Hi,

This thread is for all you OFF pilots out there to tell the world about your alter egos in the virtual skies over Flanders, between 1915 and November 1918.

I want to see posts of derring do - and pictures, pretty please - of taking on the ghastly Hun or ze infernal Tommy.

Do you have tales to tell as a Brisfit pilot (or gunner!)?

Have you sent Quirks to their doom in your Eindecker?

Have you had good outings in your Roland?

Is the Camel the widowmaker - if so, for which side?

Spill all here...

Good idea Simon. We need passion. We need enthusiasm. We need to show the OFF devs our continued support. This is the time now .... and right here. Next to RoF at the same site. The Stragglers, the Undecided, the Wary, the Unknowns piqued by RoF will show more interest in OFF if there is an avalanche of positive posts, pics, vids, historical memorybillya memorabila memora ... old stuff ... and ripping yarns etc etc.

I'm hoping more combatace folks will also join the parade. Now I'd better set up a photoshop account !

Well got photobucket going and have been mucking about with embedding videos. Here's the fortitude alley one. Next step will be to keep an eye peeled for some nice screenie opportunities. Haven't been able to up til now as this forum does not allow uploads direct from the users pc.



Edit: Okay no real advantage here over youtube so I'll scrap the vid. But at least now I can now post pics

This sim is really awesome and as time passes by I always find myself finding something new or experiencing something new in this sim!
For example today while flying a campaign mission as a RNAS-1 pilot, my flight of Nieuport 11s got jumped by 3 enemy Fokker EIIIs and after ordering my 2 wingmen to attack two of those Fokkers I went after the other one.
After some manouvers I was able to place myself behind the Fokker EIII and after which the enemy Fokker decided execute a very step climb manouver which I followed. Just before opening fire I remembered what is to me two of the biggest disadvantages of the Nieuport 11 which are: The lack of a sight and limited firepower since it has a very small ammo load (194 rounds, if I'm not mistaken) and only one machine gus (which unfortunally is usual in many Allied aircraft of that time).
Anyway, moments before my N11 and the enemy Fokker started to stall I opened fire with a large burst. The burst went perfect with most of the bullets finding their target. The enemy Fokker was first hit in the fuselage behind the pilot and then most of the bullets found the left wing, specially hitting the wing rout area which made the Fokker's left wing to BREAK OF!! I never saw this happening with to a Fokker EIII specially while flying such an underpowered aircraft in terms of firepower such as the Nieuport 11.

Of course that I don't need to say that the result was that Fokker EIII spiraling down until it hit the ground


Petty that I don't have any screenshoot that captures the moment. But this was definitly a WOW MOMENT!!

I`m not in a campaign at the moment, but will start one before too long, and see how long I`ll last.Puts

Sub-Lieutenant Ritchie Crate with 9 RNAS; St.-Pol-sur-Mer. Feb. 1, 1917. Craft S. Pup
Seems there's been a call to action from the "higher ups". The brass want a certain suasage brought down and the loss of some kraut kites into the pot would be in order. Our losses in the air have been heavy as of late and some desk jockey of doubtless self import is due to arrive tomorrow, perhaps to pin a prize on a poor boy that's recently pissed himself. I'm to lead "B" flight again. The Pups are rolled out and fired up and we leave the field at St.-Pol-sur-Mer in the lovely early morning. A. Fry and Ben Amherst are along for this jaunt, good lads. We follow the coast to the east-nor-east when just prior to changing course to head south, near the front, we are jumped by half a dozen of the hated hun. 'Round we go, here's a bit for your flippin' bird. Crikey and bloody hell my neck can hardly take the strain of getting a fix on their positions. Here's one, "good morning" I says with me gun. Knock, knock on your bloody noggin' I hope. Good for 'im the filthy #%&*$# he's in the drink and but good. Taking a good look now I see Ben bring down another in flames. There's a smoke plume to the west not far off. Perhaps the remaining hun are harassing "A" flight. Well on with our date with the Drachen. There's a plane ahead flying low, one of ours, he joins up in our formation. In short order the target is sighted and bloody hell don't you know three Albatros DII's are not amused by our intentions and drop toward us as we dive toward our target. Damn and drat! Missed the plump gasbag on the first pass. I had hoped for a quick flamer and a mad dash for our side. Now I have to circle back and not only try for it again but face the enemy airplanes intent on my demise. I give her some lead as I missed with my last rocket, unreliable childs plaything I say. As I turn about I see the balloon has met it's firey fate by some act of God perhaps but now we have to deal with the angry hun hornets as well as the ground fire. I got a few rounds into one but one of his dark brethren bounced me from behind and took my engine out of commission. Too low to try for our lines. Nothing for it but to bring her down. Two days later I'm back in camp getting that arse chewing I expected for my troubles. You can't win. At least we have tomorrow to do it again.

