Wayfarer

By coincidence I had 2 scrambles one after the other today. Don't get one for 3 weeks then 2 come along at once - just like English buses.

Sure enough, first day out of hospital - another scramble. after all your comments I had no qualms about time advancing.

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hee, hee...Wayfarer, I generally don't fly the scrambles when serving in a B/R squadron as they would never have been sent out on such a mission. Truth be told, it was very rare for a fighter squadron to be given such as task as well. Just one of those little things we hope will be tended to in P4.

 

But they are exciting, and a great way to get a bit of time off, as you've now discoverd.

 

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In game time I fly roughly a mission a week so I am always advancing time, but I was so surprised that I just didn't think of advancing to another mission! An airfield attack didn't seem too unreasonable, especially as I had never experienced one before, but I probably would be more judicious about flying any future scrambles.

I don't know the answer to Lewie's question about whether an entire Jasta was involved in the attack but, for the first time, I actually tried ordering my wingmen to attack an enemy machine (I usually try to lead them away over our AA if I can). I ended up turning the TAC on for this - and there seemed an awful lot of red squares! Though it was probably about eight, really.

Ok, this might not mean so much to most of you, who fly in later periods.

I have had OFF for nearly a year now. I started my campaign in January 1915 and have dutifully carried out over 50 reconnaissance and artillery spotting missions. At 10:01 22nd September 1915 I go to the briefing room for another valuable intelligence gathering mission ... and get 'scramble inbound enemy aircraft approaching'! Wife and middle daughter are startled by loud exclamation, and possible expletive - have I been transported 25 years to BoB!? I had never seen this before and I was completely stunned.

5 minutes later my BE2 has ploughed its own airfield with its starboard wing and my pilot is hospitalised for 20 days. I know flying repeated reconnaissance flights isn't many people's ideal way of enjoying OFF, but it certainly makes things like this all the more dramatic when they do happen. You may be able to tell I'm still in Sim-Shock!

Olham, this is one of the reason's why I have so much respect for those who did reconnaissance work. They knew they were going to be particularly vulnerable at times, but still went on with the job.

I read that there was some denegration of MvR's ace status after the war as so many of the aircraft he shot down were, frequently obsolescent, two seater reconnaissance machines (not sure if this is actually accurate.) That seems to miss the point that that was his job - to try and prevent the enemy gaining intelligence that they could use to their advantage. Although extraordinary actions might be performed, I don't think anyone was under any obligation to be any more heroic than sticking at the job they were given.

In OFF, I fly my BE2 now with the TAC set on 'ships' just to show the direction to the next waypoint. I fly as straight and level as my clumsy handling will allow most of the time, and try and make all the waypoints. I weave for AA ,and take evasive action when I realise I am under attack from enemy machines - if they get me before I spot them that seems wholly realistic. It would be interesting if it was a requirement for completeing the mission to fly straight and level over a certain area of ground, but I imagine that might be complicated to set up (I'm presuming this doesn't happen later on, as I am still flying in 1915). I would be happy to fly that way - doing the job, and would accept enemy pilots taking advantage of it as just doing their job.

I guess the big trick is avoiding ever having to send anyone out to do those sort of jobs.

It feels right. It just does. .

 

CaptSopwith

I realise I just said that myself in another thread. Thanks to everyone involved in the development of OFF.

On holiday, when I was young, at the end of the pier, was 'Tailgunner'. Not the later, blue, angular sci-fi 'Tailgunner', but the fuzzy browny-grey one.

In the centre of the browny-grey background, the slightly lighter silhouette of a fighter, seen head on, jiggled about. If your six year old hand held the thin metal 'gun' steady enough, so that the bright sparkles that appeared when you pulled the trigger stayed on the fighter long enough, suddenly - and dramatically - the silhouette dropped down! The score at the top advanced by one - and the whole thrilling process started again until the time ran out. Then your dad explained that this was like the men that flew in the bombers during 'the war' - and a small bit of your mind was entranced forever.

Later, you had the one in colour. A film strip showing actual WW1 aircraft moved up and down and, if you kept the two bright flashes that converged from the sides on the central picture long enough, suddenly - and dramatically - it dropped down! I was older, however, and wanted something which I imagined to be more 'realistic'. Later video games seemed too 'comic-bookish' in atmosphere.

With the advent of flight simulations for PCs I though that if anyone developed a decent WW1 game I would buy it. I saw some early ones that seemed a bit 'arcadeish', but when 'Flying Corps' came out that seemed to be what I was looking for, and I happily played that until we got a new PC with XP and it wouldn't work any more.

I still had MiG Alley, Battle of Britain, B17: The Mighty Eighth, IL2, CFS3 MAW and EAW, but no WW1. I was looking for a worthy successor. I managed to miss Red Baron, that everyone else seems to have played, but it's possible I didn't see it as enough of an advance on Flying Corps to seem worth it. I would occasionally do an internet search for WW1 fliying sims and became aware of OFF as a game that was praised for it's authentic period feel. The more I read, the more I became convinced that the game would repay trying to take time to fly in a 'realistic' fashion, as I saw it, rather than just trying to blow things up in quick games, which I tended to do with the other sims. I did look at RoF. With the IL2 engine it has some nice graphics, but I didn't think it would have the right 'feel' for me.

