Hasse Wind

Take comfort with the knowledge that you are not alone with your affliction. When playing OFF, time literally flies!

Yes, it's a nice plane and makes me almost feel ashamed of the crappy German instruments in use at that time. You really feel like you're in some kind of a flying speedboat with all the luxuries in the Spad cockpit. :yes: But it does have one major drawback: visibility! I'm now alternating between 3 different careers, one in the Alb D.V in Jasta 9, 1917, one in the Pfalz in Jasta 10, 1918 (my longest living pilot now) and then the Spad campaign in Esc. 3, late 1917. The visibility from both of those German scouts is excellent compared to the Spad. The Pfalz in particular gives a good view to every direction.

Ach, it is a plot devised by the clever agents of his Imperial Majesty der Kaiser! Biological warfare in order to get rid of those flying abominations by making their pilots sick. I actually gave the Fee a try in QC just to see what you all are talking about. Nice cockpit! Like flying in some furniture.

I've encountered deadly clouds twice, and on both occasions I wasn't even inside the bloody thing when it felt like a giant hand picked up my crate and shook it all over the sky. Fortunately I lost no pilots, but it did made me very careful when flying around them. But most of the time nothing has happened, and in QC I don't avoid clouds so I've flown through them many times. And the real pilots didn't try to fly in clouds all the time either, so I suppose it's only realistic to avoid them, even though the effect of that deadly vortex isn't exactly realistic.

Thanks for your post Bullethead, you make some very good points in it regarding energy fighters. This forum is great for education! My biggest problem with energy fighters has always been how to restrict my urge to go chasing after enemies who are able to turn better than my plane. Some form of target fixation syndrome, I suppose. I know the theory, but how to put it in practice is another thing. Olham, I agree with you that the D.VII is not a particularly beautiful scout to behold. And what were they thinking when painting all those pink spots all over the planes? I haven't yet shot down anything in my latest Spad campaign, but I love the speed that French monster!

If I ever manage to shoot down 7 opponents in a campaign mission with full DiD reality, it will be the day Hell freezes over! Three is my best so far...

All this talk about energy fighters has inspired me to start a new campaign in Esc. 3, late 1917, flying the Spad XIII. (Esc. 3 is among the first squadrons to receive that beast.) I've never made it to ace in a Spad campaign, but maybe this time things will be different (Yeah, right...). Cause of death has usually been my own stupidity, ie. not following the rules of energy fighter tactics. Olham, as you seem to be shooting down the world's entire stock of Spads in your 1918 Albatros D.Va 200 campaign, you probably have an opinion on the quality of their AI. Have the computer opponents been able to take advantage of their crates strengths (speed & toughness), or have they succumbed to the lure of dogfighting Nieuport-style?

Give the Pup a try sometimes in a Brit career, Olham. She's a great fighter, nimble and tougher than the Nupe. One of my favourites...

Yes, I've experienced similar behaviour. But I haven't paid much attention to it really, I always thought it's the fault of my PC not having enough processing power (but it does have it enough to play the game smoothly in decent settings!). And some areas have many more objects on the ground, so it's natural the FPS vary accordingly. But interesting to think it may have something to do with certain aircraft or squadrons...

True. Turn fighters are more suitable for aggressive hotheads like me, because you just can't challenge a bunch of Fokker Dr.Is in a turn fight when you're flying the Spad. Or you can, but don't expect to live long. In my Yank careers in OFF I learnt to fly more carefully with the Spad, and even more carefully in the Pfalz as a Hun. But the temptation to go after your enemy when you fail to shoot him down in one pass is always very great! In WW2 it's completely different, because if you have the full arsenal of a FW-190 at your disposal, you don't need to make more than one pass and you can shoot every single opponent down in flames if you hit them.

24 claims? Wow! Are some of those ground targets or are they all aircraft? I usually skip ground attack missions altogether, especially as the Germans. In any case, great work!

It takes some guts to fly in those crates in the first place, but to climb all the way up to 20,000 feet without oxygen gear... the cold alone must be unbearable in an open cockpit at that altitude! I've never been able to make enemy aircraft explode, though I've seen AA do it occasionally, once to my own plane.

Yes, you're right of course. That's clearly an r after the e, not d... my mistake.

