|
It is nice to see you improving at landings through the campaign.
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2013 07:31
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 05:26 |
|
|
You know for all the poo poo the F-4 Phantom gets, it actually seemed pretty solid for what it was made to do. No guns was a bad choice, but one they learned from, and beyond that, it could get to a place fast, release missiles and then get out ahead of pursuit. Once the missiles caught up to the potential of the plane, it seems like the Phantom was damned powerful in the sky.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2013 08:04
|
|
|
Gothsheep posted:Once the missiles caught up to the potential of the plane, it seems like the Phantom was damned powerful in the sky. Veloxyll posted:It is nice to see you improving at landings through the campaign.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2013 18:30
|
|
|
Very true. I might rag on the Phantom for the unorthodox wisdom of having to rely on temperamental missiles at first, but it grew into a very capable aeroplane. I think it's appropriate that we got to fly the Phantom anyway, seeing as Germany retired its last Phantoms a few months back. Did I say that before? If so, ignore me! And I might be poking around things that Selenic Martian's going to cover later on, but am I correct in assuming the Radar Warning Receiver will just use the same search/launch tones for all SAMs in Strike Fighters 2? If not I'll be surprised and mildly impressed. By the way, I believe the SA-2 "Guideline" was intended to harpoon NATO bombers, or at least that's what my hazy memory is telling me. Another interesting tidbit is the arms race between the SAMs and their targets. For example, after a certain point SA-2s were provided with a facility that allowed them to pre-"warm" the radar so that it was raring to go as soon as a target popped into view.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2013 19:44
|
|
|
There's only one pair of RWR tones, yes. However, the later RWR screens will ID the exact radar type with icons.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2013 19:47
|
|
|
Well, perhaps I'm giving Third Wire too little credit, but at least they did that. e: I was simultaneously surprised and unsurprised by you landing so hard that you phased through the carrier deck. I always find myself wondering just how "solid" carriers in flight sims are.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2013 19:51
|
|
|
Soup Inspector posted:Well, perhaps I'm giving Third Wire too little credit, but at least they did that. Apparently making landings on something static is easy, but getting a moving object to land on another moving object is bullshit difficult because the engine freaks out seems to be pretty common.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2013 20:29
|
|
|
S05E05: 1968 (A Realistic Outcome) 1968.01.30  Go there, shoot MiGs - got it! The mission video  In which I swear, I wasn't hanging a Chekhov's gun in the first episode of the season  Just like in the action movies, he had only one day till retirement.  With the RoE on, the AI barely ever gets to use the AIM-7. For now.  The roster  The medal, earned through supreme asshattery. But you can get it without dying, too. 1968.03.12 Now, since the F-8C run is done, let's pretend our Quincey McGraw, while not flying the Navy missions, was moonlighting with the USMC.   Armed recon in the rain. It's nice on the developer's part not to inform the player about the weather. An air-to-ground mission is not that bad, all the loadout options considered.  The mission video  In which the Frescos are still dicks  Another common end to this campaign.  There's something I didn't use once in the entire flight. Can you see it? And finally, the defeat screen.  Go ahead and compare the text to the text of the win screen in the previous update. I'll wait here. The victory and the defeat pictures of this campaign actually resemble an attempt at artwork. The models are manually placed, the people are visible, the flags are... there. These pictures hail back to Wings Over Vietnam, which was also the last TW game to have some unique visual design in the menus. After that it's generic lists with swapped background screenshots all the way. We're not done with Nam just yet. Merry Frescos, and may a low-flying Satan dump a juicy Walleye down your chimney. SelenicMartian fucked around with this message at 18:00 on Aug 22, 2014 |
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2013 06:48
|
|
|
SelenicMartian posted:
That wouldn't happen to be the cannon, would it? Ironic, considering the Crusader's moniker, but it did allow for a salutary lesson in never underestimating the trusty gun, as you said in the video.
