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streakeagle

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Everything posted by streakeagle

  1. The missiles of the time were slaved forward, but the IRST gave you a display that let you steer your nose exactly onto the target. Then it was just a matter of waiting for the target to come within range of the missile seeker. Radar would eventually have to be used to confirm range unless you got within visual range. The F-4Bs original purpose was to intercept bombers with the mission specified as "fleet defense", which is rather defensive. The USAF F-4D added a lot more support for ground mapping and bombing, making it a much better multirole aircraft. The F-4E not only added the internal gun and slats, but had an even more capable radar and weapon system for ground attack making it by far the best multirole variant. Whereas the F-4J, like the F-4B before it, was focused on providing the best possible interceptor until the F-14 could be delivered. Of course, thanks to digital technology, the F-4J was at least as capable as the F-4D in the ground attack mission. IRST was less important because radar was starting to work really well, even in lookdown situations and the weight and space it would occupy was much better spent on ECM given the SAM threats encountered in Vietnam.
  2. The effective range would depend on the environment as well as the target. Clouds are made of water which block, reflect, and radiate IR energy. At high altitudes with cold clear skies, IR would work very well, especially against targets flying at high speeds with heat not only from their engines but from friction. IRST is a tool commonly found on interceptors. The F-4 and F-14 were both fleet defense interceptors. The F-102 and F-106 were continental defense interceptors. Interceptors in all of these cases meant stopping high altitude and/or fast Soviet bombers and/or cruise missiles. While radar has much better range and isn't blocked as much by clouds, IR is passive and much higher resolution. Before the age of uncaged IR seekers, it was also a good way to find and track targets for IRMs which could then be steered in acquistion parameters. In broad daylight with clear skies, the human eye is more than adequate, but at night is when IRST really shines as a useful sensor. But modern Thermal Imaging which provides a video rendition of the target is much more effective at providing the same service.
  3. I understand that some of the work is copyrighted/payware, but it will be great if all the stuff that was freeware makes it back into this other game. No reason why two separate communities can't build a bridge and work together, even if the other community doesn't have anything to offer back in terms of addons. TK certainly won't mind the free advertising if his sim series somehow gets mentioned or if the credits otherwise lead more people to his games. Of course a lot of modders like to have their name out there and have others appreciate their work, too. So this is a win-win situation except for the original thief. He could have been the hero having done all the work, but he had no concept of respect for other people or their intellectual property. At least some good has come out of it with the two communities becoming aware of each other.
  4. The F-4B was the only variant to ever have the IRST. F-4Cs came with chin pods for commonality of parts to simplifiy and speed up delivery. Late model F-4Cs and early F-4Ds had no chin pod. The chin pod was brought back for F-4Cs and F-4Ds to house RWR antennas. I can't recall off hand, but I am pretty sure even the F-4Bs eventually gutted their chin pods for RWR antennas, especially by the time they were converted to F-4Ns. The lack of the IRST on the F-4J should give you an idea of how much this system was liked/used by the USN. Of course, IRST showed up on the F-14A only to be replaced by TCS. Then both IRST and TCS were installed on the F-14D.

  5. Tomcat

    streakeagle replied to DarthRevan's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 1 Series - General Discussion

    For the record, Jane's F/A-18 Superhornet was modded to allow flying the F-14, though it really is an F/A-18E in terms of flight model and avionics. LOMAC may have been modded the same way, so that at least graphically it looks like you are flying a Tomcat. But TK's new SF2 based sim should be the first one to do it right in a long time. However, his sim-lite approach may leave a few people disappointed.
  6. While it would be nice to have a properly backlit control panel, I don't think TK will ever get around to doing that. As it stands, I almost never fly at night, so I didn't even realize the night lighting was broken in SF2 until I read about other people having problems and confirmed it for myself. Most of the historical missions I am interested in re-creating took place in the morning/afternoon and when I am flying just for fun, I enjoy dogfighting much more when I can see :) Now, for those simulating 1990's and later combat, you had better like flying at night since the US now uses this capability to reduce losses against our not-so-night capable enemies.
  7. You have to change the aircraft type in the flight definition as well as the mission. The first entry you find is for descriptive purposes. Find the player's flight and edit the aircraft type in that flight to change what you are actually going to fly.
  8. Cockpit lights were broken for awhile, but I saw someone report that the latest March 2010 patch fixes it. There is no command key to turn them on or off. I believe you are correct in assuming it is determined by an ini file, based on the time of day. When they work correctly, the pit has a dull purple glow, like this (just made this using SF2I with latest Mar 2010 patch): By streakeagle at 2010-04-10
  9. J79 turbojets were thirsty engines and the F-4 fixed wing was optimized for Mach 2 not subsonic cruising. A swing wing F-4 with Spey turbofans (20,500 lbs of thrust each) would have down well with endurance and range. The F-14 was very heavy and used the rather poor TF30 engines (only 20,900 lbs of thrust each in a 60,000 lb plane). Of course, the British F-4s with Spey engines never got the full benefit as the installation altered the lines of the F-4 increasing its zero-lift drag. Given that the Phoenix was never really used or needed, why pay all that weight and money for it? AIM-7s held the line until AMRAAM finally became operational, and maybe AMRAAM could have arrived sooner if no time or money were wasted on development and fixes for the AIM-54C (which had a lot of problems). But whether the F-4VS would have been an acceptable downgrade is now moot. The Navy downgraded to the F/A-18E. Aside from avionics, limited stealth improvements, and the fact that they are brand new airframes, the F/A-18E is inferior to the F-14D in almost every way. Present politics prevents getting the best equipment. If you get anything at all, it better be cheap to buy and maintain.

