33LIMA

Couple of shots from atatibaby's 'Blue Max' campaign. Just after takeoff is not the best time to take screenies - right after the second pic was taken, one of my flight-mates chopped my tail clean off with his prop. No sign of Kaeti von Klugermann yet, towel or no towel.

..and a bit more...

Quite right Panama, but one lives in hope said modders may be open to a little influence....! How about a little more influence?

We all have our personal preferences and it's up to those who can deliver rather than those like me who blithely post wish lists. But I venture to suggest that future additions should be guided by some principles, which I suggest should be: Priority 1 - those planes needed to fill the major gaps in FE's current core theatre ('walk before you run'), which is pretty clearly Western Front, in the years 1917-18; hence the strong need for a late BE2c or BE2e, one or even two later-war German general purpose 2-seaters, and one or even two 1916-17 French equivalents like the Dorand which Ojcar has mentioned. And yes as Ojcar says, the AW FK8 is a major gap in the RFC-RAF 'orbat' even tho we have the RE8 for general-purpose 2-seater duties. In this regard, Stephen's recent DH9 and the Fokker & Albatros DIIs have been especially welcome - they fill gaps in FE's 'home turf'; Priority 2 - planes which fill any major gaps in other theatres (like the Pomillio or SIA, or possibly seaplanes IF TW ever manages an 'shipping patch' for English Channel and Aegean Sea operations); Priority 3 - planes which expand the planeset for the early and middle years on the Western Front, ie 1914-16 (like the Taube, Caudron G or Farman F40); as air combat in this era was limited, anything much before the 'Fokker Scourge' would be my lowest priority. Most interest in the WW1 air war is always going to be in the Western Front (look at indicators like books in print) and most of that is in 1917-18, with some spillover into 1915-16. While additional theatres and early Western Front planes are always very welcome, and there is no WW1 plane that I will not welcome being added to FE, the Western Front in what might be termed the classic era of WW1 in the air has so much variety (not least in types of planes) that its interest is strong and enduring. Hence my suggested principles.

Beautiful - off to get this nnow! Then off to TW to badger TK - if nothing else, getting even a modest boost to sales of FE2 ought to make it worthwhile, TW putting in a few man-hours for an FE2 update to unlock the additional potential.

Beautiful!!!

Great - thanks!

Hi Rich and welcome aboard! Altho First Eagles (1) is said on the TW site to be incompatible with Vista, the latest patches made it Vista-compatible, evidently also Windows 7. As Panama Red said, tho, FE2 is rather better - slightly better AI, better FPS (just slightly, on my box) and some other better stuff eg plane wrecks don't just disappear. Get FE2 if you have a choice, next best is First Eagles Gold, least best the original First Eagles (as it lacks a few planes added by FEG, so you need more downloads). IIRC FE2 doesn't provide seasonal variations in terrain. But if like me you have FE (1) as well, you can copy over the seasonal terrain tiles from FE(1) to FE2. And some of the freeware addon terrains have seasonal variations. I too have OFF (and RoF) and rate FE2 as definitely the best, overall, by a fairly clear margin. As with any sim, you need to spend a bit of time finding the settings that work best for you (everything on 'Hard', except possibly AI and campaign difficulty, is probably best) and you will definitely need some patience to get and install all the great mod community goodies that help lift First Eagles above the rest - can be tedious but it's VERY well worthwhile. Note you need to install FE2 mods differently to FE(1) - as for other 'second gen' Third Wire sims, FE2 uses a separate, parallel 'mods folder' structure, under your PC's user name, separate from the main sim install. The Strike Fighters 2 Knowledge Base here at CombatAce explains how this works. http://combatace.com...the-mod-folder/ http://combatace.com...ickie-tutorial/ In summary, the precise location of your FE2 'mods folder' varies with operating system but the main points to note, once you've found it, are: 1. not all mods subfolders are created when you install FE2 - many are, others you will need to add manually - easy, peasy; 2. terrain mods go into a mods subfolder called 'Terrains' (plural) not 'Terrain' (singular); 3. the 'decals' used by many planes and skins for variable markings need installed separately into a Objects/Decals/[Plane_name]/'D' mods subfolder. My recommended download list: 'Essential': - as many as you fancy, or all, of the extra planes available here: http://combatace.com...dd-on-aircraft/ ...and here: http://cplengineeringllc.com/SFP1/ Note the CombatAce D/L limits, and both the limits and the very specific registration requirements at A Team Skunkworks. Note also that some 'mod community' planes have flight models designed for the less reralistic 'Normal' flight model setting. If like me you prefer the more reaslistic 'Hard' setting, you should download Peter01's FM mod pack: http://combatace.com...okd8-schuckert/ http://combatace.com...4-fe2-fms-2010/ IIRC these FM mods also reduce the effectiveness of tail gunners as well, but I didn't like this and hand-edited them back. So that you can fly many of the extra planes in campaigns, as well as single missions, you will want some or all of the add-on campaigns, I strongly recommend these, especially: 'Guest's' Bloody April Campaign: http://combatace.com...ody-april-1917/ Ojcar's 'Armchair Aces' series: http://combatace.com...hair-aces-1915/ http://combatace.com...hair-aces-1916/ http://combatace.com...hair-aces-1917/ http://combatace.com...hair-aces-1918/ (note that Grinseed has produced FE(1) versions of Ojcar's Armchair Aces series) Also - the extra mods mentioned in the Readme's for the above campaigns - like ground MGs, extra nationalities and medals. Campaigns for other fronts are available on CombatAce if you get bored with the Western Front. Also, in my 'Highly Recommended' category: Panama Red's realistic Sky mod: http://combatace.com...first-eagles-2/ Jan Tuma's seasonal terrains, if you get bored with the stock ones (I don't): http://combatace.com...es-by-jan-tuma/ ...and whatever else takes your fancy. I recommend you get the 'essential' ones first, they'll add the most to your experience! Good Hunting!

Very nice - keep 'em coming!

'From Spring Chicken to Sh*tehawk', in five easy stages, Sopwith Strutter style: 1. 'Eeny, meaney, miney mo...' 2. 'Right, you'll do...GET OFF HIM!!!' 3. 'Never mind HIM, there's ANOTHER one, BEHIND us!!!' 4. 'I said, BEHIND US!!!' 5. 'Oh, never mind. May we go home now, please?'