Kyot54

Probably not, having flown the -23 and Phantom a bit lately, comparably the Crusader is downright nimble. It really only becomes a pain once you get below 300 knots. It can turn tight, but you lose airspeed fast, or you can turn fast but not tight. I generally stick to the latter if I am going up again something like the Fresco, to stay out of gun range. But if it's something you might have a second or two to regain energy, then the tighter turn can work, especially if you want to force an overshoot. I'll just say, in the few F-8 vs MiG-23 1v,2v s I've done, the Crusader ran circles around it. Even at almost a full fuel load. J

While doing some research on Luftwaffe F-4F's I ended up wikipedia-ing Erich Hartmann. Seems he was decidedly against West Germany getting the F-104, and it ended up being one of the things that lead to his retirement. It goes on to say that operational records proved his point, something like 200+ operational incidents occurred before Germany moved on to the F-4, which they just retired a couple of years ago. Just thought I'd share, feel free to check it out, not hard to find :) J

Ok, I got it, I have to go into the quote and edit there. Roger that. Now, any ideas on how to fix my campaign problem? No bandits showing up in missions. I posted about it in another topic.

Thanks Eric. Is there a way to quote only part of the post, without having to quote the whole thing? For like when someone ask or comments on several things in a post and you just want to reply to one? I thought I've seen it done? Maybe it was on another forum though :/ J

Sorry for the confusion Eric, I was trying to quote Cougar, without copying the whole post, haven't figured out how to do that yet. First part was me just filling him in on what I've discovered about the MiG-23 to help him out with setting it up as an adversary. Next was my complaining about the F-4 flight model, because I had flown some 1v's and 2v's and felt like I would have done better in a flying greyhound. I think we both agree on that. The last part was me gushing over the Vigilante after having made a self-defense capable (i.e. internal gun) bomber version. I was subtly trying to say I had taken it up against some second and third gen MiGs and it did well. Dad, sorry, wasn't meaning to dis the real Rhino, just the game flight model. 13-1 Navy kill ratio in Linebacker (with the majority coming from Sidewinders) is good proof the Phantom was maneuverable in the right hands/conditions. And the acceleration and power of the J79's was a good part of that. I'm just fussing that there doesn't seem to be good representation of this reality in game. I'm sure I'd have a lot more fun in the classic Rhino if there were. J

I am having a similar problem, except for me, there are no enemy aircraft in the campaign AT ALL, except for a Cub cargo plane. Basically I took the '79 Red Lightning campaign and updated it and added naval forces. Admittedly in the campaign_data.ini, I recycled a lot of the air units for OpFor, I changed the aircraft (example: from MiG-21 to MiG-29, or Su-27), did away with any upgrades, changed start dates where needed, and changed default textures where needed. I didn't both changing the unit names, is that the problem? If I were to leave Unit names and default texture blank, would that make a difference? As I said earlier, right now no enemy fighters are showing up, period, so I have no CAP missions, or anything to fight my way through on bombing missions.

