Interesting Observations in WOFF UE

This might be a nice place to put interesting observations in the WOFF UE. If there is a thread somewhere else then Admin can feel free to move or delete this thread.

I was flying Albatros D-Va for Seefrosta II and landed after finishing a great mission. I like to land ahead of squad mates so I can watch them land. Here comes poor B Emil Friederich von Massow. I always wonder how he got his 'ticket' to fly! He missed the approach, again!

I have never witnessed a 'go around' before. Anyone else see this? It was pretty realistic!

Yep, that may happen. See also here: AI Missed approach

quite often actually

Whats missing in the sim is crash on landing, like many did. Would be a cool feature

I have see a lot of crashes on landing in WOFF UE, especially "nose up" crashes especially in Winter when the landings are even harder for the AI.

Probably can be done with tweaks to some numbers in the simulation.xml file. Especially, these lines:

runwayLaneMinWidth_met="15"
runwayBuffer_met="100" - shortening this to about 50 or so maybe will cause the planes to land even if there is not enough runway space. The AI veterans and aces could probably handle it, but I suspect novice AI pilots would have a hard time.
min_descentAngle_deg="4.5"
max_descentAngle_deg="6" - try up to 15 degrees or more may cause rough landings.

Interesting to me anyway is how similar the landscape is to Thirdwire's First Eagles 2. Do they use the same graphics engine?

Not even close.

FE2 uses DX10. CFS3 originally used DX8, it is only with AnKor's Shaders has CFS3 managed to move up to DX9.

Remove AnKor's Shaders from WOFF and CFS3 goes straight back to DX8 again.

Besides FE2 uses the Strike Fighters/Strike Fighters 2 engine while WOFF UE as mentioned before uses the CFS3 engine or resuming, they have totally and completely unrelated game engines.

Nobody goes around more often than I do... Something about that ground being hard and my body being soft...

Well, I put up a screen shot of one of our lads with his rifle trained on me after I came bouncing in all shot up, stopping right before I kissed a tree.

Didn't see that coming. :P

I have an interesting observation or two. I just flew my first WOFF UE Mission ever... finally (1st day order here, too...) I did a Quick Scenario involving combat. Now I have my screen handle for a reason - I can't fly for diddly-do and you may as well just shoot me! Just no time to get much practice, I'm afraid.

So I took the QS where 3 Gothas with 4 covering fighters attack our airfield. I wanted my brother-in-law to see the Gothas. My observations:

1. I can't fly.
2. If I kinda figure out how to fly, I can't shoot! Though to be honest, twice a Gotha disappeared, and I never saw where it went. I was by myself, I had to break off because he was shredding me, and when I wheeled back around one of the three was gone. No signs of distress, no smoke, no indication whatsoever that any of my bullets found their mark. This is not a complaint. This is amazing, this is the way it was I'm sure.
3. For some reason, at the start of the scenario, I'm all by myself - 4 of my buddies are off my right wing a good ways, and they get pounced by the Hun escorts. So I go after the Gothas! (The one time I tried to join them I took a dirt nap almost instantly!)
4. I can't fly, and I can't shoot!
5. Gotha gunners CAN shoot!
6. The sky, the sun, the clouds, the ground, the shadows, the atmospheric haze... Simply amazing. Every time I say it, OBD makes it better - There is no other sim I've ever had that gives me this much of a feeling of actually being in the air.
7. Maybe I can't fly, and I can't shoot, but I CAN glide - I managed to get my Pup back on the ground with the engine dead after the Gothas put a hole in my fuel tank (twice). Fortunately in that scenario the airfield is handy so I didn't have to worry about the infamous fences!

OBD, what a job you've done!


Oh, and Blackard, I'd love to see that screen shot. Went looking for it and couldn't find it. is it on the screenshot thread for WOFF UE?

Much thanks!

I have to laugh today... even I managed to land tail up this morning..the whole base was laughing at me and my Be12

Sure thing.

I also found out that you can blow up hangers when you crash near them. LOL

Wow, that is interesting, because close bomb hits (12,5kg bombs) do not cause almost any visible damage. One Nupe is probably equivalent to 1x100 kg bomb .

Now we know where the Japanese idea/tactic of Kamikaze during WWII came from

Blackard, thanks for the pic, that's a good one!

lederhosen, I hope you were laughing at my post - I try to make them funny in this situation!

Now, perhaps the hangar damage due to a nearby aircraft crash has more to do with firey fuel going everywhere vs percussion from a small bomb blast. Or it could just be detail overlooked in the damage modeling!

landed on my first runway EVER. Droglandt......Sop tripe 2g. Will post a pic if I can remember.....

