Olham

Well spoken words!

Hasse Wind, the best outcome of those two incredibly monstrous wars, that I can see, is how we treat each other today. We do not intend to make war with each other (not in the so-called Western World) - we learned to respect each other, and regard each other as on the same level more or less. If I think of the blood shedded being shedded for that result - it was not all invain.

The question I really wonder about, is: why did Voss fly alone? Was he still in a kind of testing phase with the new craft? Did no one want to fly with him? He was experienced enough to know - like the grandmaster MvR - that you shouldn't take risks. In an aircraft like the Dr.1, it is taking risks to fly alone. Guynemer or Fonck could do that cause they were flying SPAD then - fast enough to run from any German fighter. But the Dr.1 was compareably slow. I don't understand it.

Oh yeah, that's a beautiful crest - I'll use it; thanks for it. What is it? Brandenburg? Widowmaker, that's good news, Sir!

Yeah, I hear what you mean, Lou. If you or anyone else are interested in the meaning of the first part in German (which has no running translation text) - here it is: Have you, dead soldier, ever loved a girl Surely not, cause only where there is peace, tenderness and trust can thrive (You) were soldier to die - not to be young. Must have thought by yourself, I will surely die soon I will take me my pleasure as it comes, by violent hand. You were determined to do so, but then you felt ashamed of yourself and you have never done it. Yes, they have lied to you already the same way as they are still lieing to us today. And you gave them all you had - your tether, your youth, and your live.

Parky: Based on the climb rate of the DRI alone, he could have in all probability "evaded" the encounter entirely, but chose not to. I don't think he had that choice. There were at least five of the S.E.5a coming from above. The S.E.5a is one of the fastest fighters of WW1 already. Now, in a dive they even gain more speed. A spiral climb performed by Voss (straight climb would have been suicide) would have still got the attackers with their overdose of energy right up to and behind him. The Dr.1 had a good climb, but it was underpowered. You may outmanoeuver one or two S.E.5a, but against seven altogether, and veterans and aces they were - he could only do this one attempt: to damage or kill enough of them, to be able to break free. I believe, that he fought that fight in full awareness of the small chance he had. The heroic about it is for me, that he took it on with deadly precise concentration, full acrobatic control over that instable fighter, and that he din't resign. The way he fell may also suggest, that he was directly hit very hard. When MvR was hit at the rear head, he was half unconcious and couldn't move his arms first. He only noticed, that the Albatros went down with speed, until it got enough lift again to rise - so he descended softly in wave moves, which he didn't even control first. With an instable aircraft, this seems to be impossible - when the pilot looses control over the stick, it may perform a deadly steep descent.

Yes, I will do, Stratos. When you get "HitR", please make absolutely sure to follow the install instructions given in the website www.overflandersfields. There was a superpatch and a minor one, which need to get installed in the right order. You'll find it there neatly explained.

Carrick, here are pics of your new skins - an Albatros D.II and a D.V (uprated). The skins are sent to you via PM. Hope you enjoy them. All the best! Olham

Seen a documentary about 1 July, 1916, first battle fo the Somme - words keep stuck in throat like a gun jam. May you all rest in peace, all you countless young men - they could tear your bodies, but not your souls.

Hellshade: You may or may not have a slight advantage in tighter turn radius against Spad XIIIs, but it certainly isn't so significant that you can sit in the middle of a swarm of Spads and expect to fight them all off. That is exactly how I do it (as long as the ammo lasts). The turn advantage is significant enough, that I get into their turns and fire into their cockpits and engines, until they have to break away, or die. They do that either climbing out of the turn - then I follow for a second and shoot them up. Or they try to dive away (the better decision); then I can either hit them, or I let them go. That way, I have dealt with 4 SPADs and won. But of course - that is the AI as it is right now - I hope it can be improved there. If the SPAD pilots would make perfect use of their fighters, I wouldn't have the slightest chance. Your description is very good for how it should be done in real life, Hellshade. I have only one addition for fast descends to make. It maybe only works in OFF and perhaps not in RL, but I use it often: When you need to eliminate altitude quickly in an Albatros, you can bank the craft fully on one side, left or right, with rudder in the direction opposite to earth, and perform "falling spirals" by using elevator. Not sure, if the RL Albatros' lower wings would accept that, but in OFF they don't make any noise. PS/Edit: Just watched the video. After many fighting videos, you now managed to make even this escape video a smashing thriller, Hellshade! Boy - do you have an "Anti-Collision-Guardian-Angel"??? Which area did you fly this in? Looked nice there, even in winter.

Yo, Albatros should be my terrain (and Beanie's) - so I'll have a go on this one, Carrick. What arms are these?