"I took her up against a MiG-23ML Flogger C this time. I am even less familiar with the 23's, so i have no clue as to what version (of the miriad Soviet variations that were in service) would make for an apropriate aggresor. Turns out, the 23 is much more docile enemy then the 21 or the 17. Faster for sure, but much less nimble and definitely not a good plane in a sustained turning fight. We started as in the previous encounters, 25nm in a neutral position, both in air to air configurations. I wasn't sure if he had any BVR capability so i tried to get bellow his horizon, hopefully thwarting a heads on shot with a little help of the ground clutter." Cougar_1979 Sorry for lack of posting lately, real life has been kinda busy. So, thanks to a few things I've become a little bit of a Flogger "expert" of late. Mainly because I've been trying to work out some kind of showdown between MiG-23's and the Crusader (which maintains a comfortable lead as my number two steed behind the Tomcat). Here's some of the breakdown. Any -23's with the designations beginning with B (MiG-23BN) are mud-movers, akin to the MiG-27 Early, more interceptor oriented -23's fell under M, MF designation, they were generally designated Flogger-B's by NATO Later, when it was discovered some maneuverability was necessary, they lighted things up by dropping a rear fuselage fuel tank, shortening the fin root to the vertical tail, as well as a few other things. These all fell under ML (L for Light) designations: ML, MLA, and P, and called Flogger-G's by NATO. Generally all Floggers had Radar-homing, BVR capability utilizing the AA-7 "Apex", and I know all to well, it can be a pain in the game. I generally want to at least take E, H, or J Crusaders so I can have chaff to pop out going head to head. Without ECM, they will generally start shooting at you about 10 miles out, ECM can reduce that to 6 or 7, easy to beat if you are a Phantom with a load of Sparrows, but a nice challenge for spoofing skills if you only have 'winders like the 'Sader. I found all this out are I was trying to customize the loadouts on my -23s to just have IR's only. I had to make one of them flyable and go from there. Considering there are at least 7 or 8 versions for AI, I wanted one that would be useful all around, so I picked the ML. They will be a bit more aggressive trying to maneuver with you, but they still aren't much of a turning challenge. They can put up some good gun-tracking D when they want though. Moving on, I have had some interesting DACT fights, not all of them on purpose. Try 2 A-10C vs 4 MiG-29's and 2 MiG-31's. Needless to say I got waxed, close in by the Foxhound as I was tracking a Fulcrum for guns, having already dispatched 1 with the 'winders, as had my wingman. But the Warthog isn't a speedster, so trying to close range on a Fulcrum can take a moment or two, hence ending up with a Foxhound at my six. The kicker was all this was set up by the game, I was picking "Armed Recon" with light Air activity on the mission selector :/ Took some refresher courses in the Phantom, which then reminded me why I'm not really a fan. I don't know if the SF flight model is off or not, but there is no reason it should be such a pig down under 10,000 ft. According to "Scream of Eagles", a book about the establishment of Topgun, as Phantom pilots (including Crusader guys moving over as their squadrons transitioned, VF-51 and VF-111 for example) began to experiment with ACM post-Rolling Thunder they found that it (F-4) was able to out duel the Crusaders below about 15K ft, above that it was the Crusaders who had the fun. In game it does seem to matter what my combat weight or altitude is, the Crusader handles like a muscle car while the Phantom feels like a bus. And it doesn't seem like the much lauded "power" of the J79's is anywhere to be found, except maybe in a dive. Acceleration with any kind of G-load just doesn't seem to happen. There's just some planes that while they carved a nice niche, could have been even better. The A-5 is one of those in my opinion. So, like I'm sure others have done, with other planes, I brought it up to somewhere closer to the level I thought it should be. IRL, the A-5 was state of the art, one of the first planes to have a HUD, and Fly-by-wire. It was very fast, and very maneuverable for such a big plane. It's wing-loading was decent and without stores weighed comparable to the Phantom, Eagle, Super Hornet. So, to take advantage of these, I dropped the R from the RA-5C, replaced the recon canoe with a "gun canoe" incorporating a M-61 Vulcan with 950 rounds. To keep the speed advantage I usually carry low drag ordnance such as 4 Mk84's as opposed to 24 Mk82's, Walleye's, and often Iron Hand loads: it looks great with 4 STARMs on the wings. Since I was drag conscientious, I don't want to load it down with air-to-air setups (even for defense) like the inboard pylons on Phantoms, though each pylon can still handle a 'winder apiece. And I can say with experiential certainty, an A-5C properly equipped can hold its own against MiG-17's (still use vertical), -21's and -23's. Haven't taken it against any Hunters or Mirages yet, but I'm sure it will do well. My only thing is, we need some more Vigi skins, but that's a topic for another topic, lol.

Ah, ok, that explains it. I'm torn on my feelings for the A-6F. I think it would have been an awesome aircraft and just added to what was already a nice legend for the Intruder. That being said, without the cancelation of the "F", it would not have allowed the Tomcat to show off what an excellent precision strike fighter it was and could be have been even beyond excellent had they pursued the Tomcat-21. It would be fanciful fictitious thinking to hope we lived in a world that would do both. That would just make too much sense and we can't have our government doing that. (Gggrrrrrrr!)

