Wels

New Year Terror threat levels increased. *New Year brings rise in Security Alert State* Recent terrorist threats have caused the English to raise their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorised from "Tiresome" to a "Bloody Nuisance." The last time the English issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588 when threatened by the Spanish Armada. The Scots raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards". They don't have any other levels.. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years. The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender.." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country's military capability. It's not only the French who are on a heightened level of alert. Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout loudly and excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides." The Germans also increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose". Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels. The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed craft have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy. Americans meanwhile and as usual are carrying out pre-emptive strikes on all of their allies, just in case. And in the southern hemisphere... New Zealand has also raised its security levels - from "baaa" to "BAAAA!". Due to continuing defence cutbacks (the air force being a squadron of spotty teenagers flying paper aeroplanes and the navy some toy boats in the Prime Minister's bath), New Zealand only has one more level of escalation, which is "I hope Australia will come and rescue us". Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be all right, mate". Three more escalation levels remain: "Crikey!', "I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend" and "The barbie is cancelled". So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level. Greetings, and a Happy New Year, Catfish

Merry Christmas, "Fröhliche Weihnachten", to you and your family, and a Happy New Year ! All the best, Catfish

Hello, or, the last words of the 1st officer of a Zeppelin going up in flames about England, "Smoking allowed !" Two survivors to tell this .. Greetings, Catfish

Hello, i am currently learning SH4 with patch 1.5 (=U-Boat missions) and some beautiful mods - it is indeed better than SH3 with GWX - and it took me quite some time to change. I am currently running SH 4 with U-Boat missions, and some free campaign mod playing with german U-boats, almost anywhere in the world, and with historically correct occurrences like the invasion of Norway, british fleet manoeuvers and all. This is graphically unbelievable, in fact i wondered where SH 5 is better ! The (b.t.w. free) campaign mod is named "Operation Monsun" (OM), it comes with "Operation Monsun environmental graphics upgrade" (OMEGU), all easily installed via JSGME. It's huge, but it is worth it. The targeting and plotting is really something you have to learn, but when you mastered it it is more exact than in the original "vanilla" game - and it is historically correct ! Graphics but also gameplay is breathtaking, i just have to learn the AOB thingie again lol. This OM is for a german campaign, but there are also numerous improvements with other great mods for the US side. like "Run silent run deep", "Trigger Maru", "Real Fleet Boat" and whatnot. Since SH 4 and the U-Boat mission add-on is now a bargain, i can only advise to get it ! Greetings, Catfish

Hi, SH 5 engine at work : http://videos.uk.ubi...?video=9w40cuh7 Greetings, Catfish

Hello, oops and i thought i'd be the only one who has a faible for those steel coffins. The engine and graphics look great, but i guess there will again have to be a lot of modders, to make this historically right. Anyway, it looks great ! Greetings, Catfish

Hello, Happy Birthday from Hunland ! I'll bring a bottle of champagne, but the beer is on you Have a good time ! Kai

Hello, regarding Mick Mannock, i have not yet read it but hope i will one day. As far as i know he was working for a british telegraph company in Turkey, when war broke out. He was then captured and imprisoned, in very bad "circumstances" (maybe like you would expect from turkish prisons of the time), and for what i read he was also tortured many times. This also explains his hate against Germans, in fact he was only relieved from prison and sent to England, because the turkish thought he would not live very much longer, let alone be able to fight in the war - this is all hearsay, never read a good book about it yet, but it would also explain the suffering in his face. Greetings, Catfish

