DCS F14 Tomcat

Has anyone else bought the F14? I had my first look at it yesterday and it is certainly a very interesting - and I suspect challenging - plane to come to grips with. From its manual, it appears to have the longest and most detailed pre-flight and startup checklist / procedure of any DCS module. The Jester AI is initiative. It can help you with the pre-flight / startup checklist by reading out the checklist items and displaying a quick graphic of the relevant switches and knobs.

To busy learning the Harrier.'Kirks Hanger' appears to be a popular server for Tomcats.

I was just going to ask if anyone was interested in learning how to fly the F14 as two man crews. Could be a lot of fun to play with it that way.

I'd like to get the F-14, but I can't justify the price unless there is a commitment as a group to learn and fly it. My F-18 purchase last year taught me that I can't be trusted to do this on my own. I also don't believe I have what it takes to play as the RIO effectively, but if last night is any indication, I should be able to get us back on the flight deck in one piece.

Very happy to get up to speed as a two man F14 team. Would particularly like to learn the RIO role. Now sure how well it would work with the front seater in Canada and the back seater in Australia - but certainly willing to give it a try.

Wolverine - what time / day would suit you? Other than our normal F86 sorties on Friday & Sunday (my time), the only bad time / day for me is Wednesday (my time) as I have a regular commitment.

Right now, I should be able to do Monday night and/or Wednesday night my time (Tuesday/Thursday late morning your time).

I could probably arrange to do our usual starting time on those days. I'll look to purchase the F-14 later tonight. It definitely looks like a challenge to learn, for either seat. I'm a big fan of co-op multiplayer of this style. Had great fun flying bombers in IL-2 '46 days with full crew.

StiC wrote:I'd like to get the F-14, but I can't justify the price unless there is a commitment as a group to learn and fly it. My F-18 purchase last year taught me that I can't be trusted to do this on my own. I also don't believe I have what it takes to play as the RIO effectively, but if last night is any indication, I should be able to get us back on the flight deck in one piece.

How so with the F-18 StiC? Is the module not up to snuff or rather that more of us aren't flying it? I know a ton of people were disappointed with that aircraft that VEAO did before they closed up shop.

No, the F-18 is an incredible module. I just don't have the motivation to fly it alone. The real incentive comes from flying ss a group.

Does anyone else have the F-18?

The pilot role of the F-14 really interests me because I have a hard time flying and managing all of the systems of modern jet fighters.

StiC wrote:No, the F-18 is an incredible module. I just don't have the motivation to fly it alone. The real incentive comes from flying ss a group.

Does anyone else have the F-18?

The pilot role of the F-14 really interests me because I have a hard time flying and managing all of the systems of modern jet fighters.

That's kind of been my hesitance with all the modern jets in DCS. They're so detailed that they're basically a full time job to learn them, just as they should be I suppose.

I think part of the reason we've not tried our hand at moving to F-18s is that we've been enjoying our Sabres so much and we still have a lot of value there. If the F-18 hits a sale price at some point that looks good, I'm pretty sure I'd pick it up, if only for the fact that it is an actual currently operational 401 squadron aircraft.

I have the F18 and like flying it - however, I agree that learning the weapons / sensor / counter-measure systems on the modern planes is quite time consuming and is best done with the assistance of others.

Wolverine - both Tuesday / Thursday mornings (my time) are OK for me. I have been making up the pilot and RIO checklists from the manual so I can put them in my kneeboard. I will send you a pdf copy once I complete them and have them in a format / style that works with the kneeboard. Do you use Kneeboard Builder? I will also set up a Mission that we can use for practice on a private server.

|450|Devil wrote:I have the F18 and like flying it - however, I agree that learning the weapons / sensor / counter-measure systems on the modern planes is quite time consuming and is best done with the assistance of others.

Wolverine - both Tuesday / Thursday mornings (my time) are OK for me. I have been making up the pilot and RIO checklists from the manual so I can put them in my kneeboard. I will send you a pdf copy once I complete them and have them in a format / style that works with the kneeboard. Do you use Kneeboard Builder? I will also set up a Mission that we can use for practice on a private server.

If the DCS dedicated server tool works well enough, we could possibly host a server ourselves for Tomcat training.

Wolverine wrote:If the DCS dedicated server tool works well enough, we could possibly host a server ourselves for Tomcat training.

Any chance of adding aircraft, like the F-18, for others to tag along or give the F-14 guys something to play with.

Cavey tested his dedicated server out last night. It worked well but needs some more tweaking as it would not let a player leave the server after he disconnected. Therefore, he could not rejoin the server.

Cavey will be refining it over the next few days.

We will need some missions for this server once it is operational. I am working on some A4 Skyhawk training missions at the moment.

The A4 could be included in future missions with the F14 and F18.

Squiz

There appears to be some problems with the F14 Kneeboard. When I first tried it it booted me out of the game when I tried to turn a page back. Turns out this is a known bug and there is a temporary fix (removing the 3.lua file from the H:\DCS World OpenBeta\Mods\aircraft\F14\Cockpit\KNEEBOARD\pages folder). However, after making my custom F14 Kneeboard in Kneeboard builder it does not show up when I use the F14 Kneeboard in Open Beta version. I can however, put up the Pilot and RIO checklists on my separate monitor as a work-around.

For those interested the pdf files for the F14 Pilot and RIO Checklists can be downloaded from my DropBox

https://www.dropbox.com/s/689w7a0a419b0rq/F14%20Pilot%20Checklists.pdf?dl=0


https://www.dropbox.com/s/sp2nv8xz3d6i3zy/F14%20RIO%20Checklists.pdf?dl=0

Got the F-14 and had a quick jaunt in it under free flight just to get the feel of flying it. Very interesting! Definitely going to be interesting engaging targets with such a powerful ride.

Why don't we try for Thursday morning your time, Dev. I'll have a look at those boards you posted. The hardest part right now will probably be getting the controls I need mapped....

Same here - mapping the controls will be a big task. Learning the plane will be even bigger. Barring real life I will be on at 2400 GMT Wednesday (1100 Thursday morning my time). I have made a MP mission with A4s, F14s and F18s that I can put up in MP. It is very basic with two A4s, two F14s and two F18s available from Sukhumi and one A4, one F14 and one F18 ready for launch on USS Stennis. There is also a S-3B Tanker that is available for air to air refueling.

Nothing to shoot at but good for take-offs, landings, launches and recoveries and air to air refueling of course.

Thanks Devil.

Thanks Dev, I should be able to join you for and hour or so from 2400Z as I have lunch arranged with a couple of RAN A4 pilots, Gary Northern and John Hamilton. (I have a small video on my iPhone which will show them how easy it is to land on an aircraft carrier! - I won't tell them how many tries I had to get a good landing.)

Squiz