Dej

I fly DiD with TAC set to 1 mile and turn it off as soon as the blips turn red. I don't have TrackIR so I have to do my damndest to eyeball the bogies before the cherries appear. That's when the trouble starts anyway... if I don't have a bead and good angle on an HA by the time my flight is mixing it up I've no chance. So, I'll climb and hope to spot one of my wingies on the tail of one so as to go down and help. If I'm hit I'll butt out straightaway, trying to fly on padlock with an under-performing machine is an invitation to the cold embrace of Mother Earth! I've 17.6 hours after 35 missions with 6 confirmed. If I can make it through with that I'll be very happy so discretion has completely swallowed valour leaving only duty. This game is the toughest thing I've done for sim recreation!!

Heh, I don't think anyone was happy at first with the monstrosity the Royal Aircraft Factory initially designed. Those RAF 'aircraft designers' came up with some of the worst aircraft ever to see the light of day (RE8 for example) and made every effort to stall the efforts of Sopwith, Bristol and De Havilland. Ball was particularly outspoken: "The SE5 has turned out a dud. It's speed is only about half Nieuport speed and it is not so fast in getting up. It is a great shame, for everybody thinks they are so good and expects a lot from them. Well, I am making the best of a bad job. I am taking one gun off in order to take off weight. Also I am lowering the windscreen in order to take off resistance. A great many things I am taking off in the hopes that I shall get a little better control and speed. But it is a rotten machine..." Ball was wrong in the end of course but he wasn't the only one who disliked it.

I have to say I've never had a claim refused, even though I've been down to 42 before. I suspect there is some other factor....

Take any damage at all... butt out! It's the only way to survive. But... there's my wingmen. I'm going to get myself killed trying to help them. I know it. So be it.

You know they're going to turn it down MK2, you spelled Zimmerman with a lowercase 'z'. That's more than enough reason for the grammar-police at HQ. Oh yes. :yes:

Geier has a thread asking who is your highest scoring (non-historic) squadron member. Reading that and the above is quite poignant as No. 56's highest scoring non-historic was my long term wingie Jem Spillsby, who died four days ago. KIFA, I figure, as we were in Blighty at the time and the weather was dire. Jem had 9, second highest in the squadron. He should have had ten as he so seriously damaged my second kill that I only needed 50 rounds to put the Hun down. Jem Spillsby, Drew Palmer and Ollie Tepes had been my wingman since I joined No. 56 in April '17. They'd flown 25+ missions with me and God knows how many others while I languished in a hospital bed. Now only Ollie's left. Drew Palmer died on the same day as Jem, probably in the same accident. I am genuinely sad. Jem and Drew, you were grand chaps to fly with, AI or not. This game gets to you.

Jem had 9, second highest in the squadron. He should have had ten as he so seriously damaged my second kill that I only needed 50 rounds to put the Hun down. Jem Spillsby, Drew Palmer and Ollie Tepes had been my wingman since I joined No. 56 in April '17. They'd flown 25+ missions with me and God knows how many others while I languished in a hospital bed. Now only Ollie's left. Drew Palmer died on the same day as Jem, probably in the same accident. This game gets to you.

Seconded. Hopefully he'll implement sleep in 1.27, and have a bloody good rest. I've found nothing amiss in the sim after 1.26 that I can't live with or work around for a month or three.

My highest scoring squadmate was Jem Spillsby... died four days ago in a flying accident in bad weather we shouldn't even have gone up in. I'm still cross!! (OAW) = Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke. Built Albatri under licence. You might also see (Oeffag) for Austro-Hungarian variants built by Oesterreichische Flugzeugfabrik AG. Wikipedia Page

Hi chrispm, welcome to BHaH! Siggi runs a DiD scoreboard at Siggi's Killboard As Squadron/Jasta moves and locations in BHaH are pretty much historically accurate, there's an interactive map you can use outside the game to see who your neighbours are at WW1 Aeroplane Squadrons You can view by aerodrome, squadron or date and filter for British, Belgian or German. Mouse-hovering over an aerodrome on the map and it'll show who was there when. There's a good help link there too, if you get stuck. It requires Firefox to run at its best.

Boelcke, Mannock, Richthofen. (or Ossy, Mick and Manny as I like to call them ) They were there. They made the rules. They wrote them down for us. All we have to do is follow them... to the letter, now, so realistic has this sim become.

Hear! Hear! On both the praise and the suggestion. Can I just add a wee suggestion of my own (sorry Hellshade for the cheek) since it's the same area? There are so many skins now that it would be damned handy to have a radio button option to switch between ace skins, squadron skins or the lot.

