any chance you'd be willing to please share that campaign???

I agree all is well... Yes, I had a few very interesting missions vs. the Whalfisch recently (love that aircraft, the A-team mod, and the FM!!!), one of them with me in a DH2. Need I say more?