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#1779425 - 12/22/06 07:51 PM Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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franx Offline
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Guys, I love this sim but I've got a bad case of n00balogical brainmeltosis. Background: I picked up a copy of F4-AF six months ago, tried it out and gave up from confusion and fatigue. Then two weeks ago I got the bug again. I started playing in simplified avionics so I could get some of the enjoyment along with the learning headaches. Hosted a few easy-mode dogfights on Hyperlobby. OK, I'm hooked now.

But I'm frustrated with Lesson 13. I think I understand the differences between CRM and its submodes, and ACM and its submodes. I also understand that when I stare into the CRM/RWS B-display (or the others), I'm looking straight ahead into a widening 60 (or 30 or 10) degree azimuth spectrum, and a similar spectrum in elevation.

My problem is that I can't process the info and react fast enough. I know that will come with experience, but so far -- every single time -- a fighter drops in behind me unseen and shoots me down with its cannon. I think I've splashed a few bandits with missiles, but the sim doesn't tell me that. I have no idea where the targets go when they disappear from my screen. I'm especially frustrated trying to handle the joystick, the keystrokes and then the mouse to press the buttons to switch between CRM and ACM.

Has anyone mapped his controller to quickly cycle through the radar modes and avoid the cockpit buttons? I'm using a Logitech 3D Force Pro. How do I prevent bandits from dropping in behind me? Anyone have any suggestions for joystick mapping and video tutorials? I really love this sim, but I'm languishing on Lesson 13.

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#1779426 - 12/22/06 08:16 PM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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It sounds like you're not only new to Falcon, but new to modern air combat sims, in general. Modern air combat sims have a general learning curve that's very steep and Falcon steepens that by 10x. Let me congratulate you for picking the sim up again. I'm sure you'll put it down again, but pick it up again, and this process will continue. This is not uncommon with Falcon.

Also, let me say that learning to process what is going on by staring at the radar screen is one of the most challenging aspects of learning modern air combat sims. You don't need a better brain - this is normal.

One thing that will greatly ease your work load is by getting a programmable HOTAS. For someone just learning a sim, you might not want to spend this kind of money upfront, especially since you put the sim down once already. However, I've got a Saitek X-45 and I typically only take my hands off it to type things into the ICP. That's it. Radar modes, master modes, weapon controls, etc...they're all programmed onto the stick in a logical manner. Frankly, you'll probably continue to be sent down in flames until you find a HOTAS. The X-45 is great for Falcon and you can get one on eBay for around $60. Compare that to a new one from CH or Thrustmaster @ $300 or more. A HOTAS WILL help you, greatly.

Lastly, make sure you train against J-5s at the Recruit level first. These guys can't shoot back unless they get really close and you ought to be able to practice against a 4 ship of them without them bracketing you. Practice locking the leader and switching into TWS by using the TMS switch (see page 308 and 309 in the manual). The TMS and DMS switches are your friends. Once you get a HOTAS, program them on and use them. Once in TWS, go to expand mode ("Pinky Switch" on page 310 in the manuel - keypress ALT+V). Practice stepping among targets. Watch their headings and airspeeds.

Once you get a HOTAS and get it programmed (I can PM/e-mail you my X-45 profile, or you can surely find others for download on the web), you'll find switching radar modes, azimuth, and locking to be much faster and intuitive.

There's much more I could go into, but there's nothing to say that once you have a 4 ship sorted among your wingmen that you are in the clear. In the campaign, you'll have to listen to AWACS and depending on how close the 'other' 4 ship is, you may have to disengage and switch. The second 4 ship might turn out to be transports while your first 4 ship has now turned nose on to you ('hot') and they happen to be Su-30MKKs.

You'll never 'truly' get it all down. You should be able to sort a 4-ship, in Match Play online, though. Once you can sort a 4 ship and win the engagement in isolation, then it's time to think about the larger 'war'.

Lastly, join an online wing that can help you learn. I recommend FreeBirds .


Not by accident does Genesis 3 make the father of knowledge a serpent - H.L. Mencken
#1779427 - 12/22/06 11:24 PM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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The biggest thing keeping me out of LOMAC is the amazing ability for the game not to detect my X-52 flight control system. Absolutely no throttle, no matter what I try to do. No support info or any such help docs seem to exist. Maybe if I knew Russian....

I feel your pain with Falcon 4 AF. I love the sim, but I just cant, for the life of me, fly it in the full Realism mode. Im lost. Its bad enough I use my second monitor just to view the quick reference chart for the keyboard! For a stretch, I was putting up to speed with the game and could do quite a bit. Then I stopped gaming for a while (kept me up waaay too late) and just got back into it. Now I'm trying to remember how to do simple things....lock onto a target. Or just try to get the Air To Ground mode to kick back on after mysteriously going away. Ugh!