What is a good photo site to use when you post screenshots? I have a Photobucket account but it doesn't play well here at SimHQ. Any suggestions?

CJ

Very nice report RickityCrate 1, and great shots keep them coming. Puts

Hi CJ. I don't know. I used photobucket for the post above and I am not happy with the "thumbnail" image size. I even redid my images in a larger size but they still show small here. This is not what I am used to, so I have some lernin' to do. I am uploading some pics in bmp format to see if they display better than jpg's.




So I tried to upload bmps and they were converted to jpg's any way. Like I say much to learn.

Thanks Puts. You'll see more for sure as it is a hobby within a hobby for me to take screenies as I fly. I do wish the pics could showup larger in this forum. Any advice? I'm using photobucket.

Crate:

I don't know if this works on screen shots but on actual photos I resize them to 800 x 600 (I use IRFANVIEW www.irfanview.com/ but I think any resize program will do) BEFORE I upload to photobucket and they seem to come out the right size (see Shuttleworth thread) and very sharp.

You might give that a try.

Something else you might try: Fly as a Yank in the RFC/RNAS/RAF. There were lots of Yanks who flew with them (the vast majority of US aces, actually). When I go to the UK or OZ or New Zealand, I don't try to speak like one of them, unless I want them to fall over laughing at how silly I sound trying to imitate them. I wouldn't try to write like they talk, either. Just a suggestion.

HT
(tttiger)

Hi tttiger, thanks for the suggestions. I'll check it out. As for my writing skills, I have no excuse. Just a bit of fun to accompany the pics. I do hope no offense is taken by anyone as no offense was intended. If I give cause for a little laughter that's fine with me. I know you are a writer though so I do respect you suggestion.

Crate, HT is right, give IRFANVIEW a try, I use both it, and photobucket. Puts

Nice to see you on the forum, BTW!

Welcome!

HT
(tttiger)

Thanks Puts. Thank you for the welcome tttiger. I've turned into a bit of a screen grabber so I'll be posting pics more than writing perhaps. I'm off to find your Shuttleworth pics now.

Love your enthusiasm Rickety. And great screenshots. Looking forward to the resized ones !
Great to see you here too ! And thanks Tom for suggesting irfanview. I'll have to give it a go if I have "size" issues lol. (but I've never understood why this site does not allow pics to be downloaded directly from your pc)

I've got my shots on Photobucket, now how do I post them? I've never posted a screenshot here before.

CJ

CJ you enter:
[img]your image url here[/img]
for each pic. I right click on the image I want to use and then select properties, then copy the url and paste like I show above with no spaces. The directions are also in the FAQ's. Best wishes, Jim

You need to see the FAQ's because the server program thinks I'm trying to enter one now. The word is image in brackets and get that forward slash before image in the second bracket. Sorry this is a mess.

Yup.

In the format for the initial post (or the reply option -- NOT the quick reply) there are a series of icons across the top. The fourth from the left is the image icon. Click that.

You'll get a little box with a place to cut and paste the URL (which photobucket provides next to your picture).

Keep the pixel count small (that's why you reduce the size), though.

GL

HT

Thanks.

So this is how it's done?

Well, I'm some kind of idiot. No go so far.

That's the spirit Rickity A Be2 attacking an Eindecker ! We need more pilots with spunk like that if we are to ever win this blasted war !