I've been doing that for a while with railyards, ground attack support and airfield attacks. They're all an invitation to oblivion. But tonight I was reckless, I'm still genuinely cross at Spillsby and Palmer dying how they did :fuk: Airfield attack mission: saddled the squadron up with 20lb Coopers and plastered their 'drome a bit. Got away with it too, even though there were four of their Albatri on and off my tail (fortunately none of them were Olham). Too low for dogfighting so I ran for it. Didn't lose anyone Guess we'll get a reciprocal visit from Jasta 23 when they find out who messed up their lawn. :yes:

Try it in Firefox MK2. I think I recall Gimpy said there were problems with it in IE. If you can't get it to work post the aerodromes and dates you're interested in here and I'll supply the information from the interactive map.

MK2, Here's how a non-expert (me) would approach it. If you know the aerodromes the 27th and 94th were based at and when you can go here and look at the nearby British and German aerodromes using the cockade and cross filters. This will tell you which Squadrons and Jastas are your 'neighbours'... which are the ones you'd likely meet. It's not an exact science but in the absence of a definitive historical answer it's a start.

Walmer, England, July 1917 Dearest Ma and Da, Just to explain why I’ve not come home to visit, after all. A few days ago we were ordered up on patrol for ‘formation practice’. The weather was grim, a real storm brewing offshore, obvious to anyone and everyone except the brass. The CO tried to refuse but was practically threatened with court-martial so… up we went. Well, naturally the storm broke while we were up, visibility was next to nothing and the wind tossing us around like leaves in a gale. Both flights became separated and lost and everyone made their way back to the field in dribs and drabs, but eventually everyone turned up… except two. Jem and Drew were both missing, We’ve spent the last three days looking for them. I cancelled my leave to help. We found the crash site early this morning, looks as if they collided. They’re both dead! I’ve known those fellows since I joined. They’ve each saved my skin on numerous occasions and I remember Jem gave me my second Hun. A ‘flying accident’ is what their relatives will be told – BLOODY MURDER I call it! They deserved better deaths than that. If it had been Jerry that got them, I don’t think I should feel so bad. But to go West the way they did, Diw! It’s such a bloody senseless waste. We are supposed to be here for rest and for developing squadron tactics and we lose two of our best! If the brass want to kill our best pilots why not do it in France where they’ve at least chance of a bloody Hun to even the score! I can’t wait to get back to France. I’ll take my fair chance of being on the business end of a Spandau, I’m not bothered by that and nor were Jem and Drew. But if it’s STUPIDITY that’s going to kill me I want it to be my own! Yours in sorrow, Llew.

Bloody well done on that ace, Olham! Here's your man: Michel Josef Callixte Marie Coiffard I hope you grabbed a screenie.

Wow! to Creaghorn, that's boosted my FPS by 10 plus FPS. And it DOES feel more realistic flying that way.

Glad to have you back with us, old chap.

I've done a little more tweaking and managed to accomodate if not master Premier Pro video compression. This is the final cut Large Version (188 MB): http://files.filefront.com/Dance+of+The+Fu...;/fileinfo.html Small Version (41 MB): http://files.filefront.com/Dance+of+The+Fu...;/fileinfo.html Original detail (from SOH Post): I heard a piece of classical music t'other day which I'd always thought would back a combat flight sim video rather well so I thought I'd give it a go. The music needed beefing up a bit from the original so I used the 'Hooked on Classics' version (apologies to the purists). Also having no suitable FRAPS footage of my own I had to painstakingly (and I mean that) select clips from the OFF team's copyright videos. Hence the video's on Filefront rather than YouTube. Anyhow I think it rather works. There's some polishing to do and I haven't yet mastered Premier Pro's compression options, so sorry for the lower quality, but what you think?

Last word on it. Now streamable at the following addresses: Small Large

What Gremlin said. And I hope you folks have got some more booze in, we tend to go through quite a lot... takes the taste of the castor oil away. Doesn't do anything for the laxative effect, unfortunately.

Yay! At last! Like Bigfish, just want to say thanks for the truly beautiful music that adds so much to the atmosphere of Between Heaven and Hell. Not just the main theme either, I'm particualarly fond of 'menu music three'.

You have a good point Geier. I've just finished reading 'Aces Falling' by Peter Hart and one thing very, very evident from the contemporary accounts he has used is that there was exactly that difference in strategy between the air forces that you have noted, particularly in the latter half of 1918. I fly British pilots mostly so it hasn't yet given me the frustration it has you but I agree it would be good if the mission generator took account of the difference. Although, as I haven't got past 1917 yet, it wouldn't yet make much difference to me.

Count me in too, though I'm not getting as much flying time as I'd like working away. Presumably we'd all start with fresh characters? My longest living pilot is now 100% DiD but hasn't always been.