von Baur

As mentioned, Crockett, you can select shorter missions beforehand if you don't have a lot of time in a sitting; I've done it many times. But if you can afford it, taking a longer flight can be a lot of fun. Just yesterday I accepted one that was scheduled for 107 minutes and with an encounter with enemy scouts ended up being 122. Of course that's all open to personal taste, and what's fun and immersive to one can be long and tedious to another. As far as engine problems, running out of ammo, unjammable guns or any other major malfunction, no pilot was ever disciplined for bringing a crippled bird back home or even landing it safely just inside friendly territory. The first priority is the mission, but if you can't continue with the mission the next is survival and, if possible, saving the machine so you can go back up tomorrow. And OFF doesn't penalize you or make you refly a mission if you don't complete it, like some other sims do. It's just marked down as 15 minutes of flight time instead of 50. If you want to use warp do so, but it comes with certain limitations and drawbacks. Like anything else, you must accept the bad side of something if you're going to take advantage of the good.

I'll probably pop on for a round ot two. Won't be late like last night, though.

I ugraded to a SATA HD with my last mobo/cpu change (more out of necessity than choice) and I've got an 80GB IDE collecting dust somewhere around here. I also have an adapter that will let me plug an SATA cable into it. Are you saying I can get some improvement by reinstalling OFF on it rather that the SATA where the OS is? I do have a dual-core cpu, if that makes a difference. If that's the case, and the difference is, say, 10% or more I'd be willing to do it. And what's the page drive? Would I have to have a third HD for it in order to get these benefits? And if so, how would I go about doing that?

Anything set up for this Sunday, the 27th?

Coolio.

25 degrees outside and if the wind gets any stronger I'll have to change my address to the next county. I'm not going anywhere today, duck. In fact, I'm planning on hitting a little campaign action in the next few minutes, I may crank up TS and see what's what. Also, only working Monday and Tuesday...gotta use-or-lose a couple of days of vacation time before the end of the year. So I may be available a few evenings next week.

To Duck: I know, just havin' fun. And I know you knew that. To Kingkat: Jude Law is a good actor, RDJ was fan-damn-tastic as Tony Stark/Iron Man and I may well be at the IM sequel the day it opens. And if the trailers are any indication they have good on-screen chemistry. But I read all the Sherlock Holmes stories about 35 years ago, from "A Study in Scarlet" to "The Final Solution" and personally I'm not prepared to accpt SH as an action/adventure hero. What's next? Ghandi takes on the entire British army bare chested and wearing a Rambo bandana? Or maybe Abe Lincoln finds himself barefoot in Fort Sumner and single-handedly stops the Confederate assault, preventing the Civil War. How about Jet Li as an ancient Chinese philospher in "Confiscious Says, 'I'm Gonna Kick Your Ass". Or maybe someone will make a movie about how Adolph Hitler was killed in a movie theater in Paris by two independant assassination plots. My point, kat, is that established fictional characters should not be rewritten any more than should actual historical figures. Imagine some kid who never heard of Sherlock Holmes before seeing that movie. Then he sees the books on the shelf at his local or school library and decides to read them. Not only does he put the books down when there's no kung-fu action and tell his friends how "that Doyle guy that wrote them got it all wrong", it could make him think twice about ever picking up another book again. OMG, horrible thought. If all the nonviolent characters are rewritten as action-adventure types, does that mean that Clint Eastwood's next movie tag line will be, "Go ahead, punk. Tell me about your unhappy childhood."?

"I've never been lost. I've been significantly disoriented at times." Bumper sticker on a car I saw at Pope AFB, NC in the late 70's: "I may be lost, but I'm making GREAT TIME!!!"...car had Hawaii liscense plates.

Don't remember seeing Brad in G-Force. Guess I'll have to watch it again.

You're honor is obviously great, sir.

2:15pm 2-4 inches of snow expected last night turned out to be barely a dusting, but enough to see some white on the ground. Presents opened (all children 18 or older, so no toys). Ham was cooked two days ago because wife discovered after bringing it home that there was no room in the fridge. She's making up some candied sweet potatoes...dressing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce may not make the cut this year. Just finished watching brand new Christmassy movie...it's called 'Inglorious Basterds'. G-Force scheduled for later this evening. Time to fly

no convergence setting in OFF, Duck. Previously discussed in this thread: http://forum.combata..._1entry356117 .

What you're seeing, GB, is lag, as Duck said. Your opponent is lined up on you but because what you're seeing has to go through both computers and whatever is connecting them it's usually slightly out of time with what he's seeing. This mostly impacts the turn-n-burn knife fighters as their tactics rely heavily on timing their moves to outmaneuver and frustrate the enemy. Obviously, when you're waiting for the perfect instant to turn out of your opponent's line of fire, not only to take away his shot but also to put him into a good position for you to attack, it's critical that you see that instant at the same time as he does. In fact, I've had to reassess some of my success in Red Baron in that light as most of that time I was on a cable connection and many of my victims were still on dialup. Unfortunately it appears that some of this lag is game-related with OFF, stemming from coding in CFS3 and can't be corrected. Your strikes, however, are based on what you see not what your opponent sees, so you don't have to try to adjust for lag when you're on the attack. On the plus side, the Sunday online campaigns are all flown co-operatively, with all human players on the same side, which reduces the lag effect (maybe even eliminates it, as I can honestly say I haven't noticed it). So don't be shy, turn off the football game (unless it's the Steelers ) at 2:00EST, turn on the computer, and join us. Bring your son along, too, if possible. The current campaign has just ended and I believe we'll officially be taking a hiatus until after the first of the year, but I'd be willing to bet that if you do you'll find someone Jonsing for some action.

