Swordsman422

I don't know for sure, but I suspect that after lofting the missile sets up on a best glide profile to extend range with minimal required steering, then performs its harder maneuvers when in terminal flight.

A Tornado would rock! I'd be quite happy with an IDS or a GR1.

It's not about the capabilities of the weapon system. It's how you employ it or prepare for it that matters. The MiG-29 is by all accounts one of the best ACM aircraft in the world, but it's been shown in training fights between A-model F-14s and German MiG-29Gs that the F-14 can actually beat the Fulcrum in a duel if the pilot flies it smart. Are we gonna see MiG-29 players that only rely on the capabilities of their machine to carry the day come and complain when a skilled and talented Tomcat player bags them in a gunzo duel because he flew his jet well and took advantage of the MiG's weaknesses while playing to the Tomcat's strengths? We can't all beg for realism and then whine when that realism doesn't always benefit us. The F-14 with a player that lacks the understanding to properly employ his weapons is gonna mean bang-all on an MP server against other players who know how to fly their jets well and understand the weaknesses of the F-14/AIM-54 combo and how to take advantage of them. If me in my Su-27 gets bagged by a smart player in an F-14 that knows how to use his weapons, I won't feel bad at all, because I'll understand how hard that guy worked to shoot me down. Banning is only going to create bitterness and resentment when the end point of DCS is to have fun.

That's unfortunate. Probably without the -54, not many F-14 flyers will show up there. The F-14's other weapons options are rather limited, and the -54 is its only Fox 3 weapon. The Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles are SARH and IR respectively, so instead of an F-14 having some advantage over Su-33, MiG-29S, and other jets with an ARH missile, it will instead be a generation behind in weaponeering for the sake of "balance" and "fairness." So the F-14 guys will probably avoid these servers because they'd be at the same disadvantage other aircraft would be against them on the servers where the -54 isn't banned. I can understand no one likes to lose. And no one likes to be faced with an enemy weapon system that is so powerful. How do you think the Soviets felt? Or the Iraqis? The more mature reaction here is not to ban a weapon or airplane as if you are banning a cheater, but to do what the F-14's real world opponents did and develop tactics to defeat it.

I don't really care which between these two modules comes out first. I just hope they are staggered so that I'm not overwhelmed and my heart explodes or something.

Ugh, that's right. F-14Bs got them integrated earlier. It was the Ds that didn't get them until '03 because of test issues with the D04. VF-11 made the first combat drop of a JDAM from an F-14 in March of 2002. Regardless, JDAM integration stands outside the original release timeframe for Heatblur's Tomcats, but we'll probably get it eventually.

I hope there is some level of training missions, especially for LGMs and LGBs against moving targets. As it is with the A-10A, I practice hitting moving targets with AGM-65Ds and Hs by trolling along hardballs popping buses and trains, which are always nice and hot against the background. In combat though, it's hard to tell tanks from the environment even in thermal. Just as often I put a missile into a house or parked car as I do an enemy vehicle.

Tweaked properly, the AIM-54 will just be one more threat to consider and defend against, just like every other missile. There will probably be a few folks who whine that either the F-14/Phoenix combo is too OP and others who will complain that their AIM-54s aren't as effective as they'd hoped, so they can't kill literally everything from 100 miles out. Some MP sessions will probably ban either the missile or the jet for some reason or another, but after the dust settles it'll just be one more threat system to plan against or asset to integrate into the battle order.

JDAM was added to the F-14B and F-14D fleet in 2003 just prior to the OIF kickoff. The stores computer had to be updated with a data tape. The tapes were limited and were in a beta state upon release, kinda rushed out but it was deemed urgent if the F-14s were going to have a major role in OIF. A year earlier a VF-103 jet nearly severed an oil pipeline with a misguided LGB and demand for the F-14 over the Iraqi SNFZ just about vanished for a while. Only the F-14B and D got JDAM. F-14As soldiered on without it until retired.