If anyone is up for some training mission fun via HyperLobby and TeamSpeak, boy, give me a shout....maybe some of you know it alls can bring some of us noobs up to speed again!

#1779428 - 12/22/06 11:32 PM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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franx Offline
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ChronoPilot, thanks for the thorough and very helpful response. You're right: I'm new to jet combat sims. But now I've got the bug, big time. I've played a lot of EECH and a little Warbirds, but my flight sim experience so far has been mainly novice level X-Plane 8/Goodway Flight Planner and CoPilot.

I've reread your email a couple of times. I'll take your advice about a HOTAS setup. I'm also getting an eDimensional voice command program and TrackIR 4 Pro for Christmas.

Please send me that profile. Meanwhile, I started using what I know from Lesson 13 doing sweeps in the instant action format. Nailed three targets, so I'm a bit more encouraged.

I'm part German, so I'm stubborn. I _am_ going to learn this sim. Ir seems very much worth it.

#1779429 - 12/22/06 11:37 PM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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franx Offline
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PaulB, let's hook up. I have LOMAC too. It's both more and less frustrating than F4:AF, for weirdly different reasons (as you know, it's a processor and memory pig). I have a Teamspeak server on my computer, and I also do HyperLobby. We can do simplified avionics if you'd like, co-op, etc.

Email nme at franx@qwest.net.

#1779430 - 12/22/06 11:46 PM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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Quote:
Originally posted by franx:
I'm also getting an eDimensional voice command program and TrackIR 4 Pro for Christmas.
I knew I forgot something! I use VAC , personally, but it helps alot, as well. Some people use voice commands for everything. I just use it for AWACS requests, wingman commands, tower communications, etc.

I use TrackIR at the merge a lot, when there's one or more jets closing from 10 miles or so, it's nice to be able to scan left and right quickly, checking for those IR missiles inbound. Also, if you get a good HOTAS set up, you can stay in virtual cockpit mode and just look down periodically at the MFDs. Your HOTAS will control all the modes and you won't have to use the keyboard or go into 2D cockpit and use the mouse.

I'm at work currently ( \:D ), but I'll send the X-45 profile when I get to my machine at home.


Not by accident does Genesis 3 make the father of knowledge a serpent - H.L. Mencken
#1779431 - 12/22/06 11:58 PM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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franx Offline
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When peole say "at the merge," you mean as you close to dogfight -- is that correct? I've seen it a bunch of times, but not quite sure what it means.

#1779432 - 12/23/06 02:32 AM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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At the merge means 'at the initial pass'. Usually what happens is that as you get within visual range, the bandit usually has an all-aspect IR missile and they'll try to shoot you in the face with it.

I sent an e-mail to you with the attached info you requested, as well.

Maybe you're aware, but SimHQ is 'public' forum, and your e-mail will eventually show up in a Google search, as well as be found by all the spam-bots that are scouring the web. Either PM your e-mail or type it in some format where the bots (what do they call them in The Matrix? Sentinels?) can't catch it. Like franxATqwest.net or franx-@t-qwest.net.


Not by accident does Genesis 3 make the father of knowledge a serpent - H.L. Mencken
#1779433 - 12/23/06 02:43 AM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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Ouch. I knew that, but forgot. Thanks for the reminder -- and also the profile. Got it!

#1779434 - 12/23/06 01:37 PM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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Ghostrider117 Offline
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Franx

A few tips that worked for me, when I was learning this sim.

1: Expect a long learning curve, it's as close to flying a real F16 as you can get without joining the Air Force.

2: Keep HOTAS setup to include the essential combat stuff only, if too complex it can be worse than using the keyboard for non combat tasks. eg landing gear, NAV avionics.

3: Consider a gaming keyboard with seperate command pad. I use the Saitek game keyboard, and have the nine button game pad setup as the UFC panel.

4: Some of the training missions are suicide, I wrote Tactical Engagement missions to practice BVR and close in dogfighting. Starting with easier enemy aircraft like the Mig-21, then Mig-29 etc.

I've been flying F4 in various flavours for 8 years or more, and still get my ass handed to me on a plate from time to time. A busy summer ment no flying for six months, and the first few Balkan Campaign Missions had me breaking sweat. It took me a dozen missions before my SA was back up to scratch.

The enemy missiles (air to air and ground to air) are lethal. The trick is to stay outside of their launch parameters as much as possible. Never push a bad position, bug out, rethink and either run, or get back into the fight on your terms.

