Not much really new here, I just wanted to add my tiny voice in praise of what I believe will be the standard other WWI sims will try to match for many years, as was Red Baron.

The graphics, both 3D and 2D, are superb. The ability of the hardware to process more informaton has made it possible to add variety and details that couldn't be done before. I personally am especially pleased with the terrain rendering. Identical tiles repeating over and over again in an identical pattern have been replaced by unique identifiable landmarks that can be used for vfr navigation just as real pilots do to this day, reducing or eliminating the need for using a gps-style map that is (game-wise) decades in the future. But that can be said about so many flight sims these days.

The one thing that Red Baron always over other flight sims of any era was its campaign. RB's engine was a marvel, creating dozens of flights some of which could intersect yours and others which came nowhere near. You could fly your entire mission without seeing a single aircraft besides the ones in your flight, which may make for a boring flight, but it is the way it was for the real pilots. OTOH, you can leave you intended flight path and run into several flights of friendly and/or enemy aircraft. You just never knew what you would find where, again just like it really happened. No other sim I've tried came close to the "What will happen when the wheels clear the ground?" feeling that must have run through the mind of every pilot from the newest replacement to the von Richtofen's, Ball's and Guynemer's. Until now! OFF's campaign engine does exactly what Red Baron's did, create dozens of missions for dozens of squadrons on both sides and lets fate and your choices decide what you see and what you don't. You could just miss bumping into a half dozen nice, fat, ripe BE2's only to find yourself mixing it up with the whole of RAF 56 or Les Cignones. Now that's 'as real as it gets'.

I have to say that the online experience is not as good. As a regular in Vasco's Sunday gatherings I can say that the interface is cumbersome at best (no metaservers means all games must be played on the host's ip, therefore if he has a problem everybody is toast). There is also a 'stuttering' problem that must be in the game because too many people see it for it to be a connection thing. OTOH, the fact that AI aircraft are available in multiplayer makes for more possibilities than one had/has in Red Baron.

And while we're on the subject of AI, if you're used to the AI in most other sims, hold onto your hat. In most games, they fly in predictable patterns and make the same moves over and over again. While I still rate human pilots better, these guys are tough. In Red Baron, IL-2, MiG Alley and the CFS series it was next to nothing to take on three and four enemies at a time, even on 'ace' settings. I'm a lot less reckless in OFF. They even seem to know when you're gaining an advantage over one of their comrades and will come to his rescue (although I've not had the same luck with my wingmen ).

Throw in full support for Track IR and overall it's what every simmer (at least the WWI crowd) would expect from Red Baron 4 or maybe even 5.

Well, gentlemen,

You've spoken about the elements that we all like in OFF, so I now invite you post your actual flying experiences in the campaigns you've undertaken - complete with documentary evidence!

Words and pictures, at your leisure guys, see the thread started this evening by YT.

This was a great find. At first, after reading a bit about OFF I was leery about the CFS3 engine being used, but playing Over Flanders Fields quickly put my hesitancy to rest. The devs have done a lot to make this as immersive a WWI Airsim as I was looking for, with tons of excellent historical data, archival footage from WWI to help set the tone, and a very well done campaign. The aeroplane modelling is well done and skins historically authentic. Well worth the time to fly.

lol.
cfs3 is what it is, but the team's done a great job evolving that into something else.

Uhh.. ya, that's the whole point, and it's quite amazing by any standards. Thanks.

I've just finished one rough Patrol Mission in campaign and my neck is aching of tension and my hands are just sweating (which normally doesn't happen). It was like if for 50 minutes I was right there. I'll relax now, tomorrow, another mission waits for me.
Thanks to the OFF's devs for having created such a combat sim.

Heck, I just jumped into a couple of Quick Combat scenarios. My hands were aching after I managed through great effort to down a couple of Jerrys before their squad mate got me. The Spads are not the best for dogfighting. Perhaps I just don't have enough stick time with the Spads.

I had to get use to the Spad myself, I think a lot of it is the closeness of the wing to the upper cowling in front of the pilot. After a lot of stick time with her, I`ve become more confident in furballs with her. Puts

I've been very happy with OFF BH&H from day one. Since the months of it's release I have only become more pleased with the continued developement and improvements. One of the aspects I appreciate is the modding by the community. The user made missions are very good and fun but I am excited by the skinners who have recreated many historic skins and some wonderful "fantasy" skins for download. Attached are some screenies of the most recent skin I have downloaded. From Spring 1919 it is the aircraft of Lt. John Jeffers. He was stationed in Germany as part of the U.S. 94th Squadron Occupation force. The Germans of course were known in part for the fantastic personal markings and paintschemes of the crates they flew. At the end of the war the U.S. 94th were allowed the liberty to repaint thier planes to thier liking. Many of these paintschemes have been recreated by OFF skinners. My many thanks to the developers and the modders.

Having trouble with the images. I will try again.

One of things that seem to be in common with many of the people that fly OFF is that we roleplay a WWI pilot. Even a career as a bomber pilot or observer is possible. We create the characters, give them names and decide on such things as name,rank, nationality and sqaudron/jasta assignment. Many of us have personal skins (that will soon be exclusive to our plane with the next update) because skins of our own design can be created. As these characters we create we care about surviving and living to fight/fly another day. Our men are less disposable in our minds and hearts this way and creates a special sense of being part of history. If you roleplay other games you'll know what I mean. We refer to this aspect in general as immersion. The feeling of being there.
On the other hand we have the ability to fly in Quick Combat or the new Scenario mode and select "pilot never dies" for some very fun and excitng action without suffering the lose of a created character. I fly in these modes when I don't have a lot of free time or when I get a new piece of kit like a new joystick and need to learn how to use it.
Below is a pic of a user made skin made for me by a good friend in Germany. I think the skin is fantastic looking and it has my characters name below the cockpit. I love this game!