Sweet summer F/A-18 Eagle

Games
21

Aint noone gonna give you a callsign unless you join a squad and they give you one.

As for sucking at it… it’s pretty hard to suck at hornet. It is one user friendly piece of machinery. Sure you will not stick a three-wire at first try. That’s why the game teaches you to fly with interactive training thingers.

Dude tells you to push this button, highlights it, you push it and kerPOW! the mig blows up. (<< easy abridged version that, the reality of it is 15 buttons and the thing stops making beeps and boops and you got to do the migkilling yourself)

Learning to fly aint easy. But its fun. And given enough gumption, everybody can fly a virtual jet. You can prang [crash] em as much as you like, unlike real life! And theres always helpful people on the internet (eg me) to answer questions or even coach n00bs on an online server.

You go get your little miss sunshine. She HAWT!

image

22

I’m still curious why you’re so stoked about this, @anklebiter. I can understand it being the new shiny, but it doesn’t sound like it does anything DCS or IL-2 didn’t already do.

Also, the F-14 is cooler than the F-18. And neither can hold a candle to the A-10. Boom. Wisdom dropped, beeyotches!

-Tom

23

I’m stoked for a few reasons. First, has any game allowed you to sit in an F/A-18 in VR at this level of fidelity and fly it until now?

Second, it’s a matter of integrity. F/A18 is iconic in PC game history. Hornet simulations have represented the pinnacle of the genre over time. Eagle Dynamics management represents that legacy. Matt Wagner is lauded for his work on Janes F/A-18E.

The fact that they have released this title means something. Perhaps all the high claims about a dynamic multiplayer DCS WORLD will be realized. Given the quality of the release today, I’m happy to invest in that potential future.

24

Truth.

25

I got no time or patience for flight sims, but this is absolute truth.

26

@anklebiter would your view of this game be as glowing if one doesn’t have VR?

27

Don’t call it a game less you get the ludology police on your case.

Yea it works in 2d on a screen. Some people actually prefer it that way. Just better with goggles imo.

28

I have a trackIR and a large, curved widescreen monitor - but I will take VR over that any day. I will qualify that - if you are learning the controls / HOTAS bindings it’s helpful to fly using 2D so you can read reference cards/get the muscle memory going (which was my approach to getting back into things). Once you’re comfortable (and assuming you are not overly prone to VR sickness) it’s hard to justify not using VR. The immersion is crazy. I played micropose F-15 back in the day on my ZX spectrum. Google that and have a laugh. It’s just insane how far we’ve come since then - And VR is like the childhood dream I had of getting to fly in one of those projection military simulators. The sharpness can definitely improve - but one quickly becomes used to using the VR zoom to offset that.

29

Does it have the correct number of rivets? I can’t tell from these screenshots.

30

No, on the third aft dorsal bulkhead, there are only five rivets visible while anybody worth his salt would know there should be six. You are right, it is a worthless piece of crap and noone in their right mind would waste a single penny on it.

(in case anybody lacks a sarcasm detector, the above is written in irony)

31

Short answer, no. Long answer below.

Unreal is a good analogy. I did play that game in software rendering (and on a Mac). It was a perfectly competent first person shooter, and if you enjoyed the genre, you could get excited about the experience, but that’s not what garnered the press.

It was hardware rendering, and what was possible with dedicated gaming cards. That transition was somewhat of a golden age for video-gaming, with every new title being amazing and with huge interest. E3 expos in those years were a freaking circus.

The transition to VR is similar, but not a perfect evolution, as some had hoped. Except for cockpit games. For that genre, VR is a much larger leap than initial hardware rendering.

I’ll be just as excited about Mechwarrior 5, in full VR when they release it. I hope they are making it.

The Hornet is a perfect platform for gaming. It looks cool, is fast as hell and has full air and ground capabilities.

F-14 as a jet might be cooler looking, but lacks ground capability. The A-10 is slow as a dog and can’t hold it’s own against a Flanker. Also no carrier operations with A-10. There is a reason Hornet is iconic in the genre.

Full disclosure: This release does not yet have ground capabilities making it no better than some Tomcat sim :)

But I trust in the legacy and know that my 80 dollar investment will develop ground operations. In the meantime, I’m going after some Flankers, and then landing on an aircraft carrier. At my slow pace of gaming, by the time I master that, the freaking dynamic campaign will be released, no to mention cool TV guided Mavericks.

Landing on an aircraft carrier in VR is mind blown. Did somebody compare this to train simulator?

32

Ahem

What? I can’t hear you. You need to speak louder. MUCH louder

33

How am I supposed to laugh on the internet again? Is “lol” too oldschool or am I supposed to say “Ha Ha”?.

That guy in the first video had time to clean his lens, stab at his iphone screen to focus and compose his shot before worrying about the jet flying past.

A-10 is great blowing up Flankers on the ground, but a dedicated flight in the air would destroy them, unless some Hornets were up there protecting of course…

34

Just as an FYI, F-14’s were outfitted with ground attack packages:

As a Strike Fighter, the Tomcat is capable of deploying an assortment of air-to-ground ordnance (MK-80 series GP bombs, LGBs and JDAM) in various configurations, while simultaneously carrying the AIM-7, AIM-9 and AIM-54 air-to-air missiles. The F-14 also has the LANTIRN targeting system that allows delivery of various laser-guided bombs for precision strikes in air-to-ground combat missions and for battle damage assessment.

35

I’d be all about an F14D sim, but they cancelled that jet a long time ago, and right when they were making breakthroughs with cool air to ground technologies.

F/A-18C continues in service today.

Edit: Tomcat was air to air most of its service and only became ground capable right before being cancelled.

36

… almost as if someone got paid off, lol

37

I forget, how many AIM-54s can an F-18 carry? Maybe one of you guys can remind me.

-Tom

38

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Bummer. This is literally the first time I wished I had a VR package.

39

Oh come on. That analog thing never hit nothin’ :)

120s are SO advanced these days.

40

They got a whole stackload of Oculus Rifts sitting in your friendly neighborhood Best Buy right now. About the cost of a graphics card.

Kinda like buying a Voodoo for Unreal :)