Caesar

View File TMF F-14 Tomcat Super Pack v1.32 The Mirage Factory F-14 Tomcat Super Pack V1.32 22 APR, 2017 What it is: This is the F-14 Tomcat Super Pack v1.32 Full. It includes addition of Direct Lift Control to the Flight Model, AI AIM-54 Phoenix Missiles, modified Iranian F-14 loadouts and other minor adjustments. ================= Installation: =====CAUTION===== 1. This was tested at July 2013 patch level, on an "All 5 Merged" install, as well as a "vanilla" SF2:NA install. Because it uses AvionicsF14A.dll, will require at least SF2:NA (or a TW F-14) to work! It will not work on Gen 1 sims, nor will it work correctly on pre-April 2012 installs! (Caveat: Avionics70.dll F-14D should work on pre-April patch levels). 2. It is HIGHLY recommended you back up your current F-14s to a back up folder. If you have extra skins installed and wish to keep your current folders, be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN to delete the cockpit folders from each aircraft folder after backing up, as this install features updated cockpits, and retention of the old folders will lead to artifacting on the RWR, VDI, and other systems. If you have custom skins installed, be sure to back up your F-14(A/A+/B/D).ini to preserve the texture set data. ================= 1. Unzip the contents of the F-14SP_V132.7z file into a folder. 1a. If you have installed the Avionics70 F-14D, ensure you back up the .ini files if you haven't renamed the bird, since this install will overwrite F-14D_92, 96 and 06! 2. Open your Strike Fighters 2 mod folder (e.g., C:\User\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2 Europe\...) 3. CAUTION: (ONLY FOR PRE-v1.30 VERSIONS), DELETE THE PRE-1.30 COCKPIT FOLDERS!!! FAILURE TO DO SO WILL CAUSE ARTIFACTING ON THE VDI, HSD, RWR, AND POSSIBLY OTHER SYSTEMS!!! 3.a. IGNORE STEP 3 IF YOU ARE UPDATING v1.30 OR v1.31 4. Copy the contents of the unzipped Effects, Flight, Missions, Objects, and Sounds folders into your SF2 mod folder, allowing all files to overwrite (Effects, Flight, Missions, Objects\Aircraft, Objects\Weapons, etc). 4a. (RECOMMENDED) Review the flight manual for tactical employment of the F-14. 5. Go fly! NOTE: If this either a new install or an update to the F-14SP v1.30 or 1.31, follow the above procedure, allowing all files to overwrite. If this is an update to 1.14-1.22, follow step 3; for in-depth instructions, follow the F-14SP V132 Installation Instructions.pdf ================= EXTRAS: -You may choose to use the Avionics70.dll F-14D for SAR mode on strike missions. If you wish to do so, see Section 6 of the F-14 SP Update V132 word document (Para 6.1-6.3) for install procedures and recommendations. ================= Aircraft Included: F-14A (1974-1984, 1982-1995, 1996-2004) Iranian F-14A (1977-2030) F-14A+ (1987-1990) F-14B (1991-1995, 1996-2005) F-14D (1992-1995, 1996-2006, 2005-2006) ================= List of effective changes: v1.32 22 Apr 2017 1. Added Direct Lift Control, based on Cliff7600's spoiler speedbreak mod 2. Added AI Phoenix missiles with Rmax of 65nm to improve AI F-14 Probability of Kill 3. Updated flight manual to reflect DLC change