Perhaps the best tip for multiple air to air bandits, is to use the radar in TWS mode rather than RWS mode. In TWS you can fire on multiple targets as soon as each missile you fire goes Pitbull. Just make sure their are no friendlies in the line of fire.

I'm sure loads of people have tried this sim and given up, or stuck with arcade avionics mode. However if you stick with it, one day you will be flying at 100% realism, and pulling off some amazing missions against all the odds.

#1779435 - 12/24/06 02:41 PM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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franx Offline
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Thanks Ghostrider117. Yeah, I'm going to stick with this sim for awhile. It's just too engrossing. I'm now on the hunt for a used Saitek X-45. Whenever I get ready to quit, I drop back to simplified avionics to blow something up. Then I feel better. :-)

I appreciate the good will and help on this forum. Right now, most of the time with this sim, I feel like I have sausages for fingers.

#1779436 - 12/24/06 05:12 PM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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Hammer Offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by PaulB:
The biggest thing keeping me out of LOMAC is the amazing ability for the game not to detect my X-52 flight control system.
Curious.

I can give you a host of reasons to stay away from LOMAC and that would be very low down the list.

Falcon has no comparison. It is the King of high fidelity combat flight simulations.

If you want to really get a feel for what it is to be a fighter pilot (so far as one can on a pc), Falcon is your sim. If you want to Air Quake, LOMAC is your natural choice.

And that's the way it is.

Carry on.


Hammer is Mower. Mower is Hammer. Deal with it. ...if you can.
#1779437 - 12/24/06 05:24 PM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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franx Offline
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Huh. I've enjoyed LOMAC as far as I've played it. But I've been surprised that F4:AF, while more challenging, is also faster and lighter on my hardware. LOMAC seems to be a resources beast.

#1779438 - 12/24/06 06:27 PM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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Hammer Offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by franx:
Huh. I've enjoyed LOMAC as far as I've played it. But I've been surprised that F4:AF, while more challenging, is also faster and lighter on my hardware. LOMAC seems to be a resources beast.
Absolutely correct. LOMAC is all about pretty pictures with little sustance relative to hardcore sims.

Kinda like that empty headed but hot blonde babe you might drunkenly nail.

Falcon is obviously from the last generation of flight sims but even so it was never about prety pictures.


Hammer is Mower. Mower is Hammer. Deal with it. ...if you can.
#1779439 - 12/24/06 06:35 PM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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Well Ive tweaked my system pretty well to run lean. (The side effect of being a bank IT guy) There are lots of places out there that will tell you how to optimize your system, check em out. Also, do an "msconfig" and check all the crap that loads at bootup you dont need. Things like ituneshelper, adobe update detectors, etc...all those add up. When Im in game mode and have the antivirus and other gadgets off, my system only uses 260mb of ram, leaving more of my 4gb available to gaming.

Also, I found setting a static sized swap file on another hard disk a big boost.

But yea, as for LOMAC, I just couldnt make it work with my stick. Just weird. Everything else does (Aces High, F4:AF etc)

Comparing the games...I just dont know...LOMAC sure looks great...proably what Falcon would look like if it had a newer graphics engine!

#1779440 - 12/24/06 06:51 PM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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franx Offline
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Yeah, I like LOMAC a lot, actually. I need to investigate optimizing my system. Any site suggestions? The variety of planes is a plus, and Black Shark, out later this spring, looks to be a good add-on.

F4:AF is the superior product, IMH(novice)O, but LOMAC isgood too in my limited experience.

#1779441 - 12/24/06 08:38 PM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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Quote:
Originally posted by Hammer:
Falcon is obviously from the last generation of flight sims but even so it was never about prety pictures. [/QB]
While F4AF may not be leading edge regarding eye candy, it sure packs the knockout punch regarding realism. Plus, since F4AF came out, I have flown 400+Hrs with not a single CTD or system lockup. Now that has to be a first for any sim I have tried. LP get a big thumbs up from me for sure.

#1779442 - 12/24/06 11:17 PM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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Hammer Offline
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Agreed.

Let there be no more discussion of the "merits" of LOMAC.

Those merits are liable to only be appreciated by the lite core crowd.


Hammer is Mower. Mower is Hammer. Deal with it. ...if you can.
#1779443 - 12/25/06 04:19 AM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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Quote:
Originally posted by Hammer:
Agreed.

Let there be no more discussion of the "merits" of LOMAC.

Those merits are liable to only be appreciated by the lite core crowd.
The CD package makes a handy door stop \:D

#1779444 - 12/25/06 05:14 AM Re: Santa, please bring me better reflexes & a new brain  
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PaulB Offline
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Black Viper XP Optimize ideas Pay good attention to the swap file and services section!

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