Skysurfer

It actually adds quite a lot if they calibrate the IFLOLS (or whatever system is used on the older Forrestal) specifically for the Tomcat so the hook-to-ye distance is correct, have working ACLS and proper (visible) night lighting. It's also a smaller CV than the THR subclass presenting an additional challenge. Overall I find it pretty essential together with the A-6E and KA-6D AI for the entire Tomcat ecosystem and experience. There's a LOT of cool stuff, missions and scenarios you can do with all of those assets.

I agree! VF-11 is also a perfect fit for the Forrestal. Now they'd need to add VF-14, 44 and 31 and the late to early -A roster will be almost complete. Obviously can't wait for the iconic VF-84 and VF-1 liveries they already teased as well.

At first I did not want to create yet another overly-dramatic and critical topic like this but at this point I would also appreciate some feedback and mainly see what other people think about this. Since the beginning of this year ED have been working on the new missile API and improved AMRAAM aerodynamics and guidence. In one iteration of DCS they were actually fairly decent again but for the better part of 2020 radar guided missiles were completely broken or in a WIP state, changing with every update making you wonder how to employ them and whether they would even guide or not. Given that most of the DCS MP PvP and PvE community are required to be on the open beta branch I find it compeltely unacceptable that the very essence of a modern air combat simulator/game has been broken or not working properly for such a long time. Pre-rework (2.5.6) missiles were at least usable and reliable to some extent and the performance did not change every single patch - Sparrows in particular pretty much behaved fairly close to the charts (7F) and guided fairly reliably - now those have been broken for quite a long time in various patches, including the latest one, even though no one really asked for any AIM-7 changes or upgrades specifically - yet those can be found in numerous recent changelogs. Me personally as well as many others I know have basically "quit" any sort of online air to air flying since we don't find any enjoyment in being "beta testers" and finding out that missile X or missile Y is broken or doesn't guide properly this patch during our sortie. ED should properly test each build and make sure that missiles at least work correctly 90% of the time and don't just go stupid off the rail, not receive any guidence commands or go into some weird lag pursuit like the Sparrows now do. All we ask for is the utmost basic form of Quality Assurance when it comes to pushing out patches. I understand that there can be a bad patch and things that slip through but I don't understand how this can go on for over a year now and not seem to be nearing any finishing line in terms of maturity. At this point I would like to ask ED - what is the current state of the missile API, when will it be officially "done" and when will all main missiles get the CFD rework (akin of the AMRAAM and AIM54 by HB) and be on the newest API? Can we have a guarantee that after this is done there will be no major changes or constant tinkering with particular missiles? Wasn't said API and final AMRAAM iteration supposed to be done by the end of this year at the very latest ? What about the R-27R/T/ER/ET and R-77 rework, applying the same CFD treatment and PN model? I find this to be fairly worrying and make me not play the game as much anymore since there is always the thought of "well, this doesn't work/is bugged currently anyway". Would love to also hear other people's opinion on this.

And the fact I can barely break Mach 1 in a clean Tomcat at angels 30

Here's a screen of said mis-aligned bumpmap texture (both on the A and B). Has been there since release and many livery creators have fixed it since it's a really simple and straightforward fix. Would be cool if the global bumpmap for the necelle could be fixed. Small detail but still a graphical bug. And when can we expect the TCS internals to be textured properly? Currently they are untextured, same as the additional LAU-7's for the 4x AIM9 loadout. I think the Tomcat needs a sort of a "cleanup" patch for these external and internal graphical glitches/issues to bring it up to speed. If you need good reference pictures for the TCS I can provide them.

Plans should be to finish the Tomcat and the Viggen. Once those are done we can discuss future projects. There is still a LOT of work needed for both addons.

End of the year and still nothing? Not even a development state update? Nice one.

Still blows my mind how this has not been implemented yet...

Pretty hyped. Not a helo guy myself but always wanted an Apache in DCS, especially the D model. Fits right into the DCS ecosystem and will be a very valuable asset for bluefor.

Has anyone checked if this has improved? Seems the not being able to break Mach 1 in a Tomcat is still a thing...

It's kind of a bummer since Sparrow's used to work perfectly fine and according to RL charts at one point. Then ED decided to mess with missiles again. Having broken missiles for almost a year now in a combat simulator really blows, not gonna lie.

Still not fixed.

So you have access to the "weapons manual"? Since you keep bringing it up.

Yeah that is sorta strange. The B seems to now have similar issues of going fast... Have to agree sadly, this year in particular has been a rough road to say the least. It doesn#t help that ED is taking over a year to get their missile API together, which, given the current AIM7 and AMRAAM performance still isn't even close to being done. Who even tests missile perf on the team?

Still wonder why transsonic drag would be this high? I thought this was confirmed a bug and supposed to be fixed in this patch?

Good stuff so far! The new liveries and LAU-7 corrections are much appreciated (although the latter haven't been applied to all liveries yet some high viz -B's included). Would love to see the TCS internals be textured and the A having proper pilot and helmet textures for each livery (you can mostly copy over some of them from the B since they are the same squadrons). Haven't tested it too much but glad seing these updates and hopefully early next year we'll se the rest of the -A models, various art and ground physics improvements and the long awaited Forrestal!

The IFLOLS only works with the Hornet, same goes for the groove speeds and geometry calls/grades by the LSO.

They are barely visible during the day and sadly pretty washed out and still glitches during the nigh.

Any news? Another full year with 0 updates and the thing still in EA? Where are the new sounds, the PBR update and various fixes still needed for the cockpit and weapons?

+1 very annoying issue, same for the Hornet.

Well, it'll be missing the TCS and fuel tank pylons (hardlocked) and have earlier type weapons. Dont expect any changes to Jester, obviously.

I sure hope we get proper, white AIM54A textures for the early models and the IRIAF cat. Something that should have been done properly day one.

Good stuff! This is what we love to see from a developer.

All good man! And I agree with what you said. The engine "statement" - well, you either believe me, look at the -402 motor thrust graphs (which are fairly hard to find btw.) or DM me and I see if I can get you in touch with some SME's.

I think this is a great idea. Say, if you bust 8G (to have some buffer) he'll make somre remarks about it.