I think what they mean with "mid-90's F-14B" is the post-Bombcat LTS capable jet but pre-Upgrade with the DFCS, and definitely pre-40K LTS. For the simmer, I don't think any of us will notice the difference in flight between a DFCS and non-DFCS F-14B, unless you have a force-feedback flight stick that is strong enough to need you to pump iron to fly it. The depot upgrades took a while, with VF-102 getting the first batch in 1998. VF-41 and VF-14's A-model jets didn't get DFCS until 1999, with the last one finished literally days before they left for deployment. The LTS laser was initially limited to 25K feet AGL or it would arc and short out. Right before OIF kicked off, a lot of the F-14 fleet got upgraded with a 40K feet LTS. Bs and Ds also got the JDAM data tape to carry GPS weapons. For an ever-evolving platform, 1988-1996 isn't a bad target period. It was a good time to be a Tomcat guy, with the jet getting a new lease on life, and it was pretty busy performing not just the fleet defense/air superiority and recon roles, but taking over the precision strike and CAS role from the retiring A-6 Intruder. For Heatblur, it seems like a good target zone for the F-14B, with the coding and development done on an LTS-capable F-14B without having to push into the post-Upgrade before release. They can grow from here with the Sparrowhawk HUD, 40K LTS, and JDAM more quickly than it they'd planned to release an early F-14B covering 1988-1994. If they continue development, then we should have the final configuration F-14Bs in a few months to a year, with our appetites whetted by flying what we've already gotten.

Wrong type of Hornet and a terrible movie, but maybe I'll play this one.

Considering the Jester AI and the Forrestal-class carrier being developed with this module, I've got fingers crossed for the Navy/USMC F-4 Phantom phamily, the F-4B/J/N/S. I'm also hoping for the A-6 Intruder, A, B, E, and TRAM, with an AI KA-6D to plug into. And maybe a new terrain to fly these jets over. Somewhere hot, green, and rainy.

Now that we are looking at LTS capability out of the gate, I'm seriously excited. I was gonna buy it anyway, but I was going to hope for precision strike at some point. The LTS-capable F-14B-150-GR is pretty much my favorite Tomcat variant. I hope eventually we'll get LTS-capable F-14As as well. Being able to recreate VF-41's work developing the SCAR and FAC-A missions for the Tomcat or VF-154's detachment to Al Udeid AB would be a truly cool sim experience. I also wonder if we'll eventually be able to buddy lase for other units, guiding LGBs and LGMs fired by allied aircraft. In OEF and OIF, sometimes F-14s filling the FAC-A role didn't expend all their own bombs because they were so busy lasing targets for allied jets.

There really aren't many Tomcat liveries that look bad, but I'll limit my choices to the time period and aircraft we are supposedly going to get on release. Assuming the F-14A is a 125-GR, I'd have to start with VF-213 right around the Desert Storm period. All Light Ghost Grey with the lion and stars on the rudder. VF-41, VF-142, VF-114, VF-32, and VF-211 all from that same period are excellent schemes. Liveries that work for a living. VF-103 from the '86 cruise looks good, too. For the mid 90's F-14B, VF-143's 1994 livery is outstanding. So is VF-103's clubleaf, VF-142's final years, and VF-32's Operation Desert Fox. Outside this period, pretty much all the 2000's Last Cruise liveries are on my favorites list. VF-143 never had a livery I disliked. Nor did -213 or -211. I'm not terribly picky with F-14s though. I like just about anything except black tails and bones.

Just stopped? And left it at that? Ouch... Oh, well. Y'know, the F-14 was a hell of a fighter and interceptor, and later in life an excellent CAS, precision strike, and FAC(A) aircraft. She can kill the enemy's airplanes and move his mud with the best of them. Who decided that she wasn't worthy of a new flight sim of her own?

Hey, guys. A while back, I saw a thread on Gys' F-14D model, and it looked really good. However, I haven't heard of any updates in 2 months or so and haven't seen any further news of it. Did I miss something? I know asking for a MOD update is bad form, but I did a search of the forums and came up with two threads about it ending in June. Is there no further news? Thanks, and sorry for breaking form, but I just gotta know.