Hi, yes it's a pretty good book on the subject, covering lots of aspects. My hope is that if one of the OFF team ever reads it, maybe then Zeppelins might appear in OFF. This is FS 2004/FS9, but imagine that one in OFF : http://mainescenery....lay&thread=9616 and some hangars, or "airship halls": http://mainescenery....ene&thread=9684 Some excellent 3D-modelling, showing the inner hydrogen gas bags, along with rigging etc. - this is not in any sim, "just" an accurate 3d model from Alin: Just to remind, i have recently purchased an old german paperback (1960ies) were the most important planes of WW1 are listed, with some good description on performance, and numbers built. So while i understand that the "hat in the ring" N 28s are in the addon (maybe to attract the US market), there are much more planes that have been built in much higer numbers, but that are not in OFF. The Fokker E.V//D.VIII, and the Nieuport 28, well. There must have been lots of aviators in WW1 who never actually saw one of those rare birds ... did i say there were more than a hundred Zeppelins ... Here are some numbers from Robinson, showing how much missions the naval branch alone did, with airships: 1914 Reconnaissance flights - North Sea: 48 Days of rec. missions - North Sea: 35 of 148 Reconnaissaace flights - Baltic Sea: 10 Casualties: 0 airships 1915 Reconnaissance flights - North Sea: 297 Days of rec. missions - North Sea: 124 of 365 Reconnaissance flights - Baltic Sea: 53 Tactical flights - North Sea: 47 in all, 27 over England Tactical flights - Baltic sea: 4 Casualties: 10 airships 1916 Reconnaissance flights - North Sea: 253 Days of rec. missions - North Sea: 89 of 365 Reconnaissance flights - Baltic Sea: 30 (naval) 29 (army) temp. in service of the Navy Tactical flights - North Sea: 187 in all, 111 over England Tactical flights - Baltic sea: 15 Casualties: 16 airships 1917 Reconnaissance flights - North Sea: 242 Days of rec. missions - North Sea: 96 of 365 Reconnaissance flights - Baltic Sea: 42 (naval) 56 (army) temp. in service of the Navy Tactical flights - North Sea: 54 in all, 28 over England Tactical flights - Baltic sea: 27 Casualties: 16 airships 1918 Reconnaissance flights - North Sea: 131 Days of rec. missions - North Sea: 55 of 315 Tactical flights - North Sea: 18 in all, 11 over England Casualties: 11 airships Altogether: Reconnaissance missions - North Sea: 971 Reconnaissance days - North Sea: 399 of 1559 Reconnaissance missions - Baltic Sea:135 (naval) 85 (army) in naval service Tactical missions - North Sea: 306 in all, 177 over England Tactical missions - Baltic Sea: 46 Casualties: 53 airships (Numbers from Robinson, "The Zeppelin in combat") Not to forget the Zeppelin that went to Africa, and back. One of my wife's distant relatives was aboard that one, and later died over the gulf of Otranto during a bombing raid against maltese docks, in 1918. Greetings, Catfish

"Don't forget, we need to kill all the Livestock as they been proven to produce large amounts of Methane Gas" Greetings, Catfish

Hello, the maps might be a bit more detailed than those from Rabu - if i remember right. BUT: We do not need a map showing the whole front from Nieuport to Switzerland. All we really need is a map showing the area where the next mission takes place. A small map with the area of operation would be enough in-game - and it would need much less pixels than the original one (or so i think) ? Would it be possible to adapt the map to the mission size-wise ? If you leave the area ... well it happened that pilots lost their way, but then they would probably land at the nearest aerodrome and ask where they were, or fly very close to railway stations to read the name of the location - airships indeed did that when being lost. Greetings, Catfish