and AI AIM-54 (now 75pgs) 4. Assigned White external fuel tanks to F-14A_74 and F-14A_IR (IR does not carry externals by default) 5. Fixed White fuel tank capacity (was not adjusted with grey tank prior) 6. Updated Iranian F-14A loadouts to better match most current data from ACIG 7. Updated/Added Iranian AIM-7E-3 and AIM-9J models to equip Iranian F-14As 8. Changed F-14A_IR availability date to 2030 v1.31 1 Aug 2016 1. Updated engine static thrust to match NATOPS installed measurements 2. Updated flight manual to reflect thrust change v1.30 11 Jun, 2016 1. Updated F-14A/B cockpit by Chris "ToS" with tweaks by Crusader & Caesar 2. Fixed radar scan elevation in VSL-Hi 3. Adjusted aircraft empty weights to remove gun ammo and trapped fuel 4. Added AI F-14s to improve AI survivability in a dogfight 5. Adjusted default gun tracking range to 1000ft/305m. Gun is now more accurate both with and without lock. (Crusader noticed & it was implemented) 6. Adjusted auto-departure numbers to allow the aircraft to fly and depart more naturally 7. Adjusted maximum altitude to provide player engines a buffer between 55,000 and 60,000 feet. 8. Updated cockpit avionics & weapon symbology 9. Updated Wing Sweep schedule and gave Glove Vanes smooth animation to match NATOPS 10. Reduced effectiveness of ALQ-100 & 126 11. Adjusted bands on the AN/ALR-45/50 to match published data 12. Adjusted AoA Indexer to match NATOPS (green = slow, yellow = on-speed, red = fast) 13. Adjusted F-14D_96 loadouts to remove extra AIM-7 loaded into Station 5 alongside AIM-54s 14. Adjusted Sedjil pylon allowable weight (was too low to equip missile) 15. Added inaugural cruise paint schemes for VF-1, -2, -14, -24, -32, -41, -84, -114, and -213 16. Adjusted avionics symbology 17. Added 74-page F-14 SP Flight Manual “F-14SP 01-F14ABD-1.pdf” 18. Fixed ACM Panel (Crusader) 19. Fixed F-14A_82 CAP loadout, which put the ALE-29/39 in the wrong location 20. Fixed jettison point of ECA/EFA to forward Phoenix Station 6R to match installed location 21. Changed skins to .jpeg format to significantly reduce size of mod without sacrificing detail 22. Adjusted external tank fuel quantities to 1800 lbs/tank (maximum internal and external fuel together now matches real-world 19,800lbs, rather than over 20,000lbs). 23. Adjusted engine thrust and Specific Fuel Consumption (SFC). The F110 had approximately 60% of the TF30’s SFC. The F110 was adjusted to lower SFC, while the TF30 was adjusted to increase SFC. ================= Credits: Model: Flying Toaster, Oli Cockpit: Chris (original and new update) with tweaks by Crusader and Caesar FM: ThirdWire, Caesar, Column5, Spectre8750, Cliff7600 Avionics: Crusader, ThirdWire, Sup Gen, Caesar, Dave, CrazyhorseB34 Pilots: Old_Diego, CrazyhorseB34 Skins: Dave, Spectre8750, Column5, Caesar NATOPS Textures: Chris Extra Hangar and Loading Screens: Dave Ejection Mod: Stary Testing: Caesar, Sup Gen, Dave, EricJ, Spectre8750, Saisran, Cougar_1979 Weapons: Ravenclaw, wpnssgt, Bunyap and others New Phoenix: Ravenclaw Manuals/Flight Manual: Caesar ===Dedidacted to Oli=== Submitter Caesar Submitted 06/28/2016 Category F-14  