They got something pretty fancy looking to stick on the dashboard towards the end, whether it was an actual HUD or just a highly digitized bombsight I don't know. But it did look to have the double paned reflecting glass like most HUD's had.

I refer back to Caesar's forum post titled "Knight's Syndrome" as to your comment that the F-14 was intended to be a pure interceptor. That is incorrect. It was designed as an All out Air-superiority multi-role aircraft, and I would even argue the first true air-dominance fighter, as the intention was for it to be able to deny air space to any enemy right off it's nose (thanks to the gun, which "true interceptors" don't carry) out to 100 miles, which if I did my math right, is denying them over 31,000 squares of air space. Pretty dominating in my opinion. Hmmm, just wondering, is there a cockpit building tutorial? Not that I have made any decision to undertake this or not, but it would keep me busy if I did, and since my real world model shop is down for a while . . . .

Yeah, that was kinda what I was afraid of. Maybe if I ever figure this modeling stuff out, I'll give it a try, but I'm such a novice that even with skins I'm sticking with the bmps and avoiding tga/decals. :/ Thanks for being realistic about the possibilities though. As a side thought, I know FSX's D cockpit is accurate, but I'm assuming there's trademark and registration, as well as compatibility issues with converting that over to SF2?

Did some checking up and I figured out where the time-lime variance arises from. The contract to refit the Bravo's with the HUD's and updated VDI's was in 1997, the first -B Upgrades hit the fleet in 1999, but the whole fleet wasn't completed until 2003. So some had them earlier, some didn't. I'm happy making my own adjustments, as I did. I don't know how much demand there is out there for the Upgrade HUD (or VDI and radar display). If there's a lot, maybe offer it as an avionics download? Maybe make it F-14B ('00) or straight up F-14B Upgrade. But again, only if there's enough hollering out there for it. And to quash any stupid ideas I might have, is it even possible to just swap the positions in the D cockpit to put the scope where the MFD would be and other instruments below the VDI? Or are we talking a LOT of work?

I thought they got them sooner than that, didn't the upgrade program start in the '90s ? Have to double check. I did here it was better than the D hud though. As for the dash, i toyed with the idea of just relocating stuff but realized i'm still too much oh a novice for that. Oh well, don't worry. Breathing normal here. Sorry gor tge huge text, writing from my phone

Granted, I'm coming to this topic way late, and years (literally) after the fact. But to add my two cents in, I admit I would love to see a more accurate D model cockpit, with the MFD to the side of the VDI and maybe even an actual HUG setup/glass instead of piggybacking off the original A model setup of using the windscreen glass. Although I am glad to see that the HUD display is pretty accurate. I just recently tweaked my Bravo(96) models to reflect the B Upgrade which had the HUD from the D model installed. I didn't make it exactly the same, as I would like at least some differentiation between my models, but I did at least drop the side scale bars in favor of actual text and add the heading indicator at the top. Also switched out the guncross, though I did keep the heatseeker lock from the A-ish model. Seems to be a nice mesh.

Saisran, You should check the stats on whatever version of the Raptor you are using. Mine is the one from the Operation Darius download, and like the Super Hornet pack, the fuel load was way off. Raptors carry just under 20k internally, something like 18,900 give or take. Before fixing it, the version I was flying started out with close to 36,000lbs. Believe you me, that extra 9 tons makes a lot of difference. no matter how much thrust a bird has. I re-learned a valuable lesson tonight going 1v1 against the Super Bug: there is a time to have your head outside the cockpit, and a time not to. I was having a lot of trouble maintaining my energy until I took a moment and padlocked on the HUD to pay attention to converting airspeed to degrees per second sustained turn rate. Before that I was always inside his turn, nose almost on but not good enough and turning to tight for a good missile shot. He'd be at about 350kts and I'd bounce up and down between 220-340. We'd just end up going around and around. Once I started checking that my turn rate was just enough to allow me to accelerate in burner and have a good degree per second return, next thing you know I'm on his tail and pulling for a guns kill. Lesson here boys and girls, sometimes you have to stick to what your bird does best and not worry about what the other guy is doing. As long as he is in front of you that is, lol.

