Hasse Wind

History is full of stories about the last words of famous people. I think many of these stories, if not most, are nothing but legend. I've seen quite a few people die in the hospital, and not many of them have ever said anything recognizable before they passed away, especially if they've been badly hurt in some accident. But I digress. Freiherr von Richthofen was a remarkable fighter pilot, the Ace of Aces.

Thanks for the info. Too bad the sales haven't been as good they should have been - OFF is really the most enjoyable flight sim I've ever played! But how to make every potential player believe it or even inform them that OFF exists, is another question. I only found out about OFF by accident while surfing the net. But it's good news you're thinking about making some expansion packs. I'll gladly pay for new aircraft and squadrons if you ever release them. Especially the early war needs some more work and fodder for the Fokkers! Keep up the good work and thanks for making it this far!

Thanks for the warning Olham. I know the Alb has a problem with her lower wings, and I imagine it's going to take some time to get used to it after flying the strong and reliable Pfalz. I've already started practicing in QC. Yesterday I followed an RE.8 I had shot down in a steep dive in order to see where she crashed and the Pfalz didn't even make any creaking noises in spite of my considerable speed. Must remember not to do that if live long enough to get the Alb D.V's!

Yep, sounds familiar! These WW1 crates sure ain't no Focke-Wulfs! I felt like a fish out of water when I started playing OFF after spending years flying the real aircraft of WW2 in Il-2. Maybe the problem is you're serving on the wrong side of the frontlines. Join us Überkanonen in the Kaiser's Luftstreitkräfte and you won't have to fly with those silly crates like the Fee! (Though there's nothing silly about the Brisfit, I fear them like the devil in my Pfalz campaign!) I plan to start a campaign soon perhaps in a Roland squadron, then I guess I'll see with my own eyes how common those collisions really are.

Interesting that so many of your deaths are caused by collisions. I think I've lost only one pilot in collision with my wingman, the rest have died thanks to enemy fire (and a couple of stupid manoeuvres in weak planes and one failed landing). Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you seem to be flying in two seaters a lot, or am I mistaken? I haven't tried them in campaign mode at all... yet.

You weren't careful enough! The Pfalz is cowardly man's plane.

Actually, one of my longest-living pilots ever is flying in a Pfalz in Jasta 10, early 1918. You have to be VERY careful with the Pfalz. Don't even think of attacking Nupes or Camels if you don't have the advantage of speed and height, and even then just make a quick pass, fire and hope to hit something and then get the hell out of there. Of scouts, Spads (especially the VII) are the easiest opponents for the Pfalz. They're so clumsy that you can even out turn them. Looks like I won't be a Pfalz pilot for long though; Jasta 10 has Albatros D.V's next on the menu, and after that the main dish, Fokker D.VII. And what a beauty that skin by RAF_Louvert is!

Great news! Maybe something could also be done to the extremely deadly two seater gunners? In my opinion, their fire is a bit too accurate. I understand they shouldn't be too easy to shoot down, but now two seaters seem like they're the most dangerous opponents in the sky. Anyway, great support as always!

Having flown quite a few missions in the Pfalz (which has a nice rear view mirror in addition to excellent visibility from the cockpit), I must say I have never seen any aircraft in the mirror. No wingmen, no enemy.

Campaign most of the time. But do I like a quick combat mission every now and then, if I don't have time and energy for a serious campaign mission. And it's better to test unfamiliar aircraft in the QC than go straight to campaign with them! (Something that real pilots couldn't often do, just think about those young men who went from flight school's easier planes directly to the Camels...)

I've known that you just have to wait some time before the wingies come back to land, but usually I'm so exhausted after a fierce patrol mission that I won't bother waiting for them. My method is "The first to fight, the first to land." (And quite often the first to die!)

I've had a couple of long-living guys, but they're both dead now. One was blown to pieces by Archie, the other was smashed in a failed landing. At least 90% of my pilots die far too soon. It's hard to live 17 hours in this sim. I'm now again quite close to it with my Jasta 10 pilot, flying the Pfalz. I've noticed that having a weaker plane than most of the opposition forces me to fly extra carefully. With the Pfalz, I find I just can't take any risks like I regularly took in Nupes or Pups. But it's so hard to silence the voice of the hunter... I plan to start a new career as a bomber pilot soon. I've never flown bombers in OFF campaign mode, but if I continue flying carefully like I do now in Jasta 10 I think I should have some chances in reaching the magical 17 hours in a two seater... maybe.

All very good questions! I wish the developers would enlighten us with their wisdom... :yes: So very true! I managed to kill a promising young American scout pilot today after only two missions. I've no idea how many pilots I've lost, because I had to remove most of the old dead from the dossier to make some room for new ones. Was getting crowded...

