Hellshade

I never said anything about anyone being blonde. I only said that sometimes the ones who look like the most fun, don't turn out to be nearly as much fun as you thought they were going to be. Hellshade

Ok guys, I've only had a short while to mess around with Rise of Flight, but here are some of the things I've noticed to far, good and bad. On the Good Side Plane Modeling is excellent. They look beautiful Damage Modeling is also excellent. In flight damage and crashes really do look spectacular. Even put down a fellow in flames, though it was just his engine. Water modeling is beautiful. Flying over it is very believable, as is crashing into it (of which I have some personal experience). Flight Model I'm going to say is good, although I've only flown the DVII. It bounces around alot unless you have extremely steady hands and make only the smallest of corrections when trying to line up a target. On the plus side, I doubt anyone is going to be getting 3 or more kills per mission. You'll be lucky to get one. It can be quite tedious to line up a target. Landscape and scenery is also very good. I can't say I honestly like it better than OFF BHaH, but it does a good job. Performance is probably the best feature of RoF if you have the rig to run it. I run it at 1920 x 1200, 8x AA, all graphics models on HIGH and all Post Processing Effects turned on and I easily run 45 - 55 FPS with a stutter only once in a very great while. My basic setup is a Quad core i7 920 overclocked to 4Ghz with 6 GB RAM, Vista 64 bit and a 1GB GTX280 (also overclocked). If you have the PC Muscle, the game will take full advantage of it. Fair notice though, I've only flown with 1 other plane in the sky. It may well all go to hell once you fill the sky with planes. Sound is mostly excellent. The wind, the sound of another plane passing close to you, your guns firing. It all sounds great. However there is no musical score playing during loading screens. Some background music while a mission loads would definately work better to put you in the mood to play. Instead you are just left staring at the % counter slowly working up to 100% in strange spurts. 12%, 25%, 37%, 100%. On the Bad Side Definately have to log in to play. No exceptions. Only 2 flyable aircraft. Spad XIII and Foker DVII. Only 2 other non-flyables (as far as I can tell). An Albatross (DVa I believe, not sure) and a Noop 24 (I believe). If you want variety, look elsewhere. The AI hasn't impressed me at all. So far most of what it does is make a head on pass, then fly away for a fairly long time, then turn left and dive, turn right and climb, then fly away some more. That about covers it. Shooting down a plane isn't difficult because they (the AI) are great pilots. It's difficult because you have to micro-correct your aim otherwise you bounce around like you just had 12 cups of coffee even when they are flying straight and level away from you for a long time (which they do often). Most of my time has literally been chasing straight after the enemy, waiting for them to eventually turn so I can get close enough to fire off some rounds that might hit. This is a game definately designed for player vs player to make the combat exciting. Maybe the AI gets better, but so far I haven't seen anything impressive. The campaign is something I haven't touched yet, but I'd be extremely suprised if Neoqb could somehow make a great campaign out of a total of 4 aircraft and a sub-par AI. I just don't see how it could be fulfilling with those two drawbacks, but I say that in full admission of the fact that I haven't actually played it. One other minor gripe about sound besides no musical score though is my DVII never sounds like it's full throttle. It always sounds like I'm stuck at no more than 50%, just cruising along. It never sounds like my engine is going "balls to the wall" out hard to push for maximum performance. When I'm trying to chase down the Noop in the 1v1 mission, the noop always pulls away from me and my DVII, even at max throttle, kinda sounds like it's just taking it's time. It's a little disheartening and take some of the excitement out of air to air combat. If you are pushing you machine to extremes to shoot down another plane, it should sound like your engine is doing more than just run idle. My overall first impression of RoF is that they have a strong foundation on which to build a wonderful, truly amazing WWI flight sim. They just haven't done it yet and really don't appear to be focused on doing so ever. Instead, they put all of their effort into eye candy and physics effects, leaving almost nothing for plane variety, AI skill, campaign depth, musical score or historical accuracy. The very few missions listed feel like a lame tutorial to prepare you to fly and fight against other real pilots. If I could have the perfect flight sim right now, it would be comprised of the following things. Graphics engine > RoF Damage Model > RoF Performance > RoF Flight Model > OFF Campaign > OFF QC Missions > OFF Aircraft Variety > OFF AI combat skill > OFF Historical Accuracy > OFF Game launch > OFF (no internet log in) Sound tie between some RoF and some OFF Developer support > OFF On-line Player vs Player combat > OFF - While this category should go to RoF, the problem is with just 2 flyable planes in RoF, you are either shooting at Spad XIIIs or Fokker DVIIs. Period. That may change in the future, but for now, RoF just doesn't have enough variety in the air to really keep things exciting. Even if RoF has 4 aircraft in the sky, OFF BHaH has many times more than that, with more on the way via a payware expansion pack currently under development. It will be tremendously difficult for Neoqb to catch up with OBDs offering in terms of variety. In short, OFF BHaH has good looks and great depth. RoF has great looks but is very, very shallow. If I were to portray them as girls, RoF is the empty headed, hot cheerleader who you dream about scoring with but who just isn't as much fun as you imagined she'd be once you finally get your hands on her. OFF BHaH is the pretty girl next door you fall in love with and marry. She may not be the most absolute beautiful girl on the block, but she has it where it really counts that keeps you coming back for more unless you just aren't looking for something serious to begin with. Hellshade

