Jayhawk1971

OK, I got it to work. After 7 DME I "lit the cans" and climbed very aggressively towards WP1. At around Angels 32 and 7 NM from WP1 the message triggered. And it was Pontiac 1, not Uzi 5. So for anyone else who also might struggle with this (because he is as daft as I seem to be ) - Launch and fly to 7 DME - Turn towards waypoint 1, go to full burner and aggressively climb up to around 30k. - Join up wit Gorilla Group (all the Pontiac flights in the known universe ) - Leave them at WP2 and fly to WP 3 - Rest of the mission will trigger as it should.

I otherwise get every message (both scripted and generic) except the one where I'm greeted with "Ah, the MiG Magnets". I do join up and fly formation anyway until they turn perpendicular to the coast, then fly towards waypoint 2. I have visual on Uzi 5 after launch. On my last try I even tried to "manually" fly into the area where I assume the trigger zone may be located instead of going direct to WP1. Nothing. Could the mission trigger zone have an altitude restriction of some sort? Do I need to climb more aggressively after passing 7 DME? The mission did work for me pre-2.7 (I didn't even have the issues that others reported, either), that's how I am 90% certain I'm doing everything "by the book". Edit: Uzi or Pontiac? Now I'm confused....

I still get the problem with the first mission trigger (the trigger that should fire near Waypoint 1, where you join Uzi 5 and get a mission briefing recap from Jester). I still don't get it at Waypoint 1, but when I'm entering the CASE I overhead pattern at the end of the mission. Trigger zone must have slipped into the wrong location. I am playing the campaign from the official F-14 campaigns folder, so I assume I have the latest version. Edit: I launch, fly out to 7 DME at 500 ft and 300 KIAS, then fly to Waypoint 1. Dead silence until I reach my CAP area, then all triggers, err, get triggered almost at once in the following sequence: commence order to all units - arrival at CAP station - intercept SU-27's. After that it's back to "normal" mission pacing. On my return I get the "missing" trigger from waypoint 1.

Just checked updates and 21H1 seems to be available. Maybe give that a try if you can't roll back to a previous Win version?

I'm posting this question here, since I guess the chances to find someone familiar with this campaign and editing Voice Attack/ Vaicom profiles in this forum should be higher than in the Voice Attack subforum. So here it goes: did anyone make a custom voice command for "Tally Wildcard"? If so, could you please give me some pointers where I could find the relevant button commands to link with the voice command? The reason is that DCS' clunky menu structure (I've recently picked up VR which makes it 1000 times worse) is driving me nuts. Right now I'm using custom buttons on my HOTAS to open the comms menu, then say "take 10, take 3", but this works sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't, like 10 minutes ago when my wingman was taken out by the wildcard (which I spotted in an absolutely timely manner) with me frantically yelling "TAKE 3!!!!!!" while simultaneously fumbling for the F3 key.

The patch which is supposed to fix this problem is scheduled to be released on October 14. Incidentally, on October 14, 1947, Gen. Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier. Coincidence? I think not!

"a lot of us don't really care about the ultimate, hardcore "proof"" Kinda going in circles here. My whole point was: Don't let perfect be the enemy of good (enough).

@Naquaii While most of us really (!) appreciate your dedication to realism and "getting it right", I assume a lot of us don't really care about the ultimate, hardcore "proof" that much, because if each and every developer over the past decades (personally I have been "active" since 1984 and Microprose's "F-15 Strike Eagle") had stuck to that concept as religiously, we would only have had WWI, WWII and maybe Korean War simulation games. Some wiggle room is always necessary when trying to simulate more modern stuff in a non-classified environment. Most of us would be happy if you'd just make the weapon systems perform as close as you feel it would in real life (without compromising real-world data to the bad guys) while striking a good balance with regards to gameplay. Sometimes making an educated guess is quite alright, and from what I have experienced with this module so far, I trust your educated guesses would be more than adequate (= very good). Please keep in mind that "at the end of the day" (= 500 points worth in marketing phrase bullshit bingo ) you are in this case developing for PC gamers and not for a defense contractor. Lastly, IMO this discussion is not at all meant to be antagonistic towards you and/ or HB, but simply customers as passionate as you about the module stating what they would like to have WRT the Phoenix.

