cougar_1979

While testing the new F-14 i remembered that back in the day when i first flew the Super Hornet i noticed the fuel quantities were about 2.2 times larger then they should be. On the d-load thread one of the guys mentioned he modified them himself to be more representative and i always wanted to do the same, i was just too lazy. Tonight i did it, but as feared this lowered weight made the Super Bug a "Mega Monster Bug" that sustains 9g at angles 10 in military power. So i want to ask you guys (especially Eric), did you change your Super Bugs? And did id so, how did you change the thrust values to match? Cheers and happy flying. P.S. nev vids comming up soon.

Nice! Looking forward to any new features, especially the manual. Keep up the good stuff man.....

It is quite possible. Both these flights were recored on my first go, and i have 0 experince with the circular sight (in the first video). As such i am absolutely clueless on the finer points of using it. If i encounter it again i will try to remember this shoot a bit higher. Another thing that puzzles me is why the simmingly identical AC in videos 1 and 2 would have diferent guns sights??? Is it possible i chose a later era F-18A by accident? Maybe Eric would know, after all he know the Bug better then most of us.... Ouch, yes! I flew the Viper with guns once and it was just terrible. Is there a way to cicle between that and another sight? In Falcon the "tube" is my favorite sight (put the wings of the bandit at the borders, the dot on hte plane and shoot), but it just doesn't work at all.

Impressive high defelction shot on that first video! I finally got to record a bit this evening. I started with the Bug, but must have messed things up a bit. In the first video the Hornet i fly has a diferent gun sight then the one i am used to (like in the second one), which probably means i chose a wrong version instead of the intended F/A-18A. Also, i forgot to remove the air defenses so i ended up dodging SAMS as well...... Anyways, the intent is to start with the Hornet and fly against everything. Then repeat the process with other AC. The first enemy is going to be the Viper. The lightweight fighter program children face off: This one is guns only. The vid starts just before the merge. I decided to role play a bit, and flew as close i could as if he had heaters on him. Ergo i ended up bellow him. Right as i start pulling up, the first SAM fires off. I kick off some chaff as i perform a high g vertical turn, using the energy gained in the dive. It turns out to be enough to spoof it. I roll the Bug over the egg and start looking for the Viper. His down there climbing up fast and we enter a couple of vertical turns, trying to get on each other's tail. I do my best not to pull too much alpha and slow down too early, which would allow the Viper to chew me up in the vertical. After 2 revolutions he's leveleing out to regain energy and go after him. The fight transforms into a shallow descending spiral, with me trying to keep the initiative. Just when i think i have him, i notice the gunsight is "strange" (i am used to the radial dials one, not the circle ring). As a result i keep missing good shots. Before i manage to run myslef out of ammo though, i get another SAM warning. So i let him go for a moment until i spoof the missile. Just as i am about to go on him again, the SAM is on me again! I am alsmot out of chaff by the time i evade it. I need to end this fight quickly. Me dodging SAMs has let us both build up our energy, so i try to use my superior nose pointing to force him on the defensice once more. The Bug appears to be very good at this and soon i am again on his 6, wasting valuable ammo, in my futile attempts to gun him. Fortunately his constant defensve spiral has brought him near the deck and having nowhere to go he levels off once more and then in profound display of wisdom hits the vertical. This provides me with a good clear shot at a largely motionless target and gun him down literally with my last rounds. The second figt starts at the same spot as the first one, but this one he has 4 Limas and i have to Limas and two Sparrows (whicj i intend to use only WVR). The Bug loses airspeed much faster then the Turkey when out of burner, but i still manage to evade his 2 initial missile shots and procide to hunt him in the vertical. Just as i am about to complete the first 180 he launches a 3rd missile at me and i barely evade it with flares...... being in burner probably made this a much riskier maneuver. But this also means he is at my rear quarter. As i don't want to get shot at once more i try for a more violent turn and i pull more on the stick bleeding energy in a vertical break. The move works and i have my nose on him. And another good news.....it's the familiar gun sight again! I do not risk a high off bore shot though and let him pass, knowing that with the energy from the dive i can follow him in any turn he can make. I switch to winders, and get a good tone oh nim as he appears on my HUD. I pull some lead, fire a missile..... it semas like it's going to track..... but his flares fool it .... the angle is now too off and the range too close for missiles. I go for a gun kill. He has bled too much and tries to jink and dive but this slow he just cant escape my nose. Few more short bursts and parts of him start to fall off...... Splash 2....... Overall, the Bug is a good match for the Viper as long you don't bleed yourself too much too fast and let him chew you up on the vetical. Good energy management however, can get you on the attacking side and force him to fight on your terms. Once slow, your superb ITR and nose authority will complitely dominate the encounter, especially if all aspect IR missiles are equipped.

