Shiloh

That's an excellent idea!

At least he died like a man facing the enemy rather than running away. We salute you.

I'm not sure if it was high wind or what but she didn't handle well when I flew her.

I flew the Pup on one mission in the rain and wind with low cloud cover and she was all over the place. I'm not sure if it was because of the weather but she was tough to keep straight/level. I never got a chance to fight with her so I really can't comment on that.

That sounds great! The CPU I'm upgrading to is a 3.0 GHz quad-core. I'll see how it performs and overclock if needed. Good luck with your mobo.

I feel your pain Olham. My rig has been in the shop for 2 full days and I have no idea when I'm getting it back. When upgrading sometimes we take a step back but in the end its always worth it.

Thanks Widowmaker...have a drink will you? I've flown the SEFa a number of times and overall like the way it handles. The Camel is a bit over my head at my early development so I'll leave her to another day when I'm more experienced.

That's good advice. All these planes have very different characteristics and I just need to practice like you said when not feeling the pressure of a mission. I've found that in spins when you see the ground on the bottom of your screen then simply pull up and level her off. Right now I'm flying mostly in 3rd person view because I don't yet have my TrackIR (damn you UPS) but I've been able to pull out of spins almost every time. The Camel is a fussy plane and I'll think I'll keep away from her for now. If there was one plane I had trouble pulling out of spins with it was this one.

I think there should be one more modification to the cows.

Well my rig is going into the shop for a few days for a BIOS update to handle my new CPU...a little over my head I'm afraid. Progress is good but its a tough point to be grounded as my TrackIR will be here tomorrow I'm betting. But it's all for the best and hopefully I'm back flying in a few days. Keep up the good fight men.

Maybe my problem is that I watched a lot of Hellshade's videos and he makes it look so easy to shoot from a distance that is far beyond the distance I should be attempting. Practice makes perfect and thanks much for the vid. I know about the print screen button in general but I thought I read others were using something else - maybe it was F12? Anyhow I was inspired by the great screenies in that section and want to see if I can get some good ones myself. Edit: Just watched and that's a great vid! Thanks Olham!

Thanks uncleal...this is very helpful. I can never seem to find the enemy planes without those tags, then are they above? below? My friend visited me this evening and I let him take the controls for a moment to get the feel of the plane. He crashed my SE5a and killed my pilot in about 30 seconds. So, because I want a nimbler plane that's easier to control and because I had only flown one mission I think I'll give that Sopwith Pup a chance and work my way up on a new campaign. I flew 14 quick battles and a campaign mission and lost only one pilot and my friend loses one in 30 seconds.... One more question - how do I take screenshots?

Yes, an April 1917 start for the SEFa. I've already flown one mission and scouted the skies above my base (I guess that's not considered a mission?). The plane handles well and I'm still getting used to the rotary pushing me left all the time. I presume thus plane turns left better than it turns right while in combat. I'll have to give the Sopwith Pup a try as I haven't flown her yet but have heard it's a good plane. I'm still learning how to read the radar and when the enemy appears as white blips, how do I know their altitude other than spotting them or is that part of the challenge? I'm not sure Olham but I sure caught a good one. Between working and watching the kids often it's one of my few releases and she understands that. Our first Christmas when we were dating she bought me an Xbox and I knew she was a keeper.

First mission went well. After mission do I need to bring my plane into a hangar? If so, which hangar is mine? Something to keep in mind. With my new CPU, TrackIR, OFF software, joystick I'm already over $300. so I'm going to get by on what I have but knowing myself I may be looking for just a little something more.... Thanks for the welcome and may I buy the next round?

Thank you uncleal. Loading up a RFC-56 campaign now and getting ready for my first real mission.

Thanks for the encouragement Si. I found myself in the same situation last night as my 3 mates were shot down and it was me and 2 German fighters. I was in the Viper - I can't remember what they were flying. I was around 8,000ft and they were really low about 1,500ft. I figured if I zoomed down and took out one of them then it would be an even fight. I ended up tangling with them both and although I was able to get one in my sites, I have yet to achieve my first kill (9 missions). Instead one of them got behind me and without TrackIR, it was really difficult from that point. They did damage my plane enough where I had to land it and I did crash a bit but my pilot survived. I knew I should run but as it was only my 2nd day, I wanted some action to see if I could get a kill, but as I start campaign mode today, when outnumbered I will try to run. I did fly the Sopwith Camel - holy crap that's a tough plane to handle. I went into no less than 10 spins as the crosswind or the pull to one side with the rotary engine kept rolling me. Once I was down low I couldn't climb above 3,500ft to get her back up to altitude. I was able to land her twice and take off once but I can honestly say she was too much for me to handle at my early stage of development. I was able to avoid crashing somehow and after setting her down safely the second time I ended the mission. I also flew a Spad VIII? and she was a bit tough to handle as well. How any Americans survived flying these planes I have no idea but I'm going to campaign with the Brits as they have some planes I can handle and of course I don't want to start late in the war as it will be my arse. I fought as a German once and at the start of the battle I collided with a British plane as we were firing on each other head-on. I lost the bottom wings on my biplane and my pilot died as I was hurtling toward earth in a giant fireball. That was a sad moment. I did crash to desktop a bunch of times and lowered some graphic settings and haven't crashed since. This sim is taxing my rig I'm afraid but I'm having someone install my new 3.0 GHz quad-core CPU on Monday (my MB needs a BIOS update) and hopefully that gives me some more stability. The BIOS update should offer some increased performance as well. I'm having a blast though and will start a British campaign today. Any suggestions on which squad and do they assign a plane I'll fly?

So that means 20% of OFF fliers will blow up?

In knew we could find a way to blame this on the Americans. Nice skins by the way on those first pics. I thought I saw something in the general help section with a tutorial on how to do that in Photoshop?

