SgtPappy

It was stated by Hiromachi in this thread or another that no time frame can be offered at this time. It is still very early.

In the restricted missions, the MiG-21's should only be getting R-60's. Not R-60M's. Both are all aspect but the M's are much better. The response to this is shown below: Now if the reds are actually getting R-60M's and the blues are not getting AIM-9P5's, then that's a whole different story.

This is incredible. I am only getting more hyped for your Crusader! Any chance you can share these documents with us? I'd like to learn more but I understand if you can't since if it's paid for or you have an NDA.

Hey that's awesome news! I had no idea the Crusader had this capability at all. Sounds like the radar screen would have to be switched between a warning mode and combat modes. Not too detrimental as the radar screen would primarily be only used for night flying and the use of SEAM on the AIM-9G. Sometimes the things you learn from researching them makes flying them that much more fun.

Good luck with your research! This is something I haven't managed to find either. Do you know when airframe change 490 was enacted? Did these F-8J's with such changes make it to the remaining Crusader fleet before their last actions in Vietnam in 1972?

Sounds good!

For #3: Does this mean we will no longer have any missions with restricted weapons? Just curious as this was my favourite (especially during the water stations/lake mission) or will you have two sets of all the missions - one set with restricted weapons and the other set with full weapons?

Thanks for the response Alenwolf! Sounds good :) I had thought the whole reason the restriction was made was for balance but I misunderstood.

Very enjoyable as always AspenWolf! However, I continue to notice that in the mission with restricted missiles, the MiG-21s carrying R-60's (not R-60M's) can still use those missiles at any aspect while the F-5E's are left with rear-aspect AIM-9P's only. Not sure about the Viggen. I am not sure if this is the intent of the weapon restriction, but it seems unfair and my flares seem to have no effect on the missiles (but perhaps that is something I need to practice). Either way, I have the tacview and the fight starts at 4m40s (I am GalmOne) but I was unable to record the second fight with the same results in tac. I have video evidence only of the second fight. DCS-The Desert Has Eyes - all aspect R-60s at 4m40s.zip

I'm with you on this one. I am also extremely disappointed. The reason I got into jet combat at all was the F-4. I don't run this business though, so it's not my call obviously but it's still pretty sad.

This is how I feel. If we had a more mid-Cold War plane set (i.e. I'm thinking Vietnam War/Middle East war-era planes like the F-4, MiG-23, MiG-25, Mirage III etc.) along with less useless AI and a robust dynamic campaign with progress saves, we'd have a really immersive game where there is purpose - not just a bunch of planes in a sandbox. As it is now, I spend most of my time doing DACT with buddies or airQuake stuff to better my skills in air-to-air combat, and it's therefore rare that I dedicate time to play. Don't get me wrong, it's super fun! However with a lacking purpose, it feels empty and when I want more of my friends to join, there simply is not as much fun to be had.

Agreed, I admit maybe people would like to hear a little more praise and thanks which is fine, but no one is obligated to completely ignore faults either. Is early access not for testing? Is this not testing? It's one thing if someone said "This is horrible, I'm upset at the fact that it does not have feature X, Y or Z" Contrast that to: "It's early access so I know there are some bugs. Here are some bugs: X, Y and Z" The latter is quite obviously a tester. I don't believe there is any berating there. If you get emotional when you read something like that, it's okay, but it's on you - it's not the alpha/beta tester's fault if they didn't use any charged language. ANYWAY - The F-16 looks and sounds lovely and I can't wait for someone to do some 80's dogfights - the way Boyd intended!

Let's take a breath with accusations - no one is trying to stir up any trouble and we are all learning. The idea of these pictures is that of a scientific approach - in controlled environments, plane X does this and plane Y does that. This way we can do our best to fight to these circumstances but we train so that we can practice all that which cannot be quantified. Both are necessary - the modeling and the experiments - to get a good picture. If you never look at the plots because they never reflect real life, it'll take you a lot more training to get good and figure out something you would have known by reading and also flying.

I can't blame you there since the F-4 was first and foremost a Navy plane. And to have a true F-4 experience, I think there would need to be both the F-4E and one of either the F-4B/J/S present at minimum. The F-4E is the most produced and handily the most successful so I understand why they would choose this. Sometimes, I wish the talented individuals who made the A-4 at Hoggit could make us an F-4J while we wait for the F-4E *nudge, nudge, wink, wink!*

Agreed, that's what makes the F-4 so awesome because of all the history it has created. If you're from any of the export countries - especially Israel - the F-4E is the way to go. 116 kills and 9 aces, that's the most iconic to me. Actual combat history speaks volumes of an aircraft's capability.

It would be great to have both the F-4E and the F-4J - very different in performance even though to the untrained eye, they look extremely similar. Though the F-4E that we are (still hopefully) getting has the ARN-101 and other upgrades, aerodynamically it will perform basically identically to the Rivet Haste F-4E's that fought in Vietnam at the very end of the US involvement in that war so it's not totally off from that kind of scenario. The F-4S would be a little weird to see there, and it would give more variety to have an F-4J since both the UK and the USN used it. A man can dream!

This! I spend almost all my time as a RIO with a friend and as we try to splash as many bandits as we can. Our enjoyment comes from learning the best strategies and improving our communication so we can become deadlier without dying. I am just starting to fly the thing with Jester in the back and although it's fun, I much enjoy being in the back with a buddy up front.

Sounds like we will have to wait after Viper release to really see where the F-4E will be on the priority list. If they really do have to work on 1 at a time, it's a safe bet the Mi-24 is first :(

I have! And I love it, especially when I play the RIO but of course you and I both know it is about as similar to the F-4 as the 777 is to the C-17! Is it true that separate teams work on the rotary wing aircraft and the fixed wing aircraft? I'm doing my best to grasp at every chance I can even if it's naive thinking :D

Darn, I suppose any timeframe guess is just speculation right now... I have my fingers crossed!

It would be so great to have a new, weird missile too in the form of the Red Top - one of the first all-aspect heaters, albeit only against targets at supersonic speeds. The Lightning is huge in UK history and was the only supersonic plane completely designed in that country!

Is it not true that there are people working on the helis and another team is dedicated to the fixed wing aircraft? Not sure if that's ever been confirmed. Fingers crossed the F-4E is after the F-16. I have been waiting for that plane to pop up in this level of realism for almost a decade and I'm too excited!

I think it is an understandable idea that the planes are modeled a little later than their respective most famous conflicts simply because they can be used in way more scenarios which is a nice idea. I always thought that the biggest difference between the MiG-21MF (which saw combat in Vietnam) and the MiG-21bis was really just the special afterburner. Does the latter add loads of A/G capability too? From the last updates before Belsimtek became a part of ED, we are getting something like the F-4E Block 50+ with maneuvering slats, TISEO and ARN-101 navigation/bombing system. This is representative of the project Rivet Haste F-4E's that saw combat from November 1972 to January 1973 (and also in Cambodia the following years) except for the ARN-101. Rivet Haste F-4E's operating with the 555th TFS did indeed drops bombs and fire AGM-65s in anger but only 3x AIM-7's were ever fired at MiGs, none of which resulted in a kill. All slatted F-4E kills would subsequently go to Israel and Iran.

To add to all your points, I found a previous discussion on this 4 years ago citing Gilchrist: https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2534677&postcount=24 The whole discussion is here: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=149144

Great work to the Heatblur team, and the information is very much appreciated. I still believe this is IMO the highest quality module I own!