Well, if this is a new way you guys think will keep piracy off the game, improving revenues and doing the combat flying simulation market more profitable AND more interesting , bringing more talented companies like yours into this game...
Man, I´m with you ViKs.
I recognize that some worries about connection are valid , but I´m guessing that when the ball starts rolling, many of us will see that this online check is not so big deal.

In the event of a connection problem it would make sense to be able to store your mission progress on your own HD, and be able to retry sending the mission data when a connection was available. An error message telling you that all data had been lost after one try would be very frustrating.

Everyone has connection problems now and then.

Mogster, I thing a main idea behind this is that people shouldn't be able to tamper with the data. That would be possible if it is stored locally for a longer amount of time.

We flew a Central Med campaign mission created by Trooper last night and when we RTB'd and landed with some damage after a long time on fumes in RTB, an airfield ambulance came out to meet us. A triumph of timing accomplished without triggers. Made the airfield come alive

How are triggers working please VikS within the RoF FMB?

You told us that AI planes can be triggered to take off to defend their airfields when incoming enemy planes are detected

Will there be only this simple trigger please in the RoF FMB, or can other airfield objects like the ambulance and the fire truck detect landing-damaged planes and can they arrive near damaged planes with the ringing bells?

Will there be a list of triggers and their parameters available to mission designers?

DeclaredAnEmergencyLanding=1

[AirfieldFireTruckDriverAI]
IF DeclaredAnEmergencyLanding THEN GetCloseToLandingDamagedPlane

(the fire truck needs dynamic waypoints in other words)

Can this happen or something similar, can a fire truck or ambulance move to a plane landing damaged? And any more information on triggers will be very valuable please

Ming

That data could be encrypted and tamper proof..

Hello ViKs,

first thank you for answering at all - since there is no real forum at RoF this is at least an opportunity to directly ask and get a response.

I welcome new ideas on the WW1 flight sim sector, however sending online (MP) or single player (SP) statistic data or whatever via internet connection is against anything i learned in the last 20+ years, and also against anything i would like to see - call the second thing subjective or emotional, the first reason (experience) is big enough a reason for me. As well it does not convince me as a method against piracy. I just do not trust any company enough for that, and believe me this has nothing to do with you personally, or your country.

You have mainly stated three reasons why online play even for single campaign, or missions, is a must:
1. sending statistics
2. Anti piracy
3. updates, some free and some pay-per download.
Please correct me if i am wrong.

My ideas on the points:
1. I personally prefer to refrain from sending data about my behaviour, thank you.
2. Piracy, ok. But there are other methods, and imho the market for good WWi sims is so small that almost all fans will buy it anyway. You will not win others with this marketing model.
3. No problem - i want a new plane, or update - connect - download - go offline - and that's it. Believe me anyone who reads there's a new patch or update for his or her game, will download and at least try it immediately - no automatic needed.

If you state you also do it, so that every person has the same state of update, or patch at a certain time, there are again restrictions. What if i do not want one of the patches e.g. changing the flight or damage model. Or if i want to skin the planes myself, like in IL2 ? Ah, you do not want the RoF community to do that ?

And IF you do it for that reason, why do you sell the sim at all ? Put up an online server, where everyone is free to log in and fly. Charge money for the online connection and that's it. This way you will have no piracy problems. All is, and takes place on, your server. Because that is what this current marketing model really is about.

I have been flying a lot with RedBaron3, but of all this time i spent maybe 5 percent online, if at all. I am just having a ball flying a campaign offline, and look at beautiful planes, landscape and historical events happening - the more accurate the better. I just happen to have no interest in flying on IL2-like servers with their niveau of language and B$; but it seems i am the only one.

I wish you good luck, but i will wait and see - maybe follow the discussions on the boards, and maybe then buy it next year with a new (and better) rig.

Good luck,
Narsinha

Just above this last post about marketing Viks are proper questions about the sim that have not been already asked and answered 437 times

He can't read everything, let's have decent questions (that might have interesting answers) from people who are buying it on day one

Ming

How will User Created Missions be handled?
As one of the few things we already know about the game is that the Online Progress/Scoring mechanism means that you cannot complete one mission and fly another without Online verification and statistics upload and acceptance...
Does this means the missions are stored on the central server and you download them?
In which case how does this impact on user created missions? Must they be uploaded and accepted before they can be played?
Or is there some kind of "lock out" mechanism which means I can create a mission in the FMB but not be "allowed" to fly it until I have completed the previous mission to NeoQBs satisfaction?
What about when I am playtesting a home created mission? Will i not be able to refly it to test different things without an online scoring/mission progress thumbs up from NeoQB? Will I be able to go back and alter something in the mission and refly it without the necessity of getting a mission completed from NeoQBs central server?
What about when I create a campaign of my own? How will i be able to test the different missions in the campaign without constant score monitoring/online statistic updates from NeoQB...
Will it even be possible to test mission 2,3,4 etc of a campaign without getting the appropriate thumbs up from NeoQBs scoring/statistics gathering server?
I understand how important the scoring and stats are to Online players. But the impossibility of reflying/trying new missions/accessing subsequent missions in a campaign without a big tick from NeoQBs Games Server is likely to make life VERY difficult for people wanting to create their own mssions and their own campaigns...

Although thinking about it JB, we're moving towards having our games storage online (that new system promising to revolutionise gaming, and Nvidia and Intel creating a GPUCPU) and for example there's the wars at HL holding our personal and squadron stats: and another example, my comrade Keets allows us the privilege of storing our stats online on his server, we appreciate how good that is to have our stats stored on an external database with a cool GUI and wotnot. RoF pilot page with youtube guncamera videos embedded

So I suppose we could think of the neoqb server as our own personal online stats server. Sounding good and like Fallout3 we could design our own personal pilot log stroke diary stroke WAAF buy raw steak and roses. I mean house in Megaton with jukebox, workshop and so on

Neocube, how did they pick a cool server name are they messing with our minds

As usual, any word checked for originality must face the Google Challenge. 54 billion Neocubes and most of them live in and around the Mediterranean area for some reason

But now Google must face the Mington Challenge. The word bratlock cannot possibly be on Google because I just made it up

Results 1 - 10 of about 415 for bratlock

In other words dear reader, do not worry too much if a word sounds familiar. There is nothing new under the sun. What matters is the melody. Beethoven said that a melody must be at once unfamiliar but at the same time as if it had existed forever. Paraphrasing obviously

Ming

This is a great feature for online "competitive" fliers. However, until recently 95% of WW1 fliers have been offliners (due in part to the poor multiplayer support of past games) and are flying sims which are eight to twelve years out of date (with the developers being closed or reinvented since). So, it isn't surprising that RoF is perceived as essentially an online game with a limited single player mode tacked on.