Bullethead

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

I forget whose idea it was, but I thought it was a good one, so I tried doing a career as a tailgunner. Here's what I learned while doing this, in case others want to give this a try: 1. Taking Off At least if you're the flight leader, you have to start your own engine and get off the ground before you jump into the back. I don' t know if this is true if you do "lead by rank". You can safely get in the back once you're just a few feet off the ground, however. I was rather surprised at this because the only time I've tried manning guns before was also at low level and the AI promptly put me in the trees. But I might have been pretty well shot up by then. Anyway, in an RE8 at least, just getting the nose above the trees at the end of the runway works fine. 2. Looking Around Not good. TIR has no effect at all in the gunner's seat, at least in the RE8--maybe it works in other planes. Instead, your view is always along the sights of your gun. Thus, your only ways to look around are to move the gun or use the keyboard views. Both of these are limited, however, but the traverse limits of your gun. For instance, the RE8's gun only covers an arc about 160^ wide in the back, and from about +45^ to -20^ in the vertical, so that's pretty much your field of view. To make things even more confusing, the keyboard views are oriented on the current facing of the gun, not of the airplane, so you often end up looking through your own body, which is a bother. You can padlock a target and will look at it no matter where it is, however, although usually with strange partial parts of your body in the way. Looking around is therefore quite difficult, especially if you're used to TIR. You can't see upwards at all except with the keyboard, and if your gun is pointed up, too, you actually look off at an angle behind you. But if you give up with the keyboard, traversing the gun to look around is very slow. It's practically impossible to maintain SA, and you'll find yourself frustrated for missing shots at enemies passing head-on, because you can't see them or get the gun on them until they're already out of range. Probably your best bet is to use external views most of the time. 3. Cruising Along This takes a strong stomach. First off, you're stuck facing backwards. Second, the plane is constantly porpoising up and down under AI control, so you can get seasick if you're so inclined. It didn't bother me that much, but I can see how it would get to some folks. 4. Flight Commands Wingman commands don't seem to work from the gunner's seat. However, being in a 2-seater you really don't have to worry about this most of the time, except to get your wingmen to attack a ground target (see Bombing below). Another thing that doesn't work in the back is SHF-w to change waypoints. To do any of these you have to be in the front. However, warping does work from the back. 5. Bombing I only went on 1 bombing mission so don't know if this is the general rule, but here's what happened. Being in the back, I didn't issue any attack orders. The AI pilot dove toward the target and the wingmen followed. However, nobody dropped any bombs. My AI pilot made a couple more quick passes over the target, again failing to drop bombs, and then took off for home with the wingmen following. After a few minutes, the wingmen jettisoned their bombs but my pilot kept his. I had to go up front and drop them myself. I suspect, therefore, that if you need to be in the front for the bomb run to drop your own bombs and order your wingmen to attack. 6. Combat If the enemy dives on you from above, or shoots across your turning circle, you're just screwed. You can't get the guns on him and probably won't see him coming anyway except with an external view. And anyway, attacks from above are pretty much instant death for you due to the huge number of hits you take. Attacks from behind, OTOH, are rather interesting. The AI fighters I encountered seemed very hesitant and hung back there just out of range for a long time. They followed us around back and forth several times between our arty spotting waypoints without either side ever shooting except for occasional short bursts. Even though we made wide turns at the waypoints, they didn't cut inside to get us in the flank, but just kept following. It was very strange--I'd never seen AI fighters act that way before. My advice here: Although seeing all of Jasta 5 on your tail is disconcerting, actually that's the best place for them. As long as they're hanging back like that, they're relatively harmless. DO NOT PANIC and tell your pilot to head for home, because this can quickly break up your formation, which is what appears to be keeping the enemy respectful. Once you're scattered, they swarm like sharks and you die quickly. So just keep tooling along like this and hope help shows up :). 7. Shooting Strangely, the shots you take don't show up in the post-mission stats at all. Even if you shot off your whole supply and hit with 1/3 of it, you just see zeroes across the board for rounds fired and hit percent. I was used to this from flying the Fee where the gunner did all the shooting, but I'm surprised that when you shoot, it doesn't count as yours. Kills, however, PROBABLY go to your credit, just as the gunner's kills in other 2-seaters go. I don't know for sure, though, because I didn't kill anybody in this career. That said, shooting is fairly straight-forward, as in there doesn't seem to be a need to lead the target any differently than in fighters. Also, without TIR, you never had to worry if your head's lined up with the sights or not. HOWEVER, keeping the sights on is a bit difficult due to the aforementioned porpoising of the airplane, which takes your gun with it. I found it best to use the old naval shooting technique of firing at the top or bottom of the roll (or pitch in this case), in the brief interval before things reverse direction. This, of course, is really only applicable to when the enemy is following along behind you and relatively stationary, but that's about the only guys you'll be able to shoot much at anyway. 8. Landing Assuming you get back, the AI pilot will come down directly over home drome, then fly off a long way. Perhaps he'll eventually circle back and land, perhaps not. So I say screw it. Just end the flight when you're over the field.