With Atari's Video Computer System (2600) having hit its 40th anniversary sometime between August and September this year, I thought it would be a little fun to do a review of a new "homebrew" game for the system. AtariAge.com released "Scramble" by Champ Games for Atari VCS this year, four decades after the system first hit the streets, and it's quite an incredible game. Play with either the Atari Joystick or a Sega Genesis Gamepad - Scramble is programmed to discern between the two. Read on to learn more! “Scramble” for Atari VCS is a port of the 1981 arcade game of the same name by Konami, designed and programmed by Champ Games, and published by AtariAge.com. It was released through AtariAge in July of 2017, one of seven new homebrew games which were released for the VCS this year – 40 years after the system first hit the streets (semi-officially on 11 September 1977; local stores nearby Sunnyvale, CA had the system advertised as early as 1 August of that year). It is a side-scrolling space shooter with 99 run-throughs and incremented difficulty. Under the Hood: Stars, bullets, and blasts, oh my! Scramble is an incredibly well executed port, especially given the limitations of the VCS. It is a 32K game that uses the Display Processor Chip-Plus (DPC+) to assist the VCS’s 8-bit 6507 CPU. The practice of adding extra chips to game boards was popularized by Nintendo (think Star Fox and Yoshi’s Island), but was pioneered by Activision for the game Pitfall II: Lost Caverns (1984) for Atari VCS. Developed by David Patrick Crane (interesting how the chip was named, isn’t it?), the DPC helps return processing cycles to the 6507 CPU, while also enabling 3-voice, 4-bit digital sound. Effectively, the DPC increases the number and quality of sprites that can be drawn simultaneously, as well as improving the quality of sound that the VCS can produce. The modern “Harmony” and “Melody” chips used in many homebrews include DPC+ mode, which further improves upon Crane’s DPC. While not all homebrews utilize DPC+, Scramble takes full advantage of it, and the results are impressive. Graphics, Music, and Gameplay: In Atari's heyday, a title screen with selectable game settings was unheard of. It is actually fairly common in today's homebrew games. Akin to the arcade, Scramble shows a "splash" screen as well as the point values for each target, and high-scores screen. Note the game's code was completed in 2016; it was not available in cartridge format until this year. At power up, Scramble features a starting screen akin to the arcade original, where the player may select difficulty (Novice, Standard, Advanced, or Expert), view the high score table, and is also shown the point value for each target destroyed (also displayed in the arcade game, and akin to Robotron 2084, Defender, etc.). When the player begins, the game opens with the original arcade stage music, albeit not quite as deep and booming as the coin-op version’s. The other arcade sounds are there as well. The bombs make the classic whistle as they fall, the multi-part explosions for fuel tanks, bases, and the player’s ship are intact, and the UFOs have their own wobbly noise in line with the original. As with the arcade game, there is a limit to how many sounds can be played at once, so if the screen gets particularly busy, some will cut out (e.g., bomb whistle) until things calm down. From a graphics perspective, Scramble is up there with the best of them. The colors are vivid, especially when playing on a CRT television (even the screen captures don’t do it justice, since they grab the signal before the TV displays it), and although the graphics are not quite as good as the arcade’s (more on this later), the game is simply gorgeous. The map is practically identical in layout to the arcade, the number of sprites on the screen is astounding for a VCS game, the stars sparkle in the background, and screen flicker when multi-color sprites overlap (think about the ghosts from Pac Man) doesn’t impact gameplay (indeed, when you're in the heat of battle, it's almost unnoticeable). At certain points on the map more than 6 sprites can be on the same scan-line, including the player’s multi-colored sprite, bullets, and bombs, and the screen flicker has no bearing on gameplay in any way. Such a display could even make an NES slow down and flicker (Technodrome in TMNT, anyone?). The game supports 2 bombs and 3 blaster shots simultaneously, allowing for up to 5 offensive shots on the screen at once. Bombs dropped from high altitude take a while to fall, however, so your bomb release rate typically drops the higher you are. Every time you complete a stage, making it through the “Base” section at the end of the run, you start at the beginning at higher speed and with tougher enemies (akin to the arcade). Another challenge is your fuel supply. At lower difficulties, fuel consumption is lower, but in Advanced and Expert, you have to take more risks to ensure you shoot the fuel tanks (labeled with an "F") to keep enough gas to get to the end of each stage. Sometimes, you'll have to swoop down and engage with blasters, even if it means putting yourself in line with a missile or meteor. The game