Bullethead

What about me?!?!?!?!?!? I've been interned there since the Worst Navigation Error Ever when my entife flight from No. 20 Squadron ended up there from lack of fuel

Both theories are sound. But I also note the lack of mud and muck plastering the beardless poilu, so I tend to favor Uncle Al's 2nd alternative. BTW, what's the French word for a beardless poilu? Seems like a contradiction in terms.

Then you'd love the Total War series. All these things were features of the original Shogun more than a decade ago and have been there ever since, and will be in the new Shogun 2 due out in about 6 weeks. The main difference is that combat takes place in a 3D tactical situation with you as general. As daimyo. you have raised and trained the various units in your army at the strategic level. Now, as general, you have to put them in formation on the battlefield and give them orders in a realtime battle where every individual soldier is modeled. Truly epic carnage worthy of the battles of Nagashino and Sekigahara. You can even do things like Dan no Ura, although the game is set in the Sengoku Period several centuries after the Gempei War. You should really check this game out. 5 Rings is no harder to read than Shaw's Fighter Combat . In fact, reading Shaw is where I 1st heard of Musashi, because Shaw put quotes from the 5 Rings at the start of several chapters. So I read Musashi as part of learning to do energy tactics in virtual WW2 fighters. And that's what gave me the most respect for him, because that's the ultimate proof of his genius. He claimed that his ideas were applicable to all forms of combat from single duels to mass armies, but he wrote in the 1600s. Even gliders were then still a wet dream. If you say so. I was under the impression that such tales were legends invented much later. I thought pretty much all his duels were just that, 1-on-1 affairs. But the legend of the lone swordsman vs. the horde had to come from somewhere. Well, he wasn't unique in that. After all, the rapier plus main gauche, or the claymore plus dirk (with or without the targe) were tried and true methods for both the battlefield and the duel over in the gaijin world at about the same time Musashi wrote. Those are my favorite ways of fencing, BTW. Renaissance street brawling instead of Olympic rules . I had a lot of fun in my SCA days being a "swasher", too poor to buy armor but able to do the Errol Flynn stuff .

I wish I knew more on this subject. I've read enough about the period to get the gist of it and be familiar with some of the key characters and events, but I'm certainly no expert. I did, however, read Musashi's 5 Rings long ago . I suppose you'll be getting the new Total War Samurai game when it comes out?

Great pic, but the poilu lacks a beard....

Good luck to your Mom, Ohlam. BTW, I figure I'm going to need new knees in a few years. I was thinking of having the old ones mounted for hanging over my fireplace, or perhaps making a key fob out of a worn-out patella. Be kind to your knees, folks. You'll miss them when they're gone.....

I must say, I'm rather honored to have a way of killing yourself named after me. That puts me in the same elite club as the great Minamoto no Yorimasa, the 1st guy known to have committed seppuko . Like and old tree From which we gather no flowers Sad has been my life Fated no fruit to produce But in all honesty, I was not the discoverer of the so-called "BH Spin". Search this forum and you'll see. That person actually deserves this great honor. But what about getting into the so-called "BH Spin" while in a dive and accelerating, and not pulling hard on the stick in any way? IIRC, you dove the thing vertically into the mud from 10k or so and walked away

Sorry, but I can't help but laugh Many years ago, I was in the middle of an online furball in Air Warrior. I was staring intently at my monitor and saw something cross in front of me from right to left at high speed and close range, so I automatically turned hard left to follow it. But it continued on past the edge of my screen, still visible, This is when I realized that the thing wasn't in the game, it was in the room with me, so I turned my head for a better look and discovered it was a sparrow. But before I could even digest this, the cat came tearing along after the sparrow, claws out for improved traction, right across both my forearms, which were still on my stick and throttle . The sparrow flew into the window where it tried to beat its way through the glass fairly high up, meanwhile spraying guano about. The cat leapt from my arms to high up the curtain beside it, where she swung like a monkey on a vine, tearing the curtain to bits with 3 sets of claws while swiping at the sparrow with the other, causing an increase in guano output. There was nothing for it but to declare an "in-cockpit emergency" and "bail out" of my flying chair before my room was destroyed. Order was not restored until much later

Bravo WM! Best of luck!