I finally got in. Not sure what the issue was. Only had the chance to do one training mission without making any adjustments. Hopefully I'll get to fly some more later tonight. I'll let you know how it is. So far I'm not wildly impressed, however I certainly haven't had the chance to configure it properly either (graphics, controls, etc). Hellshade

Hey All, Just got back from my Honeymoon in Key West (it was awesome!) and saw the FedEx package at my door for RoF. After settling back in home I installed it and fired it up. Logged in and got "Server Error" message, preventing me from playing the game in any way. No on-line, no single player campaign, no missions, no quick combat. Absolutely nothing. This is why Over Flanders Fields will always be my favorite WWI flight sim. Neoqb has my money, but I can't play the game I paid for. OvS, I'm seriously looking forward to the plane expansion pack for BHaH. The screen shots looked amazing. /salute Hellshade

I definately got my $$ worth out of OFF BHaH when I bought it at $50.00 (and still am!) But I also don't have any qualms about them lowering the price of P3 because if that's what it takes to spur sales and fund further development of P4 (Over Flanders Fields : New Ways to Kill Old Players) then so much the better. Hellshade

It's looking like Hardcore is the primary choice so far, though most if not everyone who has used the Intermediate DM seems to prefer that. Just curious then if it's possible to make a hybrid of Hardcore and Intermediate, which would be the Hardcore DM, however it would use the damage effects % of Intermediate so more planes would show more damage before being shot down. I don't mind putting a few extra rounds into a plane to take it down at all. But it is cool to see how much damage you are actually doing in the process. It adds to the immersion of "desperation due to damage" immesurably and the Intermediate DM seems to do the best job of that so far. It also offers a tactical advantage that the real pilots had too. If I see one of my squadron mates has damaged an enemy aircraft , I'm much more likely to try and put a few more finishing shots into it to take it out of the fight than start on yet another one. I can also see by the damage on a friends plane if I need to break off my current target and try to save them by chasing off their antagonist. Who knows, the guy I save might just be the one who acts as a witness to confirm my latest claim. Hellshade

Small as it may seem, I think this would add to the immersion quite a bit. Once you get enough confirmed kills to make "Ace", your name gets mentioned in the newspaper reports that pop up saying that you are your countries newest Ace for having shot down X number of planes. Each time you win a new medal (depending on how the medals have been re-done) you get your name in the paper again for earning your Victoria Cross or whatever you earned. Kind of adds the feeling of fame that the Ace pilots recieved back then. Hellshade

I'm sure pushing the 'esc' key is the first thing most of us would do. That's why I said to make it where you can't escape out of it somehow. Hardcode it if possible. Otherwise, of course, it would be circumvented and serve no use. Probably can't be done, but some kind of in game delay that makes people definately want to avoid dying by taking excessive risks. Just an idea. Probably a bad one. Hellshade

It looks beautiful Rabu. Nice work on the Camel skin. Ashame about the arcade combat and flight model though. :( Hellshade

Maybe you can't format the hard drive, but once you crash and die, you could make it go through a 60 second funeral scene that you can't escape out of. It would be enough of an annoyance I bet that people would fly more carefully just to avoid the delay in getting back to the game. I wouldn't put it in QC mode though. Only campain mode if possible. It could be a part of the DiD standard to add to the realism. As another idea, it might be cool to have 2 overall options to select in the workshop. One is "DiD mode" and the other is "Custom". For people that want to fly true DiD, it will automatically put all of the other settings that are DiD relevant into the correct selections. With Custom mode, of course, you simply select everything the way you would like it. Just a thought. Hellshade

just add "Gold Box Collectors Edition V4.0" and I think we got a winner. Hellshade

Intermediate 1.6. I've been using Hardcore, but I tried the 3rd party one tonight and I have to say I like the damage effects as well as the compromise between how long it takes me to shoot down a plane and how many hits I can take before I'm dropping out of the sky myself. Normal mode you basically have to fly 100% defensively. If anyone even gets 2 bullets in you, your flight controls are shot and it's exceptionally difficult to survive once you've taken any damage at all. The 1.6 Intermediate version feels right to me. The question also has to be, how many folks who have voted for Normal or Hardcore have actually tried the Intermediate DM? Hellshade