supports 99 play-throughs. Admittedly, I’ve made it through only 3. On "Expert" difficulty, the UFO's fire back, and some of the rockets seek the player. This shot also shows the variety of multi-colored sprites supported simultaneously, even on the same scan-line, and the number of player shots that can be displayed simultaneously. Note the fuel tank at the bottom left of the stage. Controls: The stage constantly scrolls to the right, while the player’s controls are unlimited mobility top-to-bottom, and up to half-screen left-to-right. That mobility is especially necessary in section 5, where the player navigates through the opening of the final base, and getting the ship to the right place at the right time is absolutely paramount to success. Scramble is also one of a handful of games for the VCS which supports more than a single button on the controller. Long-time fans of Atari may already know that the VCS is compatible with the Sega Genesis gamepad controller in place of the Joystick (it won’t work for the analog Paddle or Driving controllers). The VCS recognizes the d-pad for directional input and the “B” button in place of the standard joystick button. Scramble was programmed to check if a Genesis controller is connected to the Atari upon power-up. If detected, the game allows for the use of the “C” button to drop bombs, and the “B” button to fire the ship’s blasters, giving the player more control over their shots. If a standard Atari Joystick is plugged in, the button will fire both bombs and blasters simultaneously, which is still easily playable. Excepting at higher difficulties, the extra control from the Genesis gamepad is really a nicety, so don’t sweat it if you don’t have one. If you need to take a moment away, the game also has a pause feature, which is highly uncommon for Atari games. In the case of Scramble, flipping the Color/Black and White switch on the console will pause or un-pause the game. Positioning can be paramount - immediately after this still-frame capture, I crashed into the fuel tanks. Differences from the Arcade: As one would expect when bringing an arcade game to Atari, there are a few differences from the original. The fine detail isn’t quite there on the Atari port – for example, the bombs are little squares instead of the arcade style sprites with fins and tubular body, the ship exhaust is monochrome, and the sprites themselves have less detail. As mentioned above, the sound isn’t quite as “boomy” as the arcade version, although it is highly faithful. The terrain isn’t in solid colors like the arcade, rather, it is constructed using colored lines. Even so, this is a damn-close port, more faithful than many of the best ports on Atari across the 1970s and 1980s, and although higher fidelity is now fairly commonplace for 21st Century homebrews (e.g., Juno First, Pac Man 4K, Chetiry), Scramble is a cut above. It captures the arcade original’s gameplay with what are, frankly, minimal sacrifices to complete the port. Flaming meteors in stage 3. A bit tricky in higher difficulties to keep fuel levels up. Purchasing Options: Scramble comes in either NTSC (North/some of South America, Japan) or PAL60 (most of Europe, some of South America, Asia, and others) format, boxed with an instruction manual and poster to hang on your wall for $50. The big question is: is this game worth almost the same money as the latest triple-A first person shooter? For a serious collector, the answer is absolutely yes. It is one of the finest arcade ports ever to reach the Atari VCS and is quite a bit of fun. With 99 play-throughs, you’ll be playing for a while, too. That said, if you’re a casual classic console collector, capping most purchases below the $25-30 range, the $50 price tag is a little steep, and the programming marvel that is Scramble is probably not worth the asking price for three reasons. First, odds are you can find the arcade ROM and play it in its full glory through a Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME) for free…legalities of doing so aside. Second, the binary file is available at AtariAge by the programmer, and if you own a Harmony Cartridge, you can download it and play it on your console (or PC through the Stella emulator) for free. Third, Scramble is not yet available in “Cartridge Only” format, so the price is what it is, and probably won’t drop any time soon. If it does become available as Cartridge Only, the asking price will likely be closer to $20-$30, which is much more acceptable for a casual collector, and certainly worth the money. If you have an AtariVox voice synthesis module/memory card, the game can keep track of more scores. On-board memory is enough for the top 10 until you reset or power-off the game. The AtariVox will keep the scores saved indefinitely. Final Thoughts: All in all, Scramble is a wonderful game for Atari VCS (2600), and an exceptional example of what the system is truly capable of producing graphically and audibly 40 years after its release in 1977. It is a must-have for the serious collector, and should be a first-look for casual collectors if and when it gets released in cartridge only format. Have you played Atari today? -"Caesar"

