Swordsman422

A handheld GPS was also partly responsible for this humorous fiasco.

Wake turbulence sinks behind the generating aircraft. I probably have it wrong, but I try to stay above and outboard of the wingtip vortexes until I'm ready to move into precontact, then I dip below and line up on the pod.

The point of it is an A-version that can do all the A version ever could. And the F-14A still had some operational advantages over the B and D. It's lower base weight meant it had more bringback, so it could be configured as a quad bomber where the B and D were limited to 2 or 3 GBUs. Plus at the end, the F-14A still made up a 3rd of the fleet squadrons. The older F-14s were pretty limited to blue water operations. Just look at how much they contributed to Desert Storm and why. They couldn't independently deconflict and suitcase the ROE like the F-15s could and had to use commercial fuzzbusters to handle the potential SAM threats. Considering the sim, DCS doesn't yet have a particularly complex electronic environment. That crappy old RWR for parity won't mechanically be much different. And if we're being true to life, Tomcat crews of the 1970s and 80s never expected to go feet dry anyway. Heatblur is going to give us the version they give us, and no amount of debating or polling is going to alter that. I honestly hope that we eventually get both, because I'd like to face off against Iranian Block 90s but considering what the mechanics of DCS right now would mean for the differences between the late and early F-14As, the contemporary of the B we already have makes the most sense. We don't lose anything that way. And yes, while it can also carry bombs, we already have a Tomcat that can also do a hell of a job as a fleet defense fighter.

You understood my question in reverse, but this is exactly my point. The 90's F-14A is not less capable than the 70's version. It's able to perform a wider variety of missions. People who want a pre-Bombcat jet can just ignore the ground attack capability and just focus on the original mission. Those of us who like the ground attack capability can't use it in a 70's or 80's Tomcat. The 90's jet will serve everyone.

What do you actually lose from a 90's F-14A? If you don't like the bombcat part of a late A, don't use that capability. People are slapping high-vis 70's liveries on F-14Bs that never had them. They can do the same with a late F-14A and be only slightly inaccurate instead of woefully. It can still be a perfectly capable fleet defense fighter. I'd rather have it at its most flexible and not use the capabilities I don't care about.

It's be really funny to have a wheel option that's literally "shut up, Jester" and "talk to me, Jester" for when you wanted him quiet or talking. I know there is a settings option, but being able to shut him up on the fly would be nice. Also, callouts on closest targets every 10 miles, and every mile within 10 until tally visual would be nice.

I'm still all for a mid-90's F-14A. I love the Tomcat in any period, but with a contemporary to the B, we don't lose anything.

Does your keymap have a button for the afterburner detent that you might be accidentally pressing?

Math. Your altitude - ground elevation above MSL = AGL altitude.

This. And the ability to chose a variety of empty pylons on the shoulders.

Robert Gandt if you want to stick with Hornets. Ward Carroll's "Punk's War" and its sequels is probably one of the best Tomcat book series ever written.

I'm all about option 2, probably because I didn't really care about the F-14 until it went multirole. The external differences between a mid 90s LANTIRN equipped A and a mid 80s fleet defense fighter is mainly the gun gas vents, some ECM bumps, and depending on period the TACAN antenna. Internally, the 90's F-14A was equipped to go feet dry where the 80's jet wasn't. When the F-14 was developed, the Navy expected it to take on hordes of inbound Soviet bombers in an environment where basically everything headed towards the carrier was a target. It wasn't able to independently solve ROE requirements in complex overland environments and, unlike the F-15, needed IFF clearances from 3rd party units such as an AWACS. This was a lot of the reason why its contribution to Desert Storm was minimal by every measure.

No it isn't. Those are Mk. 80-series iron bombs. There are no gliding vanes on the bomb body. These look like Mk. 83s with BSU-33 tailcones. This is a JDAM F-14As lacked the digital databus to process JDAM commands.

The F-14A did not ever carry JDAM. I hope we get an A contemporary with the B we got. Almost all of my favorite A liveries are after 1996. It wouldn't be stupid to dev the jet with the most options and players can use the parts of it they want. It's not stupid to want an A contemporary to the B. People want what they want, and so long as it was within the wheelhouse of the plane, it shouldn't be a problem. The Iranian Block 90 will eventually get modeled as well, and there isn't much different from the US Block 85, so the classic gull grey and white schemes will have something to fit on.

I'm looking forward to the F-14A. Until 1988 it was the only Tomcat game in town. It still lead in many of the F-14's firsts. The first F-14 to drop a bomb in anger was an F-14A from VF-41. The COIN, CAS, and SCAR procedures for the F-14 were developed by VF-41 in the F-14A. First air wing on scene in the NAG after 9/11 was CVW-8 with VF-14 and VF-41's (seeing a pattern here) F-14As. The A was still the only Tomcat operationally launched from the carrier in the quad bomber configuration. VF-154 detached 5 of their F-14As to Al Udeid AB to support CAS efforts in OIF. And 100% of the F-14's 5 air-to-air victories in US service were by F-14As. It's also the only variant that got exported. The only thing the Tomcat did that the A model didn't do is drop GPS weapons, and the F-14B we got can't do that either. Sure, I'd love to have all of the F-14 variants, but if I had to choose between the D or the A, I'd choose the A for its historical significance, livery options, and longevity of service. I'd be exceptionally happy if the A we get is a contemporary of the B we are got.

How long is the trial for? Not having $600 to pay I had to go with the free version. I'm not an advanced user. I just need enough to do decent texture work. I cut my teeth in PS7 doing liveries for the Strike Fighters series, but I don't have PS7 anymore.

Drat. I was hoping not but I was worried that this was true. I'll have to find a workaround.

Okay, I think I see the issue I'm having. Whatever layers are corrupted include the Fin_Outer layers. I finally tracked them down and they appear to have objects in them but are empty. I did a magic wand select on the slime layer. It shows the slime light should be there, but it isn't. As a test, I made invisible all of the other layers to make sure it wasn't just hidden by something and this area is still empty. I redownloaded the paint kit and am still getting the corrupted layer error when I open this file.

[ATTACH]209065[/ATTACH]

Maybe I misplaced a layer or something. Only the right outer tail has the stiffener and rivet details. The right inner and left are missing it completely. I had to copy the stiffener. I can't seem to find the layer these details belong to even on the original. Thanks.

Anyone else missing the rivets and formation light on the left tail? What layers are these?

This hasn't been modelled yet. F-14 squadrons used a wide variety of fonts, positioning, and sizes for their modex numbers and HB is still figuring out how to model it efficiently. Best thing to do for now is create a skin for every number.

More progress work on the VF-102 OEF line jets. I'm in the tedium of modex numbers and BuNos now. Probably have V1.0 done by Sunday evening.

Preliminary work on the VF-102 OEF livery. I plan for all 9 of the line jets. Still a long way to go.

Got it! Hard at work on VF-102 OEF line jets. Progress shots when I have some.