I wonder how the pics can be embedded ?

gone in the blink of an eye ! Keep at it Rickity

LOL ! And now I see it embedded. Success Rickity

Gee catch you saw that fast. I think I have it now. I will try to redo all my pics so they can be seen. Thanks to all for encouragement and advice. CJ, when youhave the cursor over the desired image in photobucket there is a dropdown that shows options for sharing. Select Direct Link.

Please do Rickity. Much appreciated. Be good to see some of CJ's pics over here too when he gets it sorted.

Catch, for you since you seemed to appreciate the Fokker getting the old what for.

LOL Rickity .... The "RAF (Be2) Scourge" perhaps Nice work !

Those are looking nice now crate, thanks for posting those. Puts

Thanks guys, ahem...there will be more. That's fair warning.

Those are really great, Crate (poem!)!

Keep 'em coming!

HT
(ttt)

Uh-oh ! CJ is retorting by downing a BE in one of those hun kites ! This cannot be .... Rickity where are you lol. Nice one CJ

CJ, you seem to be using the brackets and image at both ends twice. Just once at both ends will do it.

September 16 started like any other day, well, not really. Last night, Raab and I went into the village to celebrate his sixth victory. Hauptmann Boelcke offered to buy the first round to toast Raab and wish him much more good hunting in the future. The first one led to the second and so on and so forth until I wasn’t sure what round it was, much less where I was!

The next thing I remember I awoke to a frantic banging on the door. The squadron adjutant was there screaming at the top of his lungs, “Leutnant Schutzenbaum get out of bed! Hauptmann Boelcke wants to see you in his office, SCHNELL!” I opened my eyes to see that I wasn’t in my room at the Chateau and there was a strange woman in my bed, that's when I realized that I was in her bed. I jumped out of bed, pulled on my pants and boots and dressed on my way out the door, tossed ten marks on the nightstand just in case I was supposed to and ran to the truck.

I felt a knot in the pit of my stomach when I got back to the aerodrome and saw that the morning patrol had already left without me. I knew Boelcke would not be happy.. I was pleasantly surprised when he calmly told me that it better not happen again and to go get some rest, I was leading the afternoon patrol. I walked to the Chateau wondering why he was assigning me as lead when I screwed up and missed a patrol. I decided not to dwell on it and get some sleep, maybe clear up some of the fog in my head.

It was around1030 when I awoke, feeling somewhat better. I figured I’d better go ahead and get dressed so I could at least get a bite or two before the mission.

When I got to the briefing tent it was empty save for Hauptmann Boelcke. I asked, “Where is everyone else Herr Hauptmann?” “There is no one else,” he replied, “You will go out alone today, perhaps next time you will be more punctual!”

So there I was. With the British gearing up for an offensive and the RFC out in force, I’m going up alone! Somehow I had the feeling that today wasn’t going to be my day. I felt a cold chill run up and down my spine that just seemed to get worse as I approached my Albatros. When I got to it Willi,Fritz, and Manfred already had it ready to go, so I climbed into the cockpit. Mixture, full rich,check! Magneto on. Check! Contact! Willi pulled on the propeller and the Mercedes roared to life. After a few minutes I pushed the throttle forward and took off across the aerodrome. After circling the field a couple of times I turned and headed toward the front at around 2500 meters.

As I flew along my thoughts returned to the night before and the fun we had drinking, singing songs, and flirting with the local women. I had to bring my mind back to the present or else I just might not make it back to do it again. The flight to the front was uneventful save for the aggravating flak. Was it my imagination, or was their aim getting better?

I had flown about ten kilometers into enemy territory when I spotted four specks about 700meters below me so I thought I’d take a closer look. BE2s, four of them heading toward the front. I thought, “Maybe my day will be better than I suspected.” It was then that I saw four more specks above and behind them. Nieuport 17s! Well that’s that!,I thought to myself. There was no way I was going up against four Nieuports alone. Not in this lifetime. I may be crazy but I’m not stupid, so I ducked into a nearby cloud before they spotted me.

I started a lazy turn to head back toward the Front and home when I spotted four more specks below. Four more BE2s! They must be planning something big because there sure are a lot of British planes in the air. I looked around to see if there were any escorts and saw one Bristol Scout trailing them above and behind. This was just too good to be true! I put my Albatros into a shallow climb and followed, taking care to keep myself between them and the sun at my back.

