Hasse Wind

No pilots in my family, I'm afraid - mostly just poor bloody infantry doing the dirty work in WW2. And not one of them is still alive, after all these decades. They took most of their experiences to the grave. I guess talking about all those things and digging too deep was too painful and difficult. And I can't really blame them, as much as I would have liked to know more. I do have some letters and pictures, and I know where they served and when, but that's about all there is left. They did their duty and have deserved their rest.

It should also make the plane lighter and more maneuverable. A simple but effective solution.

For me it's always a small triumph when I don't get lost on my way to the grocery store. Needless to say, I would have been a pretty miserable WW1 pilot.

F7. F9 is for viewing the eggs fall down on some unfortunate crumpets having their afternoon tea.

You don't have to feel any shame about the way you play OFF - nobody should. Full-DiD is just one way of enjoying this excellent sim, it isn't any more correct or better than some other way. Everybody should play OFF just like they want. One of the best things about OFF is its excellent workshop that let's people choose from a variety of options that best suit their style. I hope none of this will be lost in P4. DiD can be a lot of fun, but often it's so damn frustrating that I don't want to fly it every day, all the time. Very time-consuming too, especially when you are in a 2-seater unit. There's also the fact that no matter how big screens and other helpful things (the most important of which is TrackIR) we use it's never going to be the same as sitting in a real cockpit and actually flying and looking around. We see less than real pilots, and lack their situational awareness. So I wouldn't say using TAC is totally unrealistic, as long as it's configured reasonably. Maybe something the devs could look at for P4, if possible? (CFS3 limitations are there, of course...)

One of the reasons why I'm wary of changing my video card drivers. If everything I play works without problems on the drivers I'm using, it would be too risky to go changing anything. Seems like quality control has gone down the toilet lately - some new nVidia drivers could actually damage their cards.

Only the DFW has a bombsight in OFF. I hope to see more planes with this equipment in P4.

Work harder.

Like I've said many times, the overly large kill numbers result from two things: 1) Terminator AI, 2) Terminator players. What I mean by this is that the AI doesn't know when to stop, but neither do many players, so when everybody is after everybody and fights to the last man and bullet, we see in OFF results resembling the final months of the Pacific War, when hordes of Japanese aircraft flown by badly trained and inexperienced pilots, were shot down by the hundreds and yet they just kept coming again for more bloodshed. With such aggressiveness, the relatively small air forces of WW1 would have wiped out in a few weeks. The devs can do nothing to human behaviour, but hopefully the AI can be improved in P4. But if somebody wants to reduce his kill numbers, he needs to fight less, turn off all help texts and other such things, and try to roleplay a WW1 pilot, who maybe wants to live more than to die for a piece of coloured ribbon. I always fly for hours; the promotions, awards and kills will all come eventually, if my pilots manage to stay alive long enough.

I'd have chosen the Pfalz D.III for my Jasta 10 careers, but it doesn't appear in your poll, Olham. Remember that the Pfalz has now a better FM than in the beginning of P3, and is a very nice fighter, but many people are afraid of it because of bad early experiences.

1. Which Nationality do you fly mostly ? German and French 2. What is your favourite Squadron / Jasta / Escadrille to fly with ? FA(A) 250 (obviously!), Jasta 10, RFC 60, Escadrille 65, 13th Aero 3. Why did you choose that Squadron / Jasta / Escadrille as your favourite ? DiD campaign and the great DFW for FA(A) 250; skins, quality of pilots, aircraft and action for the rest (13th ain't that good, but they got the Grim Reaper SPADs!) 4. What is your favourite airfield landscape-wise (the most beautiful surrounding/area ? Perhaps you can add a screenshot of that field). No particular airfield, but I like the mountains of Alsace. (below)

A good idea. When I think of excellent immersion in a WW1 sim, the modded RB3D comes to my mind first. OFF is great, but still lacks some of that old magic. Hopefully with P4 the immersion will be even better. Things like Creaghorn suggests are what help with making the sim come to life.

And the map is already there in CFS3, unlike the Russian Front, so it should be quite possible to add the new front with new nationalities and squadrons to OFF at some point. Like I've said a million times, it would be something that no other WW1 flight sim has ever had, as far as I know. While the armies of Italy and Austria-Hungary that fought there during the war mostly weren't really good and suffered from a steadily deteriorating morale caused by the endless bloody battles in the most difficult terrain imaginable (high mountains etc.) and were lead by many thoroughly incompetent generals (even by WW1 standards), the air war was quite active and saw the use of many interesting aircraft, many of which were never seen on the Western Front. And there were many great aces on the Italian Front, too. A truly underrepresented theatre of war in any flight sim, if there ever was one! I'd be spending a lot of time there flying the Hanriots and OEFFAG Albs!

