themightysrc

I'm broadly in agreement with Olham, and even more so with UKW. Wargames are pretty distinct, I'd say, from games that are predicated upon a war or conflict, but which are simply vehicles for a bit of ill-judged willy-waving. From my POV, such games devalue and belittle the sort of experiences that are available in 'proper' wargames - after all, if the point of the game is an enormous, gory pile of dismembered corpses, then it's difficult to see what it actually adds to the human condition. Whether such games are inherently harmful is very much a moot point. I wouldn't want my kids playing them, as I think they convey some pretty nasty messages along the way. 'Proper' wargames (as I'd call them) are a different kettle of fish. Such games can be fairly abstract - I'm thinking of Midway, an old largely non-graphical wargame based upon the battle where 99% of the 'action' takes place through reports from subs, scouts, bombers, etc concerning damage to vessels that you've sent your forces to eliminate. Superbly atmospheric, because the visuals and drama are mostly of your own making. Above all, it's a history lesson. OFF falls into the category of 'proper' wargaming by some way, whilst being (in effect) a first person shooter of sorts. However, the nature of the action, its setting and the authenticity it strives for also propel it firmly into being deeply historical, and precisely the sort of game that tempts one to learn far more about the war, not just the aerial conflict, but the whole thing, in order to put the game itself into a historical context. So my vote went to 'depends on the game', as you might expect. Cheers, Si

Winston, I'm sorry to say that I can't make this Saturday, as I'm off boardgaming elsewhere with mates - it's a long arranged date and can't be avoided. If Vasco isn't currently running a campaign on Sundays, might that be a good time to run yours? If not, I'll try and make at least one evening a week free, as it's brilliant to be able to dip in and out for an hour or so during the week. Cheers, Si

f***. Ing. Hell. You have adapted OFF to be able to take off and land on carriers? I'm beyond impressed: sign me up.

I prefer, "shamefully discharged"...." I thought that only happened to circus stuntmen who refused to climb into the cannon any longer?

"delete the part where it says "killed in action"...so all thats left are the ; ; separating the space where this was listed." Or you can replace the text with 'went home poorly', as an aide memoire to your brief moment of mortality.

"I'm curious . . do you find Drudge as an extremely biased, negative website. When all that's said is the Truth, from many different sources, prior to censorship. So stating the truth is being baised, and negative . . to your way of thinking" Please bear in mind, Al, that Drudge is but one internet site based in the USA and catering towards a particular audience. That is both its strength and weakness. "I particularly like the one about the "Hard Working' senior citizen, in the USA who's told by a Doctor, that pain in your side is Liver Cancer. In two months time, that Cancer will spread throughout your system. Your only hope is surgery tomorrow, if you can afford it of course" That is the problem with the current American system in a nutshell. I hope it will change to enable Americans without immediate access to such surgery to be able to enjoy the undoubted benefits of the relevant procedure. "The Brits have a great free healthcare system, of course our friend with the pain in his side, might have to wait four months to see the doctor ( but it's all free )" That is, AFAIK, one of the issues that the NHS is trying to bear down on. I'm also aware that cancer survival rates are interpreted and gathered differently in the USA and the UK, and therefore, untill such time as comparable statistics are available for both countries, then we would do well to avoid direct comparisons if comparable data isn't available. I am not here - posting - to inflame the feelings of any person. I am simply trying to add a POV that might otherwise be missed because of reference to sources of data that might well have an agenda attached. I know and trust that people posting here are decent, humane and reasonable. May this thread reflect that.

"but no...they continued to spend, spend, spend...and use our Tax Money, to bail out the fat cat Bankers!" Well, to be fair, it should be asked what the alternative was. I must confess, the idea of going to a hole in the wall and it not working (and it would have been that scenario) doesn't fill me with pleasure, nor would the prospect of the same seizure in the commercial world leading to supermarket with rapidly emptying shelves. Basically, once any form of government is predicated upon a banking system (and, in the case of most of the planet, on a share trading system), then you simply cannot afford to let it go bust, otherwise you will end up with anarchy and the destruction of whole societies. This, though, means that banking and the trading system needs to be well regulated and basically watched like a hawk to ensure that the people within that system looking to 'maximise shareholder value' - ie, milk it without necessarily producing anything of worth - are not allowed to operate in a manner that ultimately harms society. There's an interesting discussion to be had at all levels as to how this can be achieved. You could also extend the conversation to ask whether the existing financial model is, in fact, the correct prescription for the 21st Century, although I suspect that that conversation won't be had any time soon at a governmental and high commercial/financial level. It's ironic that the late 20th Century saw what was described as the triumph of the free capitalist model, as the alternative systems mostly failed, for whatever reasons (they were many and varied). Once such a system was 'proven' to be correct, then it seems to me that any variation which encouraged its extremes became acceptable, and even desirable. We now live in a world where people are beginning to realise that perhaps, just perhaps, such a model is not sustainable and has the capacity to wreck the lives of untold millions as thoroughly as a global war. On a largely unrelated matter, I'd like to say that I'm beginning to luurve the SE5a/Viper: what a stonking machine.

