I tell you what, I wish I'd found this game a long time ago, and I wish it had a film recorder like Aces High- I just had the most intense brawl I've ever had against AI, in all the different sims of all the different eras I've flown.
Leading a flight of four Albatros D.Vs in a bounce on a flight of RE 8 bombers, when, after one of my wingmen gets shot down by a tailgunner, we get bounced ourselves by a flight of Camels. Now, of course, theres no radio comms back then, so the only inkling I have that somethings gone VERY wrong is when I look over my shoulder to see a pair of smoke spirals going down. Theres no icons in this game (unless you fly it in the easy settings), so I didn't know at first if they were my guys or more bad guys going down- until I look up and see a daisy-chain of four Camels rolling over and diving on me.
I pulled up hard to go nose-to-nose with them and kicked the rudder to spoil their aim, them snapped over to go down after them (we were only around 3,000 feet at the start). The Brits split up into two pairs- one pair zooms up while the other breaks down and left. Since I can't climb with a Camel that has a headsart (and don't want to be sandwiched when I stall out), I continue down after the divers. We end up flat on the deck over a German airbase (literally dodging hangars and trucks) and start scissoring and turning, going around a few time before reversing and going the other way. By this point, all four are back on me, and taking turns shooting. Tracers flashing everywhere and the occasional round smacking into my wooden fuselage.
So after about two minutes of dodging, I finally make the leading Camel overshoot. He zooms almost straight up, and before I can even think about it, I go sailing up after him. I catch him almost perfectly inverted, and fire just as I stall out and he is coming over the top of his loop- a two-second burst, and he stops like he hit a brick wall, snaps his nose down 90 degrees and dives straight into the ground. Two of the remaining Camels zoom up to get a bit of alt on me, while the third (probably my victims wingman) stays on me and enters into a scissors. Three or four reversals, and he either tries to take it vertical or disengage- but he pulls up and tries to enter a turn. Hard right rudder, yank back on the stick as hard as I can, and track him across, pumping in rounds from no more than fifty yards out. Both of his right wings rip off just past the strut assembly, and he snap spins into the trees.
The other two are still above me, and I'm slow and vulnerable. I nose down and hug the deck to build my speed back up, and after about 45 seconds, pull up into an Immelman to reengage. They make another nose-on merge, and go into a hard right turn after we pass. I engage, and we start a scissors at about 500 feet. Back and forth, back and forth, trying to get a solution on one and not drift in front of the other. Finally I get behind them both, and vector-roll to get squarely on the tail of the trailer. He pulls into a max-G right climbing turn, I track him, a one-second tracking shot and he spirals in with a smaoking engine and probably a few Maxim bullets lodged in his body. Now its down to one on one.
The final one was almost anti-climactic. After downing the third, reverse to reacquire the remaining Camel. I'm now above him, and he's apparently trying to disengage- but at this point my blood is boiling and I'm foaming at the mouth- he's not going home. I go ino a shallow diving turn, cut him off, and rake him from nose to tail firing from high and right of him. His engine bursts into flames, the top wing snaps off, and down he goes. Suddenly, after what must have been nearly ten minutes of non-stop maneuvering, dodging, throttle jockeying and shooting, the sky is clear and the sudden calm is almost overwhelming. I am literally panting and wiping the sweat off my palms, talking to myself and almost in shock to still be "alive". 15 minutes later, after a low and straight flight (alone) to my home field, I flare and land, still panting.
It was, aside from a few scenarios over the years of WB and AH, the most immersive and intense fight I've ever been in in a sim. Oh, how I wish they had a film viewer so I could watch and see just exactly what happened. I almost ditched before I even got into the fight, I was so sure I wouldn't make it. And I landed with 5 (got one of the RE 8s too).
Was farkin AWESOME!