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2013 20:32
|
|
|
Sub-Season 6A. Rolling Thunder - Bait and Switch (F-105D Thunderchief (66)) quote:Dear Mum, Come 1966, all Thuds finally wear camo, and a few months later...  Gradually it gets more stuff to carry.  Who thought, that calling a jammer pod AN/AL-anything was a good idea? Especially with that shape. Also, observe the AIM-9E (arrives in '67) and the lack of AIM-9D. Between AIM-9B and AIM-9L the Sidewinder development was split into two quite separate and incompatible branches, serving Navy and Air Force. We'll see more of them later. I grabbed some maps and tried to find the fabled Thud Ridge. Thud Ridge is the nickname of the mountain area to the north-west of Hanoi, which let pilots reach their targets running a lower risk of getting perforated by SAMs. It wasn't entirely safe, but the alternative was approaching Hanoi in view of the most experienced SAM operators on the planet. So, I took this height map of Thud Ridge, took the flat physical map of Vietnam, and arrived at this conclusion:  Which, by the way, has a much better contrast than the blob on the Wikipedia page. Let's look at that area on the game map. Most of the time it's covered by NVAF squadron icons, so I went back to 1965.  Oh... there's no "ridge" to speak of, just an elevated bump on the map. And the map is downscaled, so flying over there has no real purpose, since you're in every SAM's range, before you even approach it. Still, I want a course, that takes us through some mountains, and I shall have it.  The B-reel  I knew it! I'm surrounded by assholes!In which YGBSM is the word of the day 
SelenicMartian fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Aug 22, 2014 |
|
#
?
Dec 26, 2013 17:10
|
|
|
That was pretty fun to watch, particularly since I've got a book that focuses specifically on the back-and-forth arms race between the F-105Ds and the SA-2 Guidelines. It's been quite a while since I last read it though, so I can't toss out any fun facts off the top of my head.
|
|
#
?
Dec 26, 2013 18:14
|
|
|
Satan would have been the most boss name  ...Great Satan, F-4III? I do recall seeing a Strike Fighters 2 MiG video which claimed that the early F-4 radars had lovely... vertical sideview capability? Like, it couldn't see targets approaching from the sides. Know anything about that? Just how wide a cone does your radar toss anyhow? Pimpmust fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Dec 26, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 26, 2013 20:27
|
|
|
Pimpmust posted:I do recall seeing a Strike Fighters 2 MiG video which claimed that the early F-4 radars had lovely... vertical sideview capability? Like, it couldn't see targets approaching from the sides. Know anything about that? Just how wide a cone does your radar toss anyhow? Those things can have all kinds of strange limits. I remember reading, that the ground mapping radar on F-15E can't scan the terrain directly ahead.
|
|
#
?
Dec 26, 2013 22:24
|
|
|
Sub-Season 6B. Rolling Thunder - The Lord Baldrick (A-7A Corsair II, also featuring A-7C Corsair II)quote:Dear Mum,    One new addition to the arsenal seems interesting, so I'm grabbing that. The B-reel #1  In which I might sound a tad bitter The B-reel #2  In which we're taking all the flak I'll start on Skyhawk in the new year.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2013 06:17
|
|
|
Flying through that high density flak looked really awesome. I guess there is no way to increase the flak amount in the campaigns at least a bit?