Well, here's the Marseille letter, which was quite easy to translate it into modern style, because his writing is really good and the letters he uses are faithful to the official letters he had been taught at school. Unfortunately the same can't be said about Herr Rudel's writing - it's either written in great haste or he just had a bad hand, because many of the letter forms he uses are just plain strange and don't resemble the originals much. But I'm no expert and its been years since I participated in the old writing course, so maybe there are people here who can translate it more quickly and effortlessly than me. *** Mein lieber Hedmann, beiligend übersende ich dir wie gewünscht eine signierte Karte von mir als Andenken mit meinen besten Grüssen. Ich habe mich wirklich sehr über deinen lieben Brief gefreut, und wünschen dir noch viel Freude beim sammeln. Hans Joachim Marseille *** Marseille is writing to some guy called Hedmann and sends him a card signed by him (Hedmann had wished for it apparently) and also sends his greetings. Marseille is happy for the letters he received from Hedmann and wishes joy or happiness also to Hedmann. (He must know this Hedmann well because he writes to him like an old friend, no formalities in this letter. I'm no interpreter, so I'm sorry if the text sounds stupid in English!)

About one hour ago my Jasta 9 pilot was saved from almost certain death by a wingman. Our flight of 5 Albs encountered 4 French Nupe 17s heading north deeper into German-occupied area, and because we had the advantage of height and outnumbered them (although not by much), I ordered my wingmen to attack. A furball quickly developed, but I tried to stay above it by climbing and was able to dive down upon one Nupe when it was trying to perform a loop - I fired long bursts from my Spandaus (gotta love those twins!) straight into his cockpit, probably killed the pilot and saw the plane spun out of control and crash down into a forest below. My quick dive brought the Alb quite low, so I was trying to get back up again when tracers started flying from behind me! I broke right and quickly glanced back - yes, there was a Nupe at six o'clock, and closing in fast with its Vickers barking. I had no room to dive and didn't dare to straighten my Alb and pull up and so was pretty sure I'd be a dead Hun in a few seconds - but then the Nupe was shot to pieces and plummeted down into the same forest as her comrade! One of my wingmen had got behind the Nupe and shot it down, saving my pilot in the process! So yes, sometimes you can see and experience amazing things in this sim. Every now and then one of those wingmen does something that feels so realistic and immersive that I don't know enough English to put it into words...

Vielen Dank Olham! Just yesterday I spent some time trying to figure out which Jasta receives what and when, so this is very helpful in planning new careers! And Cameljockey, if you have similar data about the Entente squadrons, I'm sure many people (including me) would find it equally useful.

Yeah, I've noticed the Spad tends to do that to you, especially if you're flying low and too slow and try some sudden manoeuvres. Otherwise it's a very easy and forgiving plane to fly, but as it is an energy fighter, you need altitude to make it work well.

I don't usually have awful amounts of free time thanks my work in the hospital and whatnot, but I've noticed ever since I bought and installed OFF it has consumed very large chunks of that time! I've been playing every other game I own much less for several months now. That alone tells me something about the quality of this sim!

Shouldn't this thread receive a PG rating?

Seems like you're clearing the skies of Spads Olham! At this rate your kill numbers soon rival MvR himself... If you ever feel like flying for the frogs or Yanks, give the Spad XIII a try in campaign. I love those WW1 turn fighters, but if I must choose an old energy fighter I'm quite fond of, it's definitely the Spad XIII. Amazing speed, amazing toughness! But it's clumsy and the visibility from the cockpit is terrible compared to German scouts. Even though the latest patch made rear gunners much less deadly, I'm still not particularly eager to attack Brisfits. If the observer won't get you, the pilot may well do so! They are surprisingly nimble planes for two seaters. In my Jasta 10 campaign in Flanders in the spring of 1918, Brisfits are quite common opponents, and I tend to avoid them in my Pfalz unless the situation is very unfavourable for the enemy.

Thanks, Shredward! Nice to see my memory didn't fail me and I had really read about those rockets from some source... but I just can't remember which one! It wasn't a Datafile book, but I do plan to get some of those one of these days. They seem to contain a wealth of interesting info.

It really pays off to fly in a squadron with good quality pilots. They should have at least a rating of good - elite may be even too effective killers, average is sometimes satisfactory, often not, but when you fly in a poor squadron; well, don't expect much from them! That's a good-looking skin. What is the eagle doing with her claws? Ripping something to pieces? And what Jasta are you flying in those pictures?

Yes, they were definitely tested, but as far as I know saw no widespread use because they were seen as far too inaccurate and ineffective weapons. Germans had always been eager to build rockets, but that "hobby" came to fruition only later in WW2... and ultimately helped mankind go to space, so something positive did come out of it in the end. And the real Le Prieur rockets in Entente use certainly weren't the weapons of mass destruction we now have in OFF.

Wow, that's a masterpiece! Do you paint also? I can imagine how pretty such a pic would look in water colours, or in oil. :yes:

Yes, it refers to the engine. The only reason the D.V's were kept in service so long was because there was nothing better with which to replace them until the D.VII came along. Late 1917 was definitely a period of Entente superiority in scouts with the Camels and the Spad XIII and the S.E.5a entering service in large numbers.