"Right now, the cabin crew of BA (my employer) is on strike, basically for reasons of greed" Whilst you qualified this statement by referring also to BA management, I would like to place on record my view. The workers at BA are being systematically bullied by their management in an attempt to deunionise - and therefore neuter - the workforce. Willie Walsh has a long history of such attempts at macho management in other positions, and he has not changed his spots. Unite members are absolutely entitled to defend their terms and conditions against this form of intimidation and blackmail. It is regrettable that any industrial dispute is also portrayed - at least in the UK media - as being the fault of unions and the workforce. Let us be clear: BA had good industrial relations with their workforce prior to Walsh's arrival, and now they lie in the gutter. I'm certainly not going to blame people whose only crime is to stand up for their T&Cs.

Is it PCI, PCI-E or AGP (hope it's the latter...)?

Isn't it all a bit random anyway? I vaguely recall reading on her a few months ago that it's possible to shoot down your squadron's pilots in flames and the next day, there they are, wraith like but raring to go... It'd be about the only bloody way I'd ever get kills, to be honest.

The Tripe is da bomb. What's more, it's an Albatros killer extraordinaire. It suddenly doesn't matter that you've only got one gun to his two, because as long as you are moderately careful, there's little hope of him ever getting a chance to use them on you. I fecking love 'em.

I queried the offline thing on SimHQ, and what came back was that, in effect, you could fly individual missions of your campaign (or whatever) offline - ie, with no concurrent server connection - however if you wished to progress, or if your pilot carked, or whatever, then you had to go back online. That's the bit that I still have problems with. I think that OBD got it right in making offline/stand alone purely independent of external servers. That's not because I'm a libertarian per se (although I probably am to some degree), but rather that I think that paying money for a game should have no ties attached regarding playability should the mothership ever cark.

Well, if somebody gifts me about a grand to go out and buy a similar rig, then I'll possibly consider ROF. Until then, OFF functions rather well on my mediocre dual core system, and has a full dynamic campaign, so that'll do me nicely.

Hi, "I can change the screen resolution, AA, and set the sliders but no mention of overides. Am I doing something wrong?" It's not hidden, but neither is it particularly obvious! The window that pops up - bear with me, I'm at work so this is mind's eye stuff - apart from being able to slide your sliders (NB, terrain detail SHOULDN'T be above 4 afaik) there should be a wee menu bar at the top: the tickbox jobbies you're looking for are distributed through the options you find in there. Can't be more detailed, as I say, I'm at work, but you should be able to find them and amend to your heart's content. One word of warning: don't X the window to close, otherwise your changes will go West. Go to File and the Exit to get out. HTH, Si

Crikey, I thought it was an OFF video of the Camel until the pilot's head moved!

From a British POV, I'm happy that Brisfits have two rear facing machine guns. As a Hun, I'm rather more wary of the damn things. Did they all have two rear Lewis's? Surely not. Still, it's a magnificent and deadly plane to tangle with. I utterly hate them, unless I'm flying one. I'd rather face Jasta 11 or 56 Sqn at the height of their abilities than tangle with half a dozen Bristol Fighters. Brrrrrrr. Not my cup of tea at all.

I came looking for mods and extra kites for First Eagles via Google. Came, saw, didn't conquer. Realised that OFF was probably going to be a better use of my time. Stayed. I now lurk semi-permanently in the OFF folders....

Because i know you lot like arguing and chewing the fat concerning the planes in OFF, I thought it might be nice to stretch your imaginations a little bit. The title should be self-explanatory: as far as I'm concerned, the Bristol Fighter (the X) was the Mosquito (the Y) of its day, the BE2c was the Fairy Battle of its day. Got the picture? Right, let's go!

