dunadan

I'll add a little bit more - I had finally decided to buy a set this summer and found out I was about a month late, you had just stopped making them. I can now say for certain that I am both sorry I didn't order them sooner and happy you made another batch!

Covers received and installed, thank you very much!

I think this would be great . . . Maybe we'd finally get a high fidelity, late 50's - early 60's all out World War III sim. Strike Fighters is fun but I love the systems fidelity as well as the flight model in DCS and its hard to go back to 'lite' once you get used to it! Who wouldn't love a Mig-21 intercept of a B-52 or an F-104 nuclear toss-bombing mission with DCS fidelity?

I was reading (yet another) thread over in SimHQ about how poorly the hog handles when loaded down, and someone brought up that for airshow performances the not only remove fuel but also a great deal of equipment, which is why when you see them at airshows they are much livelier. As one who spends a fair amount of time just flying the plane and doing aerobatics, I was thinking if we could get a list of what is removed we could get an 'airshow' stripped bird with the equipment weight reductions in addition to the fuel. It would probably also make the people that do video demonstrations happy as well. We'd finally get a chance to go 'hog-wild'!

I have a better holiday for you to go for - International Talk Like A Pirate Day is September 19th, and it even works with the product! 'Honey, get me a Track-IaRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!'

If I am not engaging it, that is exactly what I do . . . in my original post I was saying specifically when I decide to engage the Shilka with the GAU. Since I already have my pointy end pointed towards him, and we usually have the bead on each other, we both end up shooting. Its just easier for me to get out of the way of the shots (if I'm quick enough)! Would I do this if it were 'for real'? No way in hell unless I was forced to, however since in this case death can easily be cured by a reload, it is great fun to have some quick draw MgGraw wild west type shootouts once in a while. I know, shame on me for injecting some unrealistic 'fun' into a SERIOUS STUDY SIM! :smilewink:

I installed the new patch, loaded a quick mission to check it out, and I must say the new cockpit shadows are really cool. So cool, in fact, that as I was rolling around in my laden hog with my head down, watching the shadows play over the instruments, I flew straight into the ground and crashed! :pilotfly: Great job as always, ED!

That is really something . . . you know the reason I picked that particular image, other than being a big fan of old photographs in general, was the fact that he just looked totally and completely on top of the world - he just has life licked and its all going to be roses from here on out. I've always wondered what was really going on at that time, what his life was like, if it all panned out the way he looks like he thought it would. I wondered if someone would pick up on where the picture came from. I never would think in a million years I would ever run into one of his descendants! And a hog driver to boot! What are the odds?

I am totally with you on the sun Munny, really outstandingly amazing, almost jolting in its reality. What else . . . sounds I really like. Not just the GAU-8 but the other ambient noises that immerse you. Like how sounds travel at the speed of sound and not instantly in external view, the doppler effect . . . the other night I blew a tire from turning too hard while taxiing, and I heard it go! Immersion-wise, just the feeling of being in the cockpit. Flying a mission the other night I took a missile hit and while my head was down (Track IR) trying to see what was broke another missile went off just safely out of range in my peripheral vision. That probably isn't something new, but because I was so immersed in the airplane and systems that event just left me totally awestruck at the feeling of 'being there.' Things sure have come a long way since Hellcat Ace!

I finally got to fly this one with Bahger last night, first time online with A-10, and we had a blast. I did find listening to my own voice a bit odd though. I was also a bit rusty on some of the procedures but Bahger walked me through them and I found even bringing the beast alive was enjoyable! Things went a bit downhill once I moved away from the ramp though. First I blew a tire during taxi, although I still made it into the air. Then, while Bahger expertly disposed of his SA-19, I somehow blundered straight into the one I was looking for. The first shot took out my CICU, RWR and left MFD. While I turned away from that and as I was surveying the pretty blinkenlights another SAM went off at about 2 O'clock, the first time I saw one do that. Needless to say, even though it was just out of danger range I found it quite immersive. Shortly after that, another salvo of missiles came up. The first one took off my right wing, which I found a bit of a nuisance, being as how even with full rudder and opposite aileron I couldn't quite keep my Hog from wanting to roll over into the mud. Fortunately a few seconds later another SAM took off my left wing and both elevators, which had the positive effect of fixing the unwanted roll. I did find the mass of flames as well as the irresistible nose down attitude a bit of a drag, and since I was now relieved of any burden of responsibility to try and control the thing and also since it was kind of late to start a BBQ, I caught a ride on the silk elevator to safety. I spent the rest of the mission as a spectator, watching as Bahger disposed of 'my' SA-19 as well as CBU'd the tanks. Overall a splendid time!

Is it just me or does there seem to be a fair number of people being blown away recently? Welcome to the forum!

1st rule of software engineering - its always easy to have someone else modify their code.

I kind of like the game of 'chicken' you get into with the Shilka . . . zoomed in and ready to fire you see the smoke and tracers coming up . . . usually just barely enough time to get a killing burst squeezed off then jink like hell and hopefully watch the tracers whiz past . . . quite the thrill! For some reason I find the BMPs harder too, although I think its because I let my guard down since its 'just a BMP' and get too close, therefore I don't have time to jink when they start squirting off rounds.

You could buy the stick and then teach them how to fly with it! :joystick: Just think of the bonding you could have with them flying co-op over hostile armor!

Yeah I don't buy the 'because it is perfect for one sim it is useless in all others' argument either, especially since no other stick on the market even comes close to matching even one plane. Its perfect for DCS Warthog, yes, but from there a button is a button is a button and you can map them however you want, exactly as you have to with every other stick on the market. One viable argument you could make would be lack of FF, but that doesn't bother me to be honest. The Warthog is bar none the most accurate controller of any kind I have plugged into a computer. Oh, and I use the throttle/mixture thing for RoF too, along with the Incr-Decr slider for radiator. Love it!

