Dino Might

Also not buying the realism argument from anyone who flies the mi8. You are flipping all those switches that those other two guys in the helo would in real life. Should totally be locked out in multiplayer! I really hope HB doesn't lock out the controls. There is no game breaking advantage to having one person doing the work of two in a two person aircraft.

Only banned from servers run by neckbeards who say "acchually" every other sentence.

I still cant understand the view that this is unacceptable in multiplayer because its breaking some arbitrary realism threshold. In real life, you would have a RIO. You wouldnt be flying every mission as TOO with no support. You wouldnt be doing a million other things that are done regularly in multiplayer that break with reality far more. The F14 with Jester works pretty well as intended. The F14 with the LANTIRN pilot mod still pretty well simulates F14 capabilities. That the pilot is activating the buttons vice a backseater is pretty immaterial. IT IS NOT GIVING THE AIRCRAFT ANY CAPABILITIES IT DID NOT HAVE. If your complaint is having 1 person able to play the F14 rather than requiring two, then your real argument is with Jester and the entire concept of multi crew airframes in DCS. Get rid of the Huey, the Mi8, the Gazelle, and all the other aircraft that let you flip switches on the copilot panel. Lastly, have you used this mod? Are you concerned that it is easier for the F14 to employ LGBs somehow? I can tell you, it's not easier as one person doing the work of two people. It is easier to have one person available to play than to have two available at the same time - that's it. My comparisons are not OT because you are bringing reality challenges as the rationale for banning the mod. I contend that many things done in multiplayer grant totally unrealistic capabilities to many aircraft and still get a pass from you, so your views on this mod are based on a double standard.

For SP, you'd have to make a viewport that is on a separate set of external axis commands. I almost wonder if this could be done via mod. I'd love the capability in multiplayer. Recently I got Mrs. Dino in the back seat for a free flight. She asked about shooting things, so now I'm into the dogfight missions, because I can't reliably BVR with nobody manning the stacks back there.

Think of it as you playing both pilot and RIO at the same time. It's not a big break in the sim, because it's not giving the aircraft itself capabilities it did not have. It is giving the player the ability to play both seats at once, in a limited capacity. I dont see the big issue, even from the perspective of the ultra realism RP crowd. Reloading an aircraft in 1 minute or repairing it in 180 seconds is way more realism breaking.

I'm finally getting back to starting in on this again. Got some plywood to try and cut this weekend, and may try laser cutting some panels next week. Any chance to set your files up on DropBox, or is it easy to email them? theotherdino@gmail.com Sorry I lost touch - been pretty busy with the kids since I was working on some of this stuff, so you are far beyond me in getting the vector files done.

Get the Pilot LANTIRN mod - game changer if you want to do some PGM work. Also, if you have Voice Attack, it makes Jester much more capable/useful. I never realized how much more interesting and fun it is when I can communicate with my RIO and have him use the radar how I want him to, rather than just hope or spend precious seconds sifting through menus. My biggest gripe with the F-14 is that it has ruined all other modules for me. Whenever there is the option, I will grab the Tomcat. It's just so perfect. The flying is fun - I like that the aircraft is responsive, but doesn't do everything for you. There are limits, and you have to respect them. Weapons employment is more than just point and click. There's necessary coordination with the RIO, great fun with WVR as well as some potent BVR capability (don't care as much about the latter, though). Landing on the carrier is an art, in and of itself. AAR is something that requires practice. And no stinking digital everything up on the HUD. I like an instrument panel with analog dials. I love having the challenge of staying ahead of the aircraft. Testing its limits really is a test of my own. And the looks - my goodness it is beautiful. Just a pure work of art. And the pilot/RIO animations are icing on the cake. Seeing them move around adds so much life to the game. It doesn't seem like a lot on paper, but it is a feature I sorely miss on every other module now. There is nothing I don't want to do with the F-14. In the event I ever get off my butt and start this F-14 simpit project, I'm going to have some real problems with work/life/DCS-life balance.

After having VA for a year and never using it, I finally made a profile for the F14. It's a total gamechanger. Well worth the effort. I set up simple commands like "scan left" "lock bogey" "radar range one zero zero" that now macro through the menu keybinds rapidly to keep me from ever having to use the menu the old fashioned way. It is nearly as fast as I do things when flying a single seater, and it's nice that I can be focusing elsewhere while Jester is doing what I want him to do. It is now much easier to keep an eye on the sky even without the datalink. One trick to setting up your profile is to always have the first command hit the menu button twice. This gets you to the main menu, so your subsequent commands always start from the same reference point and dont get messed up if the contextual menu switches around. So, for instance, one of my macros is: A (menu key) A 2 3 4 If I remember correctly that's "scan center" to set azimuth to center. Either that or its "scan level" for elevation center.