I am now flying my BE2 in August 1915. I put completing my reece./spotting missions first, protecting my flight members second, and firing at any enemy aircraft (with a gun with no sight) a long way third. I have flown 50 missions and was once told I had downed an enemy aircraft, but it was so long after I'd fired at anything I had no idea which one. I have never had a claim - and I am very satisfied with OFF. It feels just right!

This ties in with a particularly clear memory from when I was about three, around 1964. My dad and I were in a local newsagent/toyshop, with one wall that seemed to be covered in Airfix kits from floor to ceiling. My dad suddenly hoisted me up and asked which one shall we make. I instantly chose what seemed to be an enormous box which almost certainly was a Sunderland. I can remember dad laughing and explaining that we couldn't have one that big.

The smaller kits were still in the plastic bags then and I was attracted by by a 'red' kit, which was the Fokker Dr1. It was the first construction kit I had ever seen made. As I got older, I made them myself of course and read my dad's books on aerial warfare (Full Circle, The Fledgling, Bloody April among them). He had had a job as a commercial model maker and been in the RAF in the late forties for his national service, and was always telling me about aircraft and boats.

One of things particular that attracted me to WW1 was definitely the individual markings af the German pilots. Some weird psychological quirk means I am always fascinated by depictions of similar objects in different sets of colours; medieval heraldry has alway held an interest for me, probably for that reason.

In the seventies, 'Military Modelling' magazine ran articles on a WW1 wargame setup which used 1/72 models on poles with stands. This resulted in a frenzy of building WW1 models with the intention of using these rules. Unfortunately, as a kid, I couldn't seem to get hold of the necessary stands and poles and the project languished, as do some of the models still in my mom's loft!

There was something of a hiatus then, after leaving school, but as more realistic flight sims were developed for PCs I kept an eye out and got Flying Corps. It has been the the quality and atmosphere of of OFF, however, has really rekindled my interest.

Mig Alley runs just fine in W7_Ultimate 64 and Nvidia card. The BDG patch adds full Trackir functions and quite simply reinvents the sim.

 

plug_nickel

Now, our new laptop has W7 ... I wonder?

I confess that when I first beheld the back of the MiG Alley pack and realised you could go after B29s in your MiG something clicked in my little head and I really wanted that game (no offence intended to any B29 crew I hasten to add!) . The PC we had wouldn't run it but eventually I bought it anyway for fear it would disappear before we got a PC that would cope. When we finally did, it had xp and the game wouldn't run; I could have cried!

After researching into the small hours, however, I realised there was a patch and was saved ... and took the regular mid game crashes philosophically.

I also liked Rowan's Battle of Britain. When you saw the German bombers advancing en masse, in column like the Old Guard, and the fighters started to manouever above them, and you knew that in a minute they would be after you - it was very atmospheric.

Did anyone play B17: 'The Mighty Eighth' much? I also found that quite exciting, when you were under seige from the fighters. Then a couple of Me 262s would appear streaking along and you knew you had virtually no chance of hitting them but just had to keep ploughing on and hope for the best. I haven't ever tried loading that onto our latest PC so I don't know how it would handle Vista.

I almost always visit The Aerodrome after the OFF forum, and the gallery certainly has some superb artwork. Glad they've sorted your access at last.

"And, while I'm being honest, there were a few games that didn't work: ... MiG Alley."

I miss MiG Alley. Are there any games out there that cover Korea well? I haven't looked for a while.

Thanks for your advice everyone. Hoping to have cleaner skies shortly!

Does anyone have any recommendations for cleaning monitor screens?

Having reached September 1915 I am well into Eindecker season, and a number of marks on our screen are causing me momentary alarms. Amongst them are the tiny black 'Eindecker in the distance' speck, the whitish semi-transparent 'allied flak burst marking presence of Eindeckers' smudge and, not least, the 'incredible shape changing mark' (how is that possible!?) which can take on the shape of an Eindecker viewed at various angles.

Of course they're in fixed positions on the screen but, as the view sweeps around, every now and then I lose track and have a second or two of panic - especially with the one that changes shape - I'll swear I have watched it do it!

Do people generally use a purpose made screen cleaning product to clean screens, or are there other more general cleaners that are safe to use?

You can upload them to a gallery here.

Ok thanks.

I should really have said is the only way by uploading to an image sharing site. I'll just need to sign up to one if it is.

Please could anyone tell me how you include screenshots in a post? I have something I want to show in General Help. The Insert Image icon asks for a URL. Does this mean using an image sharing site?

Ok, next dumb question. I've never posted a screenshot before. The Insert Image icon asks for a URL. Do you use a photosharing site?

Thanks both, I'll take a look.

Do a search for "font" and "DPI setting".