It's in the included manual, but you can cycle the displays. In order to cycle the MDIG to the radar, you first need to ensure your radar is on, then: "The display format is dependent on the player’s selection (NAV, TID, or ECM), and may be changed by pressing the BOMB RIPPLE INTERVAL key (by default, the “[“ key)." So, you'll start with NAV mode, hit "[" once and you'll get the TID-Repeat (radar), one more time and it'll be the ECM Display, then cycle back to NAV.

I literally explained it above: it's an F-14B cockpit. We do not have an F-14D cockpit. It would be nice to have, certainly, but until someone makes one, we have what we have.

Definitely love the supercarrier. Having the deck crew there really helps the immersion, and also the lineup on the catapult so I'm not dicking around for five minutes trying to get aligned right, then rolling too far forward, then circling around the deck back to the catapult to try again, rinse repeat. I also picked up the VKB F-14 combat grip. Swap between that one and the Warthog stick depending on the module I'm flying. I'm considering snagging the F/A-18 add-on, but will probably wait for a sale. How do you like it, Dave?

I went through my old messages and did not find one containing the max file itself. ToS did the cockpit, so he'd be the one with the file. I haven't seen him on in a long time, although that doesn't mean he isn't around.

When the Superpack became a thing (~2012), the team decided to use the F-14B cockpit that was already in use in the original F-14A/B release from 2010, which was further revised when TW released SF2:NA and actually allowed for the F-14's unique displays. We didn't ever have an F-14D cockpit, so we just adjusted the avionics and radar a bit using the same cockpit, and that was the solution until an F-14D cockpit proper could be made, though no one had any plans for one. To date, still no plans I know of exist, unless yakarov is serious in his comment in which case, good luck and I'd love to see it!

Cannot wait for this.

I don't follow. The radar is shown on the HSD. It wasn't repackaged by me. I'm just the uploader. Basically, Spectre had other projects going on, so when we got pinged by Dave about cockpit modifications and some other stuff, I wound up taking over that role. The entire team involved with the Superpack is listed in the credits section, and it wasn't just to credit past work; Crusader, SupGen, ToS and the others were directly involved in the V1.3X update. EDIT: I also didn't respond to OP's question. I'd probably come across as biased as part of the team that did the SP, but what I'll say is that the TW cockpit feels very two-dimensional, and the plane also has this weird tendency to lose "g" authority at higher subsonic numbers which the plane in reality didn't suffer from. The TW flight model was the basis for the SP F-14, but we made some tweaks to try to increase available "g" in that region. The biggest differences come from the later F-14s in the SP which allow you to do strike missions and have compatibility with LANTIRN, JDAMs and the like. All these things having been said, the best F-14 out there in my opinion is Heatblur's for DCS - I haven't touched my StrikeFighters sims since that got released.

Oh, it does. Get into an F-16C and fight an AI F-5E on Excellent or whatever. Bring the fight vertical, then swap between the aircraft as you go through the energy egg and you'll see just how much more energy the F-5 has as it goes high to low under twice the "g" load as your F-16. I noticed when I was doing this last night that the F-5E was at the low 100s KIAS at the top of the egg, then as it came down, it would be loaded up (as high as 6g at the bottom of the egg) and accelerating to the high 300s of KIAS. I, on the other hand, would be at the low 100s at the top of the egg, and as I came down slightly loaded up (only reaching about 2.5g until the base of the egg where I'd hit up to 3.8g), I would only make it to the mid-200s KIAS before coming back up. I'm sure some of it is my own hamfistedness, but an F-5 should NOT be able to out-accelerate an F-16C Block 50 on the way down such that it has more than a 100 KIAS advantage against the Viper. Flying against it in my most familiar mount, the F-14B, I can reliably and repeatedly defeat the F-5, but it does things it shouldn't be able to do against an F-14B, one of those being to out-climb the B-Tomcat. It basically does the same "Bathtub" tactic the F-15C does in spite of a far inferior T/W to the F-15 and F-14. Other ridiculous AI include the MiG-15 and F-86. The AI can maintain pitch and roll control down to 40KIAS. My group does PvP guns-only and you'd best believe that player flight models are far, far more realistic. Try to pull the same thing the AI does with a player jet and you're going to die. The thing that gets to me is just how random it seems. Some aircraft seem at least plausible in their AI form, while others are just UFOs. Just depends on the jet.

