Hello everyone....OK here we go!

After playing WOFF:UE for a couple months now, I feel that I am ready to start a challenge that is quite different from hoping into quick combat with the aircraft of my choices, trying crazy things like bombing other aircraft whilst in the air, and pitting unusual combatants against one another.

This will be a challenge of survival: I'm playing as a twenty-three year old, newly minted pilot for 1 RNAS starting on the 2nd of March 1915.

RULES of ENGAGEMENT:

1) Dead - is - Dead! I believe this can be modded, however, I'm not running the mission editor for this one, and therefore I have no backup pilots, so Dead is truly Dead for any reason. If I do die, I will be starting one day after death with a fresh, new, different named (but still British for now) pilot.

2) Flying rules set to (mostly) "historical"...the only "non-historical" setting I have is I have reduced the accuracy of rear gunners...I have read many posts that suggest this is a good idea.

3) All aces included, and historical weather. I actually tend to prefer games that allow you to change history (think Hearts of Iron or Victoria series), however, based on posts, and my own experiments, I feel it will be best to go ahead and play into history as opposed to changing something I cannot (within the framework of this sim). Yes, I might shhot down Boelke six times, and in flames even, but it is more the challenge of facing pilots like him that make this fun, interesting, and challenging.

4) Controls. I will not use labels, I will not use the "z" button for stats, I will not use the in-flight maps (with dreaded airplane cursor that tells exactly where one is at) but use paper printed maps (I will likely be in Flanders most of the time anyways). I will also turn off the text display (shift-D) ...you know, those messages at the top of the screen when bad stuff and other stuff happens (low fuel, health, stall, etc.). Now, because of how some planes are set up, I might feel compelled to use F5 just to see the compass to get an idea of my direction, however, when I have the time, I can also use mouse-tracking to look down, or even fidget with eyepoints, to find my compass. But, with all of this said, it really doesn't matter too much, as I am not going for DiD points, but survival. I am going to do my best to survive to November 11, 1918! Flame-outs especially scare me, and so do structural defects, but otherwise I feel OK about the possibilities...

5) Controls, part deux. I have an old Logitech Wingman with a left throttle control slider, and except for a trigger and top joystick button, no other programmable buttons exist! It is from another era:

I may use the slider throttle in either all up or all down to simulate a blip button on rotary engines...a bit gamey, but I must admit I prefer it to trying to find the "b" button on my keyboard!

6) Transfers. I have found one source of an obscure pilot (Lt. Daniel Joseph Sheehan) who original flew for the RNAS in at least 1915 and perhaps 1916 before being injured. He was then allowed to transfer to the RFC and he became a trainer until being let back into combat. He became part of 66 Sqn RFC and was killed on 10 May 1917. If our WOFF:UE squadrons are accurate, it looks like he may have been flying a Pup...either way, it shows that transfers between the air services did occasionally happen, so, I am willing to judicially transfer between services if the opportunity arises. Not terribly historical, but I found one instance, so hey!

EDIT: 7) Game speed...I will use time compression, especially in situations that seem "safe" or "dull"....if I am going to get through a career, I feel it will be necessary to do this

(Now for some drivel you may choose not to read )...I really like the Dead-is-Dead style of playing. For about the last four years, my game of choice has been Skyrim, and I have played a version of DiD for over 1200 hours in that game. Many of my colleagues and kids HATE how I play, and believe it or not, I have never once fought a dragon (I moderately mod the game...one important mod for me is the "Random Start" mod that drops you in one of 400 random places on the Skyrim map...no opening scene with dragon fight! I have run away from the opening dragon in trying to escape a few times when first playing, but I do not count it ). I have seen much of Skyrim in the way I played it, and I played as many different races as each time I died, I started anew..for me, WOFF:UE campaign DiD mode is right up my alley!

OK, this is pretty much the framework, now to some background biographical information about my first (and hopefully only) British pilot, Geoff Williams!