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"When I play OFF I play it like you would a RPG, I live the life of my little RFC pilot just as much as I do when I travel the Forgotten Realms." Thanks Jav - it's nice to know that it's not just me that sees the difference and what it implies. Clearly WM has got something like it too, and Olham's been there forever. It's immersion. You either believe and care about your life in OFF or else it becomes CoD. I don't care how others treat it, but I do understand some of the psychological imperatives behind how we think - I hope! - and I find it a fascinating, if rather too late :^( adjunct to a subject that I was involved with 30 years back. 30 years back. s**t. That's just made me sit up and think. Cheers, Si

I've said it once before and I'll bore you all with it again: it's the theatre of the mind. Now I've not played COD, but I've done my fair share of RPGing in the past, and what I've identified - for me at least - is this. An FPS game, as advertised by the industry, is invariably rather like the rather macabre zombie shoot-em-up arcade games so beloved of games arcades in British seaside towns: lots of sturm und drang; highly pumped up; absolutely in-yer-face; points based; stage based; level based; reaction heavy. And yet - with all that sensory up front input, there's little more than a pile of points at the end of it. There's no 'me'; there's no 'my experience' - and this is where the differentiation to good ol' RPG comes in. Rather like OFF - or RB3D, or even, perhaps RoF (although I doubt it) - your D&D, Traveller and similar games invested a huge amount in both staying alive and in your putting yourself in that position. You actually live(d) a full time life, which, I suspect, is why British tabloids went overboard in the 80s trying to persuade us that D&D et al were stealing our kids' lives away. In a way, they were correct: to do it well, you did have to get involved at a deep level: the theatre of the mind. So what does this have to do with OFF? Simple. Many of us can relate back to the RPG scene and just think that way. COD etc are all very well, but when faced between that and actually living out a novel or a play in 360 degree full techicolour glory as a pilot in WWI, which do you think has greater purchase? There's no question in my mind. Cheers, Si

"I have treated many people with SAD and have found that Light Boxes can help. They are not cheap but very effective." Have to agree - we have a major light box that tends to help out in the Dark Seasons. Are you a GP perchance?

Hi Olham, I'm lurving this quiz - but please ask "whose town is this?". That is grammatically correct. I apologise for being so pedantic, particularly when I don't have a working grasp of either spoken or written German, but it's a bit like having someone pass a cheesegrater over your nads when I see grammatical errors. So - come on then: when do I get my town pop up? I bet no-one will get it, including me. Cheers, Si

That looks like a bus headed to Darlington - I suspect that Widowmaker will along shortly...

Hello Dokken! Welcome to OFF - even though you've not got it yet... Take your time and read through all the technical tips and flight tips stuff that's posted on here: trust me, it's all very useful. Also, I guess you've got a pretty butch PC if you've been running RoF, but it's worth having a look at ways maximising OFF's performance on your rig. As ever, the new guy buys the beers! Fortunately for you, I'm a cheap round, so I'll have a pint of absinthe. Any questions you want answered - we're all here and (generally) helpful. Cheers, Si

Actually - I'm wrong: the Breguet is in there (non-flyable), but that's hardly great representation by any streak. As an aside, I note that Wikipedia doesn't have an entry for OFF (ROF is in there) - perhaps someone should start putting a page up??

I bobbed over to SimHQ where there's a thread with a vid of the new 0/400, but for the life of me I can't understand how everyone there is getting so excited about it's release, given that they haven't even modelled and released any two seater Entente aircraft (AFAIK) and there's only one Axis two seater. That seems utterly absurd to me.

"it would be the Italian and Eastern Fronts and all that those would entail." Perhaps as an expansion pack to P4? Chuck in Palestine/Egypt and I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

Hi Stratos, I use DoDR and find it acceptable - there's the risk of death, but it's not inevitable. My current pilot (he of BE2 fame) started in February 1915 and is still kicking around (flying RE8s) in late August 1917, although I've purposely absented him from the front (home leave/transfer) once or twice, which I think is acceptable, plus he's been a POW twice and hospitalised rather more times than that! I'll let everyone know if I ever get to 11/11/18...

