Caesar

We must remember to send them a thank-you brick...or PGB...or Trident...

Guess we were basing our dates on the completion date. Contract award isn't a good start date, however, kind of like Bol Chaff (awarded in 1994 if memory serves, but not widespread till 1996 for the F-14). 2000 might be worth it, being a 5 year span, kind of like how we have the 82 Tomcat with the TCS, which took until about 85-86 to completely implement, though it was tested as early as 1975 with the F-14, and installation began around 1981 in active squadrons. With respect to the D Cockpit, I know about "moves" and stuff like that, but it would likely be a LOT of work to try to build a "D" pit out of the current one, if it were even possible. You'd need to move the "six pack" to the left, keep the central VDI but change it to a more modern MFD, add another to the right, and screw with the HUD and VDIG in general...not an easy task.

The GE's could provide more power at lower throttle settings, so in Mil power they were outputting similar power to a TF-30 in Zone 3. That's where the higher endurance comes from. That being said, if memory serves the GE engines were actually less efficient than the TF-30's at equivalent throttle settings. As such, you'll burn more gas more quickly with the GE's in max AB or Mil power than you would the PW's set to the same.

1. Red Storm Rising 2. The Hunt for Red October 3. The Cardinal of the Kremlin 4. The Sum of All Fears 5. Clear and Present Danger 6. Without Remorse 7. Rainbow Six 8. Patriot Games ...and that's all I've read, actually...

Great reports, folks! Nice to see the variety of aircraft!

Kyot, During the making of the Super Pack, we never added a SparrowHawk HUD to the F-14B, because the B didn't receive that HUD until 2003, and was retired two years later. I think Dave and I had that conversation when selecting the year breakdowns for the SP Tomcats (initially, there wasn't an F-14A_96; that got added later, so I suppose a B_03 isn't out of the question). SparrowHawk (by CMC Electronics) was different than the D's Kaiser Electronics HUD, and actually better, with a wider field of view and using commercial off the shelf parts for ease of maintenance/replacement, though the symbology was similar. Unfortunately, there are still no plans for a dedicated F-14D cockpit, so I wouldn't hold you breath on that.

Think there's 11 left; all B's and D's, at least one has been on a museum waiting list for YEARS. Every other one that was at AMARG was destroyed as JM said.

Just sent some pretty polly, O My Brothers. A malenky bit tight, what with the armor project, but something to, like, help the scenario as it were. ...sorry, been re-reading A Clockwork Orange this week...

Cougar, Not sure about the cannons part, but there's a Sea Harrier in the downloads section: http://combatace.com/files/file/12956-sea-harrier-frs2/

Strangely enough, it depended largely on the squadron as to when the Glove Vanes were deactivated. Some of them were active into the mid-90's and I recall at least one airframe type telling me that they would leave them active 'till they broke by that point (mid-late 1990's). If they stopped working, they disconnected the actuators and locked 'em shut. On the other hand, yes, some squadrons did lock them by the late 1980's, one Tomcat RIO recalling that during a late-80's cruise, he never saw them move from stowed position (I'm a little surprised they had that much freedom with it, but I've seen photos from around 1996 of several "A's" with their vanes out). Another ("Bio" Baranek) mentioned that they had become very popular to roll out in the break during his time with VF-2 from 1987-1990. I've also heard the same thing Fubar was told from the pilots: the glove vanes didn't do a hell of a lot for the aircraft even in the supersonic regime, and were most desirable during low-altitude, high subsonic/low supersonic flight (one F-14 driver commenting that they made for a "more steady and stable platform" at the lower altitudes, another saying that the ride wasn't as rough with them out), or to "look cool," but didn't have really impacting tactical implications. As such, in the F-14 Super Pack, we kept the Glove Vanes active in the 74, 82, and Iranian F-14A's, and locked them in the F-14A_96 to reflect that by this point, F-14A's with working Glove Vanes were few and far between.

Blaze, That's not an animation problem. Take a look at parked/shut down F-14's from the aft end - you'll see they're usually asymmetric. Some Tomcat Tweakers talked about this: "[For the] TF-30, Whichever engine was shut down last the nozzle would close because of electrical power dropping off disengaging the pop-open solenoid before AB fuel hydraulic pressure bleeds off. Same would happen occasionally with normal hydraulic pressure if shutting down with the flaps down would make the aux flaps auto retract." To get both open or both closed, the aircrew had to pull one of two circuit breakers before shutdown: pop engine start breaker, or pop Weight on Wheels circuit breaker, depending on what position you wanted. Another Tomcat Tweaker pointed out that this was something they did a lot for airshows, so they wouldn't constantly be asked the question "why is one engine 'bigger' than the other?" Antares, The game doesn't support both manual and automatic deployment of wings and vanes, it's one or the other, so we have it automatic since that's how the F-14 was most commonly flown. Similarly, the TCS cannot be slaved to the radar, nor pointed by the player. Right now, it's just a forward looking camera because that's what the game supports. At least it's zoomed in!

