Hasse Wind

That would make getting drunk even more exciting.

Maybe P4 will be like that too? OFF - Do It Yourself!

Nice work, Widowmaker.

Not every truck and car should explode, but if some of them are carrying fuel and ammo, then an explosion is definitely expected. Where did you get those Finnish and Russian skins? Did you make them yourself, or are they someone else's? Here's a photo of a Finnish Fokker D.VII with skis:

Looks absolutely great. Now where are the partridges and pear trees that were mentioned a few months ago?

I've tried all of those in campaign mode, except the E.V. I've actually flown a lot with all the Nupes. It's just that I never write combat reports. The Nupes are great fighters, all of them.

It seems that it's no simple matter to transfer pilot files from one hard drive to another. Has anybody every succeeded in getting them to work again?

When Commodore 64 came out, I was still using typewriters and computers were something of a mystery to me. I didn't even know there were games for them. A friend introduced me to gaming in the late 1980's, and it's been my hobby ever since. I still remember how amazingly, incredibly brilliant Red Baron was when I first played it in 1991. Until then I had been restricted to reading about WW1 and building some models, but then I was suddenly able to fly those planes myself! And here I am, twenty years later, still flying the old crates in a virtual environment.

German production figures would have been even better without the strategic bombings. And the switch to total war came far too late - only in 1942, when Speer took over the Armaments Ministry, did the Germans slowly start making full use of their resources. But that wasn't enough. Even with desparate and brutal measures, like the use of slave labour, Germany lagged seriously behind in the production battle. The combined might of the Allies was simpy too much. The Soviet Union alone was able to produce many more tanks and artillery, Britain was always able to produce more aircraft, and when you add the incredible economic might of the United States into the equation, Germany had no chance at all. If the US economy had been mobilized as thoroughly as the German economy, the production numbers would have been even more in favour of the Allies. But there was never need for such a total mobilization of American resources. I remember reading Albert Speer's comment that when he became the Armaments Minister, he accepted the position with a firm belief in German chances. But when he met with some leading economists, he found out that they had already calculated Germany had in practice already lost the war when the United States became involved. Speer didn't believe them at first, but within a couple of years he came to the same conclusion. And even with Speer leading the Armaments Ministry, the Nazi system of government was so ineffective and corrupted and full of party bosses backstabbing each other that there was much room for improvement in matters of economy. For example Hitler didn't want to see too many German women working in the factories, because he believed such work was not suitable for women, who were supposed to take care of their homes and families. But in Allied countries, like Britain and the USSR, women were extensively used in factories, which helped to increase war production even when most of the men were in the armed forces. Slave labour was a poor replacement for highly motivated German workers. So it can be said that Germany was never ready for long war. It was exactly what Hitler wanted to avoid, and for a while he seemed to succeed. Fortunately he didn't, in the end. No matter how long Germany had spent preparing for war, they would never have been able to outproduce all the other great powers combined. We mustn't forget that the other powers weren't exactly waiting calmly for Germany to build more weapons - they were also devoting more and more resources into armaments in the final years of the 1930's.

I hope everything goes well and you are soon flying again. That should be more than enough to run OFF smoothly.

Yep, I also thought of CoD. Everybody was eagerly waiting for its release back then. Good that I didn't preorder...

Living in a country that had to fight twice for its very existence against Stalin's Soviet Union, I can say with good faith that the Western Allies saved countless lives and a whole way of living when they crushed Nazi Germany and liberated Western Europe before the Soviets came. Too bad it was too late for Eastern Europe. Stalin was just as crazy and evil as his dictator colleague Hitler.

You learn OFF by flying, by reading threads here and also by asking questions from other people. I remember when I flew my first mission in OFF. I didn't know almost anything, but I learned by testing things myself and participating in the conversations here. This is a good community we have here. Patience is all you need, really. And time.

Fawlty Towers is one of the best comedy series ever made. I have all the episodes on DVD. Speaking of America's entry into the Great War, it changed everything, though not at once. The Entente powers knew that they now had the advantage in a long war, and the Central powers realized that they had to win the war as quickly as possible before the American economic and industrial might would make the Entente powers too strong. Without American help, the Entente would have been in serious trouble after Russia collapsed.

Looks fantastic. And I agree with Morris - don't rush P4.

Most of the time you don't need to remember any other name in addition to your wingman. Just put his name as a witness and most of the claims get accepted, if you've otherwise described the action adequately. And yes, I'm willing to tolerate these small quirks, because the sim is otherwise so very good and enjoyable. There aren't too many sims around that actually simulate the process of claiming of kills, now are there? Usually they are just confirmed automatically and that's it. That doesn't mean there's no room for improvement in the graphical user interface. I'm hoping to see such improvements in P4.

An excellent book, yes. It weighs something like over three kilos. I wouldn't advice reading it in bed, as you'll be squashed flat if you fall asleep and the book falls down.

The dogfight between Ernst Udet and Georges Guynemer.

I'm hoping to avoid that part of the experience.

Use Notepad. It works fine for me. I've been doing lots of practice flying with the Fee in preparation for a career in No 20 Squadron, starting early 1916. It flies quite nicely for a bathtub, actually.

Welcome. You want excellent cockpit visibility? Then be a man and fly the Eindecker. It has none of the fancy ladies stuff, like ailerons.

Finally! I was worried you'd never be able to enjoy OFF like it was meant to be enjoyed. Have fun! If you like to fly early war careers, I recommend you install Bletchley's mods. They greatly improve that period of the war while we wait for P4.

Looks great. I'd say this is the best Fateful Morn so far. Very atmospheric and dramatic.

Suicidal balloon busters, overly eager "friendly" AA gunners - sounds like it would be a Bad Idea to join the Balloon Corps!

Sounds promising. I'm still at the end of 1915 though, so a long way to go before 1917.