FieroCDSP

It can be said that the airframes are aging, their role limited, and their battlefield survivability more and more at risk in the advancing electronic battlefield where even Stealth-tech is having to improve dramatically. That being said, there are virtually no new platforms in the Air Force arsenal since the F22 is limited and the F35 has yet to be something more than a production waiting game. Scrapping the fleet of A-10's is a mistake, at least until the F-35 can prove it does the job as well. You can retrofit the heck out of several A-10's for the cost of one F-35, and lets be honest here, sometimes you need to loiter forever and have a lot of ordinance to deliver just before you head home. It has its place in CAS role and can continue to for some time.

If I'm building a rig from scratch, I try to get whatever my budget will allow, only adjust for whether a later upgrade might be cheaper later than currently. the newer OS make full use of all the ram, but I'm personally still on XP32 so a small portion of my total ram is not in use. In such an instance, the total ram is not as important as the clock speed. If your GFX card is rated highly in its ram and speed, then you can skimp just a bit on the system ram. The Saphire's 1GB of DDR5 is pretty good. I'm running an equivalent NVidia card and I can nearly max out the video with my older Core2Quad 2.8, but it takes a hit when heavily populated with MLRS rockets or when using multiple screens. The best thing you can do is double-check to make sure your ram's model numbers are supported by the board specifically (usually in the manual or on the manufacturer's site), and then buy the best you can afford. It doesn't pay to spend the extra dime on the better ram but then have stability or processing lags from an untested or incompatible set.

I credit Jane's Fighters Anthology for hooking me on flight sims. F-15 and the Longbow series put a hankering for button pushing in me. If it weren't so difficult to get the games running again (I have to build a new step-down comp) I'd probably play them all the time. Console gamers know nothing of simulation action, something I learned long ago when I played Crimson Skies 2 on X-box. That was an affront to all that was decent.

Had this happen a few times. Maybe my birds are too high... hmm... Funny thing is, while not in perfect checklist order, I knew enough to get it back around and land the first time. I've been flying these sims too long.

One of the Apollo astronauts (I think it was Buzz Aldrin but probably one of the third selection group) flew test sorties on low altitude insertion, pop-up release of B61's. They followed white marker posts that were stuck in the ground at some insanely low height (30 ft or so, they were mainly for visual reference). As the story goes, the pilots would try to get as low as possible, and on returning from his Mach+ practice delivery, he found white paint splotched on his fuse from where he tagged one of the markers.

I avoided buying the Saitek X52 specifically for this reason (that and what they did to the head of the stick). I loved the rudder on the fingertips of the X35-45 throttle, as it put the control on the two fingers that weren't doing anything. If you're going to drop a dime on the Warthog, just get some pedals. Most of them are good for other things, like racing sims, as well.

Lots of switches in that cockpit. Heck, even with my years of flight-sim experience I had trouble getting it right.

You probably could do it in-game rather than in TARGET. Just select the "gear horn" space in the control assignments and clear it, then assign the button to the brakes (under "systems" at the bottom)

If you move the X45's position around a bunch on the desk, be prepared to replace your ground wire between the throttle and the stick. Both Saitek X series (35 and 45) I've had failed there before anything else. It breaks right behind the connector. It's easy enough to solder in a new one. I just cut out a spot in the throttle case to accommodate the wire and taped it to the original. Also, if you're heavy on the trigger, the mount for the micro-switch will break. I just tore mine apart for parts for collective controller I'm building, but it amazed me how many of the tactile switches were worn out from the years of abuse. As an addition, I'd like to say that my X45 held up remarkably well given the abuse, and I have another one sitting on my shelf in barely used condition (got from a friend), should I ever need it's help again.

Having tried to get the pigtail wiring diagram for an X45 out of Saitek's tech-support (and failing miserably at it) I can appreciate TM doing this for a customer. Were I a manufacturer, I'd insist my tech guys provide a similar, self-applied, approach if the customer is capable and willing. No sense shipping a large, heavy box when you can mail a few $.50 switches in a $2.00 mailer. In this day and age of replaceable merchandise, I'll stick with a manufacturer that does more than just ship the product. BTW, my favorite places to get parts are Mouser.com (if you know exactly what you are looking for and can find it on their site) and MPJA.com (discount place. Plenty of regular switches, cheap but workable quality).

About the only changes I made were in replacing the forward and back on the throttle thumb-hat to be my zoom in and out, the hat button to be my stick-to-trim, and the pinky paddle for my FM radio (JTAC)

Yeah, but airframes can't tell the story over and over to cage drinks (rightfully deserved, in most cases). You can take pilots out of the cockpit, but it makes the plane just another thing. You can't love a thing like you can a hero. No one grows up saying "I want to pilot drones for a living." My view is as such: Take the casualties out of war, it's no longer something to avoid or fight to an end. There's no human cost, no war memorials, and no incentive to avoid other than considering it a money-pit. The day we let machines do the majority of our fighting is the day we commit ourselves to continuing it. I don't need to go into the really important reasons AI's with weapons are a really BAD idea, do I?

The Warthog uses Hall Effect sensors, not pots, on the stick. I haven't cracked into the throttle, but if the pots are cheap, they certainly haven't shown it yet. I have yet to have spikes or dead zones occur. On the other hand, I've had Saitek gear for some time. I started with the X36(analog), moved up to the X45, and found numerous issues with their design. The X45 had cheap switches internally, and upon breaking the trigger, I swapped out the mounting side of the handgrip with the one from my X35, a larger and stronger design switch/mount. The wire from the throttle was also a constant problem, as the ground would break over time of moving it around. I'm sure the new one probably uses a direct USB conncection for the throttle (the others connect into the stick first for single-device status). The other thing I asked myself was: "How often did I ever actually use two rotaries?" The answer was that I hardly ever used them. Sometimes I'd use one for elevator trim, but otherwise I never did. No doubt the X65f is supposed to compete with the Warthog, but quality-wise, it's a hard thing to do without jumping into the same price range.

The main reason I bought a HOTAS Warthog was for the data management and target controls. I had only been fiddling with the game for a few weeks with my Saitek X45, but I could not seem to get a configuration I liked or found convenient, especially when trying to learn the controls alongside the tutorial. I'm not saying that it can't be done, but you need to prioritize what controls you really need and which ones you want. Landing gear, flaps, and even speedbrake, can be handled easily by the keyboard. Getting the less-intuitive controls (like the slew/designate and target hats) should be prioritized based on which features of them you will use most.

gives me a few ideas of my own. Thanks!