Blackard, that's funny! Look at those ground crew wheeling that other airplane away from the fire.

Today I noticed that ground units have headlights! I landed after a late mission flying a Pfalz D-IIIa and noticed twinkling lights in the distance. (I keyed the I.D. labels to 'on' then 'ctrl-tab' keyed the ground units) Don't those 'wasserkopfs' know there is a war going on? Turn off those lights! (just kidding, Admin... it's cool!)

This was interesting. I apparently got shot in the Altimeter. Was showing me at 500 ft, as I landed. I even pulled out the HUD gauge to check it.

You wouldn't think that the programing, damage modeling would go that deep to where instrument failures can occur. Have not seen that in any game. Finding some really cool things in this game.

I suppose the 450 ft is ASL (Altitude Over Sea level) of the airfield, so no failure.

+1 WOFF does not model instrument failures even with bullet hits on the instrument panel. I posted a wish list on that a while back.



I did manage to get randomly either zero or one crash by adjusting these values.

I thought about that but it stopped at 450 when I was at 450. I then dropped another 450' to land. It also zeroed out on every other takeoff and landing Prior to that.

If they don't do damage modeling, then I think I broke the game. LOL

I'll check it again. New to the pusher (which surprisingly, I really love flying), but that is also why I was watching it closely; to judge those first few landings.

The way I fly, it's more then likely me. I'll do the George Cosdanza: "It's not you, it's me"...

Well wish harder, dammit. It would be kinda cool though.

WOFF UE's engine is based on CFS3 which was released in 2003. That's 14 years old mates!! It's amazing what we are getting out of the sim now. I don't know how much we can wish for here but the OBD devs never fail to amaze, not to forget the contributions from the modders. Who knows, your wishes may come true!

Altitude.

I'd forgotten that we moved across the channel into France. I auto piloted the trip while I ate. First mission landing is when I noticed. LOL

Strange thing was that it stopped at about 450 when I was still in the air, and didn't change all the way down. That's what confused me.

And agree, Robert. Game is amazing already. I'm having a ball.

No parking, no problem. Just pull up an ocean.

Was trying to skim my wheels off the water and landed right there. Engine cut just as if I'd finished a flight.

I'll have to try landing on one of the lakes!

@Blackard:
Altimeter QNH set properly .

What are the chances this claim will be confirmed?

Well, the way I read it, it reflects the "have filed claims" portion of the statement and has been denied as "0 ballon destroyed"

Isn't that the essence of "Fog of war"!

Wait a minute Robert. Does it mean his claim of 0 balloons has been denied, meaning he shot down more than 0? Or has his claim been confirmed and he indeed hasn't shot a single balloon and just needed a confirmation?
I feel a song coming on about 99 balloons, or is that bottles on the wall ...

No no. It's a drawing of a balloon 0. It's like "one of these" a balloon destroyed. If it was an aircraft it would have a tiny plane in front of it so that things don't get too complicated

Remember, we are talking about the Huns here. Not too bright.

I saw a neat detail today. Flying in Jasta 40s I flamed a Nieuport 23 at low level. He landed. He didn't get out, poor guy... just slumped over! Then the cowling melted and the wings fell off! On another sortie I knocked the lower port wing off of a N23. The wing flipped through the air with the 'V' strut attached! I had the satisfaction of knowing I served the Fatherland (to quote out of the movie 'The Blue Max') for I didn't get credit for either 'kill'.

Nice Arup. I killed an EI the other day by blowing its port wing off. I noticed that from up high, you can see the wing spinning down so I followed the wing down to see if it landed, or just vanished. Been wondering about that. Would be very cool to see the wing on the ground, a roof, or hanging in the trees. Not sure it's possible, or worth the effort for them to have included, but if I find one I'll post up a screenie.

This is pretty awesome. As I was coming in, circling the field ready to land at a new base, the "bone yard" with all the cannibalized planes.

Totally unnecessary, and totally immersive. Any guy that served in Marine Aviation knows how often we cannibalized off of down birds so as to keep us flying. Bubble gum and band aides!

Note the three mechanics by the truck screwing off, shooting the breeze.

Really, where else do you see this sort attention to detail and authenticity?

S! Blackard, WOW! I've never seen that (boneyard)! I've flown in Marine Jastas before and even fly around to take in the scenery to familiarize myself with the landmarks. I'll lose altitude to see what aircraft are on local airfields. I've never seen a boneyard. Simply amazing! Thanks for posting that. As far as bits and pieces flying off aircraft... I've seen them get to ground level but they disappear. I guess the weeds are very tall! S!

