Waldemar Kurtz

agreed-- Karel Dooms was literally a 'game changer'. I have nothing great to say about him, because I didn't really know him-- but he always seemed like a classy guy on the RB3d forums.

so... is everybody supposed to be chatting it up at the Sim HQ forums now? any news on the release of Phase 4? it looks nice, but I was hoping for more French two-seaters... are they going to add the Nieuport 12, at least?

I've been gone for the better part of a year because of RL (getting a promotion, working 50 hours a week or more). then there's the small matter of finally creating my own mod (after years of playing everybody else's). I was sufficiently lacking in skills to help with the OFF mod-- so I started working with the Atari RTS Axis and Allies. however, modding a game is really hard work! it gives me a new appreciation for what the development team here has been doing.

I actually haven't played this game in about a year-- but I still drop by and check on progress. part of it was that no matter what I did my AI wingmen would live or die at random. the dynamic and interactive squadrons I was used to in RB3d were something that I really missed. the fact that I couldn't survive crash landings also frustrated me. I'm also very pleased that a much better flight-map is being provided. it's exciting to read about WOFF because it's addressing most of the things that detracted from my OFF experience the most. the other reason is because I've been modding the heck out of the Atari Axis and Allies RTS game... but reading the most recent article reminds me that I really need to fire up the old OFF game in the near future. providing my computer(s) can run the game-- I'll have a check ready for the date of release. and, perhaps even if I don't have a computer I'll probably purchase a copy and save it for later,

Lucas was involved in the project-- that means it was going to be bad history and bad film-making. this is the same guy who's convinced that "Vietnam taught us that a primitive civilization could defeat an advanced civilization. you can see that in my work when the Ewoks defeated the Empire, or when the Gungans defeated the droid army" maybe they didn't have the same advanced infrastructure, running water, and personal comforts we take for granted in the west-- but last I checked AK47s, Mig 21s, SAMs, and radar were all fairly "advanced" tech that was being supplied to the NVA by the Russians and the Chinese!

very nice. this part of the Western Front isn't very well represented with maps. there are LOTS of great maps that cover the British occupied sectors north of the Somme-- but to get primarily French occupied territry like this is really cool.

http://www.naval-military-press.com/national-archives-british-trench-map-atlas-the-western-front-1914-18-1-10-000-regular-series-with-an-index-of-over-20-000-trench-and-topographical-names-and-a-commentary-for-each-map.html http://www.naval-military-press.com/captured-german-trench-and-operations-maps-from-the_public-record-office-archive-on-cd-rom.html two links. they were kinda pricey. but they're really interesting. the German trench-maps won't work with Windows Vista, though.

I like to use this button when my RFC squadron stationed in the Ypres sector is inexlicably sent on offensive patrols to Cambrai. when flying for two-seater squadrons I'll use this button about 70% of the time! I've got some DVDs of trench maps from both sides of the war. so sometimes it's nice to cherry-pick my flights on a certain date so I can pretend I'm using historical maps like the ones the pilots would have used.

really? I fly it more or less like a SPAD VII and I find myself scoring victories without even knowing it! I could come back from a mission and claim one victory and find that I am credited with claims and victories I didn't even know about. this has happened at least three times. I suspect that it's because of the observer packing twin Lewis guns. if you get a lot of practice in single-gun machines it's not too hard to score kills in the Bristol Fighter.

given that my most common 'mount' is the Fokker E.III or a two-seater-- I have to use tactics that will always work well against faster and more agile enemies. I use the nose-to-nose turn, or "counter turn" all the time. if somebody attacks me I turn against them and stay in that turn as long as I can get away with. the AI tends to keep turning in one direction so if they're turning in a clockwise turn I'll go counter-clockwise (or vice versa). this allows me to get in numerous snap shots against the enemy's engine. of course, the same holds true for the enemy. but it's better than having a Nieuport 17 sitting on the tail of my Fokker E.III and sending me down in seconds. this at least grants me a few minutes of life. if another adversary moves in to get behind me I just change directions and perform a counter-turn against the more threatening opponent. the variation of this is that sometimes instead of performing a flat counter-turn I will climb or dive, and then move towards the same altitude as the enemy (basically just using a high or low yo-yo turning against the enemy). with this variant I can make it even harder for the enemy to attack. I prefer the high yo-yo-- because if they get their sights on me I can just push the nose down and it gives them even less time to make a shot. if given a chance I try to have one of my wingmen attack the fellow on my tail. this will force them to break away. I then turn immediately on this enemy and start shooting him up. I usually don't spend more than one solid gunnery pass on the enemy because my wingman is trying to shoot him down. it makes life easier for my wingman if I deal some damage-- and then I can clear his tail if things get bad for him. I've learned to not be TOO picky about victories in the Fokker E.III-- the main thing is to get home alive. the second thing is to have my wingmen survie. the third thing is to neutralize the enemy's actions. and lastly, to score some victories. if I can rough up a Nieuport 17 so badly that he runs away it usually means that I have the other three to worry about. so not getting a victory seems better than getting killed. I almost never use acrobatics. about the most I'll try is a flat-scissors or a defensive spiral (which can work well against sesquiplane types) I aslo like to use diving turns because the Nieuports can't follow without their wings snapping off.

I remember stuff like that. I had to do a bombing sortie with the DFW C.V and I was sent out to destroy this railyard and while the label showed up-- I could never find it. which was jarring because it still managed to shoot me down!

File Name: Jasta 73 "Night Owl" (fictional) File Submitter: Waldemar Kurtz File Submitted: 25 December 2010 File Category: Aircraft Skins after reading about the night victories of several Jasta 73 pilots I decided it would be fun to create a fictional ace skin for aspiring German night fighters. Jasta 73 had 7 confirmed night victories between June and October of 1918. Fritz Anders scored 5 of these. the original skins for the Albatros D.Va were by Paarma. I just cut and pasted a few skins together and added some personal markings. Click here to download this file

it looks very nice. keep up the good work. I like these maps because of the handy legend in the bottom-- as well as the distance scale. it's very nice when planning out flights in real-time (if you, for example, want to accomplish the mission without following the game's specified waypoints and altitudes)

my two choices, exactly.