TaillyHo

You might also find some juicy reading just a few clicks away at the OFF virtual library (courtesy of RAF_Louvert) - under the 'downloads' section!

Nice artwork via your new rig, Olham. I see - not surprisingly - you look right at home there in your beloved at Jasta 2. I'm not so sure about your Pup pilot's claim tho - from your 'report' it seems you did no more than fly close to an already thoroughly shot-up DFW and watch it fall apart and crash down. The 'claim' aside tho, it was a great account of your new recruit's arrival and early days experiences at his new squadron. After a few days away, I installed HiTR successfully last night and my 2 long-term pilots seem to have survived the upgrade ok (at least, they still appear on my list of pilots). I was pleased to see quite a bit more ground level detail added for seemingly no FPS penalty. I've enlisted a new DFW pilot at FA(A) 250 (again) to check a few things out with before I risk my more established pilots in the 'new' sim. New sights, new sounds, new planes - all nice (for me) to have this step-up to enjoy between now and whenever P4 is released!

Ah Olham, you might have saved your blushes - or at least, your banner . . . I think it is Si - TheMightysrc's birthday today!! Anyway, Happy Birthday to Si, Mike and anyone else celebrating this weekend!

That ice blue nose on your dark chocolate Pup looks quite smart, Olham. A nice change from the dark green one I had at RNAS-3 (until they went all retro and 'updated' it with the Strutter, again!). I shall have to watch out for Andy73 tho - he doesn't seem to like Strutters.

A moving accout, Lou. Shame you couldn't have captured it (to some extent) in a pic. I expect when you finally climbed back into your truck, your left hand was subconsciously groping for a throttle lever to ease back so you could 'take off'.

Very nice, Olham - looks like it was worth the wait for you.

Well I wasn't going to contribute to this thread for I felt I was not worthy No seriously, I still go everywhere with my TAC security-blanket . . . although apart from that, my workshop settings are very RSS-compliant. I intend to wean myself off TAC when I install HiTR - which is just sitting there waiting for my two current pilots - this guy and my 20 hour B.E2 pilot - to meet their demise). .

Thanks for you prompt reply, Sir. You may already be aware, but I just came across this book, currently available only as a free PDF download (!?!) - unfortunately sans photos, but with some detail on Little: http://airpower.airforce.gov.au/Publications/Details/220/Australian-Fighter-Aces-1914–1953.aspx

Whoops, should've chimed in with confirmation for you before now Olham, sorry. Yes, you correctly identified an Australian flag - and also seem to be correct in your Werner Voss comparison - given a quick read of his page on wikipedia (just type in "Robert A. Little"). Sounds like he was in the right place at the right time to get some good 'hardware' (Strutters, Pups, Tripes, Camels). I must read more about him (do you know of any good sources, Dej?)

Thanks Carrick. From what I've read the original buggy SH4 (2007) has been 'patched-up' and well and truly re-worked with some BIG mods (Trigger Maru for US; Op Monsun for U-boats) as well as environment and graphics updates. Maybe you should patch it up and have another try with SH4 (!?) - it certainly is a completely different 'world' to OFF! I haven't ventured beyond 'sub-school' so far . . . there are just sooo many menus and control/command inputs to make sense of. I can do some basic navigation for my 'boat' now, but plotting courses for potential targets - let alone firing solutions! I keep exiting and booting up OFF for the simple life of a WWI pilot!

Shiloh, thanks for your reply. Yes, I think it will be great once I have a bit more know-how. Maybe starting up a campaign and simply 'learning-by-doing', as you suggest, is the best way to go.

Well after a bit of research and a few favourable mentions on this forum from time to time (including this thread), I've installed Silent Hunter 4 (came with the 1.5 patched U-Boat add-on) and like the look of the Operation Monsun mega mod. But Man, this is one complex sim! I've found my way onto the 'subsim' forums in the hope that they might in some way replicate the friendly and helpful character of this forum. If anyone here has any other suggestions for a wannabe sub commander struggling to get to grips with SH4, I'd be most grateful!

Commiserations, Creaghorn. An epic campaign indeed - you should feel proud of this achievement. Best wishes for your next man!

