17 minutes or 17 hours?

B

british_eh

Charter Member
The notations from the "testers" and movies from Pol, have been stupendous.

So..............have any of you in this month of testing, made it to 17 hours?

Cheers,

british_eh
 
Yes, I have... errrr sorry, I thought you said 17 secconds... Hours.. not even close.

You'll learn really fast in this version that you'll value your life a lot more than Albert Ball did. Staying alive is all about applied tactics now. There is no bull-rush into a fight and hang by the edge with 5 kills tallied.

You're lucky to get 1 per mission, and survive the mission long enough to apply for the credit.... only to be denied confirmation anyway.

It's Hell up there bro... it really is.

OvS
 
But there has to be some balance.

Hopefully, a pilot can survive on the front for several weeks or even several months, with some luck and skill. Maybe this is built into the "unpredictability" of P3 that we keep reading about.
 
I should think that so many, will be so tired, of giving their impression of a lawn dart, whilst flying Scouts. That Flying a two seater might be preferred duty. Then they only need be concerned with a myriad of mechanical problems, and purposely flying low to protect your undersides. However exposing yourself to small arms fire, and painfully accurate anti-aircraft cannons. Of course the occasional Scout, which I should think occurs all too frequently

Is there a quiet area, as there is now, such as Quick Combat, Free Flight, where you just get a window seat. And check-out WM's scenery, a lttle place to rest your neck muscles, prior to having at it again? :applause:
 
gimpyguy said:
Is there a quiet area, as there is now, such as Quick Combat, Free Flight, where you just get a window seat. And check-out WM's scenery, a lttle place to rest your neck muscles, prior to having at it again? :applause:
Click to expand...

Stress not Gimpster. QC is indeed retained.
 
There is balance. You have to put yourself in positions to survive. There is no 'dive-in gunza blazin'' in this game. You have to pick your fights, and corrected execute them.

I suggest reading 'Fighter Combat'. It all applies in this game.

I've survived plenty of missions, with a kill, or two.

You'll be fine.

OvS
 
Cool.

I was pretty good at RB3D and I think I should have success in this sim, particularly now with TrackIR (due to arrive Friday!).

I understand about picking fights. This will even be more paramount in certain types of aircraft, I should think (any kind of Sopwith, DR1s) that are relatively slow compared to enemy aircraft at the time. The SPADs and SE5s and earlier on Alb DIIs and DIIIs could possibly engage at worse odds because their speed gives them the ability to dis-engage.

How about some more reports OvS...I enjoy reading them, since this is currently the only way I can vicariously experience P3!
 
I hope the AA is far more inaccurate than P2. I had lost many good pilots from Archie when in WWI flak was not so deadly :isadizzy:.
 
The Archie is a lot more realistic. As I mentioned in the Reports from the Front, it was never very accurate but they threw a lot up in the hopes of hitting something. I have been whacked good in Phase 3 by Archie when making a bombing run in a 2 seater at low altitude flying in a straight line to hit a train or a row of hangars. The odd archie blast still claims a hit from time to time.
As far as a balance for survival it is like OVS said, it is how you approach the mission. You have to approach it like an experience and not a game. For example I had a mission to attack a train station well on the other side of the line with 2 other Fok DVII's. First you have to think what brilliant Mullah up at headquarters came up with that one, but it happened, a lot.
It was a cloudy winter day and when we approached the target we could see 8 SE5a's orbiting overhead. This is where you make the decision you would have made in the actual situation. Do you risk the chance that maybe all 8 will be rank rookies with no old hands present and you might have a chance with 3 against 8 or do you turn around and head back for your lines and let the Hannovers take care of the train station since they can really do some damage and all you are likely to accomplish with the scout is to shoot up some boxes and end up limping home with a damaged engine. On the way back to the lines we passed a fight going on below between 3 DVII's from Jasta 10 that were going after a balloon and were jumped by 6 SE5a's. We dropped down and evened up the odds and a great furball developed. It was just by chance that we came across the fight, if we had been a little more North or South we would have missed it. That is what we mean about the unscripted unpredictability of Phase 3.
 
Captain Scott wrote: The SPADs and SE5s and earlier on Alb DIIs and DIIIs could possibly engage at worse odds because their speed gives them the ability to dis-engage.