That was intense! How does the Fury compare to the Sabre?

You've already seam to have got a grip on things, but if still in need for some Phantom tips. search out the DACT thread. There are some neat one on ones and mass furballs there in the Vietnam era. Some even without guns (NAVY Phantoms).

No videos yet, just some quick impressions (and possible base for a future mass DACT evaluation). I d-loaded the Hornet pack (A-D), and decided to finally go all out and fly everything against everything, both heaters and guns only. So far i flew F-18A VS F-14A (82), F-15C, F-16C, MiG-29A and Su-27. Then F-14A (82) VS F-15C, F-16C, F-18A and C, MiG-29A and Su-27. At first i went SRAMs on both sides (and sometimes MRAMs for the bandits) just to practice the merge, but after remembering that chances of survivng it can never go much above 60% with current all aspect missiles, i went guns only and tried to evlauate how these planes fare against each other in both vertical and horizontal fights, energy bleeds, energy retention and energy recovery. After more then a month of "ground work" i am pleased to report i still find the Hornet by far the easiest plane to fly with and take on the enemy bandits in WVR fights. Both with heaters and with guns. Especially with guns. What i found the most surprising was that it was also the plane that i found most easy to shoot down. I'm not exactly sure why yet. Maybe it's only natural to know the plane you are best with, "the best" and knowing its weaknesses gives you the edge? But it can't realy be only that, as i didn't really try to exploit those weaknesses. This also doesn't mean that the Hornet (when flown by me) fared equally well against all bandits. For some reason the F-16 went down most easy and the MiG-29 (when it didn't run itself into the ground) was the hardest nut to crack. Probably because the way the AI is handling the MiG, it will seldom go low and slow unless you really settle on it's six and because of the very light weight and superb T/W, it can really give you quite the run as long as it has any fuel in it (house rule: never gun a bandit when more then 1-2 degrees bellow LOS). When i flew the Hornet against the Tomcat, the best way to trick the AI into bleeding itself dry was to perform a couple of vertical revolutions when the bandit has you in sight. The AI will push its alpha and fall like a brick at the end of the second one, after which you just stick with him and don't let him recover. Funny enough, the same trick worked on the Hornet when fighting in the MiG. Not that the Hornet's AI needs just a vertical turn to bleed itself dry though. I typical AI will find itself down in the weeds after 3-4 revolutions anyways, which is what made the Hornet such an easy target i guess. Ironically, the F-14A actually fared much better against the MiG. The ability to regain energy in more then one way and to regain a high energy state easier then the Hornet (despite lower T/W and greater mass) made all the difference. To regain large chunks of energy in the Hornet, one has to unload almost all the way under full burner, a luxury one does not always have. In the Tomcat however, diving is much more energy efficient especially when helped by full military or AB power. Also once you get fast, you stay fast. You stay get faster easier, with less power and you stay faster for a longer time. In fact you can probably stay fast longer that anything in the air (this low) except maybe an 111. Against the Flanker, the Hornet seamed equally matched. Maybe slighty handier in the high alpha, low KIAS regime. That's because like in the 14, 15 and 18, the AI likes to bleed alot in the 27. And at low to mid mach, both birds handle very similary. The F-15 was basically as easy as the F-16 except when packing A-A missiles. The large radar on the Eagle burnt much quicker through the jammer the likes of which the Hornet has. Actually, it felt like there is almost no jammer at all. Well, so much for now. I may try recording soon (if there is interest). I am also open to proposals of any birds available in SF2 but not on the list above that you may want included in the DACTs. Cheers and good night.

Sorry to have been away for so long guys, but between work, surfing vacation and then some more work (plus flogging at work), i just hadn't any time to fly at all. When i finally got up again few days ago, i could barely keep the cat steady in the air, let alone tango with 4th gen fighters :P I'll try to shape up ASAP.