By the time I had acquired the most optimum attack position, we had crossed back over the lines and I was now in friendly territory. I was satisfied that there were no other escorts save for the lone Bristol Scout, so I pressed my attack. I nosed over and dove on the Bristol. When I was about 150 meters from him I fired a long burst into his fuselage and he dove away trailing a little smoke. I continued down toward the BE2s, who apparently hadn’t seen nor heard the commotion with the Bristol. I closed on “Tail end Charlie” and fired a long burst and he immediately burst into flames and fell in a long swooping turn toward the earth. I dove underneath and bank around to come up below and behind the second BE2. After a couple of long bursts, he too was headed for oblivion. I kicked left rudder and the third BE was in my sights so I peppered him with a few bursts and he followed the first two. By this time I was almost on top of my home aerodrome when I realized that it was what they were sent here to bomb! I got the last BE in my sights and pulled the trigger. I fired about 20 rounds into him and then………….nothing! I was out of ammunition! That twenty round burst must have killed the observer because no return fire was evident. I waved to the remaining BE pilot and dove away.

I had almost forgotten about the Bristol and wondered where he went as I didn’t see him crash. About the time I thought of him, I saw tracers off my starboard side! I wheeled around, looked behind me and there he was! And me with dry guns! I pushed the throttle to the firewall and headed for my aerodrome. If he follows me there at this altitude, he’s a goner for sure. The ground gunners will make Swiss cheese of him if he does. He wisely banked away and headed for home still trailing a light plume of smoke.

I circled the field and landed, very pleased with myself for having downed three aircraft. Herr Boelcke was quite happy with me also. Maybe he’ll allow me to really lead a flight tomorrow.

Nice Storyline, and pics CJ, keep them coming. Puts

Alright CJ you got it sorted too. Good story and pics. This thread needed good pics.

Nice pics Puts! Those frames setoff the pics nicely. Do you do that with IRfan?

Thanks Crate, did that with one of the edit options on Photobucket. Puts

Wow ! CJ, Rickety and Puts .... superb work. I do believe you're getting the hang of it

Not a campain to report just an outing I call "Along for the ride". While taking the position of observer for this flight the A/I pilot follows the way points. It is possible to warp from the observer seat to speed things along. I also use a gamepad when oberving to control the machine gun. The gamepad seems more appropriate as a controller for the machine gun and IMO gives better control of aiming. We were not attacked by enemy scouts on this trip but we did encounter a nearby furball between Nupes and Albs. I was able to zoom in on the action from a safe distance and watch and take some pictures. The furball had nothing to do with my flight directly but it does show the dynamic activity portrayed in OFF as a theatre of war. It was supposed to be a bombing run on a railyard. We acheived the target and on the first pass I dropped one 50 pounder. As I was preparing to cicle back the engine died. It must have taken some lead from the groundfire. I landed safely, was taken prisoner and later escaped (because I had chosen"pilot never dies"). This was Campaign mode but as I had selected "pilot never dies" I do not consider it to be a true campaign. Hey, my game, my rules.

Actually (as a side note and a bit OT, sorry) you can be taken prisioner and later escape in OFF even if you don't choose the "pilot never dies" option! Of course it's a roll dice and there's always a higher chance to be a prisioner for the rest of the war than from escaping capture. But from my experiences I learned that you have a much higher probability of escaping (in case you're taken prisioner) if you land (behind enemy lines) without crashing your aircraft and therefore being uninjured than if you crash land your aircraft (behind enemy lines) and therefore being injured in the process. In the later case I found that it's almost impossible to escape - you'll spend the rest of the war as prisioner almost for sure.

I hope this helps many of you to survive this "nasty war"...