I tinkered around with the F-14D flight model in the old Jane's Fighters Anthology, but that was because it was the same as the F-14A flight model, thrust and all, which was not cool. So far I've found in the B's and D's I can turn with just about anything below about 15,000ft, above that I really have to keep my energy up or I lose control authority real quick. From what I understand that was definitely true about the A models. I've heard that they even had problems refueling from Air Force tankers: they would have to pop in and out of afterburner to keep from stalling out, which of course meant they were burning fuel almost as fast as they were taking it in. I know that several times in Operation Northern Saber, when I have had to intercept a group of Tu-16s at >35,000ft it would get really difficult if I was down to guns only. This being in the A model of course. Haven't experienced that situation with a Bravo or Delta yet. Hopefully it should be significant better, tough I don't expect it to be easy.

Admittedly while I will tinker with the .ini's regarding service years and fuel loads (to make them actually realistic, I'm sorry the F-22 does not carry 35,000lbs of JP-5 internally), I haven't messed with thrust, lift vs drag, corner rates and the like. I think it's a self-imposed strict adherence to the idea of flying the fighter you have to the best of it's ability while not allowing your enemy to use his advantages. If we make our plane better at doing what the other plane does well, is just feels like it's not really DACT, not really flying, and more tweaking the software. At the same time, don't get me wrong, I would have loved to see a fully digital fly-by-wire Tomcat, maybe even with some X-31 thrust vectoring nozzles. Flankers eat your hearts out. But even then, instantaneous turn performance become the premium and really flying your jet to the limits of it ability is negated by only needing to make that first turn right. It's kinda like Peyton Manning vs. (old, Atlanta Falcons) Michael Vick. When you are one read and run, you are not really a "Quarterback". Granted, there are times flying 1v1 where realistically I probably would not have stayed to fight for 12 minutes to see who won, I would have extended and bugged out first chance I got after maybe 5 minutes. I have definitely done it during campaigns where part of the point is to survive long term. Anyway, just my two cents for the evening. Peace, J

Ok, here's me trying to decipher some of the lingo: I've noticed decals are usually .TGA, are the .BMPs that you place in the aircraft folder also considered decals? That was what I was messing with, the BMPs. So, on that note, I finally got it to work going off some of what I read in the tutorial. I had to save it as a 24bit (R8 G8 B8), and make sure not to use the lower case extension. Whatever that did, it worked. Check it out: Left Side Right side Admittedly, it's not completely accurate, but then VF-191 never got to fly the D anyway, so not gonna strain myself too much worrying about historical accuracy on a should have but didn't happen reality :/ Thanks for the help, let's hope I don't start going crazy here, lol.

Ok, as usual, I have been mucking around where I have no knowledge and I've screwed something up. So, here's what's up. I'm trying to create a skin for a VF-191 F-14D. I chose to go what seemed to be the easiest route available, since I can't seem to access the default tail decals from the game: take a relatively blank .bmp skin and put the markings on it I want. I've seem this plenty of times from Skins I've downloaded on here. Enter using my sister's photoshop, tail markings etc. done. Drop them in, and now nothing from those bmp's are showing up on the plane, not the tail markings, heck, not even the tail, or wings, fo that matter. Nice two-tone grey and black. Checking things, I've noticed the smallest Photoshop will let me save it as a bitmap is 16bit. I noticed most of the others are 8bit. Is this the cause of the problem and if so, how do I fix it, and if not, what is, and how do I fix it. Thanks all

VF-51 and VF-111 weren't paired together until they transitioned to Phantoms in 1971. Previously VF-51 was with Air Wing 5 (tail code NF, VA-22 was also assigned, flying the A-4F) paired with VF-53 Iron Angels. VF-111 was assigned to Air Wing 16 (Tail code AH) and paired with VF-162 Hunters. As mentioned earlier though, they would often send detachments to the USS Intrepid which would temporarily wear AK tail codes of Intrepid.

