RamblingSid

Anyone keeping a book on possible dates ? I am prepared to wager a not inconsiderable amount of virtual ale on Ist April 2012. Takers ?

Indulge a selfish old man, please, no more info abt OFF2: I'm already tormented by the little I do know ! But seriously: when OFF2 hoves into view I want to be ...well...astounded, as I was when I stumbled (gods be praised) upon BHH. Can't do that if I know too much. "make them laugh, make them weep, make them wait". Cheers

See, Olham, if you stuck with rotaries you can get a couple of cylinders blown off with no worries, those in-line jobbies are a false economy. And what an odd creature a rotary powered Albatross would be.

Hmmmmmm, well, I'm going to call mine "Smokey".

Hi all, Camel could have an aldis also. Check out one of the in game movies - Camel taking off, aldis clearly visible. Not that I'm asking for aldis equiped Camels, sights are fine thanks. Doesn't look like wartime Snipes had the aldis either although I have seen photos of post war Snipes with them. Think some Dolphins had them also. I wonder if it was the SEs peculiar mg arrangement that lead to adopting the aldis ?

Well, I tried 54455 and it went very well. No issues and FPS steady at 59. something. Still a bit sticky over dromes. See what you mean by "grainy", Olham - very busy screen, needs more wash and blur imo. Not complaining but. So, off to try 54555 and 55555, though something tells me these won't work as well as 54455. I know - nothing new here, but for me it is part of the sheer fun involved in P3.

Hi Red Piano, just on the DM question. How close do you get ? I used to have probs bringing effective fire to bear because I wasn't close enough. I now close to just short of collision. At that range 1 burst is usually enough, but note that youmay have to evade like hell to avoid said collision. I also found it useful to position not directly behind but slightly, say 5 degrees, port or starboard. This opens up the target and makes hits on pilot/engine/fuel tank a little easier. I can't really speak to the FM qs you raise other than to say I had similar qualms recently after spending some time on ROF. But I came to the conclusion that the strengths of OFF far outweigh imo the relative superiority of ROFs FM. I note that all the FMs have been revised in OFF2 and perhaps some of the issues you raise are resolved there. Tough old kite the Albatros, takes a lot to knock one down and I reckon that the DVa 200 could outclimb an SE. Get bloody close. Cheers

I tried Quirks and FEs a couple of times - ye gods ! I think, Olham, that the DH4, if it is to be in OFF2, will be as difficult to engage as the BF.

Hi Olham, 2- seaters are my most difficult targets. Unless I'm lucky enough to pip the rear gunner at longish range I invariably get shot to pieces. If I'm out of formation and come across them mob-handed I leave well alone now - lesson learnt, fingers burnt too many times. Just closing on them in a Camel is no easy thing. German 2-seaters that is, don't know abt Entente types. Cheers

Hi Olham, my eyes are nbg and I have to turn labels on at times in order to pick up any a/c at all. But the colours are a bit vivid so many thanks for this mod. I'm new to mods though (this is the first I have attempted) and I'm dashed if I can get this to run. Have copied the file to the loc you suggested but game only displays old labels/tac. I have searched these boards for an answer, but no luck so far. Should the mod run automatically ? Have I done something wrong ? I note that this is a RAR file and I had to "unpack", could this perhaps be the problem ? I am a complete noob re mods so please excuse my tiresome questions. Cheers and thanks again for the mod.

Sorry, Olham, I mean anticipation similar to Christmas, not that the release of P4 will be at Christmas (as I'm sure we would all wish). But then some people absolutely loath the "festering" season so perhaps not the most apposite similie. Hope I'm not being obtuse here. Cheers

Gentlemen, gentlemen. Ars longa vita brevis, or something. I am actually quite enjoying the anticipation: Christmas eve is always better than Christmas day, unresolved tension crackling in the air - lovely. In any case, I suppose we in the antipodes will have to endure 2 - 3 weeks of delay caused by the mails - assuming P4 will be a cd rather than a down-load. That will be hard, when reading all the whoops of delight on these boards. Cheers, from the "lucky country".

Hi guys, the longbow was a fearsome weapon that could indeed penetrate armor. I found: Longbow: A Social and Military History, by Robert Hardy a most enlightening read. Penetrative power apart, I think rate of fire was key. A trained archer could shoot 10 aimed arrows per minute. There were approx 5000 archers in the English army (total 6000) at Agincourt, so there could be be up to 50000 arrows per minute falling on the French. With such devastating firepower combined with battlefield topography and weather, the French never really stood a chance and most were shot to pieces before they even came to the hand to hand stuff. Quite similar, in some respects, to what transpired in roughly the same area of northern France 500 years later. My edition of "Longbow" is by Sutton Publishing. And +1 for "The Face of Battle" mentioned above. Cheers

Hi guys thanks very much for your thoughtful comments. Perhaps "coward" was an over-statement: ordinary people placed in extraordinary situations can do extraordinary things, and I am very ordinary. Thanks to the sacrifice of others, I've never had to find out how I would behave in such appalling circumstances. Cheers

