I am a bit sad that we couldn’t see the RIO seat in the video.
I don’t care much about textures, I want to see it work. 
But what we did see looked top notch.
Can’t wait to get into that machine myself.
And when I do so, I hope I will be able to find some pilots that don’t want to use Jester but try out a (initially bad) human RIO.
Bloody heck…
It’s amazing.
@Aginor I would love to learn this with someone else. If your interested in teaming up with an old bugger like me 
Maybe this one…
I can’t wait to see all the helmet art mod packs. I hope that can be a completely separate texture for both the pilot and RIO, and separate from the aircraft texture…
Because I want to see Porkins staring back at me in the mirror.
That aint no bug, I dont know any bugs that go Grrrrrrrawrrr in the dark.
That video says to me that the A-4 is the one y’all should be practicing with if you’re hyped about the F-14.
“Tell Meg I love her.” is probably going to be my new catch phrase.
I see a lot of people that are new to DCS trying to convince themselves that buying the F-14 over the F-18 is a great idea. If there is one thing I took away from Jabber’s video, it’s that despite being a “looker”, the Tomcat is a handful and doesn’t have a lot of the QoL features that the F-18 has. The great thing about the Hornet, is how “user-friendly” and forgiving it is as a weapons platform. It’s a great intro to navy flying in DCS and offers a lot of different things to do.
I never answer those forum questions (What should I buy?) because a lot of the times I feel that if you’re writing that, in a way you’ve already made up your mind and are looking to be convinced of what you already want to do.
Here is my answer, buy the F-18.
That being said, the F-14 looks to be another quality product with the highest of production values; The Viggen was a treasure! Looking very much forward to the F-14’s DCS debut as well as the ensuing over saturation of Tomcat drivers.
I too think a bit like that.
Some seems to think “aha yeah I can deal with anything. I already know I’ll be a Tomcat Ace!”
Flying planes is hard. Fighting in planes is hard.
A bird like the Tomcat is the sum of the two squared with a little help from the GiB.
Honestly? I wouldn’t surprise to see very little Tomcat on DCS servers after the initial rush.
That is, beside Virtual Squadron that are going to have the time of their lives! 
Yeah, it’s going to take some effort, to be efficient in the Cat…
No one will care about Hornets or Tomcats once DCS: F-16 is released. muahahahahahahaaaaaa!!! 
Make mine a Viper, baby. 
Oh boy…I knew the Tomcat was going to be a handful, but holy hell! I’m definitely going to have to put on my big boy pants and break some habits while learn to fly the Cat. Specifically I’m going to have to get into the habit of actually using the rudder inflight.
Is it a case of using opposite rudder to direction of turn or the other way round
The several, “This issuing to be holy hell to learn how to fly”, comments got me thinking…
The F-14 RAG (VF-101 Grim Reapers) was several months long for both pilots and RIOs. I wonder if somebody has the UNCLAS,“how to fly the jet” part of the RAG syllabus around?
Unfortunately I will probably be a bit busy / distracted with family matters for an indeterminate time. When I can I will try to contact info for one of my former squadron-mates and see what he has.
They also had a RAG syllabus for squadron intel officers…but I’m pretty sure we all know how to make coffee by now. 
Not to mention the fine art of cross controlling when your join up speed is too fast…
So, a few observations:
That video leaves me with the impression that not only must the pilot be skilled, but the RIO as well. Yes, Jester is a very cool system, but looking at how he’s controlled through the wheel leads me to believe that good human RIOs will be in demand just as much as pilots will be. It will be very interesting to see the dynamics evolve in this regard, because the extra layer of managing Jester for a lone player will clearly set them back over two guys who can work as a team.
As has already been said, the rudder is going to trip a lot of players up. This ties in with what I mentioned earlier about the A-4, because it tends to encourage rudder use in order to fly effectively, especially in the low speed and high AOA regimes. I don’t believe rudder pedals will be needed per se, but I do think a lot of acclimatization will be needed in order to learn coordinated inputs. As time goes on, I suspect it will become less an issue as players get more time with the module.
I firmly believe that unless one enjoys the strike mission and the air superiority mission – and exclusively those two missions – they will become bored with the Turkey in short order. Yes, technically the FAC(A) and a pseudo-AWACS mission are open, but I don’t see those being used a lot due to how most scenarios are built and designed, coupled with the limited space we have to play in. In addition, both of those missions would require two competent players rather than just one.
As difficult as it is for a lot of people to admit, this also makes it very clear why the Bug and Super Bug were picked by the USN. The broad spectrum of missions that the Bug can fill, even if marginally, coupled with only having to train a single crew member, make it that much more advantageous over a larger, more complex, more expensive aircraft. An aircraft that does something marginally well does it better than an aircraft that can’t do it at all.
After the luster of the Turkey wears off, I suspect a lot of people will roll back to the Bug for both the relative ease of flying it as well as the width and breadth of missions it can complete. Those that remain on the Turkey will likely be dedicated to the strike and/or air superiority roles and do them very well.
I will strive to do them well. The reality of it will be I will do them marginally better than a stack of bricks and a squirrel 
At least I’ll have fun doing it
