captain_dalan

Now that Jester can use target next for ground targets, any chance we get prioritize next for TWS?

Ah the romanticism of the 90's....

Hmm.....they did carry nukes in that Buck Danny comic book...

My recommendation, embrace the vibes and the rattles. best way to tell what angle of attack you're at by far. True, probably not as important for mud moving, but during ACM it's absolutely essential. After a while, you don't even see the code, all you see is blondes, brunettes, redheads.....

Words of wisdom, i think we've had enough mud wrestling for one year! I have no ide? Do we? Has anyone tried this in action?

Largely my sentiment as well.

1. Good points, you beat me to them. 2. Potential for anti-surface employment

These keep getting better and better! I was about to share it too And this time they touch on topics directly related to use chair-pilots, like radar latency, jamming targets, doppler filters, missile shots....... loved this episode!

Is this purely a cosmetic issue? As in, is flap deployment on the physical model related to actual changes in the L/D ratio, that is effecting the flight characteristics, or well....not?

Fair enough!

Yep!

It's not like the f404-400 has a wealth of information either. Just a level flight envelope for 4 configurations, and acceleration charts. No excess power charts, no Cl max charts, not even STR charts. Had it at least partial STR charts in it, we could estimate the increase in performance based on increase in static thrust for the improved engines (about 11%), similar to the difference between TF-30 and F110 in full burner. Alas, not even that is available.

I think he had at one point. It might be buried under tons of other reports though Looking forward to that as well, but looks like it's gonna take a while.

Still don't see massive use advantage of helmet mounted sights though. It's not the like the Sparrows, even the "dogfighting" variants are that nimble to employ in a hard turning fight and the rear aspect Winders? I bit harder to tell without actual experimentation but i don't see them making the required turn if shot severely out of their envelope. Maybe some use for faceshots with Sparrows? But if it's a faceshot, then why haven't you locked the guy already? And if he's too close you ain't gonna keep 'im inside radar gimble for long anyways. So highly situational at best. Again, not opposing such gizmos, just skeptical of their usefulness. We are still a decade early even by Soviet standards to make high off bore shots viable.

Of course not, nor was it meant to sound that way. Purely pointing out to the semantics, that is the choice of expression

Boy am i late for this party, but on top what everyone else said: Try to enter all breaks coordinated and once you do...... rudder rudder rudder......

BTW, both sources, the SAC and the Flight Manual, state their thrust values as static, not installed, even though one quotes 20900 and the other 17000.

I have almost completely forgotten about the SAC's, and yes they do state 20900lbs of thrust. Thanks for the pointer.

Are some of you guys for real, or are some of you just trolling? On a more serious note, of course i'd like to see exotic stuff in DCS, but would a helmet mounted sight even be any useful given the era most likely any modeled Phantoms are going to be based on?

The major issue is that they are unwilling to engage. When acting as wingmen, they will engage if ordered as soon as entering effective range (usually about 70-80 nautical miles), however, if a flight is composed of AI's only, they just fly and idle intercept. They will defend when fired upon, but will not fire themselves. As you mentioned this happens only about 30 miles in (for medium-high altitudes) or even closer (for medium-low altitudes). Thus they are essentially useless as CAP aircraft as they get shot down by everything you throw at them, even if that other thing is another AI that has no grudges about engaging at much higher ranges.