Flying these planes is all about ENERGY and it's management; they don't have the horsepowers of WW2 fighters. Flying horizontal: E=speed=the maximum power of your engine (minus headwinds). Climbing=loosing energy; the higher you pull up, the more ENERGY you destroy, until you stand still (before you stall). I killed many a Sopwith Pup in that moment of unmanoeverability. Diving=gaining speed/energy - you best start an attack from a higher position, with better approaching speed; you shoot, and THEN USE THE ENERGY TO CLIMB BACK UP. So you keep the advantage for you. Cheers; Olham
 
Olham54: I understand all that and that height can give you extra speed/energy, but that bleeds off rather quickly in the initial strike and unless you can even the odds in the first attack, aircraft performance...i.e., the inherent speed of the airframe, is what is going to carry you through a longer dogfight. Thus, I'd be much more reluctant to engage at poor odds in a DR1 or a Camel, particularly against faster aircraft, since I would unlikely be able to get away should things not go my way in the opening moments of the engagement.
 
Right, Captain Scott, speed is a great advantage. Solidity of the plane is another. So, I managed to survive a scramble with 6 Albatros against 6 - 8 Camels falling vertically out of a cloud, firing. It was sheer hell, and I had to repeat it twice to be honest, till I realised, from where they came. The solidity of my plane made it last long enough to survive, and I managed to shoot 3 of them down, before ammo was out. Only one escaped. When I have to intrude enemy territory, I climb up to 6.000, as the Camels always seem to have advantage in height. That gives me at least quite some way for a dive escape (not too steep though with an Alb !)
I only got Phase 2 recently, and only since four days, I can fly campaigns (thanks again, Gimpyguy & ToBeOrNot), running a high resolution, and I must say, it is absolutely the challenging best I have seen so far. I hardly dare to imagine, how "real" Phase 3 will finally be ?
 
All the aircraft in OFF have they're advantages and disadvantages. The Spads/Se5s have speed but the DrI has maneuverability and ROC. The trick is to know your adversaries strengths and weakness and get him to fight your fight not his. But in P2 it doesn't really matter because the AI rare would take advantage of the strengths of his aircraft. I can't count how many times I've turned with DrIs in an Se5 only to have the DrI dive away and give up all his altitude and never once try to out turn me. Never once in P2 have I been forced to fight in the vertical. Hopefully P3 will correct this.

Scott
 
>>I suggest reading 'Fighter Combat'. It all applies in this game.>>

Good book. Takes some effort to get your head around it but it pays off. :banghead:

The Spad and SE5a should be better at extending away, their higher thrust being definitely helpful - as long as you aren't trying to disengage while in someone's crosshairs.

The relatively low state of engine power in the old planes means that altitude converted to speed tends to ebb pretty quickly, so it is wise to convert it back to altitude after a diving attack.
 
hallo,
does anybody know how often you run into enemy action? is it almost on every mission or do you have more missions without enemy contact (like i think it was in real).
 
Well there are always flights out there, real missions by real squads.
But earlier years will be less "traffic".
Now if you avoid using warp (or use it in short bursts before it 'auto' stops you near an enemy) and don't use awareness/tactical displays and labels etc, then you can certainly pass flights higher or lower and never know they were there.
Also you may have no nearby flights.
You can also have your pants filled when you look behind to find J11 on your tail.
 
That's cool. That's what i liked to hear,pol. It made me curious when i red OvS had 4 claims in 6 missions. In real that's a hell of a streak only the very best had achieved. there was a reason why some had only a handful kills or some others maybe 10 or 15 kills in the whole war. so if it's realistic, you should miss a lot of opportunities because you simply don't see them or they don't see you. Or you are very picky when to engage and when to rush off because you don't simply run into a furbal if you have only one real life. And if you rather try to survive the war, you will have to be very very picky when to fight. and if it is like i think and hope it is, dogfights shouldn't last till one side is completely destroyed but with some sense when to rush off the fight and head for home. for all sides. human and AI.
 
Flak settings

Gousgounis said:
I hope the AA is far more inaccurate than P2. I had lost many good pilots from Archie when in WWI flak was not so deadly :isadizzy:.
Click to expand...


Flak should be set to Easy and or Rookie if you're in QC, except for only a few periods in late 1918.

Cheers,

british_eh
 
flak inaccuracy

That's the reason for never flying in a strait line for more than 20 seconds at a time. OR do like I do, set them completely out if the picture in Workshop. It's one or the other, you can't have Both. War is hell, afterall. If you don't like contending with Archie, dial him out :ernae:
 
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