Just a couple "family photos" of the Teen-Series fighters in DCS we took online. Nifty size comparison:

Downloaded my copy today! I agree with SE that having a high-fi F-15C would be great. With plans for an F-15E and an F-4(E?) still out there, I wonder how they're going to handle the multiple crew thing. I think Heatblur did a fantastic job with the Jester interface if you're soloing it; wonder if they'll license the code? I do prefer to fly with a human RIO/WSO, but Jester is a good, functional stand-in.

That's the missile coming off the plane "stupid." It happens in reality, although much less often than it did during, say, the Vietnam War. Still, SF2 does simulate the missile failing off the rail (I believe the .ini line is "LaunchReliability"), it's a random chance thing, not necessarily anything you've done wrong.

I'm primarily flying the Tomcat (WOW! WHO'D HAVE GUESSED!?), but I have the F/A-18, Mirage 2000C, F-5E, AJS37, AV-8B, A-10C, the Flaming Cliffs 3 set, the F-86 and MiG-15 and have pre-ordered the Viper. Variety is the spice of life! I fly usually 3 times a week or so with a small group I met through one of the Facebook DCS groups. Primarily fly PvE, but we'll do some guns-only PvP, too. I've got Nevada, Persian Gulf, and Normandy maps atop the default.

Thought of that myself...maybe they meant in a single engagement? Either way, it kind of looks to be in the same vein as the original, so I have a very fragile hope that it won't totally suck. I might actually see it in theaters.

The last time the cockpit 3D file was updated was about 3 years ago by its original creator, "ToS." Haven't seen him on in a while (really since the end of 2015), and I don't know if he still has the max file or not.

Fired off a donation.

I'll definitely be picking this one up, too. The Viper is probably my favorite behind the Turkey. I will say I'm surprised to see the price tag. I don't think the Bug was that expensive on its release, and they had to do more research on that airplane as I understand it. The Tomcat package is as expensive, but it comes with (when finished) two variants of the F-14, an AI A-6 and a Carrier. Pre-ordering, however, I can justify.

