Bit of Bad Luck..

Don't normally post mission accounts, but this one made me jump..

RFC 56, 1917, pilot with 8 missions, over the front patrol, assignment completed, nothing to report, heading for home field. Nice weather, I'll enjoy the completion of the flight.

All of a sudden, the SE5 engine revs down and quits at about 8,000 ft. OK..I'm not bad at "dead stick" flying, so I'll glide back, get as far as I can, and put her down in friendly territory.

Then out of nowhere..rounds start whizzing by..I was so unaware, I nearly jumped out of my chair..the a/c is getting shot up, my pilot, is hit, and health drops to 47%.

I nose the "glider" down in a steep decent but this AI Jasta pilot is hammering the SE5 and not giving an inch..and now I'm thinking what happened to "letting a lame duck off the hook, mate?" As I got farther away from the front he finally turned back. The WOOF AI is terrific.

More immersed then usual, not wanting to lose this pilot, I eventually put down in a field

"Immersion" sneaks up on you?

One thing I learned early on about WOFF is that it isn't ROF. No matter where you go in WOFF, there is always something going on, whether you see it or not. That is what makes WOFF so immersive, it puts you in the cockpit of an aircraft during the great war! If you know anything about piloting a WWI aircraft, it should be this, there is no relaxing, your head should be on a constant swivel. You seemed to have learned the hard way without it being too hard. Even when I am over my home field, getting ready to land, I still look all around. By the way, if I were you, I would jump on that curious horse and gallop back to my airfield.

+1 my hand is always on my Stick ha ha,but i agree totally Seamus take your eyes away for a second and your history,im swiveling for wingmen,ground fire,scanning the skys etc...one full mission with no accelerated time and im knackered,how the Airmen from all sides did it in the Great war beggers belief.Playing first OFF with HITR and now WOFF it honestly really bought home to me what these incredible men achieved,and since then ive brought No Parachute,open Cockpit,Winged victory and Sagittarius Rising,4 fantastic books well worth anyones Time

^ My thoughts exactly. RoF is beautifully done sim - great FM, sights/sounds/etc - but the immersion factor is SO much higher in OFF/WOFF, IMO.

The AI is a big part of this - you really get the sense of being in a war in WOFF. All the different flights you run into are pursuing their own agendas - to what extent you factor into those agendas is largely up to you/the AI's response. RoF AI seems to suffer from a "fight to the death" mentality that sorta ruins the feeling for me somewhat.

This is the same concept that makes the "Close Combat" so much fun - you really got the sense that those little sprites crawling around your screen *actually* wanted to stay alive!

I would guess the sounds in WOFF are immersive and great too ;-)

All great points..

I have been flying OFF and now WOFF for years. Well versed in the precautions to take.

It's just that the engine quit almost simultaneously with being attacked..ten seconds prior there was no around me that I could see (no aids used), and as posted I was now thinking about landing.

This sim is just provides tons of enjoyment!!

Any landing you can walk away from... Nicely written up, I'm looking forward to the front!

Sounds like he was above you the whole time. I've been bounced in similar situations. You're very lucky, I've lost two pilots where a German dived on me, fired and destroyed my plane before I even knew he was there or had a chance to react. Last time, by the time it even occurred to me to take evasive action, I was already burning.