BlackLion213

Great topic - I'm sure there will be a broad spectrum of opinions. :) I don't think that "game" and "simulator" are mutually exclusive or opposing terms. Actually, I would describe DCS as both - it is a game that aspires to simulate combat aviation to the fullest extent that is feasible. Whether or not something is a game is really based upon it's use. If you use DCS for true professional training (ie part of a syllabus for UH-1 ground school or refining your control inputs for actually learning to fly that aircraft) then DCS can be used as a simulator for professional training (though perhaps not sanctioned officially, not to mention liability stuff, etc). This what most people think about when using the term simulator - IMHO. However, if you play DCS for entertainment (like me), then it is a game that very closely simulates reality. The same way that going to track days in an open wheel racecar does not necessarily make someone a "racecar driver" - since it is a hobby and not their profession. They are still racing, but the circumstances and intent are different for a hobby. The same goes for DCS in my mind, that doesn't stop me from wanting the most realistic experience possible nor should it diminish the need for realism. But for me, in my circumstances, it is a game....and a simulator. ;) -Nick

There is more than one means of measuring diversity... ;) Those aircraft cover 50 years of aviation, both land-based vs carrier-based, single-engine vs multi-engine, a helicopter, single-crew vs multi-crew, VSTOL vs CTOL, fighters vs dedicated strike...seems pretty diverse. But true, there is nothing Russian on the list...though nationality is not a factor that I listed. -Nick

This is an nice top ten. Pretty diverse, but speaks to the need for more advanced strike aircraft. The F-15E is a favorite of mine....and a seriously bad-ass machine! I think it would make a lot of people happy. -Nick

True, but that was a reference to the upcoming F-14 theater. However, creating the Viggen without a Swedish map (even if just some coastline or Gotland) would seem a bit odd - since it only served with the Swedish Air Force. There probably are other theater options, I'm just not sure of what it would be. :) The setting for both the Viggen and Tomcat maps is something that I really want to learn more about. They said that none of their upcoming maps have much in common - does that mean the F-14 map will be cold Pacific vs Baltic/Europe for the Viggen. Might one of these take place in the cold reaches of the Southern Hemisphere?? (Can't imagine what that would be). I'm intrigued.... Mostly, I'm just really happy that Leatherneck is combining their modules with Theaters. This is the sort of combined/integrated approach that DCS can really use. I'm really anxious to see what this looks like. -Nick

I suspect that a machine built for war and sporting a Skull & Crossbones looks right to a lot of people. ;) -Nick

This is great information, thank you for explaining. :) It also makes great sense that LNS would pick the AJS-37 from what you've said. I figured that the AJ-37 would offer more interesting combat scenarios (large, Cold War encounters is what I envisioned), but I can see some members of the DCS community not responding well to a modern jet that can't field an all-aspect Sidewinder. Plus, the A-G weapons variety offered by both the AJ-37 and AJS-37 is pretty impressive. However, it seems that the option for Cold War scenarios is not ruled-out by creating the AJS variant. The AJS and AJ are so similar (it would seem) that reverting the AJS back to the AJ would only really require LNS to block out the aircraft's ability to carry certain weapons. They could have something like a check-box in the loadout manager that could switch between the AJS and AJ variants to allow for 1970s and 1980s missions/campaigns. In any case, this looks like a fun aircraft to fly and I'm glad it's confirmed - we've been talking about the Viggen since March. Now I'm REALLY curious to hear what sort of scenarios LNS is planning on (like what map, what sort of missions...will there be Swedish vs Soviet strikes, etc??). -Nick

Nice! Cobra mentioned on Reddit that an Okinawa map is under development as well. :) Wonder if they plan something like the PTO island hopping campaign with a string of Pacific island theaters? I would enjoy that. :D -Nick

I can't read it. :( Maybe I should try google translate. :music_whistling: -Nick

Much like the Ka-50... Except they made about 8 times as many Viggens as Ka-50s. And the Viggen was on the front-line of the Soviet threat in the Cold War...that was a real theater of operation. -Nick PS - Vampyre beat me to it! I'm also going to buy the Viggen.

