Raisuli

Yes and no. Does that help? Yes to a degree, no in general, unless they've gotten a lot better at managing RF transmission patterns since I went to radar school. Since RF is still RF I suspect only as much as the antennas have gotten more sophisticated.

For all intents and purposes that's been true as long as I've been flying DCS (F-5 was the first mod I purchased) apart from the odd bug fix every few years, but I don't think the simplified versions have anything to do with dev time on the FF mods. Wags has hinted they're scheming on the F-5, but like most things that's the sort of thing you believe when it happens. As far as I know there's no compelling reason to buy the FC3 update if you already have the mods. At least that's my current plan.

Oh, I'm pretty sure it's not a trojan, but until my anti-virus likes it I've disabled the F-15E (as opposed to disabling my anti-virus) so I don't get the countdown clock as shown in the OP. Guess I'll re-enable when new patches come out and see if things are more better-er since I have to do a bunch of file updates after every patch anyway.

I have them all. Ok, might be missing a WWII Reflected campaign or two...but not very many.

That whole episode almost got me to post a rant about quality of play issues in DCS, which are pretty obviously relatively low priority. While I was extending this (because I do that; this wasn't done) I tried to put an existing ED object down among all those Massun buildings and it was an embarrassment. Minecraft building. The 80s called and want their resolution back. That got me thinking about all the other things that would make game play much nicer; not modules or maps, the environment in which those are used, because there's (supposed to be) more to this than takeoff and landing. However...pretty low on the priority list, and nobody really cares what one user thinks. In any event, not the only green. Five miles north is a single pad named, appropriately enough, the Helipad of Shame. You get sent there when landings are a little too wobbly.

It's much, much worse than that. The color is all wrong. That's someone else's face staring back at me!

BadGuys(tm) in cities are what cluster bombs are for. I used Sinai almost exclusively for...since it was released until a couple months ago, then I went back to Syria. As others have said there is a ton of potential, but then Syria got an update and I couldn't resist the urge. When, and if, Sinai gets updated I might make the switch back. There is no perfect map, and all of them work. It's getting to the point where I'm map-saturated, and after the Stan I'm really only looking for one.

I decided I need a reference for control mapping (lost the CAGE button a few times). All my documentation and checklists are on 8.5x5.5 paper (using the width of some guy's thumb as a prime standard...what's wrong with that?) so they fit in my notebooks and show up nicely on the iPad I use as a 'knee' board. I ran into something that was really, really close to what I wanted when I did an image search, so I ran with it. Also put in my (non VKB...sorry) stick so these are on facing pages in the notebook. Not sure how useful this will be, but here it is for those who have far too many modules to remember the finer points of HOTAS bindings. Or are far too old. Or both. CM-50 & STECS Template.pdf

I have to say Heatblur set a new standard for bindings. Even more impressive, you've raised the bar for how those bindings work; I can use the exact same control on the exact same input (setting HSI course with an encoder) and I'll get different behavior on the F-16 and F-18; both ED modules. On the F-4 that setup works smooth as glass. It's extremely refreshing to see something work 'right' for once. How cool would it be if ED put half the effort into 'quality of play' items like this that you guys obviously took pretty seriously. The F-4 is a lot more than just a pretty face; that goes right down to the bone, to extend that analogy. <edit> Just realized it was CRS that made me pull my hair out and re-program the encoder twelve times, then I tried it on the F-16 and realized it's the F-18 module that's borken and not my code...old age; getting senile. <edit>

I can't seem to find a binding for engine anti-ice, which of course is a total catastrophe since I'm trying to start this thing to Reflected's requirements and I really don't want him banging on my door because I didn't get that set properly before start up! You know how he gets with 'realism' and all that... Is that tucked away somewhere else (still haven't forgotten the F/A-18's "Push To Test" label for the RADALT bindings) or did it fall through the cracks? You guys set up a binding for the heating element in the cup holder, so that seems a bit unlikely...

But...templates. Select all, make a template. It should just be database stuff from a floating origin. This took about an hour and a half to put together when I got a strange idea for a remote helo base (so remote it's off the map; this is my undisclosed training location), then I got all OCD about it...

This. And right now I'd love to put a person inside a hanger or hardened shelter. Get tired of launching all my aircraft outside their shelters, particularly on maps where the shelters are so nicely modeled (if a little grassy in places, and I love the trees in there...)

That's been true ever since they started getting severely punished for putting actual news in newsletters. Since then they mostly recap what already happened this week, or add something with no discernible deliverable, and I can't blame them even if I'm not fond of the change.

