Boresight

Essentially, one must adapt to each aircraft's flight profiles. Let's say (in SF 2 series), if you're flying the F-14 A, the corner speed - where the aircraft turns best, would be (roughly) from the 380 to 450 kts i believe. Certainly you can get temporarily bellow that speed (by pulling harder on the stick, NOT by reducing power), if you're very close to gaining an angle on the enemy, or going for a snapshot. (See energy fight vs angles fight - though there are more people here, who can explain this better than me.) If you intend to use mission editor, and create a mission purely to dogfight in the F-14, I believe only guns, 2 sidewinders and 50 % internal fuel (or even 25 %) will do, to get the absolute minimum weight you need, so the Tomcat performs best. If you want to fly the regular "fighter sweep" missions, then, maybe you should add some Sparrow missiles. Thank you Wrench, but I was also not understanding the "ATM", which I recall now, must be "at the moment"...

Don't understand that, what's " A only ATM " ? Anyway, have you tried to keep the F-14 airspeed above 380 kts (aprox.) when in a turning fight, and with a low payload ? ( For ex. without external fuel tanks and only 2 or 4 sidewinders - if in a dogfight merge. )

I can hardly wait. Which one ? Flying the Third Wire Tomcats, or the TMF ones ? If i remember correctly, I find the AI aren't much difficult to dogfight against (depending on their aircraft, sure). But even in a dogfight against a MiG-29 many time ago, I bellieve I managed to get on his " 6 " fairly easily with the TMF Tomcat...

The forever controversial McDonald's... Well since I remember, not many years after it appeared in Portugal, a lot of cons and 'bad mouthing' also started. (As it's an old fashion with every fast-food nowadays.) Everyone knows it's not the most healthy thing, to frequently eat tons of fried potatoes with tons of salt and a lot of hamburguers. So, actually I don't really know to which degree the products & doses used on their processing are harmful. We also have KFC, Burger King, Burger Ranch, Joshua's Shoarma, Pizza Hut, etc... but everytime some news channel decides to repeat some nutrition documentary about fast-foods, guess who's their prime (and frequently the only) target : McDonalds. However, they still doing a lot of money here. Personally I love their hamburguers - McRoyal Deluxe, Big Tasty, etc. as my favourites. "Quarter pounder with cheese", I believe it must be "McRoyal Cheese" here... the one with the double Cheedar cheese slices ?

Thank you for your time Centurion. That, I didn't know. By the way, what's your opinion on my comment about " TOPGUN: Fire at Will ! " ? Hello JSF Aggie, Thank you for your attention. Glad to know it! I wish that everything goes well with your work.

... So, in 5 days,.no one has a slightest idea or opinion ?

Thank you for your time Caesar ! Long time I didn't see so detailed, (and very good) technical explanation on forums. Naturally some details you mentioned, were new to me. The doubts which persist are: I'm surprised you consider F-14 and F-15 roughly in the same 'category' as the F-18... - what about the Hornet's high alpha; low wing loading; instantaneous turn rate; nose authority; slow speed control; etc, regarding the other 2 jets ? Do you consider the F-16 stay's above the F-18 and MiG-29, (even if just " 1 point " ) ?

Hello Lexx, The following comments are merely my opinion, and I can't write a better technical explanation than the one Caesar wrote, right above. MiG-23 MLD - I don't think it should be so low " 2 ", as it's aerodinamics and t/w ratio aren't that bad Mirage IIIC vs Mirage F1C - the F1C was desgined specifically to adress the maneuvering performance shortcomings with the previous delta airframe Mirages... so it shouldn't be below the IIIC. Lightning - seam's a bit too low. Tornado ADV - " 7 " is VERY high, as it was right from the beginning not intended to be a dogfighter, and not intended do deal with MiGs at close range - like said by it's british manufacturers.

Hello Caesar, I do take your opinion in high regard, (by the way even a little ago, I was just reading one of your many articles anout the F-14 Tomcat). And you're right. ( Since you guys released TMF F-14 Tomcat Superpack - with actually working AIM-9 seeker head symbology, things where never the same again - it kept me following this outstanding sim! ) However, Dagger1 tryed to get some indications about the dogfighting "potential" each one of those fighters have, given "all the rest being equal" - including the pilot... So the numbers are just a rough estimate - I would like to see your's.

Yes, as there are many variables that one must consider to qualify a jet as more or less "maneuverable", trying to do it, is not so simple. For ex. what you say about the MiG-21 BIS is true, but then, there are other factors, like: How fast does it bleed speed, and how this effects it's sustained turn rate... EDIT: Even now, I'm thinking about some numbers I gave...

Hello Dagger1, interesting question... - For the record, I'm just at jet fighter / aviation enthusiast - my opinion is based on many years of flight sims; PC games; movies; internet; magazines; etc. - I do have in count many parameters as: t/w ratio; acceleration; wing loading; sustained & instantaneous turn rate; airframe design. - 10 (ten), as being the absolute maximum just for this list. Answered on the citation. EDIT: the original numbers have been changed.

Hello again.. Just stopped here to remind people to the importance of subscription plans to help the site running - upgraded mine from prime membership, to premier membership yesterday. (As some of you might know, one of our Armed Forces brand new drones crashed on the rocks weeks ago, causing the country to go bankrupt... still, here I' am helping CombatAce.) Best Regards to all, Pedro - from Portugal

Hello JSF Aggie and everyone, A Top Gun Campaign seems fascinating! One can imagine himself taking off from NAS Miramar already... Do you foresee any release date ? Thank you.