ARUP, you need to be using the Populated airfield mods to see the boneyards. It's real easy to run that mod now because the mod authors have created a Consolidated airfield mod.

Depends on the value of "0 balloon"

"0 balloon" is a highly interpretive mathematical quantity it is possible that his confirmation may exist in a quantum state where it is both confirmed and denied at the same time since, in any rational universe, the total resulting value of a claim for "0 balloon destroyed" upon assessment fulfills the criteria for both confirmed and denied states of "0 balloon".

Proof:

if "0 balloon claimed" is confirmed, 0 balloon is credited.
also if "0 balloon claimed" is denied, 0 balloon is credited.


What you have here is your classic Schrodingers Boolean Quantum Zero Balloon Conundrum, it's quite well known in the more obscure fields of hypothetical drunken mathematics. Easily solved by applying the "Length of 0 String" law whereby any piece of string can be said to have a length that is equal to twice of half its' total length such that, in abstractia, every piece of string of indeterminate length has the same length until measured by more rational examination.

The sad thing is I actually understood that

.

JimmyBlonde, it's interesting that your postulation assumes the balloon is a balloon at all, in much the same way that Schrodinger assumed the cat. Until the balloon is observed by all concerned to be, in fact, a balloon it might just as well be a waffle iron. This of course does not disprove the remainder of your cited conundrum, with which I happen to agree. As to your “Length of 0 String” law, you have overlooked the rather glaring observation that when dividing said piece of string in half, you can then divide that half in half, and then that half in half again, and so on into perpetude, thus proving that every piece of string contains an infinite number of halfway points and therefore must be infinitely long as no finite length of anything can contain an infinite number of points, halfway or otherwise.

Now if you'll excuse me I must locate in which alternate universe I have left my infinite number of monkeys with their respective typewriters as I have 0 waffle irons for which claims need to be written.

.

I suppose I could use a multi dimensional waffle iron to fold the string in half but irrational waffle irons of indefinite potential dimensions are difficult to come by. The staff at Kmart get angry and confused when I ask for things like that.

Seems simple to me. George claims to have shot down zero balloons. If anyone else was flying around and saw him not shoot down the balloon, it will be confirmed. I don't expect him to get much of a medal out of it, though.

Bob Newhart:
An infinite number of monkeys sat in front of an infinite numbers of typewriters in an experiment to prove that given time, one of the monkeys would type a masterpiece. One day an observer spotted one monkey typing and excited, called his colleague over to see, and read out aloud what the monkey had typed - "To be or not to be, that is the gazornanplat".

.

hee hee, funny Sandbagger. You know, life is a series of gazornanplats, many of which go unreffalmorded.



Jimmy, go to the K-Mart on Heisenberg Avenue and ask for Werner, he can help you out. In fact, there was a sale on IWIOIPDs just last week, they were half off.

.

And, Gentlemen....If you are willing to buy all that, I have some swamp land in Florida that might interest you!!

This thread is quickly going to hell in a hand basket!

As an aside Lou, I think Jimmyblonde is a candidate for the BOC don't you think!

.

Robert, the man is more than qualified from the looks of it --- poor sod.

.

If that is a motion, Lou, then I second it. If this isn't the greatest bunch of loonies on the internet, I'll eat my hat. The small one, not the big one.

Yep, but if a balloon is cut by Occam's Razor in the woods, will time fold back upon itself?

That's the stuff that really matters.

I tried that but this happened and I lost my security deposit.

Look, we have proof enough that JimmyBlonde is a cylinder shy of a rotary. I say get the cricket bat and stock the bar! I second Robert Wiggins' motion and RAF_Louvert's agreement to it (after all, Lou is the President). Seldom have I seen such exquisite barminess the first time a man shows up. And, like Sandbagger, I both got it and enjoyed the heck out of it. Bully, man! Bully!

JimmyBlonde, if you think you have what it takes to be one of the daft, the touched, the Barmy, perhaps you should follow the link, review the qualifications, and submit a formal application to the BOC.

As an aside to Sandbagger, I have quoted Newharts' phrase more than once - when I was a kid we had "The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back" om a vinyl 33-1/3 rpm LP. Do you remember "The Grace L. Ferguson Airline and Storm Door Company?" Dem wuz da days! How about about the cop trying to talk down the jumper? "Now where the h*** did he go?"

And before I forget, welcome, JimmyBlonde, don't recall seeing you around before.

