"We regret to announce that due to lack of faith.. err.. funding the rewind button in our new track recorder will get stuck"

Yeah, Forgotten Battles; Ace Expansion Pack
I'm the same. I bought every release myself too. All told, what maybe $150-175. I don't know, and I don't care if the same set I have can be bought now for $15. I would have missed 1,000+ playing hours if I waited for that.

Anyway, I am going to buy a number of the fighters for RoF.
I doubt I will get any of the bombers, but you never know.

I like that there's a choice here. A strong point, imo. I feel that will make many happy, being as they won't feel forced to buy something they don't want and would never fly.
Their system seems to be buyer friendly allowing players to play online with far less (or more) add-ons then someone else has. With that kind of buying choice freedom going for it, complaints should be few, really.
Since the community won't get split up due to version numbers, I would think that would help attract a strong following as well. It will work well for those that want to wait for a combo deal before they buy more planes, and for those of us that will buy right away.
It probably won't put off too many if someone gets the same planes far cheaper, but much later on.

I think the idea of having the option to pay to make a type flyable is inspired. Perfectly legitimate to sell a sim with very few flyables. Completely interoperable, I may not have bought the right to fly a DV but I can still fly against someone who has online. And I get pinged a small sum when I want to try a new plane, keeping their revenue up. Those who want to have lots of content can pay for it, and those who are happy to master one plane can do so, and pay for another to try out in a year's time when they are bored. Great idea.

Nice words I just hope they can deliver on it.

After past gaming disappointments I tend to take these sorts of developer statements with a large pinch of salt. To cut Neoqb some slack I think it'll be interesting to see how they're viewed in maybe 12 months when ROF should be approaching a fully featured product. At the moment Neoqb seem to have have been required by their publisher to release a beta with very limited features, it'll be interesting to see how they move on from this. In its current limited state I suspect ROF will be a hard sell to the casual gamer.

Just curious, but where did you get the idea that neoqb was "required by the publisher to release a beta with very limited features"?

Thanks Wedge, and all that...but I dont think I can GET too much more fired up for Rise of Flight....


....without EXPLODING that is!

9.95 USD, actually.

20mm, I actually inferred that by the statement that the investors were "strict." That implies an enforced release date.

While I believe the sim is past the beta stage, they're working through some teething issues with the CIS version.

[edit]

I think there will be plenty for the "casual" sim pilot. The hardcore wound up types will be the ones howling if I have a two dollar bet to make.

Dart, perhaps the investors were involved, I don't know, but Mogster said "publisher" and beta with limited features. I can extrapolate a lot of things, but we don't know what Russian "strict" means.

In Soviet Russia we strict you with leather straps until you pass out.

Well, the IL-2 series ended with a beta - literally, as in 4.09beta - after a decade or tinkering by the publisher, so releasing RoF as a "beta" doesn't scare me in the least.

Okay now I'm pissed. I got ripped off!
LOL, just kidding of course. I really had no idea what it was selling for now. I just used $15 as a figure to show it doesn't matter how much less it is now than it was when I got it.


I too got the feeling from the speech that maybe they were forced to put the game out without any more delays. I don't remember the exact words, but when I read it, I got that feeling.
We have seen some of the bugs in the videos. Buzz killers, yeah some of them are, but maybe not game killers. We will see within a couple months how aggressively they move towards correcting some issues. Myself, I would want to see a patch or two released before any pay for planes are. That would show me they are more concerned with offering a proper working game than just selling more planes and making money.

I'll just tuck this in here where no one will notice

Single-player pilots listen up crikey these AI pilots are much more intelligent and programmable than earlier AI, they can't half fly the planes delicately, trying to out-turn you or snatch a snap-shot all the time, not wasting ammo in unsuccessful deflection shooting. They can do all the opposite-rudder stuff in skidding and turning and yo-yo-ing and then diving across the gap on to your tail if you're not careful. Also each run of a mission can change the outcome if you alter the height of one plane by a couple of feet. This is without wind or turbulence. Butterfly Effect

Wingmen do not slavishly follow leader a la IL-2 they will bracket and appear to drag and bag when they get a chance, they will fight absolutely to their death or yours. See your wingman coming at you firing what's he doing - he's only firing over your head at your snapper wow

Ming

Reading between the lines, no more money, you need to start generating your own fast.... that's just my interpretation.

And you're probably correct. When the money spigot dries up things change.

Sounds great Ming, did you actually place a dead horse across the map to see if the butterfly on the cadaver in Ypres would cause a storm in Verdun?

From your description I wonder whether those wingmen are actually intelligent or maybe a bit mad.

The AI can actually be that cunning!

I just flew a balloon attack mission, (Air start.) in a Spad 13. A white letter message came up, saying something about there is a enemy balloon in the vicinity, but to watch out for enemy fighters around so this wouldnt be a walk in the park...

There were some clouds in the way so I went around (While climbing ofcourse.)

Altered my heading so that my nose pointed in the.. directional.. direction of the balloon below me, but not diving, as I wanted to check if there was any enemy fighters. Sure enough there were 2 dots circling above those clouds! And they were above me. I decided to test their situational awareness and determine if this would be difficult. Closing in on eachother, with a smile on my face I could clearly see that these were Alb D.Va`s. A walk in the park indeed!