Cougar, Change the gun from 20MM_M61A2 to 20MM_M61A1. I had that problem, too initially.

Here's mine, and why: 1. Battlefield 3, before whatever the hell patch nerfed the AA gun and tank buckshot: 64 player MP, assortement of tanks, fighting vehicles, planes and heloes, well presented, good looks, good gameplay (much more important than looks!), and the AA gun could be used as a general fighting vehicle as one would expect of a small tank with a 25mm or 30mm cannon on the top. Also, a helicopter getting hit by about 50 tungsten balls at point blank range isn't going to be flying anymore...why the hell did they change it? 2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare: It had good balance, the perks weren't super OP'd, it wasn't just a matter of "spawn-kill-die, spawn-kill-die" like later titles, and it was still MOD-ABLE! Played on Counterstrike maps, earlier COD maps, all sorts of maps and weapon mods could be gotten FOR FREE. No paying Activision! 3. Insurgency: Feels like a cross between COD 4 and Rainbow Six 3 in my own opinion, but for only $15 at full price. Has content patches, free maps, etc...basically everything that made MW good, and apart from playing well, it looks pretty damn good too, all at 1/4 the base asking price of the latest COD/BF titles WITHOUT the $15/per expansions. Also, the damage models seem to have been highly influenced by the old-school Rainbow Six titles...when you get shot, you generally die unless you're lucky, and I like that! Speaking of R6... 4. Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield: Bringing the R6 line up to more modern standards, RS3:RS was a lot of fun because you couldn't just run around and gun people willy-nilly. You had to concern yourself with hostage rescue, stealth, and the fact that the enemy was armed with assault rifles, and you only had Kevlar. As such, single hits were usually enough to drop someone. It required thinking, and that's what I feel made it so good. 5. Battlefield 1942 with DC mod: This one came out during that span of time when a ridiculous number of WWII FPS's came out. The game itself was great, 64 player MP that the series became known for, tanks, planes, ships, and all sorts of goodies to use in a massive battle. But what really sold it for me was the Desert Combat mod, which added in modern equipment when modern FPS's were sorely lacking (ironic now that that's almost all we see). M1A1's, Bradleys, T-72's, F-14's, MiG-29's...it was great. 6. Ghost Recon: The original Ghost Recon was almost like Rainbow Six, but with significantly larger maps. The reason I like it is the same reason I liked the early (pre-Vegas) R6 installments: you actually had to think about what you were doing, scout the area, and not move recklessly before engaging the enemy. 7. Blood 2: An older game, Blood 2 was somewhat akin to Quake, but with a hilarious voice-over commentator during multi-play. It's story was chalk full of dark comedy as well. What else to say but it was a lot of fun. 8. Unreal Tournament: Another older game, UT had excellent modability. I recall the ridiculousness of some of the weapons, like the Quantum Singularity Generator, Rail Gun, Redeemer...it was a blast. 9. Rainbow Six: The original R6 almost looks like you took Resident Evil 1 or 2 and put a 1st person camera into your character nowadays, but back then, it was cutting edge. Still, like the later title R6:3, it was very strategic for a tactical shooter. 10. Doom: How could this one not be in here? Multiplayer capable, very linear, but with great weapons and progressively harder levels, Doom, I feel, was a great step forward from Wolf 3D, and stands to this day as one of the most fun FPSs out there.

Congratulations on the job, SV!

Saisran, It looks like you're getting too slow too quickly. Maybe too much "g" early on? While I love getting into a slow fight, trying this against the XF-14 is tantamount to suicide. Its T:W is just too damn much. It'll get slow temporarily, but when it notices it's getting vulnerable, it lights the cans, accelerates, and then comes back around to threaten you. When I fell out during the stale-mate fight, flaps down, I only survived 'cause our noses were pointed in opposite directions. Flaps are great for positioning against roughly equivalent fighters, but the XF-14 you made is in another league. Rather, try for that sustained turn fight. I think the reason you end up inside his circle is that while you're pushing 7g or so at about 400KIAS, he's going a lot faster, so you've got a smaller circle and similar rate (faster speeds require more "g" for better rate). Hold that "g" for 3 or 4 circles and you should start getting behind him. When you're definitively behind his 3/9 line, go for the full pull (it took me three times to get it right, as you've read). You might hit 12g+ but a single overstress isn't going to kill your Turkey. The game does (last I checked) eventually break aircraft from over-g, but typically a few of them aren't going to hurt it too bad. Just as a side note, I took up a Rafale against the XF-14. He got more shots on me than I did on him, but neither one of us got a kill, and both me and the XF-14's aircrew would be dead from the sustained high "g" in the fight (or rather, pass out a bunch of times, have to recover, probably separate 5 miles as the aircraft flew away from each other due to aircrew G-LOC, and re-engage). Technically, the XF-14 won 'cause I'd be outta gas. Still working on figuring out that bird...