Hello, " ... Modern scientific method is to now conjure a conclusion and then find any evidence to support it, ignoring evidence to the contrary. They no longer observe, study and then conclude. We can all do a better job ecologically and we're learning now, it's even in our economic best interest to do so. ..." I find this denying phenomenon much more interesting lol : " ... Political psychology can help us answer these questions. First, climate change seems tailor-made to be a low priority for most people. The threat is distant in both time and space. It is difficult to visualize. And it is difficult to identify a clearly defined enemy. Coal executives may deny that global warming exists, but at the end of the day they're just in it for a buck, not hiding in caves in Pakistan plotting new and exotic ways to kill us. Second, the dominant climate change solutions run up against established ideologies and identities. Consider the psychological concept of "system justification." System justification theory builds upon earlier work on ego justification and group justification to suggest that many people have a psychological need to maintain a positive view of the existing social order, whatever it may be. This need manifests itself, not surprisingly, in the strong tendency to perceive existing social relations as fair, legitimate, and desirable, even in contexts in which those relations substantively disadvantage the person involved. ..." Rest is here: http://www.guardian....-climate-change Ah, yes their may be denying scientists who present themselves to the public rather than follow strict methods of studying in their laboratories - if they are scientists at all, and not paid lobbyists who just claim some science background. But right now it's not only scientists but laboratory workers of e.g. Exxon/Mobil who prove exactly by examination of drilling cores that the CO graph has risen almost logarithmic in a measured time of appx. 120 years back from now, in a way what took 18 million years back then when the climate changed due to dying global forests (for whatever "natural" reason) at the end of the Carbon period, and made the CO2 level "explode" - only that that took 18 million years until the Permian period "happened". It is anyway interesting what did happen in the next millions of years of the Permian period. Certain examinations will not made public due to bad public reception, but then - if you think you are being belied, or do not trust - just imagine who will make the most profit, personally, of a certain point of view ? If a coal manager tells you there's nothing to worry about ? Or an oil company ? Or a president that came from the oil industry ? I plain deprive almost all politicians from knowing anything of what they talk about at all, and we will as well not hear bad news from the industry - bad for business. It is sad, but we should probably learn to use our brain, and let not think and decide some unlearned politicians or greedy industry for us. It is "us" who they live from, they just seem to have lost this idea somehow. Greetings, Catfish

Hi, i wonder if anyone remembers what he learned at school, let alone those who maybe studied some natural science ? Heavy rainfalls do not occur due to a cooling of the earth's atmosphere, but warming. It was said, that before the temperature rises, there will be a few years of further cooling, which took place in the last 5-7 years, but it should have been much longer like 10-12 years - it is only the effect is now becoming self-amplifying. The CO2 mankind produces (b.t.w. in a portion that is well above what induced the time of the Perm in the earth's history) is - at first - good for plants, they breathe it and grow fast, given enough water. CO2 is being absorbed by all kinds of animals, and even by rock through chemical reactions. However if plants decay (or are being destroyed by eroding rain forests), they will set all this temporarily-stored CO2 free again, as long as they are not buried in an O2-free environment, like it happened in those big coal swamps in the geological time of the carbon. This is were all those gases were built up, and stored, until we began to pump it out of the earth and recycle the stored energy, filling up the atmosphere with CO2 again. We are speaking here of 1. draining sunlight "batteries" (coal, oil, gas) and 2. about setting CO2 free that has been absorbed in coal, and fossil fuels some hundred million years ago. (all oil and gas has been produced by plants, be it in terrestrial environments, or the sea through plankton). A real "consumer" or buffer of CO2 today is still plankton and coral reefs, and the under-sea build-up of carbon-dioxide in Calcium-carbonate rock, additionally a good deal is held back in the watery masses of the oceans - the gigantic coal swamps like in the Carbon times are long gone, sorry no buffer left here. The carbon dioxide stored, in stone like Calcium-carbonate or CaCO3 at a certain low temperature, is one of the most gigantic buffer that keeps the earth in a usually not-so-delicate equilibrium. The drilling cores of deep drilling ventures have made that perfectly clear. Which is by the way why the industry wants to sink CO2 into/under the earth again, in big caverns, or better mile-wide crack systems, to remove it from the atmosphere, they are well aware of their self-induced problem. If the atmosphere is being warmed up by whatever, the stored-away CO2 will be set free again - and we are also talking about the unfreezing Russian Tundra here with its billions of tons of CO2 gas hydrates. The deep sea cores and Antarctic drilling ones have shown that all those buffers (which usually control a bit of CO2 excess, or starvage, for a short time of a hundred years), are now filled up with CO2 to their full capacity, and we still keep pumping just that it into the atmosphere. If you want real information you should just not ask lobbyists, ot the oil/gas industry, this is so ridiculous. We are now having tornadoes in Germany, still small but growing, as well as flooding and lots of levee breaks. But hey, companies make money repairing this, insurance companies can raise their tariffs - climate change is a chance that fuels the economy lol. So f**k the Earth's cyclic systems, and biology - man is above all. Greetings, Catfish

