Canvas Wings

Ya, good idea, Olham. I tend to fly in the wee hours of the morning because work keeps interferring with my game. It's more nerves in this case. I'm so worried about losing this guy before me makes the almost mythical 17 hour mark, that I'm afraid he (I) might panic and do something stupid in his next dogfight-and get killed as a result. Combat nerves- how's that for realism? LOVE this sim!

Nope. Nothing wrong, rayfer. I warp in the campaign all the time. Sometimes when I've gotten seperated from my flight in a scrap, once the area is clear of enemies, I have managed to re-join them by warping. By "nowhere to be seen" I assume you had on, or turned on, your HUD -and had it selected to show aircraft... not that just didn't seee them looking around with "the naked eye". It can be hard to spot other aircraft, especially directly above or below you. So I have no idea where your flight got to, since there was no previous combat and it's unlikely they had to turn back or were taken out by ground fire. ...but warping works fine in the campaign. Try it again and I'm sure it will be okay. A word of caution, tho' - keep an eye on your HUD display showing your distance to target- every once in a long while the flight leader seems to get lost and overshoots the next waypoint by miles and miles- far enough for you run out of gas trying to get back. In that case <ALT X> will break you out of warp; Turn around an re-enter warp to get back on course.

Anyone seen this? I've seen posts from people losing wingmen, or coming to their aid and taking satisfaction that they seldom if ever lose a flight mate. I'm flying DiD. But the pilots in my flight never die – any squadron, any time, as far as I can tell. They fight, they shoot down the enemy (but never put in a claim); and they come to my assistance in pinch, but they never die. Sometimes they get shot down alright, but they still show up for the next mission. If they are not flying with me they will sometimes score a victory and sometimes die permanently, but never when flying with me. –Whether I'm leading the flight or not. When I finally twigged to this happening, I tested it out by shooting my flight leader down, right over the airfield. Twice. I made real sure I nailed him good – once he just exploded in mid air. The second time he caught fire, jumped, and I watched him hit the ground. Both times he showed up for the next sortie, apparently not even bearing a grudge. It's not a problem, and doesn't effect my game at all, but it would fun to have the additional challenge of trying to keep your sortie mates in one piece. Anyway –just wondering if anyone else if is flying with the undead. I "letter from the front" version of this in the topic – but it's long and a tongue in cheek, and has nothing to add to the above, so read it only if you have the time on your hands.

I usually fly the regular string of single seat fighters, but I didn't particularly feel like dying again tonight, so I took a little spin in an Fe, in the QC mode. Started poking around in the cockpit and... hey! Is that a photo of Mata Hari pinned up on the dash??? LOL! I nearly stalled! That must have been one hell of a four day pass my pilot had! Nice touch, devs! (Pol?) One more reason I love this sim I hate so much.

Swatting DH2s with an F DVII ? ...You big bully. It might be a litte tougher dealing with a Camel. Seriously, tho' it seems to me that, compared with it's contemporaries, the DVII can't take a hit. -I mean, it's an amazing scrapper, alright... but in most other fighters, if I do get nailed once, there's a decent chance I can hang in there and manage to down my opponent, or if nothing else, run like a scalded dog. But it seems if I get hit just once in a DVII, I might as well jump, 'chute or no... because it becomes so un-flyable you are a sitting duck, and even if your attackers chase off after someone else, there is no way you will put it down in one piece. -Or is that just me?

Once I sat on the on the field just to see if they *did* finally come back for a landing, and guess what? One of them *did* crash on and kill himself. ...maybe it was Osar.

Yeah, I'm wired too. I bought OFF a while ago because I always loved the genre (an old RB devotee) and I had just bought a new system I thought would handle it. Three months in, and I haven't even loaded any of my other games into the new rig... and the forum is crimping my work schedule too.

Quick question: how, if at all, can you advance the time in a campaign game? I think I've seen a post or two about doing that for a wounded pilot after a crash, since you no longer seem to go to the hospital... Below the clock there is a day/month/year setting; you can click into it or highlight it, but when I type in another date, just snaps back to the original. Is there some way advance the date a few days? I have a Bristol Scout pilot who has been flying for 14 days straight, poor bugger. He needs a weekend in Paris!

