This is a real issue. IL-2, BMS, and DCS 2.0 did aircraft scaling in a different way. Have a look over here:
www.reddit.com/r/hoggit
Kolbex
3663
Well, I didnāt at a glance see anything about it on the Hoggit front page, but as a consolation prize I now know there is a squadron called the Pukin Dogs, and I desperately want their livery on my Tomcat.
jpinard
3664
F4 has model scaling? Which version of F4? All of them?
Model scaling should be mandatory for all Sims, plus the Total War series where fighting with ants isnāt cool.
schurem
3665
I find dot labels pretty satisfactory. That and just having a feel for things from doing it a lot and tacviewing some stuff.
I distinctly remember it in OpenFalcon (way back in the day) and BMS (up until now, unless thatās changed recently).
I heartily concur that it should be a requirementāeven VR goggles arenāt a real solution, given that the two major difficulties in spotting aircraft in PC games are lack of contrast with the ground and of long-range transient reflections.
Kolbex
3667
I did manage, after a LOT of go-arounds, to finally find, fix and destroy the Su-25 in the AIM-9 tutorial. Baby steps.
schurem
3668
I murdered all the things in those tutes but that was HELL. Going a little low helps. Cheating with F2 views helps (F5 view is also disabled, bastards). Floggers make nice smoke trails and at a distance, Jester will pick 'em up on his radar set.
You are also a VR player. The lower res helps with DCS 2.5 visibility. For those of us going 1080 or higher, itās a real problem.
schurem
3670
ā¦ When combined with dot labels for anything further out than a km or so.
I just flew the most awesome couple of 1v1 gun duels vs the AI. The first one was vs a Su-27 over Georgia. By the fifth or sixth turn Jester called out ācome on man, do some of that pilot shit!ā. That was cool. I also gunned down the crane. Too easy comrade! The second fight was a tough as nails losing scrap vs a viper. He was on my six. Only in a scissor just after a couple of yo-yoās that left us both riding the burners on the edge of a stall did I get a passing squirt off. I missed. Round and round we went, me defensive at least half the time. And every time I could go offensive, heād just slip away. And then I glimpsed my fuel state! Time to turn the blowers off and knock it off. The AI does not understand āknock it offā so he kept coming. I turned, I twisted. Kicked the big olā cat all over the sky (at high AoA you roll with the pedals). And then the viper just bit the dust. Maneouver-kill. Very carefully (only 2k in the tank) and with a huge hairy pair dangling in the wind I flew back and landed on Nellis.
That tomcat labels mod works. Much easier to read. Too bad he didnāt also re-do the caution panel.
Kolbex
3671
Haha, I was just telling my girlfriend that thatās my favorite thing heās said so far.
Oh hell no. You can pry my dirty ass cockpit labels from my cold, dead hands. The truly lived-in look of the thing is one of my favorite things about it. Those canopy scratches glistening in the sunā¦
Kolbex
3672
Canāt say I know what Iām doing in the air, but Iām really enjoying taking screenshots:
schurem
3673
Heh yeah me too, but while learning whatās what and what it does, I prefer readable. The canopy scratches are still present tho. Most other planes have them too.
Kolbex
3674
I guess they turn the parking brake off for you in the tutorials? I loaded up a custom mission and just could not find a keybinding for it anywhere. Finally found the actual cockpit handle, but by then Iād accidentally fucked my nosewheel and couldnāt taxi properly. Frustrating.
Kolbex
3676
Made my first foray into the mission editor because I wanted a mission where I could focus on using the Phoenix from long range and also try mid-air refueling. After a few false starts (eventually changed it to land-based instead of carrier-based takeoff because I couldnāt get the catapult to work; probably requires some scripting I donāt know how to attach yet) I got into the air, got Jester to lock on with the STT radar andā¦the missiles wonāt fire. Have my HUD set to A/A. Have the master arm switch on. Have the MSL PREP button on. Have the stick switch set to SP/PH. Nothing. No launch, no anything. Guess itās time to watch a 20 minute(!) video on how to use the Phoenix, sigh.
schurem
3677
The phoenix comes off after you depress the button for like 3 seconds. Big olā whoosh! and off it goes. They used to call it āthe buffaloā and for a good reason.
The armament selctor switch goes sideways from SP(arrow) on the real thing. I mapped that as stickhat right on my stick.
Good luck and enjoy finding these things out. It what makes it fun! Phoenix can go very far but is not very maneouverable at the end, so vs a small and agile target itās no better than AMRAAM. But for the big, lumbering targets it was intended for (Bear, Backfire and Kitchen) itās perfect.
Kolbex
3678
Oh man, I forgot about the three second thing. I did read that in the manual. Seems odd that thereās no sound or any other cue when you get that wonderful growl from the Sidewinder.
schurem
3679
I think thumping off Phoenixās is usually miss daisyās job. He has a nice red button he can jam his left thumb into to make the freedom and democracy go whoosh.
It also makes sense as a safety. Do I really really wanna fire off this million dollar monster at that blip knowing it is going to home in on anything it finds at the end of its run? And that blip is not something you are going to get VID on.
But mostly its for technical reasons. This is mid 70s technology. Some data needs to be uploaded to the missile on launch and that shit used to take time. Sparrow oughta have a bit of a firing delay too for that reason.
Kolbex
3680
Yeah, forgot about the telemetry. When I was searching up a reason for the 3-second delay, I found this article, where the pilot talks about how he and his RIO each tried to get the other to fire:
Funny stuff.
Kolbex
3681
Man, I love this bird. This is it, the module thatās gonna get me to stick with DCS. Itās already got me messing around in the mission editor! Hell, I might even RIO it up in MP.
