themightysrc

A pretty fair write up, I think. Is that a widely visited and well regarded website?

Nice to have you back cocker - I'd forgotten how quiet it gets here when you're not posting 24/7... Joke! Honest!

"Just a sensationalist media circus pandering to the uptight and overprotective who complain about anything that's not PC" It seems that it's hardly liberally minded people who are complaining - Fox is an arch Tory. I suspect that this is more to do with sucking up to the exactly the sort of people who are quick to howl "Pee Cee gorn maaad!!!" in most other circumstances. I'm told that Briddish troops don't even make an appearance in the game... So, in summary. It's a new game + August is a slow news month + Liam Fox is a publicity seeking git with the IQ of a grapefruit = news report.

"The target was taken as the centre of the clock and imaginary lines were circumscribed around it at distances of 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 yards. These lines were lettered Y, Z, A, B, C, D, E, F, respectively. Twelve o'clock was always taken as true north from the target and the remaining hours accordingly. An observer noted the fall of the rounds with reference to the imaginary circles and clock-hours and signalled the result, for instance, as Y 4, or C 6." Given that we have keyboards with our PCs, the above could easily be reproduced for OFF. I suspect that the hard bit would be the programming to generate the modified barrages and the scoring thereafter. I'm minded to think that this must be doable though, and would love to see it in the game. Of course, the tricky bit would be avoiding getting bounced by scouts - you only have one pair of eyes...

I have to concur with UncleAl here - you simply must get TrackIR if you want to enjoy the game to the full - I'd be lost now without it. He's also correct about the aircraft he mentions, although I'd add that life as a Brisfit pilot can be pretty good fun, as your tail is very well protected by twin Lewises! let the AI gunner exercise his deadly aim on the Huns, and enjoy chasing them around the sky. One final point though: this isn't an ordinary game. I spent - literally - months getting stomped by the AI opposition, and couldn't figure out why, given that I'd prospered playing RB3D and FE. The penny finally dropped when I realised that every new pilot I created, I flew as a new pilot: I ignored the basic rules of WWI air fighting. So... Stay high. Never go into an unnecessary fight. Don't swan off on your own. Stick to the mission, except when the odds manifestly turn against you. Run away, if that happens. Keep looking round for enemy planes - even with TAC on. Climb out of trouble if you can, dive if you must. Don't fixate on targets - you'll get killed sooner rather than later. Disabling two enemy planes in a fight is of more use to you than shooting down one. Hit and run, rather than dogfight. Know where you are at all times, and have your escape route ready. Never fly low, unless you wish to get it in the neck from both above and below. And, finally, remember - there are bold pilots; there are old pilots. There are no old, bold pilots. The above is the Dikta MightySRC!

"Oh yes, the plane is a Camel. And the girl is a Bebe." Ker-boom! Tish!

Hmm. Anyone interested in a 'how to survive' guide for the BE2c?

Hi Brit, Do you want posts here so you can collate them, or would you prefer PMs?

Hi PD, "Under what name please?" Willy Coppitt

Just to let you know, I've signed up and some kind soul has activated my account - looking forward to flying MP again. Cheers, Si

Hiya vO! This is an easy one. If you can't find the ground target, fly at a couple of hundred feet at around 50mph just over where you think it should be. When all hell breaks loose and you can feel the machine gunners peppering your aircraft, you've found them. Cheers, Si

"Which is why it's so dangerous for countries like N Korea and Iran to have them. They assume no one will ever nuke them (for the reasons you listed) but have no qualms about using them on those who oppose them, let alone giving them to unstable non-state entities." There's little danger in recognised states having them. The fact that they have them is, more or less, immaterial. Who are they going to fire them at, and what do they expect by way of recompense? Only the naive would see it differently. "If Iran gets it, then Hezbollah and/or Hamas gets it. Then a nuke will go off right on the Israeli border, north or south, and Iran will claim Israel did it itself (you know, just like those peaceful militant Islamist groups that claim responsibility for attacks are just making it up), despite the fact that Israel has had 40 years to use one and hasn't, to try and get all of its neighbors to attack Israel while denying they were responsible. Sure, a few Muslims would die in that attack, but they would be holy martyrs for their part in the beginning of the final war against Israel!" This is simply nonsense. The moment that an Iranian sponsored weapon went off anywhere in the vicinity of Israel, you would doubtless find that the (apparently non-nuclear) Israel just happened to have a few nukes to sprinkle over the only country that might have supplied any dissident groups with such a weapon. MAD. And that's exactly the reason why it won't occur. For one thing, Iran may rail against Israel, but that is unimportant in its efforts to become a regional superpower - efforts, I might add, that were only aided by the 2003 invasion, but I digress - since the Iranians have no reason not to play a long game and to wait until Western powers have fundamental social and economic problems to deal with. Israel has not used nuclear weapons because they would be giving the game away. If I were the Israeli PM and had no nuclear weapons, I would hint strongly to the world that I did have them - what a diplomatic weapon! Anyway, it's apparent from the actions of Israel and the testimony of Mordechai Vanunu - jailed to the eternal shame of the Israeli state, I would contest - that such weapons do exist in Israel, so in effect the point you make is null. There is far more to Middle Eastern politics than is ever likely to be examined on such a superficial platform as a flight sim site, so let's just get back to what we know best here.

