Bullethead

Don't. You invented this (thanks for speaking up) so I regard you as the expert . Do you take off with the gamepad, too? I can look around with my hat on my stick, but I find it to be practically useless. For me, the best course is to keep the gun in line with the fuselage and about 5^ elevated. If all the enemy are behind, then watch from the gunner's seat. If they're all around, watch from the external view. Odds are, however, you won't get a shot unless the enemy is pretty much behind you. I find moving my aim with the joystick quite natural, but that's because I've got years of experience doing that in other games. Geez, I used to sweep the skies with the VT-firing twin 5"/38s on Essex-class CVs in Aces High. One time, I got 28 kills before they blew the ship out from under me by an attack outside my arc . I agree, but I'm liking it so far. You have to understand the limitations of the system, and while it's very different from being a scout pilot, it's also intensely gut-wrenching in a different way. I'll be doing this again.

On my last sortie, I had a HOTAS malfunction that make my control inputs only work intermittantly. But this just added to the immersion. I rationalized this as a turnbuckle stripping out on the control cables or some such that killed so many pilots. And of course, I'm hardwired to think, "I coulda landed that." So I flew the damn thing down to a "good landing" (as in I walked away from the wreckage) instead of just jumping out of the game, DiD pilot and all. Take that, Zoomzoom!

GAWD, let's hope not. I wouldn't want my kid to grow up to be a communistic, absinthe-addicted suicide. Now, another George MacDonald Fraser... I'd be proud of that.

So did you get to claim him as a maneuver kill?

Welcome aboard, Tanyrhiew. And yes, you have to buy drinks here, too As the war progresses, the number of planes involved goes way up. It starts growing significantly in late 1917 and by 1918 it's sheer madness. In 1918, what you typically see in the hot sectors are huge melees with 3-5 dozen planes in them all concentrated from the deck up to about 10,000' and spread about 2 miles wide. These melees are continually reinforced by flights of 6-12 more planes arriving at the top and being sucked into the meatgrinder. Above this up to considerably higher altitudes are a bunch of other flights spread out over a wider radius and skirmishing with each other or just passing by unmolested for the time being. And everywhere you look in all directions, there are many planes on both sides. Bear in mind that many of these are 2-seaters, of course. So I guess it depends on what you call a "scrap". Depending on where you draw the line, it will include more or less planes. But late in the war, there are planes everywhere you look and most of them want to kill you. Also, you can set how many planes are in the air at once, in case you've got an old computer. The above is on the highest setting. 1. If they're on the defensive on the ground, then yes. However, they do cross the lines at times even when on the defensive. 2. Bad squadrons have to carry on regardless of their feelings. They just tend to run away at 1st contact and die in droves if they are forced to fight. 3 and 4. All the squadrons in the game are historical and are based where there really were at any given time. Thus, in some sectors at some times, the Entente has more planes, but at other places at the same time maybe the Germans do. However, in general the Entente has more planes. This is especially true say by mid-1918, when the Germans are beginning to be swamped everywhere. The various Jastas of JGs are based together as they were in real life, and thus operate in the same area. But AFAIK, they don't combine in the air into massive single formations deliberately. The effect is about the same, though. 5. Yup, the AI will try to run away. It's getting better at this than it was before, when it stayed in the fight too long. Now I think it's about right. 6. Yes, you can surprise the enemy. Use the sun and clouds.

I drink to his shade

Holy crap! Just 12 years old, you say? Damn. Buy the kid a beer on me--he seems old enough

Howdy- Anybody know where I can get some good 3-views (with dimension, if possible) of a Le Rhone 9J? In return, I've found some good drawings of several important machineguns: http://www.arizonamodels.com/index.php/cPath/34_39 There are pages for Spanau, Parabellum, Vickers, Lewis, and Schwartzlose. Click on each gun type, and at the bottom of the page to order the kit, click on the link for the instruction manual. This brings up a PDF that includes good original drawings of the guns, as well as instructions to build the kits sold here.

Strange, ain't it? I can't even find any model kits of it, which would be the next best thing. Maybe we can talk OBD into releasing Gmax versions of their detail parts for us to use..... I'm going to email them with that question right now. An OFF SDK as it were :).

Have it shipped to your office. Just do the FedEx man a favor and put the name of the business in the address, because most offices don't have their street numbers in plain sight....

I figured you'd like that . Good to hear, Stumpy! I've got the 2nd version of the onions, but not the latest versions you made. Let me know if you want it, though.