Well!...if they're going to hide it plain sight like that... thanks, Macklroy. Cpt. Willy Mack will be drinking to your health on the Champs-Elysee.

Welcme Balaika! - you're gonna love this sim. 1. You can use your mouse to drag and release the virtual dials to any point on the screen you prefer them. They will stay there on all other planes/missions until you move them. You can also take them off entirely with F5 or select which ones to keep/hide seperately with some other command I forget at the moment "SHift F5-1, 2 or 3"? ...And F2 brings up some basic commands 2. I don't think there's an option to use the mouse to look around - so unless you have a joystick with a POV hat, you're probably stuck with the number pad views.

Richthofen's War; -man, I loved that game. I still have my copy too - maybe two actually. That and about 60-70 other war strategy games. LOL. But RW was the first, and started my interest in war gaming, and most especially in WWI history/air combat. ... long time ago...

Condolances, Red-Dog. Watch that '16. I found that just like the Bebe, it had a strong tendency to drop the left wing on take off. Not so bad, if you expect it. It seemed setting Autotrim just for the take off seemed to correct it. Good luck to 'the new guy'.

No big thing, Polovski- it wasn't even a complaint or request -just an observation. I love this sim. And the occasional oddities one comes across, I consider unique character traits like the varied quirks of the individual aircraft of the period. Pure fun. Besides - lately several of my wingmen have actually *stayed* dead when I saw them go down. I swear this sim is learning as it goes....

Welcome to the squad, Prophead. Dinner at 6, bar opens st 7, lights out a 10pm Sounds like we have the same background of books, flight sims and giving up on the genre. I just got here a few weeks back myself. This is the sim we've been waiting for all those years. Too sweet for words. Best luck with Hawker & the boys!

Sweet! I dance. I cavort. I gibber and chortle with joy. You guys rock.

As someone once said... "There's more than one way to skin a cat. The cat won't like any of them."

I see 2-seaters about 25% of the time as well- in almost any time/locale I fly. Well, except for one of my pilots who flys out of Flanders in Jan/15 - he just past his 17 hour and for some reason has never seen a single enemy plane of any type. Hence his longevity. Otherwise, -perhaps one sortie in four, or a little less. Always in flights of three or more, sometimes with escort. This is with TAC on, of course.

Yes. A much needed improvement - it now looks more like the game deserves. Like Hellshade, I never said so before, but always thought the site didn't do you or the sim justice. If you'd like a suggestion -or even if you wouldn't- next time you're refurbishing it, reduce the font size a little. IMO, it's still a little too big and has a little "Grade School Reader" look to it. That said, this is five star improvement that will boost your image and thus, sales. Guaranteed.

Sooo many... Spitfire - cuz she *looked* a sweet as she flew. Sopwith Snipe FW 190

Hey, thanks Rickity! Glad you liked the post. I'm Flyboy over at the Aerodrome, but that name was apparently already in use here. You're right, there is far more input from ROF fans than OFF in that forum; It would be great if more of us dropped in and increased the OFF presence/awareness there. In fact, I was monitoring that forum for updates on ROF when I saw an OFF posting, followed it up and bought in; so I'm living (frequently dying) proof that you can attract sales that way. As an aside- some people have expressed the belief that ROF will steal OFF's thunder because it offers MP online. However, I get the impression it will be online *only*. If that's the case, many others may well prefer OFF ...because of time restraints (like many of the QC fans), older slower systems, or the lack of toys like pedals and TrackIR without which you're kind of hooped in MP online. I myself an unlikely to buy an online-only sim...