You jammy bastard! Fabbo!

HI Red Dog, Thing is, the actual mechanics of how they did this in WWI are actually pretty easy to do: it's simply clock and modification by degree, if I interpret the stuff I've read correctly. So, to instigate into OFF, you'd need to be able to send a simple code - much as they did in WWI - and then toddle around watching the fall of shot after the batteries have received your corrections. Well, that's the easy bit. The difficult bit, I'm sure, is to put this 'game within a game' into OFF given the limitations of working with CFS3 code. I can't comment on this, but I hope that someone from the dev team can? That, thobut, would be a lovely addition to the game, and one that would put it streets ahead of other WWI sims, as well as upping the authenticity to unparalleled heights. Cheers, Si

I'm also a fan of the Quirk, although I wish that the devs would bin the present version and give us proper BE2's with the gun for the observer, and the BE12 for those brave enough to use it as a scout! Having said that, it's a lovely plane to fly, if you have all the time in the world, and my present campaign (as written up - and not too well - in the Reports from the Front folder) is a fairly frank account of what you can do with it. I will say again, to anyone who'll listen, it's a match for the EIII. Perhaps it shouldn't be, but that's not the point. I'm flying with TAC on, but with the excellent mod - found elsewhere on CA - where all aircraft are white spots, and the labels only become increasingly less opaque as you get closer, which, I reckon, is a pretty good compromise on the issue of visibility and in-game limitations. I prefer death on die roll, but my main method of remaining alive is by cautious flying. Just realised I do have another aid on in the BE: the compass. Where the devil is it on the OFF BE2c? I can't believe that the real BE didn't have a compass, and I find it a bit mystifying. I've looked on t'interweb for cockpit shots of the BE, but that hasn't helped. Anyway. I suppose that I'm actually more a fan of the Pup than anything else, but in the last year or so - in other words, the time of my ownership of OFF - I started on Pups and got shredded by AI opposition and erroneously ascribed it to the Pup not being good enough, whilst simultaneously ignoring the fact that I was losing pilot after pilot after pilot. You think the penny would have dropped sooner, wouldn't you? I guess that my current longevity for all of my pilots - I have about six on the go, to varying degrees - reflects the fact that I've finally learned how to fly and fight in these archaic devices, so a return to Pups is on the cards after Vic finally goes West. I'm a long, long way from having tried all the aircraft on offer in the game, although I suppose if some of my existing stable of pilots survive long enough, I might just get the chance to fly a few more. But it's bloody time intensive. Cheers, Si

"The nuke attacks were not neccessary for ending WW2. They were to show the soviets the big stick." This is an essential truth of WWII. If you think otherwise, then it's useful to look at the Yalta conference in 1945 - hardly a basis for a well settled post war world. Also, consider that one of the issues that exercised the US military after the defeat of Germany was - guess what? - the rapid exit of Nazi scientists who'd worked on Hitler's rocket projects over to the States. One might quite reasonably ask why these scientists weren't asked to account for their activities at Nuremburg or in subsequent trials of lesser war criminals. Instead they found themselves deeply emeshed in the American nuclear/rocketry programmes. Is this sinking in at all? I'm happy to acknowledge - as a Brit - that Dresden was an appalling crime. I'm happy to acknowledge that the Soviet Army and high command committed massive atrocities across Europe, of which Katyn was but one. I think that the Nazis stand as a political grouping beyond redemption for the atrocities they commissioned and enacted. I happily acknowledge that Imperil Japan was a menace to its neighbours, and committed atrocities against all combatants, especially the Chinese people. But I'm essentially a historian, and, as such I can see that the closing months of WWII were the lit touch paper of the Cold War, and that there were major antagonisms between the victors of that war that inevitably led to the post war paranoia that swept all areas of the globe for nigh on 40 years and happened to engender more major bloody wars all over the world. Argue if you will about Hiroshima in the microcosm: you are ignoring a much bigger picture.

I'm also of a mind that AI only (at first!) 2 seaters - happy to see them flyable later. Think of it as whetting the appetite for the later flyables!