You have a choice here: do you want to look spick and span like a portrait come to life, or are you going for the creepy undead look? The former costume type would be useful for other occasions but the latter would be more appropriate for Halloween, and also rather easier to produce. There are countless photos out there of dead WW1 aviators lying where the fell amidst the wreckage, not all cleaned up for a fancy funeral. If I was going for creepy, this is where I'd look for inspiration. You wouldn't need to get a complete set of clothing because usually some of it was blown off by the wind, burned up by the fire, or taken by those in need on the ground, and what was left on them was usually tattered and charred to some extent. Sort of the same story with exposed skin: much of it burned or torn away with the broken ends of bones protruding through the holes. As for specifics of what to get, that depends on how warm it's going to be where you're wearing the costume. The undead don't sweat, you know :). A flying helment and goggles for sure, but you can improvise the rest well enough with cheap work clothes available at most country general and hardware stores. Don't get anything expensive because you'll be destroying it. Smash the goggle lenses and then tear and burn the other items as desired, topping them off with streaks of blood, oil, and soot simulated by spray paint or actual charcoal dust and dirt rubbed into the cloth.

Thanks. And even though Archie finally knocked him down, it still got an 80 pending rating (I peeked in my text files). I just wish I knew how to aim the SE5, or I might have gotten 2 or 3 of them. Unescorted, fairly low 2-seaters deep in friendly territory is a recipe for padding your score . It was a very curious mission all around. I've never led a flight of 8 before, nor had the legendary basketball coach Phil Jackson along. You'd think he'd have been in the ace flight . And then there was the behavior of my wingmen. Our briefed target was in the opposite direction from where the DFWs were going. While my flight all followed me as I turned and climbed after the DFWs, as soon as I gave the attack order 4 of them turned around and flew off apparently toward the briefed target, even though I hadn't selected it. 3 of them followed the DFWs with me, but they never closed in to firing range. Perhaps they were all loaded down with bombs, but I'd picked "none" for loadout because I knew we'd never reach the target anyway. Then I got wounded. I noted this fbecause I have the hit messages turned on. I only took 2 hits the 1st time but they both said "Pilot Damaged". Must have been 2 headshots coming in over the top of the engine. However, I looked at the HUD text and saw my hitpoints had only gone from 57 to 46 and weren't decreasing further like I was bleeding, so I figured I was just grazed across both temples. Nice dueling scars, eh? Strangely, however, my log makes no mention of being wounded and I'm on the schedule for the next mission. Guess I wasn't hurt badly enough to count.

Impressive lineup there, Stumpy. Looks like a photo of a late-war Jasta with all sorts of planes and paintjobs. BTW, does your MP participation indicate that you're computer problems are solved?

Definitely sounds better, but I'm in No. 41 because it's where the Kaiserschlacht is starting. Maybe 74 is, too, but I don't think so. Guess I'll have to spend some time in QC to figure this out.

I have similar problems at times but they appear unrelated to vidcards and drivers. I can tell things are going haywire after I hit "Go to Field" and it takes longer than usual to get there. Also, while it's loading, the Windows task bar at the bottom of the screen is visible and it shows a tab there for CFS3, which is colored blue. When things are going OK, there is no task bar visible at all. And finally, when I see the taskbar and eventually get to the field, FPS is EXTREMELY low and TIR either doesn't work at all or is just going nuts and is completely unresponsive to F12. What appears to be happening is that both OFF and CFS3 are trying to run at the same time. The load of both of them is what's hosing FPS. Also, while what I see on the screen is OFF, TIR apparently thinks its in CFS3 so nothing I do in OFF has any effect. I've tried closing the spurious CFS3 tab but this doesn't work well. Although it solves the FPS and TIR problem, it hoses OFF somehow. No matter what happens in the sortie, nothing every gets recorded so it's just a wasted sortie. The only solutions I've found is to end the flight immediately once the game comes up, exit OFF, and restart it.

