Hasse Wind

I have a laptop with Vista on it, and I haven't had any problems with it either, Olham. However, Win 7 is even better. Everything works smoother somehow. I didn't get my laptop when Vista was just released, so it's very likely that I missed many of the problems so many people have had with that OS. Maybe it's the same for you? People who are the first the use a new OS are unfortunately also those who will discover the worst problems.

Over the last few years, it seems that M$ has finally realized their programs are causing an awful amount of security problems for millions of people. For example their Internet Exploder, which was practically unpatched and ridiculously unsecure for years. New competition changed that - when they had a monopoly on web browsers, they were not interested in developing anything new or improving old. But now they are developing better software. I've been using Windows 7 for a couple of months, and I really like it. There's almost nothing I miss from my XP days. I'm not using Security Essentials, but it's good to know there are still decent free security programs available. In the past I've had some bad experiences with such free programs, so I've been using commercial programs and haven't had any problems.

I will not buy P4 without partridges and pear trees. Both live (or grow) in France, so it would unrealistic to leave them out. We want OFF to be as realistic as possible, right?

Well, if cows are included in P4, then why not some partridges too? And pear trees? It's the little details that matter.

That Nehrim certainly looks interesting. I'll have to install Oblivion and check it out. Funny, it seems all kinds of Oblivion mods have been secretly in development after I stopped playing the game. Thanks again, Von Paulus. Now if only I could find the game DVD...

I'm really excited about that Middle Earth mod for Oblivion. I used to play Oblivion a lot a couple of years ago, but then I got bored with it and stopped. For a fan of Mr. Tolkien, such a mod is a dream come true. I'll definitely keep an eye on its development. The graphics and landscape and everything looks really amazing. Thanks a lot for the link, Von Paulus. I heard about LotRO becoming free, but I'm afraid to start playing any MMORPG's. They are far too addictive games, and I don't trust my ability to not become addicted. I'm a weak man.

Wow, that looks really professional for a mod. And extremely ambitious too. I hope they can complete the project. It often happens with big mod projects that they are never finished, for one reason or another.

I think that's always been the case in war. Drugs and alcohol has been used, with or without the permission of the higher ranks. And if one thinks about just how bad it must have been to stay in the forward trenches for weeks, with no end of the war in sight, one can hardly blame the guys. I know that after both world wars of the 20th century, there was a huge crowd of former soldiers in every country who had become addicted to morphine or some other drug, or alcohol.

Oh yes, OFF is like a good wine - it gets better as it grows old. But there's nothing like the very first time you start a career mission, take off from the field, look around and head towards the front, not knowing what will happen. That's some excitement! And in a great sim like OFF we can safely experience it. I'm sure the feelings in a real situation would be a lot more unpleasant.

This is entertaining stuff as always, Lou. And not every pilot manages to stay alive so long. I had a couple of very long-lived fellows, but they all perished to limbo when my hard drive crashed for good. Now I don't have anything special, yet. Keep up the good work!

I kinda envy all you new guys - you are about to begin a great adventure in the best WW1 sim ever made. Everything will be new and shiny for you. Have fun, and welcome. And don't be disappointed if you lose a lot of pilots. It's quite normal and happens to all of us.

I'll go with Olham in this one. Silent Night, Holy Night is one of the most beautiful Christmas carols ever composed. But there are a number of other beautiful carols I could have chosen, like En etsi valtaa loistoa (Giv mig ej glans, ej guld, ej prakt in Swedish) composed by Jean Sibelius in 1895.

Ah, now that you posted I remember you already said that to me some time ago, Lou. Sorry, my memory must be deteriorating. Unfortunately it's not so easy to replace than faulty PC memory chips. Anyway, that's a real treasure. Guard it well. I understand perfectly what you mean by the feelings of old times those ancient books evoke. I have some old German and Finnish books from the early 20th century, and it just doesn't feel the same to be reading a brand new book. Just by looking at the old books and the markings left by previous owners makes you feel like you're traveling back in time. Besides, they rarely make books today like they used to do decades ago. In many cases the computerized methods of mass production have destroyed a lot of the artistic value of books, which is a shame.

You've advertised your collection at least once before, Lou, but I'm still impressed by it when I see it. I have many general and other histories of the war, but nowhere near that number of memoirs by pilots. Do you have the complete set of the RFC/RNAS/RAF official history by Raleigh and Jones? That one is really expensive. I don't have the originals but later reprints. Excellent reading for the most part, and they contain some information that just doesn't exist anywhere else.

I've never played Phases 1 and 2, so I didn't know that about the aircraft hitpoints in P1. Interesting. I can imagine how frustrating it must be when you empty your guns into an enemy plane without any results whatever. It's a fine line between reasonable challenge and complete frustration.

I really like HPW's mods. I'm currently testing his improved N.28 and it works really well. I also use his DM mod and can recommend it to everybody. It's great that OFF can be modded so it's possible to fool around with different ideas and see whether they can be implemented in the sim or not.

Interesting discussion and many great ideas. AI improvements are always the toughest thing to program in any game. It's not easy to try to simulate the behaviour of human beings in combat situations. An AI pilot that tries to flee when it fails a morale check or something must be quite challenging to program. The retreat shouldn't make it too easy for player to shoot down AI planes, as has been mentioned in this thread. One solution for bombers and recon planes would be to make them protect each other better while disengaging at the same time. For example the defensive circle that the Fees used is one of the things I'd love to see (and historically it has been used by many other plane types when facing superior opponents, not only during WW1). For fighters, it would depend on the plane types of the retreating pilots and their opponents. For example when a flight of SPAD XIII's decides to disengage from enemy Albs, they can simply turn away (or dive) and use their superior speed to get away safely: no Albatros can keep up with them. But it can't be easy to make this a reality in a flight sim with so many different aircraft and periods of air combat with various doctrines and stuff. One can still day dream though.

Actually it's easier to stop them in winter. Our ancestors should never have left Africa. And the craziest of them migrated all the way to the Arctic areas. Stupid buggers...

There are some true classics among those books, some that I've read, many more that I haven't. Thanks for doing this, Lou. Unfortunately e-books are bad for my old eyes. Probably the best I can do is to read them from my computer's monitor and use plenty of zoom.

Just how cold is it there? Here it's -20°C and a freezing wind blows from the northeast from the Arctic Ocean, making it even colder. But with proper clothing, it isn't that bad. Anyway, I agree about the indie games. OFF is a great example of a wonderful product that wouldn't exist without indie developers. No big publishers would dare to produce something like OFF. Speaking of indies, any news about your naval games?

They flew more carefully most of the time. And quite a few of the squadrons were actually B/R squadrons, so not that much dogfighting took place among them.

That's definitely one of the best Camels I've ever seen in OFF or any other sim.

But can you be certain? Maybe the devs are just pulling your leg? What if the new Sopwith is the Sopwith Tabloid?

The current system for squadron casualties is good if the devs are unable to change the extremely bloody nature of air combat in OFF. The AI fights like a Terminator, so it's quite typical to have a battle to the last man and bullet. If casualties were handled dynamically with the current AI, whole squadrons would be wiped out in a few days. And that would be extremely unrealistic. WW1 air combat was dangerous, but not that dangerous. I try to fly carefully, but I can't make the AI planes to follow the same rules. So if I had to choose one feature above all else, it would be an improved, more realistic AI that knows when to fight and when to run and doesn't act like a Terminator. I know this is also the most difficult feature to implement. But the devs have already done wonders with CFS3 AI, so who knows...

This service seems to be a great success. My hat's off to all you skinners. And have some virtual beer!