Well I know it looks like that, but I'm more interested in getting a favourable 'match' with co-located (in time) opponents, irrespective of the period in the war. Then as I (hopefully) improve as a pilot, I can select more even match-ups as well as moving more towards the SIA settings - until I get to stage where I seek to be the under-dog and have settings at DiD. Well, that's my cunning plan at any rate. If that can happen in something like a chronological progression, that would add to my sense of 'progress', but I realise there will be some jumping around in time - and nationalities!

You only have to land it (ideally at your own airfield! ). You can park wherever you stop - or as Javito recommends and I have been happily copying recently, you can exit whilst still rolling to a halt. Well done on completing your first campaign mission, Shiloh. You might like to check back a few pages on the reports from the front thread - Carrick and Javito have posted quite a few in the S.E5a in recent weeks.

Only the first mentioned (so far). Last pilot managed only 11 hours (but his 10 confirmed victories & 25% accuracy was pleasing). My replacement in that time period (mid 1915) is my first 'adventure' in the Quirk (18 hours, 3 confirmed victories), but if he survives from 1 June to mid-August I intend to transfer to a Scout sqd again. I haven't come across the others you mention because I haven't got that far into the war.

Whoo - a big night indeed. I'm sure you've earned yourself a drink, Shiloh - name your poison. I'm really impressed you survived so well for someone who's never flown before. Great stuff! Hope you get TrackIR up and running tomorrow - looks like you'll be all set for a HUGE OFF weekend!

Don't wish to hijack your thread, Olham - but I have a similar 'bitter-sweet' prospect involving long-term pilots. I've just downloaded HiTR (sweet!), but I'm wondering whether I have to say goodbye to my two established pilots when I install it (and the accompanying minipatch)? Can any of your guys remember?

Brilliant Pol. ...ever considered a career selling virtual real-estate ?!! and ditto what Dej says.

Congrats, Shiloh - you've done really well. "Interesting" choice of the Fee! Presume you've read Bullethead's pilot's guide for that craft over on the 'survival in the air' sub-forum (?) Its one of the trickier craft to land (some would also say, to fly!!). I suspect the main reason you ended in hospital is the little front wheel in its rather unique 'tricycle' landing gear - it's not good on hills (!) - and that's regardlees of your heavy or otherwise stick input. Perhaps a better way to whoa it down in future would be to kill the engine (ie switch-off completely, not just throttled back) as soon as you touch down. (uncleal has a how-to for this under general help - using the 'B' key on the keyboard). Can't fault your logic of taking the Fee into combat if you reckon on having your hands full just flying the plane (!) and you consciously want to leave the shooting to someone else. It's certainly in a class of its own in that regard. Looking forward to hearing how you go. - oh, and I'll have that Laphraoig tonight thank you kindly!

Sweeet (re: the hardware) Shame about your pilots. Is there no way they - and their campaigns - can be saved and then re-loaded?

Woo-hoo, Shiloh - all your virtual WWI combat flight Christmasses have come at once! Good luck getting it all up and running.

November 1916 - snow on the ground - fire in the sky My long-serving (and lately, long-suffering) pilot returned to duty after back-to-back hospital stays, and was further disoriented to find RNAS-3 had been re-equipped with Strutters in his absence (replacing the Pups that they'd had first use of since July). Nevertheless, the Strutter soon felt like an old friend and Birkin found his spirit glowing as the fresh wintery air blew away the staleness of weeks of inaction and spurred him to victory (albeit on his second pass) over the bloated 'sausage'. A flight of Albatros scouts were spotted away in the distance, but Birken was content to leave that challenge to another day, and led his flight home - relieved to be able to complete a mission and land safely back at his 'home' field for the first time in 3 months! .

Oh Olham, the lengths some people will go to to get a spectacular pic! ... and now daydreaming about 'slender nurses in their white dresses'. Is this the same man charged with leading the German air forces in the infamous "DiD Campaign"? Tsk tsk, what is this war coming to?!?

Well once the joystick arrives, you can start on that learning curve. Even in a WWII plane, you can start getting used to take-offs and landings (maybe some 'dead-stick' landings just to get used to what aspects of flight you can 'control' with your stick (including rudder); angles of approach for landing and just generally 'controlling' the plane. To get closer to OFF, fly as slow as you can (without stalling) so you're not relying on the significantly greater engine power of the WWII plane. Sure OFF will be different, but if you've zero flight-sim experience until now, it will all help!