rossmum

Learnt a hard lesson earlier today about my need to brush up on the 29, and just how short-legged it really is. The restriction to 60s make it a bit of a trap almost! Think I'll stick to the 21 next time, especially if I'm already on a roll with it... :lol:

OB here. Like I said, I notice no difference - my framerate is perpetually low in multiplayer and especially any time I go near trees, but I haven't noticed a significant impact from the 21's radar. My friends who have are all running OB as well.

Running any mods? Any traces left of mods from previous installs? Tried a repair? I know they're pretty obvious questions, but never hurts to double check. "Uninstalled" mods have caused me issues in the past.

Awesome, thanks :D Should be a little fairer on the blues now while giving us MiG jockeys our signature weapon back! Had an absolute blast on Sail Ahoy! earlier after a bad false start on Catch Me If You Can (which is usually one of the missions I enjoy most, go figure, I'll blame my lack of skill with the MiG-19). There was some very... creative strategy from one of the blue players, so I actually taught myself to use the Grom after a year and a half of flying the 21, and got a gun kill on a BMP :D

I don't tailstrike often, but I don't think it caused damage last time I did. I watched a friend who only got the module today do one earlier and he seemed fine. I don't think it's modelled, or if it is, it's not working at the moment.

Same backtrim as I used before, stick back 3/4, rotates around 280-300, ease off stick as necessary to keep the nose from rising too much. It's more sensitive than it used to be and it took me a little adjusting to (mainly because of the nose's tendency to bounce) but honestly, if you hold the nosewheel off the tarmac long enough to take the stiffer suspension out of play, the takeoff is pretty much no different.

A mate of mine with a much more powerful PC than me has also reported a drop from 150FPS to 40 when the radar is turned on. My potato PC doesn't seem to register a difference at all, though.

The new AB hasn't been added yet. I don't know why people are saying they 'downloaded' it, as it hasn't been released.

Be aware that the RWR experimental behaviour has to be enabled in the mission. It doesn't work on some servers because they haven't set it to work, even if you have it enabled on your own client.

This is a longstanding issue which I think they're aware of, not 100% sure. I can definitely confirm it happens constantly in MP though.

You might be losing enough speed to stop the engine windmilling enough to preserve the pressure, maybe.

I haven't noticed issues with the module specifically either, running a much older PC (but also at lower settings). Seems the same as most other modules to me.

It can do slow too, it just needs practice. Watch the AoA indicator, 28 is a huge margin of safety. It will comfortably handle 30-32, at 33-34 you're on the edge but with a little finesse you can hold it there. Below 600km/h, drop the takeoff flaps and engage the emergency afterburner - you can pull some absolutely revolting turns, and as you bleed speed the circle closes tighter and tighter. If the wing stalls, let go of the stick and let it correct itself, or counter with some gentle rudder.

The actual flight handling is pretty simple when you get a feel for it - I'd rate it as easier to handle in a lot of respects than the Tomcat. It's just knowing those weird little quirks. It's my most flown module and in the space of the past 2-3 weeks, I've learnt a few things about it that make it feel like a whole new plane.

It's not messed up. The in-cockpit gauge is local AoA at the position of the sensor vane (left side of the nose about halfway to the cockpit). The airflow is already distorted by the aircraft at this point and will read higher than the true AoA (F2 view). This is realistic and happens on the real aircraft. Someone posted a diagram on the forums ages ago but I can't find it right now. The engine is not underpowered, it has a TWR over 1 when the emergency burner is on. What you are seeing is the enormous drag associated with the aircraft's wing design, with flaps lowered. There is a blown flap system which requires >80% RPM to operate, below this level there is no bleed air being provided to the flaps and you will drop like a rock. Keep power over 80% and if you're too fast, tickle the airbrake, don't reduce power. This is a design quirk of the real MiG-21bis. This is why the Soviets added the blown flap system in the first place, to provide for safer landings at lower speeds than the earlier models. AP is working fine now per my experience a few hours ago, but take note that this is a very old, analogue system and it will 'search' with the nose while it tries to find the right airspeed. It exhibited this behaviour even before the FM changes. The MiG-21 is a fantastic aircraft and with a bit of experience, will cream most F-5 players online. I wouldn't trade it for anything, but you can't just come in and expect a 1972 upgrade of a 1959 aircraft to fly itself and require no study, my dude.

That wasn't what he was asking, he's asking why the wheels themselves aren't coming down. The emergency system is pneumatic but the normal system is not, it's hydraulic. All I can think of is that you've somehow damaged the undercarriage in such a way as to prevent the doors opening again, or for some unholy reason the hydraulic system is running at such low pressure it won't drop the gear - but then you'd have flight control problems, too. I don't remember if there's a shutoff valve that prevents any hydraulic oil running to the gear mechanism, as I've never had to isolate it, but that's all I can really think of outside of damage or some really weird bug.

