So I've finally made time to get into ROF this summer and really excited to get into it. I've recently come back from a tour of the WWI battlefields and just cant wait to fly over them virtually.

Here's where I need a little help. I've always been fascinated by the Luftstreitkräfte and want to get the components that give me that experience in terms of aircraft.

So any inputs on what parts of the game I should buy?

Thanks!

Hello and welcome to RoF!

The Iron Cross Edition demo upgrade is a good place to start if you're going to be buying stuff for Rise of Flight. It gives you a nice selection of the most famous fighters to fly for a reasonable price. Beyond that, it depends greatly how you like to play RoF. If you like to play online, I recommend checking out this thread: http://riseofflight.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=26651&hilit=buying+guide which may help you narrow down your choices based on performance and relative viability in online flying. For single player flying, I recommend choosing a squadron to campaign with and seeing which aircraft you'll need to play it. Alternately, you can purchase them as you go in your campaigning. Most squadrons don't use more than 3 or 4 types over the course of the war (and as a German pilot the free Alb D.Va serves in every fighter squadron at some point) so the cost is minimal. Keep in mind that you can also get additional things such as field mods, weapon mods and personalization stuff. The link above is a little out of date (it doesn't have the DH-4 in it) but it is very helpful in determining which field mods are useful. Also, there are scripted campaigns available and if you are interested in trying out the upcoming channel map, you can pre-order that too.

Cheers,

Fafnir_6

You might be disappointed if you're interested in the Central Powers aircraft. Classic aircraft like the Albatros D.Va and Fokker D.VII are slow moving targets in Rise of Flight. I have no idea if/when that will ever change.

Is it that bad? I couldn't catch a RE8 my first mission lol, couldn't close no matter what.

Yes, it is that bad. I've mostly stopped flying the CP aircraft and stick with the French or British aircraft. The German stuff is just horribly slow and, as you point out, can't even catch the Allied two-seaters.

That's unfortunate - I'm getting massacred by Camels in the 1917 German campaign. I can't out dive, out climb, out turn them = me a smoking hole in the ground.

That and the campaign keeps sending my flight of two or three into 7-8 Camels... lol.

Surely that is real life playing out for real regarding the Camels?

Fighting 2 versus 7 or 8 of anything is usually bad news. But he can't extend away in the DVa, which was the saving grace of the Albatros against the highly maneuverable Camel during the war.

We forget that many engagements did not result in anyone getting shot down. Air combat can be like a chess game where the two opponents build up their position, see that they have no decisive advantage over the other player, and agree to a draw. That doesn't happen so often when one of the antagonists has an aircraft that is both faster and more maneuverable than his opponent's.

Playing offline, I have no problem catching RE8s. The Pfalz D.III is one of the handiest planes in the air. If the DVa is modeled on the poor side the Pfalz is certainly modeled on the plus side. IMHO nothing touches a D.VII. Again offline - no problems taking on Nieuport 17s or DH2s in a D.II. No comment yet on the D.III. So no, I really don't think that things are so bad for Germans offline.

Can't comment online as I rarely fly online and I am terrible. It's not fair for me to blame the plane.

The lack of early two seaters makes pre-1917 campaigns problematic for all sides. I start in January 1917. Not perfect as I am facing Breguets about 9 months early but not unacceptable either.

The D.VII or the D.VIIF? They are very different; the former is a pig.

Also, you're right that a bomb-laden Re8 isn't hard to catch. It's when they're clean that the German scouts can barely keep up.

Yeah I was getting ripped to shreds in the late 1917 campaign in the DVa. I couldn't extend from the Camels, so the minute I saw slightly uneven odds, I'd be dead. My AI flight leader would just stupidly fly into them.

So I gave up and started a 1916 campaign with the DII, which is obviously a superior aircraft compared to its contemporaries. Shame about the DVa, I thought it was a legendary aircraft.

I'm not really sure how the DVa is supposed to be faster than the Camel. The DVa comes in, according to what I've seen, around 103 to 105MPH. The Camel had so many different engines, but around 102MPH is the slowest I've seen.

Citing airspeed data without any mention of altitude, rpm, engine types, and aircraft condition only helps to cloud the issue, sorry. I suggest you do some reading from primary sources and see what Camel pilots had to say about its airspeed. You might be surprised.

From a good article worth reading here: http://www.southsearepublic.org/article/...n_flying_corps/

Another thing I need help with is aircraft jumping around. I'm having a tough time aiming at things. I see you tube videos of guys flying smoothly firing accurately. My experience is the aircraft jumping around. Basically looks like the guy in the youtube video with this post. Maybe its my stick? I'm using a X52.

So basically you want the Camel that performs the worst out of the various specs you can find and some of the selected quotes you can find, while the best performing Albatros of the specs that can be had and selected quotes that can be found?

vonKhan, you're going to want to setup response curves for the aircraft. I have one generic one I use for all aircraft, that I then tweak for specific aircraft if the general one doesn't work out for it. I'm not at home right now, but later when I am I should have time to take a few screenshots of a few curves.

It's located in your options, and responses tab.

Did I say that? You are free to draw your own conclusions, of course.

Thanks! Would really appreciate if you could share them. I've been playing around with them but haven't found a suitable solution yet.

I only modify my pitch curves, because that's where I have the most bounce - I leave Yaw and Aileron responses on a linear configuration. Here's my all planes curve, which seems to work fairly well for me - but you may need to adjust it. I also added some other aircraft that I had to modify slightly and one I added a dramatic adjustment to.

I can also send you the responses files if you'd like those, I assume it'd just be a drop into folder and play.

Hope they help!

Thanks! This helps - my DII is much more controllable, and I'll plop this in for the DRI once I get to it.

Salute, NattyIce!

Looks like you know what you're doing in this regard, so please educate me...

The custom response curves that I've done have been very simple--e.g., pulling the entire curve downward a nudge to minimize lift on the elevators. Your curves--like so many others I've seen--appear "S" shaped. Please explain the logic behind this. Obviously the different quadrants mean something?

Thanks in advance.

An S-curve translates into less responsiveness the closer the controller is to the center and more responsiveness the farther away you get from the center.

I wouldn't advise using the same curves for the DII and the DR1, totally different behaviours ( online engine vs rotative engine ) and different use of the controls.

Hi Dumbo,

Like LukeFF said, making the S curve adjusts where the plane's response will be at the joystick's current position. The joystick is linear, so it's inputs will move along the linear line. If you get too jumpy near the center and have difficulty keeping it steady to aim because of the limited throw of PC joysticks then you drag the dot down behind the line on the positive side of the graph. This will make pulling back on your joystick have less input on the digital plane's elevator. Likewise when nosing down, except you want to drag the dot up higher than the linear line to get less input of the joystick.

This helps for aiming closer to the center of the stick while leaving larger throws for pulling full elevator control at the ends of the response graph.

Hope this makes sense.