JayTSX

They didn't set a specific date but set their target to this year and well the year isn't too long anymore

Might not have forgotten but they never declared, what this label means. Could be anything from "will release in 2022" down to "yeah we announced it in 2022" My guess is something like "we wanted to give it in 2022 but due to some crazy stuff happening we couldn't do it..."

Oh ok maybe I mixed something up with the naval ones? Did quite some cross reading trying to get behind all the systems... but if there's no AP I guess Jester will get some flight experience ^^ But again Iceman is a thing so why shouldn't they just add a basic try-not-to-crash function.

I'd say since HB already has an AI for "flying" (i.e. Iceman), that a Jester capable of keeping the plane level is not too big of a stretch. Also HB said on multiple occasions that their AI is modular and expandable so I guess it wouldn't be too complicated to implement some Iceman functionality in Jester... but there's also an autopilot right?

Nothing really but as it's a reference well known amongst gamers and DCS is still kinda a game (no don't get triggered). So I guess even if the genre is a different one, you can use it. Also the reference got quite popular even outside of the gaming sub-culture.

Definitely something that would help with loss of hydraulics (which definitely never ever happened to me...) and just in general a fun "little" addition imo

I don't think it's about being realistic or negative or anything but taking the situation with a bit of humor. So take it easy believe what you want and if you like smile if someone has a funny way of praying

We all will thank you for your sacrifice if it comes out then

Imo it would be interesting to have a slightly modernized F-4 (just saying no intent to summon another discussion as seen in the amraam thread) but as it already has been noted: without enough material it's more suited for a community mod. Also you may noticed that even if there's enough material (german Phantoms aren't as classified as others) guys around here tend to have quite the strong opinion on everything that's more digital than your average calculator (no offense =P

So if we get enough things right we get more information? Sounds like there's a conspiracy thread to be revived. Also seeing "marketing approach" one might think there will be something on a Phantom related date... Theories aside: the fact, that HB is more active (ie Ironmike is answering more and more again) suggests that they are more comfortable with sharing or in most cases teasing. Since HB never let me down (quality of the cat in comparison to stuff like F-16, which I still regret buying for example), I believe them, when they say that it'll be this year.

Didn't want to focus anger on myself by posting this to the "official" thread so here's another for all those awesome navy and fictional ideas... Got no pictures to share (sorry my bad) but what I'd really like to see would be a Vandy 1 skin and some of the anniversary Phantoms i.e. Germans and Japanese had some nice. So if you have any ideas, which would've been shredded in the reality-only thread this is your place.

Wasn't amraam discussed in another thread? And also rejected by Heatblur? So no mfd and no spamraam just good old sparrows, sidewinder and steam gauges

I understand you, but for most people this will be a better version since you can fly along your friends in Hornets, Cats and even Vipers. It's a matter of patience for the rest of us since HB will continue to work on their modules.

For my part: because it just feels better. Same with the Tomcat just better feel than the more modern modules no fly by wire means more control, more caution, more feel and more satisfaction when you actually pull something off. Hornet is like pull the stick and it'll safely do it given it's within the avionics limits. This doesn't even stop if you turn all limiters off. So a Phantom gives me a better approach to many things that I could do in the Hornet but won't. Sead for example: currently I'm running a mix of guided and unguided bombs on the Cat just to avoid the often klunky menus of the Hornet with way to much customization. Yes it's realistic-ish but so is the Cat and so will the Phantom be. Tldr: The Phantom can do similar things as more modern platforms but with more style and sometimes even simpler than her counterparts. Also it's faster. =D

It's there. My sore eyes can't see nothing but a dark void in the corner of my room. It's there. It waits for me to fall asleep, I won’t. It tries to seduce me. Purring like a cat, snoring like a puppy, it’s no use for I have my duty, I won’t submit. It’s now lurking behind me. I can feel it’s foul breath on my skin. It’s getting frustrated scratching its claws on the wall, rampaging through the cans on the floor, slamming at the wall, growling viciously. It must not distract me for I have to conspirate. I must seek the Phantom!

I pretty much share your list but with a bit more emphasis on visual effects like icing as I would really love it being simulated now that clouds are volumetric and everyone got the same... I also don't think she needs all that many new assets as the current will be enough to accompany her. That being said a cart for air and power supply would be the cherry on top.

As I stated I don't really use any Fox 3, especially since the Phoenix got updated and now thinks it belongs to the Apollo programm (different topic though). My point is, that some new players may wan't the option to have Fox 3s and decide, which module to buy upon it. That beeing said even those will, with some time, appreciate Fox 1 and 2 for their simple use (Sidewinder) or forgiveness regarding false lock or reaquirred targets (Sparrow and Pheonix on long range). So you might misunderstood me: I'm totally on your side regarding that I'm hyped for an F-4. I just wanted to point out, that some may be deterred by it having (on a glance) less capability than the other options available. Salewise I don't feel comfortable to make a comment since I only know, how it was durring the pandemic.

