Bad Idea Hat

You guys are Swedish, right? Go for the Draken. It only makes sense for you.

Yeah, I'm going to be extremely happy if it shows up by the end of January. I'd say Easter at the earliest, which is fine. I'm getting very good at the Aerosoft F-14 (on FSX, so added level of annoyance), so here's to hoping some of what I'm learning transfers over.

I hope this is never modeled in DCS Not A2A (SAM actually), but just another chance to say "you're weird, Britain"

That just ruined my tactic, because now it's less of a headache inducing decoy for closing on an enemy, and more an actual weapon. I'll guess that the effective sweet spot against a fighter is going to be 40-50nm range, with say a 50-50 shot being in the same ballpark as an enemy fighter, maybe even a hit (given a load of 2, that's one possible kill, which is extremely helpful in a 1v2 scenario). If my unscientific thoughts hold up, the F-14 becomes the most dangerous fighter in the game. It's already going to become the AWACS killer for every PVP server. This is even before the advantage given that the F-14 is also the only two-seat fighter around, so at worst (or maybe best, who knows) you have a player and an AI backseater calling out targets when merged. Not only will the F-14 be insanely difficult to handle if it carries even just 2 Phoenix missiles, but it becomes a real handful even alone at all ranges between 100nm and 0nm.

With the way some people fight on MP, my strategy initially is going to be (2-3-2 configuration) Fire a Phoenix at your target(s) in TWS mode. Accelerate to intercept and follow your shot(s). By the time you're closing in on Sparrow range, if you've accelerated to the speed right after you've fired, this happens at about the time your opponents have their hands full dealing with the Phoenix gone pitbull. Fire a Sparrow at one target, wait for hit/miss, then defend. Close as much as possible, fire a second Sparrow just out of Sidewinder range. Hopefully you're down to one bogey at this point, and it's down to a 1v1 with your bonus second pair of eyes/AI with second pair of "eyes." I wonder how well that'll work in MP. Probably not so well against experienced pilots, but if you've got two guys not working together facing you, one of them is going to spaz out while trying to defend, making it a 1v1.

I'm not sure, but its length and the fact that it seems to jive with a lot of what I've read in other manuals, leads me to believe it's correct. I'm not 100% sure though.

This is with the knowledge that the -B is coming out first. If you read this and the -A releases first, it is not my fault. In fact, I will feel dumber than anyone else. http://www.drydensims.com/free-cool-stuff.html

I suspect 2.5 will bring radar modeling with it, thus the F/A-18. (THESE ARE ALL SUSPICIONS, NOT FACT) So we'll get the F/A-18 pre-order or even early access sometime around Christmas. Heatblur said they're along the same path as the Viggen at this point last year, but I'm going to guess that the F-14 is more complicated. I'll say early spring on the Tomcat at the earliest. Between Christmas and, say, Easter, maybe we'll get Hormuz. I'm still only a couple hundred pages into F-14B NATOPS, so I don't even want it rushed. And for any of you reading NATOPS, are those inlet ramps worrying you yet?

Somewhat related, but I'm claiming the Tonopah Range Airport on NTTR as the de facto Navy base for that map. Would be nice to fly Agressor Tomcats from there against stupid F-15s.

I think we've hit the weird point of Tomcat development. If you guys didn't get your cues for pilot wear from Top Gun...I don't know what to say.

I'm going to admit that every time I see someone say that we shouldn't expect it in 2017, I think "I CAN'T WAIT AN ENTIRE YEAR FOR THIS!" TIL it's not still 2016. Stupid brain.

Seconded; I saw this mentioned at one point, and I would love to be able to do this, but I haven't seen a tutorial on how to do it and make it work (I've tried with no success, and I know I'm doing something wrong, but I don't know what).

Call me nuts, but that actually sounds fun. Granted, I'm a sim cowboy and don't have anything on the line, but I'm probably going to spend my first week in the F-14 on aerobatics online, trying to see when/where the plane decides to go walking down a different path than I want to go on.

For the era, for what it does, for how it gets me to where I can make my run on sight/radar picture at that point, that's an awesome system. Turnaround time on Through the Inferno is literally long enough for me to plan the mission. Start on an F-16 in BMS feels like a 15-20 minute process, where the Viggen would be able to do such a higher tempo. Hell, I did three missions in about an hour, out and back and reset for the next mission repeatedly. It's amazing how geared towards operation tempo the Viggen is.

Somewhat unrelated, but is that the real alignment time for the Viggen? Because if so, that's amazing. I've gotten so used to INS alignment that the Viggen feels like the first aircraft that I can truly scramble if needed.

The Lions win? I'll take it.

Completely unfair, they had an advantage when it came to "motivating" their pilot.

I've tried the F-15 with a carrier landing technique, and this quote isn't wrong. Ball of fire is a good way of putting what happened.

Sideslipping also works, if you enjoy riding that bull.

The Viggen rudder is less for yaw, and more for "randomize!" I think someone said that's a feature of delta-winged aircraft.

Played it last night, and had a good time testing the waters with an easy-ish ground attack mission. I like a lot of what's going on, and I really like that everyone on the server is on my team, working together. Is there an option for recon missions, though? I'd like to stretch my legs a bit and take the Viggen for a walk through danger.

I'll be rearming my Viggen with BK90s. Thanks guys. I'll tell you in here how everything is doing this weekend. (also, I need to apologize for cursing you guys silently for having a full load of Rb-75Bs that wouldn't activate last night. Turns out the weapons selector is really important, and I am an idiot)

I don't own the plane, but does the Spitfire have fuel mixture control? RPM control? If so, consult a chart for best mixture and RPM for the altitude you're at. Carb heat? I'm just throwing ideas out there.

I feel like the short range missiles and guns are more difficult than the long range stuff. (Warning; Viggen perspective) The long range stuff is easily spoofed and avoided, as long as you stay low. Eventually, they run out of missiles, and you can just go burn them with your engine. Or sit on them. The small stuff really just kind of pops up out of the terrain, when you least expect it. Tunguska is exceptionally worrisome, and the assortment of IR missiles only slightly less so. If you can weasel your way into a guns kill on a 300, you're bound to trip over one of its friends eventually. The best SAM kill is a waiting kill, when the 300 expends itself, and you can Maverick it out of existence. Let the A-10 kill the rest, because it's good at that.

I know it's not as realistic as it stands, but I'm all about being on the throttle hard and staying there until I'm stabilized on takeoff. I can see slow flap retraction being helpful for a non-afterburner takeoff though, which would save some gas.