And while hospitalized, there is a chance of developing a romance with a nurse that opposes the war but is attracted to me despite my profession of dealing death in the skies. Oh wait, that's the plot of the Red Baron movie. Sorry. Shortening the enemy AIs sight sounds good to me, except I think it was Winder who pointed out that that would result in considerably fewer dogfights and a lot more patrols just 'enjoying the scenery.' I can't say that sounds like as much fun. Reducing their ability to see and fly through the clouds though would probably be a very good thing if it actually can be coded somehow. Did I read somewhere that putting cloud graphics slider up to 4 or 5 somehow helps that? I can't recall now. As for enemy AI disengaging more often, I think that too would be pretty cool. However as Polovski observed, the AI become pretty easy pickings when they try to fly away straight and level. The end result would probably be MORE kills / hour instead of less, unless they coded in some kind of cheat where they flew away a bit faster than they should be able to fly. I think folks would feel cheated then though. Come to think of it, how the hell DID they disengage without getting shot down? The closest way I can think of right now to reduce the number of kills per hour is to use the Hardcore Damage model and possibly reduce your ammo % at loadout. It takes so many bullets to knock a plane out of the sky that usually you're doing quite well to get one or two per mission. That's still really high, of course. You can reduce your ammo load out so you have fewer and fewer bullets to fight with until you get to a number you think is about right in terms of kills per hour. The fewer bullets being some compensation for the fact that you will certainly engage in more fights as a Player in a Flight Sim than you would if your life were actually on the line as a Pilot in a War. I'm not saying that's an acceptable long term solution, but it might be interesting to try and find out what % ammo load out it takes in order to reach a balance. It would also tend to make you think before jumping into a fight because you know you may not have much ammo left to survive it. Obviously you drop historical accuracy when you do stuff like that though and that is the lifeblood of this sim. Some way to unjam your guns would be awesome though. And maybe a voice overlay of a pilot swearing profusely. Oh wait, I usually supply that sound effect myself. Scratch that last part. Hellshade

Never heard of it. Doesn't sound like I missed much though. Hellshade

I didn't know you played WoW, OvS. 70 Undead Warlock was my main. Quit before WotLK came out. Just not nearly as fun as OFF. Thanks for helping to break the addiction. /salute Hellshade

My apologies, rabu. An "alternative" WWI flight sim has been delayed in reaching the market. Fair enough? /salute Hellshade

The release date for the game changed on gogamer.com. Pushed back to June 25th. Hellshade

Looks like RoF has been pushed back again. This time to June 25th. I can't remember who, I think it was WF2 (sorry if I'm wrong on that), said that with the last patch the game was almost unplayable. Apparently they are having some real issues. Hellshade

Here's a way to reduce the number of kills / flight hour. Hardcode the game so that if you die, it literally won't let you play for a real full month. That way we'll all be a heck of a lot more choosy about who we do and don't engage. /salute Hellshade

P5 name suggestion Over Flanders Fields : 90 years in the past, available 90 years in the future Hellshade

I was in RFC 74 squadron at St-Omer, March 1918. He and his squadron mates looked pretty fierce in their black fuselage airplanes and they certainly didn't dissappoint in terms of skill and aggression. I've tangled with his friends a few times since then and I must say it wasn't always me who got the best of them. Hellshade

Over Flanders Fields : Huns in the Sun Which would technically be "OFF HitS" Probably make for some cool cover art too. Hellshade

That is quite the nice Review. I wonder why he decided to wait 5 months to write it. At least you can't say he "rushed" the review and didn't take the time to really play the game. Then again, I've been playing since it came out too and I still find cool new stuff now and then. It really is amazing how huge the OFF BHaH campaign world is. /salute Hellshade

Over Flanders Fields : The Addiction Continues Since I built my new rig, I changed Regional Air Activity to "High" in the Workshop and I must say it is anything but lonely up there. I've encountered flights of 6 EA two seaters (I got one, but he took out my engine and I had to land in a field), flights of 7 Albatross DVas (I got 5 before I died!) and just this last mission was a base scamble where we were attacked by a mixture of DR 1 and DVas, all with black fuselages (anyone know what german squadron that would be?). At any rate, the sky is just filled with craft and it is more intense than ever. With the Tac display turned off as soon as I see a red blip, I find myself looking around like mad to be sure nobody is on my 6 once the furballs begin. I don't fly DiD because I use warp and unlimited fuel and there are so many planes in the sky I can rarely make it from one waypoint to the next without getting pulled out of warp because somebody is within 8 miles of me. It's not just the number of planes either. It's the variety of types and individual paint jobs that amazes me. I shot down an all black DR 1 that attacked my air field. I imagine he was an Ace but I have labels turned off so I can't be sure. I'll have to try and find out who because he was damn good. /salute Hellshade

Kelly Mo, I just cheat and set fuel to Unlimited in the workshop. I too lost a pilot behind enemy lines due to a fuel shortage issue (involving warp, for which there is a work-around). Obviously if you want to fly DiD standard though, that isn't going to work for you. Still, I hate to lose a pilot to a glitch involving fuel or destination, so that takes care of it. On the downside, I'm denying myself the possible experience of being in the middle of a dogfight and having my fuel run dry, which could make for a rather exciting story. /salute Hellshade