Well, Heatblur finally released the F-14B into Early Access. If you aren't familiar with DCS, you may like to know that you need to run the module in the DCS World OpenBeta, rather than the full-up version. I hadn't touched OpenBeta and only played DCS every now and again in the past, so I was glad to find that out. I'm quite impressed with the module to say the least. The Jester AI is easy as pie to interact with, making long-range engagements very straightforward. I did three sorties tonight, after a control shakeout (DCS likes to assign axes to everything!) and basic familiarization flight. The first mission I forgot to set the time to 1200 and left it on "Random". So, a pitch-black fight against a MiG-21 it was! I have the tags on, still, in part because the monitor can slip out of my glasses field of view with TrackIR, and I can at least see a little red blob against the terrain, so that helped, but it does feel like cheating and I'll be shutting it off at some point. I was able to down the Fishbed and get back to base. This is fine! No problem at all... Second fight was in Nevada doing long-range stuff to check out Phoenix. The final fight was the included "MiG-28" fight, which was a 4v2 which sees you take a catapult shot and bring the plane back to land. Because we had an E-2 in the area, we got a vector for the bandits, ROE was splash anything that went feet-wet. I still haven't figured out how to direct the wingman, so he was effectively along for the ride. At about 25NM, TWS-A selected, I loosed both AIM-54Cs at a MiG-28 a piece, both missiles tracked and splashed their targets. Next bandit I got with my second Sparrow missile. The final guy got a shot off at my wingman, but his missile took dash-2's flares. Both AIM-9 shots I took were trashed and I had to finish him off with the gun. Plenty of gas left, but now I know I've gotta put it down on the boat, and man am I glad I went straight home, because I think it took me about 10 tries to get back on deck, and that last try, let me tell you - one of those famous "we land NOW, GOD-DAMMIT!" one-wires where I just barely missed a ramp strike. Wasn't pretty and I know I damaged the plane because little holes appeared on the port-side of the nose of the model to signify that the section had taken a beating. Funny enough, in combat, I only put 6.8g on the plane! Cat on the 'Cat "Hi, there!" No kill like a GUNS kill! I think it would come as the understatement of the century to say I was anticipating this module, but I will also say that until Heatblur did their official announcement video, I had zero confidence it would ever get done. The DCS community has been burned plenty of times in the past, and HB had run into problems and setbacks of their own while in development. My mindset became: once it's on my hard drive, then I'll believe it. As videos began to roll in, however, it became more like a kid on Christmas "oh man, I can't wait." Well, now I have it, and I can share some first impressions. The model is friggin' fantastic. The level of detail on it is stunning both externally and in the cockpit. The rivet-counters will have a tough time on this one; the models are based on laser-scanned F-14s sitting in museums, and years worth of research. The sounds are also amazing, to include a lot of clickyness to the various buttons and switches in the cockpit. The view out of the cockpit is very good, as one would expect out of a bubble canopy, but not as good in the forward quarter as an airplane without the "jail bars" splitting the windscreen. That said, with TrackIR or VR, you can simply move your head a little, or lean forward or back to keep tally. You can see clear through the tails from the front seat. In this case, I just started flying through a cloud, so it's a little blurry. The Jester AI, like I mentioned earlier, is very intuitive and easy to interact with. Even without reading the manual on how to interact, I figured it out in the first combat flight I took. The single biggest thing that will take time to learn is the flight model and handling characteristics. The F-14 is truly a stick and rudder plane, and the F-14s in Strike Fighters 2 don't even come close to simulating the adverse elements of the F-14's handling, especially wing rock and control reversal. I wouldn't consider myself a contender online at the moment, and the fact that I was able to take out the AI aircraft in a gunfight at this stage is simply because they are AI. If you hop in expecting the plane to hold your hand like the F/A-18C module, you're in for a ride. It has no g-limiter, no alpha limiter, beta (yaw) limiter, etc. It's you talking directly to the control surfaces and them doing whatever the hell you tell them to, be it to your advantage or detriment. "Need to get out of the way of that missile and put the stick in your lap? Fine! 10g ain't the worst I've been through! Boot full of rudder? I'm not stopping you! Canopy jettison followed by...oh, you son of a..." In terms of overall maneuverability (sustained/instantaneous "g", roll rate, etc.) the airplane feels good. If I didn't jack it up and start rocking the wings, I was able to turn perfectly fine and loaded as much as 9.8g on the plane in one of my fights without complaint. A major saving grace against the F-5s when I got the plane out of shape is the fact that the B adds energy quick, and I was able to stabilize the plane and quickly curl inside their turns to go from defensive, to neutral, to offensive reliably and repeatedly. I actually had to get one of them off of my dead six o'clock (he shot a missile while there, but it took my flares) and was able to reverse the situation in a manner of seconds. The F110's power also gives the plane a lot of options, such as pushing the fight vertical, or un-f*cking your carrier approach when you jack it up and almost put yourself into the back of the boat for the fourth time. AoA and airspeed are very important to pay attention to, and the rudders will make or break you in a dogfight or at slow speeds. I still haven't felt out the slow speed regime intentionally yet. I have run the plane out of airspeed during some hamfisted dogfighting moments, but honestly, it recovers itself pretty quickly, and it maintains a degree of controllability even below 100KIAS, such that I was able to point the nose where I wanted with the rudders as the plane flopped over and began regaining speed. It also allows you to go to full flaps for slow-speed flight/fighting without needing to pull the aux flap circuit breaker (of the few things not [yet] modeled, one is the circuit breakers). As I build confidence, I'll start looking to test my skills against MiG-29s, Su-27s, etc., and eventually get into multiplayer, but right now, I'm still learning the thing. Overall, it's a really amazing module. Every video I've seen talking about this module says that Heatblur set a new bar for aircraft in DCS. I agree. The plane is spectacular. You'll need to put in the time to learn it, but man, is it rewarding to fly. At some point in the future, the F-14A will be released, and the package already comes with a carrier and A-6, so its steeper asking price of $79.99 gets you more than just a single jet. In my opinion, it's well worth the asking price. I'm sure that'll buff out...

