rossmum

OP - there's nothing to learn. From main menu: make sure you're logged onto your ED account, then click multiplayer. Done. The server browser will come up with what's available, or you can use the search bar to find a particular server or mission. If you want to do BFM, type "just" in there and you should see the Just Dogfight server come up, then you can select a role from the menu that appears. 1v1, AIR (IR missiles + guns), GROUND (you can load whatever you like at the airfield), or GUNS (the big gunfighting arena over Tbilisi). MP is easy to get into and it beats hell out of the AI, who not only cheat (as pointed out), but are also incredibly predictable. DCS has arguably the worst AI I've seen in a modern flight sim, especially in BFM, and it's one thing that really lets the game down. As for your concerns - I had similar, because I've developed certain habits from flying other aircraft and in other sims. With time, I learnt to work with what the 29 gives: outstanding acceleration, an excellent sustained turn at higher speeds, and good vertical performance. It has superb nose authority at low speed, but it also loses roll auth and you absolutely must roll with the rudder as you slow down. The G scheduler is a pain to deal with as well, so getting too fast is to be avoided if you intend to begin turning. Your magic number is 685km/h (about 370 knots I think?) down low and if you can hold it at or near that speed, you will eat just about anything for breakfast in a 2-circle. Your most 'balanced' opponent is the Viper, as it has a lot of the same strengths and weaknesses, but the 29 can use its much better TWR, speed, and acceleration against the Hornet as well by trying to force the Hornet into situations where its relative lack of guts leaves it vulnerable... or you can just deny the engagement by scooting away. I can't speak for the default 0-curve throttle settings, but running the Warthog AB detent curves I found elsewhere on the forums, I have to have my throttle sitting at or below perhaps 25-40% or the jet tries to run away on me. She has a lot of power. Thankfully the 29 also has some of the best sounds in the game, so I can kind of tune the power by ear as well as by the RPM gauge. BVR modes switch HUD airspeed display to TAS. I think one or two other modes do as well but I don't recall for certain. That's because the MiG-29 doesn't have a fly-by-wire system, and the Su-27's system is much more basic than Western ones (especially in that it lacks any sort of auto-trim function). The Western planes are absolutely easier to fly in that regard but also impose more limits on what you can actually ask the aircraft to do as a pilot - which can be either a good or bad thing, depending on the situation. The Soviet fighters are also notorious for having extremely heavy control forces, and often a lot of stick movement, compared to the Western fighters where you don't need to think about trim as much and in the case of the F-16, the stick is force-sensing. IIRC the MiG-25 and 31 sticks actually run right up against the instrument panel when trimmed fully nose down, and the MiG-29 as we see it in DCS will run out of nose down trim and still exhibit a strong nose-up tendency when put into full AB. Agreed, though even the F-5 is a bit too 'tame' for me. The 29 is tricky, and after a long time away I come back struggling to land it smoothly, but it's a lot of fun. It's also the only aircraft that seems capable of teaching me to reach and hold a corner speed, oddly enough. Well, there's your problem - they are fundamentally different aircraft, by different design bureaux, with different control systems and different (though superficially similar) aerodynamic characteristics. The 29 is much, much lighter as well.

My understanding is that the issue with the Harrier is the capability of the AV-8B/NA being far beyond anything else in the server - when the FRS.1 comes I wouldn't be surprised to see it here or there. I'd prefer it stay on Blue. I'm not a big fan of bizarre coalitions to give one team a particular aircraft, if I'm honest.

