F-14 A/B feature follow-up, wish list and beyond

[JupiterJoe]

5 hours ago, captain_dalan said:

Does it mention bug fixes and FM changes? 

Everything relating to the F-14 was included in scommander2's quotes above.   

If we're lucky the Devs may've encountered some long-term problems inherent to the F-14 (like the loop of the sound effect for the ejection seat arming switch, for example), whilst testing of the early A and incorporated those fixes.  What's frustrating is someone will come on here any minute and say 'What long-term problems?'.  My hope is that whilst they march onwards and upwards with the Phantom and beyond, they at least glanced at the list @scommander2 has kindly collated, to refresh their memories. 

Edited July 20 by JupiterJoe

[scommander2]

14 hours ago, captain_dalan said:

Does it mention bug fixes and FM changes? 

It is a excellent question.

Based on the update, HB is very busy on their on-going projects, therefore, they have not updated any patch yet.

If I am thinking in the bright side, maybe they are also fixing the issues while working on the F-14 stuff at the one shot since the same spots of codes they are working on (sorry that I am coming from my development experience), why not  and hope it is the case.

Well, shall we wait and see?

Thanks.

[Horns]

Spoiler

On 7/18/2025 at 8:50 PM, scommander2 said:

An update from HB from discord at:

https://discord.com/channels/1071433028045377637/1071574236403081287/1395028665775161364

Below, some quotes are related to F-14 for "A" and "B(U)":

We’re also growing - and are excited to talk about the A-6E and F-14BU being in active development..

 

 

Hell yeah! Give me my huddy buddy!

 

[captain_dalan]

On 7/20/2025 at 10:15 AM, JupiterJoe said:

Everything relating to the F-14 was included in scommander2's quotes above.   

If we're lucky the Devs may've encountered some long-term problems inherent to the F-14 (like the loop of the sound effect for the ejection seat arming switch, for example), whilst testing of the early A and incorporated those fixes.  What's frustrating is someone will come on here any minute and say 'What long-term problems?'.  My hope is that whilst they march onwards and upwards with the Phantom and beyond, they at least glanced at the list @scommander2 has kindly collated, to refresh their memories. 

 

On 7/20/2025 at 7:18 PM, scommander2 said:

It is a excellent question.

Based on the update, HB is very busy on their on-going projects, therefore, they have not updated any patch yet.

If I am thinking in the bright side, maybe they are also fixing the issues while working on the F-14 stuff at the one shot since the same spots of codes they are working on (sorry that I am coming from my development experience), why not  and hope it is the case.

Well, shall we wait and see?

Thanks.

Ah, good to know. Are they even informed of these bugs? They never responded in the bug report section here on the forums. 

[scommander2]

I would like to add the following thread into the wish list section since it is more or less and no harm at all:

Please let me know if any suggestion.

[scommander2]

Just checked HB discord developer channel for the latest update about the A-6 AI update, and no status for F-14x yet...   

[westr]

Wishlist: I would like to see the pilot bodies brought up to the standards we see in the F4E. They are lacking a little compared to some recent releases in my opinion. Plus they are lacking animation for the toe brakes etc. 

also the F4E cockpit just looks better to me? Not sure how everyone else feels, maybe it’s just because of the newer development and an increase in technology and capabilities? 
 

Glove vanes would be nice for this early model A I guess. 

the rest I’m aware HB are working on early model A etc. 

overall the feel of the Tomcat is great, it’s still one of the best DCS modules. 

Edited 15 hours ago by westr

[draconus]

17 minutes ago, westr said:

Wishlist: I would like to see the pilot bodies brought up to the standards we see in the F4E. They are lacking a little compared to some recent releases in my opinion. Plus they are lacking animation for the toe brakes etc. 

Yeah, when they added body for the Tomcat pilot they said it was just a temporary lower fidelity model. Better that than nothing but the time has passed...

17 minutes ago, westr said:

also the F4E cockpit just looks better to me? Not sure how everyone else feels, maybe it’s just because of the newer development and an increase in technology and capabilities?

No wonder, they made it even more detailed and added independently shaking elements so it's more live and realistic.

17 minutes ago, westr said:

Glove vanes would be nice for this early model A I guess. 

They said if ever, this will be visual option only.