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

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.

The attached pic says all that need be said of the minimal ACM of this hop. However, note that I had only 40 rounds left when the Archie finished off my victim. That's fairly embarassing, but I just can't grok aiming in the SE5. This guy has seriously shot up several other planes but hasn't been able to fill out a claim form until now because he's hit them all over, and then a wingman delivers the fatal blow. So how to you aim in an SE5? The Aldis doesn't seem to do the trick. Thanks in advance.

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.

That's good stuff, for sure. I always have several cans around the house because we have lots of wasps, hornets, and yellowjackets around here. However, I'd really hesitate to use it as a weapon except on a mugger. This is a deadly weapon able to cause permanent blindness and suffocation due to swollen throat. If I hit a dog with that out here in the boonies, it it would no doubt die before the owner could get it to the vet, assuming the owner was even home at the time. So while there are no official rules of engagement, I'd think it would be a lot easier to explain to my boss, the owner, and the cops that I used non-lethal force up to the last second. Long ago when I was in high school, I had a job reading gas meters. This was in a city but it involved going into everybody's back yard where their dogs were. Back then, I carried a "Phasor". This was a big can of real, old-school mace, not today's relatively wimpy pepper spray, and it had the range of wasp spray. I think the reason they outlawed mace was because it had the same lethal effects as wasp spray. In any case, I killed a dog with it, and that was the end of my job. Most folks live out in the country because they like their privacy and having a big, ugly dog around helps with that. And most killer dogs are just fine with their families so the owners often don't know just how dangerous they are, especially if they live way out in the sticks and get few visitors.

I'm going to have to try this career idea of being a tailgunner. It might be a good thing to do when I'm too sloshed to fly without crashing into something . The thing about being a "bomber" pilot is that you very rarely get bombing missions. Instead, you mostly do recon and arty spotting. I find this rather boring, but at least you can warp. So eventually, I got in the habit of ignoring such orders and taking some bombs to attack the enemy trenches instead. Bombing in most planes, however, precludes warping on ingress. First off, if you're ignoring your real mission, you're not following the waypoints and you can't input your own. Second, if you DO have a bombing mission, it will always tell you to be at some ungodly altitude like 16,324 feet. This only works for the DFW, which has a functioning bombsight for level bombing. Everything else has to bomb in a dive which is best done from a much lower altitude. So, to avoid finding yourself directly over the target at some ridiculously high level, you have to fly there in real time at your desired altitude. In either case, you CAN warp home, however, by SHF-w until you're on your last waypoint. Rolands, Strutters, and RE8s are fairly maneuverable so you have a pretty good chance of getting a shot with the front gun, although in the RE8 you can't see the target. If you misuse the Fee as a bomber, it's fairly maneuverable, too, but only really works in the horizontal. However, the pivoting front gun makes up for this to a large degree. DFWs and Hannovers are not maneuverable at all. In the Hannover, you can at least strafe during your bomb run, but in the DFW you can't see ahead so its front gun is fairly pointless. It's also not good at divebombing for the same reason, so it's best just to level bomb with it from has high as possible.

At least you lived. But seriously, don't dis the Fee until you've flown it yourself. In a fighter squadron, not a bomber squadron.