There's actually a margin of safety on the UUA redline. You previously had (and from the reading I've done, should have) a few degrees more you can ask before the aircraft starts misbehaving. The difference is, that used to take very precise stick movements in DCS, and now you can exceed that limit with no consequences - and then you hit a glass ceiling of sorts where the aircraft will not raise its nose any further, so you can maintain it in that state indefinitely. At a low power setting it will maintain that AoA and descend slowly, at higher power settings (1st or 2nd burner) it will maintain it perfectly with no loss in altitude. I don't believe this was a deliberate change, more likely something got pushed to the patch that wasn't ready yet, or DCS' notorious spaghetti code somehow broke something in the FM. The prior patch seems to have been close to what was actually intended and if anything I'd imagine there was some fine-tuning going on to try and adjust the amount of porpoising the aircraft was exhibiting at certain speeds. I am very aware of the findings about the 21's exceptional low speed performance and good nose authority, but that doesn't mean you should be able to pull the stick to your guts and cruise around without a care. If that was the case, there would be no need for the UUA-1 to be redlined (or even installed, considering you can currently maintain an AoA beyond what it is capable of displaying), there would be no need for any restrictions in the POH, and you slash pilot training enormously since you actively have to fly into the ground to crash the plane in its current state. There were memoranda put out by the Soviets to cover low speed/high AoA flight in the 80s. Skyrider has posted an example fairly recently, I forget which thread it's in. They still include a number of restrictions, though they also demonstrate awareness of the aircraft's capabilities and provide figures to help pilots safely exploit them. The 21 does not have FBW. It should not be handling like it does, and I don't believe it's intended to be.

So far my policy on FARPs and airfields has been to target forward bases to force the enemy fighters to fly further, or spend more time defending themselves. If they can't protect their bases, either through deploying SAMs and AAA or through fighter cover, then IMO it's a fair target - I've seen (and participated in) both sides hitting runways and it's usually because the fighters are all off chasing a single target into oblivion, or everyone's decided to run CAS/strike and left no effective CAP. With that said, I always try and leave one major base functional or even untouched, because it's no fun to be unable to fly at all. For my own part, I've mostly flown CAP in the 21 up to this point. Numerous times on Phone Booth, our airfield was hit by Viggens and I had to improvise a runway along the secondary taxiway/access road that parallels the runway. Red have always seemed far more coordinated, but it may also be because I tend to bring a GCI with me. :music_whistling: Since the 21 FM is broken at the moment and I don't want to exploit it (as someone who habitually goes into slow turns) or develop bad habits for once it's fixed, I've been taking some time to learn the Viggen. It's a lot of fun, and I've eased myself into some strike work with it which then carried over to the Su-25 the other day. I've mostly been focusing on antishipping, knocking out air defence (when I know where it is) and EWRs, and cratering secondary airfields/bombing out FARPs to clear the ground units protecting them. At one point some enterprising red player snuck a Shilka and BMP onto the blue FARP on Swedish Delivery, so there are some creative tactics going on. IMO it's fun, it adds some spice to the server, just as long as people understand where the line is between "funny unconventional tactics" and "merciless griefing".

Here's one I recorded a few weeks ago. The UUA-1 may as well not exist now as you can comfortably fly at 24-28 deg true AoA, which reads off the scale on the UUA, well past the 33-34 local that it used to depart at and very far beyond the safety limits noted in the POH. No, it really isn't. The FM prior to this one felt realistic, the one before that would never drop a wing but could at least still depart to some extent. Now it does neither, and while I can't speak for 1.5 as I've only been playing since late 2018, this is by far the least realistic the FM has ever felt since I started.

Regardless what may have been fixed (if anything), we've now totally lost the lower edge of the MiG's flight envelope - again, saying this as someone who tends to fly it slow and pull the nose, the MiG-21bis now handles like it has fly-by-wire. It cannot be forced to depart without literally dancing on the controls, at any speed. It's actually easier to fly than the F-16 or F-18 in low speed turning fights. It absolutely dominates many of the 4th gens with low-effort stick-pulling, let alone its contemporaries. It used to take a good MiG pilot and some luck to beat an F-5 in a turning fight; the F-5 now routinely gets eaten alive because the same people who repeatedly departed controlled flight beforem and ended up in the stall-recover-overcorrect-stall cycle right down to the ground, are now able to pull with no consequence. I've said this before, but if this was in any way realistic behaviour, the UUA-1 would not be redlined, the POH would not explicitly prohibit flight below certain speeds at low altitude, there would be no need for the return-to-horizontal SAU 'panic button' on the stick. There also still seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding about AoA. Considering the UUA-1 displays local AoA, and considering the pilot shouldn't be expected to do mental arithmetic to resolve true AoA from that, why would the POH or other operational documents be in true AoA rather than the same local AoA units shown on the UUA-1? It makes absolutely no sense. Easy is not good. Hard is not good. Realistic is good, and the prior FM update felt the closest to what I'd expect from an aircraft like the MiG-21 (as someone who obviously hasn't flown one, but has flown).