He's in!!! Second it, third it, fourth it. Good stuff. Hey Lou, do you have any of the BWOC BWOC BWOC pins left? This oxymoron (moron?) of dividing by zero really has me confussed!!! Dammit. This sim is hard enough without this kind of lightheadedness going around. Oh well, it's always something. SW

Aaah yes - Abe Lincoln (Well you keep getting it wrong), The Driving Instructor (Yes officer, she was just telling me about it), The Bus Driver School (Just roll down the window and crawl right out Mrs Selkirk), USS Codfish (My door is always open), Introduction of Tobacco (Hey Harry, you wanna pick up the phone, yeah, it's nutty Walt again) and The Shell on the Beach (Willard the Police Officer) - still got them all

Bob Newhart. I loved the one about the driving instructor.

"You were doing 50... In your driveway... In REVERSE!"

"What did he do before letting you select reverse - Well, besides praying let's say".

The best TV sketch ever: Newhart as the psychologist who gives Mo Collins two simple words to take out of the office and put into her life in order to defeat her phobia: STOP IT!!!

Flying in Jasta 5 to escort two Rumplers the formation was attacked en route by SE5as then after dispatching one head-on using ~100 rounds flew to aid Rumplers as the other members of the flight were busy with the other two SEs. A group of striped nose Camels (RNAS-11-D) were attacking the Rumplers and I was able to lure two away. They gave chase. One turned away slowing down. I rolled to split ess and reverse direction praying the wings don't fold, caught the slowing Camel and let him have it. The pilot jumped out! His name was found to be 'Punk' something or other. I engaged the remaining one and managed to get him hedge hopping just behind our lines. He was David Vincent Hall. I have never seen a pilot 'jump' before!!!

Is that a crew member or a piece of linen shot away from the wing you sight is aimed at?

I've always thought it was the pilot. When it happened, this is years ago in OFF, I practically jumped out of my seat that a crewman jumped out. It was like OFF smacked me in the head with it's realism. SW

Looks to me like a piece of linen.

It looked like a crewman in that knee to chin tuck like seen in the CF Sim. If the OFF sim doesn't have a pilot jumping out in the game then I guess it was linen.

Visually now maybe, but, and this is now quite some time ago, as I recall it fell by me like a body, say in the way that it reacted and moved. So I paused and saved it as a crewman abandoning ship. And like I said it gave me quite a start that OFF was so inclusive of something that detailed. But age has not done me any wonders, so I could be wrong. No worries. SW

One of the things I have noticed that impressed me the most was that some enemy aircraft will try to "fox" you by spinning if you get on their tail in a fight. Either that or they will just run for their lives, the AI are very keen on survival but you will also see some that are really "out for blood" so you never know what to expect.

The AI logic is incredible.

I think you can still see the pilot in the plane.

Hi Steve,
Yeah I think it is linen.
I zoomed in on the shot and the gunner is obvious but you can make out the top of the pilots head behind the right rear cabane strut.

WOFF does have crew jumping from aircraft on occasion.

Still a good shot though

Yep, that was evidently pilot's shopping list or toilet paper .

Have you considered that in case of Arup's Camel (at least) it could have been a gnome and not a person? Mr. Gnome Monosupape seems to always be the first one to be tossed overboard to lighten the load. In Seve's case it would be Mr. Beardmore to jump the ship, judging by the rest of the crew being oblivious to this act of self-sacrifice.

And that Sir, is another good reason for not tail gateing one with your freshly painted new Albatros

Which brings up an interesting ? Has anyone received damage to their craft from flying debris from another craft?

Yes, but only when the rest of the plane was still attached to the debris. Does blast damage from close by exploding balloon count?

Blast damage does happen but loose debris I'm not sure of. I have never received damage from it but often felt I should have.

I'll go with it. Like I was saying it was early on with my experience with OFF and I was astounded by the detail. SW

I've never been hit by debris but have certainly ducked from it... often!

I saw search lights for the first time yesterday.I even flew through them to see what effect, if any, there is. There is! My aircraft was lit up and it was a little difficult to see. Thank goodness they were friendly search lights.

Do-si-do, dosado, or dos-à-dos is a basic dance step in such dances as square dance, contra dance, polka, various historical dances, and some reels. It was also popular among French aviators during WWI.

