Hasse Wind

That's indeed a great looking skin! Congratulations Fubar!

Being leader helps a lot, but I noticed a considerable drop in fps when I tried to put clouds on 5. I probably need a new PC to be able to use that setting. PC combat flight simulators are always too bloody in my opinion. There just seems to be too much action going on everywhere and the player is almost forced to have a fight in every mission. I don't know if it's even possible to change the bionic eyes of computer pilots into something more realistic in the CFS3 engine...

I didn't even know there was a possibility to become hospitalized! My pilots either survive without a scratch or die instantly (or occasionally become POWs).

Yes, I usually try that first. But sometimes it just keeps giving me those long range missions, so it's no big deal to advance time one day. The war's not going to end anytime soon in my campaigns in any case...

Well, you could always just shoot MvR down. It's not like he's going to get hurt or anything.

Hmm, beer wagons... Model building is a great hobby. I used to do it quite a lot in my youth, but I'm too blind and lazy nowadays. And there's OFF to consume my precious free time, naturally... But those models do look good! I was never that good as a builder.

I use manual advance occasionally to give my pilot some leave (my wingman in Jasta 9, Leutnant Hans-Werner Bradowsky, is on leave all the time - so why shouldn't I follow his example? ) and sometimes jump over missions that require me to fly 100 miles behind enemy lines and attack ground targets in the German Jasta campaigns.

Great pics! Escadrille 3 is one of favourite squadrons of WW1, some really great pilots served in its ranks. And the French made some excellent aircraft (they had the largest aviation industry in the world when the war started, but later the Brits overtook them with their superior industrial resources) - Nieuports, Spads, Salmsons, Breguets were all well-designed and very successful planes. Speaking of colour film, I think most of the colour pictures taken during the war were French. They were the pioneers of photography, both black/white and colour.

I've had a few gun jams, but never anything like that. Must be really annoying!

I work in a hospital and that pretty much sums up the professional opinions I've heard. Sure, there's always the possibility that something like the killer influenza of 1918-1920 will develop eventually and every epidemic should of course be taken seriously, but I don't think it'll be this current strain of virus, because there are certain important genetic differences in it. And medical science has advanced so increbily in the last 90 years that the world is now much better prepared than ever before to meet such a threat if and when it actually materializes. It never hurts to be prepared with adequate supplies of medicines and hospitals and medical personnel. Besides, it annoys me they call this influenza "swine flu" - that's a pig's disease! The virus has genetic material from birds and humans too, so it's just nonsense to call it swine influenza.

Good God! You probably have more flight hours on that single pilot than I have on all of my pilots combined! And that's a ****load of pilots, overwhelming majority of them dead and buried. So most of the time my style is definitely too aggressive for my own good, especially if I'm flying some superior scout, such as the Nupe 17 in 1916. Going against hordes of Eindeckers in the Nupe feels like I can win the war single-handedly, and really looks like that for a while, until the one fatal mistake happens... But I do try to change my methods according to the situation. I have a long-lived (for me at least) Pfalz pilot still going, even though he has over 20 hours already. But I've been extra careful with him. And it actually helps that the Pfalz is not very good in its job in 1918, it forces me to behave carefully. I have no idea how I would have managed as a real WW1 fighter pilot, but I know for sure that I wouldn't be anywhere near as reckless as I'm in flight simulators. Having fun is OK in a computer game, but risking your life and the lives of your comrades by doing so in real life is something completely different.

I know how you feel Macklroy. I lost my best pilot when Hun AAA decided to blow his Pup into thousand small pieces. This was before the latest patch though, so back then AA fire was REALLY deadly compared to what it's now. Olham, your pilot is living in the summer of 1918, right? Maybe he's a lucky bastard and lives a few more months to see the end of the war! My Jasta 9 pilot now has 12 confirmed kills and 4 in waiting, so if he lives a while longer he'll become my best pilot ever. The Albatros is a great fighter indeed!