I voted for an Allied campaign because OFF currently offers three Entente nationalities (British, French, USA) with only one option on the Central side (German). This makes true fairness, which is almost always a matter of opinion anyway, very difficult. While a case can be made that fair means alternating between Central and Entente, an equally legitimate one can be made for rotating through the various nationalities. An added benefit to taking the latter approach is that there are many more aircraft types on the Entente side than the Central, so strict alternation would have us on the second or third trip through Albs, Halbs and Fokkers while the guy who just adores the Bristol Scout (there's no accounting for taste ) is still waiting for his favorite ride. As far as type, I've no preference. While I spend most of my time in single-seaters, I find a good bombing run (or torpedo attack with Stump's Shorts) just as challenging and gratifying. Whatever the floats the most boats is ok by me.

Hurry back, Mac. We'll take care of your bird.

I'm willing to try it, Duckster. can you email them to me (vonbaur@yahoo.com)? Or pop them somewhere and post a link on TS (probably the better option, that way everyone who needs them can get them with as little effort on your part as possible).

Curious, is there any buffet from nearby AAA bursts now? If not yet, is it something that may come out in the next edition, or at least somewhere down the road? Or is this something that just isn't going to be possible given the CFS3 core?

Well, pooh. Don't have a credit card, ordered BHaH using a store-bought debit card, no problems. Now these folks won't instantly approve that kind of transaction and I have to fax a copy of my order in, which will be done tomorrow from work. Then I have to wait for confirmation by email that everything was approved, so the earliest I'll be downloading this will be Tuesday night. And with my connection speeds even if I could find a way to start downloading now it wouldn't be done until after the session. I guess I'll see you all next week, unless anyone knows a workaround. Will be on TS until game time with fingers, toes and even eyes crossed.

TSO does work when you're in single player mode.

Which means that either we all have to have it or not, depending on what Vasco does. So what does Vasco do? And if 2pm EST rolls up on someone who hasn't picked it up yet and Vasco's got it running he's SOL. Or maybe Vasco's decided to wait so as not to leave anyone behind and those who have installed it can't join. Again, I plan on downloading tonight and can have it installed by game time, but what about those who don't? Is it fair to exclude them just because they may be waiting for whatever reason? This must be addressed. Let's make sure we're all on the same page while there's still time.

I'm still good with a French campaign next. We could follow it with early USAAEF in N-28's. But then I'm good with whatever everyone else decides. I just want to fly and have fun with friends. It's available now, and I'm planning on downloading it tonight! But what's the timing going to be on installation? I'm as anxious as anyone to get all the new toys, but we'll have to make sure we all do it between Sundays to prevent mismatches, right? I suggest we exercise some self-restraint and wait to install it until after next Sunday, when the current campaign ends. Assuming we don't start the next one until January it'll give us a couple of weeks to work out any bugs.

Showed the link to my wife last night, kat. She said that our son had been planning on getting it for me for Christmas. Simple solution...EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT!! I promise to act dutifully surprised, nonetheless. Don't hold back, Lou, tell us how you really feel. Keeping things bottled up will kill you. One question...I recently started an E-III campaign and was doing quite well (four mission, 3-something hours and ten claims with TAC and lables being the only variations from full DiD standards) and I'd kinda hate to lose him. Can pilots and their campaign records be carried over from BHaH to HitR? Sorry if this has ben asked.

Yep, Lou, that's what happened in '73. too. Another funny aspect was we were in our fourth week of training, and had gotten used to the TI going home every night. Well, ours was Georgia born and raised and had spent his entire Air Force career in tropical or sub-tropical climates and thus had never experienced snowfall of any kind first-hand. He heard the radio and told us he was staying in the barracks that night rather than risk driving in those treacherous conditions (probably a wise move, considering). Forty-nine hands shot into the air accompanied by cries of , "I'll drive you home!" just for the chance to get behind the wheel for a few minutes. Sadly, he declined all offers. My best accumulation story comes from my three years stationed outside Anchorage. My first winter winter drive around the back side of base I saw that rather than try to clear the roads they had simply driven about five-foot orange stakes into the snow to mark the edges of the road. This seemed like an excellent solution and I was somewhat surprised with its simplicity and logic, considering it was the military. I didn't grasp its true brilliance and foresight until the following Spring, when I realized that those 5' orange stakes were not only left there year-round but were really more like 10 or 12 feet high and only the top four or five feet were painted orange.

It was. Great change of pace mission, Duck.

Thanx, Stump. It might be very important for me. Got an 'invitation' from my boss yesterday to a work party next Sunday, the 13th, and we all know what that means. Unless I hit the lottery in the next week, I'll probably not be flying.