BigAl56

Aside from some of the missing aircraft that some of the squadrons flew, I'd like to see the Austro-Italian front rendered. It seems to me, that's an area of the great war that's usually been forgotten. It would be nice too, if there was some way to chart your own course on the lone wolf missions. But seeing as how that's likely a CFS3 function, I won't hold my breath on that one. Something else, might be the Bruno Stachel factor. Give the pilots a chance to have fraudulent claims confirmed or denied, or even have them court martialed! I know, only in the movies.

So, if I shoot something down, and then get to the screen to fill out a combat report, what do I do, if I can't remember my wingmen's names? Will it make a difference if I make up a name for the witness? Does anyone have any experience on this? Thanks.

Why is it, that the German language version has more info than the English language version? Ticks me off.

That, or against the SSW DIII or DIV. I wonder how long it would take to get to 26,000 feet?

Ok, in addition to what I mentioned before, the Sopwith Snipe, Dolphin, (that's not in Phase III is it?) the Morane Parasol, Morane N Bullet, Morane AI, and I'd thoroughly LOVE to see the SPAD A2. and the SPAD XI, I'd also like to see some way of claiming balloons other than on just the first line, and on any mission, not just a balloon busting one. I'm sure I'll have more requests later.

I'm going to take a wild stab and say Albatros D.XI.

I may yet jump in, I've just got other tings going, so I don't normally play OFF everyday. But who knows. On the DFW, I tried to stay nice and level, and in formation, to get away from enemy interceptors, but my "fighter instincts" took over, and I confronted them head on. The thing I always missed in RBII/3D, was never being able to fly the 2-seaters. Sure, some people came up with mods to help make it happen, but I never cared for the way it worked.

According to Kenneth Munson, in Aircraft of World War I, "it is doubtful if these saw combat service." Still, I'd love to have one in the game, specially with 2000 rounds per gun.

I usually try to fly as though my REAL life depended on it, at least, once I get the hang of things. :) I thought about the DiD campaign, decided against it, as I have so much going on now, I'd likely forget to submit a report or something, or I'd end up skipping several days, due to my other interests. However, I did start a campaign following the general rules of DiD, in FFA(A) 250. Either someone screwed up on the flight characteristics of the DFW, or I'm a real wonder on the stick. Went on a bombing mission, bombed the target....I think. (Bombs hit an air raid siren and a hangar) Then got engaged in a dogfight with several Nieuport 17s. I ended up putting in a claim for 2 of them. It's gonna be interesting to see what happens next.

Salamander, Snipe, as if anyone can tell the difference without a weight scale.

I hadn't considered that. Will have to in the future. It does seem to me, sometimes that flying as the German, specially in early war that we get too many flights that take us over the enemy side of the lines. I'll remember that, next time I get a mission that takes me across the lines. At least I survived the war.

Well, can't see the rudder to be sure, but I think it's the Sopwith Snipe.

Well, so much for THAT campaign. Went on a Railyard raid, in the process had my tail shot up, crashed and spent the rest of the war in a POW camp. Final tally, 9 confirmed, 3 pending. Oh well.

I recall something like that, as a fuel saving measure.

Nah, couldn't be the F-86. It had 6 machine guns.

I'm not sure if I chose the right sub forum, but I was wondering, are pilots ever transferred to other squadrons? And if so, is it possible to transfer from a bomber squadron to a fighter squadron?