 

I recall others having a unreadable text problem and IIRC your font DPI has to set to, at least, 96.

 

This is by memory so please double check.

Sorry for being dumb, but in what should I be searching?

I have a few instances in the squadron and Quick Combat screens where the options boxes obscure a little of the text, e.g. I get Principle Role: 'Reconnaissance or ...', or 'Season Overrid ...' .

It's no problem but does it mean I should be tweaking the graphics somewhere? I am running at 1280 x 1024 screen resolution if that makes any difference.

Many thanks Wayfarer! Good Lord, your pilot is lucky to even be in one piece by now! Congratulations are in order for his continued longevity. Can I ask what squadron / plane he's piloting?

He still flying a BE2 in 2 squadron RFC. I deliberately started as early as possible, in February 1915. I have got to late July. We've only been encountering enemy aircraft since June, so you can see he's in far more danger from me than from the enemy!

Congratulations to William on his survival!

I am still on my first pilot, and using death on die roll. So far he has survived being hit by AA, landing in a tree, a fiery pile up of a landing when damaged, and twice flying into trees whilst I tried to work out where the bullets were going from a BE2. He was captured but escaped after the AA incident, and hospitalised after one of the tree episodes. Although he probably wasn't doing the speed William was when he crashed, I feel he has been luckier than I deserve.

It's made me wonder how death on die roll works, although it might be tempting fate to ask!

You can cycle through friends & foes this way:

- switch TAC on

- use TAB to mark one craft

- go through external views by clicking F4 two or three times - you should get the outside view

of the aircraft you have marked

- now press TAB again and again, to cycle through ALL other craft

 

It may be slightly different (like Shift + TAB), but I have changed "Controls" and reduced it to TAB only.

You get there by pressing "Esc" ingame. You can program any Control for a new button or key.

 

The CFS3 engine is surely limited here or there. But since the guys have built their most immersive

sim on that engine and no other, I will make do with it the best I can. I am addicted to OFF.

Out of interest, when you do this, should you be able to pan around the aircraft you see? I can't seem to.

How ironic!

Got a mission with average height around 10300'. Tried warping to the 1st mission waypoint just to test it. Brought me out at about 9800' to get swarmed over by Eindeckers!

And there were more flights at lower altitudes, so as we lost height they outnumbered us even more.

After losing about 75% of my fuel I managed to land at a forward airfield, with chewed up port wings, a misfiring engine and one Oswald Boelcke skimming over my head!

I really don't feel like I'm cheating now!

But a word of caution to the noobs....

 

Warp can screw you in several ways. This is because each waypoint has an atltude assigned to it, over which you have no control at all. When you get to that waypoint during warp, you jump to its altitude (up or down, depending on wherein the flightpath you are). From that waypoint until the next, you keep the altitude of the previous waypoint, then jump to the altitude of the next waypoint when you get there. Also, warp sometimes runs amok. So...

 

1. Avoid Warping on Ingress

The assigned mission altitude only applies to the mission waypoints. In general, you'll have waypoints to orbit your field several times, at the end of which you'll be at 3-5k feet. In warp, you'll remain there until you hit the IP waypoint usually 1/2 or 3/4 of the way to the 1st mission waypoint. Then you'll suddenly jump up by about 1/2 the difference between your orbit and mission altitudes. You'll only get up to the assigned altitude at the 1st mission waypoint. Thus, if you're warping and meet enemies prior to your 1st mission waypoint (usually meaning on your side of the lines), you'll be at some pathetically low altitude while they'll be much higher.

 

2. Warping Loses Altitude Gained Manually

If you climb manually above what warping would give you, or above your assigned mission altitude, warping will drop you back down to the altitude you would have had at that point in the flight had you warped all the way.

 

3. Warping Off the Map

Occasionally, warp will miss a waypoint and send you hurtling so far behind enemy lines that you'll have no chance at all of getting back. To avoid this, ALWAYS have the map up when warping and stop warping if you see this happening.

 

 

 

I forgot to add....

 

Thus, it seems like the game is intended for you to fly the missions manually, without warping. Kind of a bum deal for those of us with limited playtime, but them's the breaks.

Bullethead, thanks for that explanation. It's kind of what I suspected but hadn't fully worked out.

Wayfarer, in my 'early' war experience flying against Eindeckers, I would advise you take no comfort from being at 8000 - as I've often encountered them at 10,000 feet and higher. Lou's advice as to their limited abilities at these heights may give you some comfort, but ...

Thanks TaillyHo, and everyone else. I don't feel like I'm 'cheating' now. It seemed right to get less enemy activity at higher altitude, but to have three missions without any encounters seemed too good to be true! It takes a time to get up to 8000' or so, with much mixture adjustment and avoiding stalls. Shallow steady climbing is definitely the way, but worth it if it's a legitimate way of getting all your flight back home. It's just slightly deflating, after all the effort, when your wingmen do that diving into the trees and exploding thing once you have landed - even though they are ready for duty again the next day!