Hey mate, sorry for the late reply. I took a week off from DCS, both the forums and the sim. I just did some tests though, as i was curious myself as to how this would work out. I had never overridden the wingsweep in DCS before. I remember experimenting with it in another sim, long time ago, and my reaction back then was, wings back and me just don't mix well The tacview is bellow the short text of my impressions. All the breaks are executed with wings back at 68 degrees manual setting, except for the last one, which is executed with the wings in auto for comparison. 1. Wings back limits the g's you have available at a given mach-airspeed; So if you want a 10g pull, you'll need to enter the break at higher airspeed then you would with the wings in auto. This is essentially by the book, that is, it fits well with the math; 2. The effective bleed rate isn't really higher. Or better said, it's higher in the first 5-6 seconds of the break (if you enter it at very high speed, i.e. over 450 knots), but because of the lower lift available, after reaching certain airspeed you just stop bleeding and sort of hang in there. For me in this configuration it was about 200-250 knots, with the former being very hard to achieve as as soon as the plane reaches 200ish knots, it doesn't want to fly anymore and you just drop from the sky; 3. As a result of the above, you end up with a slower turn and a wider turn radius. When comparing the breaks with the last one (the one with the wings on auto), you can see, both the turn rate and the turn radius are much better with the wings on auto. I could tighten the radius to less then 1000ft for short transient periods of time as opposed to no less 1220ft with the wings back; 4. Because of the unfavorable L/D, after dumping energy with the wings back and the higher stall speed you end up with, you can do about 180 degrees of such a turn before turning into a leaf on the wind. Maybe a dozen degrees more, if you enter real fast. Like 470-490 knots fast. Contrast this with the at least 270 degrees that you get, even with 400-420knots when breaking with the wings on auto, before you lose all turning ability. 5. And this is not in the charts and on the track is the actual stability. Now this may a deciding factor on whether you find tactical application for turning with your wings back. The plane IS MUCH MORE stable with the wings back. Only MINIMAL rudder input was required to keep the desired bank angle and over flutter behavior was much more docile. Would i recommend doing it. If your goal is to get from 500-250 knots in a very short period of time, with the minimum of leg-work, then probably. Is it absolutely needed? IMO, no. You can achieve the same goal with better AoA management as long you are proficient with rudder use. My major gripe with using this in a dogfight is that i feel like i'm gimping myself for very little (if any) gain. With wings back at 250 knots i'm stuck in a situation i can't get out of quickly enough. It will take several seconds before the wings come forward when i select AUTO or Forward. My flaps won't be able to deploy until the wings are about half-way there. And my nose is essentially stuck until either of these comes to past. Several seconds are a microscopic time in BFM and luxury i wouldn't allow for myself. But then again, i don't have problems staying at the edge of lift with wings forward, even at 100 knots. In fact, it was last week i discovered a new Jester quote that went something like "100 knots.....falling in style", while practicing BFM against a Viper. No spin, no flameout, but it did lose that fight as you can imagine. Can you somehow combine the benefits or the early break with wings forward by say breaking to 350-300 and then switching to auto? Like we do when we break on CASE I? Possibly? Will it be worth it? Can't say. Maybe if practiced to perfection...... but i still have so much to do regarding AoA management and desent control during my first break into a merge, i'm a long way from exploiting any such advantages even if they are noticeable enough. But the plane was always under control. But enough of me indulging in essay writing, here's the track! Tacview-20211009-170148-DCS-F-14 low level EVAL.zip.acmi

Tacview-20211003-152531-DCS-F-14 low level EVAL.zip.acmi I had the old track files deleted (probably as a result of routine track maintenance), but no matter, i just recorded these and they are close enough. The first two are a couple of 5g warmup turns, i tried to stay between 4.9 and 5.1g in a consistent sustained turn to get the feel for the aircraft. For me it's a must in the F-14. I can't just jump in and scratch at the air for every pound of lift i can get right after takeoff. The configuration is 54000pds gross weight, 4 Sparrows, 4 Winders, full 20mm box and whatever is left for the fuel, probably around 55-60%. I had the fuel burn disabled in the settings, so the data would be consistent throughout the entire flight. Try this with an airshow load and you go Pazuzu with this plane. Wings were left in auto as where the flaps. So to minimize structural damage. Airspeed never exceeded 450 knots and i tried to enter into most breaks with less then or at 400. Even so, i seemed to have spiked at 10g somehow! That's on my though. Observations: 1. You do the full aft stick and ride the 32-33 degree (true degrees, not units) AoA and you can do north of 30 degrees per second for VERY short periods of time. I think i spiked at 35 degrees per second or so. Be ready to dance and i mean DANCE on your rudder pedals. If you don't have pedals, assign rudder inputs to some analogue alternative. You can't stay on the "edge of the knife" without them. This kind of turn, if entered properly will give you about 270 degrees before you bleed out and are near stall. More or less, depending on your entry speed. Even so, the efficiency of your turn (that is, the rate) is highly variable. It starts slower, then picks up rapidly, then drops rapidly and then you just sort of hang there. 2. You do a 25 degree AoA and you max out about 20-24 degrees per second, BUT you get to sustain it longer, and you end up with a higher average turn rate then you do when you pull to the limit. This way with a proper entry you go for over 450 degrees before you bleed out below 150 knots. IMO, but better strategy for most dogfights. Keep the 33AoA for last second jinks and guns-d, while cornering at 25 AoA. 3. It's actually possible (and if you look carefully you'll see it) to actually go over 32-33 degrees AoA when you enter the break at higher airspeeds. I think i managed 35 degrees or so, even with the wings forward. This is transient AoA. It can't be sustained. For a very short time the momentum and lifting body take hold and guide your nose further up then otherwise possible. With wings back and with more airspeed it's even possible to pull more then 35. I've seen data that state more then 40. Do note that while these sort of shenanigans can give Hornets a run for their money, they are not always or even often the best of ideas. They leave you like a dry twig in the wind, just floating there with no energy to speak of. You may get your snapshot or get the bandit to panic and do something stupid. But after that, especially in the A, it takes some time to get the knots (and the capability to do something with them) back. Just take a look how long my extensions are. And i don't mean hair or nail extensions Hope you liked the track and have a great weekend!

There have been quite a few wars waged due to this issue. Even more so then over women! Alas, some were not even proxy!

Great news. Their use as AI in missions is hurt right now.

Painting a picture usually. At range. Generally above what you would call engagement ranges. As long as refresh isn't an issue, you can scan pretty high volumes of space this way and decide on the best course of action.