Banzaiib

Had a tougher time with the F-5 than the 29's... interesting. I have the same experience, actually, especially after the last patch. Engines feel anemic. You also carry more speed into the merge than you typically would in a 1v1...

If all you want to do is CCIP bombing runs, the F-14 is better for that and easier, but if you want to learn CASE 1 landings and the full gamut of combat roles, then the F-18 is going to be a much easier learn. The systems are more intuitive on the F-18 than the F-14 and even than the Harrier, and the FCS will pretty much stop you from killing yourself unless you just drive into the ground. The F-14 lacks a couple key developments that make it especially difficult to fight with, namely, TWS Auto is not modeled, and you need another human for laser guided bomb chuckery... The F-14 flight model is fantastic, and it's truly a joy to fly, but it's also like a 1,000 hp go-cart... really fun, really fast, and always trying to get you to commit suicide. I can't believe anyone actually flew the real thing... those guys truly had balls of steel.

Point 1 and Point 2 contradict. You can't switch to pulse mode in TWS, which implies he's talking about STT lock firing of the 54 in point 2 when he says that switching from PD to P mode loses the 54 if it's in flight. That also means that he's implying that an active command is sent during STT, which he directly contradicts in his response to point 1... or at least your understanding of it. IRL, the 54 is given an active command when it's in rang of the target in STT mode. You can also launch it active off the rail but remain STT guided the whole way. It makes no sense, given that you can make it active off the rail while remaining STT guided that it would not receive the command to go active, unless, of course, the missile is flying a profile outside the STT beam width, which would preclude it from receiving the active command. TWS has a much much larger scan volume, but I have no idea how that actually works.

the missiles are all a mess. You can fire an AIM-7 with your radar off in the hornet. I know this is a discussion about the 54, but it's very clear that ED needs to do some major work on guidance. I've heard many people say that the 54 will track off the rail even if you immediately go cold and break lock... this means the 54 goes active off the rail and its seeker head is directing it far outside of its actual operational range.

The only thing consistent is that it appears to happen when jester is about to confirm a command. Sorry I can't nail it down more. Maybe others will have a similar issue.

I just CTD when I commanded jester to set the radio to 124.7.

The AIM-7 is a mess right now... lots of bug reports on the F-18 forums for it, including lofting on close targets to the point that it loses track, and being able to fire it like a fox3

pulls 20g right off the rail...

There's no doubt in my mind that the F-16 will progress much faster than the F-18 because much of the hornet development was to create a structure that can be used by both. Plus, they know the F-16 EA will provide a major cash influx, because lets be honest, 99% of us are gonna buy it... and no one will tolerate a 1 year delay between purchase and when you can drop a guided munition.

Ditto. Most recent during MP session on DDCS, fired AIM-54Amk60... jester was eerily quiet, then CTD, no warning.

Me too. In fact, I turned away, did a 360 and when it came into my radar's field of view, it auto locked it back up.

F-18 rolls (along the ground) much better than the 14... <shrug>

+1

lol so true. Although all you really have to do to maintain a good turn speed is make sure your airspeed indicator is pointing straight down... you're at about 300 kts if that's the case... I can understand how this would be a problem for the VR guys, tho.

it'd be so nice to be able to crank left or right after chucking a 54 at a couple bogeys

This is a realistic simulation of an F-14. What you want is not really relevant if it's not in line with real world tactics and behavior. F-14 TWS has to update the track every 2 seconds. Period. The end. Can't change this. So... if you want a larger horizontal sweep, you have to trade vertical volume... you can get 60 degree sweep, but only 2 bars of vertical. No, you can a get wider TWS scan, but you sacrifice bars.

LTWS has a much larger scan volume... so not useless.

Oh comon man... The LANTIRN laser is not a laser pointer you get at walmart. The laser divergence at 15NM is not the size of a football field...

do you have to read the labels on your TV remote when they wear off? or can you press them with your eyes closed?

hmm... i guess no one has ever used this mode with data link to hide in the mountains... <shrug> you're missing out :)

PAL is the same scan volume as TWS... just sayin... if you have no SA, and you're inside 15 miles, you're in a world of hurt and TWS or not, you should have thought about extending before you got in that situation. But that's my opinion...

good stuff there! Question, when you flip the ACM guard up, will the AIM-54 ride the STT beam or still lurch up into the air for some kind of weird loft? Or do i have to select boresight mode for them to ride the beam? My MP experience is that 54's miss because they jerk 15g's when they go active, and i just want terminal ballistics inside 25 miles... they have enough juice to get there...

That was an enjoyable post to read. Thank you for sharing, and I'm sure I speak for the majority of us when I say that we could read a whole book of stuff like this.

Is there any chance we could get a Jester command to switch to a ground stabilized view of the radar for SA purposes?

He dumps chaff when a missile is fired at a target 50 miles away from you... thanks Jester.