Or..? One started climbing even more while the other started diving on me, I broke left so he overshot me, but number 2 dived on me, I broke left again but lost air-speed while doing so, I stalled out. Loosing some altitude (Now on same altitude as balloon.) To my surprise I saw that the Alb`s were above me! And they came down again, guns blazing. This was getting all the more dangerous! Fighting with one enemy above you is one thing, but two at the same time is not a good idea, especially if they are albs (Good in a dive.)

At this point I had forgot everything about the balloon, and decided that taking out these rather persistent fellows would be a better idea, so at the moment they started diving, firing their guns, I killed the throttle, pulled the stick to me, and pushed hard right rudder, my Spad responded smartly, quickly stalling out of the deadly web spun by these two alb`s, while spinning my own deadly web (I hoped.) for the two enemy machines.

Several more dives and spin-outs later, we found ourself only a hundred metres above the ground, and the Alb`s had overshot me again, this time I started climbing, and luckily put enough space between me and my tricky adversaries. They tried climbing up to me, but failed, I now had the advantage in altitude and could strike whenever I liked (I thought.)

One tried to gain a firing angle at me (Which I knew he wasnt going to make.) While the other was turning away, I waited until number one stalled out, and then gently put my Spad in an attack dive. I put my crosshairs directly onto the enemy kite, and pushed the trigger, nothing happened! In my excitement, I had forgot to chamber a round in each machinegun! And whats worse, my engine RPM started dropping, I had forgot to adjust the fuel mixture as altitude was getting lower and lower, and whats worse, due to that exact same problem, I knew I would not be able to regain the height advantage!

I looked at the foe doing a good job evading me.. Enemy AI is not supposed to outsmart me.. I looked at my Vickers guns.. How could I forget to chamber those rounds? I looked behind me.. The other enemy is diving down on my six.. They laid the perfect trap! And I walked straight into it! They easily clawed back the very same advantage they started out with, because of my own naive foolishness!

But.. It is not over yet! I chambered my MG`s, and adjusted my mixture, my V8 Hispano Suiza roared! I came up with a new plan, if I would be able to stay right on the alb in front of me, the one behind me surely would not be able to take me out as easily, as his bursts would have a good chance hitting his mate!
The nails that sticks out gets hammered! I am not yet used to flying the Spad 13, but it shouldnt be too hard to shoot down a sluggish Albatross! We flew along the left side of a river, and a bridge came up!

The perfect chance! I carefully aimed at the enemy bird, and commenced firing with my Vickers machineguns, I saw flames erupting from his engine, so I breaked right, and leveled my Spad a mere feet above the water, the bridge is coming up! I saw my burning enemy dissapear into the woods (As I was flying just above the water, I was lower than he was.)

I heard a set of spandaus firing, and a few bullets hit my fuselage with a grim series of thuds (Had the fellow behind me aimed a little higher, those bullets would have hit my head!) but I held my course and passed below the bridge (I actually bent my head down as the bridge seemed to swallow me and my plane.) I then pulled up as soon as I passed through, and looked behind me as the enemy albatross pulled up.. But then.. disaster! In my enthusiasm, I had pulled the stick too hard, and my plane stalled! The enemy plane aimed in at my stalling machine and blasted me without hesitation.. I was dead even before my plane hit the water and sunk..
It all ended faster than it started!


If it had not been for that hard pull on the stick...! The AI can be that dangerous, exploiting every error you make! So I have some advice..
The second you think you got it figured, you are wrong!
Do not underestimate your virtual foe!
Always keep your wits about you! Even though bravery is a solution for the most grim situations, planning ahead and staying ice-cold is the most effective way of ensuring your survival. If you do not start applying plans and theories to your combat flying, you will have grim chances of survival indeed..

That`s all I can say!

Great story, RVH! Thanks for taking the time to share it!

Brilliant writeup, RvH, nothing short of brilliant. That was the definitive "if this does not get you fired up" post for me. Now, please do not come back and tell me you were pulling my leg!

After all these years of having every enemy fighter, regardless of performance advantage or not, blindly play follow-my-lead in Il-2 (is that a swarm of wasps in my rear view mirror?), I can't wait!

Yeah, getting the advantage in altitude is not as easy in RoF as in other games, you really need to be on your toes! because many of the AI enemies are experienced too, and are trying to think ahead as well (Thats what it seems like to me!) sustained angle of climb is not the same big one that you usually find in most other sims.
You may see an AI enemy and you start climbing for the usual zoom & boom terror, which has, up until nowadays, been a relatively safe tactic in ww1 sims vs AI, however, to your dismay, looking back, he is doing the exact same thing!

Sure, the sim has its smaller (But not un-fixable.) flaws. But once you`ve played it for a few days, take a step back, look at it in the sense that things will definitely improve from the already good sim you`re sitting with right there and then.

The bridge trick could have saved me had I stayed ice-cold, my plan was to break left and re-engage a confused enemy from behind. But, an error in a solo flight is one thing, and might be forgiving depending on the circumstances, in combat it is not as easy! I have a feeling that the AI difficulty vary as well, one AI you can easily force down, you restart the mission, and all of a sudden you find yourself having a half an hour fight with a very smart, flexible, and fierce foe!

RVH, do the AI make mistakes as well? For example, do they get in a steep dive from which they cannot recover and bore a hole in the ground? Do their guns jam and their engines stall?

Just curious since you've got experience under your belt.

Excellent write up btw!

A very elegant speech.

My only hope is that they someday release an offline only version (for those of us with unreliable connections). Maybe in ten years?

Anyway, I truly wish them the best of luck.