Some interesting thoughts on this thread. I'm for offing the Taleban, mainly because I see them as a backwardly facing force for the people of Afghanistan, particularly WRT the rights of women and those who don't wish to live by a very extreme and singular interpretation of the Qu'ran. Having said that, people should recognise that one reason that the Afghanis took to the Taleban is that they brought stability and peace into regions that they took over. You can flame me all you like for saying that: it happens to be true. That justice, obviously, was pretty harsh, and you could kiss goodbye to the rights of those outside the most strict readings of Islam - rather like promulgating a society based upon the Old Testament - however, it was a popular movement within Afghanistan. You cannot explain their success there otherwise, unless you wish to indulge in some fairly weird interpretations of what went on. The problem that now exists in Afghanistan is multifaceted, and at its root is the distrust that Afghanis - probably well pissed off with being caught in somebody else's wars for three decades - feel about foreign intervention and having a government which, if not corrupt, shows so many warning signs of being so that they probably don't think it's worth the candle. Chuck in endemic lawlessness both outside and, latterly, inside Kabul, an economy that has to embrace narcotics to survive (and how well is that turning out? It's worth pointing out that the Taleban in power reined in poppy production quite severely - obviously it was unislamic and the penalties majorly severe) plus a distrust of the NATO forces within the country and you're looking at a long investment in changing the face of Afghanistan. Not six months. Not a year or two. Not five years or so. Try about three to four decades. This is a country where the infrastructure is so poor, the educational attainment so poor, the prospects for 99% of Afghanis so limited - particularly the women, 50% of the population - that the only way that this can be turned around is by effectively calling it a nation building zone and to stop pretending that this can be done on the sly. It can't. The present government there was elected in the most dubious fashion, and I will guarantee that, like Iraq, the government of the country will fall into abeyance (at best) and anarchy (at worst) when the occupiers withdraw unless the civil and political gains made by the various indigenous people of those countries (counting Iraq as well now) are such that it is not in their interests to let the whole edifice go to the wall. Time will tell where we all go from here, but I severely doubt whether either country will be anything like a success story. In terms of the ambitions of British and American politicians after Sept 11th 2001, I think the appropriate phrase will be abject failure.

I'm currently alternating between two albums at the moment: Here Come The Warm Jets (Brian Eno) and The Seldom Seen Kid (Elbow). I daren't play my other current fave whilst my wife's around - Steve Reich's Music for 4 Organs - as she'll attack me with the bread knife if I do <sob>

Nonsense! Stiff upper lip and all that - get out in that snow like a man, and stride boldly through the stuff! I intend to do just that - admittedly at about ten to three to get down to my local to watch Citeh and Pule in front of a roaring fire, but that's irrelevant...

"The DVII has to be a Focke Wulf 190 surely?" Yep, that one occurred to me as well. Pretty apt, I'd say.

Hi UKW, That was my first thought - the Camel being the Spitfire of WWI - but I thought better of it because the Spitfire was somewhat more forgiving. I'm trying to think of a highly agile WWII fighter that was considered to be a bit dangerous to its pilots. The Typhoon or Tempest perhaps? You're quite right about the Albatros though: the looks of a Stuka but none of the performance.....

Hi Winston, Thanks for the run out yesterday evening - quite literally, a blast. I'm also very pleased to be able to announce to the world that I've finally broken my MP duck by downing that Albatros (although someone had put rounds into him before I finally got him - thank you for leaving me a sitter). See you Saturday, if I can make the time. Cheers, Si

One of the nice things about living in Blighty is the fact that you can find an awful lot of extremely nice beers - both UK produced and from elsewhere. I'm extremely lucky to live in the North West of England, probably one of the better areas for real ale, and despite years of getting slaughtered intensive field testing, I'm nowhere near having sampled more than a small percentage of what can be found. To give you an idea of how daunting this task is, here's a wee factette. Local to where I live, there's a real ale bar at my local steam railway station (rail spods and beer are natural partners. So are large beards, larger guts and BO apparently, but I digress), a bar which started life as a twinky little tea room, but then proved the theory of evolution by morphing into its present incarnation. Since they opened as a real ale bar in about 2003, they've kept a count of the number of different types real ales and ciders/perries that they've served up. To date, the number stands at well over 2000. I can't name an all time favourite, but here are a few favourites that stick in the memory (bearing in mind that there are probably other beers that may have been better, but which managed to obliterate my memory of them...): Marston's Pedigree Moorhouse's Pendle Witch Ale Everard's Tiger Hobgoblin (before they lowered the ABV, dammit) Robinson's Old Tom Theakston's Old Peculier Phoenix Wobbly Bob Leyden Raglan Sleeve (a local favourite) That's a very small proportion of what I've been able to get through! Many local pubs also rotate different ales in and out on a regular basis, and I'm constantly astounded at finding new and interesting beers from breweries I've never of before. Well, at least I won't get bored. Someone once said that if you're born English, you've already hit the jackpot of life; whilst I wouldn't go that far, I'd certainly say that with regard to beer, it's certainly absolutely true.