No sim has ever even tried to represent all the medals and decorations which were in use in Imperial Germany during the Great War. One must remember that Germany had only fairly recently (1871) become a unified nation, and that all the different principalities and kingdoms that were the building blocks of the new Reich had their own medals still in use in the Prussian-led empire of Wilhelm II. And the requirements did indeed change as the war progressed, so it would definitely be quite hard (or maybe even impossible, I'm no programmer) to implement all of them into OFF. I think Richthofen was awarded the Red Eagle Order mostly because they were starting to run out of decorations for him, and since he wasn't a general who had won a battle, they couldn't give the Oak Leaf to his Blue Max. I don't think there was any fixed number of kills required to win the Red Eagle Order, as it was awarded only once to a pilot, so if it's the highest German award available in OFF, 30 kills is in my opinion as good a number as any. What if some player wins it early in the war, say 1915 or 1916? 70 kills required sounds to a me bit high requirement for that phase of the war, when you get a Blue Max for a few kills in 1915. Just my two cents. (By the way, getting 30 kills is a remarkable achievement in OFF, especially if you play with the DiD settings! Congratulations! I hope to get 15 confirmed kills someday...) :yes:

I've flown in quite a few squadrons of all nationalities represented in OFF (Germans probably the least, but that's quickly about to change at my rate of dead pilots) and the rating of the squadron has pretty much correlated with how capable my wingmen have been. I've flown in an elite squadron (Esc. 26) only once, and those wingmen very really good, perfectly capable of taking care of themselves and often stealing my kills. The worst experiences I've had with some low quality American squadrons in 1918, it often felt like I was the only one who even remotely knew what he was doing in that Spad XIII! It would be interesting to know if all pilots in a poor squadron are automatically poor quality, or can there be some good pilots among them occasionally. And can there be some bad apples (in addition to me as the player) flying in the most elite of squadrons...

OK from me too. It IS a hard game, but so it should. It's a simulation after all, and as far as I know, the subject it's simulating (WW1 air combat) wasn't easy either. And if one gets tired of constantly losing his pilots when at max realism settings, there's always the option of making the pilots immortal... Fortunately the deadliness of the AA can be reduced, but the realism % does suffer a hit when you do so. Support has been excellent - nowadays far too many games are released with no decent post-release support whatsoever. So keep up the good work! Your hard work is really appreciated. :yes:

Magnesium was also used in WW1 tracer bullets. It burns with a very bright white flame and is therefore ideal for tracers.

I don't consider myself a great OFF pilot - far from it! But I have similar experience with the Camel as Olham, it just doesn't feel so extremely difficult to fly it well, contrary to what I've read from the history books. Now the OFF Camel is definitely trickier to fly in combat than the Pup, but compared to the sometimes agonizing challenges I've had with the Pfalz D.III I say the Camel is a dream to fly in action. Like I wrote earlier, my PC isn't brand new, but isn't an old piece of **** either.

Great work! I think this should become official in a patch... (And I don't mean to say the current tracers look bad, the OFF team has done superb work with what they had in CFS3!)

Thanks! Albatros Productions seems to have an extensive library of WW1 aviation books. I'll have to take a look at some of their other titles too.

Interesting thread, very educational! I always thought it would be quite a nuisance (if not downright dangerous!) to get all that metal flying in your face when shooting with the Lewis in some Entente aircraft. Makes sense they had some bags for the cartridges. Can anybody recommend any (good) books that contain detailed info about WW1 aircraft armament?

I've had my guns jam only a few times, and it always happened when I fired too long bursts in the heat of battle. So that was clearly a case of machine guns overheating. Creaghorn's question is a good one, I'd also like to know if the AI guns have jams and are any other gun problems modelled in OFF. As far as I know (please correct me if I'm wrong!), the infamously unreliable aircraft engines of WW1 aren't modelled as such (ie. you can't lose power suddenly or have any other nasty surprises while in the air), so I wonder if there's any more details about the guns...

I haven't flown any campaign missions as a Camel pilot, but I've noticed the infamous Widowmaker isn't that difficult to fly successfully in QC. When I first tested the Camel, I expected it to be a very quick and nimble scout but dangerous to fly as a novice OFF player. Well, it is indeed quick and nimble, but I haven't yet lost any test pilots to the Camel spinning out of control. (Clouds are much deadlier in any plane!) My PC is mid range, but I don't know if that means anything to OFF flight models. But it sure is easy to bring down any Alb or Pfalz as a Camel driver! Dr.I's are more challenging, because they can turn with the Camel like no other Hun scout.

Well said! My thoughts exactly. Engine sound is deafening with good headphones. Very realistic, considering those open cockpits. Easy to damage one's hearing.

My favourite French Nieuport 17 pilot, Capitaine Pierre Reynaud of Escadrille 26 (7 confirmed kills, 9 waiting) died today. On a rainy afternoon in late August 1916, Capitaine Reynaud and his flight of 4 Nupes were returning from a routine patrol mission (no enemy sighted) and approaching peacefully their home airfield. Everything was perfectly fine when Capitaine Reynaud's plane touched the field – and then everything went to hell. I totally botched the landing, the Nupe turned over and rolled all over the field, breaking completely apart. Then I was staring at the debriefing window, which in its Spartan way told me my pilot had died! Noooo!!! Merde! He would soon have been my best pilot ever! This is the first time I've lost a campaign pilot in a failed landing attempt. I know it's realistic (plenty of pilots were lost in accidents in WW1) and inevitable something like this happens every now and then when you've played the sim long enough, but it's still extremely frustrating. I mean, if my pilot has to die, then better he goes down in flames over the front fighting his opponents to the last bullet, but to crash like this… argh! I guess I was coming in too fast and that made the craft bounce so badly. Now imagine if OFF simulated all the engine problems and other issues those early planes had – how many more dead pilots we would have in our hands! Oh well, now that I've lost my last living Entente turn fighter ace, I guess it's time to go back to the right side and finally start a campaign as a Dr.I pilot in the Kaiser's service. Frogs and crumpets beware… Edits: Problems with text size...