IIRC the gear is hydraulic, it's the wheel brakes and chute which are running off the pneumatic system. Wheels should still come down. Some sort of system damage maybe?

Ehh. I reckon I could smoke a Sparrow-loaded 14A but only if I got close enough to it. The B just has unholy thrust that makes it hard to catch with anything, the weaker performance of the TF-30 combined with comp stalls should make it less easy for them. Maybe very limited spawns for the more capable birds, and very limited supplies of their respective SARH missiles.

Suppose I might as well do the forums posting thing. Regarding current loadouts - I did mention this when I saw you on the server earlier, but the rear-aspect setup isn't really that fair on blue. Red players know they can't shoot us head-on at all, and the R-60 will frequently make insanely short turns to hit them in the merge. With that said I'm not entirely sure going back to the R-13 is necessarily the best idea either, and it kinda bums me out that the 21's signature weapon isn't available a lot of the time because it's technically all-aspect. If people want to fly at mid/high alt and ignore being locked up, they're kind of asking for an R-3R to the face, honestly. The 9P5 acts as a good equaliser and when everyone has some all-aspect capability (rather than just one team) it forces them to adapt and stop just flying straight and level into a merge in full reheat. As for the 23 - given the Phantom is looking like a bit of a pipe dream at the moment, what's the plan for that? The ML is going to be pretty insanely capable compared to what we currently have, and what we'll be getting soon (unless the F1 is closer than I thought). The Crusader won't really cut it as a counter. Will it be included with the R-23 or as a limited, pseudo-MS? In the latter case it'll still have a radar far beyond what anyone else does, though... I can't wait for it, but I don't want things to be too easy for us red players :D I'd fully support swapping out the 25T with the 25A, although it means a bit of a capability gap between red and blue maybe this could be compensated for some other way. The 25T is a bit of a weird duck since Russia barely even built any of the things.

Yeah, definitely don't cut throttle on landing. Your blown flaps system stops working below 80% RPM, so stay at or above that until you're just about to touch down - use the airbrake to regulate speed if you're too fast. I aim to be 'over the fence' at 380 and touch down between 280 and 320. Don't land over 1500L fuel unless you absolutely have to. Be prepared to lose a tyre if you're overweight. I frequently use T/O flaps because I chronically approach low and fast (a habit I can't seem to kick IRL as well as in sims), same rules as normal. Power on. Takeoff flaps are also a huge boon if you need to turn tightly, get your speed under 600, drop the flaps one stage, and slap the emergency burner on. This works best with a clean aircraft, missiles and racks will cause you to stall out much sooner but if you do this clean, you can turn with or inside most F-5 pilots' ability. Keep your speed up when engaging groups, but if you find a lone opponent, know that you can take things slow and he probably isn't even aware of that.

Just practice, and sometimes less is more when it comes to controls. Most of the time when people complain it's hard to fly, it's because they're over-controlling the aircraft when it doesn't need any input.

It should be totally independent of the engine, it's feeding off a fixed air tank rather than the bleed air off the compressor. I don't know how the tank would be full but the system not functional, I've never experienced it. You're absolutely sure the gauge read full for both normal and emergency pressure?

Glad to hear you've been enjoying it! I take it my salesman pitch worked, then? :lol:

NOT AN ENGINEER but from what I understand, there are ways to mitigate it through design and certain aircraft do retain usable roll authority even well into the stall. That said, I don't think the 21 has any of the usual design features that cause this, and it also lacks roll from the stabs (as correctly modelled visually, and as far as I can tell reflected in the FM - I think old problems of retaining roll auth without ailerons was a DM problem where it thought they were still there). Thankfully, whether it's accurate or still needs tweaking, it shouldn't really make too big an impact on gameplay as putting yourself into that state during a fight is 100% going to result in death, you're a standing target and will take forever to regain your speed. As for T/O and landing... landing doesn't feel much different to me other than the aircraft is slightly more prone to wandering. The bounce induced by the suspension stiffness is what's messing with me most, including for T/O. I fly by feel and not any manuals, so maybe doing a by-the-book landing is complicated now, but my usual standby of coming in at 380-400 and then dropping to 280-320 over the fence hasn't been causing any issues at all.

Don't pull. Trim until the neutral light goes out, then trim the same amount again. It should either rotate by itself or require only a feather-light touch to the stick to bring it off, be ready to counter with a gentle nose-down push if it bounces too hard and comes up too quickly.