PoorOldSpike

I'm not really angry, it was just my attempt at a funny pun using the title of the stage play "Look Back in Anger". (o god please make me funny) So to sum up what you guys are saying (correct me if I'm wrong), the Hornet F4 "look back" key doesn't look back at all, it simply perches us on the wingtip looking forward, no bloody use at all. I know it can be rotated to look back, (as can the F2 external view) but by the time we've fiddled with the pan control it's too late to see the bombs detonating. I paid 62 GB pounds (75 US dollars) for Hornet and I'm beginning to think I should have gone for a cheaper simpler sim instead, as most sims out there DO have a proper look back key (and more besides), that Hornet doesn't have (sniffle).

Try creating your own uncluttered simple AGM-62 scenario then you can test it out without the distraction of having other things to worry about, I do it all the time..:) I'll try the AGM-62 next and let you know how I get on. EDIT- ok I just created an AGM-62 Walleye TV-guided glide bomb mission and flew around dropping them manually (ie no guidance pod) on big juicy buildings and ships and they worked fine as long as I had a solid lock, otherwise they were x'd out and couldn't be launched. On a few occasions they missed the target after launch, probably because I released them too soon/too late/too low/too slow or whatever, I shall have to read up on launch parameters. I'll try using a pod later so I can steer the things. I haven't got your Persian map, but you say your Walleyes don't seem to acquire right without a pod against the target building and missile launchers so I'd suggest you fly the mission several times to see if you can get a manual lock without the pod.

According to the Hornet key listings F4 should be the 'Look back' key, but when I hit it I get a view perched on the right wingtip looking forward. The key works fine with the Frogfoot, allowing us to look back over the tail at the devastation our stick of bombs is doing. Why doesn't it work with the Hornet?

How do I find out? And whatever it is, what can I do about it? I'm a PC dummy, I only know how to press a few keys and do mouse clicks to make my little men, tanks and guns whizz around shooting their guns. I've been with AOL Broadband for years, shall I change to a faster provider if there are any? My PC is high-end so that's not the culprit. PS- just to digress, is it best to let Steam auto-update my Hornet, or should I switch off auto-updates? Are there pros and cons with auto-updates? What do you guys do?

My main beef with Steam is the horrifically-long download times, e.g. 14 hours for X-Plane 11, and 6 hours for F/A-18C. Oh for the good old glory days of the 1980's/90's when we could buy everything on disks..:)

Thanks, and incidentally why do game manufacturers put their games on Steam anyway? And if we have the choice of buying an original game direct from the manufacturer's website or from Steam, which shall we buy from?

Hi guys I bought F/A-18C on Steam a couple of weeks ago and the impressive flight model is one of the best I've seen in 37 years of flight simming.. A couple of questions- people sometimes mention "updates" in the forum, does that mean Steam auto-updates the sim for us, or do we have to manually get the updates from somewhere else? Likewise there's a bunch of juicy-looking DLC's at Steam such as new aircraft and maps, do I have to buy them from Steam or somewhere else?

Sorry if I haven't explained it well enough. Look, this below is my thrott slider, and for example suppose I want to set 25% power, I have to look down at it and move the slider to what looks like the 25% position, pure guesswork. It'd be so much easier if there was a 'ratchet click' at the 25% mark so that I could "feel" it click into place without having to look down at it. Same with clicks at 50% and 75%, I'd like them too. So to return to my original question, are there any joysticks on the market with throttle ratchet clicks that I can buy?

Manuals and tutorials are a great help but bear in mind they might be slightly out of date if there have been sim updates since they were created.

Guys, my Thrustmaster T16000 stick is a middle of the range thing and does its job, but the throttle slider slides smoothly and I've got the hassle of having to keep glancing at it to see what position it's in. Ideally I'd like to buy a stick whose thrott slider has say 3 "ratchet click positions" between 0% and 100% which I can feel the slider "click into" without taking my eyes off the screen, for example clicks at 25%, 50% and 75% power to suit whatever I'm doing, eg landing approach, cruise, etc. Is such a "ratcheted throttle" stick available to buy? I've googled 'joysticks' but their specs don't mention if they're ratcheted. Can anybody recommend a ratcheted job? PS- are throttle levers ratcheted in in real-life planes?

Tip- fly in external F2 view sometimes because it gives you a great insight into how the plane "sits" in the air at various throttle settings and angles of attack etc, then when you go back into the cockpit you'll subconsciously be carrying the images in your mind. Another tip- For learning carrier landings, create a mission with a carrier in it and set the carrier speed to about 20 kts and the headwind to about 30 knots or more and you'll float onto the deck almost in slow motion, piece o' cake. Gradually reduce the wind speed to make it harder as you gain experience. PS- I remember hearing a navy squadron commander say in a book or film- "Fly straight into the wires, i'll court martial anybody who tries to flare" but I don't know whether that's official navy doctrine.

Ok I've made some progress, I've just found out that I have to uncage on the target to lose the 'X', then the Mav F can be launched and will fly at the uncage point. It apparently self-locks on any random IR source near the uncage point. My next step will be to find out how to slew it to a specific target and lock it up. At the moment I can't slew or lock despite trying various key bindings.

Hi guys, I bought the F/A-18C recently but am not getting the cooling countdown clock for the Maverick 'F' (IR). I press Master Arm On, select A/G, then two clicks on the MFD button. The Mav 'F' comes up, but not the counter clock, and the Mav has a permanent 'X' through it and can't be launched, what am I doing wrong?