Skall

Purchased. Looking forward to the 18th.

I still look forward to what CA can become and hope that once EDGE is ironed out, ED can divert more attention to CA. Also, their RFI for the Abrams tells me they plan to up the ground game. At least I hope.

With the current flight model, I don't expect to get a kill until I'm about 20nm (~37km) from my target AND we are flying towards each other. Even then the missile is fairly easy to defeat. Anything further than that or in a different aspect and hoping for a kill is wishful thinking.

Also, check out the videos here: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=123658 They helped me clean up my landings a bit. Every time he looks down, pause the video and pay attention to the instruments (VVI, altitude, speed, AOA) and see what they are and how they change as you approach the runway.

As far as landings go, I think the F-15 is just that easy to land. I find the F-15, F-86 and A-10 are extremely stable and easy to land. Don't think it has anything to do with the flight model. I believe there was a third party working on a clickable cockpit for an F-15E but seems like the project has gone silent. I know ED is working on a clickable F/A-18. DCS planes have really long betas. Honestly, even the "non-beta" planes are in constant development. If you really want a plane, I would get it regardless of beta status. Though yes, it implies there may be some major features not fully ironed out. Not sure about the fuel. Been a few weeks since I last flew the F-15. Might be a new bug but I definitely recall the gauge moving. The character profile thing is a recent bug. Noticed it myself. Will probably get fixed soon. Flaps have always been consistent for me. Make sure you don't have other mapped controllers that are unwittingly dropping your flaps. Replays are iffy in DCS and they sometimes play back incorrectly. I know the mission editor has a menu option for converting your replays to videos but never really played with it yet. You can look into that.

I feel your pain. I've also been dabbling in MP and I find it really, really difficult to build a picture of my position relative to friends/foes even though I'm listening in on TS. Throw in the fact that different players use jammers in very different ways and I might as well fly without any weapons since I never get to fire on anything.

Thank you for this. I also tend to take abbreviated operational notes for quick reference. As the number of AC increases, it becomes harder to remember the exact numbers/procedures especially if you haven't flown in a while. These notes are a great time saver. I'll be making use of your 190 guide to jump-start my notes.

2 of all of them.

Yes, they are the same thing.

There is no command to bug multiple targets. Bugging multiple targets is just slewing the cursor over the first plane and bugging it, then slewing the cursor over to the second plane and bugging it, etc. Make sure you are in TWS mode and DO NOT press the lock/bug button twice on the same plane or it will switch you over to RWS mode and let the target plane know it is being locked/bugged.

I've also noticed that the Sabre is extremely tail heavy with flaps down. Even with full nose-down trim I find myself having to fly final with a bit of forward stick pressure. Haven't been able to fly the past couple of days but maybe you are supposed to have a nose-high attitude on final? Not sure myself.

Don't know how the magic happens. All I know is the wizards are asleep when the plane is not moving.

Don't worry, I only learned that a few months ago and I've been flying the A-10 on and off for a while. It also doesn't help that the current winds and temps don't show unless the plane is in motion. If you are on the ground playing with the CDU, you never get to see the current values.

The LASTE screen itself displays the temperature, wind direction and wind speed for your current altitude. Sometimes I keep the LASTE screen on and take note of the values as I'm running down the runway to get "ground level" data, then I take note at 1000ft, 2000ft, 6000ft and my highest altitude. I then throw those values into the LASTE screen. It would be nice if there were an LSK that just plugged in the current values for you as felt by the aircraft sensors. Its nice taking the values directly from the LASTE screen since you don't have to do the math based on the ME values (wind direction - 187, feet to meters + magical invisible layer at 1500 feet AGL with double the wind speed). Plus with dynamic weather, you can get values relevant to your area of operation.

If you are doing a cold start, the throttle won't move until you hit the HOME key twice: once to go to ~9% RPMs and the other to go to ~30% RPMs (Idle). After that the throttle will work.

Got my first A2A kill in the F-86 yesterday. It was Sabre vs. Sabre. After several hopeless attempts at trying to keep up with the AI's ability to go into and maintain a stable climb at 17 knots, I dove to the ground and stopped going vertical with it. The AI soon followed and we had several head-on passes. In one pass I got desperate and decided to lead and go guns. My shots all missed but had a mid-air wing-to-wing collision. For some reason, his wing fell off and he crashed and burned. My wing was perfectly fine and I was able to land at the nearest airfield with nary a scratch.

Just like to add that my landings with the Eagle had always been a bit harder than I'd like them to be but still OK. It wasn't until I carefully saw the videos GGTharos posted that I realized I was coming in too steep. While my speed was closer to the right numbers, my flare was kinda sorta gross since I had to do a drastic change in attitude. It also meant I stalled harder on the flare since it bled speed off quickly. Now I go in shallower and my landings are much, much smoother.

Again, while I'm not a fan of the Sabre as a plane, I'm enjoying this module for the following reasons: 1. We finally have a plane that uses the NDBs for something. Brings me closer to civilian aviation in DCS. 2. I'm not good at dog fighting and don't really have anyone to practice with. Even though its against the AI, I like being able to practice basic BFM without the complexity of prop plane CEM or modern jet avionics. 3. The jet's handling has more personality than I had previously assumed. When I first hopped in the cockpit, I was pleased with the quality but the plane felt a bit bland and humdrum. However it's character has been shining through as I fly it. No doubt there is a novelty component to it and, on a personal level, my long-term use of the F-86 will depend more on the availability of period content than anything else. WWII will be covered with the Normandy map and several period planes. Hope the same happens to the Sabre.

Hmm, I haven't had much difficulty taxiing with the Sabre. I do have a ~15 point curve on my rudder axis so that might be why. Taxiing the P-51 on the other hand...

I was also not too interested in the F-86. Didn't care much for the time period or its looks (still think its a bit on the ugly side) but it grows on me more and more each time I fly it. Really glad I bought it.

Made a simple mission with a pair of passive Mig-15s to test out setup and range of the AIM-9s that the Sabre can use. Everything worked as expected, got tone, pressed and held trigger button (not weapons release) and took down both migs. Flew back to air field, landed and requested a full refuel and rearming. All this time I had left the gun-missile safety switch to MISSILE by accident. When the rearming completed, I could hear the growl of the AIM-9 again. However, switching the safety switch back to GUN or any of the other settings would not make the growl go away.

Ah I see. Practiced a few more landings and have had good results pumping with slight travel and then increasing the travel on the pumps as speed decreases. Can now reach a good taxi speed and get off the runway on the taxiway before the opposite threshold. On a different note, while this plane is very easy to land, I find myself having to put unusually high amounts of forward stick pressure on final. Seems like both the air brakes and the flaps make this bird extremely tail heavy. Even with full nose-down trim I need to keep forward pressure on the stick to maintain ~145 knots and a descent rate of descent. Is this normal?

I had this happen to me. Make sure the airfield you are taking off of is allied to your side. If it is not, you will not get a response.

I see the same behavior. \ works on the ground and I get a response from ATC. However when I try to call inbound when RTB, the menu doesn't come up.

Any tips on how to brake during the landing rollout when your brakes are mapped to an axis? Should you press and hold at a slight travel of the axis? Should you pump with a lot travel? Pump with little travel? etc. I find myself coming dangerously close to the opposite threshold more often then I'd like and screeching like mad at the very end. I know they are mapped properly as indicated by the "Show controls indicator" panel.