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Well, I just retired my first DIDW pilot in OFF with all the new patches. If you all will recall, my getting back into things was a bit hampered by lagging computer issues which you all masterfully assisted me in tweaking. Thanks again to you all. This sim is phenomenal now....by the way. Anyway, my German pilot...Wolfram, was well on his way to a great career. Over 10 hours, and an Iron Cross with the kills to go with it. Unfortunately he was still an "Gefrieter" and occaisionally had to go on missions and follow the lead of, lets say, lesser talented officers. I, "wanting to play realistically", follow the flight leads in these occaisions. Amazingly enough I have had flight leaders that acted as I would have, weaving our squad in and out of danger, avoiding outnumbering situations where possible....amazing that different flight leader chracteristics seem to be represented. Well, on this particular sortie, FAR behind enemy lines....our particular flight leader with only 4 members in the squad, attacked a flight of five SPADS, dropping in on them far below, when we could have simply avoided the danger so far behind enemy lines. As we were descending, (I being tail end Charlie) looked up to see an ambush squad dropping onto my fellows ahead of me, another eight Spads...in a perfectly executed trap. I decided to assist my fellows, got sucked into the fight, my plane ended up thoroughly riddled, though I managed to put her down in a crash landing, and survived the war as a guest of the King. This incident, other than amazing me at the realism now only heightened in this amazing Sim, made me wonder how many times in reality, this occured in WWI aviation, with pilots backing away from a trap (or bad judgement) that thier flight lead bungled them into, only to survive and feel remorse for not coming to the aid of thier friends, but making the right decision, highlighted by thier own survival. The one's that got "sucked in" to the bad judgement call, of course, have no tales to tell. ZZ.

"Beyond that, it almost says to me that you should be looking for your exit from contact the moment you lose your tactical advantage." Interesting point FBPC, but I'll take that one step further, I'm looking for my route of escape, (in the old days reffered to 'withdrawal' or retreat) even before I attack. Dicta Boelke rule 7: 7.When over the enemy's lines, never forget your own line of retreat. I'll wager the best of the best always bore this in mind. An amazing sim this is that allows us to take lessons from history, to keep us alive in the virtual. ZZ.

Rocketing Rabbit .1508 This was my best run out of about ten tries!! ZZ. I want to know what da "H-E double hockey sticks" kinda cyborg you have to be to get into the Cheetah level!!??

Wow, nice skin Bullet! ZZ.

Excellent synopsis Duce. ZZ.

I fly rather similarly to what you describe Creaghorn. But there have been a few occasions, when I felt somewhat obligated to help my mates in a jam, and not abandon them to save my skin. Those are the more tricky ones I'm referring to. Regardless of whether or not they aren't really dead "though shot down" and respawn next mission. In that moment, when you watch them get in "Too Deep" and have to make a call. If those were really my buddies getting shot up (or down ) over there, what should I do? Can I help really? Or will my getting involved at this point just put another kill in some enemies tally. Those are the life-like decisions that only a truly great Sim such as OFF can demand of a person, and invoke in its own way, the closest thing to being there. ZZ. PS....wow...poingant story flyby. We can only do the best we can. I often think that if the armchair generals and second guessers who so often villify brave people, and who never have experienced such complicated times as conflict can produce, had to see it first hand, they would be considerably more lenient in thier judgement of the people involved.

Ahhh. your getting there Olham. Just a little further....think of the Panther, who stalks his prey unseen, until the exact momemt of attack. Then its over in a flash, and he's gone. You pursued them for too long, and let them suck you over to the wrong side. Temper that hot urge to fight, with some steely determination and keep it on your terms, not thiers. Who knows, if you had broken off the attack on the Re8's earlier, you may have drawn the Bristols after you over to your side of the line......then the trap is set again! Good Job though! You are verrrrrry close to perfecting the hunting technique. ZZ. PS, If you encounter Bristols over enemy territory............leave. Otherwise you are rolling some BIG DICE.

Thats a good point Olham. "survivors guilt" is just another of the elements in the bitter cocktail these young pilots had to deal with, and then try to get up and fly every morning with some sense of lucidity. Its an amazing testimony to thier skill,bravery....and focus. "His answer was pretty wise - he said, if you would fly this sim as if it could REALLY cost your life, you would act different." What you mentioned here is great, and thats why I think DID is so great, because it pushes you more into that REAL mindframe, forcing those more realistic, tough decisions on you. You really have to give it a think.....albeit in a few split moments, before you rush in, or not. And again, the courage that the real pilots had to face, of either attacking and fighting for ones life, or facing down difficult questions later...was very real. "That is exactly what happened to Raoul Lufbery" Shred, was this incident the one where he was killed, jumped from his plane only to be impaled on a picket fence? ZZ.

True,true. I also bet, if anyone of the foohardy "rushers in" survived, they had less than kind words to say about thier comrades who turned for safety. Makes me wonder if there was an understanding amongst pilots about expectations, and if they saw thier mates leaving, were understanding as to the fact that they simply didn't fall for the trap, and were avoiding almost certain and unnecesary death. Or, if there was acrimony and recrimination. I remember readingone account in the 1st Pursuit Squad about a similar incident, but it seemed more like cowardice than common sense, that one pilot abandonded his friend, who later got back and defamed him quite arduously. Guess thats the tough judgement call though, there's a fine line between cowardice and courage. ZZ.

I agree POL. If it messes up other stuff...screw the tweak. ZZ. PS....dont think Fe's were designed or supposed to act this way anyway.