It was actually an off the cuff comment by Casmo that convinced me to wait. This is the first DCS module I haven't purchased, so kind of a change for me and I might end up with it 'just because', like far too many other modules. I also do single player and while the more advanced airframe is tempting I have, at last count, six helos, of which I (attempt to) fly two and a half occasionally with one more on pre-order that may or may not end up oxidizing in the hanger. That's not counting the hangers full of jets and props that are also oxidizing because I only fly a few of those with any regularity. Doesn't mean Polychop didn't do an amazing job and if it had gone on sale in pre-order I probably would have jumped in, just not necessarily a fit for my flying habits. For $70 I can wait a bit and see how I feel about it later.

Oh...that was fun...and it works for cluster bombs, too.

Oh, I'm not talking instant. There's still that five hundredths of a second delay, and if it delays between each rocket it will still talmost 15 seconds to dump all 285. Still not up to the standards of a mild forth of July in my (fireworks that leave the ground are illegal) area. Easy way to test; air start, active pause, set up, F2 view, fire away. Track on request.

Rockets everywhere, enable all the pylons, set to continuous, it will only fire the rockets from the outboard (1 & 9) set of pylons. I have to disable that set, push the bomb release again, then it fires from the inboard (2 & 8 )set of pylons. Disable those, it fires from the center. I can't find a way to dump all rockets from all five pylons at once. Me problem? As intended and not a problem at all? The thing is a bloody bomb truck. Drives like one, too. Smokes like one. Sounds like one. Gets about the same mileage. Are we sure this is a jet?

I just got accused of making out with concrete. "Man, you just kissed the runway! Nice!". As mush as Jester is annoying that was oddly satisfying at the same time. That and apparently my landings are improving. Strangely it seems practice helps...

Meh. It was a two seat aircraft and it has two seats. I'm not a fan of Clown, but I can work with it. I didn't like everyone I worked with while I was in the military, either, and it's safe to say quite a few people didn't like me, but we muddled through anyway. As HB improves the code in theory Jester will have more utility and function better, but it's not going to slow me down in the interim and statistically they'll write code faster than I improve as a pilot. Before long Jester will submit posts wanting to kick me out!

This. Same issue with the F-14; the F-4 version is a little less annoying, but without any experience flying military aircraft I still feel he's more like a Hollywood caricature than an actual professional, and I have heard and experienced, universally, that military aviators are professionals. Just to make bad worse he ejected in the middle of a training mission (right on top of the BadGuy(tm) base). I completed the last couple passes of the mission, landed at the forward base, tried a repair to see if I could get a replacement Clown, which requires a shutdown. Nope. No can do. Refuel, restart, but now I can't get the INS aligned. Flew back to the rear base by dead reckoning, landed, had a steak and lobster tail while Clown was being tortured at the BadGuy(tm) Motel 6. Not even classy enough for a Hilton, but it served him right. Was he rattling off snarky comments?

I am currently struggling to understand how I keep my seat as a pilot in the Phantom. We make a good team; neither of us know what we're doing or do it well As I understand it allowing stress to show in comms is a hangable offense in Navy ready rooms. Maybe the air force is different. I do know, having had to communicate through stressful situations in the military, that 'uhhh' is still dependent on the individual. I know a few people who can't get a sentence out in non-stressful situations without two or three of those. In a perfect world I'd have a sit down with Jester and we'd work on that. It's not something you fix right away but with a little effort you can get past it, stress or no stress.

Thanks, Zabuzard! Look forward to that!

PIO. I could qualify as an instructor in the Advanced Pilot Induced Oscillation syllabus at any military flight school in the world; I'm an absolute expert at inducing oscillations. Strangely, taking my curves from 20 to 8 was a huge help controlling that, but some days I'm so ham fisted there's no cure but go do something else. One way to test this is set up something big, like a Bone at 400 knots, and fly formations with it at various distances. If you can fly steady a few plane lengths away and start to oscillate up close it's all you. <edit> If it's wake turbulence in close it's going to snap-roll you like a paper airplane in jet exhaust (I got spun into a tree trying to formation land with a Bone at Tel Nof). It won't be porpoising, it'll be a sudden, probably violent loss of directional control. Further out it's a little less violent, but no less obvious. I get into wake turbulence all the time flying formations with F-14s when they turn into me (or I get ham fisted), which is my normal lead. </edit>

He did say he's 'lost that lovin' feeling...forever' after what I thought was a reasonable landing. The secret seems to be keeping your foot on the gas until the wheels are centimeters from pavement. I've gotten spoiled by things that fly on their own and cut power way, way too soon. I've gotten a 'nice landing' or something like that and a couple other compliments since I started flying it right to the ground. Am I doing it 'right'? Probably not. It's a beast. I like it. Might even get used to Jester some day.

Got it! That makes perfect sense; just gotta get Jester trained up! Early access...he still has delusions of adequacy, just like the guy in front! Still want a binding, though, because if I'm chasing a BadGuy(tm) through the weeds trying to manually guide a Sparrow I don't want to deal with the wheel...lessee...Jester, Radar, TREE!!!