Hi Winder, <sweet, innocent mode> Can we have a version that runs on Ubuntu linux please? </sweet, innocent mode> Cheers, Si

Thanks Dej, we work uz socks off trying to improve our service, so it's very nice to receive such a public thank you from a borrower. The best way to keep libraries flourishing is to use them and get everyone you know to do the same! We actually lost two branches to cuts last year - a very sad thing - and I suspect we're directly in the firing line for further cuts. It's down to the public in the end: if they tell local politicians and MPs that they won't accept their monkeying with the library service (or worse still, eviscerating it to the point where its useless) then they will back down over closure plans. Our users saved one of the branches by being bolshy and refusing to accept its closure. There's a moral in there! Cheers, Si

Hi chaps, I work for a public library service here in the UK, so i'd just like to add my two pennorth. Public libraries are, indeed, a much misunderstood and maligned service here in the UK, but have undergone almost a revolution in recent years. You'll find that, if they don't already, they will soon all be obliged to provide free internet access to borrowers, and the reference sections of most libraries are jam packed with otherwise expensive and unobtainable books, besides usually being subscribers to online services that would, if not a borrower, cost you hundreds - and in some cases, thousands - of pounds to subscribe to as an individual. On the books side, they invariably provide a good and substantial selection of books that, again, might well be beyond your price range, and it's all free. I'm still ransacking our service's catalogue which has enabled me to read a plethora of excellent titles concerning WWI. Being in the North, much of the stock covers the PBI, particularly Pals battalions, but I've read the history of Jasta Boelcke, Aces Falling, Bloody April, an excellent book on the WWI aerial Palestine campaign and more besides, with plenty more still to go. And, if they don't have a book you want, they'll order it for you and it's generally on the shelf in 4 - 6 weeks. If they can't source it for you - and it can happen - then the Inter Library Loan scheme ensures that they will probably be able to track it down from somewhere. And the icing on the cake is that the ILL scheme is international in scope, and covers libraries in the US and elsewhere. Not bad for a free service! If you're not a member of your local authority's library service, do yourself an enormous favour and join as soon as poss. </soapbox> Cheers, Si

Sounds good Olham, but I'd suggest simply flying away if it's early war. The AI is less inclined to go for you like a nutter and you might well get something done. Late war? Just don't take off.

Ay up Smithy, I can't beat that episode - I doubt whether anyone can - but I had a scramble yesterday evening that was a rum 'un. If you've been reading Reports from the Front, you may have seen my posts about a bloke in RFC no.2 squadron, and his flights in BE2c's, his transfer home as trainer, and then the return to France as a scout pilot in RFC no.1 squadron. Unfortunately, due to Moranes being unavailable, I've had to transfer him back to his original squadron - no doubt I'll come up with some bulls**t reason why he went! - however the second mission on his return was a scramble. Normally, I'd simply sit back and forget it, however for some daft reason, I went for it and found about a dozen EIIIs up against my flight of 4 BE2c's. That's instant suicide territory IRL, but it certainly wasn't for me; perhaps OFF is simply kind to BE pilots! We got off the ground and when I realised that the Fokkers weren't piling in with the sort of glee that they demonstrated when my pilot was in a Bristol Scout, decided to attack. This is all very un-BE like behaviour, but I assure you it's true. I set one EIII smoking and he drifted down and crashed - poor sods barely have enough lift to keep them aloft anyway - and then fixed upon another badly flown EIII which I managed to pepper and which subsequently then crashed into a wood near my airfield. As he went in the label Max Immelman came up. If only it'd been so easy in the real war! In OFF, it simply means that he evades capture by morphing into an ent and then striding manfully, er, treefully back to the Hun lines. What could be easier?

Writing poetry's an intense and much misunderstood thing to do, and it's not to be attempted unless you have a deep attachment to the subject. Thanks, Lou, for your poem, and thanks to everyone else who either writes or quotes. I can't write poetry - I used to, and also lyrics back in band days - however I now think that I'm rather better moulding prose to my feelings than poetry. That's not at all to deride poetry, God knows I'm an English graduate and have seem masses of vibrant, intense and enjoyable poetry; however, I wonder if it is possible - and I include the KvK and reports from the front threads in this - to actually get under the skin to the point where we can churn out something approaching art? I really don't know: I try to write to the best of my limited ability, but I'm conscious that there are better writers out there who not only have written better prose than me on the subject, but also served in the war in question. Ho hum. I guess I'll keep on writing, on the basis that practice makes perfect, and I encourage anyone who has a yen to do so to express themselves either in poetry or prose. I for one welcome all such work. Cheers, Si

I almost hesitate to post this, but I've found that this: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Wk7WIBpZWgs/SYUgJ0dPn9I/AAAAAAAACBM/h3eWOD8V_kk/s1600-h/21425~The-General-Posters.jpg is the best picture I've seen in years. Stuff WWI kites - tetchy looking hares are the business.

Hi Lou, Apparently, Jasta 4 operate in July 1915 near Douai, if my TAC is to believed, and in groups of a dozen or more! Obviously, It's more or less impossible to absolutely reproduce the units and tactics of all combatants in WWI in the air, but it seems to me that the early period still needs work, as one shouldn't be meeting Nieuports in the number that you do that early, and neither should I run into a Jasta in 1915, and certainly not Fokkers except as singletons, pairs, or in extremis, in threes. Also, it points up the fact that there are still issues with the AI with regard to attacks - particularly initiating them but also breaking off combat when it's all gone tits up, as it so often does. Crack those issues and you have a game that is probably brighter than most of the people playing it!! Cheers, Si