The DH2 has 2 types of spin. One type is the same as in other planes. It happens as you'd expect, following a relatively low-speed stall. This kind is no harder to recover from than with other planes. But the DH2 also has a unique spin of its own, which is pure evil. This one happens at high speed without any warning at all. It usually happens to me just after I give my wingmen the attack order and we're starting to swoop a formation of slightly lower enemies some distance away horizontally. One moment I'm in a shallow dive and very gentle turn to line up my pass, the next I'm spinning madly. This spin is more of an extremely fast roll than a real spin. There is no noticeable pitch or yaw component to it--the plane just rotates extremely rapidly about its roll axis, pivoting about the center of the forward view. Once this happens, the DH2 follows a ballistic trajectory into the ground, the initial shallow dive gradually getting steeper and speed increasing. The roll is so fast that it exceeds my framerate so I can't even tell which way I'm spinning. None of the controls, nor any combination of them, have any noticeable effect on this spin, not even throttling back and killing the engine. And believe me, you'll have time to try everything if this starts for you at 10,000 feet or so . This is why I don't fly the DH2. Other than this problem, it's not that bad a plane (for an underpowered pusher). But it's habit of abruptly ending promising careers for no apparent reason, and in a rather unrealistic manner, makes me consider it broken. Think of the DH5 as a slightly improved later model of the DH2, which essentially is exactly what it was. They had about the same power, weighed about the same, and used the exact same wing panels. The slight improvement in performance therefore seems mostly due to the more aerodynamic tractor layout of the DH5. The main improvement, however, is that the DH5 lacks the DH2's evil high-speed spin . So yes, the DH5 can fight. But its performance is more suited to the opponents of 1916 than mid-late 1917. Thus, you're going to be low, slow, and have Albatri constantly dancing on your head, each and ever sortie. So you have to have extreme patience, playing dodgeball with the much more energetic enemy until you either get in a lucky snapshot or they slow down to turn with you. I find this a lot of fun. But you probably won't be able to catch 2-seaters unless they're low and carrying bombs, and even then you'll be forced by your tiny margin of speed over them into a long, slow sternchase right into their guns. The DH5 bobs and wobbles like any rotary plane until you get used to flying it. Visibility is the same as in a pusher--excellent forwards and upwards, terrible behind due to the backwards wing stagger. But if you transition from the DH2 or Fee to the DH5, it's no worse than before so won't bother you. The main combat problem in the DH5 is being able to hit a maneuvering target in a dogfight, where you have to estimate the amount of lead to use. This is because the gun is off to the side and you have NOTHING AT ALL in front of you to use as a reference point when aiming. No sight, no gun, no engine parts, no struts, no wires, not even rivets on the top edge of the windshield. Test firing on the ground with head centered, the bullets appear to cross the center of the view slightly below the top edge of the windshield, but even hitting the TIR view center button just before firing doesn't help much in combat. Using the F6 iron sight isn't any better because its view is so restricted that you can't see the target in a situation where you need to pull lead. Thus, my advice is to not fire until you're much closer to the enemy than you're used to with other planes. Fortunately, the DH5 carries a LOT of ammo for a 1-gun fighter, so you can miss a lot and not run out . Also remember than the DH5 is extremely durable. It needs to be, given you'll be wading through ground fire and getting swooped by Albatri all the time. It flies quite well with damaged parts, at least if you keep your speed up, and you can walk away unharmed from even the most horrific crashes. The main thing that brings you down is engine damage, so it's a good idea to learn the locations of villages with friendly peasant women in your area of operations

I tried putting and pedaling around only to discover I'd followed Unle Als' advice too literally and had not assigned a HOTAS button to releasing the parking brake. In fact, I'd reassigned the key(s) for that to something else so was left without even a keyboard option. Needless to say, I didn't get very far . Just as well. I'd have gotten a DWI if I'd move the vehicle :

Have you tried adding a new plane to OFF? There are only a few folks who have. Stumpjumper has done it multiple times. There have been many who have tried, myself included. Buit once you get into it, you discover that it's a whole lot more work than you expected going in, and way more than your real life and other hobbies have time for. Actually sculpting the model is the least of it. It's getting the FM right that will kill you. Unless you get your money or your jollies from doing this, as opposed to say actually playing the game for months on end or having any sort of life outside your day job, then you won't finish your project. So, that leaves other areas. We have sound mods. We have mods for the DM and various effects. And we have skins. Skins are most prevalent because they're the easiest to do. Beyond that, salute to the sound and DM modders, because they're doing things I can't even understand, let alone replicate. Bottom line is, doing serious modding is so time-consuming that most folks either don't have time for it, lose interest after a while, or are scared off before they begin. Honestly, I'm surprised we have anything at all besides a few skins, given the small size of the customer base. So be thankful for what you have :)

:drinks: :drinks: :drinks:

You know, if you live long enough in DH2s in No. 24, eventually you get the DH5 just in time for Paschendalle. That's a squadron for true ironmen . I myeself can't fly the DH2 without getting into an unrecoverable spin that's so fast I can't even tell which way I'm going. Thus, I have no hope of completing such a tour. As such, usually fly for No. 20 in Fees in Bloody April, which is about as long as I usually live. Then my next pilot starts in No. 24 in DH5s.

