r4y30n

The thing a lot of people don't get about textures is that raw resolution isn't everything in image quality. How big is the mesh the texture is applied to? How much actual screen space could that object fill and how many actual pixels does that represent? Modders on the Bethesda RPGs always end up going for 4k or 8k everything because bigger is apparently always better, but for something like a character's eyeball it's a waste of memory for a level of detail you can't see in game. On the flip side, Star Citizen uses a lot of 1k tiled textures (or at least they used to) for end results that look pretty fantastic and are reasonably frame rate friendly.

“Gimme a stopwatch and a map and I’ll fly the Alps in a plane with no windows.”

Are those handles supposed to glow in the dark with phosphorus? If so, maybe the materials aren’t set up correctly yet.

Patch notes from 4/16 say everything is ready to go from the player side, AI is WIP.

I doubt they came from Grumman with one.

Well, it still needs the position light and ALQ-100 antenna, the nub under the TCS itself, and the base of the TCS is bigger than the antenna unit so you’d have to fix the art to close the gaps. I think the antenna fairing itself is also a little different than the version on the TCS. Much simpler to make a little cap on the front of the existing geo.

The steering T should match the steering centroid on the TID, whichever one matches it is the right one.

Turning the ignition on is not the same as cranking the engine, though. From the cockpit you shouldn't be able to hear the ignition under any circumstances.

I'm pretty sure it does revert to flood when lock is lost, unless that changed in the past couple months. I've splashed a bandit with a Sparrow after losing lock, it re-acquired as soon as I got my nose pointed at him.

Ah, alrighty then. Thanks Mike!

What's your RPM? Did it actually drop to idle or did it hold near MIL?

I've had the same issue since release, just never bothered to troubleshoot. It's like the spider detent can't move further aft than 68.

Man, I was hoping for some input on this...

That was my first thought when stumbling on this thread. The manual (both HB's and NATOPS, if I recall) suggests that any kind of hiccup that can happen on the F110 will only happen under SEC or otherwise degraded function. Seems like GE knew what they were doing when they designed these engines.

I swear I got PAL to work via TCS after losing the INS in a fight... Unless Jester was working his magic without my knowledge. Either way, from the front seat you’ll see the difference in the HUD. Diamond over the target indicates radar lock, crosshair over the target (without gun selected) indicates TCS lock.

To be clear, it's actually the AWG-9 determining targets and launch priorities automatically but the RIO can override them if necessary.

I am kind of impressed that Heatblur was so on the ball that they beat the actual release of the boat. Then again, HB always goes above and beyond.

This but seems to have worsened with the last OB. Previously I was able to hold the kneel switch for a couple extra seconds and I could launch, on the current version there doesn't seem to be any workaround to get the cat to fire.

Pulse STT is not a unique feature of the F-14, it's present on the MiG-21, MiG-19, F-5E... And there are numerous threads here discussing pulse vs pulse doppler modes and the circumstances where one is better than the other. PD is great at filtering clutter but pulse is good for holding onto beaming targets. If you're in a situation where you know pulse will be unreliable then it's better to remain in PD and not let Jester switch.

Module aside, we could really do with an updated AI/static Viking since the current asset is a real eyesore next to the Cat or Hornet and they were the primary recovery tankers after the KA-6 was retired.

I was reading through the 1972 and 2004 F-14A NATOPS and found a couple interesting notes about the trim system. The '72 manual says the AFCS provides automatic mach trim compensation during transonic and supersonic flight. Currently we get a nose down shift in trim when we hit the transonic range, is mach trim not in the FM yet? Or is it there and the trim changes we see would be worse without it? The other thing I found was a caution in the 2004 manual that when the AIM-54 pallets were installed but with less than 4 missiles loaded the trim compensation for the speed brake may overcompensate. Worst case is at low altitude between 0.7 and 0.8 M, pitch SAS off, and 4 pallets with no missiles on them. In that case, there could be an incremental 2 g nose down trim change when the speed brake is extended, with pitch SAS on this is reduced to 1 g. Either way, that's huge! Those notes are for a Cat with DFCS, I found nothing in the '72 manual regarding this issue with AFCS but that one was written before the plane was in service so it's possible the problem hadn't been discovered yet. Either way, if it's an issue with DFCS it should be at least as bad with AFCS, right? I know speed brake trim is WIP at the moment but are we eventually going to see this in the sim?

Those sound like good ideas to me. Though I'm also pretty sure it was always the plan for Jester to be fairly independent and reasonably good at his job. After all, he is supposed to replicate the capability of a human RIO, no more, no less.

CA has at least basic AI for all the units, does it not? That alone should prevent the carrier from running aground when trying to head into the wind. I have a feeling this is a feature ED didn't anticipate and if players make enough fuss they'll work it into their release plan.

It's not for cooling, it's for preventing compressor stalls during deceleration. The feature/function is called idle lockup protection. From what I understand of the F-14A NATOPS, the TF30s have a similar feature with the mach lever but on those engines the minimum rpm scales linearly from .25 M to 2.5 M.

Right. It may be interesting to know how they relate from an academic standpoint but it has nothing to do with flying because all the manuals and training are based off the cockpit gauge.