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Journal Entry: October 16, 1815
St. Pol-sur-Mer

Just got back from five days of much needed leave and it's good to be back flying. When the old man told me that he was giving me five days of leave I immediately thought of going home. I hadn't been home since Jimmy died and I thought it would be good for me to spend some time with the parents. After spending almost a week home I don't know if I helped or hurt my parent's situation and that troubles me greatly. My father seems to be handling the loss of Jimmy remarkable well, I don't know if that's just good old British pluck or if he's just cut from a different bolt of cloth than my mother. Mother on the other hand, is not handling it well at all. She seemed very uncomfortable around me the whole time, it seemed as if there was a dark cloud hovering over us the entire time. I really feel for Charles who, as a typical fifteen year old, is dying to get aloft to give the Huns a good thrashing for what they did to Jimmy. I pray that this dirty little war is over before he could ever join up. I can only hope that the old saying, 'That time heals all wounds' is true for my mother's sake.

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As always, wonderful reports and stories and letters everyone. Thank you all for sharing them here.

Sous-lieutenant Tremblay's lastest sortie was a recce of the Bosche lines just west of Villers-Carbonnel. He had never seen such a sustained bombardment before. It was in effect as he approached the lines and continued at an unbelievable intensity for the entire 20 minutes of the reconnaissance. He and his G/O actually felt pity for the poor enemy troops down in those trenches. It must have been hell.





(really, in all my time in OFF and WOFF I have never seen this kind of intensity - it was frighteningly awesome)

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Hey Lou,
I've also noticed the magnitude of the barrages when flying above. In some places it looks like the entire front sector is on fire. It really kills the frame-rate even in 1915. I wonder how many CPU cycles are used to make this show. Anyone know if WoFF uses ballistics calculations for those barrages? I've noticed that these barrages slow down my computer more than all the planes up in the air put together. You can tell by flying away from the Front and notice the framerate increase. My reasoning is that those planes are there all the time so the frame rate should be the same for their AI calculations, but take away the barrage and the frame rate increases. Wonder if those barrages can be optimized - reduce CPU cycles? This could help with the 1918 campaigns and not need to reduce air activity to minimum.

Sounds like a good suggestion for a workshop setting scale

Hey MW,
Probably should go to the wish list thread first. Proper channels - you know.

Yep, toss it out there as a wish list suggestion.

Hey, try Alsace in 1918 if your PC struggles with frame rates in sections that have a large ground war ongoing.

This has been asked before but nothing. Instead we get reduced air activity when I, and others perhaps, beleave the ground activity is causing this and realy, do we need it?

Ask again and a few of us will add our approval.

Here is the latest status report, you will notice and entry listed as Unkwn, that means unknown because I didn't have that info when I created the report. Does anybody have any ideas how we can get people interested in this campaign again?

Mud Wasp,
Alsace works just fine for me. It actually runs faster in 1918 than Flanders in 1915 during an offensive. It's a quiet region, where nothing happens and with all the forests your biggest worry is where to put down your wounded bird without crashing.

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Thanks for the updated stats Banjoman, much appreciated. I wish I had any ideas for you on how to increase interest in this campaign, but interest in general around here seems pretty low when it comes to the campaigns and such. Hell, I can't even get interest in a free custom WOFF livery.

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Lederhosen,
I'm with you. all these troops modeled down there ... that must be a drain on CPU and to be honest I haven't seen any of them while flying - trying to fly high to avoid the ground fire. It is a great touch, but should have the option to turn it off to gain frame rate.

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If it is something that can be changed I would definitely ask that it be a choice we can make via the workshop. I would NOT want to lose all the ground activity as it is a very large part of what makes this sim so immersive.

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Lou,
Agreed. We wouldn't want it removed, but made as an option to scale down - and only if it would help with the frame rate, otherwise what's the point? In a few years we may all have computers powerful enough to turn it all back on and even ask for more - like smoke that lingers on long after the barrage is over, small arms muzzle flashes, crew at the aerodromes, birds. The list goes on.

Banjoman,
Thanks for trying to spice it up with new entries. How come there are no entries under "Days Wounded"?
I also have no idea how to make it more interesting. It all depends on the people what they are interested in. Early years are slow so people lose interest quickly. I prefer the early birds that's why I'm still flying. I probably would have been flying a career like this anyways, so to me this is convenient. Having these stats posted every week helps even more. I guess more variety of planes would help this situation immensely - more French 2-seaters anyone?
I suppose tracking your wingman's career and posting his score as well could add to the role playing factor. You're not just responsible for your career but his as well - making sure he survives as long as possible and scores kills that could be posted, maybe along with his medals and promotions. All this could be added to your score. Added bonus is that you wouldn't care that he stole your kill.
Too bad about some of them being stupid.
This obviously wouldn't work for the guys still flying bombers, but eventually everyone will get to fly a fighter and have a wingman. I think there was a challenge like this before to keep your wingman alive as long as possible.
Also, don't forget this is a loooong challenge, so people will lose interest, but maybe new people will join later on when it becomes more interesting.

EIII's

Fullofit, the Days Wounded column is supposed to be when your pilot is wounded you can add the time he has to sit out there. I thought people would like to know how long someone was wounded, but maybe it's a bad idea.

Lou, I would love another one of your skins, but I have no idea what that thing is.

I see. I thought it's the total time spent in hospital for the entire career.