Hello, i know the devs are currently in full swing to get the add-on ready, so i know it will take some time for any airship, if at all. So since i know nothing about the underlying CFS3 sim it is only a question .. If there would be an airship in OFF, be it a british SS type submarine scout blimp, or a Zepp., would it be possible to use any control feature of CFS3 for statical control of an airship in the sim ? Maybe with one of the trim commands ? This was only a rough idea, but since all airships in simulators can only be flown dynamically (at least that i know off, like CFS2, and FS9, or FSX) , would it be possible at all to insert a control for rising, or sinking without the airship moving over ground ? - To simulate the dropping of ballast (sand/water) for rising, or venting gas to sink. An airship can certainly use dynamical lift by raising the nose while in motion, but do you think it could be made work statically, in the sim ? Thanks and greetings, Catfish P.S. If you ever need a plan for a certain airship, or any details, colours whatever to model 3-d wise, i would be glad to help you.

Hello, Stumpy, this looks really good - ! I have a pdf about the german "Torpedo-Versuchsanstalt" (hmm "Torpedo-trial institute" ?? i guess "asylum" was not the right translation lolol), can send it to you if you give me a pm with email. Also some photos in there, not intended to criticize the screenshot above ! Thanks and greetings, Catfish

Hello Olham, you wrote: " ... Sooner or later, they'll have to do one, to make WW1 air combat complete. But my instinkt says, they would prefer to first get all the aeroplanes done. ..." Yes, understood. And it will take much more time, or modeling, to get a whole zepp historically correct. But (lol) we get already the Fokker E.V/D.VIII in the add-on, and there were only 85 or so of those delivered to the front. And there were 100+ german airships alone, if you add army, and naval ones !! N' schoenen Abend noch nach Berlin, Kai

http://www.paulspond.com/index.php?entry=212 I KNEW they were wrong lol Greetings, Catfish

Hello, thanks Pol for answering - i know it's not high on the priority list, and it was just a question. The existing Zeppelin and the FM is "not too bad" at all (to use the australian term of adoring something ), i was just thinking about some static vertical control at all in OFF. I once found a tool for fumbling with FS 2004's (=FS9) flight model, but i guess you already know this (?) This "Air wrench" works for CFS2, CFS3, FS2002, FS2004, and FSX or so they say here: http://www.mudpond.org/ And ... is there a chance that Greg Law's L30 airship could be included officially in OFF, at some time ? It would be nice to have it included, there were not too much german airship bases in the West, so at least the german Zepp.'s routes and flights could probably be included at the correct times. No need for actually steering them, let them fly high, per AI. Well, just some brainstorming ... Thanks and greetings, Catfish

Well there are other misconceptions like: 1. It's sunny today, i' ll fix the car's starter tomorrow .. (then lying in a puddle with cold water running down my neck) - ok stole this from "I'll do that later" 2. I would be rich some day (ok, stole that but still). 3. Politicians know what they're doing. 4. Big industrial leaders want their workers to improve, and are not greedy after they made their first 3 millions. 5. I would feel completely else when married. 6. I would all be "somehow better" regarding point 4. 7. Technics and mechanics really improve (in a way it is better for the CUSTOMER) 8. I will once have a job i love. 9. I will always have a job. 10. I switched the right fuse to off before fumbling with the electrial socket. Those 10 points came out without thinking, and i guess i could point out some further 100s with ease lol. However when it comes to history and WW1, i really had so much misconceptions that it would fill up this forum .. Greetings, Catfish

Thanks Mr. Prop-Wash, at least you were lucky enough to still fly, as soon as german FlaK hits my BE2c, i will always go down vertically, with still spinning prop - but this does not help. I'd prefer a dead stick and be able emergency-land lol Now i know why Germany is called the "dark" side, it's those smoky puffs But really, maybe the devs should implement this in the next version. One more point for reality .. Greetings, Catfish