An open letter to Brigadier General HM Trenchard cc King George V Dear Sir. I feel it is my patriotic duty to info of a disreputable and thoroughly revolting practice on the part of the RFC squadron commanders in the field. I have had the honour to serve King and Country for several weeks in a number of front line units. Recently, I began to be aware that my flight mates always return from our missions. At first I attributed this singular fact to their superior skills and experience…or that perhaps the chaps simply buggered off when things got to hot. I began to watch them closely for any dereliction of duty. I must say, they did not run. Stout fellows, all; stiff upper lips types, even if that made them talk funny in the mess. Very self-effacing lads too; not once did they put in a claim like the others in the squadron, even though I personally witnessed them make a kill. However, I was sure I saw a few of them shot down at distance, only to find out later that it must have been some other bloke; because there they were, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, ready for our next sortie. Then “Snuffy” Sykes got the chop. We were in a scrap at about 4,000 meters, when he took a burst in the fuel tank and exploded in a ball of flames no more a hundred feet in front of me. Back in the mess we toasted the poor blighter, rifled his kit for cigarettes and such, and sang his favourite song, -(the one about the Liverpool tart). The next morning on the flight stand there was Snuffy sitting in his Camel, cool as a Piccadilly pork pie. Seeing him sitting there was quite a start, let me tell you. Gave me the proper willies. I subsequently became quite leery of my flight mates, from one squadron to the next. It was always the same. I’d see them go down in flames, take a brace of flak up the arse, or spin smartly into the ground. Next mission they were back in their machines, ready to fly. The only obvious conclusion is this- the RFC is using zombies to fill out their thinning ranks. Really. It’s like I’m in the bleeding “Royal Flying Corpse. Now the flying undead might seem an outrageous claim, but on. June 21/17, my flight leader was one Douglas Denton. Loud chap with funny teeth. Never liked him much anyway; smoked a horrible smelling pipe, and never verified any of my claims. So once we took off, I fell in on his tail and gave him a good long burst with the Vickers. And one more for the pipe. He flamed quite nicely, rolled over, and blew up on impact. The rest of the flight seemed unconcerned with this unexpected deviation from the mission orders. I gather the undead aren’t really all that bright. They kept circling the field like a bunch of bloody-mined geese, while I landed. The CO was somewhat perturbed, though. He ranted on about courts-martial and murder charges rather a bit, I thought. But we still had a flight laid that afternoon, and even he had to concede a murder charge might be difficult to prove when he saw dead Dougie reving his engine on the flight line. Denton looked up with a silly grin and gave me a wave. Cheeky bastard. So as we took off, I shot him down again. He was back on the line the next morning. Now I’m not one to give Jerry an even break, –but this sort of thing is hardly sporting, even for a war. I mean, mustard gas and all that is one thing; but this is completely unconscionable. It’s creepy really- and terrible for morale. Other fellows in the squadron are giving their best, and frankly, dying in great noisy droves. It creates a lot snide remarks no small degree of hostility when men in my flight are killed and don’t have the common decency to lie down and be dead. The rest of the men won’t eat at my table and I keep finding nasty small dead birds in my flying boots or my cot. It’s quite distressing. In summary, I think it mandatory that an investigation be launched with the view of putting an end to this grisly practice at once. The zombies I mean, not the dead bird thing. PS: I have it on good authority that the German Air Corps is using the same ghastly tactic. Perhaps representatives from our side could meet those from their side in some neutral place, say Geneva, and draft up some sort of rules of combat to keep things on gentlemanly grounds. Sincerely Cpt. Reginald Smythe-Wolsley

There's nothing more I can add that wouldn't just echo the many comments here already, guys. I only discovered OFF a month ago, but I'm now a dedicated fan. Phase 4? I'd buy it in minute. Any add on packs you come up with, ditto. Pass the hat? I'll kick in. *Make* a hat and I'll buy six. (Cuz I always lose hats.) This is the best Combat Flight Sim I've ever experienced, CFS3 not withstanding. Your support has been nothing short of phenominal. Do what ya gotta do.... but many thanks for what you have given us. Like I said on another flight sim somewhere... you have produced a classic. Kudos.

Campaign, pretty much all the way. I fly QC sometimes, not so much for practice as to experience all the planes I probably won't ever fly in a campaign. For me, the combat aspect is great fun - but as a bit of history buff, the role-play aspect gives the combat more feel and meaning beyond whether or not I won. Especially, for me, set at DiD.... I don't hard-core it; I need some of those crutches- but I do love/hate the fact that if my pilot goes down, he's done for.

Well said, Siggi. In the quest for realism in the sim, however unattainable, I think that is exactly most of those pilots felt, expecially after their first few experiences in combat and the loss of a few squadron mates.

LOL! Good point! And... there used to be a wounded/hospital function in this game??? (I started at 1.30) Cool! I'd love to see that back in the mix.