BTW, awesome screenshots RickityCrate! Thanks for sharing them

Hey guys, new campaign roleplay going on at the main OFF forum. Besides a growing group of online multi-players a new OFF-line DiD or "Dead is Dead" campaign has begun with a German and a British Squad in action. We fly on the current date such as (today) 1/11/1916 as our schedules allow and report our pilots status to the Killboard Keeper and mastermind of this wonderful idea, Siggi. We start out as newbs assigned to a 2 seater unit. Currently the Germans are flying the DFW C.V. and the Brits will be onboard the 1 1/2 Strutter. Our overall aim is to keep our individual pilots/alter egos alive for 17 hours or to attain 5 confirmed kills in order to be promoted to a specific scout/fighter unit. For us Germans it will be Jasta 6. Once in a fighter unit again the goal is to stay alive to fight another day and add to your kill total. Once you die in any unit you are to start over in the the 2 seater unit as before but flying on the current RL calendar date. Then to work your way back to the fighter unit. We are currently in 1916 and we hope to see this campaign las for the duration of the war. This way we will see much of the war and have the opportunity to fly various airplanes in a historical context. The rules of DiD is to use very few if any computer aids or things not used by the pilots of the time. No radar,targeting cones, external views-unless paused and taking screenies or such. Oh, and no Warp. Yes you fly in realtime only. Playing this way you get very invested in your pilot and you want to keep him alive. One of the things some of us have done is to rename the pilots in the OFF campaign generator to the names of our fellow forumites. These are guys we feel we have come to know and care about. It is of course just their names attached to the A/I pilots but it does make a difference for immersion.

The rules and Killboards are here http://www.hetzer.talktalk.net/ we have just gotten started so there is not a lot of data yet and we are still looking for new members.

Here are some pics from my 2 sorties from today and then my pilots log.

This Nupe17 became my first claim.

This is my Observer Dieter. A very nice guy. Shares his flask with me.

Taking a look at a friendly sausage.

Seems the weather is never good in this area.

Made it home. Safe and sound just before sunset.

And the pilot log

Very atmospheric pics Rickity. They really are very good. Keep 'em coming please

The new campaign roleplay sounds interesting. But I'm not as dedicated as I once was and would undoubtably bring shame upon the WW1 community, if not outright guffawing and perhaps a little sniggering ! Besides every time I fire up in campaign mode these days I'm always on the lookout for a nice video opportunity even if it means certain death .... or worse .... so I'm not always focused on survival or doing the right thing by my wingies or the war effort in general. I suspect you may feel the same with your pics ! You know getting yourself into a bit of a tangle for cinematic/photographic glory and all that.

Having said that, never say never. But at the moment no can do I'm afraid.

Spoken like a man with experience Catch. Two mistresses are hard to please. I very nearly lost my pilot on the last sortie while trying to setup a photo while flying low. That was intense and put the fear into me. Even if I pause to grab a screenie the flow is upset and it can be tricky to unpause and make the right adjustments. But I am not going to give up my photographic hobby. I just need to be smarter and much more cautious.

Hi guys. I'm onto my third German DiD Campaign pilot. My first 2 pilots are in prison for the duration. This time of year the weather has been very overcast and raining. Yesterday 9/11/16 was a gem of a day. After 2 weeks of heavy clods I could hardly believe the change. The alarm sounded for a scramble and we took to the air asap. I led the flight in a circlin ascending pattern over our field searching the sky for the enemy. To the north at about 8,000 feet I saw our flak trying to cause harm to an unknown enemy flight. They did not swoop down on us as usual and seemed to have no interest in engaging. Aha, perhaps this will be my first encounter with enemy 2-seaters? Eventually I led my flight in a position of advantage behind the e/a, indeed they were BE2C's. Struggling to bring my gun to bear I put a few rounds into one of the lumbering Brit crates. Another one came more clearly into my view so I let him have it.

The engine caught fire but they bravely flew on toward their lines.

I positioned our DFW so that Eric the observer could have a clear shot.

Eric knows how to work the gun of his.

During our return to the aerodrome it seemed Eric was pleased with himself.

As for myself I was pleased to bring us back safely to fly and fight another day.

Those poor young brave RFC lads .... THEY WERE JUST TRYING TO TAKE SOME HARMLESS SNAPS RICKITY !

Hmmmmm .... 2 seaters, observers .... Aussie Biffs ! Now there's an idea for this new moving picture craze. If Chaplin can do it .....

Thanks Rickity

Oh my, sounds like another popcorn muncher might be coming our way. If I had the pc savvy I could string Catch's movies together and burn them to dvd and have a proper film to curl up on the couch with the wife popcorn and a brewski.