I’m looking forward to eventually learning both rolls. My hope is that when you switch to the back-seat, AI pilot takes over and acts like the worlds best auto-pilot while I’m focused on RIO stuff.
I also think the RIO spot will ultimately be the most interesting aspect of fighting in it, and the most complex for Heatblur to implement. They haven’t shown much (anything?) from the back seat. No doubt for early access there will be plenty wrong there.
I know your right Franze… I but why does it hurt so much!
I think your dead on with your assessment mate. Just watching jabbers struggle to stop that spin suggested I may be out of my depth in fairly short order.
As for not needing rudder pedals though…
I’m definitely gonna buy the tomcat. That’s beyond doubt. But I think your right once the rose tint wears off maybe the harrier will remain my weapon of choice
In real life it was also a maintenance thing. I heard the F-14 was horrible in that regard.
This will actually be in. They even gave a name to the AI pilot just like Jester has his. They also said it won’t be as advanced as Jester, which I think is fair.
Iceman was his name 
Had to look it up…
A limited functionality Iceman AI piloting the aircraft in single-player when switching to the rear cockpit.
From the storepage.
Correct. IIRC it was something like 60-80 man hours of maintemce for every flight hour on the turkey, vs 20 for the Bug. Keeping in mind that efficient maintainability was a core requirement guiding the hornets development.
Recalling this from Orr Kelly’s “Hornet: the inside story of the F18” and the “owners workshop” book on the tomcat.
Might have the exact numbers wrong, but I recall the delta between maintence requiremnts being jaw dropping.
That said, the now aging legacy bugs are getting pretty rickety too…
MagzTV posted up a vid.
Interesting he thinks the plane is very forgiving and Jabbers thinks it tries to kill you 
Magz does seem to have it rattle far less. Perhaps he takes a rattle as a sign to back off, while jabbers just ignores the rattle. Guess who’s the better airman 
That’s my guess as well.
Jabbers landing also was… creative.
It seems like Magz has a bit more time playing around with it than Jabbers did, but by the same token I think Magz made it very clear that one has to keep flying the aircraft and its limitations in mind at all times. I can see a lot of players over-Ging it a lot, given how spoiled most of us are by FBW. The reliance on analog instruments and having to dart all over the cockpit is also going to turn a lot of folks on their heads in contrast to other aircraft.
It’s going to be interesting when the F-14A hits and seeing the contrast in how it handles in comparison to the B.
Tomcat looks fun.
The videos look really dark. I wish the gamma with the deferred shading was up’d a bit sometimes. It’s like we’re wearing shades all the time. 
I remember him mentioning that he was going to implement a self imposed quiet period when all of the youtube personalities began releasing their Tomcat videos. Watching a few of the videos I know that there are some inaccuracies that would have driven him to drink. And if I can spot them, then there are a dozen additional ones that have passed me by that he would have seen for sure.
Naval Aviators wear shades, all the time…
Anyone who flew the F-4 prior to the E is fully aware of adverse yaw. The Hun had it pretty badly too, which almost killed my dad. But he said that once they figured it out, that both airplanes could be pretty effective in air to air combat. Some accounts that I’ve read said that in the Phantom, at low airspeed you would keep the stick centered and go pretty hard on the rudder in the direction of turn. Slats on the E solved the problem.
I don’t think that it will be a big deal in the Tomcat, and after a while will become second nature, just like when flying a helicopter or any prop plane, for that matter.
Son of Jester…
Wondering whats the point of releasing B prior to A ?? This is also keeping me out.
Just a guess but it could be that they felt modeling the F110 would be easier than the capricious TF30. Could be that they felt that their existing engine model for the Viggen can be adapted well to the F110 and not to the TF30. Or maybe it is about some other part of the A+. Rather than financing that part in advance themselves, releasing the B first enables them to get some revenue going to fund the further development of the A+.
Maybe they had better access to SMEs for the B, maybe the reason lies in the art department (access to airframes). Unless Nicholas likes to chime in himself, your guess is as good as anybodies.
Perhaps also releasing the “good” version before the “bad” one might help with hype momentum and sales.