I'm happy with this suggestion, and previous ones that enforce more strict AI rules regarding their breaking off from an encounter - it sounds good, and in tandem, they should prevent the bloodbaths that occur at present. I wonder how we'd all now fare with RB3D, if we were still flying it? I suspect we'd all rack up three figure tallies without problems!

nb - would you like me to email my copy of the file to you? If you do, PM me with your email address. Cheers, Si

Hi Swampey, I can only concur with m'learned friends above. OFF finally persuaded me to remove RB3D from my machine, as well as First Eagles. Initially, I didn't 'get' OFF because I'd managed to botch the setup and because I simply wasn't used to the interface, and it took me a little time to figure it all out, but now that I have, it runs acceptably well on my poxy old rig, so I'd guess that on your system - which I note can run ROF - it should look absolutely beautiful, and run even better than that. Like Olham, I pretty much gave up on anything else once I got into OFF, and once you've mastered the flying/fighting side of it and got a pilot with considerable hours under his belt, you'll sweat blood and become horribly engrossed. If you have a partner and children, I'd advise that you keep a picture of them handy, so you'll have less difficulty remembering who they are when you stop playing.... And if you get P3, do get Hat in the Ring: it's well worth it. Cheers, Si

"I toasted two Huns last mission by diving on them then zooming away as fast as I could." You've cracked it!

"In the air, Arthur Gould Lee's 'No Parachute' is without equal in my personal opinion, topping even Cecil Lewis" Absolutely. Lee is more doctrinaire in some aspects than Lewis, but it is absolutely and authentically the voice of a pilot in a period of horrible losses and uncertainty. I unreservedly recommend it if you can find a copy. Also, very highly recommended, so that you understand the context and the vast implications of the war, do yourself a massive favour and track down (it's not hard!) a copy of Hew Strachan's history of WWI. He is a peerless historian who writes like a novelist; if you've ever read Shelby Foote's history of the American Civil War you'll have an idea of what I'm talking about. HTH, Si

"Also, if I may, I'm not so sure that squadrons would be wiped out that quickly." My 100th flight in a BE2d saw all but one of my flight of six sent down, and, I should emphasise, behind enemy lines. Yet, having said that, come the mission's end (I made it back sweating!) all but one of those pilots turned up hale and hearty the next morning. Either the devs go with the Terminator like tenacity and accept the consequences across the board (ahistorical, as you end up with piles of dead aviators) and have a rapidly rotating door of pilots and observers, or else you tone it down so that - as pointed out above - the enemy decide to disengage. Example: I've been in scouts and taken on opponents who seemingly will not disengage at all, regardless of circumstances. I've seen entire flights wiped out through this. Would that happen in real life? I doubt it. Unless a flight could drop on the enemy and dispatch them within about 60 seconds or so, I doubt whether they could actually account for all of a formation. I may be wrong, so please correct me if I am. As to the no. 1 must have for P4 - given that I've already nailed my colours to the mast above! - I'd say more two seaters for both sides, and better ancilliary information for players WRT maps, briefings, debriefings, etc. My 2d, Si

Hi Javito, There's a slight problem with the BE2c as modelled in OFF. It's not really a BE2c! If you've read up on the BE series, you be aware that the BE2c (and d, e, etc) had a single badly mounted rear facing machine gun with a pathetic line of fire, but that there was a subsequent model called the BE12, which was a vain attempt to make it into a scout, by the removal of the observer's seat and the mounting of a forward firing machine gun for the pilot. Hence, the OFF BE2 is a curious amalgam of the two models - which is to say your observer doesn't get the gun with which, historically, the aircraft was armed. I'm hoping that P4 will see both types more accurately modelled, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.... Good luck! Cheers, Si

"And I honestly believe the average British Gentleman, shows a sense of distain for instruction sheets, prefering to "go it on their own"" Heh heh...I'm fairly average and British, although probably not a gentleman, but long ago I learned the value of the simple acronym RTFM - an IT industry standard reply to users. Part of the problem is that CFS3 is a bit of a maze at the best of times, and with the OFF manager chucked in on top of this, and given that some bits of the CFS3 config is not altogether relevant to OFF, it's unsurprising that sometimes most of us manage to miss the bleeding obvious. Incidentally Rugbyfan - do try the white TAC/increased opacity labels mod as detailed elsewhere on the forum, as it's a cracking addition to the game.