I've mentioned this on another thread, and admittedly haven't checked for a reply: the Super Hornet Blocks I and II download is off. I don't know whether this was by design or not. I've fixed my to where it carries the appropriate fuel load, but I haven't checked the thrust. I can say it made a difference when I took a Tomcat vs Super Bug 1 v 1. Before the fix it was over, quick! After, I was still able to take the Bug down, but it required a bit more effort. It was noticeable how weighed down it was with all the gas, so I don't think the thrust has been adjusted, but I could be wrong. I would like to know about E/F (EPE) downloads or settings, that would be interesting having a better T-W ratio. I don't fly the bug a lot, but when I do I tend to keep it out of the pure vertical arena.

I did three quick 1 v 1's tonight, one was a legacy Hornet vs the Flanker, sorry, no pics though, I didn't think about getting on until after. Was over very quick. After the merge Flankers turned right, I turned leftish in a high G, half loop/half barrel roll. Came out with him crossing just across my nose about 1/4 mile out, left to right. Just angled in behind him, let him get some separation, Fox-2, Boom! The next two were eerily similar. 2nd was F-16CM vs Flanker. After the initial turns ended up vertically looping while he was turning decent circles around me, eventually got into a quick scissors. About the second or third pass he was floating at high alpha, but I think he didn't have enough energy. I just pulled nose on and gunned him at REALLY close range, like .1 miles. It was like he was trying to pull the Cobra right in my face. Bad move, huge target cross section. Last fight was a Delta Tomcat vs. Flanker. I usually go full internal fuel, but I thought this time, I'd drop it to a more realistic combat weight at 12,000 lbs. After the first pass, went into a high G barrel rolling scissors, with me just a shade out front. As I got slower, I was gaining a few angles on him at a time, but not much, still having to watcn my energy. And almost like a repeat from the last mission, I reverse and he's right there hanging again, high deflection, close, close range. Boom, 20 mike-mike, he practically blows up in my face. Definitely one of those times I wish I could record my fights. Maybe on down the road. J

Ok, as promised, photos to go along with DACT debrief Bandit: MiG-29C, 4 R-73 Archers, full internal fuel, no tanks Me: F-14B (96): 4 AIM-9M, full internal fuel, no tanks I had to do this one twice, first time Ivan got saucy and fired at the merge, I'm tempted to degrade them to Aphids, but I like the challenge all aspect gives, so we'll see. Starts out 20 miles out, head to head intercept course, roughly 16,000 ft, 450 kts. Pop flares and aileron roll/tight barrel roll as we merge. He ends up slightly above at about 1:30 high, and begins a descending right turn. I roll about 30 degrees off vertical and pull, keeping things in a somewhat vertically inclined one circle fight. As I come over the top, rudder right twisting, he is about 5000ft below me, still in the right hand turn, but beginning to come back up. Even though it is high deflection, I have a good tone from the 'winders, Fox 2. He pops flares which decoy the missile, then as he finishes the shallow climbing turn to the right he breaks back to the left. Meanwhile, since my initial shot at him was nose down it allowed me to do two things: a. situate my lift vector so as to keep my nose generally pointed at him as I leveled off out of my dive, and b. maintain a pretty decent amount of energy. When he cuts back left, he's about 30 degrees off boresight, but moving across my nose. I just wait for a good Sidewinder tone and fire Fight lasted about 35 seconds. I've noticed from a few fights not to go purely vertical if I'm not doing around 500-550 kts, because when I come back over the top my energy level will be right on the edge of low (320kts) to the point that if I have to make any sudden moves, I'm going to bleed that energy really, really quick. At the .95 Mach arena, I tend to end up right in the sweet spot of turn performance, around 360knts. I was really pleased with this engagement after having a couple of marathon 15 min ones a few days ago. "I'm not going to sit here and blow sunshine up your ___, Lieutenant, a good pilot is compelled to always evaluate what's happened, so he can apply what he's learned" Hmmmm, I think that's what this whole thread is kinda about, lol Peace, J