My day job is making niche-market sims. As I'm sure the OBD guys can attest, folks in this business need another gig for at least beer money. Thus, for the last few months, I've been delivering packages for FedEx in my local area. Garmin doesn't know the roads here at all, but because I was a fireman here for many years, I know all the back roads. I've burned down at least 1 house on all of them. Pity FedEx doesn't pay extra for my expert knowledge.... Anyway, out here in the sticks, free-range dogs with mean dispositions are par for the course. Thus, I carry a wonderful cattle prod in my truck. It's the latest design, balanced and quick like a rapier and just as long. All the weight's in the pommel so you can easily take on a whole pack of pitbulls with it (a common occurance). And it'll draw a 1/2" arc when tested against the fender of my truck. So, when I notice the defenders of some backwoods homestead, I come out with the package under 1 arm and the prod in the other hand, and tell them we'll settle this right now. I'm putting this box on the porch, so the choice is whether or not I have to kick their asses first. This stare-down usually works. When it doesn't, it's zap-a-pooch. And I'm quite prepared to drop the package and draw my knife if it comes to it, but so far it hasn't. So today I'm way out in the boonies and this house was guarded not by a mean-ass dog but by a goose. You cityslickers may laugh, but a goose will kick your ass if you give it a chance. I saw the bastard coming from 50 yards away, all neck stretched out, head cocked up, wings flapping, and honking to beat Hell. So I grabbed the prod before I got out of the truck. Geese may be mean but they're pretty stupid. You can reason with even the most blood-thirsty dog, but not a goose. Once they decide it's on, it's friggin' ON. I met him in the driveway before I'd even had a chance to get the box out of the back of the truck. At 5 yards, I kicked a large wad of driveway gravel in its face, but it didn't slow down at all. So just as it was getting into its spring for my face, I tapped it at the base of the neck with the prod. I chose that area because the feathers are thinner there, and I know they're insulators. DAMN! That goose did a flip in the air and uttered a shrieking honk that will haunt my nightmares for years to come. And I got a good demonstration of where the expression "loose as a goose" comes from. If you've never been around geese, bear in mind that they're the avian version of cows, so are always dropping copious amounts of vile, runny guano. But when you give them a good shock, they REALLY cut loose, and when they're somersaulting in pain, they can innundate a sizeable area . Fortunately, the Dark Gods smiled on me, no doubt because it had been a really crappy day already, what with my original truck dying and having to go back to the big city to get a rental. Whatever the cause, all those 5 pounds or so of guano just missed me by a fraction of an inch. It was everywhere else, on the ground, on my truck, in the air, but not on me . The goose came to rest on its side, honking dreadfully, and started to get up and face me again. So I gave it another zap, which made slide through a thick pile of guano and lie there muttering fitfully. I got my package out of the truck, stepped around the ordure, and put the box on the porch 20 yards away. The numerous small dogs and cats that also lived there all ran and hid at my approach. On my way back to the truck, the goose had regained its feet and was still trying to posture and honk threateningly, but was pretty half-hearted about it, what with all the gasping for breath it was having to do. It backed away as I advanced. I gave it a last long, hard stare and gestured menacingly with the prod, and it backed up a few steps. So I got in my truck and drove off to the next stop. Geez, they don't pay me enough for this, but that was almost worth it. I look forward to going to that house again, to see if that goose remembers me

Once upon a time, I did "lead by rank" and was a low rank myself. I remember one time we were cruising along over Hunland at high altitude and I spotted a flight of Albatri climbing up at us from astern. My CO paid no heed so finally I circled back and made a pass at the Huns from behind them, whereupon they all did split-Ses and were no longer a problem. But now my flight was way ahead of me and another flight of Albatri were swooping them. My buds dove for the lines instead of fighting but the Albatri were faster. I dove after them but could only pace my buddies, not gain on anybody. As I dove, I saw them go down in flames 1 by one, like the X-wings in Star Wars. But I was too immersed to realize this was a stupid idea--I was trying to help my virtual buds. It wasn't until the last of them was dead and all the Albatri turned to face me that I realized how stupid this had been. Had I kept doing, the Huns would have all been safely below me as I crossed the lines. Fortunately, I was able to make a forced landing just across the trenches after being thoroughly shot up.

I hope you stayed in England long enough to see the sights. London and Stonehenge are worth seeing in OFF.

Words of wisdom there, sir . I wouldn't call it a "pay-for patch". While I'm sure it will address various reported issues with the existing game, it's main purpose will be to introduce new content. So it's definitely going to be more of an expansion than a patch, and as such deserves to be paid for. The game development fairy doens't just leave new stuff under our pillows, you know.

Interestingly, according to OFF, my guy wasn't even hurt. He's supposed to go on the afternoon op this same day. Maybe the soft, squishy pilot on the soft, squishy mud broke his fall?

While we're on this subject, anybody got a pilot/observer figure they'd be interested in giving away?

The joys of being a tailgunner.... . . .

Welcome aboard, Gromit! I remember you from the RB2/3D forum over on Delphi. But it's been so long and you're new here, that you still have to buy the drinks . You've already gotten everybody else's $0.02 on this subject, but if I give you mine you'll have an even dollar so here goes..... First off, you need to read "ACM for Dogs" . Second, I recommend starting in 2Q-3Q 1917. In that era, most planes are rather easy to fly so you can worry more about getting used to the speeds, ranges, and angles of OFF than in just keeping your plane flying. Once you get used to the ebb and flow of OFF battles, you'll be ready to go to 1916 or 1918. I don't recommend starting in 1916 because 1) there's not much happening and 2) most of the planes are difficult to fly. I also don't recommend starting in 1918 because there are so many planes it's overwhelming unless you've got a feel for combat.

I agree. In real life, there seems to have been a division of labor amongst 2-seater squadrons. Different squadrons seemed to specialize in a certain type of mission, although they might do the odd mission of another sort. It would be nice if you could pick this during pilot creation. Of course, to make the recon and arty-spotting missions more than "patrol between 2 waypoints several times", there'd have to be something to do there. Somehow taking photos, or (my favorite) adjusting arty fire onto a target would do the trick there. You'd do these by jumping into the back seat and would have to divide your attention between the mission and your gun.