Stackup

Well they can't please everyone. Having 4 liveries per squadron would likely lead to more complaints of bloated livery folders from people with more limited drive space who may not even own the aircraft but are forced to download it anyways because the liveries would be part of the base game. And I don't see how having more available squadrons is a bad thing. More squadrons is more opportunities for variety which is better in my opinion. All Heatblur needs to give us is a variety, we users can fill in the gaps ourselves where we feel necessary. Personally, the only time lack of livery options really bothers me is when I can't find what I want in the user files or a server doesn't allow custom ones which doesn't happen very often on ones I use. I've downloaded around 58Gb of user liveries for the Tomcat alone (full liveries folder is 167Gb) with some including full squadron packs of individual liveries and I really appreciate the way this allows specific aircraft to have different levels of weathering and detailing that simply wouldn't be possible with generic bort numbers on a generic livery. At this point, I'd be kind of annoyed if they did switch to a generic system. I get not everyone wants to dig around on the user files or use up that much drive space on just liveries, but there's a lot of good livery makers who do really great work and installing liveries is super easy if what you want isn't included in the base game.

Currently there is only a single checkbox for the external hardpoints in the mission editor and they can either be ON or OFF. This prevents the Huey from being loaded as a slick with door guns. The low profile door gun mounts are non-existent and you are forced to fly with all the external hardpoints. This isn't realistic. I propose that a checkbox(or loadout option) be made for each hardpoint in the same way every single other aircraft in game can remove pylons individually so that loadouts like the one pictured below would be possible. So that would be an option for the flare pods, rocket mounts, minigun mounts, and wire strike protection system (everything currently covered by the "external hardpoints" checkbox) to be individually removable the same way the Huey's exhaust deflector already is and the same way other aircraft treat their pylons. https://www.museumofflight.org/exhibits-and-events/aircraft/bell-uh-1h-iroquois-huey

Well for starters, you don't need the front hardpoints unless you're mounting the miniguns, yet we only have one option for external hardpoints, either off or on. We should be able to have door guns with the smaller mounts only and it would be nice to have an options to remove the wire cutters and flare pods separately like we can already with the exhaust deflector. https://www.museumofflight.org/exhibits-and-events/aircraft/bell-uh-1h-iroquois-huey Carrying rockets does not require the front mounts either. I'm not sure what exactly all is listed in the H manuals, but other items like the dual M60 mounts and miniguns all use the same mounting hardpoint system already present on the Huey in DCS, so those wanting a more Vietnam-esque look could benefit from those additions since it is unlikely we get a B,C, D, etc. version and the system is capable of mounting these whether or not the H ever did. Here's a shot of a Huey with the enclosed 7 shot rocket pod (which is already in game on other modules such as the F-5, A-10, F-16, etc.) as opposed to the bare tube style we have. Should be an easy addition. There's a multitude of other weapon systems that attach to the mounts we have now and should not require any extra work be done in the cockpit. Other items such as AGM-22's, BGM-71 ITOW, the nose 40mm grenade launcher(the selector switch still shows this although I don't think the H ever used it), and other various things would need a larger rework and probably a different model entirely. AGM-22 still utilizes the standard mount we have in game although it would need cockpit modifications ITOW- note the camera pod in the bottom left side of the nose 40mm grenade launcher Of course the H probably never carried a large portion of the weapons used by the Huey in Vietnam, field-modded or not (although it did see service towards the end of the war), but it would be very interesting to get a more well rounded picture of the Huey's combat service to include a facelift and ideally an earlier variant that can utilize all the weapons mentioned above that the H never did (or couldn't). Especially once ED starts work on the Vietnam map they have said they will do in the future. Just some thoughts and wishes as this is after all a wishlist thread. Hopefully ED will at least give us a rework with the proper door gun mounts (for doorguns only use) and allow various hardpoints to be removed separately like the line cutters, flare pods, and forward minigun mounts. That at least would be much appreciated and proper for our H model.

Didn't they just give us a bunch of those with 2.9?

It does not, it's a single seat fighter. The only thing on the belly is the nose gear...

Who knows. It's probably AI only at this point. The other units they chose for that batch of screenshots were also interesting. The only one that wasn't AI only was the MiG-29. They also chose to use the old potato quality F-16 and F-18 AI units. And then the Hawk too, not sure what they were thinking when they picked those planes to showcase their map.

At least we have the VSN AI mod while we wait for something official. Looks good on deck and can even perform DEAD. Unfortunately there's no way to make it jam without using scripts.

You asserted they were only considering making one though which is speculative on your part because there is a mountain of evidence of Heatblur saying they will and no evidence they won't except your market speculations and the slow march of time. Edit: But whatever, we can all make speculations and there will always be people who look at this stuff with an "I'll believe it when I can buy it" mentality and that's perfectly fine. I just wish more people would have some semblance of hope that promises of modules to be made will be kept. Timelines on the other hand can slip as seen with almost every release ever.

