Over Flanders Fields phase 2 released!

[Egan]

Originally Posted by GlobalExplorer

Has anybody found how I can reduce the number of missions per day? I found 3 a bit too much on a regular basis.

I go to the workshop and switch the campaign advance button to manual so I only fly the missions I want to .

Originally Posted by GlobalExplorer

Is it just me or are the new planes in phase2 really looking that much better? I am finding planes like the Camel, SE5A, Albatros not very impressive when compare with the new entrants like Fokker EIII, DVII, Pfalz III, Sopwith Pup and Nieuport 17.GE

The Camel is still the king as far as I'm concerned. Never liked the Albatri so I can't really comment on them. The Pup I like and the DH2 is fun. Haven't had the time to fly the Noops or the Pfalz yet. I really don't like the E111 but that is down to personal taste more than any problems with it.

There are still a lot of Aircraft to come, I think. Hopefully we will get the Morane(Sp?) makes, the BrisFit and (Please, please, please,) the Dolphin and Snipe.

One of the things I'm enjoying is the sound of other peoples guns in the distance during a Dogfight. Very evocative.

I have a question actually. How do I view an enemy anircraft? I know you have to lock it up but I can't seem to remember how to do it. F4 takes me to player/target view but I don't know how to switch to the bad guy.

Thats one thing IL2 has - a great view system. I'd love it in CFS3.

[Biggles]

There is so much I don't know about phase 2 yet..... so I have some questions:

1.Historical aces? Does that mean that you may meet real fighter aces from the war, and if it's true, do they have authentic "skins" on their aircrafts?

2.Someone mentioned the Bristol Fighter. Historically, that one had a gunner behind the pilot. Is this so in this mod, and if yes, may you take that position?

3.Which new planes have been added?

4.Any big offensives as they promised? Like the battle of Somme,Verdun,Ypres(the 3 of the battles of Ypres?). And if yes, how does the player get some information about it?

The best plane from phase one was, if you ask me, the S.E 5. Superb aircraft! Fast, deadly, and could take a real beating. I never got to play the german campaign.....the mod would always break down then, and I had to reinstall it....

[GlobalExplorer]

Originally Posted by Egan

[I go to the workshop and switch the campaign advance button to manual so I only fly the missions I want to .

Thanks will try .. sounds like what I was looking for.

The Camel is still the king as far as I'm concerned. Never liked the Albatri so I can't really comment on them. The Pup I like and the DH2 is fun. Haven't had the time to fly the Noops or the Pfalz yet. I really don't like the E111 but that is down to personal taste more than any problems with it.

Wasnt it that in real life, too, that the allied pilots found (to their embarassment) that the EIII was inferior to their planes in most respects, and the only tiny thing that set it apart was the syncronized machine gun?

I love the Pfalz, mostly for the shark like looks of it, and its a sturdy, well balanced plane without weaknesses. Have shot down several SE5As and Camels with it. The Neuport 17 and Sopwith Pup are my fav allied planes, as they seem to be a real joy to fly. Those planes can do incredibly turns on the palm of a hand. You only have to do a half roll and use full rudder to turn around instantly. I also like the option to add LePrieur Rockets to give them some nice firepower, albeit it may be a bit on the unrealistic side.

For eveyone who thinks about downloading this mod heres a link to some nice screenshots:

http://www.overflandersfields.com/Sc...ots/index.html

[Egan]

Originally Posted by Biggles

There is so much I don't know about phase 2 yet..... so I have some questions:

1.Historical aces? Does that mean that you may meet real fighter aces from the war, and if it's true, do they have authentic "skins" on their aircrafts?

Yes and yes. Not all the Aces are it in yet from what I gather but many are.

2.Someone mentioned the Bristol Fighter. Historically, that one had a gunner behind the pilot. Is this so in this mod, and if yes, may you take that position?

Not in it yet, although the Bristol scout with its silly side mounted gun is there. The rear gunner positions are possible in the RE8 and the Halb so I'm guessing ti will be possible in the BrisFit when they release one.

3.Which new planes have been added?

Quite a few. Off the top of my head: the Pup, a whole bunch of Noops, the Bris scout and the DH2 for the allies. Eindekker, the Pfalz and a whole bunch of others for the Germans. Can't remember them all.

4.Any big offensives as they promised? Like the battle of Somme,Verdun,Ypres(the 3 of the battles of Ypres?). And if yes, how does the player get some information about it?

Apparently so, although I haven't played a campaign enough to notice this yet. The front lines move as the war goes on, or so I've heard. Newspapers pop up in the camapign now and again if anything historically interesting happens.

Originally Posted by GlobalExplorer

Wasnt it that in real life, too, that the allied pilots found (to their embarassment) that the EIII was inferior to their planes in most respects, and the only tiny thing that set it apart was the syncronized machine gun?