That's just a little difficult for me right now. Since I'm in a German squadron, unless they let us fly captured examples, or unless the devs put the Siemens-Schuckert D I into the game, soon. But, personally, I've always found the early war machines to be the most intriguing of the lot. Most WWI flight sims (computer and table top) pay too much attention to the middle to late war period and tend to ignore the early war stuff. And even though it was included in one of the first WWI air combat games, "Richthofen's War" by the late, great Avalon Hill, it was not really given it's due. That game pretty well generalized many of the planes in the war. Oh, hell, it generalized them all. But it was a start, at least for 1972. FITS, or Fight In the skies (now called Dawn Patrol) also avoided the early war stuff. But since the author of that game readily admits he was inspired by "The Blue Max" I suppose it's understandable. Still, I've always liked the early war stuff. One other thing I've noticed, in RB3D, if I was playing an early game (made possible by the people who created the Western Front patch) with 9 victories, I'd likely be up for the Blue Max medal. I don't know how they did it in the game, if it was already hard wired into RB3D or if the WF patch guys managed to make it possible, but I do know in "real life" the first Pour le'Merit medals were given out at around 8 victories, and it went up from there. Took the red baron 16 to get his. And yes, 20 at some later point. And as we all know, with paperwork slowing stuff down, some didn't receive their medal until they''d had even more victories. Some didn't receive it at all, if they were killed or captured. Seems the Imperial German gov't didn't like giving out medals to those "too careless" to get themselves killed or captured. I sure hope that attitude has changed. What gets me, in this age of computers, with rumors of going "paperless" seems to me, there's more paperwork involved in various things now, than ever before. Progress, ain't it great.

For me, the DH2 just falls into a spin way too easy. But if I don't try to haul it around as quick as I can, I get shot up. Then again, with the EIII, i've only been going against BE-2C's and balloons so far, not really much of a challange. But now that my campaign is into 1916, I expect that will change soon enough. However, I do like the foward view you get with the DH-2. No, don't have TrackIR. So I have to compensate in other ways. What I miss from RB3D was the ability to chart your own course on Lone Wolf missions. That was a nice feature. RB3D also had an auto pilot that would just fly in a straight line, regardless of your charted course. That came in handy as well, from time to time. Also noticed, doesn't matter how many balloons you shoot down, the manager will only accept 1 claim for downing a balloon. Even if you change the number on the line to 2 or 3, it ends up being just one. And choosing Observation Balloon only appears on the first line, and none of the subsequent lines.

Until I can master the tricky DH2, I find the EIII much easier to keep in the air. Besides, I've always been a fan of Bruno Stachel and Ursula "Undress."

St. Tropez or Cannes, I might not mind, but I was out over the sea, with no land in sight for a while. Then it started getting dark out, and I was REALLY worried. But, it all worked out finally. Oh, and just had 4 out of 7 new claims, confirmed, for a total confirmed score of 9 victories. Also got promoted to Unteroffizier.

That would be nice. I did have one odd thing happen to me in a mission. I started the mission in the air, as I wanted to see how different that might be. This was a balloon busting mission, and my target was not very far across the lines. I got to the target, blew it out of the sky, and then proceeded back to base.....or so I thought. I watch as the warping thing starts taking me out over water, and it starts to get dark out. As my fuel drops to 50%, I'm like "Uh oh, where am I going, to Britain?" So, I drop out of warp, and take a look around. I can see coast line to the South of me. My only concern now is, which side of the lines am I on? I switch the warp back on for a about 20 seconds, and am now heading SW along the coast line, and little aerodrome markers start showing up on the map. So I stop the warp again, and hover the mouse pointer over the aerodrome markers to get some idea of where I am. Oddly, some of the names seem to be "Dutch sounding" to me. Understand, I'm one of those stuck up Yanks who doesn't really speak any language other than English. Oh, I took German and French in high school, but with out an real opportunity to use either one, they're almost completely lost to me, now, at 54. So anyway, I'm flying further and further SW, and my fuel is dropping lower and lower, and then, viola, (See I still remember some French. ) The trench line shows up, and I'm on the German side of it, thank goodness. I drop out of warp, pick the nearest field, fly to it, and land. Needless to say, I'm NEVER starting another mission in the air, ever again.

That's a lesson I learned a long time ago.

Ok, I found two links on the site someone needs to edit. They're the ones that say "Axis Fighter Squadron" and Axis Bomber Squadron" when the mouse is hovering over them. Of course, there's a question about referring to the Krumpets as "Allied fighter/bomber squadron" Should be Entente, but I suppose we know that, just as we also likely know that Axis should be Central Powers instead.

Thanks to both for the info.

Yup, been there, done that. What's the deal with the DiD campaign? Is this offline or online, and what are the requirements? I tried looking through the thread regarding it, too darn many pages for me to sift through for the tiny details.