Q: Will there be a Navy F-4? A: Yes! Our Phantom journey only begins with the -E. However, owing to the complexity of the work and investment of time and effort, it will not be included in the DCS: F-4E product. We’re instead choosing to focus on providing the most content rich F-4E we possibly can, and then set our sights on further telling the legendary story of the F-4. This is very clear. Will there be a navy F-4? Yes. It's right there in the FAQ. Heatblur has said yes multiple times in this forum and their Discord and yet there are still those who continue to doubt that this is something that is happening. Sure it will take years but every single DCS module has taken years to develop. The thing Heatblur is considering as of conversations in the Discord is whether or not they can get data on the F-14B/U or even the D. They aren't considering whether or not to make a Navy F-4 because they have already committed to it and said as much!

The possible distinction I can see between the "spherical" and "global"/world terms is that the spherical map technology is what would allow a map developer to input the curvature of the Earth into the map design. This would then allow the map to be grafted directly onto the global map to create areas of high detail the same way it's already being done on civilian sims. This would also explain why the current maps can't just be slapped onto the global map.

It does though... "Will there be a Navy F-4?" - "Yes...it will not be included in the DCS: F-4E product." If it's not included with the F-4E due to "the complexity of the work and investment of time and effort", the only way they can possibly release it is as a separate product.

The Israeli probe modification has been confirmed as coming at some point along with other external customization features to represent other countries. Whether it will be functional or not is up to ED redesigning the way refueling works since each aircraft can only have one type of refueling. This is why there are two different versions of the KC-135 in game instead of one. That would be in the very first announcment and the FAQ.

VSN has been doing this since the initial version of their F-4 mod. It's not perfect by any means, but it's a free mod. Heatblur should have no real trouble implementing this feature for their paid naval F-4.

I've definitely had this problem in single player. Ramp start and takeoff on left main, then fuselage tank until 25-15 gallons(if there's fuel in it), then LH drop tank for 10ish minutes before switching to the RH drop tank for 10, etc. Two flights ago the RH drop tank failed to feed exactly as OP described. I then tried an air start and all tanks fed correctly. Another ramp start and again they all fed correctly. It's definitely not a consistent problem/bug, but when you're climbing to 20k feet to escort bombers and trying to keep pace with an AI flight, it's a bit of a pain to have the engine randomly cut because one of the tanks decided not to feed. I've even had this happen to the right main tank a couple patches ago so it's not necessarily a drop tank only issue either.

ED isn't making any Phantom modules and has no plans to, so I fail to see how their opinions even factor into this other than they make the base game and would like to see more cool stuff added. Heatblur has said we are getting an E module with two variants and a separate module of an as of yet unspecified naval variant/s. The J fits best into the timeframe of the E we are getting, so that would make the most sense. It also provides the possibility of an S model coming with it as the S is a modified J in the same way the N is modified from the B. So the common guess has been that the naval module will be either a J/S or a B/N because of how the versions are related. This would also match up with the way the F-14A/B is one module although I think the F-4's have bigger differences between modifications so we could also just see two J variants, or two variants of the B, N, or S for that matter since that is how they are doing the F-4E.

This wan't the high quality model though as the polygon count was well below what was shown in all the promotional material. This was in the game and removed so it's either a bug or they've really screwed up because this change also affected custom skins made before the update. Here is what it looked like before this update. You can still see the individual fan blades when the game is paused and the engine is running.

The engine running animation is different then, because if you look at my first screenshot, the S-3 is at climb power after takeoff and the fan blades are still visible at this power setting meaning they are acutally spinning the fan blades at the correct speed and not just replacing them with a blank plate above a certain rpm. So this is still a change.

Before the new update, the S-3 model had a proper engine with fan blades. In the new update, this has changed to a plain flat plate. Original Release with proper fan blades And after the new update, no fan blades whatsoever. They aren't even painted on or anything...

Is there gonna be a hotfix to add the F-14 stuff since none of this is actually in the open beta currently?

F-4J(UK)

Heatblur has never confirmed what variant of the navy planes we are getting. That picture looks like an F-4J which fits the timeframe of the F-4E they are already doing better than a B model.

I'd bet it's way more than that. Ironmike said the current release order is F-4E, Eurofighter, and then A-6. They don't even have a plan for where the naval F-4 fits into that yet.

Once a weapon leaves the aircraft, it's under ED's control so this new system won't effect any weapons. 3rd parties like Heatblur only have control over how a weapon integrates with the aircraft, not how the weapon performs once launched/dropped. This is so all the weapons perform the same no matter what aircraft is launching them.

Key there being "you thought". Perhaps the developers know more than you do. Also the devs have posted the CURRENT missiles list and have stated (as should be obvious since we can't fly it yet) that it is still work in progress and subject to change. In any event, the F-4E we are getting was always an upgraded version as we are getting post 1974 upgrades for a 1960's aircraft. Leading edge slats, digital RWR, etc. are all upgrades done to the F-4E over the course of its service life and not all export variants even got stuff like the slats. I don't know where you think you can get off calling it "not original" when we weren't ever getting the original version with the hard wing and strobe RWR that flew over Vietnam in the late 60's anyways.