Dej

The aerodrome attack was probably Flight 1's mission. The advice is to stick with Flight 1 for protection, but you're not obligated to follow them in I tend to stay with them only so long as our routes are mutually beneficial then break off for my own target. About 60% of the time (I'd guess) we're in roughly the same area so it works. Olham's Wingman Advice has all the AI commands and how to use 'em, with some useful additions by Bullethead too... HERE

Lucasart's 'Their Finest Hour' by any chance? I played that obsessively, renamed all the squadron memebers after friends and family, etc. One of the first sims where I 'felt' the loss of a squadron mate.

Chaps, there was a time when Olham woud attack everything in sight, I believe, but OFF has tempered even his impetuosity! You do have to pick your fights very carefully indeed. Superiority in everything - height, numbers, manoeuvrabilty - still does not guarantee victory. Olham didn't expand on his good advice about always leading which has two vital features a) you can control your wingmen better - read Olham's thread on this - my wingies save my neck on many an occasion leaving me genuinely sad to lose them b) you can stick with the first flight, which is where the aces are if you've any in your unit. My own advice is also twofold: a) avoid, nay, SHUN target-fixation, it WILL kill you; b) if hit, AT ALL, get out, fast... shove everything in a corner and RUN AWAY! For the former, a WW2 ace combat pilot's advice is good 'never fly straight and level in the combat area for more than thirty seconds' - Adolphus 'Sailor' Malan, RAF. And that 'thirty seconds' includes that last deadly little bit of time you think you need to nail that enemy machine that's so almost under your guns. 'Air-fighting in a nutshell'

Oho! Now wouldn't it be perfect Olham if you win Lou's competition and get a Pour le Mérite in-game at the same time... which you might if your claims are now better recorded?7171

Well, I'm a Welshman... and I'm obliged to say I think it's a shocking waste!

Welcome Kingkat. Well, if you're breaking yourself in gently in BHaH you'd want to avoid 1918 initially. If you like the SE5 I'd suggest joining No. 56 Sqn. RFC in early 1917, just as they arrive in France. You'll get enough action - weather allowing - but should be able to get on top of your adversaries who'll be flying Alb DIIIs and later DVs, both of which the SE can handle admirably. Alternatively, if you want to feel god-like, join the RNAS with Naval 10 in May 1917 and be amazed at how your Sopwith Triplane runs rings around the Alb. DIII opponents, negating their firepower advantage. Then a little later with equal firepower your twin Vickers will rip them to shreds... only for a little while alas! For whom to fly with amongst those German gentlemen I'll defer to Olham, who not only has 'been there and done that', but has a large collection of virtual T-shirts to prove it. Have Fun!

Actually, I'm with you Olham, the Hurricane was always my favourite. And it's fitting that Fighter Command's only BoB VC went to Nicholson, in a Hurricane, as your image depicts. I was lucky enough to be driving past North Weald when they were air-testing one of the surviving Hurris. It passed fairly low over the M25, enough to raise the hairs on my neck and draw a huge smile on my face. It was the Battle of Britain that first got me into air combat history and I'll never lose my affection for it. Here's to those who fought and those who fell and those who did both, in that most singular of aerial conflicts. God rest their souls [EDIT] And it you're wondering how come I heard it when I was driving... well it was the M25, so naturally I wasn't moving! [/EDIT]

Looks like a second jumper has just left the cockpit too. Great shot WM. My right click ability seems to have been appropriated by some Firefox add-ons but following your post I investigated more closely and I have it now Right CLick -> Select All -> Copy works. Cheers WM.

Meh. Well, okay, it is obvious. But I thought Hauksbee was genuinely asking.

Alright, I'm missing something. How does one save the screenshots on this thread to one's HD? I want to use MacIlroy's magnificent Nieuport vs. Einie shot as my new wallpaper but nowt that I click offers me the .jpg as a download. Is it lurking in my cache somewhere?

We've most of us seen the examples of the forth (or is that 4th) -coming new medals system and know that the interface is going to look amazing and that there are going to be lots of new medals. I've been reading or re-reading a few (auto)biographies recently and noticed, certainly for the British pilots, that medals weren't given out consistently or strictly progressively, i.e. one pilot might received the DFC first, another the MC, then it might be a bar for the MC or a DFC or maybe the DSO. Basically meaning that the granularity of criteria for receiving a particular medal was finer than the OFF engine supports in Phase 3. Will this change in Phase 4? It would be cool NOT to know what medal you would receive when and not to have a rigid progression. Of course, the Blue Max, the VC or the CMoH as the highest honours would always come last but prior to that the order could vary offering authentic differences in pilot 'medal careers'. Could it be done?

