JediMaster

The P-51D that comes with Exp1 doesn't do that, maybe check its .inis?

How many of those are there? I forget. There was ODS, OTC, NF of course...was the Falklands?

There are going to be a lot more used late-model F-16s out there as the F-35A enters service. I would think there would be some good deals on them, or at worst on some MLU'd F-16s from Europe.

I agree NZ likely couldn't afford anything new in significant numbers (ie "enough to be useful") and therefore used 4th-gen planes would be the best bet. There's also the option of used legacy Hornets.

Of course, with AESA radars you can steer precisely the beam, making it harder for an ARM to home in on you unless you're looking at it directly.

For now, only anti-AWACS is practical, but I don't know how good it actually may be as they've never been used in combat.

Yeah, awesome!

I remember when Mag over at SimHQ told me his 13 yr old daughter ran away a few years ago and got grounded (no xbox, phone, PC, TV) for a month. Mine are 3.5 and 1, so I have a few years yet for that...sigh.

Oh, and just remember it's all uphill from here. Going downhill is easy.

It's basically Arma 2.5 with Seattle and improved helo models. Arma 3 will be similar.

All the Arma games have rich modding.

Well, I guess since there won't be any "Aliens" in it, it's not an Alien film.

It'll be some time till I get around to getting this game, but I certainly will at some point.

I never played the Privateer ones, but I played the regular series as well as Armada...which was a major screwup. My favorite was WC3, followed by 4 and then Prophecy. That had the best graphics and gameplay, but the worst story and FMV.

Which just means he may plan to add it "some day", but not necessarily at release. Perhaps "SF2 Expansion 4" for NA.

More anything = longer times. More terrains, more planes, more skins for existing planes, more weapons...perhaps missions and campaigns are the only thing that DON'T affect it. Or maybe they do, but you'd need so many to notice a difference and I don't think anyone has that many!

Yeah, cell shading seems unusual for this, but you never know.

Methinks that will cost a bit more than the $30 for NA.

Well the Mirage F1 expansion is coming first, unless TK changes his plans. I would buy such an expansion with that late F-4, though.

You read it 3 times in 2 months? Geez.

Since I read it, I've read HfRO, Patriot Games, Sum of All Fears, Clear and Present Danger, Without Remorse, Debt of Honor, and I'm about to start Executive Orders.

That doesn't count all the Star Trek and Star Wars novels I've read as well. Those only take me a week or so, though. I also want to re-read the Hobbit before the movie release end of the year, too.

Then I have my IAPR, AvWeek, Smithsonian A&S, PC Gamer, and of course old books to reread.

What book are you guys talking about??

Red Storm Rising of course! You might call it "the bible" as far as SF2:NA is concerned.

A watched store page never updates.

"Kef-Ops, the bandits are all turning right back after launching their ASMs. So far it's been two birds per aircraft. We got fifty-make that fifty-six inbound missiles, and more are being launched. Nobody behind them, though. I repeat, nothing behind the bomber force. At least we don't have any paratroopers headed in. Hunker down, guys, we now have sixty inbound missiles," Edwards heard as he came through the door. "At least they won't be nukes," said a captain. "They're shooting a hundred missiles at us-they don't f***in' need nukes!" replied another.

I reread that book just last year...or the year before. Hard to remember now.

Oh, I see them all. I just don't always say something.

Yeah, it will be a while before even turbine-powered tanks could power this thing. It's ironic that the ships best suited to power these guns are the carriers.

They rightly should've been retired at the turn of the century, but were forced to go on far past that.

Too many pilots were lost to its deficiencies in the past decade.

I guess that depends how closely you define "just as well". The radar is as good or better (depending which C it is). I don't think you could readily tell by looking, it's more "under the skin" changes that beefed up the E for the stresses of high-speed low-level ops. The engines are also tuned for it, so a C will outrun an E at high level, but an E will outdistance a C at low-level (although likely not outrun it over a short distance).

The E sacrificed the C's ceiling, top speed, climb performance, and some other areas in return for the ability to carry a crap load of bombs a good distance at very low altitude. I'm pretty sure if you stripped an E and tried to make it fight like a C you'd find its range and ceiling were reduced, its top speed would be lower (although still Mach 2+, just not 2.5), it wouldn't climb quite as well (t/w ratio is just under 1 instead of just over), etc.

Here's the weight figures for the 2. The MTOW is indicative of just how much the fuselage was strengthened over the C, and the empty weight shows the penalty that stronger structure cost in weight.

F-15C

Empty weight: 28,000 lb (12,700 kg)<LI>Max. takeoff weight: 68,000 lb (30,845 kg

F-15E

Empty weight: 31,700 lb (14,300 kg)<LI>Max. takeoff weight: 81,000 lb (36,700 kg)

No word on if coop will be in or not then? I must admit that's where I spent most of my time in DW as well as most other MP games.

Oh...one thing I thought DW sorely needed but never got. During long scenarios, the ability to save the mission and resume it later! Too many great ones we never played because we never had more than 2 hrs to play it and if you'd barely started to prosecute your contacts at that point it really sucked. Of course, that only applies to coop.

It's actually not the direct personal cost that is the problem. People could just learn to drive more efficiently, less often, etc. The problem is the fuel is also used by everyone else. So the cost of food at the store is higher, the cost of the delivery is higher, the cost of almost ANY service or product must increase to pass on the increased fuel costs THEY pay to you so they're not making less.

So in addition to having to pay more to go to and from work, and to go to and from the store, the stuff at the store costs more, the pizza guy charges more...it's a never-ending cycle.

No, my point was instead of SF2 being the first title with SF2V, E, and I coming out quickly after that he would've been better served to make NA the first release even if it came out later than SF2 did.

Granted it likely would not have as many of the improvements as we have now (it would be closer to what SF2 was like on release perhaps), but I think he might have made more of a splash than SF2 made. Had he done that, by now he'd likely be on the 3rd release in the series of new stuff.

I think he put almost as much effort into the SF2 series to date as he would have had he gone that route, with making updated cockpits, terrain, 3d models, etc, but too many SFP1-era owners declined to buy them because TK himself downplayed their improvements. He billed SF2 as a minimum-work upgrade of SFP1 and it became far more than that. Hence, he should've just shot for this in the first place and released the old games' content as expansions or whatever. The main difference would've been more SF1 owners would've switched over immediately and he would've seen greater sales.

Will NA outsell all the previous SF2 releases? I hope so, but I wouldn't go so far as to predict it.

Not only that, they also use the taxes as a deliberate tool to keep people from buying too much. Same idea as taxing tobacco over here.