bortdafarm

many thanks i didn't realise you could do that... what i ended up doing was this MapIconSize=1 which meant all the icons became so small they were invisible!! .. not ideal.. didn't know i could slash out the reference like that..many thanks again..

he he! it's not the shooting them down that gets me i can knock them down like ten pins..but actually surviving right thru a campaign patrol seems to be tough...flak is a nightmare boom your gone...some stray bullet or fragment of scrapnell allways seems to blow my fuel tank...this is on easy settings for the campaign (and harder settings on the other options...flight simulation enemy AI etc etc...except targeting) what i'm doing is customising a set of files to try to make all the aircraft less likely to explode..(including mine) and hoping to stretch out the combat a little..requiring me to get make several decent attacks before the enemy goes down as it is one burst and boom their dead..(too easy and predictable) on the other things re BRANDYS point ..i'm kinda a fan of having to search for targets....(been playing submarine sims for a while now and really enjoy the hunt...) so i don't use the HUD at all and have to find the targets by looking around my self....the map is a give away tho as it shows the enemy planes ..but i'm going to replace the icon for the enemy aircraft with a transparent one so no enemy aircraft show on the map... then i can patrol with some tension surrounding being bounced by enemy fighter if i don't keep my eyes peeled ...a good example of this just actualy happened in my last patrol...i was wandering up and down the front...looking for the enemy ...after about ten minutes i checked the map and lo and behold it showed an enemy fighter right behind me...so i closed the map and scanned the view round and bingo he was right on my tail...a second or two later and i would have been cat food.. now i want to be able to look at the map without getting that help!! on the other side tho i am trying to set the pilot animation up so he allways looks at enemy aircraft (if possible ) there does seem to be the option in the files...that way i can keep a close eye on my pilots head to see if he is consistently glancing in one direction...LOL good roleplaying stuff ..(i can build a sense of affinity with my pilot as it were, can rely on him to help me out ..adds a bit of interaction between me and the animated pilot..) i hope in the end that all this will level the playing field between me and the AI pilots so when i check the roster screen i don't find that i'm getting 5 plus kills a patrol and all the other pilots are getting nil or a very occasional one other than ground targets perhaps.. i just wish the animated pilot would stick his arm out of the cockpit and point !!

