Hasse Wind

Hey, thanks for the tip. I didn't know that. Such WW1 books are not exactly common.

Not much to add to Lewie's post regarding the HP's in supporting ground troops. I don't have any statistics at hand about heavy bomber losses in WW1, but I know they were limited compared to WW2, and not just because the heavy bombers were much rarer in the Great War. It wasn't that easy for a WW1 fighter to shoot down one of the heavies. The fighters had very limited firepower, some bombers had at least partial armour protection (like the HP in its engines) and they had several guns for defensive fire. And the Entente air forces had many more fighters than the Germans in 1918, which also made it harder for the Germans to challenge the bomber units.

The HP O/400 indeed saw most of its service with the IAF, but they also took part in battles of the western front during the big offensives of 1918, so it was not purely an early strategic bomber.

By the way, the HP bomber is actually Type O/400 (with the letter 'O') and not 0/400 (with the number '0'). It's a very common mistake that many people make - I've made it myself many times in the past until I found out about the system HP used for naming their different types. It was always a combination of a letter (like 'M' or 'O'), slash, and a number. Glad to see our devs didn't make the same mistake.

All the games you mentioned are true classics. But for every such game there are many others that were acceptable at best back then but are absolutely horrible by modern standards. You youngsters (no offence meant) are in the enviable position of being able to benefit from the best of the best without having had to deal with the bad apples of the Dos Age.

I was wrong earlier. Seeing new screenshots is NOT a good idea. Now it's even harder to wait for P4!!!

Ah, the early 1990's world of computers. There are very few things I miss from those days. EVERYTHING was so utterly primitive and unsophisticated back then that it's amazing people were at all willing to jump through all the hoops in order to make anything work. And the overwhelming majority of games from that period are complete crap, especially simulators, which were really too much for the stone age PC's to handle. I've come to the conclusion that it's a bad idea to play many of those old 'classics' with the help of Dosbox. It just ruins the good memories. The games that actually have resisted the ravages of time and are true classics are few and far between. None of them are simulators, in my opinion. But I was never part of any early online community, so maybe that is something I would miss if I had been there and done the things all those nerds did. In the backwoods where I used to live back then there was no such thing as the Internet until the late 1990's. Even personal computers were quite rare, and admitting that you're one of those weirdos who spent time with computers and play some childish games was a good way to get beaten by the grunting hunter-gatherers of the local bar.

Thanks, they look absolutely great. Can't wait to take that HP for a bombing mission (and the Gotha too)!

That's a nicely detailed cockpit. I hope all the cockpits will be improved like that in P4. Looking forward to the update.

Amnesia, the latest game by the Penumbra developers, is the ultimate in computer horror games. I've been doing some reading about Shogun 2, and it's really made me interested in the game. I skipped a couple of the Total War games, but Shogun 2 sounds like a step back in the right direction. I greatly enjoyed the first Shogun and the first Medieval, but after them the series went downhill (in my opinion). Looks like this will be a busy spring. Soon I'll be in the same situation with new games as I'm already with my unread books!

In my current early war career I'm using your no tracers mod, Creaghorn. As I'm flying a BE.2, I'm not looking for a fight, but if I must shoot at something, it's very dificult to hit compared to the normal tracer settings. I hope your mods will be official in P4.

Exactly, HPW. A machine gun firing from an airplane is not as stable as a gun that is firing from a fixed position on the ground. And the majority of WW1 airplanes were anything but stable as gun platforms. They were often so light and underpowered that having a single extra MG could have a major negative impact on their performance. Things were much improved by WW2, when aircraft began to have plenty of power and were of much sturdier construction in general, making it possible to arm them with multiple MG's - even heavy MG's - and also 20 or 30 mm guns.

Javito, you seem to have a similar problem with games as I have with books. I keep buying new ones faster than I can get through the old.

Some new screenshots would be much appreciated. They make the waiting period more enjoyable, as then we have something to marvel and also analyze. It's fun to carefully examine the screens and try to find out what might be new and different from P3. There doesn't have to be hundreds of new screens released every week, just a few every now and then will do nicely. Consider it as a form of advertising. Publicity never hurts a sim.

When rifled firearms became common in the late 19th century, the accuracy of fire increased tremendously. Even the 1850's and 1860's era rifle muskets are pretty accurate weapons, and they used black powder, unlike the magazine rifles of WW1, which were even more accurate and deadlier at extremely long ranges. Same goes for machine guns. The main reason for my use of inaccurate gun settings in OFF is that otherwise it's far too easy to get kills, no matter how realistically I try to fly. I like the challenge.

Thanks for the links guys. Yeah, I've heard about that game, Von Paulus, but like you said it's not really tactical. I'll keep an eye on its development though. Some of the strategic level games are so HUGE that I don't have either time or energy to play them. Just looking at pics of some of the biggest games of that genre makes me wonder just how on earth people have the energy to move and micro-manage all the different units each turn! But maybe that Commander is not one of those monster games. WW1 mod for Total War? Is the game engine really suitable for such a modern conflict? I've always thought it works best in the medieval wars. Shogun was always my favourite in the series.

That's certainly disappointing news. It seems to follow in the footsteps of IL2, with the initial lack of a decent campaign mode etc.

Too bad nobody is interested in making a tactical level WW1 game. Contrary to popular opinion, battles such as the Somme or Verdun were not the whole war. There was also maneuver warfare, especially in the east where the front was longer and never as strongly fortified and defended as in the west. It would be interesting to simulate these battles in the Combat Mission engine.

I hope the new Combat Mission game won't disappoint. I wasn't terribly impressed by CM: Shock Force, mostly because its subject is so uninteresting to me. But with the series returning to WW2, I'm already interested. I have fond memories of the first, original Normandy Combat Mission.

Sounds like a good idea. But one must be careful with the rear gunner settings, as it shouldn't be too easy to shoot the two-seaters down. Many of them are already pretty much helpless against fighters. (No, I'm NOT talking about the deadly Brisfit gunners!)

No problem, take your time. It's good to know you are still in the modding business.

Of course all of this will be greatly improved in P4, right devs? Not that we are a crazily demanding audience or anything... No wonder almost nobody likes to develop simulators these days. Much less trouble to take the FPS route and not have to listen to constant complaints from weirdos who enjoy flying old aircraft in simulations.

I have exactly the same reasons for using the less accurate settings as elephant. And I also use the DM mod. Speaking of you mods, HPW, when can we expect to see some new FM mods? As you know, I enjoy flying the modified N.28.

Lou, maybe you could add these tables to your new medals pack so that the valuable information presented here won't be lost when these threads eventually disappear from the first page. I'm sure people who download your medals would greatly appreciate having this extremely useful information in the same package. Just a suggestion.

How could bikini girls possibly offend anybody? HPW, 'cold bear' must be some traditional Portuguese drink. Maybe Von Paulus can shed some light on the manufacturing process for us ignorant foreigners? Anyway, when I look out of my window and see all the snow (actually it's now 10 PM, so I see nothing but darkness) and then think about how many months are still left of this cold winter, I feel somewhat envious of you southern people and your short winters and hot summers.