Okay, good to know that Olham. I'll have to see about joining that Escadrille some day.

Von Oben, you lucky bastard! If Sir Nary had been assigned to handle your claims, you'd have gotten only one confirmed, and that only on a good day. Lycka till med jakten!

Olham, are sure they were French SPADs? Because I know the American 13th Aero Squadron has exactly that kind of an emblem, the Grim Reaper. I've flown several careers for them, as I like their emblem so much. In the fierce action you described, it wouldn't be impossible to identify them wrongly as being French fighters. But of course it's possible that they really were French and some of their Escadrilles has a similar emblem. In any case, an exciting encounter.

That's how it should work, really. I'm pretty sure even the most newbie of all SPAD pilos was thought that the biggest strength of his plane was its tremendous speed, which should be used to dominate combat situations. Maybe you encountered an elite Escadrilles? Did you see the emblems? Not all elite Escadrilles are part of the Storks (ie. Groupe de Combat 12).

I think Sir Nary has often dealt with my claims! I've seen claims get approved (or rejected) sometimes in a few days, but every now and then it takes considerably longer. The only time I haven't heard back from the esteemed gentlemen at the Claims Office is when my pilot has been lost and the campaign ends, though sometimes I've gotten a claim confirmed on the same day (as if that did any good any more at that point!) In my opinion, the claims system works quite well in OFF. I'm looking forward to what improvements P4 will bring with it, though.

The best team really won last night. Germany was surprisingly helpless against the Spanish - they had a few good opportunities, but then missed them completely. Really tough trying to penetrate the Spanish defence, no wonder so few goals have been made against them. The Dutch are facing quite a challenge in the finale. But I'll be very surprised if Germany doesn't manage to beat Uruguay.

I don't think I've ever flown a mission in OFF that was identical with some earlier mission, and I do also get missions during which absolutely nothing happens. They tend to be more common in the early war years. But starting in late 1917, at least in Flanders, you have to be extremely lucky if you meet nobody during a mission. Air activity levels increase dramatically as the war progresses. Maybe you're just lucky to have those encounters at the same distance? However, you don't have to kill everybody to be able to warp. You can also fly away from the enemy and when the distance is long enough, you can warp.

Never trust the TAC completely. Always be aware of the situation surrounding you. If you have TrackIR, it's MUCH easier to keep an eye on your surroundings than without. Situational awareness is something that improves with experience. And we have an advantage over the real pilots, who often didn't get another chance to learn from their mistakes.

Many, if not the majority, of the most successful fighter pilots and aces started flying in two-seater squadrons before they transferred to fighter units. This experience helped them to stay alive. The best ace to live through the war, France's Rene Fonck, flew over 500 hours in two-seaters before he became a fighter pilot and then quickly started to get kills and became an ace. The Germans and the French had the most thorough training programmes for their new pilots, which reduced their casualties among beginners. Many British losses were the direct result of throwing pilots into combat when they had too few flight hours and didn't really know what they were doing. It was a quick method to fill in the gaps, but had tragic consequences for many pilots who could have become something if they hadn't been sacrificed when they weren't ready for combat. The fierce aggressiveness of AI pilots in OFF makes it much harder to stay alive long, especially if you also fly very aggressively. But it's certainly possible to have pilots with hundreds of flight hours in OFF too - you just have to very careful and not fight when the situation is not to your advantage.

I remember seeing you post a pic of the uniform some time ago, Lou (Or was is some other uniform?). With the kepi and all those medals it looks really nice. And you have a very correct approach to handling those medals, if I may say so. No matter what one may think of the whole system of rewarding deeds of great courage with a small piece of coloured ribbon with metal hanging from it, such awards should be treated with respect. It may sound strange, but I feel uncomfortable with the idea of selling awards at auctions for ridiculously high prices. Some original medals, such as the Pour le Mérite, cost fortunes, while other less-known but in their time equally prestigious, if not even more so, awards can be had really cheaply. Is the PLM really so much more valuable than a similar award from Italy or Romania? Sorry for going off-topic in your thread, Rabu.

I can only repeat Morris's words: lucky bastard. No chance of that happening here ever. Flight shows are rare here; too few people, not much chance for profit. Oh well, at least I occasionally see some Hornets of Fighter Squadron 11 from the air force base nearby.