Grim_Smiles

Yeah I gotta admit that's probably the better solution, as much as I hate myself for admitting it. You could toss any extra screens for Tomcat you were planning for the march update onto the F-14 page and then save the other details for a combined April post (that will hopefully announce the other two planes). Hard to say that because I'm pretty much starving for any news you put out, especially on what the other two are. F-14 is pretty much the main one I really care about, but the question of what the other two pan out to be is driving me nuts like the air slit in a plastic Halloween mask.

Admittedly we still could be misinterpreting that radar comment. Like someone else pointed out (can't remember who), Cobra didn't say "Air-to-ground" he just said "ground radar". Now I just assumed he meant A2G radar and he very well could have but just didn't bother to add the "air-to" part. But with so many people talking about GCI with the MiG-21, there is always the possibility that LN could be making an addon allowing people to act as GCI. Making an accurate GCI would certainly involve making new tech. It is a big shot in the dark on that, but it isn't outside the realm of possibility. That would then open up the possibilities of other aircraft like the MiG-23 or Su-24. But we still have to also assume he meant A2G radar unless Cobra says otherwise. As for the flag representing AI Japanese aircraft vs Corsair, sure it's possible now since we have evidence there aren't two WWII planned to be released (at least this year). But I still find it odd for Cobra to have made a teaser image of upcoming products with three images, and while having three products he only hints at two of them. Who knows at this point, I admit they have definitely left me pretty confused. I'm not going to get my hopes up on anything. Especially since the one I really cared about was already announced. Regardless, with all this guessing and pulling our hair at every hint and comment, Leatherneck Sims be like:

Well hell, that quote is definitely throwing me off now. So of the two only one is going to be WWII. Cobra showed an (apparently) F4U Corsair cockpit in the teaser image. Then again, an icon for a Japanese WWII plane (apparently a Raidan) was seen on Rudel's stream and he's sporting the avatar of an anime about the designer of the WWII Zero (who also designed the Raiden) which would seem to match the Imperial Japanese flag in the teaser. So now the question is which one will be the WWII prop and what is that modern one going to be. LN was as subtle as a nuclear bomb when it came to the Tomcat but now I gotta wonder if we got trolled a bit on the WWII stuff. I have no idea now what WWII plane we will get from them since now it seems the other unannounced is apparently a modern plane. And how modern is the other plane. Guess we'll have to just keep beating our heads until they tell us this month or next.

As someone who creates and deals with tech drawings for a living, I refute your accusation and bite my thumb at thee! *HHHIIIISSSSSS* Ah who the hell am I kidding, they rarely match the damn ships and I'm sure aircraft aren't too far off in this problem either.

No apologies needed, like others commenting I too initially thought it was for the 21. I did a double take and had to check again, that's when I saw it. Easy mistake to make.

Those are changes to the MiG-15 not the MiG-21.

Looks like the textures are missing for the nose spotlight. I've used the light without seeing this. Have you tried running a repair on your DCS?

Because none of these statements in any way suggest the things you guys are throwing out there like Harriers and F-16s. And why build an AI opponent, what would be the point of that? People were complaining when F-86 and P-51 only had AI opponents before those opponents were made flyable. Why make an AI opponent to sell one plane when you can make a flyable opponent at the same time and sell two. I can understand why it happened to BST (they weren't planning a MiG-15 initially) and ED (they got stuck with RRG's mess), but LN is not in that same situation. Putting that flag there as AI Japanese vs F4U does not make sense when they are developing three planes and show a teaser with three images. That wouldn't make sense to make a teaser image for your three upcoming products but instead just demonstrate only two of those products. One of those turned out to be the Tomcat as people guessed, not to mention the heavy hinting by Cobra and Rudel that they were throwing out there which helped that guess along. Another image shows a US WWII cockpit (probably corsair) so that pretty much settled that. The same hinting that tipped us off to the Tomcat suggests a second WWII aircraft. When Rudel was doing his streaming people saw a DCS icon on his desktop that had a Japanese Raiden WWII fighter on it. Rudel is now sporting an avatar from an Anime on the creator of the Japanese Zero, who designed the Raiden (just as they were sporting avatars suggesting a Tomcat). That matches with the Japanese flag pic from the teaser and now you have your opponent to Corsair. Doesn't mean with 100% certainly that it will be a Raiden, but that is a lot more evidence than "OMG ground radar DCS F-16". And Flagrum we are definitely reading that statement differently. Sure they would need to develop tech for a Tomcat that they didn't need for the MiG-21, even for the WWII aircraft. Cobra listed things as examples of items of complexity, doesn't mean everything he listed is being used in one of the three. Not to mention some people are throwing out aircraft guesses that don't even use A-G radar so that definitely doesn't make sense. Either one of the three uses A-G radar or none of the three do, why are people making a huge deal of the A-G radar comment but then suggesting aircraft that don't even use it? I'm not trying to be mean here, I'm really not trying to pee in anyone's cereal and I apologize if my posts sound as such. But I think you guys are setting yourselves up for a big letdown. I think you're reading too much into that A-G radar comment. Maybe I'm wrong here, maybe one of them is using A-G radar. But I'm not going to hype myself up on little evidence and I think it's a bad idea for you guys to get hopes up on the things you are throwing out there. I guess we'll see in a month or two what happens.

