Hasse Wind

Nasty creatures. I'm used to seeing lots of mosquitoes and gnats here in the summer. They love wet environments, and the swampy terrain we have in our forests here is ideal breeding ground for them. But too much is too much. If you have to wear glasses, then it's definitely too crowded there. It's interesting how some people seem to attract all the bloodsucking insects in an area, while others are hardly ever bothered by the bugs.

Welcome! This is a very nice community here, so I'm sure you won't be disappointed with the company. Regarding chivalry in the air, well, remember that the best hunter was the guy who managed to shoot the other fellow in the back and end the fight in a second. If he managed to do all this unnoticed, so much the better. If I were you, I'd follow themightysrc's advice and write about something that you already know well. But that's just my opinion. I was usually a lazy student and tended to take the easiest route whenever possible. @Bullethead: In my opinion, Motlke the Younger's decision to ruin the Schlieffen Plan by not reinforcing his right wing with the several new divisions that became availabe in the years following Schlieffen's retirement was more decisive than that one recon flight by Breguet. But yeah, that flight definitely had an impact on history, that can't be denied.

I'm pretty sure they did know the name. It wasn't exactly top secret information, and I imagine the British pilots and observers were lectured about their enemies' equipment, at least a little bit. "Know your enemy", and all that stuff. When I was in the army (though obviously I wasn't in any WW1 era army!), we had some lectures about our potential enemies' most important weapon systems and their use, so that we'd know how they behaved if we some day had to meet them in battle.

I suppose it's artistic license, Olham.

Does Godzilla play a role in it?

What a great easter egg. Maybe there'll be flying Zeppelins in P4...

It seems that these cucumbers are deadlier than the Fukushima nuclear accident. Sorry, black humour.

An extremely bloody war that lasts so many years must leave its mark on everybody. This is of course reflected in the period music. And look at all the dystopic literature and films that were made after the war in 1920's and 1930's. A common man in the early 20th century Europe (and North America) lived in much harsher conditions than what we are used to. Just look at the conditions factory workers had to work in, and the filthy slums they lived in. The ordinary men who went to war in 1914 were used to harsh living, but even then the war was a completely horrible experience for most of them.

Nice one, Olham. I wonder when the first Darth Vader helmet will make an appearance in OFF...

These days I often find myself looking at the sky and thinking how much better looking the OFF clouds are than the real ones.

Only very few people, I imagine. That's why witnesses are so important to have, and why it's only natural to be sceptical when somebody claims to have done something extraordinary but has no proof of it.

That's also my understanding, though I'm no expert. There would need to be more proof of the event to make me believe everything happened exactly like Bishop claims. And like Pips said, the behaviour of Bishop's comrades speaks volumes. Even though the British system of confiming aerial victories was definitely less rigorous than what French and German pilots had to go through in order to get their kills confirmed, the VC was never awarded without witnesses, except in Bishop's case. (The VC for the Unknown Soldier is a different matter.)

While you're at it, save some bullets for the corporate ogres who are taking all our jobs to China and elsewhere.

As you all probably know, I've always demanded more two-seaters for OFF. Therefore I think it's great that P4 will have a bigger selection of them than P3. After all, recon and bomber aircraft had the most important role to play in the air war; the fighters were there only to prevent them from doing their work, or to protect them from enemy fighters. I've suggested this before, but if you feel like it would be a good idea to help fund the development of OFF, please consider offering plane packs for sale. I dislike the business model of the other sim (having to pay for every new aircraft), but I'd be willing to buy aircraft expansion packs, especially if they contained new two-seaters and other bombers.

Sounds even better. Bring it on, Jimmy boy!

This is one of those two-seaters that I've been requesting for P4 many times in many threads. One of the best two-seaters of the war with excellent performance. Thanks for adding it to P4! Looking forward to flying it. Now all we need is a recon camera and then I can go flying daredevil recon missions high above and behind enemy lines in the Rumpler, like it was historically used.

I'm going to get a completely new rig later this year in any case, so that's what I voted. Flight sims can be an expensive hobby.

An observer career would be interesting, yes. But even if we can only fly as the pilot, the addition of working recon cameras and wireless sets for artillery fire direction would revolutionize the way these careers work. Then it would be something more than just bombing and pretending to do the other things. And it wouldn't hurt to have working bombsights in all the two-seaters and bombers that historically had them. Being able to transfer from a recon/bomber squadron to a fighter squadron without having to manually edit files would be nice too. I know perfectly well that most people prefer to fly only as fighter pilots. But I'm sure there are many of us who greatly enjoy also the two-seater careers.

You could have written that in Croatian and I would have understood it equally well. That is, not at all. Whatever it was, it's good that you enjoyed it.

I've always wondered how the people who actually believe in these apocalypses deal with the situation when the Big Day comes and goes and nothing happens. Do they just shrug and get back to business as usual, and start predicting the next apocalypse? Looking forward to December 2012.

It's almost 9 PM here and the world is still alive and kicking. Oh well, there's always next year, 2012. That's supposed to be the Big One. Have you contacted Messieurs Spielberg & Hanks, Widowmaker? They might want to hire you for their next WW2 miniseries.

I'm running out of words here... The scenery and clouds look absolutely fantastic!

Yes, beautiful. If I were a rich man, I'd hire an artist to paint me such works of arts and then decorate my apartment walls with them.

That Renault was truly a revolutionary tank. It was the first tank in operational use to have all the basic design features you can see in modern tanks too: a rotating turret on top of the hull, engine in the back and driver in the front. It was a very successful design and was in service in many countries, even as late as WW2. But by then it was completely obsolete, of course. I can only imagine what a shock it must have been for the Germans when they encountered tanks in battle for the first time, and they had no tanks of their own, or any decent anti-tank weapons. But the early tanks were very slow and unreliable and the cooperation between them and the other branches of service was so poor that they didn't decide the war as soon as they were used, as some people had hoped.

I don't think you're supposed to hear anything, Olham. Those old cameras didn't have sound recording equipment (the technology existed, but was heavy and impractical), so all the sounds had to be added later in a studio. Very interesting films, especially those from the factory.