yes watching the AI make a forced landing with a dead engine is a nice touch see-ing the prop stop after an engine hit is an immersive event..wonder if we could add some engine smoke effects to that?? oil leak etc? i've had that same thing with the enemy landing then taking off again once i've left lol that's pretty interesting stuff..shame that the game doesn't model slightly more complex AI routines for that event...be very appropiate for an enemy to make a landing in a field and concede defeat even waving at you if you fly past him...then if he takes of again the game might designate him as non combatant and have him head back to his home strip...lol.. well you never know...perhaps a pilot capture event could be a nice idea if he goes down behind enemy lines....this might allso slightly increase the intell rating for your squadron...love this sort of RPG element in sims..any chance? that would really add atmosphere if this happens too often you can increase the minimum safe altitude in the aircraftobject.ini [DogfightNovice] SafeAltitude=260 LookoutAngle=90 DefensiveAngle=60 ChanceDefensiveTurn=20 ChanceBreakTurn=25 ChanceHardTurn=50 ChanceTurnDirection=25 ChanceContinue=100 ChanceCheckNewTarget=5 ChanceUseVertical=0 FightWithoutAmmo=0 CannonFireAngle=10.0 MaxPitchInput=0.4 MaxCannonRange=500 OptimalCannonRange=100 MinCannonRange=12 MaxRollForGunAttack=75 [DogfightGreen] SafeAltitude=220 LookoutAngle=120 DefensiveAngle=90 ChanceDefensiveTurn=30 ChanceBreakTurn=50 ChanceHardTurn=100 ChanceTurnDirection=50 ChanceContinue=100 ChanceCheckNewTarget=10 ChanceUseVertical=0 FightWithoutAmmo=0 CannonFireAngle=5.0 MaxPitchInput=0.6 MaxCannonRange=1400 OptimalCannonRange=80 MinCannonRange=10 MaxRollForGunAttack=100 [DogfightRegular] SafeAltitude=180 LookoutAngle=150 DefensiveAngle=90 ChanceDefensiveTurn=40 ChanceBreakTurn=100 ChanceHardTurn=100 ChanceTurnDirection=100 ChanceContinue=50 ChanceCheckNewTarget=25 ChanceUseVertical=10 FightWithoutAmmo=0 CannonFireAngle=3.0 MaxPitchInput=0.8 MaxCannonRange=1000 OptimalCannonRange=70 MinCannonRange=8 MaxRollForGunAttack=115 [DogfightVeteran] SafeAltitude=160 LookoutAngle=150 DefensiveAngle=120 ChanceDefensiveTurn=50 ChanceBreakTurn=100 ChanceHardTurn=100 ChanceTurnDirection=100 ChanceContinue=50 ChanceCheckNewTarget=45 ChanceUseVertical=50 FightWithoutAmmo=0 CannonFireAngle=2.5 MaxPitchInput=0.9 StartGunAttackRange=1000 MaxCannonRange=600 OptimalCannonRange=60 MinCannonRange=6 MaxRollForGunAttack=120 [DogfightAce] SafeAltitude=150 LookoutAngle=180 DefensiveAngle=120 ChanceDefensiveTurn=75 ChanceBreakTurn=100 ChanceHardTurn=100 ChanceTurnDirection=100 ChanceContinue=25 ChanceCheckNewTarget=50 ChanceUseVertical=100 FightWithoutAmmo=1 CannonFireAngle=2.0 MaxPitchInput=1.0 MaxCannonRange=300 OptimalCannonRange=50 MinCannonRange=4 MaxRollForGunAttack=180 this tends to reduce the amount of aircraft left on the ground during a patrol..(so it appears) i just added a 100 to each section..maybe incresing the weapon range entrys might have them open fire a little more often too..(the stats on the end mission screen often have the AI listed as only having fired 4 or 5 short bursts) might increase their kill ratio a bit.. lots to play about with.. good AI in this game/sim at least compared to other period sims..(slow flying aircraft must be tougher to code for??) as it's all about maneuvering/tactics rather than weapons..FE does the best job of it i've seen so far.. say i've just noticed that only the veteran level has the StartGunAttackRange=1000 entry might be worth adding this to the others allso

congratulations on a great sim.. i'm not an ace pilot but have played Red Baron and many other non jet combat flight sims and this is the first sim to make survival a key issue... even on easier settings i have been unable to survive beyond 2 campaign patrols lol!! the enemy aircraft are a little fragile so a good burst will have them falling to bits mid air BUT they can do the same to you just as quickly so even tho i can easily rack up an impressive kill tally in one mission it is unlikely that taking so many chances will get me thru an entire campaign...i'm no slouch but as i say i haven't been able to survive beyond 2 patrols ..yikes.. as an aside im working on a mod to perhaps make all the aircraft a little less likely to explode and a little tougher when it comes to taking damage...with the idea that this will balance out making the player aircraft tougher to shoot down less likely to ep,lode etc etc..but allso do the same for the enemy and other AI pilots.. mainly because i like to go along for the ride in games like this...creat a storyline in my head and so on...and getting killed so early on makes this a prefunctory affair!..mind you have to say that i may be using the wrong tactics..if i take a kill and bug out back to the aerodrome this would no doubt be a good survival tactic...interesting that this is an approach that is worth considering!! dunno about any-one else but IMO FE is pretty hard-core..no complaints from me on that score..makes a decent change and a decent challenge (for a change!) and the moddability makes customising it to personal desires relatively easy.. has any one noticed wether the AI pilots in your squadron improve over time??? judge-ing from the stats in the roster room this looks possible?? this would be a VERY nice feature if it happens..i can't stay alive long enough to find out!