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Old 08-10-18, 12:42 AM   #18
Sailor Steve
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I'll try not to gush too much, but it's going to be hard.

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Originally Posted by stork100 View Post
1. The dynamic campaign, which provided endless playability and new surprises even after a decade worth of playing, plus the historical authenticity and the fairly realistic representation of the nature of WW1, the missions, squadrons, aircraft etc. At least, it gave the right kind of impression.
I think the Developers at WOFF had RB3D in mind when they started out. The dynamic campaign allows you to start the game in January 1915, seven months before the eindeckers make their appearance. You can get into fights with the enemy at that time, but it's not easy matching two-seaters, especially the poor old BE.2c, which is only outfitted with a rifle. You spend a lot of time patrolling the lines hoping the AA doesn't get you. Assigned missions can include photo-recon and artillery spotting, and you actually witness artillery barrages taking place. I've seen truck convoys on the move. Sometimes you will be informed that due to the weather you won't be flying today. After each mission you go to the squadron board and see who scored kills and who didn't come home.

There is also a very nice AI-pilot mode, not really autopilot because you don't set the plane up (of course they couldn't in real life) but a mechanism that follows the waypoints with a limited time-compression (12x is the maximum). It's handy because some of the flights are pretty long. On the other hand I've read about a couple of die-hards who print out the maps and navigate purely by sight. AI-Pilot is also handy when you are the wingman. I have found it very hard to keep in formation and tend to get lost a lot. With the AI-Pilot you stay where you're supposed to be all the time.

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2. The level of spirit put into the game which was absolutely superb, never seen anything else like it. Very endearing.
Someone said that if you want to fly historically accurate WW1 aircraft, and wand to fight against other humans, you need Rise Of Flight, but if you want to actually experience trying to survive the war WOFF is the only choice.

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3. The aggressiveness of the AI. A significant element missing in more modern flight sims in my opinion, where enemy fighters tend to just fly singly in wide sweeping level turns, essentially waiting to be shot down by the player. In RB3D however, they were very manoeuvrable and would attack very frequently, with a level of unpredictability even for the experienced player.
I haven't had any combat experience yet, but according to WOFF's guidebook the AI makes decisions based on in-game experience. If they think they're losing they might try to form up and run. They do have a 'Workshop' where you can adjust things yourself, including the aggressiveness of the AI (your side and theirs) and the accuracy of the gunfire. I'm not likely to learn much more for myself anytime soon as my OCD has me stuck with several campaigns, all at the beginning of the war. As you can read, neither of my current pilots has even seen combat, and since the Germans are still in Belgium they probably won't for quite some time.

Among the adjustments is the ability to make yourself flight leader all the time or make it according to rank, so you find yourself playing wingman a lot.

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It was partly for these reasons that I never got Rise of Flight, as these ingredients all seemed to be distinctly lacking, at least to the level of RB3D. That combined with the whole having to be online thing, continually having to buy the game etc, the trend of modern games that I refuse to interact with.
I completely agree. While ROF is very pretty it has nothing that I really want from a WW1 combat sim.

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I already have CFS3 so may well think of giving this a go. Since you've come from Red Baron, and probably appreciated it for the same reasons I do, I'd be interested in how you might compare the two. Understanding that it is its own game with its own unique character of course.
I described WOFF to a friend who is a big RB3D fan as 'Red Baron 5'. Yes, I skipped 4 because I think it's that sophisticated. As I said, I can't stop gushing. It's everything I could have hoped for and more.
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Last edited by Sailor Steve; 08-14-18 at 12:42 AM.
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