JamesL

"I say Biff, fancy coming up for a crack at the Hun?" "Not today old chap, had a bit of a late one in the mess!" Somehow I don't think it was like this in reality. Can you imagin the consequences of not flying, how your comrades would take it & the official retribution for dereliction of duty. It would be bit more than a dissaproving word from the Adjutant! Sorry to push it Lothar but I really do think a pilot should be ordered to report for flight duty & taken automatically to the hanger with only the fly mission button active. The frequency of this happening could be based of the number available pilots - ie lots of pilots bigger gaps between missions & the reverse....or prahaps a system where by only the less stressed pilots are chosen for flight duty by the Adjutant - (lots of possible sub plots here) The only way out flight duty would be to report sick which would depend on the sympathy of the M.O. ((do you remember that film Aces High? - "I've got this damm nuralgia again right in my eye" "your going up" "no no I cant I wont!!!")) I digress. Anyway we've got mods & options dead is dead ect which give us a wide choice of realisum. So why not have a "hard" option in OFFbase for those who want to go all the way? Whatta you say Lothar?

Me too!

First off I want to say I'm astounded by your concept that simuates squadron life so well - absolutly brilliant - it lives!! Deux ex Machina, its the ghost in the machine! (that was my 'submissive/open' approach, now i'm being 'forward':) Based on my initial impressions I have some questions & suggestions. Forgive me if I haven’t yet discovered what I've suggested due to my short time playing OFFbase. - Maybe I haven’t been playing long enough, but I was so engrossed in getting to know my squadron that I didn't visit the hanger for a mission for days for fear of going west & loosing it all! Anyway this question is about mission allocation - shuly I cant choose when to fly. This is the military, pilots are allocated to missions & they have to fly them. They cant avoid flying & choose when to turn up for duty. Would it not more realistic to have a corporal or orderly inform me I’m required in the hanger for a mission at xxxtime?......(unless I feign illness!) - There does'nt seem to be a "squadron leader" in charge. His influence & command style would impose a strong dynamic for better or worse depending on his character. He could initiate events like 'morning PT' or 'a party in the mess' ect which would challenge bringing out reactions & events in the other ranks. Some pilots could support & others resent his style of leadership. A squadron leader's reputation & goodwill would be an important indication of the overall impact he has on the squadron as a whole. - The historical squadron aces from the main OFF game arnt present. Is this because all characters have to be simulated rather then real? - A very nice feature would be if somehow the damage report which you get in flight could be saved & imported into OFFbase so you can inspect the damage to your plane in the hanger after a mission at your leasure. - Mood seems to indicate the level of moral or good spirits which is affected by interpersonal encounters. But does this also cover stress? The more action, danger, close calls a pilot encounters the more nearvous/psycological stress he suffers. The less stable types would be more prone to it. His behavior would reflect his strain ie - becoming withdrawn, erratic, going 'sick', getting 'engine trouble' hitting the bottle ect - until he cracks up. A sympathetic medical officer or Adjuent could get him extended leave or transfer to a training squadron before he finally looses it. - I'd like to see character type(s) included in the in the psychological profile & to be able to see the profiles of any squadron member I know at any time, not just when I occasionally get a list to choose which character to interact with. This would be really useful! - It would also be really useful to have an ongoing automatic record of your encounters & observations of each squadron member. It could be attached to the psychological profile so you can see your impressions so far in one place. I know you can write this yourself in the journal but often there are too many forgotten details & the observations get spread over different entries so they loose cohesion. - By subjectively studying a photo you can see what types they visually suggest. Often they are spot on for the character concerned, often they are not. The stock of portrait photos could be programmed with tags to various character traits. Once a character is generated he is randomly assigned a photo which is tagged to include one or more of his traits. This way he will always look the part! Each photo would suggest numerous traits so every type could be covered. (If you do decide to do this I'd be happy to suggest trait tags to a large collection of photos!) In fact I'd also like to lend a hand with any dialogue or event ideas needed. Despite the atrocious standard of English I've displayed in this post I can assure you I'm quite an accomplished writer! This system you've built has endless possibilities & depth. I belive it should keep on developing so any help in its evolution needed just ask.