Maybe we can get back on topic? So what I get is that the main advantage of a Fox 3 equipped F-4 would be some sort of fire and forget capability which in DCS is primarily used to either kill people unaware of their rwr in bvr or if we are wvr to force them defensive and maybe kill them right so far? I primarily use the F-14 which is iirc primarily Fox 1 and in case of the pheonix either forced to seek for itself (but this is only usefull up to about 40 miles(?) at least from my experience) or it goes active when tti is >=30 seconds. Meanwhile Amraams are quite annoying on both ends. For the receiver because you have to hit the notch a couple seconds and then reaquire your target. And for the sender since it's not really feeling all that good getting someone since you basically hope, that the bandit cannot hit the notch. So for me the F-4 is perfectly fine with "just" sparrows and hopefully enough sidewinder to get those close range high aspect shots. (I prefer either rate fights or chasing (probably not the correct term) in the F-14) but I really think that having something Fox 3 would greatly improve her perception among new players (my start with DCS were the huey and mig 21, in which I learned to love heatseeker so I'm just guessing here using what my friends say). In conclusion the F-4 has already great potential regarding what she can carry and which missions she can do, but Fox 3s may give it just enough to be a must have for basically everyone.

Oh really we used them as wild weasels? Afaik they were used as reconnaissance, patrol and intercept once those "newer designs came up" since f4's were deemed more reasonable than the new stuff. That may partially be because of the 2-seat concept and that we already had plenty crews manning those jets. Also from what I heard: even though the Eurofighter may be a better fighter it apparently isn't as multirole as f-4s especially after all the upgrades. Also maintainability may have been better since analog (or at least mostly analog) system are easier to maintain and expand, since you usually don't have that much oversight and bloat as in fully digital systems (please don't argue to much about this as this is something a lot of computer scientist are bussy with), therefore making it a better "daily driver". Also comming from the "oh what's that in the sky?" perspective and only learning about aviation history in the last 3 years, in which I started with DCS, the Phantom always was a plane I loved (along the mig29) even more after learning about her troubles. So that may only be me but maybe more blue-eyed rookies share this mindset. Anyway I respect all opinions here and love to learn new stuff about the F-4 so thanks to everyone sharing his knowledge =).

Oh thanks I totally agree, that you don't need all those modern stuff to kick ass ^^ As a german I can understand this. Basically all I heard of the german Phantoms was that every pilot loved them for their usability as it's with most older tech you tell it to do something and it will try to do it (with not preferable outcomes that may be). Btw some countries also decided that they don't want planes that can only really do fighting (yes F-15 can do other stuff but that's what everyone knows them for) and therefore either choose new multirole platforms i.e. Eurofighter or similar or stuck to what worked and improved those. Also germany didn't necessarily had the money to buy all new jets since it had to equip east-germany with something better than mig-21 which were quite common...

Same with me. My friend with whom I'm playing mostly flies the bug while I prefer the cat for her more simplistic controls and the speed-is-life approach. Those two do well with each other since the pheonix is also a (fox 3?) weapon, which you can fire and then basically turn around and take a run (given you're within 30 seconds tti). But from what I heard the Phantom doesn't have anything similar to spamraams which isn't a big deal but it would make things easier for beginning since breaking up the last second really is something you should do once you're familiar with the plane. But no matter what I'll fly the Phantom with or without hyper modern weaponry. (Note my english may be quite imperfect or strange due to the fact that I'm not native)

I mean mines at 40% and atleast 4 of the 12 cores aren't utilized by DCS Before you ask it's a Ryzen 5 2600x paired with an RTX 3060 and 32gb of Ram But I guess our definitions of bored are quite different

Ok thx for the heads-up. The stuff they teach at college really is more theoretically possible than realistically manageable. And DCSs performance really does have a lot of potential since it's really only grabbing ram, vram and GPU while the CPU is basically bored but that's probably too off topic

I may be mistaken but aren't GPUs really good at physics related stuff? I mean they have plenty of parallel performance and since physic simulations aren't really something that you need to do in series of each other it seems logical to use them instead of our CPUs. That being said I don't really see a necessity for airflow calculations since a good flight model will provide a great experience. Also as a side note the F-14 feels quite good in my opinion moreso since the last overhaul meaning the plane will slowly rotate if not fully leveled. And above mach 1 she's quite shaky. Heatblurs modules seem to be way better than either the F-18 or F-16 (and much better than the mig-21).

I think I read somewhere that they are planning on releasing it sometime in Q3 2022. (Don't ask me where exactly but I think it was in the announcement thread and from heatblur directly so it's somewhat reliable)