I've already done the "historical video games provide immersion into history like nothing else can" pitch. I just need to stay away from the senseless first-person shooters and I should be able to fly at will. I'll keep those extras in mind but what I really want next is a good headset considering I need to mount my TrackIR, my current headset is crap, and I'll often be flying late at night when rat-tat-tat-tat-tat and explosions won't go over too well. By the way, no TrackIR today which means I have to wait until Monday.

Nice work by yourself and the team Polovski! I really like the cows - a bit of realism that only adds to the immersion.

Thanks uncleal! I read through much of that section and there is so much valuable information. I appreciate all the time you put into it. Thanks Olham. Sgt. Roland "Bulldog" Taylor has 4 missions, .9 hours logged and is still breathing - wheeew! I was watching The Red Baron (2008) release the other night and Richtofen said, "if I feel we can't win we run away" or something to that effect. That line may or may not be Hollywoodized but I won't forget it. I knew I was outclassed and outnumbered by those Fokkers so I was happy to survive that mission. You don't live to be a hero another day if you don't go with the odds and make the smart decisions to survive. Hopefully I get my TrackIR today as it's a must in this sim as I'm finding out. One great victory for me yesterday: I told my wife about the sim and she's really into it too - she wants to fly some missions. Bodes well for clearance on future missions.

It was a lot of fun and scary at times. I felt my heart pumping pretty good when those 2 Fokkers were dodging in and out clouds and hunting me down. As you mentioned earlier I'll have to remember B to kill the engine. Warsteiner if you will... This is really valuable thank you uncleal. When I damaged that Fokker I got up real close and when I wasted all my ammo on that Albatross I was too far away. Aim for the front 1/3 of the plane - I have to remember that. It's easy to like the Viper - she's so fast and I just like the way it handles. I'll try and fly some earlier aircraft tomorrow that I'll be seeing in 1915-1916 so I can get used to them.

My first dogfight I flew the Sopwith Triplane (Twin Guns) with 1 wingman against 2 Albatross DII. I got behind one of the DII's for more than a minute but couldn't shoot him down. I used all but 21 rounds then later when I ran out of ammunition, I landed safely to end the mission. Next I flew the RAF F.E.2.b? (I think that's what I flew) with 1 wingman against 2 Albatross DII. My wingman shot them both down so I landed safely to end mission. The 3rd mission I flew the SE5a Wolseley Viper against the Albatross DVa 200. I had 3 wingmen against 3 total Albatross. It was a long fight and I got behind a few of them but couldn't shoot anyone down. I believe my wingmates shot them all down as there were no red blips on radar so I landed safely to end mission Because I liked the Viper so much, I used it again with 3 wingmen against 3 Fokker Dr.1's. They put up a real good scrap and the fight lasted 30 minutes or more. I was able to get behind one of them and got him smoking pretty bad and the last I saw of him he was flying erratically and low away from the battle. Maybe he went down? I had a real hard time keeping the Fokkers in my sights as they seem highly manueverable. They were able to shake me almost every time and I couldn't keep behind them. I kept having to drop my airspeed as I was zipping past them so that made it doubly tough. I believe they shot down my wingmates then it was just me against 2 of them. I did a pretty good job I thought fighting the 2 for about 15 minutes or so until finally they did enough damage to my plane that I went into 2 different spins that I was able to pull out of. Finally my plane gave out and starting dropping steadily. I almost landed her safe but because I landed at a bit of an angle she cartwheeled and my pilot was seriously injured. I did record some of the fight on Fraps so if it looks good I may post it to my YouTube page. Thanks Olham for the graphics settings guide. I followed it to a tee and my rig handled the game fine. I'm not sure what's going to happen when there's a lot more planes on the screen but we'll see. I tried to install my CPU but my MB needs a BIOS update and I couldn't figure out how to do it.Overall this is a blast and I think I'm ready for a drink so if someone wants to buy me a brew. I feel good that I was able to survive 4 missions without getting killed and I feel pretty confident about landing now. The one thing that was a huge challenge was not having my TrackIR. It's a real pain constantly F4 changing camera views to keep abreast at what's going on in the fight. I fought all on Rookie against Rookie AI. This is awesome! I need to hang up my silk scarf for the night and get some work done but I'll put on my flying cap again tomorrow and hopefully my TrackIR arrives.

Round on me for all fliers.... and then off to my first combat...wish me luck!

aEverything installed well including OFF: H&H, HitR and joystick with all patches. Did a quick free flight starting at 5,000ft on the RAF F.E.2.b. Cruised around for about 30 minutes and got used to the joystick. F8 switched positions to various gunners and fired some shots...felt good. Let my almost 4 year old fly for a little while...she loves rolling and spinning...I thought the wings were going to fall off. Had a pretty good landing in a field reducing throttle to about 50% as the wheels hit the ground then slowly reducing to 10% as I just kept rolling...seemed like it would never stop rolling. I had to make my initial touchdown between some tress as the landing area wasn't all that long. A little heavy forward on the stick as I descended a small hill then ground rose again - drove my nose into the ground a bit and Roland "Bulldog" Taylor's first flight will end with a nice 22 day stint in the hospital with serious injuries....sorry old chap. This is what I look like right now...grinning ear-to-ear and inspired by my first experience. That was so awesome and I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about. I still need to get my stick and all the buttons configured. I really had no idea where anything was but I just started hitting some keys and figured some things out. F1 or F2? gives some in-flight instructions and that was helpful. My new CPU arrived today as well but I'm going to play some dogfights just to get a sense of how my current rig handles things graphically. I'm assuming a dogfight will be a good determining factor as to how my rig handles this game. Right now I have most of my settings on 4 with just clouds on 3...it looks pretty good in my opinion but I'll give it a few days to make a final determination.