Hmmm. How'd they know you'd need five stripes? Someone had this war planned out.

'Ursinus' in Latin means 'of the bear'. But it's named after the designer, Oskar Ursinus, I strongly suspect.

I see I've now the label of 'CA Die Hard' beneath my avatar. When did these come in? Not sure mine's appropriate, I find it disconcertingly easy to die in this sim! 'CA Die Repeatedly' is more like it.

Yep. It was 'CA is my life'. I checked lots of posts

Nice review Firecage... thanks due from the OFF community I think. The only thing I'd change is not to refer to the time spent on graphics configuration as 'bugs', or at least explain that it's a CFS or hardware issue. As far as I know there aren't any 'bugs' in the OFF graphics, just a need to fiddle with settings for optimal performance... and as you rightly observed, help is readily at hand on these fora.

One of my fabourite bits from 'Battle of Britain'. I take 'split' to mean every man for himself... including any dramatic cosequences.

I didn't mention French medals, apologies. In my initial post I got slightly carried away. My original intent was to actually to ask how the medal order would work being as there are going to be more medals and the current system doesn't function as the devs would wish. I didn't actually mean to express a 'wish list', but thanks very much Paarma for your comments. I'm already much impressed by what we've seen so far. Uncleal, you may take it as read that any idea for something to include in OFF that I might inadvertently post NEVER, EVER implies anything less than 100% satisfaction with this awesome simulation as is. I doubt there is anything I could suggest of that the devs haven't already considered and I feel like a kid with a new toy with whatever improvements they arrive at in their own good time. They are more dedicated to OFF than any of we devotees, howsoever ardent. I recognise that and respect it profoundly.

Yep, Well done, Olham. You nabbed that one well... in barely an hour. Lou, are we on the 4 day break yet or will there be more?

Well, to be honest, I think Navarre has the copyright on painting one's machine red... for which see the aces skins thread. Strange that Minifie's machine looks so red on your shot, 'cos if you check the Sopwith Triplane skins Minifie's is just that peculiar chestnut brown with red fin and wheelcovers.

Good guess Hauksbee, but it's not to do with being English in a Celtic land. 'Shanachie' is an anglisized spelling of the Irish seanchaí (or seanchaidhe as it would have been in 1914-18) which means 'Storyteller'. The seanchaithe are the inheritors of the pre-christian Bardic tradition, sort of 'secular bards' if you like... which isn't to demean their craft but merely to say that their oral tradition is folkloric or modern not spiritual. Why V. P. had that nickname you'd have to read his autobiography to find out... perhaps he span a good yarn.

This interested me so had a quick search myself. According to the Canadian Who's Who 2001 Hume Cronyn was Verscholye Cronyn's GRANDson. Hume's father Hume Blake Cronyn married into the Labatt brewing family. The name Verschoyle is Dutch in origin (as 'Verschuijl' or 'van der Scuyle'). A branch of the Verschoyles went to Ireland in the 17th Century and 'Cronyn' is definitely an Irish surname, plus V. P. Cronyn's nickname was "Shanachie", so I think the pronounciation therefore is very probably 'ver-shoil'. However, V. P. wrote his autobiography called 'Other Days' and the definitive answer is probably in there... there's a copy in the Canadian Aviation Museum, but you might find one for sale, look for Other Days Cronyn, Verschoyle Phillip "Shanachie"

One of the most heart-gripping aspects of WW1 for me is those whose graves are unknown. 54,000 allied on the Menin Gate alone and that's one of four such, I think. I confess, to my shame, that I don't know how the unknown German losses are commemorated, but for so many to just 'disappear' save for a name is truly tragic.

Sounds like a plan "the man". Full steam ahead 'til Friday then a nail-biting final match... Superbowl XXV for WW1 fans.

Ah, but can you fit one in a golf bag with a full set o' clubs. And how good is the Golf Club's wireless connection Shame you'll miss the competition R-D. I'd vote for a 4 day hiatus if it wouldn't delay things too much and everyone else agreed... be a hellish queue four days hence though. Of course, I wouldn't put it past Lou to have some fiendishly difficult 'photos as will take us four days to pin down, like the underside of an SE5 rudder bar or some such.