  10. About RAF Phantoms

    streakeagle replied to macelena's topic in Military and General Aviation

    All USAF variants retained the twin stick configuration: F-4C/D/E/G and RF-4C

  11. FC2

    streakeagle replied to Cali's topic in Digital Combat Simulator Series General Discussion

    SF has always been more satisfying for me. More about close in fighting than modern era AMRAAM style jousts. SF2 is even better. But if you are an F-15 or A-10 fan, LOMAC gives you the ability to learn a lot more about how to operate one than the SF series ever will. Of course, eventually DCS will do an even better job and FC2 will be the lite survey sim companion for DCS. While Falcon 4 may arguably remain the best hard core sim ever released, DCS may give it a good run on the cockpit portion of the simulation and certainly has much better graphics. I want a hard core F-4 Phantom / MiG-21 sim with multiplayer support, including the option to have a player controlled back seater that can operate the radar. If anybody ever does that correctly, that is where all of my free time will go. Until that time, SF is the only sim series that even comes close to giving me what I want without going back to Janes Fighters Anthology.w

  12. FC2

    streakeagle replied to Cali's topic in Digital Combat Simulator Series General Discussion

    I installed a clean unpatched LOMAC (original stand-alone Ubisoft version), installed FC2 and have had no problems. I have an HD 4890 1GB and it seems to like this sim (haven't really had any problems with any sim). I would bet on the relatively new 5850 and its drivers being the culprit.

  13. Interesting Interview with Ex-Taliban Fighter

    streakeagle replied to UK_Widowmaker's topic in The Pub

    All problems of inhabitants will be resolved the day the Earth runs out of resources. Some people want to fight wars, others want "free health care", but only a tiny few see every dollar spent on manned space flight to other planets as money well spent. Even if the entire world made an all-out effort to get to Mars and beyond, we might not make it there before our species faces extinction. But I know for sure we will never make it if we can't find the money to put men in orbit aournd the Earth or build a moon base. Without continuing significant research into manned spaceflight, this story has only one ending. Israel, the Palestinians, and everyone else will all die someday when we run out of either energy, air, or water or suffer some other catastrophic ending. With a lot of hard work and a little luck, humanity might be thriving somewhere else when this planet or even this solar system goes extinct. Too bad that most people are more interested in their own petty lives or in killing others in the name of their righteous religions and/or governments. Of course, a few world leaders could save us all the trouble and turn the world into a radioactive wasteland just to put us out of our misery.
  14. Not knowing that there would be no World War 3 and that the F-14 would be retired without ever extensively using the Phoenix system in combat, the F-14 was the much better choice. But I think the Navy learned a lot from the F-14 and F-18: better to buy cheap less-capable aircraft and have them than go for the gusto and end up with few or no new planes at all. The F/A-18E was not the plane the Navy wanted, but so far it has held the line until something newer/better can replace it. Whereas the USAF put all of their eggs into the advanced next-gen stealth basket and have had to send all of their pilots into combat flying aircraft with extremely high hours on them and will get practically no return on all the money they spent on the F-22. The Navy has newer Super Hornets and will get F-35s just like the USAF. With 20/20 hindsight, he F-4 swing-wing could have held the line for a lot less money than F-14 until the Super Hornet took over.