The true bigbrain move is to bind it to a 2-position switch on your HOTAS, since the 21 requires so few binds that you may as well use them for something :D

I had some issues repairing in both it (with the Viggen) and Swedish Delivery (with the MiG-19). Engines off, power off, all the usual. Not sure what was up but I had to replane for both, any ideas? As for EWR - when I switched to Red to even the teams, I was able to communicate fine, and got autonomous callouts. I almost wonder if it has something to do with when the player occupies the slot? Also tried the Mi-8 in the former mission, first time flying a helicopter and it went about as well as you'd expect :lol:

The blue EWRs still don't seem to consistently communicate - either by request or autonomously. Red ones do. Not sure why.

All good, I quickly glanced but didn't see you as the grey F-5 blends in quite well! Things got a bit chaotic later with people taking off in all directions anyway. Next time I might have to try my hand at finding a nice patch of road nearby, now I think I've got landing the Viggen mostly down pat :D

Right... because of my particular flying habits, I've always held the MiG on the edge of its ability. Maybe it's not the official way of doing things, and against a good F-5 pilot who knows his plane and has patience it doesn't work, but it was challenging and rewarding if the other pilot fell for the trap. Now, there is no edge. There are no consequences at all - you can do whatever you like, the aircraft will almost never stall, will never spin, etc. It is easier to fly than the FBW F-18 or F-16, or Su-27. Maybe if you never fly at low speed you won't notice the problems, and will think the FM is fine now, but for those of us who do it is very apparent that something went wrong last patch. There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding of an aircraft being very capable at low speed when handled correctly, and an idiot-proof magic machine that will not let you kill yourself through just yanking the stick without thought. Before, the MiG-21 in DCS was the first type. Now it's the latter. As for it being 'very hard' to land before... really? I don't understand how anyone had trouble landing this plane, I've always said this but still I see claims it's hard to do, even if you follow the pilot's handbook. Whether I follow it or not, it's not hard. It might sound brash to say it, but maybe just practice? With an approach speed of 380-400km/h and slowing to 280-300 for touchdown I have never, ever had problems. Hopefully this is fixed soon, as I can't bring myself to fly my favourite module until it is. I don't want to have an easy mode against F-5s and I don't want to learn even worse habits than I already have.

Swedish delivery yesterday was awesome! Huge thanks to everyone involved (and sorry to the two MiGs I slammed into - I was trying to belly land my striken Viggen next to you for cinematic effect, but it got its own ideas about where it wanted to go and the left wing dug in). The server's been absolutely jumping lately and it was amazing to have so many people on, despite the EWR issues leaving blue with some SA problems until we got human GCI on. I also discovered that Sidewinders make reasonably good dumbfire SEAD weapons, for when you configure your bombs and rockets wrong on three consecutive strike runs. Both Alpha flight's mission target and the starting red EWR fell to RB-24Js after I ran out of everything else :doh:

They don't reply on either mission. We can call them (in Russian) but get no response.

I remember this. I spotted him flying down the valley behind Batumi and figured he was trying to drop a cheeky MANPADS or something, shot him down, RTB, came back to kill the unit and discovered it was a tank. He offroaded and hid it in a forest, so both my Groms missed (hey, at least now I learnt how to use them), and apparently nobody else realised he was there or just didn't go for it. The guy kept dropping connection so it was actually a mercy for us that he took so long to get there. For a while there was some confusion and we had a group of guys convinced it was our own GCI trying to grief them. A second player did the exact same thing with a BMP, only this time on Kobuleti, and I was thankfully able to spot and destroy it - but only after it'd killed every single unit on the airbase. While we're on the topic of questionable strategies, actually, Alpen - what's the policy on runways? On some of the missions with capturable airfields I've recently been trying to deny use of the nearer ones to buy breathing space from MiG-21s, but always leaving them at least one or two spawnable airfields so they can still fly. Is there an official position on this? I kinda figured so far that if they can't defend their own bases, they're fair game, because I've seen Viggens doing it a lot while I've been on red.