Currently I have three active careers in OFF, two for the Germans and one for the French, all of them fighter pilots. So I decided it's about time to give a try to two seaters in campaign mode (I've tested them somewhat in QC and I think they deserve to be used in campaign for all the effort the dev team has clearly put into them). Usually I fly only fighters in sims, so I can't say I'm very experienced as a bomber/reconnaissance pilot. There must be some veterans here who can share their tactics and experiences with a newbie bomber pilot. I haven't yet decided which two seater to fly, but I've been thinking about the R.E.8 or the Hannover. Quirks are out of the question - I figure they're not the best choice for a beginner, being almost helpless in battle with no rear gunner or anything. What's the best way to use the observer's gun? Should it be left to the AI, or must I take control of it in order to shoot some attacking scouts down? What about bombing? What methods you have found to be effective? Thanks in advance!

Okay guys, thanks again for your advice. I think I'm going to start a new career as a RNAS Strutter pilot sometime in 1916. I'll try to put everything I've learned in this thread to good use! (And probably die in my first mission when I attempt to fly like I'm a fighter pilot!) :yes:

TIR5 doesn't really seem to offer anything so remarkably new and improved that I should buy one and get rid of my good old TIR4.

That's probably the most important reason why this kind of work is done. It's been almost a century, but I know that for many families the knowledge that one or more of their members went MIA in the Great War can still be a disturbing thought and if their bodies are found and identified, it can be helpful psychologically. And of course individual graves can be seen as more dignified memorials than old mass graves full of hastily buried unknown soldiers.

Hah, a good observation! Didn't they actually change their names to Windsor during WW1 to sound more British than the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha or whatever their name was back then? Olham: I don't have any national preferences in flight sims either. I mostly fly for the side with the best or most interesting turn fighters.

Excellent posts everybody, especially Bullethead! This is just the kind of advice I was hoping the see! I have TIR4 and there are no key conflicts in OFF because I've remapped the TIR controls to my joystick buttons. The Hannover sounds like it would be a good beginner's bomber, but I was hoping to fly for the Brits for a change, so I may end up choosing the R.E.8 despite its bad visibility. Or maybe I'll take the flying abomination (ie. Fee) for a ride, it does have plenty of firepower in those two Lewis if nothing else. And there's that pinup girl, too. I'm sure these tips are useful to every new bomber pilot out there, so keep the advice coming. Thanks! (Hey devs, maybe we could have a Breguet or a Salmson in one of the add-on packs?)

I haven't flown the Tripe even once in OFF, but I'll add it to my long list of planes to be tested. It must be a killer, if it's anything like the Dr.I. I almost feel sorry for that Alb in Olham's sights! (Olham, how can you shoot down those beauties? Doesn't your heart bleed every time you fire an English bullet into Albatrosses?) :yes:

I haven't heard any German voices in OFF. But then I hardly hear anything else in addition to the roar of my crate's engine (the Spad in particular can damage one's hearing!) and the barking of machine guns.

Those blue Fokkers are from Jasta 36, unless I'm completely mistaken. They have nice looking skins compared to the factory painted Dr.I, which looks even uglier than most of the Entente paints. But speaking of activity, I don't think there are any peaceful and quiet sectors remaining in 1918. Even the border area between Germany and France close to Switzerland seems to have more activity in that final year of the war. In 1916 and even in 1917 you can live a relatively danger-free pilot's life there, but not in 1918. Especially the new American squadrons that become active in 1918 add to the Entente air traffic. I imagine things are going to get really difficult for Germans in the fall of 1918 - but all of my pilots have a long way to go before they are there!

Wow, a Predator car!

GTA: Over Flanders Fields?

It's amazing just how talented you guys are. That Feuervogel is your best work I've seen so far, Olham! I couldn't draw stick figures properly even if my life depended on it (and even then they'd have to wear sacks over their heads), but I do enjoy watching all this beautiful aircraft art on this forum.

I like the Quirks. Every time I meet them in campaign it brings me a step or two closer to the Blue Max.