Welcome back!

So, I ran this fight four times in the F-14D. Total score: F-14D: 2, XF-14: 1, Stalemate: 1. The first fight wasn't really a fight. Somehow he didn't notice me and I just slid in and shot him in the ass. This didn't happen for the other three fights. Fight 2 the F-14D started with a vertical press at the merge, while the XF-14 went for a tight left-hand turn. As the F-14D came down, the XF-14 pulled into the vertical and the F-14D went back up into the vertical as well. The XF-14 was in a bit of an oblong loop and attempted a snap shot against the F-14D as the F-14D reached the bottom of its loop. The XF-14 performed a hard pull, landing on the F-14D's tail. The F-14D came back up into the loop, with the XF-14 in trail. The XF-14 began taking snap shots, and when the F-14D entered into a hard defensive break, the XF-14 was able to pull harder for lead, knocking out the right engine. The F-14D attempted a hard rudder roll to get the nose around to go for a 1:1 kill rate as the XF-14 stopped engaging, but the fire spread and the crew ejected. Fight three started similarly to fight 2, however, in the third vertical press, the F-14D dropped flaps, and as the XF-14 got behind (again), without flaps, tried to compensate with much better thrust. In the end, the flaps allowed the F-14D to pitch over while the XF-14 went into stall recovery, nose nearly on the F-14D. Because it unloaded, the XF-14 started pointing away from the F-14D. The F-14D couldn't get enough smack on and so couldn't capitalize on the position, but what then happened was very similar to the KF-2000 several years ago. The XF-14 entered a wide, high speed circle and the F-14D entered a tight, low speed circle down to the deck. As the fuel burned down, the F-14D could sustain very high turn rates due to lesser weight, while the XF-14 was outright sustaining high turn rates due to low basic weight and lower fuel as well. Regardless, neither aircraft could capitalize and after several vertical presses and lures to try the XF-14 to crash into the ground. However, something learned which helped fight 4: if the F-14D sustained about 6-7g, it would eventually get behind the XF-14 3/9 line, and after a few hard presses, got snap shots, but no connections. Too low, too high "g." The gears in Caesar's head start rotating...Call the fight at 10 mins with no victor. Final fight. What I know now: The XF-14 weighs 20,000lbs less than my F-14D and has significantly more thrust. Slow speed is not the best place to be anywhere but when already behind the XF-14. The XF-14 can accelerate like a bastard and even if it gets low on energy, will recover it very quickly. I have no aerodynamic advantage except at super slow speed because I can deploy the flaps and the XF-14 can't (AI). Even this is almost negated due to the XF-14's thrust; it can brute-force its nose into position, and it DOES have slats. This also means the AI can point the nose very quickly with a high alpha pull, then regain energy quickly due to its light weight and high thrust. This fight starts a little different. At the merge, rather than go vertical, the F-14D turns against the XF-14, generating a one-circle fight. This is, in essence, the entire fight, with efforts to calculate when to put on the hard press. Initially, the F-14D is around 380-400KIAS with about 6.8-7g, begins to get behind the 3/9 line, but does its 9-10g pull too early. When it is clear this isn't going to work, the F-14D is at about 310KIAS, and unloads. The F-14D rebuilds speed, gaining back this time to about 420KIAS and is sustaining 7-7.3g. Again, several circles followed by an execution of a 9-10g turn, but this time, the F-14D misjudges the aspect of the XF-14, and it is blatantly clear this was bad timing. Unload, sustain about 400KIAS and 6.8-7g. Another few circles, but this time after making damn sure the F-14D is behind the XF-14's 3/9 line, with the turkey feathers of the F110's visible, the F-14D performs its hard pull. It almost appears the F-14D will wind up on the XF-14's nose by turning tighter, but the F-14D lets off as the XF-14 has "g" on, causing it to overshoot. As it does so, the F-14D lines up a shot and hits the XF-14's left vert stab and port engine. The XF-14 begins an "unload-extend" action to try to bug out, but as it unloads, puts itself back in front of the F-14D, which rolls, pulls and fires again, this time setting the port engine area alight and taking out several flaps on the port wing. The XF-14 selects full afterburner, and pulls hard to try to get out of the firing envelope, but catches fire and spirals in. Of note, this fight never got below 10,000 feet (staying between about 11,000 and 16,000 the whole time). Takeaways: Yes, the XF-14 is massively overpowered, but like the F-31, is not unbeatable. It is lighter than the F-15 but with ridiculously more thrust, the same aerodynamics of the F-14, and allows the AI to get itself out of the slow speed regime, or alternatively, use it to its advantage. I'd be willing to bet the F-15 and F-16 would be able to use the same tactics as I did in the F-14D and come out on top. The big reason this is difficult in another F-14 is because it's the same airframe, aerodynamically, but on both steroids and PCP at the same time...or something like that...As such, the vertical doesn't really work in the same family of aircraft (not unlike an F-14A going against a B or D; not the best idea against an aircraft with upwards of 14,000 more pounds of thrust coming out the back). It would be feasible if, say, I were in the F-14A with good entering energy, and the B/D had poorer entering energy, but in the case of the XF-14, there's just so damn much thrust, it didn't matter. Rather, by controlling where I was in the turning fight, keeping the bird at high enough sustained "g" and violating the limits for the hard presses, I came back and he didn't. As they say, there aren't any limits if loss of life and aircraft are likely! Anyone who is more familiar with the Viper, Eagle, Bug, Phantoom, etc. want to share their experiences?