A lot of the mission dates show 1980 - which makes even the M2000 (1984) and MiG-29 (1982) anachronistic, though they're in there with heaters only. A-model Hornets and 14Bs would be appropriate for the mid-to-late 80s, but we don't have an A-model Hornet, we have a C with mid-00s avionics upgrades. Even if you limit it to Sparrows, it's so much more capable than an 80s F-18 it's not funny. I really wish we had earlier teens, but we don't - probably the best blue fighter aircraft we'll see for the period will be the Mirage F1, F-14A (though that comes with problems of its own), F-8, and Phantom (if we ever actually get it). I don't see much chance of any devs sticking their necks out for A-model teens and they're such fundamentally different aircraft, they would need to be separate modules.

There are two or three holes. They'll most likely be fixed along with the major cockpit update to save doubling up on work.

I have noticed the engine staying on long after all tanks (incl. header tank) indicate empty on some MP servers - mostly modern ones. I'm not sure it the servers override the engine management setting, but I don't think that's it as I've still seen flameouts due to the other usual reasons happen. The two I've personally witnessed this on are Growling Sidewinder's and Blue Flag PG, but when I've been playing on Cold War the aircraft has never magically kept running on fumes.

I've noticed blue tend not to get a GCI unless they're about an hour or two into receiving a righteous shoeing, which is a shame, because watching things play out between both teams' GCIs is really cool. It's also a lot more fun because then they stick around and fight rather than all quitting or switching away from fighters to avoid having to deal with it. Changing to EWR should be interesting. It might make the 4th gen slots even more useful as a kind of scuffed AWACS, rather than just pure air superiority/strike aircraft, can't wait to try it out!

Eh, there's something to be said for air superiority. All it takes is a few people being coordinated by a good GCI - sometimes locking the other team up so badly in their own base that they can't really get any ground objectives done, as they're too busy trying to defend themselves. The newer missions are a good example too - I mostly fly fighters, so I set myself up screening the boats on Battle Over Sukhumi and try to catch any Viggens before they can do too much damage. Some days it's all fighters, some days there's not much to kill if you're in one yourself because everyone's in helicopters down in the weeds. The reason this server is my favourite is because it doesn't really force one or the other - it doesn't result in genuine airquake (seriously, go to GS and you'll see what the real meaning of that word is) but it also doesn't discourage people from getting into fighters and having some good tussles. There's fun to be had here for every kind of pilot.

I occasionally have this issue with other modules (particularly the Viggen) sometimes in MP, but reslotting into another aircraft works. No idea what causes it.

The cockpit currently doesn't 100% match the external model for scale, IIRC VR wasn't really a thing in DCS when the module was first made so it wasn't an issue at first. Rescaling it to fit the exterior is part of the major cockpit upgrade that's on the way.

AFAIK pilot body is planned with the new cockpit, I could be wrong though.

I'm on a 1050ti and haven't noticed any impact, let alone severe enough to render the game unplayable. Seems almost random who's affected and who isn't... wonder if a specific setting is causing it?

The nose felt a bit lighter, combined with the bouncy suspension - if you didn't rotate early enough, you could get a bad bounce and end up with a fairly unpleasant, but entirely controllable, takeoff. I never had a tailstrike from it though I did have the stall warning lights flash once or twice. I think there was a bit of a mountain being made out of a molehill about it to be honest - like, yeah, 3/4 back stick is one thing, but if the nose starts coming up abruptly you don't just keep holding it there. Countering it by easing off backpressure was easy enough. It wasn't ideal but it didn't really make it near as hard as you'd think from reading the forums.

Awesome, thanks!