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2013 15:17
|
|
|
Imagine what would happen if Strike Fighters 2 had been developed by competent people.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2013 16:10
|
|
|
All the flak shells. None of the hits. Okay one of the hits. Imagine how good this game would be if it told you how to use all these fancy toys.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2013 16:33
|
|
|
Veloxyll posted:Imagine how good this game would be if it told you how to use all these fancy toys. Well some of them has to work properly too.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2013 17:40
|
|
|
Nuramor posted:I guess there is no way to increase the flak amount in the campaigns at least a bit? The way the terrain engine works, adding anything is a pain. There are a few types of "slots" on the map, which get randomly filled (or not) by flak and SAM sites. Some slots get activated only starting with specific years. The problem is, to add each potential gun position you must enter its coordinates. Or rather, you must set the global map coordinates for a new "target area" (or use an existing one), and then you must enter the coordinates for a new AAA/SAM slot relative to the TA's centre. Just like every warehouse, fuel tank and airbase are placed. The kick-in-the-balls catch to doing that is, that there's no WYSIWYG editor. Every industrial complex, AAA emplacement, bridge and whatever must be created by typing numbers into notepad or any other plain text editor of choice. To test you go and boot a mission in the sim with your map, and look around. Really, the people, who expand or make brand new maps working with those "tools", are heroes. Oh, and if you're making a new plane, tank or other 3d object for the game, you can't use just anything. It's 3DS Max 2009 32-bit, or nothing.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2013 18:56
|
|
|
The B-reel got me wondering: is radar directed AAA even modeled in this game? And im not just talking about platforms that had a seperate fire director radar, but with integrated ones like the shilka?
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2013 20:08
|
|
|
Zero grinder posted:The B-reel got me wondering: is radar directed AAA even modeled in this game? And im not just talking about platforms that had a seperate fire director radar, but with integrated ones like the shilka? Also, some modder did find a way to create radar-directed flak batteries, which look like standard SAM sites, but with the launchers craftily swapped out for guns. It does work, and the accuracy is reportedly improved. The engine can do it, but TW won't.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2013 20:18
|
|
|
with all this talk of how incompetent the developer is, are there any games similar that are well put together?
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2013 22:43
|
|
|
Not that I know of with such a roster, but there are WW2 games like IL-2 Sturmovik 1946, and single plane games like the DCS series which causes you to spend up to half an hour just pushing buttons trying to get your plane going. This is really about it when you want a simpler simulation with lots of planes.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2013 22:59
|
|
|
Reminder that after 10 years they still haven't come out with any official way to play with MiGs, even though modders have long since made poo poo like the Flagon flyable  (It's not even a MiG) What would you expect to see first in a Cold War Jets game, some Soviet jets or... the Mustang? You'd think it would be an obvious DLC, what with their nickle-and-dime tactics, and they even got the planes done too except for possibly the cockpits (which once again, modders have made too...)  In fact, pretty sure modders have put together more planes and possibly HUDs than the developer has. Unrelated, but can you attack/sink your own carrier? Or is there no damage model for the carriers?
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2013 23:38
|
|
|
Lock On: Modern Air Combat, made by the same developers as the DCS series, is about the closest you'll ever get to an SF2-style simulator that even approaches the roster that SF2 has, but the oldest plane it contains is the F-15 (essentially starting out where SF2 finishes in terms of era). The latest version, Flaming Cliffs 3, runs in the same engine as DCS and so has a lot of the advantages of things like ridiculously deadly Shilkas and accurately-modeled Patriot SAM systems but without having to click a million buttons to start the plane. Unfortunately due to Ubisoft being goatfuckers as usual you have to have a copy of LOMAC installed to be able to install Flaming Cliffs 3, and it can't be used with the Steam version of DCS World. That being said if you can get everything installed, FC3 is a lot of fun and even the simplistic flight and systems modelling of the FC3 planes feels better than what (vanilla) SF2 has to offer.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2013 00:56
|
|
|
Pimpmust posted:Unrelated, but can you attack/sink your own carrier? Or is there no damage model for the carriers?