  15. Wings Over Israel MiG-21 Cockpits

    streakeagle posted a file in Jet Cockpits

    Version

    1,037 downloads

    MiG-21 Cockpits for WOI ----------------------------------------- ORIGINALLY BY: MAGO aka PALADRIAN, BADGER the BAD, & FUBAR512 Modified for use with WoI and multiplayer by: streakeagle Released with permission from: PALADRIAN ----------------------------------------- INSTALLATION ----------------------------------------- Extract the "Objects" and "Sounds" folders from the WOIMiG21 zip file if you have not done so already. Copy these two folders to your main Wings Over Israel directory. That’s it! I have also included the original documents from the other cockpit releases. ----------------------------------------- COMMENTS ----------------------------------------- This mod proivdes only a basic package. It upgrades all of the stock MiG-21 variants in Wings Over Israel to be flyable. It primarily adds 3d cockpits previously released for SFP1/WOV/WOE MiG-21 mods. They are slightly tweaked: 1. Increased transparency for all glass. 2. Removed head-bobbing, which made gunsights too difficult to use. 3. Added preview patches to each skin. 4. Translated the Arabic decals to make lists for selecting the nose numbers. 5. Other files such as flight models and weapons loadouts were omitted. Omitting the custom flight models and loadouts ensures 100% compliance with the stock game. This mod allows hosting/joining multiplayer sessions with others using stock installs. The addon does provide two advantages over pure stock installs: radar and rwr support. AI MiG-21s already have these systems as they should, so can it be considered cheating? This mod also ensures that the AI will continue to function as Thirdwire intended. So, game balance and campaign play in single player are unaffected. Yet, the MiG-21s are now flyable with appropriate 3d cockpits and avionics. I have included a text file listing real nose numbers from photos. This list could be used to make the game's nose decals more historically accurate.

  16. Holy s**t....

    streakeagle replied to Fubar512's topic in The Pub

    A late but sincere Happy Birthday to ya!
  17. I fly only on Hard settings, and per reality, my F-4Js don't carry gunpods, just centerline fuel tanks. Maneuverability also varies greatly with loaded weight. If you start a mission with 100% fuel, aircraft with high fuel capacities are at a major disadvantage. US aircraft are almost always not only larger in size, but carry lots of fuel. Aircraft with a low fuel fraction, like short range MiGs, don't gain as much performance as their fuel bleeds off. As for beating MiG-17s or MiG-21s with an F-4J in SF2, if you are doing so with turn performance, you are either flying against numerous aircraft and getting snapshot opportunities due to crowded skies, or the AI isn't as the higher difficulty levels. To see the F-4J outclassed by a MiG-21, the AI has to fly the MiG-21 almost at its best as it is only better than the F-4 by a small margin, especially down low. The guys flying multiplayer tried the SFP1/WoX Oct/Nov 2008 patch level and found with player vs player that the MiG flight models behaved like UFOs compared to the old 083006 patch level, so they refuse to play with the newer patch level. Also, to really get the feel of being outclassed by the MiG-21, you need to fly without using any views other than from inside the cockpit, preferably without any padlocking. If you can't see where he is or what he is doing aside from seeing a few glimpses in the rear view mirror, it is difficult to get your nose around on him, since you will waste degrees turning in a direction he may no longer be.

  18. Five Guys Burgers

    streakeagle replied to Dave's topic in The Pub

    I would be pleased to meet you as well. While I have greatly enjoyed meeting so many people all over the world via the internet, there is still nothing quite like talking with someone face-to-face. With Operation Flashpoint, I was able to build a local group that came over to play quite often. I never did play with anyone else via the internet unless it was one of the regulars that couldn't show up in person (usually one of the married with children guys). The first guys might show up and start playing sometime between 4pm and 8pm on a Friday or Saturday afternoon. The last straggler would leave sometime between 3am and 6am. During the peak hours between 9pm and 12am, I had as many as 7 other people over eating pizza, drinking beer, and killing Commies. Whenever we had 6 or more, we would play team missions with 3vs3 or 4vs4. Otherwise we played co-op or deathmatches. My wife is going to Colombia for 2 weeks very soon and she is taking my son with her, so I may actually get to have an Operation Flashpoint night or two while she is gone If only I could have had an SFP1 group like that. The guys that showed up in Hyperlobby and Hamachi to play online were scattered all over the world and had widely varying schedules. It was difficult to get a significant number to show up at the same time on any given night. While we did have 12 guys logged in at the same time on a dogfight server one lucky night, that didn't last for very long and we didn't have time to set up a co-op team fight 6 vs 6. My dream was to have 8 vs 8 with no AI aircraft at all. Now, SF2 doesn't even have multiplayer