The problem with discussing this graph relative to real-world aircraft performance doghouses is that the real-world charts for most of those planes shown are protected by distribution and export restrictions, so you really can't do it in an open forum without potentially falling afoul either the distro limitations or certain laws like ITAR. As to the in-game performance, there's a series of videos by The Grim Reapers which runs a bunch of the modeled aircraft against each other in terms of general performance. The F-14B has a just barely better sustained turn than the F-15C (equal payloads) on the deck, but you have to be slower in the F-14 to achieve it (20 deg/sec @ 300-330KTAS vs 19 deg/sec @ 350-450KTAS). Generally the F-15C out accelerates the F-14B in DCS against a Vmax of 650KTAS by about 4 seconds both on the deck and at 15,000 feet, while the F-14B has a better max speed on the deck, but lower max speed at altitude. The F-14B out-climbs the F-15C from 0 knots start, while the F-15C out-climbs the F-14B from 600 knots start. The two are generally comparable. What I've found is that the F-14B takes a lot more practice and understanding of its nuances, and I'm still learning a lot (have been away for a bit, and will be again shortly). A LOT of rudder work comes into play. The F-15C has the FBW and ARI and you can horse around with the stick all you want to point the nose where you want it to go without ever touching the rudder pedals, not so in the Tomcat. I've been watching some of the more competitive folks on YouTube and they've been successfully winning guns-only PvP fights against other players in Hornets, Flankers, and the like, but it definitely takes them practice and time.

Happy Easter, all!

The way I do it is the same as nose numbers: iterative decals which are applied either left or right at the location where you want the number. An example, for the inaugural VF-1 Wolfpack skin in the Tomcat Super Pack, I made a set of .tgas "BuNoxxx" from 000 to 011. Each one matched the real-world bureau number of VF-1's F-14As from NK100 to NK114 (remember 108 and 109 aren't used), so BuNo000 matches USFtrNum000 and TailNum000, and NK100 will always be 158979, NK101 will always be 158989, etc. The call-out in the DECALS.ini look like this: [Decal007] MeshName=LeftEnginePod DecalLevel=2 DecalFacing=LEFT FilenameFormat=F-14A_74/VF1NK74/D/BuNo Position=-5.275,-0.95 Rotation=0.0 Scale=1.0 DecalMaxLOD=4 [Decal008] MeshName=RightEnginePod DecalLevel=2 DecalFacing=RIGHT FilenameFormat=F-14A_74/VF1NK74/D/BuNo Position=-5.275,-0.95 Rotation=0.0 Scale=1.0 DecalMaxLOD=4 Notice that they're the same decal, just facing a different direction. If you're using italics, it doesn't work cleanly and you have to make two different sets, but most bureau numbers I'm aware of aren't italicized. Hope this helps.