Challenge accepted! 'Course a few years back we took our respective mounts against the F-31 and the KF-2000 (F-14 and F/A-18E/F). The KF-2000 was so overpowered that it couldn't turn inside of the state of Texas while the F-31 was actually a royal PITA. Great low speed capes, great high speed capes; IIRC, I had to loop it 'till stalled, then it became REAL unstable and I was able to capitalize on an overshoot to bag it. We'll see how the experimental Turkey does...

Cougar, From last page, no we didn't put a 1.88M limit on the F-14; I think we went up to 2.38 (highest achieved was in excess of 2.41). From this page - I never thought about the "CornerSpeed=" entry. Might try to increase that and see if anything develops differently. I think you might be right; it doesn't necessarily have to do with the weight as it does with the lower corner speed which in turn saps even more energy due to higher AoA and drag. Time for experimentation! Macelena, Nice job with the Lightnings! Must've been an interesting fight! EDIT: So, the CornerSpeed= doesn't really do anything. I tried increasing it for one of the F-14B's and took up a set of F-14B's and D's against it with a variety of values plugged in. For whatever reason, the AI will still run the bird down into the mid-200's of knots and will not drop flaps during combat (takeoff/landing only), so as you might guess, the fights didn't last super long. Largely, because the AI wanted to hang out around 40-100 knots below best sustained turn speed (~325 KIAS), I just let my bird stay a bit higher on the energy and started getting around to his six (alternatively, vertical press which the AI didn't follow much). Too fast and he'd reverse and pull hard into a high alpha turn to threaten me (21-28 deg instantaneous or about 20-25 sustained, depending on speed and altitude), but with as much energy as I had, I'd just pitch the nose a bit and deny the shot. Generally, keeping the bird between 320 and 380 KIAS, I got around to his six, and then it was just a matter of time. Some of my other theories include that the F-14, F-15 and Su-27 take a moment to build up or ease off on the "g," which may cause the AI to over-pull. It loves doing "pull-release" cycles, and you can see this if you turn the debug on (I do it to provide ACMI/TACTS-like data for review). Say, the MiG-29, it won't pull 9g consistently; it'll pull between 7 and 12, averaging about 9.5, but keeping around the same energy, unless it's going for a full offensive press, where it'll max out the "g." In an F-14, -15, or other similar fighter, it tries the same, but once it pulls, the "g" takes a moment to build, and when it releases, takes a moment to burn off. For a player, it isn't as big a deal, but I do wonder if this is one of the issues for the AI. I seem to recall during an earlier NA patch, the AI was a lot better with the F-14 and F-15; I recall one following me into the vertical and giving me a hell of a fight. Then, it all dropped off again...guess there's still some investigating to do.

Beautiful!

Good reports, cougar! And yes, if you run the GE's for too long in Zone 3 (or really any aircraft's engine in max AB for too long), they can burn through their afterburner section. Two F-14B's were actually lost this way catastrophically in the early 1990's. I want to say a single F-16 also. In-game, it can happen as well, especially when you over-speed the aircraft. In the F-14A+/B and D this happens a lot more than in the A due to higher thrust and better acceleration. EDIT: Cougar, the F-14B/D could break the sound barrier in dry thrust if it were clean or lightly loaded, around 1.1M in level flight, 1.2M nose slightly low. While this is technically 'supercruise' it isn't 1.3-1.4 like the F-22. We gave it 1.03M because I don't think the stores drag values are quite high enough, and didn't want the bird to supercruise with bombs or Phoenix on board.

