Bullethead

I though the States had a monopoly on stupid cops Well, arguably the Japanese did it first, all they way back in 1914 at the Seige of Tsingtao. But those were seaplanes hoisted out instead of flying off a deck.

Yeah, I think the new character stat system might just be great. It's mostly internal mechanics, not really gameplay, but it makes more sense the more I think about it, so it might catch on. Wandering bosses used to be a staple of early RPGs. Hell, even Evercrack had them at least early on when I was playing it. But somewhere along the line, somebody thought it was too hard on new players so they disappeared. Now personally, I always thought it added some zest to the game that your new character could be minding his own business killing giant rats just on the outskirts of town, far from all the dangerous places of evil legend, and suddenly the Big Baddie himself might stroll by and casually flatten you while on his way to the grocery store. The worst that can happen is, you lose everything since your last save, which if you're smart will only be the last couple of minutes. Big whoop. But folks whined.....

Very nice, thanks :)

Whenever I join a new squadron or my squadron moves to a new base, I always take time to fly around the local neighborhood learning landmarks. Hey, this base is near a creek/road/railway that I can follow home. Wow, there's a nunnery with a convenient landing field adjacent. And look, here are some friendly flak concentrations in handy places if I'm being chased home. When I was flying 2-seaters in the DiD campaign last year, this habit saved me on nearly every flight. The weather was almost always total crap with thick low cloud and freezing rain, but I knew that if I followed a certain creek and turned when over a specific bend until I was lined up with a particular clump of trees, I'd be perfect for my final landing approach even though I usually couldn't see the airfield until I was right over the threshold.