  19. Five Guys Burgers

    streakeagle replied to Dave's topic in The Pub

    Just give me a little notice when you are coming so I can make sure I don't end up with a schedule conflict. I have hosted tons of my wifes friends and family visiting from Colombia. I am long overdue to have someone I know visit. We just had some friends from Miami stay with us last weekend because her husband, an Army Reserve special forces officer, had to be at MacDill on Saturday. If I actually get to see you, it will be the first time I have gotten to meet anyone from the SFP1 community face-to-face. I just can't seem to meet anyone that lives near me with quite my level of interest in PC flight simming and Third Wire sims in particular. I can get people to play Operation Flashpoint or Star Wars Battlefront 2, but people with the patience and determination to learn ACM are very rare. I just hooked my brother-in-law up with a joystick and installed Aces High 2 on a low-end laptop. It struggles to do 20 to 30 fps, but it is flyable and he is loving it. If his laptop will run SF2, I will buy him 1 or more of the SF2 games as well since he is more interested in jets than props. If he actually likes it over the long run and does well, I may actually have a local to play multiplayer. Too bad SF2 doesn't do multiplayer

  20. Five Guys Burgers

    streakeagle replied to Dave's topic in The Pub

    If you are down my way, I would be more than happy to have you over for dinner. You coming to MacDill on USAF business or bringing the family to Orlando for a Disney vacation?
  21. I am satisfied enough with the stock SF2 F-4 pits that I haven't even bothered trying to retrofit any photoreal textures to them. The only missing detail that is bothering me is the McDonnell nameplate that should be on the lower right and that is such a low priority to me that I haven't taken the 2 minutes it would take to resize it and paste it into the stock texture.

  22. Five Guys Burgers

    streakeagle replied to Dave's topic in The Pub

    We just had 5-guys at the mall tonight. They are very good. If we are going out for burgers and have time to find a 5-guys, that is where we go. But I cook burgers once a week and the beef we get at Publix is usually excellent, especially when seasoned with a mix of Montreal Steak seasoning and Adobo seasoning. When we get 5-guys at the mall, we usually have to wait 5 to 10 minutes. I can cook burgers on my gas grill in 10 to 15 minutes and get a comparable result. But I usually only provide cheese, tomatoes, and dill relish, whereas at 5-guys, I also get bacon, mushrooms, and lettuce and their "regular" size fries that is bigger than the biggest size at any other fast food place. In the end, I pretty much love all of the traditional American fast foods and will eat them from almost anywhere at any time whether cooked at home, bought at a fast food place, or served from a military chow line... but if you are going for burgers and 5-guys is within your time/distance constraints, it is one of the best places to go.

  23. Finally

    streakeagle replied to Dave's topic in Military and General Aviation

    Ironically, the loser of the C-5 contract is still in production: the 747.
  24. If TK made the campaign as historically accurate as possible, you would fly endless Escort missions with almost no MiGs at all. When the North Vietnamese first got there MiG-21s, they had about 16 of them. Operation Bolo shot down 7 of them in one engagement. There were several months of no air combat until new MiGs arrived and new tactics were developed. At various times throughout the war, there was almost no MiG activity at all. So, for air-to-air jocks like myself, a historically accurate campaign in Vietnam can be very boring. I prefer single missions which allow you to duplicate the situations that occurred when MiGs were encountered: F-105s bounced by MiG-17s, MiG-21s popping up out of nowhere behind the strike force at supersonic speeds, and events like Operation Bolo or the slaughter that took place on May 10, 1972 when the Vietnamese learned what the AIM-9G and Top Gun had done for the Navy as well as getting a taste of Combat Tree and the AIM-7E2 when they worked right. The most difficult missions are using hard wing USAF F-4C/Ds with AIM-4Ds and AIM-7Es while following visual ID ROE for Sparrow launches. The AIM-4Ds in the game work about as well against MiGs as they did in real life: almost never. The AIM-7Es are almost worthless within visual range. About the only thing the F-4s can do is stay fast and wait for the MiGs to run out of fuel and disengage, then setting up some AIM-7E shots or if you are feeling really lucky, trying to get an AIM-4D kill.

  25. Video sovjet F-5E Test

    streakeagle replied to Gepard's topic in Military and General Aviation

    It is my understanding that the Soviets were shocked by the performance of the F-5E. It did to their MiG-21 what the MiG-21 did to the F-4. MiG-21 pilots were advised to keep their speed up and not to turn fight if faced with an F-5E. As lower speeds with combat flaps, the F-5E was flying rings around the MiG-21 in their tests. Aside from the lack of a bubble canopy, I think Chuck Yeager's belief in the F-20 was quite justified.
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