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2013 09:34
|
|
|
Season 6. Rolling Thunder - A Classic Vespa (A-4B) We go back to the grim days of narrow rear aspect missiles and unguided bombs, but we miss out on 1965, because the A-4B is late to the party. Our pilot is Wilbur "A Great Santini" Meechum, because The Great Santini was flying an F-4, and, most importantly, because "The Great Santini" is a letter too long for the game's callsign field. The Great Santini was also the murderer in one of the classic episodes of Columbo. S06E01: 1966 (Turning With the Best) 1966.04.01  Another day, another warehouse. They should, probably, stop storing their warez in the open   The loadout screen offers many fun opportunities, although most of them are not immediately obvious.  The roster includes a possible relative of our Crusader pilot. Also, nobody trusts Ed. The mission video  In which we reach the heights of accuracy  Still had a quarter of ammo to spare  The two hits with bombs? The first one did not hit anything, but the second one somehow got credited with hitting a warehouse twice. After watching, can anyone come up with a sane explanation, how the damage sustained by the MiG could've been caused by one hit? SelenicMartian fucked around with this message at 18:02 on Aug 22, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2014 13:40
|
|
|
Well, I'll give it a shot. I believe that it's not unheard of for aircraft ammunition to only have tracers for every [x]th shell; so when you were firing what appeared to be only one round there was possibly several others accompanying it. Therefore, though we saw the tracer hit the wing and take it off, the other shells hit the jet pipe and ignited it. So that's that mystery solved hopefully?
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2014 20:26
|
|
|
SelenicMartian posted:After watching, can anyone come up with a sane explanation, how the damage sustained by the MiG could've been caused by one hit?
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2014 20:34
|
|
|
Soup Inspector posted:So that's that mystery solved hopefully? However, there's only 1 hit recorded in the statistics screen. Just like there was only one enemy hit logged, when my F-8E lost the rudder and a wing. I'm considering magic bullet theories.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2014 20:35
|
|
|
Tracers are almost never fired in all-tracer belts. I've read somewhere that during world war II pilots would aim using the tracers, but they found that because the ballistics are subtly different from the regular rounds only the tracers would actually hit. Some squadrons stopped using tracers in their ammunition belts and recorded a much better hit rate.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2014 00:25
|
|
|
SelenicMartian posted:After watching, can anyone come up with a sane explanation, how the damage sustained by the MiG could've been caused by one hit? Round enters engine, detonates, and departing turbine blades and igniting fuel do the rest. None of these planes are armored, or anything.
|
|
#
?
Jan 5, 2014 07:56
|
|
|
S06E02: 1967 (An Even Wilder Weasel) 1967.01.28  What to pick for air defence suppression? Bombs are neat, but I'll have too many targets. Rockets? And what to wear for a trip Downtown? The mission video  In which my landings stay educational  A good hunt, marred by one casualty (Lindland is MIA). ... Wait, what? Ed, what are you trying to pull?! Nobody is going to believe that rocket accuracy 
SelenicMartian fucked around with this message at 18:02 on Aug 22, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2014 05:04
|
|
|
That giant "frag trench" weaonf or low planes sounds amazing. Honestly I'd almost think you were making it up, it is not too far removed from some of the crazy poo poo in fictional stuff like Area 88.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2014 05:32
|
|
|
It does indeed sound rather metal.  This is the first time I've ever heard of it too - who says LPs never teach you anything?Meanwhile, it looks like Lindland might be enjoying a stay in the "Hanoi Hilton".
|
|
#
?
Jan 7, 2014 23:59
|
|
|
S06E03: 1968 (Wind Up) 1968.01.15  The AIM-9G is, once again, on the menu. That leaves the centre hardpoint free for something big. The mission video  In which the AI finds new ways to underwhelm  Still, Ed "Four" Swindle remains the most interesting man in the squadron. SelenicMartian fucked around with this message at 18:02 on Aug 22, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2014 06:49
|
|
|
How the heck did you get two hits with your Sidewinders? Are they counting the ground a valid target now?
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2014 09:31
|
|
|
VKing posted:How the heck did you get two hits with your Sidewinders? Are they counting the ground a valid target now?
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2014 09:58
|
|
|
Im really liking this LP. So far th Vietnam period has been a favorite of mine and Im awaiting for the future updates, its just sad to see this thread get buried.
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2014 13:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 05:26 |
|
|
Thanks! The new update is less than 12 hrs. away.
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2014 20:26
|
|