12oclockhigh

Good to see a lot of familiar names still on this forum. I don't think that the inclusion of some humanitarian guidelines would be a bad thing in gaming. In Arma2 shooting friendlies and non-combatants is definitely frowned upon. If you can go crazy and start shooting innocent villagers your own guys will take you out. That game has also introduced the idea of a wounded soldier who dies if he doesn't receive aid within a certain time frame. This gives the player something else to think about besides just shooting and blowing up the bad guys. Do you try to help your fallen comrade and risk getting 'shot' yourself? Can you drag him under cover and then help him before it's too late? This introduces a moral element in what can be a pretty uncaring enterprise. It forces the player out of the static run and gun mind set of ordinary gaming. There might actually be benefit, in my opinion, to carry this a little farther by adding other ethical elements to a game, optional of course. Most of us play the sim type of game because they are not only fun but educational too. It wouldn't hurt to learn what constitutes war crime and what the rights are of combatants and non-combatants as well. If done properly games might actually become more interesting.

I haven't been around for awhile but its good to see some familiar names. I've been very busy at work and haven't gamed much at all in the last few months. I have found some time lately though and OFF is still number one on my list. Built a new computer for work and in the process got introduced to solid state drives and eventually ended up installing OFF on one here at home. Definately the way of the future.

Speaking of monitors what are people's thoughts on the 3D versions that are starting to appear. Seems to me that OFF would be a fantastic game in 3d. Is this something the devs are looking at and is it even possible?

Hi Winder. Maybe we're talking two different things here but to me 'scripting' is not just the various languages but also the placing of preset instructions for non human controlled objects in a game. If I refly a mission in OFF but fly it the same way I flew the first mission I will be booted out of warp and encounter the same enemy aircraft at almost the exact same location at almost precisely the same time, to within a few seconds and they will execute the exact same manuvers. That last bit is not surprising because every condition is the same as the first mission and all things being equal the AI should react the same. But my point here is isn't this whole event up to where (I think, anyway) the AI and human react 'scripted' with paths and setpoints?

And each time you go out flying in OFF you never know what is likely to happen, or where, because it isn't scripted. Plus you've got so many planes to fly and see along with thousands of plane skins, etc. all historically accurate in time and place.. that's what I call IMMERSION. I have to respectfully disagree here, Rabu, OFF is certainly scripted. Its done well enough that there is the appearance of randomness but when you play long enough the same patterns emerge. For instance several times I've run across a flight of three Albatrosses that seem intent on attacking one of my air fields. I can follow them down on their straffing run and shoot them up big time. Only when they are done the scripted portion of their mission do they react to me.

Yes, the TAC is definitely useful and for me totally necessary, but only because there is no nothing else to take its place. I don't think, for me anyway, that turning it off is an option. My criticism of it is that it just feels and looks so out of place in this sim. If someone much smarter than me could come up with a workable solution that would replace it or make it an option for guys like me that would be awesome. As for waypoints a good map with well defined road and railways and rivers that pilots could follow could serve the same purpose and be more immersive. You could fly the old fashioned way or even warp along these natural waypoint lines. That's basically the way they navigated back then anyway.

I find the radar to be an immersion killer but necessary against the enemy AI. In P4 I'd like to see the radar eliminated. Instead, my flight mates would waggle their wings, blip engines, or fire off a short burst to get my attention before an impending AI attack. Along with these actions a brieft text message would appear giving me the general direction of the enemy and whatever other information could be conveyed from plane to plane in those early days. This method would also make it more important to keep your flight intact and keep as many eyes as possible serving as lookouts.

I can consistently crash CFS3 by hitting the Map key during the 'Scramble' mission. Off manager keeps running.

In my latest campaign I've tried adding more details to the claims form, not just the names of witnesses. It's hard to figure out what the details should be but I guess at stuff. Altitude is tough since I fly the Camel and the altimeter readings for the lower altitudes are hidden. I figure close has to be good enough. I take a stab at my location as well if I have time during a dogfight, something like '10 miles West of Saint Quentin' and then try to remember that when I get home. I'd have to say I'm having limited success with claims as I now have 5 confirmed kills out of 32. All of this in 15 missions and 14.1 hours of flying time.

I do lead and also use the keyboard commands. The disappearing flight seems to happen most often over enemy territory. When I look at the radar screen during a dogfight there are no black dots indicating fallen comrades. The blue dots from my flight seem to get covered by red dots and then they are 'gone'. I can't describe it any other way. Only red dots remain and its me against the world. I can understand not getting credit for a kill in those situations, no friendlies are around. I might run across my wingman on my way home, providing I've survived, but the rest of my flight is long gone. By the way I hate using the radar. It's an absolute immersion killer but almost necessary to even things up against the AI. Finally I know this is a stretch but for me what would be really nice in phase four is to have planes from your flight signal to you about enemies nearby and in that way do away with the radar entirely. To keep this simple maybe a brief text message could appear when an enemy comes within visual range of someone in your flight. Providing they are close enough to you they relay the message. Just a thought....

If a tree falls and there's no one to hear it, is there a tree?

Thanks all for the advice. I keep track of the pilots in my flight in notepad, then copy and paste their names in the claims form. I separate the names with commas. I try to play as realistically as possible so selecting the 'easy' claim form is not an option. How do you enter extra information such as location and altitude?

I've been playing OFF for some time now. It has settled in to being 'the game' that I play when I have time which unfortunately is less and less these days. Over this time there are some things I've found that I really like about OFF and some things I dislike, although I must say the things I like far outweigh the dislikes. So here are a few of both from my opinion. Like#1 Flying and dogfighting in the clouds. Flying blind is very tricky with the limited instruments but worth it for the skill factor. Sometimes the views are spectacular, especially when you spot an enemy in an opening below you. Like#2 Overall game play and atmosphere (pardon the pun), I know that covers the waterfront but this game is fun. Dislike#1 The claims system. I've had as as many as 26 consecutive claims rejected in one campaign before being killed, then 16 in the next. There is almost no point to even making the claims in my opinion. Some rejections I understand but some make no sense at all. I know some players are very meticulous in making claims but I don't have the time or the inclinnation for that. I list my witnesses only. That should be good enough in a lot of cases. Dislike #2 My squadron seems to disappear at times. They are not shot down, they don't slink away, they just disappear. I find myself in the sky, all alone and surrounded by enemies. Generally I pick my fights to have a tactical advantage and it is annoying to have that disappear for no apparent reason. Overall my likes far outweight the dislikes which really are minor annoyances. I also haven't mentioned anything about framerates or other hardware related things. There are too many variables in that. My focus here is the game itself.

I'll add my 2 cents here. I've used but never liked Sound Blaster. So my last few computers I've just gone with the on-board sound and find it to be very good, though I do use higher end motherboards. I don't even know if I would want to fit a sound card in with the graphics cards I'm running. Tower space is limited and it gets warm enough as it is. So for me, no sound card, one less potential problem source and still very good sound.