Nah, it's OK, i can wait for the release :)

When flying the Phantom, out of plane is the name of the game. There is almost nothing out there in that era and has the fighter label attached to it, then you can actually turn with it. Sure it is possible to start your turn transonic and bring your nose around by bleeding like hell, but that would only give you snap shots opportunities. Do note that, out of plane maneuvers will result in snap shot mostly as well, however at least you'll get them more consistently. The prime problem here is not the Phantom but the omniscient AI that always knows exactly where you are and has a pretty good idea where you would be, so even when dropping on it from a blind spot it will still perform the best gun defence available to it.

I would love trying it out. Cold war era birds are my favorites! Is it up yet?

A slight digression.... this happenned 2 times in a row today. I was chasing a Mirage 2000 down low in a high G turn. We were hugging the ground, bellow 1000ft. I pulled lead, squeezed the trigger, shot off his rudder. In both occasions he reversed pulled up and doing a steady climb at 60-80 knots reached stratosphere at 45+ thousand knots . This is not the first time i've seen this. Some time ago a Super Hornet pulled the same move on me. Only he went even higher. At the time i thought it was a Super Bug bug (no pun intended ), but now it seams it's common to all AI planes, at least when the AI is flying on hard. Has anyone seen this behavour before?

I once flew a series od DACTs that involved guns only engagements between F-104's, F-4s, MiG-23's and F1's, and reached a pretty similar conclusion. My greatest issue with the bird was that the one in NF5 has extremely nasty stall properties. Basically a death trap spin, which at lower altitudes is unrecoverable..... and this is where we usually end up when we go gunzo on each other.

I am an idiot..... did i mention i was an idiot before?? I'm flying NF5 for the most part and i keep editing the root instalation...... and then i keep wondering why i experience no effects of the changes in flight...... why? Cause i'm an idiot, that's why..... Thanks again mate..... i found the folder and the ini it it...... ini in it.... kinda sounds nice Will be experimenting with it during the weekend, but as the default onset for medium seams to be 6g, i think 7 or 7.5 should give me the desired peak performance for limited time of around 9g or so (just about enough to get a tracking solution in high-g environments)

Sorry for the late response, i was away for a few days. Unfortunately, i can't seam to be able to edit those.

EDIT: i could only fin a dll file named AIRCRAFTOBJECT. Am i looking in the wrong folder (Strike Fighters 2\objects) ?

Thanks mate! I owe you one

I have no real DACTs to report, but i have been "DACT-ing" of the sorts. I was practicing high speed high g engagements some more and experimented with the blackout dificulty level. It seams like the hard mode make you start blacking out at 4g, instant black out at 6-7g. On medium you start blacking out at 6g, instant black out at 8-9g and on easy you don't black out at all. Is there a way to customzie these setting? I would like to have at least 15s at 9g if possible. Flying with no blackouts is no fun at all, but flying with amplified g-locks is kind of a bummer as well. Expecially during low altitude turning fight with machines that like to be flown fast (F-16, F-15, F-14 (when at half a fuel or lower), most Mirages....).

What i meant by "the plane is actively trying to kill me" is the plane i am flying with It's kinda fun when your AC is having nasty stall/spin tendencies..... at least in a sim The AI on the other hand (especially when set to hard) does seam to fly impossible cartwheels if given the proper plane and enough fuel....

Thanks mate! Take your time

Hard FM, normal G-locks, custom sensitivity Normal FM is just too smooth for my taste and i like when some jets are actively trying to kill me. Besides, even on hard FM, most birds are pretty docile when compared to some "hard" simulators, so it shouldn't be a problem as long as the FM is well modeled. The AI usually needs all the help it can get anywyas ;) Besides, why waste the effort of all those good people that made the FM, right? :)

Question for Caesar: I have been doing some aggressive high g gunnery practice with the Tomcat (trying to get high deflection shots on high energy breaking bandits) and when switching the radar to dogfight mode, i've noticed the symbology indicating VSL (vertical svan low). Does this mean the radar mode implemented is the VSL, or is it VSH with only the letters showing it VSL? And if the first, is there a way to switch to VSH? I think it should work better for turning fights then VSL or boresight.

Now that's my kind of flying mate! Excellent control of the plane. I had no idea a strick can have so much influence!

@Saisran, i just had the chance the watch the videos, and man those ARE some good gunnery skills by every means!

The fight may have been long, it also ended in a spectacular way. Keep them coming! The TW Cat is more crisp at command inputs, so beware of that. Aside from that..... well, sometimes it is possible to have too much power at your disposal. Hence the blackouts. I have never faced a Fulcrum in a TW Cat though. I only flew against them in NF5, and i don't have the NA jets megred in that folder.