Fullofit, interesting fandango you've got going there! Hmm. That's flying in close formation for sure. Question, I have not been able to get an image to post which makes the forum a lot less interesting to me. I follow the path of; Use Full Editor, Attachment Manager, Select a file to attach, Done, Post Reply, , , , And no image will post. I don't use the forum with phone or pad so the new 'improvements' on the forum are of no use to me. So if you have any suggestions on loading an image let me know. Thanks mucho, SW

Hi Steve, I can't post with my iPad either - response window doesn't show up. I have to do it on normal computer. Up to recently I couldn't post normal images either, only attachments until I've read post from CyBerkut's in the other thread:
forum layout weird???
The only difference is where he says to copy the image link in preview doesn't work for me, so what I do is I post with just attachment (through the Attachment Manager). Copy the link by right-clicking once I see it in the forum, edit my post and insert with the "insert image link" button since now I have the link and then just repost. Hope this works for you.

Fences sure are deadly when making forced landings. I've not survived one yet! OTOH, my pilots seem to always escape captivity even if severely injured when downed in enemy lines!

I lost my four victory guy the other day. He was sneaking up under an RE two seater and I mean dead up on center from below. That observer still got my guy. He must have had a whole in the floor in order to poke the gun barrel at my pilot. Poor sod... he roasted all the way down from over 2000 meters! It's too bad the game doesn't allow the use of known 'blind spots' or am I missing something?

System failures occurring during flight:

I'm not aware of the Albatros D.III having any historical proclivity for spontaneous combustion but, in my last mission, two aircraft from my flight burst into flames for no apparent reason. (I also suspect that A flight lost another machine to similar causes)

As if I don't have enough bloody problems without this! I'd almost sooner risk a firing squad for refusing to fly after seeing those two kites go down.

Does this ever happen to anyone else? I know some types were prone to catching alight in the air but I never heard of it being a problem with the Albatros. The few system failures I've had were all simple engine failures so far, I hope my plane never decides it wants to be a meteor.

All two-seaters do of course have blind spots as they had in real. No one is shooting through the floor. Observers also do not shoot while under g-forces or too heavy manoeuvring etc., neither your observer nor AI. If the observers gun can aim downwards past the fuselage, they will do it of course. "Dead up from center" can also be a bit subjective, since you are moving and they are moving and one always can be slightly off the center for a moment.
BTW. blind spots and quality of observers, hitting or missing and shooting or not under g-forces etc. is for the player, flying two-seaters exactly the same as for AI. So another example of experiencing things sometimes subjective is that there are sometimes complaints about AI two-seaters sniping. They are not, but they are firing at you with the purpose to hit you. If flying somewhat after him, realtively to them you are slow and hardly moving, if not keep moving, trying to make it hard for them to train their guns on you. OTOH there are sometimes complaints that the own observer with the very same AI is not hitting a thing. So very subjective although the very same AI. Of course observers also have different skill levels.

Regarding system failures. Some engines were more prone for failure than others, but that it can happen sooner or later to any engine, is how it was. Also what kind of failure. I think in Ace-Pilot's case it was just bad luck. The next 50 flights there won't possibly happen anything

Creaghorn;

This may be subjective but I have noted, more frequently than not, that if I fly at constant full throttle for extended periods of time, I experience engine failures more frequently. Not sure if this is built into WOFF or not. Just a personal observation and thought.

I hope so, either that or Jasta 5 might mutiny if this rate keeps up.

Thanks for explanation Creaghorn! I have read of pilots sneaking up on the two seaters. I just haven't been able to do it, yet! One of these days... I really tend to avoid those pesky two seaters or shoot at them from a ridiculously long range anymore.

I have seen some aircraft burn for no reason, too. Maybe their pilots didn't understand a 'system failure' is happening. I have witnessed squad mates fly away (and return or attempt to return home. I did this by 'tagging' them with 'Alt Tab' key.) so figured they must be a little more savvy and experienced enough to know when it is time to try and get machine attended. Whenever I get a 'system failure' I kill the engine immediately. So far, my guys have a 100% success rate of escaping captivity. Don't ask me why! I do have some Irish lineage, lol.

It can be done. Sometimes I've been able to make a full pass at a 2 seater, my guns a blazing, and they don't respond until I come around a second time. Maybe I caught the rear gunner sleeping? Maybe he was in shock and terrified when I first "came out of nowhere" at him? Who knows? But they always wake up unless I get so lucky as to kill them in the first slashing attack.

Might I also suggest that you don't attack two seaters alone. I let my wingmen approach for the back while I make slashing attacks from the high rear quarter. It takes at least some of the heat off of me by diving up the rear gunners time on who he's aiming for. That will improve your chances significantly, but nothing is a guarantee!