Edited 15 hours ago by draconus

[MAXsenna]

31 minutes ago, westr said:

Not sure how everyone else feels,

Well, I'm for sure not looking at my feet when I drive. /j

I get your sentiment and I would like it too, while it worries me that whenever newer modules with newer tech are released, many users want that tech to be applied to "old" modules. Some even demands it. How do they expect developers to ever make money? Of course it would make perfectly sense if DCS had constant flux of new users,  which it does. But I don't think that the numbers are high enough with all the modules available in the store now. 

Cheers! 

[westr]

24 minutes ago, MAXsenna said:

Well, I'm for sure not looking at my feet when I drive. /j

I get your sentiment and I would like it too, while it worries me that whenever newer modules with newer tech are released, many users want that tech to be applied to "old" modules. Some even demands it. How do they expect developers to ever make money? Of course it would make perfectly sense if DCS had constant flux of new users,  which it does. But I don't think that the numbers are high enough with all the modules available in the store now. 

Cheers! 

I would never expect them to work for nothing. Would have no problem with a charge for a Tomcat 2.0 similar to what ED did with the A10C. 
 

this thread mentioned wish list in the title. It is my personal wish list. And if memory serves me correct I believe HB mentioned the pilot bodies were not the finished article with the Tomcat and they wanted to revisit them in time. 

[MAXsenna]

4 minutes ago, westr said:

I would never expect them to work for nothing. Would have no problem with a charge for a Tomcat 2.0 similar to what ED did with the A10C. 

Then we 100% to agree!  

Apologies, wasn't my intention to insinuate that you, wanted anything for free, while quite a lot of other users do.

Cheers! 

[Dragon1-1]

1 hour ago, draconus said:

They said if ever, this will be visual option only.

I think the whole point of welding them down was that nobody ever noticed them doing anything to the flight characteristics in first place. They added mechanical complexity while doing absolutely nothing tangible.

[Jayhawk1971]

The one thing that really changed my mind in favor of pilot bodies (even more so in VR) is the working kneeboard we got with the Viper/ Hornet pilot bodies. This has been a huge immersion boost. I hope we'll get this feature with Heatblur pilot bodies as well, and the sooner, the better.

[draconus]

1 hour ago, Dragon1-1 said:

I think the whole point of welding them down was that nobody ever noticed them doing anything to the flight characteristics in first place. They added mechanical complexity while doing absolutely nothing tangible.

I can agree that effect was negligible and not worth the maintenance but it's purpose was also for the unusual parts of envelope like supersonic turn and cruise with better AoA and less drag on stabilators.

[scommander2]

I have to agree with it that I won't pay too much attention on the pilot/RIO bodies while I am in the cockpit.

But, I have to agree that HB does make F-4 as a masterpiece in overall, and I guess that HB seems to use the same works in F-4 back to F-14.  Jester 2.0 is an example.

I will add the concern of the pilot/RIO bodies into the wishlist section since it is a wishlist.

- [ADDED]F-4E pilot/WSO body implementations in F-14x {https://forum.dcs.world/topic/349953-f-14-ab-feature-follow-up-wish-list-and-beyond/page/15/#findComment-5703874}

 

Edited 12 hours ago by scommander2

[Dragon1-1]

29 minutes ago, draconus said:

I can agree that effect was negligible and not worth the maintenance but it's purpose was also for the unusual parts of envelope like supersonic turn and cruise with better AoA and less drag on stabilators.

That was the theory. In practice, it appears the effect was not noticeable in the cockpit. Remember, aerodynamic simulations like we're used to were simply not a thing when the Tomcat was designed, and they ran their calculations on mainframes less powerful than a today's smartwatch. The engineers clearly thought that they needed those vanes, but it turns out supersonic turns work just fine without them, and there's not much difference either way. In that era, there was no way of testing such concepts other than building the thing and flying it.

[MAXsenna]

The one thing that really changed my mind in favor of pilot bodies (even more so in VR) is the working kneeboard we got with the Viper/ Hornet pilot bodies. This has been a huge immersion boost. I hope we'll get this feature with Heatblur pilot bodies as well, and the sooner, the better.

I agree with this, and I got used to it in that other SIM with one on each knee.

Cheers!

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