Hasse Wind

Regarding the Pup, I had my most successful career so far as a Pup pilot. It's a great scout and very easy to fly. And I didn't find it particularly weak either - I never had any kind of structural failures, even though I did some pretty hard manoeuvres with it. So I think you can dive quite safely with it, as long as you remember it's no Spad or Pfalz. Compared to the Nieuport, the Pup is a very tough machine. As a Nupe pilot, I must constantly be on alert so that I don't accidentally break it in a turn. Not so with the Pup. Curbing your bloodthirstiness is the only way to make a pilot live long in this game, especially if you fly a plane that's inferior to its opponents.

The best sim experience I've ever had must be OFF with Trackir. I can't even imagine what it would be like to fly without it! The dogfights in this sim are so fast and deadly that staying alive is difficult even with Trackir.

Dang! Now that's some fighting! Oberleutnant Mahlo, what in Kaiser's name have you been doing in those Albatroses? The Reich needs aces like you as Fokker pilots! (I really must start a Dr.I campaign one of these days... though it will probably feel very strange after the slow & steady Pfalz!)

All the kills I've gotten confirmed have had witnesses. I've also send some claim forms to the rear area pen pushers without any witnesses (mostly lone wolf actions in my Nupe and some cases when I stupidly forgot to write down the names of my wingmen), but haven't yet heard anything about them. A couple of versions ago there used to be that number in the claim list which showed how likely it was to get a claim confirmed, and the lowest scores I had were always for those kills without witnesses.

Happy Easter from me too. What a nice drawing. But I didn't know camels lay eggs!

I've seen this sometimes, both in Entente and German campaigns. It's of course worse for the aircraft with a limited range, and I think the Dr.I has one of the shortest. But it's no big deal to skip such missions or take off and just do some flying close to the front and see whether you can shoot down something. That's what I usually do in such situations. Besides, I think it is far too dangerous to embark on a mission that clearly demands more fuel than your plane can possibly carry and try to fly by playing with the mixture. If you fail, the worst case scenario (and the most likely - Murphy's Law!) is that you run out of fuel far behind the enemy lines...

Oh no, Sir, the Albatros is a beauty! The second most beautiful German scout, and definitely prettier than any frog or crumpet scout and their depressing colours of green and brown. No need for a duel. Besides, I'm not so sure I'd like to go up against you in your Albatros with my Pfalz, because the Alb is the deadlier fighter of the two. I might have to dive away after firing a short burst in your general direction.

Uncleal, your post made me laugh out loud! What a great thread!

I think the easiest time to start a career flying the Alb would be when the D.II and D.III are new and in many ways superior to the opposition. That would be late 1916 and early 1917. Alb D.V has many good qualities, but it joins the battle in a period when the Entente powers are again starting to have superior scouts (like the Camel), so it has no special advantages against the enemies of late 1917. But it's definitely better than the Pfalz D.III, which I'm currently flying. Except for the wings... and Albs are uglier, too!

That's the reason I've read and heard from practically every source I've ever come across. Numbers couldn't have been the reason, because German aircraft production numbers were seriously behind Entente production, especially British, who had the largest aviation industry in the world at the war's end.

Good stuff! I think everybody who plays and loves simulators has these moments every now and then. I know I do... I guess you shouldn't be worried until you start seeing hex grids and calculating move points everywhere.

The best thing about the D.VIIF was its climbing ability, it could climb to 5000 m twice as fast the normal D.VII. This made it a very popular fighter among German pilots, but if I remember correctly, the F model was never manufactured in very large quantities. It was introduced much later than the D.VII. I seem to recall that Albatros GmbH and its subsidiary OAW had some early problems with manufacturing D.VII's, but once they were fixed, they actually produced better and more D.VII's than Fokker itself. Albatros had to pay a five percent royalty to Fokker for each D.VII they made, which they didn't like very much, but could do nothing about it. There were also some problems with standardisation between the different factories, which resulted in some parts not being interchangeable between D.VII's built in different plants. I haven't yet flown with the D.VII in OFF campaign mode, but they kick Entente ass in QC (as they should!). Hopefully my pilot in Jasta 10 lives long enough to actually receive the new Fokker...

Of course they were - after all, many of them were made by Hugo Boss! Speaking of sides, I don't usually choose a side simply on the basis of nationality (don't want always to be the German), but rather based on what aircraft are available. I love turn fighters, so I usually fly for the side that has the best of them. Spitfire, Zero, Nieuport, Fokker Dr.I - whatever is available.

Welcome! Everything they say in the ads is true, and then some. This is the best flight sim ever. You're in for a treat (and say goodbye to your free time!)

What an unfortunate end to your promising career! And just as you thought you had it all worked out... the fortunes of war! AA is very dangerous, especially at low altitude. It seems those FlaK guys were a bit too excited that day. Maybe Wolfram can write a complaint to their CO through the Red Cross? I must remember to try to land as far away from the front as possible if I'm ever in a similar situation. Best to stay away from the poor bloody infantry... The only really bad experience with AA fire I've had was the death of my most successful pilot due to a direct hit from a shell. It was an infuriating experience.

