Fishbreath

It's not completely Steam-related, but are we going to see a 6DoF/3D cockpit for the Su-25T any time soon (or at all)? I adore the Rook, but I worry that people might get the wrong impression about the other modules from the old-fashioned cockpit, and that would be a shame. Edit: I see now that Wags confirmed a new cockpit in the works (link). Nifty!

Fire a few full racks of Vikhrs and target for the gun for a while, and you'll eventually burn the laser out, or you could try (like I did) binding your voice comms push-to-talk button to the same button as the Skhval/laser designate. :P Landing and repairing fixes it. FWIW, though, I've never burned the laser out on a normal mission, or even a mission on which I went back to base to reload two or three times. It's modeled, but it's not normally an issue.

This request is a year old, but it would be really, really handy, especially since hide/unhide for threats controls their appearance on the ABRIS. I'd also like a way to place a fake unit--something that isn't a real object, but which would show up on the ABRIS and the F10 map, so I can say 'there's a threat around here' without saying 'the threat is right here'.

Shkval reset is called 'targeting reset' or something.

The F-35's stealth relies more on shape than on radar-absorbing materials, and for longer wavelengths, the aircraft simply isn't big enough for shape to make a difference.

I just wish we could get the IR jammer from the Frogfoot on the tail. That would be handy.

I don't remember the last time I was engaged by a missile with enough forewarning to do anything about it, so my answer is based on engagement by guns. A hovering target is a stationary target, which is easier to hit, so I get moving fast such that my velocity has a big crossing component relative to the incoming fire, and then I get out of sight by terrain masking or simple low-altitude flying. Against missiles, the same thing probably holds, with the addition of dumping flares—crossing, accelerating targets take more energy for a missile to stay in front of. I guess some missiles aren't that fancy, but most of them seem to fly something like a lead pursuit, which is a constantly-changing course for a target that's speeding up.

Great, thanks for the news. Some potentiometer cleaning seems to have mostly mitigated it for now, but I'm looking forward to the ability to tweak it in software.

Additional advice: for Vikhrs, you have to maneuver the aircraft so that the Vikhr launch circle on the HUD is over the Shkval circle, and you can't maneuver too hard after you've launched, or else the missile won't be able to maneuver to stay in the guidance beam. For Kh-29s and -25s and the S-25 guided rocket, the seeker heads only have so much gimbal, so if the launch authorized cue in the HUD is blinking, you need to put the nose closer to the target.

It's probably just unfamiliarity with the Mustang—4-5g at 250-350mph and low-level is about all you can do without exceeding AoA limits.

My final report on this matter: 1. Neither route mode nor hover mode can be engaged when you're trying to reorder waypoints. 2. After waypoints have been reordered, desired track mode works correctly, and will fly lead turns when cycling waypoints as expected.

My CH Pro Throttle has served me well for some time now, and served someone else now for quite a while longer than that, but the potentiometers are, I think, starting to get a little dirty: in DCS, the throttle has begun to jump up and down for an instant, and more and more frequently get stuck in the up or down position (this is getting to be a pain in the Mustang and the Ka-50, in particular, ruining takeoffs, landings, and hovers alike). Obviously, the final solution is to open up the throttle and clean the main potentiometer, but it's curious that I only see this issue in DCS (neither Rise of Flight nor the Windows game controllers dialog show jumpy outputs). My guess is that this has something to do with the rate at which the throttle inputs are sampled in DCS. Is there a way to tune that parameter in the interim?

That's what I'm doing. Originally, I had the fuel tanks on one side and the weapons on the other, but for balance reasons the weapons are now on the outer left and inner right pylons.

Right, but at high altitudes the calculus changes a little: with the engine governors limiting engine RPM, the rotor RPM would (I would think) be below where the flight control system wants it to be for the given collective setting. Some of it might be the wind in this mission, too—it's pretty intense at 2000 meters, and the shape of the valley might be causing updrafts and downdrafts. At one point I couldn't hover at full collective, and at another I was hovering with less collective than I normally need down near sea level.

I'm setting up a mission in which I fly as AFAC for my A-10 buddy. We'll be up in the mountains northeast of Tskhinvali in the wintertime, which puts me at about 2200 meters with deicing required, which is conditions where the engine governors are getting a serious workout. Here's the scenario: I'm in a hover with a heavy load (six Vikhrs and a launcher's worth of smoke rockets, plus two fuel tanks for added loiter time over the target area). The overhead panel warning lights say the governors are limiting engine speed, and I'm sinking at maybe one meter per three seconds or so. Blade angle is about 13 or 14 degrees, and rotor RPM is sitting at around 82%-83%. Is it better to reduce collective? That would mean the rotors are turning faster and the engines aren't working as hard, but is it generally the case that the increase in rotor RPM would be sufficient to counteract the lower blade angle?

Could I trouble you for some tips on throttle/prop RPM for formation flying? When I flew last night, I was juggling both to keep up with/not fly past my leader. Would setting RPM a little bit above his setting and working the throttle only be a better way to do it?

For one, multiplayer wouldn't have any ground commanders. :P

My procedure: 1. Hold the starter switch, and move the mouse over to the magneto switch at the same time. 2. Once the engine begins to sputter, immediately turn the mag switch to both. 3. Hit mixture lever as soon as possible. I'm not entirely sure the engine should be sputtering like it does at #2, but maybe it has enough compression to start dieseling or something. Anyway, this process usually gets me a start on the first go, while priming, then magnetos, then starter, then mixture seems to fail in some environmental conditions. I also got a friend to fly with me yesterday:

I find that a little slip in a loop isn't killer. When I start a loop, I glance down at the accelerometer by the oil temp/pressure gauge: starting a loop at 4.5g or 5g anywhere above about 225 mph is about the best you can do. More than that, and you'll end up at too high an angle of attack, and it won't work out well in the end.

For the first half of that, I thought you were actually talking about something I didn't know yet. Well done.

That's an odd position to take, given that the default joystick settings in DCS are absolute crap and that my first step on buying a new platform is to clear them all. The Warthog HOTAS in particular is a well-known device that has a pre-existing DCS profile. Would it be so hard to make a profile that assigns the axes in a sensible way? If I had a Warthog, I might want to switch prop RPM/manifold pressure around, but it's a pretty safe bet that I'd want one on one throttle and one on the other. In the same way, if I have something called 'CH Pro Pedals' or 'CH Throttle Quadrant' plugged in, you can be pretty sure I don't want pitch and roll on those.

I've found that holding the starter until the engine catches then quickly hitting the magneto switch and the mixture lever will work, if you're quick about it. I usually disable head tracking once I have the starter, magneto switch, and mixture lever in view to make them easier to get to.

I would imagine it's actual system memory usage--the fact that it doesn't change suggests it's everything, preloaded. I'm not a graphics expert by any means, but I would expect the graphics memory usage to change based on what's currently in the scene being rendered. You could verify that by making a mission, checking memory usage, adding more things out of sight range (across the theater would definitely be safe), and checking again.

I'll probably be venturing online one of these days, provided I can find a place. I might also look into whipping up a few A2G missions, or maybe some co-op air combat missions, for the P-51 multiplayer community specifically. Seems like a pretty limited set out there so far.

FWIW, I've never had problems with the CH pedals, even after a long time (and I fly more WWI hours than anything, so rudder use is near-constant!). For the helos, I've never had much use for the rudders-don't-stick-with-trim thing, so I do indeed end up with them centered most of the time, and although the Mustang does require a lot of rudder work, it almost never requires very much rudder deflection.