Won't this still happen? Leatherneck hasn't announced yet and I expect a well-written overview of their planned (and not actually announced - just confirmed) modules - likely with media. It's no good having the winds taken out of their sails (but not out of their sales...too much pun?), but I'm glad that we finally know whats coming. I think it's important that LNS announce their projects on their terms, but I also hope they can hybridize their different announcement schemes - announcing when the project is further along than the Tomcat was, but not waiting as long as they did with these 2 projects. It's fun to learn about pending projects and read about the aircraft. I'm still hoping there is a December update with info on their plans and the F-14. Should be fun to read (just like all the prior LNS updates :)). -Nick

Maybe in the future, but the Steam list says F4U-1 - unless there is more to the story. :) -Nick

I'm not sure if you are referring to me, but I did say that Iwo Jima was not my first guess for a PTO theater. :) I agree that it is an excellent theater for the F4U played a huge role in that campaign ("Angels of Iwo Jima", etc), but I was hoping for the Solomons given the VMF-214 hints. I also really love the P-40F, so I was hoping that the LNS theater would make room for it as well. That said, the Solomons would be a BIG map with a lot of airfields - kind of a tough first map even with the sparse infrastructure. However, if you've seen Letters from Iwo Jima, Flags of our Fathers, or The Pacific - then you know that the USN sent a MASSIVE fleet to Iwo Jima. That is a TON of AI to finish. There probably would be fewer AI units for the Solomons, but a lot more terrain and Airfields to deal with. But once they create all of these objects/AI, making a Solomons map might be more doable in the future. Still, I'm very excited to land any airplane on a ship and that would not have been part of a Solomons map. I'm with you on this part, late-70s or early-80s would have been a great era for NATO vs Soviet combat, but I like the better capabilities of the AJS. I'm interested to learn how they place the AJS for their campaign and where the Viggen's theater will be. Although, the AJS is of the same era as the F-14B...more or less. -Nick

Yeah, it is the best one. It was originally posted here back in April, but hasn't been bumped for a while. :) http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=142058 Here is a youtube channel with several of the Fighter Fling videos including all of the 2000's and several from the 1990's. They are all fun to watch, but 2004 was definitely the best. https://www.youtube.com/user/493175001/videos -Nick

WOW! Have to say that I'm a little surprised - I would have expected the AJ-37 since repelling the Soviet threat seemed to be the Viggen's forte. That said, having more capability in A-A is very welcome. I wonder what scenario they are cooking up from a map perspective?? I am also surprised by the chosen theater for the F4U-1. I guess all of the VMF-214 stuff was a red herring (sort-of), since VMF-214 didn't fight at Iwo Jima. That said, the Corsair was known as "the angels of Iwo Jima" by the USMC - seems quite fitting. Plus it means carrier ops (!!) and it will be much more ground attack oriented than the Solomons. At least we know! I can sit back and wait much more easily. Maybe a solitary screenshot will float in here at some point. ;) -Nick PS - Why is the Tomcat listed already? Especially since other WIP modules such as the Bo-105 aren't present or the Me 262.

There are a fair number of people who actually prefer the F-14A to the F-14B or F-14D - I am one of those people. :) I suppose it depends on your intended use. Those who think about multi-player duels want the F-14D - it has the most capability. But I think that the F-14A is a more entertaining option for single-player missions, etc. The F-14A is a much more challenging aircraft to learn, fly, and fight - which means much more reward for really learning the aircraft. The F-14A is full of pitfalls and "secret handshakes". The difference between your 1st or 2nd flight and 30th flight is really significant - I love things like that! With the Aerosoft F-14A (for P3D/FSX) there was a huge change in my flying, I used to get flame-outs all the time, but after a few weeks of practice I almost never experienced an engine stall. This is much more rewarding IMHO. I still plan to fly the F-14B a lot and for MP stuff, the F-14B has most of the F-14D's strengths. But for me, the flaws of the F-14A are both endearing and irreplaceable. It will be great fun learning to bring her aboard the boat (especially since none of us have to worry about getting hurt in the process). ;) -Nick

I think the F-14B in particular will be quite competitive. The avionics are older/simpler, but the radar and weapons system are quite powerful and help to offset that. Plus, the presence of a backseater (AI or real) will definitely help engagements - even just the benefit of another set of eyes for spotting. F-14B aerodynamic performance/thrust to weight will compare favorably with the F-15C and Su-27/MiG-29, but it will be a less forgiving aircraft to fly. The F-14A will probably still hold it's own under certain conditions (below 10,000'), but a well flown Eagle will be a tough opponent for the F-14A - hard to get around that. There are plenty of opportunities for the F-14A pilot, but less so than with the F-14B. But take all of these comments with a grain of salt, we'll have to see once the modules are out. -Nick

