Wayfarer

Shiloh, glad they got that warning to you in time. My work is involved with monitoring river levels for flood defence and other requirements. A dam burst is one thing they hope they'll never have to deal with, even with the small ones we have. Hopefully the worst is over for the rest of the East Coast OFFers.

Olham, thanks for posting this link. These are superb. I had come across some of these videos individually but had not realised there was a dedicated site.

Dumb question time ... I'm presuming the jets actually fly. What engines do they use?

Thanks everyone! We had an overnight stay in Oxfordshire last night so I only just got back to the forum. I'll post my official thanks on the Barmy OFFers post. I think there are some instructions there about how to display the badge, aren't there? STOP PRESS - just spotted RAF Louvert's PM with the instructions in - so thanks again!

I'd be proud. Demented, but proud!

So I have just come back off holiday. I have been catching up at work and teaching someone new, and it's been a bit fraught. I just managed to squeeze in one reconnaissance flight in the blinding snow and I have been reading the second hand copy of 'They Called It Passchendaele' I bought on holiday. Under those circumstances anyone could could have written the year down slightly wrong in an email ... and put 1917. Ok ... I may need help.

Ok thanks. Getting jumpy as April nears!

I remember watching this as a child. We still have my Dad's copy of the book which went with it. I have also seen quite a good documentary on the making of the series. Not sure my Mom was so impressed though. It came up in conversation once, not so long ago. 'I used to watch that,' said my Dad. 'Yes, every bloody week!' responded my Mom. Still, I always remember it as being good!

Yes, thanks to both. I picked up a lot of useful information from Uncle Al's posts when I first started with OFF.

Hello Bletchley, I tried sending a PM but it didn't want to go. I have just reached January 1917, flying BE2s in RFC 2 squadron, out of Hesdigneul in Flanders, using your mods. The intell describes the overall situation as quiet at present. As far as the air war goes, would 'quiet sector' still reflect the situation for this sector at this time?

Flying long two seater missions, I have had similar experiences sometimes. I always say I find OFF a good form of therapy.

33LIMA I have never seen that photograph before, thanks ELEPHANT for posting it. Poignant isn't the half of it. I keep going back to look at it. It makes a very deep impression, even on a day of constantly seeing photographs and films of people trashing parts of our city centre.

Of course engine coolant is another matter ... like the leak which caused my engine to seize up and my latest pilot to be killed in a crash landing not 10 minutes ago. I'd have probably been better off at work! (Day off for nephew's wedding).

Flying a British bomber campaign, I haven't concerned myself with personal skins. I always check the fuel level, however. Firstly to make sure I can get there and back on long reconnaissance flights and secondly to give me some reserve when the fuel tank is hit and the stuff starts draining away at an alarming rate! I have only been shot down out of control once, so far (and then ended up hospitalised). All my pilots have actually been lost making forced landings. One was forced down right on the lines and landed nicely, but then ran into some object that killed him, so I like to give myself some chance of reaching a clearer spot. I usually calculate 1.5 times the flight length - then add a load more on for luck! As I mostly don't shoot at anything I suppose really ought to start reducing the ammmunition as well.

Didn't even realise you could go into the hangars! Must try that next time.

Well I'm grateful, with three daughters I need to find aid and comfort somewhere ...

One helping at Brownie camp. One on the way to the seaside (we wish we hadn't seen how much booze was loaded into the car). One currently in after driving lesson. Oh .... and one flight of Rolands evaded through clouds ... that was good advice!

Thanks. I have used clouds as cover in the past, more from instinct really. I dropped my scenery slider after a recent screen freeze, so I'll try putting the clouds up to 5. I am just about to start OFF (many daughters out, so not on computer) and was thinking, on the way home from work, I've probably jinxed myself with this post. The next enemy patrol will probably come wailing down on me!

This is a just out of interest question. I recently had a run of 'Lone Wolf' missions and have felt quite lucky in avoiding the attentions of flights of enemy aircraft. Made me think, is the AI programmed so that single machines are less likely to be 'spotted' than flights of several machines. Would anyone know?

Thanks Olham. I have taken my terrain slider down to 3 now. It has been doing ok at 4, but I think that now things are getting busier something has to give. I think the anti-virus and firewall are in game mode but I will check it again.

Well our system is fairly modest for nowadays, the processor is 3.0GHz dual core, the graphics card is an NVIDIA GEFORCE9600GT and we have 4GB RAM. I don't ever remember experiencing a complete freeze like this before, but it was very busy. There was a frantic barrage going on, several groups of German aircraft being fired at, me being fired at, allied aircraft were bombing an airfield very nearby. I guessed what the problem was and was hoping it would catch up with itself, but it hung for a long time. I really didn't want to lose the mission as I was just starting on my way home. As I am working my way through chronologically, and am up to October 1916, the sky has gradually been getting busier. I guess as it gets into 1917 it will be even more so. I have put a couple of my sliders down a notch. That begs a question, can anyone explain how the 'Overall Graphics' slider relates to the rest of the settings? Still it was fortunate how it showed up that enemy formation, or I might have run straight into it!

It had been a great mission. Registering corps artillery ... white AA bursts showing Huns swarming all over the place ... me dodging and weaving every which way to avoid them ... a crooked bit of front so I couldn't quite tell where the enemy AA would come from ... our chaps raiding an airfield a few hundred yards away ... turning for home and then ... complete seize up! Wouldn't move or respond at all, and I really wanted to get this one logged. I tried a tentative pause, then a pan around ... nothing. I wandered sadly off to unburden my woe to middle daughter, who politely didn't listen. Returning disconsolately to the screen, however, I discovered that the pause and pan had now registered ... revealing a concentration of allied AA slightly below and ahead of me, bracketing a formation of enemy aircraft that I had not noticed. Unpausing, I abruptly changed heading and escaped! Pondering on this, I think it is quite obvious what happened .. OFF was warning me! Realising I was heading for danger it did what it could to alert me and prevent me from meeting a fiery demise! Cynics may point out that a check on my frame rate immediately after OFF became unstuck showed that I was getting about 11FPS and, with these busier times, I may have to take my sliders down a notch. Middle daughter may simply tell me I am being stupid. I, however, prefer to believe that I was saved by OFF ... or the Angel of Mons.

Javito, sounds to me like you're in 'Sim Shock'! Something I have experienced several times when things appear have to been running smoothly. The alarming of other family members by desperate cries, and the instinctive need to post the details on this forum are classic symptoms!

That is certainly true, Flyby. When I first started OFF I was dutifully following the waypoints and got promoted quite quickly. I have traded that off now against sheer survival! Those are good points Olham. I am flying a two seater campaign, and fly very warily. I hadn't thought about the likelihood of an ambush if you just traced the same route back on the return journey.