Jayhawk1971

Still impatiently waiting for the Nimble Archer F-14A campaign...

Since the most recent campaign I've purchased (Hornet-related) seems to be kinda broken until the next patch, I've decided to once again jump into Zone 5. This time around, though, I'm using the "Maverick and Goose" skin, for maximum realism . Sacrilege? Maybe. But damn fun! Now if I only could get my hands on good Iceman/Slider, Hollywood/Wolfman and ?*/Sundown skins. Edit: *according to the "Top Gun Wiki", Sundown's (LTJG Marcus Williams) pilot was Lieutenant Charles "Chipper" Piper

Did you get Jay as well? Can't wait for this campaign! Seriously, it's very, very hard to wait for this. BTW, on an unrelated note, did you read "Goodbye, Mickey Mouse" by Len Deighton, and if so, how about a Mustang campaign inspired by the book? Who, knows, this might actually push me over the brink into WW2-DCS (got the Mustang, but so far have held off on WW2 stuff - maps and assets - mostly due to lack of SSD space.)

Including Meagan, according to the F-14 Tomcast.

Didn't work for me, unfortunately. I've tried taking off immediately, tried waiting for Blade to hook up and launched as soon as his lights turned on, tried letting him launch before me..... all from Cat 2 and using F10 instead of spacebar. Followed departure briefing to the letter. I do get all the correct voice acting bits, up until the part where Flip says he's doing a 360, so at least I know I'm hitting the triggers. He stubbornly insists on flying BRC on full burner and high AOA. I'll give it one more try tonight, with autostart and initiating taxi to catapults as soon as possible, before the carrier changes course, and see if that works.

I suspect the latter is the problem, as I used Cat 2 in all my attempts (having already been forewarned not to use Cat 3 by several forum posts). I have shelved the campaign until the next patch since apparently M06 is also broken and those issues take me out of the experience. Never got around to finish the first Raven 1 campaign for the same reason, and so far never got around to see how the current state is. I wish ED would find a better solution to coordinate their patches with paid content creators, so that at least they get some form of heads-up regarding gameplay-breaking bugs. And maybe give them the opportunity to release hotfixes outside of ED's official patch cycles.

I've never expected Blade to join up immediately and always went to WP1 as briefed (climb to 2500 then turn 240 IIRC), and I do, and once I'm at WP and checked in hear Flip say that he'll do a quick 360 to have Blade hook up. Then nothing. On the SA page you can clearly see Blade going in the opposite direction (40+ miles away from WP1), and the F2 view reveals Blade "hanging in the air" in full AB and high AOA. I suspect that it somehow depends on how fast the player starts up and takes off, maybe related to the carrier changing course?

I tried all the suggested "fixes" for mission 5 (use F10 instead of spacebar, go to Cat 2, wait for Blade to hook up/ launch first, no SA page until WP1) but Blade still goes off and "hangs in the air" at full burner. During my last attempt, while waiting for Blade to hook up, I noticed the carrier changing course significantly. Maybe that's what's breaking the trigger? What time window does the player have to start up and taxi? I think I've performed the start-up procedure reasonably fast, but maybe autostart would be the answer here?

Soooo.....Top Gun Maverick campaign when?

Told ya Just got the order of events wrong (who gets shot down and who comes to the rescue).

(unfortunately, the original video isn't available on YouTube)

Yes, I am aware of those as well. From what those sources say and hint at, there indeed may be a discrepancy between the Phoenix performance currently in game and the one stated in anecdotes of those you've mentioned, so I can relate to your point. The problem HB and ED are facing, however, is that they require hard numbers and stats to implement their missile simulation. It's hard - if not impossible - to implement anecdotal evidence, that also is 20+ years old (and might be a little biased ) . And on top of that, even if they could somehow get additional, not yet tabbed resources, those may either be classified and/or fall under ITAR restrictions. Sure, they could guess, and err in favor of gameplay, but that would go against their standards. And would lead to a very slippery slope. Either way, I have no way of knowing how the real deal worked, so I have to (and do!) trust in HB to give us the best representation of the AIM-54 as circumstances allow.

127.5 is the freq for the AI wingman ...as has been mentioned in this thread already

When dealing with (fighter) pilots in anecdote mode, remember the "10 percent true" rule.

Doesn't seem to be necessary, as it hardly seems to move, at least not in the Greek models.

--ATTENTION MISSION SPOILERS-- Ok, so far my results are: Burst height set to 1500: not a scratch on those TELs Burst height set to 300: got 2 destroyed and one damaged (maybe?); debriefing page said three hit, but one had "bda" next to it. Mission keeps telling me that the target was not destroyed, Poodle asks if I can re-engage. As my burning remains rained down on the airbase, I paused and panned around with the F2 view: I saw 2 of the TEL burning (the two next to each other), whereas the single one seemed to be intact. I double-checked the target coordinates while punching them in. I do release well within range, about one-third within the "in range ring" displayed on the HSI. Maybe one of the JSOWs is being shot down by the dense air defense around the base? If anybody managed to destroy the SCUDs, please let me know what your settings were.

In case you haven't heard/ seen this already (the 41:08 timecode is pretty funny)