Well, I suppose if labels aren't working, he could simply start flying DiD?

"The other book is Hew Strachan's "The First World War" (not yet read)." Read it Olham. I've read a fair few books on WWI, and I'd say that Strachan's book is the best single volume history of the war ever written. In the English version, the style is light and lucid, yet compelling and detailed. I found his ability to knit the narrative around so many disparate elements, and yet strongly retain his thread and arguments, to be quite extraordinary. Certainly a better read than Keegan, and he's no slouch. Highly recommended.

"Javito, I also agree with the advice given here by the aces Olham, Uncleal, Hellshade, and Si." Take that back! I am not an ace and never will be! I simply tidy up after neglectful Huns decide that a BE2d can't harm them. Oh yes we can... Seriously, I'm a terrible pilot, an even worse shot and a complete chicken. My scout careers are characterised by their sheer brevity.

"Just this last sortie I shot up a D.III so bad he started leaking some fluid but refused to go down" Probably poo. I know the feeling... "While we're on the subject of gun accuracy, what do you guys think is the most realistic setting for ground fire?" My opinion is that archie shouldn't be a major issue to you unless you fly at lower altitudes, lower speeds and in straighter lines - in other words, if you're in a two seater. I've not mucked around with the default settings, and I find them pretty much OK - I suspect that for HitR, it was all toned down a touch, although having not flown in 1918 to any great extent, there maybe others who would disagree violently that the archie is accurate. I don't really know, and nobody here can, since we don't have enough evidence before us. All I can say is that if archie brought down that many planes, it would have been a talking point, so I'm guessing that it was simply an irritation for most fliers except those on recon/spotting.

Hi Taillyho, Welcome to the forum, and to the Front. I've put in a little time with Bristol Scouts, and I can tell you that alhough you'll probably get a rough ride from the Fokkers - they're aggressive when faced with Entente scouts - you've got a better plane than them. The EIII is slower than you, less manouvrable and with a lower ceiling, so in a fight you'll just have to keep whirling round them as they lose height, and once they get low and have lost all formation, then you can give them what for. Well, it worked for me (ignoring the fact that I was shot down by an EIII!). General advice - don't be afriad to run away a lot, and try to develop a sense of paranoid anxiety as quickly as possible: it might just keep your pilot alive.... Cheers, Si

"New to the forum and the "Between Heaven and Hell" patch still in transit from the States to Oz. So please excuse any ignorance on my part, but do AI aircraft have an uncany ability to spot you in any visibility conditions or this factor considered and degraded in the program? Otherwise can only state the il2 approach when flying a Hurricane against multiple 109's. Break into each attack, damage as many as possible to put them out of the fight and cut down the number of enemy runners still in the flight. If you try to concentrate on one bandit, the other is sure to nail you." Hiya cocker, Nice to have you along - welcome to the white knuckle ride. I'm with you on this - face the enemy and pop a few rounds in where poss. As, I suppose, everyone knows around here, I'm currently in a campaign as a BE2c pilot (which is a cheat as the OFF BE2c has a front gun), and thus I like to think that I probably know quite a bit about evading superior enemies (if you're a BE2 pilot, 'superior' means 'anything else in the air that has wings'). One thing that's well worth bearing in mind is the time period. If you fly 1915-17, then you'll see aggressive foes, but they won't be the kamikaze nutters of 1918 by a long chalk (unless you're unlucky). Certainly, if you're a scout pilot - you're fair game, and the enemy will fall upon you without fear or favour, however; if you're a two seater pilot, you may well often find that rising to meet the oncoming throng of scouts is by far the best tactics as they become fixated on the rest of your (rather easy to target) flight and try to knock them down without regard to the possibility that you might just pop in behind them and say hello with a Lewis gun. Try it - it's enormous fun.

Ah well, there you go. I can't think of a better reason for the OFF team to go balls out and do us the AK8 and some Albatros two seaters, and perhaps Voisins, etc. I've devolved. I used to expect to fly scouts: now I expect to fly a two seater. What's peculiar is that I don't mind it at all.