Cool, so what you are saying is that if you change this last one, it will change them all? ZZ.

Interesting reports regarding the Roland behaviour. I haven't tried it yet myself, simply because I can't figure out which squads you have altered once you have changed the "SQ-1" etc. Files. So I changed two files "SQ-1", and" SQ-3". So do you guys know what actual units these adjust. Then I'll giver her a go. ZZ.

Excellent Olham, I shot him up myself yesterday as well, sent him spiralling in over the trenches. A toast to our succesful veangance! Bullethead. Great creative skinning! I love it. I always thought a good variation to the theme of German planes being "dazzle painted" to throw off enemy aim, would be to put a nude centefold spread on the top wing. That might do it!! And perhaps a "cute behind" or some ta-tas on the top of the horizontal stab!! People would be too busy staring to shoot it down! ZZ.

You can make your flight of Rolands or Fee's, etc. act more like fighters than bombers via a fairly minor tweak of the OBDSoftware\CFSWWI Over Flanders Fields\aircraft\XXX_Sqd folder's xdp file. Oooh, oooh oooh! Now you've done it HPW!! I'm going home and changing my Rolands to Fighter Bombers tonight. That seems more historically accurate. But I'll let you guys know how it plays out in the actual game. Gots-ta go Fly me some Rolands again!! ZZ. PS. as a side note (which most of you already likely know) but: Not all bombers had this ability, some did fly in a much more docile and limited fashion. However, the Bristol and the Roland CII were birds of a different feather, as they were intended to be a cross over breed. I state this simply because to go and change all bomber AC to this type would not only be ludicrous, but historically inaccurate as well. There are numerous accounts of the Rolands being quite agile and difficult to contend with for this reason.

Geesh, I think Olham pegged this one. But I will offer the ship its in. I'd wager its in a Zeppelin type airship, due to the Naval style steering wheel and the large windows and HUGE cabin. ZZ. Forgive me if you already said this Olham, I've got to go back and re-read. Edit....Nope..Olham nailed that too...Good Job!

You're most welcome. ZZ.

A few more...on the main page you can select from different variants.....these are for the DV. http://wwi-cookup.co...kmiller_dv.html http://wwi-cookup.co...pearson_dv.html ZZ. Ok, ok ok. If you HAVE to have a Sopwith, this is a good one. http://wwi-cookup.com/sopwith/pup/capturedpup.html

Ok, well in this vein of "must have's, I just assumed you guys were all familiar with "The Great Albatros Cookup". They have one for Sopwiths too I think....but who cares about Sopwiths. Anyhoo, here are twoi links to Pearsons and Millers stuff on the site. Enjoy! http://wwi-cookup.com/albatros/dva/profiles_bobpearson_dva.html http://wwi-cookup.com/albatros/dva/profiles_markmiller_fuselage.html http://wwi-cookup.com/albatros/dva/profiles_markmiller_cockpit.html http://wwi-cookup.com/albatros/dva/profiles_markmiller_planviews.html ZZ. Oh, this site is geared mostly to guys that model small plastic versions, but if you look through them, there is a lot of other info there, as well as great ideas for skins from the finished products.

AAARRGHH. Im gunning for that red tripe flyin Minifie character myself. He and about ten of his boys shot up my aerodrome and forced me to land there twice with a shot up radiator!! I've killed about 4 triplanes from his squad since then, trying to find his sorry behind....we WILL cross paths again one day. ZZ.

Interesting. ZZ.

Whuh? There were more pictures? Damn!! ZZ. Thats ok....I'm happy with my 1 point. You guys are quick.

I agree....the Rolands should act similarly to the Bristols, in both tactics and usage. ZZ.

Thanks for the Wizard pic RAF Louvert. Well done. I was trying to "quote" but it didn't work properly. Olham, Yes, the engine ran fine after that, sounded like crap, but ran with the same power and rpms. Don't know if it has to do with proximity or if they have to fire on you first. This particular Brisifit did put rounds into me first...but all was well (except for the noise) thereafter. ZZ. PS.. We just need to gang up on them Olham, I'll zoom from underneath, you come in from the sun, and we'll be fine.

I just now read through this entire thread and decided to jump into the sim and take a look for myself. Olham wasn't kidding. These Brisfits are being flown by wizards. THAT is Funny. ANNND they DO look just like the Bristol pilots I always encounter. I feel your pain Olham. I haaaates me some Bristols. But I'm kinda leaning (as much as this irritates me) to the possibility that this is really why they were so feared. As mentioned before....head on attacks sweeping in, and careful long range firing is what gleaned me most of my "non engine hit" Bristol kills. If we have Roland CII's that behave the same in combat though, I'd say its fair, and fairly accurate. I'm trying to remember when I was hit in the nose from a Bristol, and my engine didn't fritz....guess I'll have to dosome more tests. As Winder mentioned though, i have shot a Bristol down, (albeit in a not very well planned attack straight up his A^%rse) and though my engine was hit and made the crapped out coffee grinder sound. It flew fine for the rest of the mission. Don't know the answer, but I'd say if not perfect...its close. ZZ. PS. See, that aft-firing German anti-Bristol Flamethrower is looking pretty good now!!!!

Yikes...I missed another one! Oh well....I'm using the "Blind Squirrel" participation proceedure anyway. I may not win....but I'll score once in a while anyway! Cool non-contest pics by the way guys. Some very interesting things in those shots if you look. I've never seen so many Albatros W-4's in one place...or even at all! Very nice. I'm guessing those are w-4's. Always thought an RC version of one of those would be cool. ZZ.