If you were 'Blown away' by the training missions, wait till you get to your first real live SA-19! On the controller front, I was quite pleased with my Saitek X-52 until Santa dropped a Hotas Wartog on me. My advice, don't try the Warthog, not even once at a friend's house, don't even look at it too close, because once you do there is no going back!

I'll pitch in an offer to help with this or a future project - at one point I was in the Air Force and spent a fair amount of time on the radio . . . I also am experienced with Audacity.

I'll chip in my heartfelt agreement with the sentiment in this threads. I've been simming since Gunship! and F-15 Strike Eagle on the C-64. This series is beyond anything I could ever have dreamed of back then. Thank you ED team for all your dedication and hard work. This sim is a work of art, a work of science, and is truly so breathtaking it transcends profanity!

Obviously, I was learning a valuable lesson about not attacking helicopters head-on! :pilotfly: It wasn't part of Devil's cross, it was just a quick mission. I saw the Mi-24 on my ingress and while I was lining up was suddenly surrounded by a huge stream of tracers . . . was a real 'Woah ****!' moment! I swear I ducked in my chair. This sim is a fantastic achievement, I look forward to many years of development (and my continued patronage) to this series!

Was flying a quick mission last night and while making a head on pass on a Mi-24 he hosed me good with his nose gun, taking out one engine completely and damaging the other one. I jettisoned my stores but was mushing down into a hill, and when the plane was obviously not going to make the turn, I punched out at the very last second, sure I was going to be a smear on the hillside. Somehow my chute opened and my once proud steed crashed about 50m away and burned merrily. I was walking around a bit thanking my lucky stars when the fire went out. On a whim I walked over to the hulk and got into the cockpit, when I noticed the charred cockpit had 'converted' into an A model after the crash! I know its probably just an un-updated texture carried over from FC2 or something, but I thought it was funny. It did bring an idea into my head though . . . I know it would be a waste of ED's effort, and we have FC2 for the A-10A, but wouldn't it be awesome if we had the A-10A in this sim too and could fly the same mission in both to experience the enhancements in a head-on compare?

Until recently, I was running the A-10 32 bit version, due to TrackIR support (I could not get 64 bit TrackIR to recognize my device). I have Win 7 64 bit. I was having quite a few issues with crashes in A-10 - mostly video crashes, several times a mission the screen would blank out for 10 - 15 seconds, then recover, and occasionally I would hard CTD. Once I resolved my TrackIR 64 bit issue (key was uninstall TrackIR, reboot, then reinstall TrackIR), I also switched over to A-10 64 bit. Since then, I have had somewhat faster load times and smoother frame rates, but by far the best improvement has been a much more stable A-10, I don't think I've crashed since moving to 64 bit. The software, that is. I've crashed my A-10 plenty! Also, TrackIR 64 bit seems to be noticably smoother and more dependable in head tracking . . . so my recommendation would be to give it a go, especially if you are having any stability issues in A-10.

OK THAT was funny . . . especially since I used to be in an F-15 unit and have known a few F-15 drivers and their average maturity level. . .

Thanks for the charts GGTharos! I obviously didn't look any charts up for my previous post, but as I was pulling 7.5G at about 1.1 mach below 1000' (I didn't try higher G's cause I blackout) and about 4.5G at 27K - 28K (I didn't pay that close attention to altitude nor try to maintain perfectly level flight) - both of which are smack dab in the middle of the chart you posted. So basically you are right where you should be. My level of appreciation for your accomplishment with this sim has just gone up from its already appreciably high level! But getting back to the original OP, I think we can all agree that SovietAviator has just been pulling on his stick too hard! :joystick: (P.S. I get a permission error on the 36924 attachment, but can see the 27999 one fine.)

OK to add something a little more meaningful . . . the key in maneuvering is not to exceed an angle of attack that causes energy to bleed off excessively. To see how this works, build a quick mission with a clean F-15, get it down below 1000 feet, and kick off a 90 degree banked turn in full burner and about .85 mach. You (at least I) can pull 7.5Gs all day like this, and actually accelerate to slightly above Mach 1 while doing it. Now whether or not this is accurate to what the real jet can do, as someone who has tooled around in all sorts of airplanes both real and sim, this is pretty damn impressive and feels absolutely awesome! Next, roll out level, point the nose up and get up to about 25K feet and do the same thing . . . get to .85 Mach, light up the afterburner and do the same 90 degree bank and pull. Watch your G and Mach meters at the bottom left of the HUD. At this altitude and air density, you can only pull about 4 - 4.5 G before the plane starts to mush and you bleed your energy all over the sky. Practice a bit so that you can pull as much as possible while keeping a stable Mach, then jump to an external view and look at your contrail (or turn on wingtip smoke) - you will see a nice small constant turning circle. That's what you can sustain in A2A combat. If you pull more than that you may get a very brief higher instant rate of turn but you'll end up with no energy and your picture stamped on the side of someone else's fuselage. Obviously if you are flying in combat with missiles your G limit will be lower. Welcome to the fundamentals of energy management. :book: These planes have to be flown with control and finesse at all times, especially in combat. If you learn how to do it, you will have a much greater appreciation for what it actually takes to fly these beasts. I still can't help you much with the 'they go by so fast' thing though . . . :smilewink:

I think we have the answer right there . . . flying about 95 years too late . . . maybe a nice little Fokker or SPAD would be better?