Hello, beautiful skins ! Thanks for showing, and i saw also the Roland looks better now, i like that you not only concentrate on the usual sucpects, as Camel and Dr.I lol. Maybe the devs should also post some screenshots at SimHQ, and Aerodrome forum ? Thanks for posting, and greetings, Catfish

Hello, found this here http://www.youtube.c...h?v=_a1GRBPj038 Sorry if this has been posted before - there are more parts than those six, also on other aspects of the war, but those are well worth watching. The war "to end all wars" did not accomplish this very statement, it was the initial cause of much more fighting, and dying. As quite some people of all nations agreed afterwards - it was not worth it. Greetings, Catfish

Hello, thanks for sharing !! Regarding the small airships, or blimps: The "tube" or funnel protruding from the underside of the airship's hull is for keeping the inner "ballonett" under pressure. Those smaller airships have no rigid inner structure (like a "Zeppelin", or generally all "rigid" airships), but are filled with hydrogen gas - the pressure of the gas keeps the blimp in its form. Now the inner part of the hull cannot be filled with gas completely, it would be too light, and would additionally expand while climbing to higher altitudes (= falling outer pressure), until the hull would burst. So the hull was made bigger, and only half filled with hydrogen gas. But now the pressure would not keep the hull fully blown and keep its shape ... So a second inner bag or balloon was introduced, filled with air, and open at the underside via the funnel. When the hydrogen gas would now expand due to rising of the airship, it would press the air out of the second balloon (=ballonett) through the funnel, instead of making the outer hull burst. Accordingly, when the gas would compress due to sinking, the ballonett would have to expand to keep the pressure of the outer hull up. The filling of the ballonett was done with the propellor. The inner ballonett was used as a flexible volume, to keep the blimp under pressure, regardless of atmospheric/barometric conditions. And yes i would like to see those in OFF !! Maybe along with Zeppelins ... ? Thanks for posting, and greetings, Catfish

Hello, don't know whether that works with TrackIR, but isn't there a toggle mode from Cockpit to gun, to instruments and back view ? I have shot down quite some Albatrosses and Halberstadts with my BE2c that way. It is hard, your sight is caught only between the cabane struts, and the exhaust, but fiddling around a bit with it works. The split second an enemy plane drifts into sight, you can fire, and even place some deflection shots, if not like with a real fighter plane. Greetings, Catfish

Hello, thanks to the dev team for what we have already ! And i agree, this being dropped-out of the sim when the pilot is dead, or you made a crash-land (even if you did it perfectly) kills a lot of fun - i do not know why the dev team removed it from the sim again (?). Nothing beats the view of your battered bird, after a hairy landing, or even death. While we are at it, i make short notices from time to time when i see s.t., so here goes (it's nothing new, not even big immersion killers, and the dev team may already be aware): - The propellor of a/c planes keeps turning when they crash-land, or lose their engine. It almost never stops - i saw this only one time with a burning BE2c, which landed well despite being shot-up and burning - this time the plane really came to full stop, with the prop also stopping - this was how it should be generally imho. - Propellor of own a/c turns much too long after shutting down the magnetoes, or set mixture to zero. Especially true for in-line-engined planes. - Own plane or one of the wings often "sinks into the ground" when performing a bad, or crash landing - but maybe this is why the dev team removed the crash-landing scenes, dropping us out before it (?) - Wheels turn too fast in relation to their diameter, just an observation when the plane rolls out, before coming to full stop - Some planes have springs in their axle/wheels, or even their tail skids, but most planes do not - this is sure an animation that looks great when it exists. Could you add this to all planes ? - Especially the Roland C.II hops and "bumps" during starts, and landing - and the 3-d model and skin is a bit "blocky", especially the wings. But i am happy to have that bird around at all, believe me ;) - When enemy pilots jump out, their "ghost" seems to be still sitting in the plane - this was not on the original CFS3 sim, so .. could you change that ? - Apart from those minor thingies i would very much like to see more two-seaters, bombers, and - did i say this already (?) - Zeppelins ! Thanks and greetings, Catfish