Maybe you should start a career in some early KEK with the Eindecker. You could then spend all your blood-thirstiness and energy into just trying to stay up in the air. But seriously speaking, I can very much sympathize with your plight. When I switch from being a terror of the skies in my Nupe 17 to being the cowardly Pfalzer of the skies, it's not always easy to restrict the urge to just attack everything that moves with my guns blazing. History of the war in the air has clearly shown us that too aggressive pilots won't usually live through the war... but it's so much fun to be the crazy Hun who attacks everything and everyone with his brightly coloured machine! Vorwärts zum Sieg!

In the summer of 1916 around Somme I regularly come across flights of Huns in my Nupe 17. Flying for French in Esc. 26. So now you have plenty of time to get to know your aircraft and then you'll be ready to bring down all those nasty boche later in the war! But if the dev team ever decides to release an expansion pack or two that for example add new early war planes, I'll be among the first to buy it... one of the reasons for some sectors being very quiet can be that there simply are not enough planes available for the time period.

Thanks for the kind words, Olham - I try my best! I must admit that it's not always easy to silence the bloody-thirsty whispers of the hunter who lives within every fighter pilot. Once I made the mistake of trying to outturn a Camel. He looked like such an easy prey, I was behind him and thought "Just one attack, just a short burst and then he goes down and I can get out of here with one more kill!" - what a mistake! He turned like the devil and got behind me. "Bloody hell!" I thought (and plenty of other nasty words!), now he's got me, and he almost did - my Pfalz was plastered with bullets and I had no choice but to crash down hard close to one of our airfields. Fortunately I made a good landing and was flying a tough old girl. A Nieuport would have been shredded to thousand pieces. After this I have been extremely careful with my Bavarian Leutnant. Jasta 10 (part of JG1) is now stationed at Avesnes-le-Sec (Flanders). I'm anxiously waiting for the D.VII. Erich Löwenhardt is one of my Kameraden. (Sorry for going off-topic in your thread Widowmaker!)

I'm now at the last stages of the second Kohlrübenwinter (turnip winter) in 1918 and my Jasta has mostly been encountering Sopwith Camels and also Spad VII's, and some Brisfits (those devils!) and the occasional crappy RE.8 two-seater. Flying the Pfalz D.III and D.IIIa is certainly a VERY different experience from my French Nieuport campaign! I'm not particularly fond of WW1 energy fighters, and the Pfalz D.III is not the best of them. I have a few rules which I try to follow with no exceptions; so far these methods have kept my Leutnant alive and earned him a few kills to boot. 1) Fly high. The best thing about the Pfalz is its diving ability - when the Alb starts lose its wings, the Pfalz keeps going! This combined with the fact that it's a stable gun platform makes it possible to make diving attack with the Pfalz and even get some kills sometimes, if you're lucky. But you have to stay high, for obvious reasons. 2) Stay behind German lines. If all goes wrong, you can dive down and try to make an emergency landing, maybe close to some friendly AA positions that can help with driving off the Entente pursuers. 3) Never turn hard with the nimble Entente scouts. You only lose speed and energy and make it harder to run away. 4) Attack only when you have the advantage. Don't expect to repeat what Voss did with his Dr.I against the S.E.5 when flying the Pfalz. It'll get you killed very quickly. The Pfalz is best suited for careful, calculating pilots. When you doubt your chances, it's always best to flee and live to fight another day. There's also quite good visibility from the Pfalz cockpit, which is always helpful. This is not the fastest way to score kills, as most of the time you don't achieve any victories as a Pfalz pilot, but over time you can get a kill there, another here and most importantly, stay alive. I've found it's been very exciting to fly something completely different from my favourite Entente turn fighters. And I suppose it's easy to change to the Albatros when I've got so much experience with the Pfalz. IF I stay alive long enough. :yes: Now if we had the Pfalz D.XII, things would be very different...

Mein Gott, what a site! And there's also my beautiful Pfalz D.III pictured in the white and yellow colours of Jasta 10. (In my opinion, the Pfalz is the prettiest German scout of the war, even prettier than the Alb. D.III).

Good work! I wish I had some artistic skills... I guess I could try painting my Pfalz with just one colour and see what happens. (Wouldn't it be great to have the Eastern front in OFF!)

Bratwurst, eh? Which Jasta are you flying in, some foppish outfit for Prussian Junker? We in Jasta 10 have only turnips left to eat! Nice skin, by the way.

I've flown the Halberstadt a few times in QC and it's definitely a major improvement over the E.III. Shooting down 3 Nieuports in one mission is a great achievement. I eat Halbies for breakfast in my French Nieuport 17 campaign, but Halbs are definitely much better opponents than Fokker monoplanes. One of these days I must start a career in 1915 and try what's it like to fly the Eindecker. So many planes to fly, so little time!

That's true - flight models in OFF are so good that there are endless details to be learnt from all the various planes the game currently has. I'm learning something new every day, for example how the Nieuport 17 behaves in different weather and things like that. (I really have to give the Dr.I a go one of these days!) I just hope OFF is going to be a commercial success (as much as any simulator can be!). If it is, I'm sure the dev team will be more enthusiastic about adding even more content to the game. My secret hope is to have a couple of extra planes for the French, which could be used also by the American squadrons...

Many of you must be playing OFF in your local Altenheim.