Here's to hoping that eventually it gets sorted one way or another. MP with 54s is still fun on both sides. Truth be told, I'd take AMRAAMs over the Phoenix, but I appreciate the strengths of both missiles, fought against both in DCS, and enjoyed the challenges.

To get back on track, I plan on popping into the discord in the next few days to hunt for someone interested in flying RIO on blue flag. I just started back in after about 3 weeks hiatus, and I'm pretty rusty. Jester is helping me lob some 54s, but would love to get someone in the back seat to have some fun with. No expertise required. Any level of experience from Goose 2.0 to, "so that's the button that jettisons all stores" is fine by me.

I find it highly unlikely that it was, "for no reason." If you want to start drama, I recommend using PMs and not trying to send this thread into a flat spin.

Regardless of the reason for stick/elevator movement, it seems that trying to make the aircraft control surfaces mimic position of real life launches causes very prompt pitch up and near stall conditions. No way I know to accurately measure or test. Just looking at the external views relative to videos (e.g., Top Gun slow motion). We have to remember, we currently have the B. I'm not sure how different (other than burners vs mil power) the catapult launches are for the A vs the B, especially in terms of control surface geometry.

"I assert the module is broken, and is far too capable relative to IRL performance. I offer no specifics of my assertion because I am afraid to be refuted. I offer only bombastic hyperbole born from conjecture and second hand anecdotes. I'm quitting because I can't reconcile that I might not know everything there is to know about this simulation and the platforms it characterizes."

I need some videos showing this. I can't even take the F-5 or MiG-21 in the vertical...

Thank you for this! Big QOL improvement.

The body and head movement in the F-14 really makes it feel like the cockpit has people in it. This adds more to the immersion (for me) than the clickyness of switches or the texture maps on the consoles. Pilot animation should be a priority.

I was hesitant about buying the new carrier before this decision was made. I wanted it, but was going to talk with my wallet to try and drive what I consider the right decision. Now that this decision has been made, I'm getting it on day one. I hope that everyone who had similar thoughts and concerns will be buying the module for two reasons: 1) more owners can use it in SP testing and MP mission editing, so we will see it in most servers - more immersion, more fun. 2) success of this module will entice more similar decisions when it comes to producing desirable content that must be marketable while still maintaining a healthy multiplayer environment.

Please watch this: @ 8:30 - discussing design focus on fighter escort, 4 sparrows and a gun. Plane was not "built around the Phoenix." The FAD mission involving more internal fuel and Phoenix was incorporated into the design, but those stores were considered an overload condition. Later on he talks about cockpit visibility and mentions RIOs role in ACM. Long story short, you put big bubble canopies on fighters that are designed for dogfighting. Straight from the horse's mouth, the F14 was designed as a fighter that also met the fleet defense interceptor role. Anyone who wants to keep up this endless debate of F15 vs F14, have at it, but the F15 was a one trick pony. The F14 could do it all, and fairly well, and then go land on a carrier, to boot. I believe "Lex" LeFon when he said the F15C was probably the best air to air platform in his time, but even he admitted it was only that. The F14 deserves every bit of admiration it gets and then some.

Would love to have a haze grey skin and no pylons for an SH-60 stand-in. Looking forward to trying this. Been wanting a 60 in the game for a long time. Even just having a nice model for AI will be amazing.

Already tried this a while ago - used CTLD to spawn an SA-6 on an oil rig. Collision box actually forced it to spawn on the sea floor. I was able to order it to drive out into open water, set alarm state "Red" and waited for it to shoot down unsuspecting enemies. No joy - never saw any missiles come out of the water, despite multiple enemies overhead.

When will this be fixed? Extremely frustrating for mission designers wanting to incorporate naval ops. This should be a #1 priority, as it is core gameplay breaking. I don't care that my Hornet gets ATFLIR or JSOW sooner if I can't fly it off the boat.

Sounds like you are too far laterally from the boat. You should be just starboard of the island, maybe a couple hundred feet.

Of course, but using same Fox1 and Fox2 missiles, the fight is pretty fair.

This is flat out wrong. Go watch that video from one of the Grumman designers.

Damn. I was one of those free spirited RIOs that enjoyed doing things like continually turning off the HUD during landing. Hey, it was for our own good!