Yeah, it was the gun on the Eindekker that made the difference. I was just reading last night about how quickly the Germans copied the idea from the French: French kite with new gun gets shot down and the pilot didn't get a chance to destroy it. 24 hours later it was being taken apart in a workshop. Two weeks later it was being sent out to front line units - now that is fast!

[Sailor Steve]

The 'French guy' was Roland Garros. He was flying a Morane-Saulnier 'L' parasol, with no interrupter gear but metal deflector plates to keep bullets from hurting the propellor. He wasn't shot down, but suffered a mechanical failure.

Anthony Fokker knew of existing patents from 1913, but he was the first to make it work properly.

[NeonSamurai]

Yep only problem with that design was it had a tendancy to hammer the propeller off, i belive thats exactly what happened when he went down

[GlobalExplorer]

Still a beautifully simple solution for the problem isn't it?

[NeonSamurai]

Ya if you like your bullets getting deflected all over the place

[GlobalExplorer]

I read somewhere gun on the Morane had a synchronization mechanism, but it was far from perfect - hence the need for armor on the propellor blades. so it might not have been as radical as it seems.

[Egan]

Was it not A Morane that Garros was flying when the Germans got their hands on it?

Heck of a career I've got just going just now boys. Flying a DII over Flanders at the start of Bloody April - 5 confirmed kills in five flights so far. The best one was against a pair of Noops at 8000 feet. It was beautiful; heavy cloud and Archie barking merrily away. I hit the Frenchie with a quick blast and he started to smoke as he roared off. I turned after him, lined him up and before I got another shot off he just exploded right in front of me. I though it had to be Archie but I got the credit for it. It was cool, a delay of about twenty seconds before he torched.

I checked my stats afterwards. I hit him with 5 rounds! 5! Sometimes I've pumped every round I had into a crate only to watch it get away.

I had a terrifying fight right over the trenches as well in heavy rain against a bunch of Sopwith Tripes. I can well understand the high regard the German pilots held those RNAS squadrons in now. Wow, those things are difficult to get a bead on. They twist and turn like nothing else out there especially comapred to some of the other craft the Allies are flying at the time like the DH2. I ended up ditching in a field on my side of the lines...

[MobyGrape]

Sopwith trip is my main ride
http://www.aviation-history.com/sopwith/triplane.html

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Egan

Was it not A Morane that Garros was flying when the Germans got their hands on it?

Yes. I mentioned earlier that it was a Morane 'L' parasol.

I like your story. Now that you can fly from the beginning of the war I'm planning on getting it as soon as I can.

[GlobalExplorer]

I am having problems to stick with any campaign.. there is always something I dont like (plane, skins flying time, opposition). So far I had the best missions with Jasta 22, starting with PfalzIII in 11/1917, and I could score 4 aerials in three missions. I also flew some missions with an AlbIII in early 1917 but I am having problems getting comfortable with any version of the Albs because of the inferior skins and the structural problems of the airframe. I also found the Nieuport 17 to be a very hard opponent because I cannot get behind them, but thats of course realistic.

Does anybody know why the suadron data is scrambled? I would like to make some changes to plane availability but it seems OFF team wont let me ..

[Biggles]

Wow, everyone should start posting their "OFF stories" here. It would be awsome to see what people live through over no-mans-land, since it's not a scripted game.

[Egan]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Yes. I mentioned earlier that it was a Morane 'L' parasol.

I like your story. Now that you can fly from the beginning of the war I'm planning on getting it as soon as I can.

I knew I read it somewhere..:p

My career goes on. A couple of washouts without the Allies even being sighted but that is life I suppose.One scary lone wolf mission above Arras as well against 4 Noop 17s; got one of them but his mate shot me up so badly I had to cut my losses and run. Just made it back to base and no more. My claims are up to 7 now and I got awarded the iron Cross and promoted to OberLeuntant. On the downside my Wingman is missing in action....

I was never keen on the Albs before but I seem to have been doing well enough in the D2.

GlobalExplorer: I don't know anything about the Squadron data. I know that they intend all of this sort of thing to be modable at some point but perhaps they are just not comfortable with that yet seeing as there will be far, far more stuff added in Phase 3 when that arrives. As for the skins, I like them well enough myself but perhaps - if your computer can handle it - you should activate the 2048 x 2048 Hi-res skins and try them out. You can do this through the cfs config you will find in the OFF folder.

I think the secret to the Albs is to ease off against more nimble opponents and get a height advantage whenever you can. Noop 17s will outturn you all day if they can and it is very difficult to keep up with them unless you pull right back on the throttle and wait it out. a tactic I've been trying with them is to hang just above and hit them when the are on the Apex of a climb before they pull away to the side. I think most of my kills in this campaign are Noops of various sorts. The problems really begin when one of them gets on your tail...not much to do except splitarse around the sky and hope....

Biggles; I'm still going to do an AAR at some point. I've got a few screenies I need to get around to posting as well.

That is one of the things I really like about this game, though; stories do emerge that are different for everyone.