If I do remember ?? That was maybe one of the "sims" most responsible for my enthusiasm for combat flight simulations in the mid 90’s, here at Portugal. And the very first culprit for my acquaintance with the mighty F-14 Tomcat. Never again I got that feeling of immersion you mentioned on “ TOPGUN: Fire at Will ! “, with any other sim. One really felt as “being part of something”. Surely it was by no means a “ BMS Falcon “ feature wise and all that, and it was indeed a bit arcade sometimes. But it did had several strong points: - plot immersion throughout the all game; - F-14 Tomcat / RIO / AIM-54 missile, main features roughly depicted; - Merlin (the RIO), really helped calling out for dangerous / important situations, etc; - more than 40 missions (in 1 training series – TOPGUN school, and 3 combat campaigns – Cuba, N. Korea and Libya); - diversity of scenarios and enemy aircraft – MiG-21, MiG-23, Mi-24 Hind, Su-27, Mirage 2000 C, MiG-29, (almost impossible to dogfight against this one); - carrier landings (even at night). The HUD symbols, were not as realistic as in “ Fleet Defender “, but still they were very reasonable in terms of reality and helped to keep some of the “simulator genre” feeling: - missile and gun Rmin & Rmax scale for each weapon; - pitch lader; - velocity vector; - missile boresight; - gun aiming piper; - target box, etc. One could even "buzz the tower" at the last training mission, with the respective scene where guy get's the coffee spilled all over him. Your last sentence says it all. Truly nostalgic.

Well, doubts clarified already by MigBuster. Keep counting with me!

Hello again, So many members at Combatace, and no one knows an answer to my doubts?

Hello everyone, Following a previous support thread started by Dave, I did subscribe a Prime Membership on 10th November 2013. Still, I have a doubt: So, now if I want to upgrade my membership to the next level - "Premier Membership", I just have to pay a small part, than that if I had no subscription at all. My question is: 1 - If I let my actual membership expire, will that "discount" to the next level still be available ? 2 - When it expires, will my status/title get to "junior member" again? Or is the last membership subscription title maintained even after expiration? Thank you.

Possibly Avast anti-virus, or other security software is blocking your .dll files, have you checked that ? My load mission screen also stoped at 40 %, and it was precisely Avast. Check the following link http://combatace.com/topic/80293-and-so-sf2-decided-to-crash/page-2

Thank you MigBuster and CrazyhorseB34, CrazyhorseB34 you did give some insight back there about the Gripen, many things I didn't knew. However the soldado reports about it's performance at international exercises show's it can be promising. About the aircraft real capabilities and future developments, I will "cut him some slack" though, as if there's a country that doesn't like to throw its money away is - Switzerland. And they have also chosen the Gripen.

Hello again, Besides the single engine and the double air intakes, I can't find much more external similarities. In terms of avionics (all the internal hardware, radar, etc.), I believe it makes no sense in comparing the 2 of them, as the F-20 is an abandoned concept with some time alreday. Why does the Chile F-16 block 50 dominates the South America versus the Saab Gripen? Just because of it's radar and some BVR capabilities edge?

Hello CrazyhorseB34, 1 - No one blames France to try selling the Rafale or whichever aircraft. That's pefectly alright. What seems ethically reprovable is the fact that they are purposedly ending the Mirage 2000's production / comercialization life sooner, to try forcing an highly expensive product (Rafale) to possible customers - though that's backfiring on Dassault... 2 - Many brazilian air force / air power enthusiasts disagree on that, mainly on the motive that: while the Rafale might be technically very good, it really would be an economic / financial catastrophe for the Brazilian Air Force. Several air force bases are being undefinedly decomissioned; air units grounded by lack of maintenance funds; air defense duty temporarily passed to the F-5 II units; etc, atests that. For much they like the Rafale, Brazilians themselves insist they can't support the Rafale "astronomical" maintenance costs, thanks to the country's economic situation. http://www.aereo.jor.br/ ( Site in Portuguese language ) 3 - Saab Gripen, a second rate F-20 ?

Oh realy ??? Was that a joke ? - What about the Exocet anti-ship missiles that were boycotted to Argentina military in the 1982 conflicts? - What about Dassault / French gov. denying the Mirage 2000 to anyone who ask's for it, since they're trying to foist the Rafale to everyone ? - What about the exorbitant prices Dassault asked for Taiwan Mirage 2000's maintenace / upgrade ? The same with India Air Force Mirage 2000's upgrade ? - What about the Scorpéne submarine deal with Brazil, which was a major monetary rip-off, at least comparing with the German U-214 offer ? - What about the desagreements between Brazil and France govs. about the Scorpéne technology transfers not happening after the deals have been signed ? - What about the recent Dassault's / French gov. refusal to effect maintenance on Spanish Mirage F1's ready to be sold to Argentina, unless Argentina buy instead the French reserve ones ?

Hello again MigBuster, http://combatace.com/topic/80170-what-did-anyone-know-this-iranian-f-14-shot-down-by-special-drones/ Caesar mentioned some plausible reasons.

Ok Wrench so it will be, thank you.

Thank you MigBuster, Yes, the " C:\Users\<>\Saved Games\ThirdWire " folder already is 'universally' know around here. About the " core game files where the main install is ", are you referring to this one : " C:\Program Files (x86)\ThirdWire\Strike Fighters 2 " Should I back up that one also ?