Jayhawk1971

I meant to write "charts" without the "tactics" in front of it. I just missed that I left the word in there. I was going to write something else about tactics but changed my mind since it's not what Lurker was asking. Nevertheless: Tactics are - or should be - developed based on the expected performance of a weapon system under "real world conditions". And, just to be safe from further hairsplitting, I'll ad: among other considerations. In the context of the interview, I interpreted his statement as the Phoenix performed "better than anticipated". In what aspects, by what margin, he of course leaves out. I also noted that he seems to be deliberately vague and steers the conversation in a different direction.

Towards the end of the AIM-54's service life, the Navy had their Tomcat crews live-fire a crapload of those, as I assume this was the easiest method to clean out the inventory. I bet the Navy collected tons of data in the process. The question is: who's privy to that data. I somehow doubt that'll include the DCS crowd, at least for now. Edit: one would assume they tested the Phoenix in all kinds of scenarios, including low, mid and high altitude shots. "Puck" Howe said in a recent interview that it turned out their tactics charts were too "pessimistic".

I only use Voice Attack/ Vaicom Pro with the Tomcat. But I also ran into this freeze-crash a couple of times when flying the Hornet in a SP campaign (that uses AI Tomcats), so I didn't even run Voice Attack in that case.

Mooch interviews Rear Admiral Mike "Nasty" Manazir. Very interesting note about the difference between Block 90 and Block 135, starting around the 10:30 minute mark.

I have never heard of AviaStorm ("avia" as in Panavia would indicate dedicated interest in the Tornado). Does anyone have more info on that company (link to their website, social media presence)? Did the company form specifically to create this module? A planned Tornado is certainly great news, and I hope the team can produce an awesome module.

I am not an ED AI.

I'd be happy if Jester would at least learn to prioritize contacts based on relevance and threat level. No need to call out the E-2 orbiting 50 miles away. I get that Jester is compensating for the Tomcat's lack of Link 16, and for SA's sake, HB could hide calling out friendly contacts behind an additional menu item: "Jester, declare friendlies" or something like that. I find it especially annoying when he keeps calling out contacts that either are friendly, or hostiles 100-150 miles away, while I'm in the process of AAR-ing, or while trapping (both Case I and Case III). I really don't care about a hostile CAP 200 miles away while I'm in the groove. The latter is also an issue due to mission/ campaign designers often putting the CVBG too close to shore, and yes, I realize that's a decision made for gameplay's sake. Still, if Jester could learn to determine whether contacts are posing a threat. BTW, off topic: @ mission designers, I for one would welcome a more realistically placed carrier battle group, with longer flight times and mandatory AAR. In most campaign missions I have to dump fuel because I'm always arriving heavy over the carrier.

Yes, for a long time now. Hadn't that been brought up already, way back when? IIRC, Floggers are stuck on the airbase and never take off. Edit: Found it, dunno why it's marked as "Resolved", though

Works fine for me, definitely not a "known" problem. Are your keybindings set up correctly? Any double binding or conflicts? Is your weapon select setting working as is should? Then again, you mentioned that you can fire missiles, so this is kind of mysterious. Does it happen only with missions you've made yourself, or all missions that start from cold and dark?

Sounds like you didn't turn your air source on ("both"). The gun won't work with air source off.

Maybe an over-G?

We could ask Iran about the 54A's performance in combat....they do have an official Twitter account.

The only way I'm ever going to accept a D model is if it comes with triple glove vanes....stacked, perpendicular, of course.

Yeah but Cambodia is such a drag.....

Soooo, Yak-38?

There are three missions where AAR is specifically part of the mission design (albeit skippable). The rest of the missions have optional tanker support. You don't need to AAR at all (unless you're too liberal with burner use), but IMO it's recommended for immersion's sake. Edit: also, don't forget that while you may not need gas, your AI wingman may very well need some...a lot, even. So probably a good idea to at least let him hit the tanker while you can practice formation flying while he's busy.

I also just finished Mission 15. What a fantastic campaign!! I did the whole mission in one long session (no "F10 skipping"), and I loved it! I really enjoy those long missions with multiple visits to the tanker, and lots of other flights. Mission specific spoiler: Can't wait for your next campaign(s). Next should be the F-16 one with Rain, right?

How did you arrange your HOTAS around your desk (or "home cockpit")? I ask because you can make your life magnitudes easier if you have a way to rest your "stick"-arm on something. For example: I used to fly with both throttle and stick just sitting right and left of me on my desk, which was fine for FBW aircraft, I guess. But looking back, I was really prone to overcorrecting on my stick inputs. Since then (about a year ago) I have moved my stick to a center mount setup (like in the real jet), and have it low enough so that I can rest my elbow and lower arm on my upper right thigh. I am not steering with my arm at all for 98% of the time (except maybe in a wild dogfight), but only move the stick with the wrist and most of the time only the fingers. That will really help smooth out your stick movements. Also, why does that advice sound so unintentionally naughty?

Yes, got a freeze yesterday in mission 14 in Dominant Fury, towards the end of the mission, right when a scripted radio call was triggered. Generally, it seems to me those freeze-crashes only occur when some kind of event is being triggered, like radio calls or units spawning? In another campaign I was heading back to the carrier in the Tomcat, and the mission froze just as (Supercarrier) Marshal was responding to my inbound call (it froze as the radio call was played).

Just got a freeze in mission 14, right when I (Flip) reported feet wet. Right when Flip was making the radio call. According to the log, this was the final "error" message right before the freeze 2022-09-04 21:43:02.192 ERROR SOUND: render time = 0.011225s exceeded allowed slice of 0.010000s I am on the latest open beta patch, no mods installed. Very unfortunate, because up to that point this was probably my most favorite mission of the campaign so far.

BTW, what are currently the determining factors regarding map size in DCS? Detailed land mass? I'm asking because I would be very up for a Northern Atlantic map for cold war Carrier operations (think "Hunt for Red October" or "Red Storm Rising"). Maybe use the coasts of Nova Scotia, Iceland and Western Ireland and Acores as boundaries?

So Western Mongolia is still in the cards? Cold War Central Europe, Cold War Central Europe.....

Hey, I didn't say I was going to buy one. I wouldn't say no to a community-driven crowd-funding campaign, though (or in my case, being German, Kraut-funding). Seriously, though, my point was more that the notion of owning a motion platform isn't as outlandish anymore as one of the posters further up in this thread claimed (donning a leather flying cap, etc.). It's within the price range of mere mortals now, compared to what those things used to cost (and some still cost). And some of the home-made sim pits I've seen in posted in other threads must have cost a lot to build as well, excluding the invested manhours, so I'd say 5000 Dollars is a sum that I suppose many who see simming as their main hobby would be willing to invest. Dedicated mountain bikers spend a lot more on their bikes, as do hobby photographers/ videographers on their gear. Or model train aficionados.