Beauty! Now THAT would be funny as hell to watch a modern teen try to play. "What does it play?" "Pong." "And?" "More Pong..." Last Christmas I visited a good friend of mine; they had me over as I had just arrived on station, and he and his wife have two younger kids. I brought my Atari over 'cause we were talking about some of the old systems from our youth back at Thule and he couldn't believe I still had a VCS up and running. So, we hooked it up and got some old games going. Funny thing is, his daughter, 5 at the time, wasn't old enough to care about graphics or anything more than gameplay. She was just as intrigued by the old system as any new one she had seen. Hell, the longest I've ever played a game straight was an Atari game: Kaboom! by Activision. That whole game is just 2kb of code. As they say, it's all about the gameplay.

Well, I took up an F-14A against the Mirage 2000C; it took about twice as long as in the F-14B (about 2-3 minutes for the B, 6 for the A). F-14A Tomcat: 75% internal fuel, gun Mirage 2000C: 100% internal fuel, gun Fight started with the F-14A achieving tally first and boresighting the Mirage 2000C. The Mirage 2000C turned into the F-14A and attempting to go for a head-on gun run. The F-14 noses low to force angle-off and at the merge, pulls into a hard vertical loop. The Mirage 2000C performs a hard left turn as the F-14 comes down from the loop. As the F-14 attempts to get lead, it takes a snap shot at the 2000C, but misses, and the 2000C pulls into an arcing left-hand turn, while the F-14 continues back up into another loop. The 2000C finishes its turn and is behind the F-14, but far too close as the F-14 has its flaps down and the 2000C overshoots, and the F-14 comes back up again, this time at an angle to the 2000C. Continuing to loop, the Mirage reverses its turn as the F-14 begins to climb, and pulls hard into the vertical in an attempt to take a snap shot at the F-14. The angles don't work for the 2000C, and the aircraft pass, but the 2000C has burned so much of its energy that it must perform stall recovery. The F-14 takes this moment to rebuild some of its own energy, knowing it can't immediately capitalize on the 2000C. Both aircraft turn into each other, and as they pass, the 2000C takes three snap shots at the F-14, but none connect (the F-14 does not have to maneuver evasively, either). The two aircraft turn into each other forming the parity one-circle, with the F-14 sustaining a tight, slow circle and the 2000C sustaining a wide high-g circle. The F-14 tries for its first vertical press, but the 2000C pulls into it, with the two aircraft passing by. Parity circle continues, F-14 at about 10800lbs fuel to the Mirage at about 4000lbs. The F-14 tries another vertical press with similar results, but the pull-out altitude is getting higher. Third vertical press, and the Mirage attempts to hot-nose the F-14, but again misses. This time, the F-14 continues nose-low and turns into the Mirage, having enough altitude to do so. As the parity circle inevitably begins reforming, the F-14 eases off on the g in an effort to accelerate. The F-14 is only sustaining about 3g as its energy rebuilds, then 5 as it passes 320KIAS, and the Mirage takes the opportunity to attempt an attack. The F-14, however, has built to just over 380 knots as the Mirage does its hard pull, and as it attempts another set of snap shots, the F-14 loads about a 9-10g turn into the Mirage, both ruining its firing solution and also causing it to overshoot. The F-14 pulls into the vertical, rolling on its back, and then ruddering over to get high and above the 2000C's tail, and uses gravity to keep the nose on until getting into the 2000C's plane of turn. Because both pulls were so harsh, both aircraft are very low on energy. The F-14 gets a boresight lock on the Mirage 2000C, and achieving lead in a very high angle-off shot (over 21 units AoA), saws off the 2000C's left wing and tail. Knock it off at 6 minutes, 16 seconds and 9600lbs of fuel to spare. Yep, the Mirage 2000C is a royal pain in the ass sometimes, but its tendency to get low and small internal fuel supply are some of its major LIMFACs. I kept going for vertical presses because I wanted to gun the guy, but in the back of my mind early on in the parity one-circle I was thinking to myself: "well, I could just sit here for another six minutes and he'll run outta' gas." The F-14B, on the other hand, has much more thrust, better acceleration, and it's easier to fight the nimble little 2000C with the big engined Turkey Beast.

That makes me depressed. Especially with the Atari I've got sitting in the other room that I still use more than my 360...from 1977...

S!