Pure awesome! Great footage from the movie "Speed & Angels". The Tomcat is such a photogenic/telegenic beast. Such an imposing, yet beautiful machine. Thanks for sharing - time to go to NTTR and try a dogfight. ;) -Nick

That's correct, the F-14A and F-14B (pre-sparrowhawk in the early 2000s) did not have a separate HUD combiner - it was projected straight onto the windscreen. The F-14A was originally going to have a separate combiner and some early cockpit schematics show it, but there were issues (I forget exactly - maybe vibration or visibility problems?) Direct projection required a reflective coating on the windscreen for the HUD to be visible. You can see the tidemark in this photo - look closely at the upper windscreen and how it is a bit more reflective: This reflective coating would cause some problems, it interfered with NVG a bit, would reflect some sunlight when flying away from the sun, and windscreen distortion at high speed would also distort the HUD images. The F-14D had a much better HUD and also had a separate combiner as shown in your F-14D cockpit image - that is indeed correct. It also solved the issues that I mentioned above. The F-14B would later get a HUD that looked almost exactly like the F-14D's (Sparrowhawk HUD) with the same symbology as the F-14D. But it wasn't in widespread operation till the last 2-3 years of the F-14B's service. LNS does not plan to model it (very reasonable choice in my mind). -Nick

I'm not saying beginning of 2016, but I have hope that it will happen in 2016. I hope we find out something soon...no matter which way things are headed. :) -Nick

Me too! It has the impressive combination of reasonably modern avionics (F-15C era) with a big radar dish and novel sensors (IRST). However, creating an F-14D would probably require something like +80% new code (all new avionics, RADAR, HUD, IRST, totally new cockpit, different ARI for the flight model, and a few small exterior 3-d model revisions). Maybe it would happen a few years after the F-14A/B depending on interest and such - but it really would be a totally new module. One thing, it is almost certain that LNS will create an AIM-54C since it was the version used from ~1989 till retirement (first operational in 1986, but you don't see them mounted to F-14s in pictures till 1989 or 1990). The F-14B needs it to be complete. The real question in my mind: will their be an AIM-54A? The AIM-54C wasn't in routine fleet use till Desert Storm (more or less), so a mid-80s F-14A would sort-of need the AIM-54A (as would IRIAF F-14s). That said, their capabilities weren't so different (besides general reliability in changing to digital avionics and better ECM resistance). I would be fine with an AIM-54A skin if need be - since it wouldn't effect game play much. -Nick

Yes, it is a baseless estimate, just like yours - which is my point. None of us have good information from which to judge...so why are you talking about it? -Nick

DCS: MiG-21 took about 18 months to complete, with the discarding of the FC3 version of the MiG-21 and starting over with the code base (90% new code). The Tomcat was started about 18 months ago and finishing in 2016 would mean a development time that is nearly twice as long as the MiG-21 - with a LNS team that is 3x the size of the one that did the MiG-21. No one knows when it will be done, but claiming it will be another 2 years seems a bit extreme - IMHO. -Nick

They used to call the KC-135 basket the "iron maiden", the outer ring of the basket is rigid metal and the refueling door would sometimes contact this outer ring during a refueling attempt. If it contacted hard enough, it would knock off the refueling cover. Conveniently...the line of airflow from the refueling probe leads almost straight into the right engine....so knocking off the door would frequently FOD the engine. Ingesting fuel fumes into the right engine was also common due to the flow of air off the probe, so it was standard procedure to select the "air source" to the left engine during tanking, otherwise the cockpit starts to smell like jet fuel. The Tomcst had many interesting chsrscteristics, we could talk for hours about this stuff. :) -Nick

Sorry to hear this, I hope things settle down and you feel better. We'll still be around to buy and support LNS when you feel better. I'll put my pitchfork in the closet for a while. :) -Nick

Yes, but whoever operates it seems to have insights beyond the average user/forum goer. Plus, it was a good segue for posting more pictures about Tomcats. ;) Great pics and article, thank you for posting. I am amazed that the IRIAF has kept a decent number of Tomcat's airworthy. Quite a testament to their ingenuity since it was one of the most complicated and maintenance intensive warplanes ever built. A LOT of heart and soul has been poured into those Cats! I wonder how much more time they have left in them? -Nick