Hasse Wind

Now we're getting dangerously off-topic, but I wonder why so many vids are unavailable there? Is it a copyright issue or something else? There's nothing bad about that vid really, so that can't be the reason.

Join the DID campaign, see the world!

For a Python song, that one is downright solemn and reverent.

Stuttgart was the capital of the Kingdom of Württemberg from 1806 to 1918 (from 1871 part of the German Reich). Below is their historical flag and coat of arms.

SIGINT, interesting. I know that all kinds of strange stuff was going on in the Scandinavian airspace during the Cold War, but unfortunately the most interesting reports are still classified here and also elsewhere, I suppose. The Soviets were quite active too, with their important northern naval bases and stuff. Ah, but we shoudn't go too far off-topic here, no matter how interesting the subject.

This is a great idea and I'd definitely make a wish for a skin, if only OFF allowed me to have both fuel and ammo management and personal skins at the same time. Maybe in P4?

Yep, I'm Finnish. Don't let the German-sounding name fool you.

An important day that shouldn't be forgotten. I always have mixed feelings when I think about the history of WW1. It was a terrible tragedy for winners and losers both, but without it my homeland wouldn't have gained its independence so soon. Many people in the years during the war and after it (and even today) saw Germany as a militaristic oppressor hell-bent on conquering Europe and blamed the Germans for everything. But again in my country's case, the Germans were actually the ones who helped us to become free of foreign occupation. True, they did it mostly for selfish reasons (to strike a blow against Russia that was already collapsing and to help the birth of a new state friendly to Germany), but no one else was willing to give such significant and serious aid. So when I think about the Great War, I feel that it wasn't all in vain. Some good things did come out of all the bloodshed and suffering too. Maybe it sounds strange to many people here, but that's how I feel.

True indeed. And also remember (not Patton's words though): "If you find yourself in a fair fight, you didn't plan your mission properly." And let's not forget that the "chivalry" of the "Knights of the Air" consisted of trying to get in the best position to shoot the other guy in the back.

In a fast plane (SPAD's, SE5's) its best to dive and head for home. If things are really desperate, try flying extremely low, immediately over tree tops, and when you reach friendly lines, go down and land as quickly as possible. Unfortunately diving away won't always work too well, as the AI planes are more capable than the player's aircraft. Turning wind effects off and using auto fuel mixture may even the odds a bit.

Not on my salary!

One of the reasons I enjoy flying those German planes with proper inline engines in the Other Sim is that you don't have to fiddle with fuel mixtures. Of course this can be quite satisfactorily simulated in OFF by turning auto mixture on. Still, there's a P4 coming, so maybe... Ah, the brilliant German engineers. (Unfortunately Opel seems to have got all the poor ones, as I still keep having trouble with my car...)

Recently I've started flying the Hannover in our DiD campaign. Having read about the plane, it seems that they often had two guns for the observer, and that's what the plane's description in OFF says too. But the actual model has only one. Can this be changed in P4? Would be nice to have some extra firepower in a German two-seater, just like in the Brisfit. As for suggestions, I know this has been mentioned several times before, but some repetition can't hurt. Could you improve the behaviour of two-seater formations so that they try to make better use of their observer guns? This is one of the things that would reduce easy kills. They don't have to maneuver like fighters, just try to position themselves so that the field of fire for the rear guns would be optimal. Also if possible, can the player controlled rear gun fields of fire be improved? It seems to me that you can't move the guns as well as in real life - some positions, especially downwards, seem to be impossible currently. Finally, let me thank you for making all these two-seaters flyable. More people should give them a try, it can be a nice change from all the fighter stuff.

themightysrc: Good to know the Quirk can give the Huns a run for their money at least occasionally. In my Bloody April career flying the BE2 I was mostly fleeing from Richthofen's boys and didn't try to challenge them very actively. But in early war I like to put some holes into Einies when they get too close to my flight. And I'd also like to see and fly a BE12. DonL: Try attacking them from below. They have soft bellies and can't fire at you from that angle. But if you attack a formation of two-seaters directly from behind, expect to get clobbered - they aren't THAT helpless. Except if they are Quirks, of course (and that's why we need those rear gunner improvements! You fighter jockeys have it too easy otherwise.)

This is absolutely true. One shouldn't forget that automatic weapons were very much in their infancy during WW1, and weren't as reliable as they are today. Ammunition and powder have also been greatly improved with new inventions. But in WW1, even the smokeless powder was a relatively new invention, dating only from the 1880's and 1890's.

And why not add some BE2's with proper armament to P4? Currently the only model we have is not at all useful against anything else than Eindeckers. It would give the Quirks a fighting chance later in the war, though of course not a very good chance.

Yes, some RFC squadrons used the Fee in a fighter role. They did quite well against the Eindeckers (which tells something about the Eindecker!)

My experience is that the warp range is fixed at 4 miles. If enemies are closer than that, there's nothing you can do to warp. Sometimes it's annoying, for example when the enemy planes clearly are not looking for a fight.

Impressive. It's great that you have worked your magic on rivers - they are probably the weakest point in the geography of P3.

Waiter, please bring us some of that beer while we wait for those exciting OFF news!

Actually you did, but didn't remember it. I told you about Pfalz and those licences earlier this year.

That was one of the failed late war Sablatnig designs. Dr Josef Sablatnig was originally an Austrian and designed his first airplane as early as 1903. Later he moved to Germany and started his seaplane company in 1915. His seaplanes were used a lot on the Baltic Sea front, but they were never the most popular or numerous seaplanes in German service.

I know you devs are like wizards with all the magic you have used to change the mediocre CFS3 into wonderful OFF, but still you keep surprising me! Those screenshots look really nice! I enjoy these screenshots like any OFFer, but maybe we could hear something about all the new features too? Like campaign improvements, two-seater careers etc. etc.?

For most missions, you really don't need all that fuel in your tank. I fly two-seaters a lot, and they usually have more than enough range even with greatly reduced fuel load. But even among fighters there are only a few planes with an extremely limited range, which forces you to fly with full tanks almost all the time. The Dr.1 is probably the worst, as it has a really limited range. But it's so agile that it doesn't really matter. The devs have done marvels with the AI already, so I wouldn't be surprised if we'll see some significant improvements also in the future. It shouldn't be impossible to make the AI pilots behave reasonably well even with some extra weight on their planes.

The devs already have fixed many of these CFS issues, so maybe this one can be squashed too in P4?