Feedback Thread - Tomcat Patch 19-02-2025

[IronMike]

Dear all,

we hope the first couple months of the year have been good for you! As we continue to push for release and completion of the early -A and other long outstanding promises, such as the A-6 AI (and much more), this patch is rather small, but we hope that you enjoy it nonetheless. As always we would like to kindly ask you for your feedback. Thank you!

Your Heatblur Team

DCS: F-14 Tomcat by Heatblur Simulations

• Updated Chinese localization and encyclopaedia entries
• Livery: VF-33 Starfighters AB201 updated - Thanks Yae Sakura!

[Dragon1-1]

Will the heaters tracking flares before launch be a thing in the next patch? 

[DSplayer]

7 hours ago, Dragon1-1 said:

Will the heaters tracking flares before launch be a thing in the next patch? 

It is present in the current patch.

[draconus]

3 hours ago, DSplayer said:

It is present in the current patch.

In F-14?

[DSplayer]

54 minutes ago, draconus said:

In F-14?

Yes

[JupiterJoe]

How does one determine this?  Does the tone emitted by the seeker rise if a flare passes in front of it?

[Dragon1-1]

That's how it should work. If not using using the radar, you should also see the seeker diamond track the flare.

[DSplayer]

17 hours ago, JupiterJoe said:

How does one determine this?  Does the tone emitted by the seeker rise if a flare passes in front of it?

You can uncage your SW on a target with SEAM and if he flares, the AIM-9 will pull off onto the flares. You can also get tone on flares.

[JupiterJoe]

Will 'heaters' miss more often now?

Edited February 22 by JupiterJoe

[Zabuzard]

You can uncage your SW on a target with SEAM and if he flares, the AIM-9 will pull off onto the flares. You can also get tone on flares.

I was under the impression that we have to do sth extra to support it, cause thats what EDs message implied. But if it works already, that's great :)

[westr]

On 2/19/2025 at 6:58 PM, IronMike said:

Dear all,

we hope the first couple months of the year have been good for you! As we continue to push for release and completion of the early -A and other long outstanding promises, such as the A-6 AI (and much more), this patch is rather small, but we hope that you enjoy it nonetheless. As always we would like to kindly ask you for your feedback. Thank you!

Your Heatblur Team

DCS: F-14 Tomcat by Heatblur Simulations

• Updated Chinese localization and encyclopaedia entries
• Livery: VF-33 Starfighters AB201 updated - Thanks Yae Sakura!

Favourite module in DCS always happy to see new content added to this amazing Tomcat module. 
thanks. 
Will the visible pilot get some work at some point? I notice his feet don’t move with the toe brakes etc 

Edited February 22 by westr

[draconus]

4 hours ago, westr said:

Will the visible pilot get some work at some point? I notice his feet don’t move with the toe brakes etc

Iirc they released the pilot model as first temporary version with intention to further upgrade it later in development.

Edited February 22 by draconus

[DSplayer]

10 hours ago, Zabuzard said:

20 hours ago, DSplayer said:

You can uncage your SW on a target with SEAM and if he flares, the AIM-9 will pull off onto the flares. You can also get tone on flares.

I was under the impression that we have to do sth extra to support it, cause thats what EDs message implied. But if it works already, that's great

Yeah, I was pretty surprised when it seemingly worked on all FF aircraft.

[PhantomHans]

Did Jester stop deploying chaff and flares?

It has been a long while since I flew, but for some reason I seem to recall that Jester would deploy chaff and flares, sometimes even too eagerly.

Now it seems like he isn't putting them out at all?  Do I need to give him orders or something or set him up during the cruise to the fight?

 

Would be GREAT if we could get a simple .cfg file somewhere to allow us to pre-program our settings for Jester.  What we want our default chaff/flare policy to be, how aggressively we want him to chaff/flare, how we want our bomb ripple quantity and interval, etc.

[westr]

6 hours ago, PhantomHans said:

Did Jester stop deploying chaff and flares?

It has been a long while since I flew, but for some reason I seem to recall that Jester would deploy chaff and flares, sometimes even too eagerly.

Now it seems like he isn't putting them out at all?  Do I need to give him orders or something or set him up during the cruise to the fight?

 

Would be GREAT if we could get a simple .cfg file somewhere to allow us to pre-program our settings for Jester.  What we want our default chaff/flare policy to be, how aggressively we want him to chaff/flare, how we want our bomb ripple quantity and interval, etc.

Yes I’d like to know this as well. 
(chaff and flares bit) 

I can’t find any orders in the Jester wheel. 

[draconus]

2 hours ago, westr said:

I can’t find any orders in the Jester wheel.

All settings are in 2nd menu no 6 CMs.

[PhantomHans]

7 hours ago, westr said:

Yes I’d like to know this as well. 
(chaff and flares bit) 

I can’t find any orders in the Jester wheel. 

I know there's a CM's menu in there to tell him HOW you want them to deploy, including to set them to "tight" so he won't pop them.  I am starting to think his default behavior is now "tight".

[AhSoul]

On 2/23/2025 at 2:09 AM, PhantomHans said:

Did Jester stop deploying chaff and flares?

It has been a long while since I flew, but for some reason I seem to recall that Jester would deploy chaff and flares, sometimes even too eagerly.

Now it seems like he isn't putting them out at all?  Do I need to give him orders or something or set him up during the cruise to the fight?

 

Would be GREAT if we could get a simple .cfg file somewhere to allow us to pre-program our settings for Jester.  What we want our default chaff/flare policy to be, how aggressively we want him to chaff/flare, how we want our bomb ripple quantity and interval, etc.

Flying last night against some buddies Jester was definitely deploying flares for me without asking.

[PhantomHans]

15 hours ago, AhSoul said:

Flying last night against some buddies Jester was definitely deploying flares for me without asking.

Did you adjust his settings before that point, like to set programs or quantities?

 

Maybe I just haven't been in a position where I needed them and thus he hasn't been deploying them.

[AhSoul]

8 hours ago, PhantomHans said:

Did you adjust his settings before that point, like to set programs or quantities?

 

Maybe I just haven't been in a position where I needed them and thus he hasn't been deploying them.

Nope - just spawned in the air in the F-14 and was dogfighting a mate of mine. Looked back and noticed I was leaving a flare trail. I didn't change any ME settings for the jet when I created it either.

[draconus]

On 2/22/2025 at 6:33 AM, DSplayer said:

You can uncage your SW on a target with SEAM and if he flares, the AIM-9 will pull off onto the flares. You can also get tone on flares.

I could not make it work. Flying behind A-50 with SW lock on/off, SEAM on/off, tons of flares but no flare catching lock or tone on one.

[Dragon1-1]

That's because you were flying behind him. On a jet, rear aspect shots generally won't chase flares, at least the way DCS models this. This is something you'd see before the merge, or while trying for a high aspect shot, or while attacking helicopters.

I've had that happen yesterday while trying to splash a Hind. It spammed flares, and I could see the diamond get pulled off before launching when I uncaged, despite a good radar lock. Helos are harder targets for heaters in first place, so flares work much better for them.

[DSplayer]

24 minutes ago, draconus said:

I could not make it work. Flying behind A-50 with SW lock on/off, SEAM on/off, tons of flares but no flare catching lock or tone on one.