But a word of caution to the noobs.... Warp can screw you in several ways. This is because each waypoint has an atltude assigned to it, over which you have no control at all. When you get to that waypoint during warp, you jump to its altitude (up or down, depending on wherein the flightpath you are). From that waypoint until the next, you keep the altitude of the previous waypoint, then jump to the altitude of the next waypoint when you get there. Also, warp sometimes runs amok. So... 1. Avoid Warping on Ingress The assigned mission altitude only applies to the mission waypoints. In general, you'll have waypoints to orbit your field several times, at the end of which you'll be at 3-5k feet. In warp, you'll remain there until you hit the IP waypoint usually 1/2 or 3/4 of the way to the 1st mission waypoint. Then you'll suddenly jump up by about 1/2 the difference between your orbit and mission altitudes. You'll only get up to the assigned altitude at the 1st mission waypoint. Thus, if you're warping and meet enemies prior to your 1st mission waypoint (usually meaning on your side of the lines), you'll be at some pathetically low altitude while they'll be much higher. 2. Warping Loses Altitude Gained Manually If you climb manually above what warping would give you, or above your assigned mission altitude, warping will drop you back down to the altitude you would have had at that point in the flight had you warped all the way. 3. Warping Off the Map Occasionally, warp will miss a waypoint and send you hurtling so far behind enemy lines that you'll have no chance at all of getting back. To avoid this, ALWAYS have the map up when warping and stop warping if you see this happening. I forgot to add.... Thus, it seems like the game is intended for you to fly the missions manually, without warping. Kind of a bum deal for those of us with limited playtime, but them's the breaks.

Well, it really depends on when you fly. 1916 is kinda meh due to a lack of activity in general, the main difficulty being flying a DH2. I'd take the Fee any day over the Spinning Incinerator. Fees have it made in this period. Then Bloody April comes along. Your plane is slower and lower, has only 1 gun that doesn't fire very fast, and you're usually way outnumbered. Real men fly keep flying a DH2 or Fee in this period, but those who need training wheels can fly Pups and Tripes. or perhaps Nupes. There's even a Brit Spad VII squadron if you realy can't hang otherwise. Things continue like this until say June/July 1917, when SE5s, Camels, and Brisfits start making a big appearance and outclass the Germans. I recommend the DH5 in this period. From this point until the Kaiserschlacht, it's pretty easy to be a Brit. In the Kaiserschlacht, the Brits still have better planes but the German numbers tend to make up for this. After the Kaiserschlacht, the D.VII comes out in ever-increasing numbers, but by then the Brits always have the numbers so it's fairly safe if you pay attention.

I hope this will be in P4 because we have no true French 2-seaters at all right now and, as you say, it was quite important. But if not, please make one for us. We always need more planes ;).

Hmm. Hadn't heard of that one, just the previous Empire. I might have to give it a go then if you say it's good. Folks I know weren't happy with that one so I passed on it.

And without even a chair to sit in . Man, their legs must have gotten stiff, not to mention the wind blowing up between their legs.

My mechanics always apply RainEx to my windshield (and goggles) after ever sortie so I never have raindrops accumulating in my field of vision

Amen to that. Plus, looking at photos of inline pilots like MvR suiting up and reading their memoirs about what they wore, you get the impressions that engine heat either hadn't been invented or wasn't sufficient. Otherwise there'd have been no heated suits. BTW, pleased to make your acquaintance. You still owe me your new-guy drink though Hear hear! Another call for more 2-seaters in P4, Snipes be damned BTW, at over 20,000 feet in Europe, the ambient temperature IIRC is sub-zero F, and then there's the wind chill. WW2 B17 crewmen, many of whom were effectively in open cockpits due to openings for guns, reported the cold as utterly brutal, even with their electric suits.

Thanks for the tip--I hadn't heard this was in the works, although I've been praying for it for along time. Pre-Shogunate Japan was such a fascinating place for us armchair warlords, and have thought for a long time that they should revisit the original game of the series like they did the 2nd. I have loved all the TW games except the most recent, which I didn't get due to bad PR.

It didn't. As you say, that was just weird Royal Aircraft Factory nomenclature. The BE2 was actually the 1st design by Geoffery DeHaviland IIRC, before he struck off on his own.

Amazing. I thought all those things had been shot down :). I have somewhat mixed feelings about this project. Part of me thinks that all memories of the Quirk should be buried in an unmarked grave at midnight, but part of me grudginly thinks it's cool that one still flies.

Look in the PilotXDossier.txt file, where X is the number of the pilot in question. These files are foundin the OBDSoftware\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\campaigns\CampaignData\Pilots folder. Anyway, down near the bottom of the dossier file it lists all the non-ace pilots in your squadron, in the following format: rank;1st name;surname;kills;claims;status So just go down the list putting zeroes in for all the kills and claims. I don't really recommend doing this, or otherwise editing the various pilot files. This tends to cause stability issues with OFF after a while.