Thanks all, some moving stories here. I'm a coward, I find it almost impossible to understand the scale of the sacrifice in ww1 and ww2 (both sides). My grandfather was an NCO in the RFC very early on. He actually transfered out - family legend has it that after a couple of flips he decided that the trenches would be safer ! I probably wouldn't be here if he had stayed in the RFC. After the RFC he seems to have had a varied military career. My mother has a photo of him as a DR, I'll have a look and see if I can see any unit info. He had something to do with MGs so maybe the Machine Gun Regiment, but not sure on this. He definitely was in the Tank Corps later on. He served 1914-18, started out as a private, finished as a Capt. Unusual I think in the British Army at that time (he attended no Public School), a testament to the scale of casualties. In ww2 he was a Major running part of Woolwich Arsenal and was then posted to the wilds of Scotland doing god knows what. I must do some research to see what the old boy got up to, but I reckon he was bloody lucky. Cheers

Many thanks, 33LIMA. I have hcopies for most entente a/c, but nothing for the central powers. What abt that Seimens Shuckart, hey ? Wonder if it will feature in P4 ? Oh yes, I remember making up the a/fix Camel, DR 1, Harry Tate, Roland etc, waaay back in the 1960's. Happy, happy days. Cheers

Oh, and of course, Lenny Bruce.

All good stuff. Pete n' Dud ftw though.

Hi guys, goodness me ! Slap on the back for all the devs, bloody good show. A big yes for "packs". May I add a request for the Sopwith Dolphin (at some stage)? Would love to dice at 20000+ feet. Also 200hp hisso engines had compression increased which upped hp to 220, would be good to have in a Pack. As would a BR1 powered Camel. Brilliant work, thanks so much.

Oh dear, UKW, I will have to make a double confession: I nicked it, and (the horror) it was from a poem - by Wordsworth: " Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; The Soul that rises with us, our life's star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come..." You're lucky, I could of quoted the whole thing - it goes on and bloody on. Worth a read but. And - damnation, France just beat Wales !!!

OFF: To the last man. OFF: They shall not pass OFF: Dulce et decorum est OFF: The last enemy OFF: The cruel sky OFF: Clouds of glory OFF: Wine, women and wings OFF: Bloodbath in a birdcage OFF: F****d by Biggles (ok, might be a bit controversial) Sort of thing. Roll on P4

Hi all, I don't fly much other than Sopwiths, but I do have a soft spot for the DH5. Found this description by Capt JE Doyle (DFC) in Profle Publications No 181 pp 6-7 that I thought may be of interest, sorry it's so long: "The DH5 Scout had just come into production. It was something of a freak as it had backward stagger... As a result of its unconventional design, the DH5 became the subject of an extra large crop of rumours. It was said to stall at 80 mph, viciously and without warning. At that time I was instructing in Norfolk, where none of us had even seen a DH5, and it was with no noticeable pleasure that I recieved orders to go to Lincoln and fetch one. Nor was I in any way reassured by the special instruction that I was not to try and fly it at less than 90 mph. Arrived at Lincoln, I found that, because of the wind, I must take the machine off from the race-course across its rather inadequate width instead of down its length. I judged I could just manage it in time to clear some fir trees that lined the course. The Le Rhone started up and I blipped it on the thumb-switch while I found the setting for full throttle. Then I ran the engine up, waved away the chocks and went charging across the grass. Those trees fairly rushed at me, but I was soon level with their tops. Then the engine cut out. The symptoms suggested too much petrol, so I flicked the fine adjustment back and waited. The tank pressure was supplied by a wind-driven pump, with an automatic release valve, and I guessed that this had been faultily adjusted so that the pressure had soared too high. The engine quickly cleared itself, fired a burst and then banged in the crankcase, denoting petrol shortage. Instantly I had the fine adjustment forward to a fresh setting, and just managed to to skim over those trees with inches to spare. Fortunately for me the DH5's stalling tendancy had been exagerated, and on the flight home I found it a most comfortable and pleasant machine to fly, extremely sensitve to aileron control." Very impressed that the OFF DH5 does have touchy aileron controls. And I wonder if there is some way of simulating the unreliability of engines/fuel supply ? Apologies if this description has been posted before. Cheers PS It seems the Profile Publications is no longer in print. Shame as they are a mine of info with good photos of prototypes, cockpits etc.

hi all, I currently use a saitek evo force js. Had it for a few years and it has worked well, up until recently. But I now find it just not sensitive enough. Example: when flying the Camel I can heave the js around with only sedate responses from the a/c - I have to try really hard to get it to spin. Aileron control seems very slow so that a break to the right (the Camel's strength I thought) is not fast enough to evade any EA on the 6. Elevator responses are, on the other hand, much better. Take off/landing a piece of cake with only very gentle torque effects I may be wrong but I have never read of the Camel having "sedate" handling characteristics. I have read the guide to the Camel in the Survival in the Air thread and I can only say that my experience with the Camel does not tally. No issues with the Camel guide I may say - it reflects the handling characteristics I have read about elsewhere. My parameters: no auto-rudder, flight model set to "realistic", Force Feeback switched on. Course I am a crap "pilot" and this may be the real problem but I do think the js may be stuffed. I only fly Sopwiths so have little experience with other types. Any thoughts about how to ginger up control responses ? Thanks

hi BirdDogICT, I shouldn't wonder, I am a crap pilot. Thanks for the links, this is really something I should have done prior to starting this thread, apologies. Just on handling, I think it is the aileron response that I am having problems with: I have to use full right rudder (initially) and full right aileron to start the turn - by which time I have usually been shot to pieces. Thanks everybody for the info, I think I'd better go to school on the links kindly provided by BirdDogICT and do some other searches before I bother you folks further. Cheers

Thanks, almccoyjr, I'll give it another go and also see what can be done with the saitek sware. Cheers