I'm not sure where the really wild speculation on the other two aircraft is coming from. They already teased about the three aircraft in that image LN posted. We already know the center one was a Tomcat and it is pretty clear that the remaining two isn't some of the things being guessed here. One is clearly a WWII prop plane based on the cockpit and the Japanese Imperial flag certainly suggests the other is a WWII prop as well. Both aircraft being prop planes would be a big reason why they are further along than an F-14. Cobra makes one comment about ground radar and people lose their mind. It was given as an example. Did it occur to anyone that this could be something they are designing for aircraft they want to develop later on but has nothing to do with the two unannounced aircraft? Some of you are likely pumping yourself up for a big let down over the mention of one system.

Agreed, I think that's how things will generally go with 54Cs. Took me a moment to dig up two of Ralfi's vids where they put AIM-54Cs on their F-15s to try them out. In the first video Ralfi is shooting them pretty close and yeah a fighter can easily evade if they don't make a mistake - this of course is the standard 54C flight model we have now, who knows how they will fly when LN puts in their updated flight model. This was done at pretty close range just to try them out, on a multiplayer server at that range I can't imagine anyone would engage with 54s. I would suspect any AIM-54Cs would have already been used up before then. If not I would think it wise to jettison them (I'm assuming they can be kicked off the rails without firing like any other ordnance). On the second video Line and Ralfi are on a server and Line fires a 54 from about 60 miles. He downs the enemy player, who IIRC explained he at first thought someone shot an AIM-120 at him from 30 miles out and dismissed it as a ridiculous shot, five seconds later he was dead. So if someone is caught off guard from long range it is certainly possible to down them. I have to wonder how easy it is to tell if you have an F-14 shooting an AIM-54C at you in a Russian jet? Since there was apparently an issue before I'll give the warning that there is some swearing in the videos and they are NSFW.

LOL true, I guess Goose AI doesn't really have as snappy a ring to it as Jester AI. Plus with Jester there isn't the suggestion of potential canopy KO. Jester is a more recognizable character than Merlin so I understand not going with that one. If we're going to suggest celebrity voicing for the AI though I'd prefer the suggestion of Ironside over Edwards. Sure Goose is the iconic RIO/WSO, but Jester has that meaner "kill a commie for your mommy" voice than Edwards has.

If I recall correctly Cobra only said they were announcing one for right now and, again IIRC, the one that was furthest along. So this is likely to be the only announcement for a bit, and it was a hell of an announcement. I was only expecting one version, didn't realize we'd get both the A and B.

Correction - they HAD a professional website

Viper: The Leatherneck website is dead. Maverick: I know. Viper: You refresh a website long enough, something like this happens. Maverick: It was my browser, my responsibility. Viper: My squadron, we lost 8 of 18 websites. 10 pages. First one dies, you die too. But there will be others. You can count on that. You gotta let the announcement go. You gotta let it go.

FEARLESS LEADER STRIKES AGAIN! NORTH KOREA IS BEST KOREA!

Wags is on the West Coast IIRC so they wouldn't do it on EST for him. Rudel however is East Coast of US, so like others said that's the probable reason for the EST time.

That book was also where Cobra got his preview pic from the January update as I recall. But the "Welcome Back Baby" can also refer to the "Anytime Baby" that was the Tomcat motto: So at this point I'd say we already know what Cobra is going to announce for at least one plane. Unless this is just the biggest trolling from a developer ever.

I'd say I do both. I try to be mindful of specific parameters while I'm flying and keep to those as much as possible (like Vincent's example of the 5g payload limit) but I also fly by feel, especially if I'm in a dogfight and my eyes are glued to the bandit and not the instruments. Of course with my limited time in cockpit this flying by feel doesn't always work out but I'm getting better as I put more time into it. Main thing slowing that down has been my A.D.D. with multiple modules (I keep hopping between aircraft too much) and the fact that my sessions get limited by my current desk setup just not being comfortable to me. The latter should get settled when my Obutto cockpit comes in this month and I can start putting more time into the sim without ending up with back/tailbone issues.

Very glad to see that we have era specific pilots in the F-86 and MiG-15 instead of the modern day default figure, thanks for that BST. I was wondering if there were any plans (and hopefully there are) of creating a Korean War specific pilot wearing a flight suit like what No Kum-sok was equipped with when he defected? I don't mind having the option of the pilot figure we have now, just perhaps have it switch figures based on skin like the P-51D does when selecting a WWII or modern day skin. I realize this is a beta so BST may already have plans and haven't implemented them yet, but wanted to bring this up and see if there were any comments to this by the devs.

Actually I envisioned to look something more like this:

Same here, hoping for some external and cockpit shots. Though I'd give that up gladly if it meant the 2015 release was not only on track, but that we would see a summer release of it. More props the better.

Yeah they do seem to be made of some strong stuff on the ground. The damage system is something that I've heard on the roadmap to be worked on, hopefully once they have the new graphics engine in place they will start tweaking the damage model. Until then you can try Exorcet's idea of the MiG-21 nuke, I can also confirm a solid kamakaze hit will do it as well.