Ah ok, thanks. Not sure if I want to dive too deep into VAICOM (had enough "fun" during the past week to get VR set up so that I don't experience a slideshow). Hopefully they'll add commands for the new functions in the next update (and also fix target size command).

Speaking of AIRIO, I saw in one of your "Fear the Bones" videos that you have a voice command for aspect (nose/tail/both). Is that a custom command you've made yourself, or did I miss an update?

While some might enjoy the methodical approach, others may find that a bit tedious. Especially since there are no real entertaining entry-level training missions outside of the tutorials. If you belong in that category, I suggest you do the training missions and then try some of the instant action or single missions. As soon as you feel halfway at home in the module, try out some of the default campaigns (Kaba's and/ or Heatblur's): both have a flat learning curve and ease you in quite nicely. Personally, I find it to be more fun and entertaining to "learn on the job" rather than muck about in sterile free flight setups. Especially AAR: to keep frustration levels to a minimum, try to refuel within the context of a mission/ campaign: try for a limited amount of time, but then go and blow something up (regardless of your success or failure hooking up to the tanker) to reward your effort and not get hung up on AAR. Most missions I've come across give you enough fuel to make AAR optional (or give you the option to respawn with full tanks). I highly recommend you buy the "Zone 5" campaign by Reflected at some point. It's the best training campaign in DCS, and one of the best campaigns overall. It has a moderately steep learning curve, but it will definitely make you a much better virtual Tomcat pilot. You'll do a lot of formation flying in that campaign, which helps immensely with AAR.

All I know is that if the pylon weighs the same as a duck, it is made of wood, and therefore a witch. Burn it!

Personally, if I were starting out in the F-14 again, my fist campaign would probably be Heatblur's "Reforger" (Supercarrier version if you have that module). Gives you a nice mix of flying around the boat (CASE I and CASE III), easy AAR, and slowly eases you into the action. Then Zone 5 followed by Fear the Bones. Zone 5 will make you a better virtual Tomcat pilot, but you will have to follow proper procedures on top of getting used to the F-14 module. Also, since both campaigns by Reflected feature the A-model, your learning curve will be slightly higher (less thrust, and the chance of compressor stalls). Fear the Bones is a nice follow-up to Zone 5, as @AH_Solid_Snake already pointed out.

Might this upcoming campaign be set somewhere between March and December of 1988 by any chance?

You don't listen to Billy Idol in a Prius. You'll listen to Kenny G.

The Tomcat will make you want to grow a stache, wear a Cowboy hat, listen to Iron Maiden and drive an '86 Corvette. The legacy Hornet OTOH will make you want to collect pocket calculators, watch "Friends", drive a Prius slightly below the speed limit (in the fast lane, of course).....and start a podcast.

FWIW, you'd still need them set to on to operate the gun. And you should set air source to "left engine" during AAR: granted, zero impact in the sim, but if you want to roleplay...

+1000! Preferably on the Marianas or Syria map.

Did you set "Air Source" (ECS) to "both"?

Guess what I'll be doing as soon as I win a huge lottery jackpot?! Also: add a mustache. Because....why not?!

You can quit any mission right after the "mission accomplished" notification, which will appear right when you have accomplished the mission objectives. You can end the mission right then and there, or go and land on the carrier (mostly Case I, some Case III), or whatever else you'd like to do. There also in an option in the F10 menu to skip any mission should you find it too hard (which they really aren't. First one is little overwhelming if you go into the campaign "cold". But really it's just CASE III departure and recovery. Pretty standard stuff. The info dump you'll get as a tutorial was a little distracting, though, IMO. Also, unless you crank your gamma up, you will miss the fact that CAT 1 is blocked by parked planes. I found out the hard - and fiery - way ).

+1 on your second suggestion. It would have been a nice option to have. Especially given the idiosyncrasies of DCS.

The addition of the burble by HB seems to have messed up ACLS and autothrottle use for the time being. I don't know if this is how it was supposed to be, or if there will be a "fix" somewhere down the road. This is not a campaign-related issue, though, so Reflected has no control over this. This is a HB/ED issue.