Biggus

After the A-6, an F-4N or S would really get me going. An A-7 variant is probably the main missing link though for mid 70s to mid 80s carrier scenarios though.

1070Ti will be fine. I have an i5-7600K at 5GHz with 16GB at 3200MHz. I'm running a 3440x1440 monitor and haven't yet experienced stutters, although I've been playing offline and my missions aren't enormous resource hogs. Definitely consider upgrading to two sticks of 16GB instead of 8GB. I think you're right about your assessment of the RTX cards right now. You could possibly find a 1080 or 1080Ti second hand, but the 1070Ti is pretty solid.

Haven't tested DCS, but Arma 3 gave me a noticeable improvement going from 2100mhz to 3000mhz. This is with an i5-7600k at 5ghz.

At 3440x1440 on a 35 inch monitor, I can't see a damn thing on the ground at anything greater than maybe 1nm on something like an SA-3 launcher, nor can I see an aircraft against the sky at more than about 4nm. Zoom is one of the workarounds for the unreality of using a monitor to view the world.

The scale GUI option works mostly well enough for now, but it isn't perfect. For example, in the mission editor, if you have a large number of loadouts for an aircraft, some of those will be inaccessible because they're off the screen. I have had the same issue with some of the options on the weather page. It's not the end of the world and it can be worked around, but a fix to this would be a great quality of life change.

Oh my god, how good does it look? Are we looking at the best module to date?

Excellent mission, very well done. The first dozen attempts were extremely frustrating as I was having to unlearn some training scars in the break and was often lucky to even get a bolter. I did manage a 140/140, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. I think adding the noob boxes/gates for some of the slots as a tutorial-like option would be a massive enhancement, but I can see how this would present some challenging problems to implement.

BVR on a tail chase engagement is a big ask for any missile.

As explained, the rocket motor burns out fairly quickly and the missile relies on energy imparted upon it by the launcher's speed and altitude, and the additional altitude that the missile itself might have attained if it is lofting. Closure rate is important. Think about throwing a ball. Let's say you can pitch a baseball 30m. A person is standing 40m away from you. If neither of you move, they can't catch the ball. If a person is standing 50m away and running towards you, you can probably throw the ball and have them catch it. Their distance was greater than your throwing range when you started, but they're getting closer while the ball is in the air. Similarly, if the person catching is running away from you at a decent speed, your throw will have to be made well before they get to 30m away. This is all greatly simplified, and we haven't added variables like whether you are running, whether you or the catcher has a height advantage, etc, but it is how I try to think about missile range in fairly easy to understand terms. Now with all that considered, a 12nm tail-on shot is very, very good and I'd be fairly happy with that. That -120 covered an awful lot of ground to get to the target.

What's the AIM-7MH? I can't find much via google, but it appears in the ME now as loadable.

Thanks, will give it a try.

Can it be disabled? I've got an overly sensitive nipple on my Warthog.

I've been doing something similar against a Blinder, but with a height advantage. In one experiment, with a closing speed of roughly 1300kn I fired one at 30nm with no cue, was able to get 'shoot' cue at 27nm and had the flashing NEZ cue at 14nm where I fired twice. The NEZ shots reached the Blinder around 10sec before the first two shots did. The shot taken from just outside the 'shoot' cue was probably a 25% chance of hitting him, but the second shot would likely have been a kill shot had the third and fourth missiles not hit him first. I wasn't entirely sold on them when I first tried them at low level, but now I'm somewhat in love.

https://imgur.com/a/LIikuHH I was getting shoot cue at roughly 8nm in a tail chase from a good 5,000ft higher than the targets.

Can't wait to repeatedly bolter from! Good work, keep it up! :)

I'm not a member of any military force and never have been, so I'm not going to pretend I know the answer to that question. But looking at the empty weight of a Hornet, the maximum takeoff weights, the weight of ordnance and the weight of fuel, I think I'd be surprised if there were active fighter pilots who are unable to receive fuel from a tanker safely, even in air forces where they don't own tanker assets. While I don't think it's particularly easy to learn in real life, remember that sitting at a computer, you are not feeling the sensations that you would feel in a real aircraft and if you're using a monitor, you're missing out of a lot of depth perception. So the things that make it hard for us might not be the things that make it hard for a Hornet pilot. Does that make sense?

So I've got HSEL working fine and it all makes sense, but is there a CSEL mode? I'd like to be able to use HSEL to steer onto a course when doing TACAN or VOR navigation, and don't mind doing it manually using only HSEL but it'd be nice if there was an AP mode that did that for me.

Let me preface this by saying I am a rank amateur in the art of air to air refuelling. I tried it a lot in the A-10C and I could never manage to stay hooked up, and it was quite frustrating. So I was somewhat anxious about learning how to do it in the Hornet and my anxieties initially gave me a severe pilot-induced oscillation issue. I tried to refuel in the instant action mission using ATC, and although it helped my approach to the tanker initially, I found it a bit problematic once hooked up. As you fill up your tanks, the tanker will gradually get faster by maybe one or two knots. He'll enter turns where you need to adjust the throttle a bit too, and all the while, your aircraft is getting heavier. I found that the effort to constantly engage and reengage the ATC was not worth the effort. What has worked for me has been to activate the BAlt AP. It dampens my joystick input and I can concentrate on throttle control. The throttle is constantly moving. I am not waiting to see whether I am getting closer to or more distant from the tanker. Stay a step ahead of your throttle input. Keep your distance from the tanker as consistent as you can. A few seconds of getting closer, a couple of seconds dropping back. You're trying to maintain a speed that is a specific fraction of a knot, and that specific fraction of a knot is changing with all the forces acting on your aircraft and the tanker. I've been doing this for the last two days, and I'm now able to reliably fill the Hornet with fuel. It might still take me three or four disconnections, but I feel like it's easier than a case 1 carrier recovery.

That's a great video, thanks for doing it. I've been struggling to find that perfect trim and most of the videos don't seem to include the control inputs.

Wonder if it is graphics settings dependent to at least some degree. I can see it but if you haven't done many circuits, then it's hard to know exactly where to look. At least for me, anyway. I'm finding it easier to pick up but don't really think it's visible enough with a 3440x1440 35 inch monitor. I don't put jets on the deck professionally, so for all I know I'm asking for something unrealistic.

Ah, ok. That makes a lot more sense. I don't have MFDs and it looks like my pinky switch is getting a bit worn out. Thanks :)

It's about to get stupid though. I've mapped 30-32 in options. I just don't know which one to press on the throttle or stick to activate them. :) I suspect that they're on the throttle but after a mashing marathon session I haven't identified them. I have the profile active and loaded, I have the corresponding keyboard and HOTAS profiles loaded in DCS. Modifiers are mapped in every module I own (although I'm only using the AV-8B profile right now).

I'm going to feel a bit stupid when you answer this, but which buttons are 30, 31 and 32 on my WH? I haven't found a map with them labelled and it's driving me slightly insane.

I haven't regretted purchasing any beta thus far, but some have had moments where I've needed to remember that I'm not using the finished product. The enjoyment outweighs the frustration at a factor of approximately 100 to 1.

Same problem on the training mission on the current patch.