I must say, that I never knew much about the Great War. Now I just watched a documentary about the battle for Thiepval, Somme, beginning on 1 July 1916, when the British tried to take the German fortified trench lines of that sector. I saw, how British artiller pounded the German lines for several days and nights without any break, to eliminate every soldier, to wipe out the German lines. I saw, how badly trained soldiers, incapable commanders and overcome tactics led to the terrible losses on the British side, when "Kitchener's Boys", as they were called, walked in tight formations upright into the German machine gun fire - cause the Germans were still there - no idea how they could have survived that. I admit, that my pulse began to rush, that I felt a thick knot in my throat, and sick in the belly, when I saw the scenes - partly original B/W material, partly re-enacted today - and that I was very, very glad, that we never had to be part of that "Stahlgewitter"*. When I was 19 years old, I visited England on my motorbike and met wonderful people. Boys, are we lucky! (* Tempest of Steel)

Thank you, Rugbyfan and von Paulus - but I think I had enough just from this one documentation. It "eats my heart and body" away, while I'm watching this. I am just now reading your recommendation, von Paulus: "Lions of July", as an attempt to understand, how it could come to all this.

Just to make sure you all know - the screenshots are updated - there is more to drool over now! http://www.overflandersfields.com/Phase4-Preview1.htm

You should see damage in normal resolution, Stratos. I'm not sure how much damage - maybe it was improved with "Hat in the ring". Something seems to be very wrong, when you can't even make new key assignments. If you have many problems, try to reset both CFS3 and OFF Manager in "Workshops" (you will loose your pilots that way, but it seems to be necessary). When you make a new key assignment, you must: - hit "Esc" - Click on "Controls" - choose a command and click "additional assignment" - now you create an additional assignment for the joystick button you want - only after this, you can delete the old assignment There is no way to just change an assignment from one key to another without this method.

That bad, eyh, Flyby?

Yes, that is why I chose to use the OFF squadrons' default basic skins for this, Sandbagger. To put that right - we do not really make skins here. The skins are already provided by OFF / OBD. We just offer to attach personal emblems or letters in order to give everyone who wants a more personal skin. We offer this to those, who don't have own programs or not the hands for this. The whole underlying skins were of course created by the skinners from OBD. Thank you guys again for the immense fund of skins you made!

Stratos, one thing is very important for the claims: never use semicolons. They stop the report at that point, and the sim can't see your witness names. Make sure, that witness first names and family names are written correct. All the best!

That's alright; just come in when you can. So far, I don't even see any requests here - is my title wrong???

The S.E.5 in 1916??? Hey, I would also pick one then. But it didn't enter service before March 1917, as far as I know. The S.E.5a must be the fastest fighter here, together with the SPAD XIII, and it has a stable dive - so of course she can run, when she doesn't want to fight or is out of ammo.

Burning Beard, I'm glad you joined in - very welcome! Widowmaker, come on - give yerself a push. The more we are, the less work it is for each single one. But if you really have too much to do lately, I understand that. Perhaps you join us later then?

Okay. let's start it then! We now declare the Bazar open! You can order some personalising for a skin/craft of your choice. The rules should be: - we wont paint new skins; we use the default squadron skins, and attach to them: - emblems sent by the user in Jpeg form; and/or - a capital letter; and/or - stripes, fuselage bands or chevrons in the colour(s) the user wants We need from you: - the Squadron/Jasta/Escadrille you want it for - a capital letter, or an emblem (Jpeg) you want to show - your colour wishes for stripes or fuselage bands or chevrons Please don't make too complicated wishes, everyone - we still want to do some own skinning and flying, okay?

I'm with my predecessors here. You cannot run away from SPAD XIII in an Albatros D.V, when the SPADs want to get you. Your best defense would be attacking and precise shooting. Your D.V can turn a little better; use that. I attack them and make sure to hit each craft with a well placed burst - don't waste ammo there! Once they show damage effect, you can begin to kill them. When the ammo is used up, and there are still SPADs flying, you could now try to escape the damaged craft with Lou's well described ways. In OFF, the enemy AI finds it hard to hit you, when you fly really low - and I mean tree-top level or lower! That way you should have good chances to reach a spotter, an army camp or an airfield. Their ground fire may bring your enemies down, or at least it will distract them from you. In real dispair, you could land anywhere, as Airshark says - when you get that far.

Hey, more a German flyer? Welcome in the League of Gentlemen, mein Herr! And Jasta 2 is an excellent choice to fly with! If you give me a capital letter or send me a personal emblem, I could make you a D.II personalised skin.