DCS: F-14 Status Update

Man, some people need to chill out! Like Chembleton said, there is a whole world out there outside of the computer and DCS

There's literally a thread a few steps below this one with streamed (uncurated) footage of the RIO cockpit..

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=233087

I would have preferred to see your RIO thread, HB ! (Rather than this DIY thing(*)...:D)

(*) I am not talking about Jabbers stream but my crappy video editing.

Is this conversation constructive?

 

If anyone should be upset at spending another year of developer salaries to fill out the product during the course of 2018 - it should be me and my wallet.

Until money has exchanged hands and you've become customers, dates remain as estimates, not guarantees.

 

If you're going to dredge up every mistake made across 5 years of complex software development, we're going to be here for a while.

 

I've tried to succinctly summarize that transparency leads to inaccuracy many times. In a complex product with many new elements, this will ring true every time.

The higher your complexity, the worse off you can be.

Are we talking about the concept of money for product/services/favours.

Lets reverse roles for a bit. Say that you have given me your product already, but you didn't receive any money for it.

I will pay you on 20th of March at the latest, probably earlier. What happens if I don't?

Every time you call me i play coy, and say.. you know it is out of my hands.., my boss hasn't payed me yet.

Call me in a few days I will surely tell you than when I will pay you.

You are starting to wonder if I will ever pay you.

Would you care to hear my sad story, and my problems?How hard I work,and how complicated it is.

Didn't think so.

So the date is 20th of March,or 6th,or whatever.If u cant give the date by now,than something is wrong,isn't it?

The time for giving estimates was over the moment you took the money. Now it is simply the matter of business.

I'm sure there will be a horde of people who will come to defend you (although you weren't attacked in a first place).

Tell me what will happen when they start to shift;and if you keep estimating they will,I promise you that.

I do hope this was constructive enough.

Are we talking about the concept of money for product/services/favours.

Lets reverse roles for a bit. Say that you have given me your product already, but you didn't receive any money for it.

I will pay you on 20th of March at the latest, probably earlier. What happens if I don't?

Every time you call me i play coy, and say.. you know it is out of my hands.., my boss hasn't payed me yet.

Call me in a few days I will surely tell you than when I will pay you.

You are starting to wonder if I will ever pay you.

Would you care to hear my sad story, and my problems?How hard I work,and how complicated it is.

Didn't think so.

So the date is 20th of March,or 6th,or whatever.If u cant give the date by now,than something is wrong,isn't it?

The time for giving estimates was over the moment you took the money. Now it is simply the matter of business.

I'm sure there will be a horde of people who will come to defend you (although you weren't attacked in a first place).

Tell me what will happen when they start to shift;and if you keep estimating they will,I promise you that.

I do hope this was constructive enough.

There was no estimate given. There was a range given.

The range has been, since day 1 of pre-orders, been this winter. That encompasses the range of December 21st - March 20th, 2019.

Until it's March 21st and there's no F-14, we've not reneged on this guarantee.

You've also fundamentally misunderstood my post as a cry for some sort of sympathy, but that's besides the point.

The hope of a date range was to give ourselves leeway to put quality ahead of fixed dates, but it's becoming increasingly obvious that a date at the tail end of a range

is not considered appropriate by the community. (Much to my surprise). Lessons learned, I guess.

And on that bombshell you should just lock this thread :)

Seriously Cobra, take as long as it takes. I'm 42, I've waited since the ZX Spectrum days for a flight simulator of this calibre. I for one can wait longer.

All you had to say was March 20th

The problem is the constant hinting at much sooner dates within that range, starting with freaking Xmas continuing up to these last few days. Promising too an actual firm date soon soon soon for many weeks. Seriously should we not be asking wtf?

Seriously Cobra, take as long as it takes. I'm 42, I've waited since the ZX Spectrum days for a flight simulator of this calibre. I for one can wait longer.

you clearly missed a point buddy, its no more in Cobras hands. Read the initial Post...its in ED´s hands now. Cobra and his Team had done the Job, now they are awaiting ED´s decision as impatiently as we do, cause they also want to see the Tomcat in our hands.

If I remember correctly the Christmas release hype was all created by the community, I don't remember any oficial sources even hinting at a possible Christmas release, especially when they gave a much greater window to begin with.

All you had to say was March 20th

This.

I’m a patient guy and I paid my money on day one fully expecting a March 20th EA release, but christ, Heatblur have done themselves exactly zero favors in the meantime.

Hell, maybe fake release dates and forum chaos is their actual PR strategy.

If so, *George W Bush Mission Accomplished*, I guess?

There was no estimate given. There was a range given.

 

The range has been, since day 1 of pre-orders, been this winter. That encompasses the range of December 21st - March 20th, 2019.

Until it's March 21st and there's no F-14, we've not reneged on this guarantee.

 

You've also fundamentally misunderstood my post as a cry for some sort of sympathy, but that's besides the point.

 

The hope of a date range was to give ourselves leeway to put quality ahead of fixed dates, but it's becoming increasingly obvious that a date at the tail end of a range

is not considered appropriate by the community. (Much to my surprise). Lessons learned, I guess.

Ranges and not estimates?! Ah, I see, now that changes everything.

Now, on a more serious note:

I didn't misunderstand anything. Everything is perfectly clear.

Or maybe you are right.Maybe i did misunderstand everything.So did a lot of people.

If you don't see,by now,where the problem lies, I can't help you.

If I remember correctly the Christmas release hype was all created by the community, I don't remember any oficial sources even hinting at a possible Christmas release, especially when they gave a much greater window to begin with.

Not entirely the community’s fault, no. There was this:

We're targeting December. We're guaranteeing Winter.

 

That is all we can commit to until we announce a specific date. :)

... it's becoming increasingly obvious that a date at the tail end of a range

is not considered appropriate by the community. (Much to my surprise). Lessons learned, I guess.

Please don't consider a few very vocal and shockingly unreasonable voices on these forums as 'the community'. The vast, vast majority of us are quietly, if eagerly, awaiting the best F-14 you can make; whenever it will arrive.

..Hell, maybe fake release dates and forum chaos is their actual PR strategy...

I guess we're seeing things vastly differently.

... it's becoming increasingly obvious that a date at the tail end of a range is not considered appropriate by the community. (Much to my surprise). Lessons learned, I guess.

Delivering at the end of a date range isn't the issue, it's giving the impression you're going to deliver earlier than you actually will. I hope this is taken in the manner intended, which isn't as a complaint, but as feedback to helpfully help smooth future releases.

Delivering at the end of a date range isn't the issue, it's giving the impression you're going to deliver earlier than you actually will. I hope this is taken in the manner intended, which isn't as a complaint, but as feedback to smooth future releases.

Thanks for the feedback!

I had hoped to be very careful with giving errant signals, and the "target of December, guarantee by Winter" was intended to be very unambiguous.

It's hard to predict how thousands of others will interpret the solidity of one's statement, however.

Anyway- we're a merge weeks away at this point. Exciting and scary at the same time.

I suggest we steer this thread in that direction from now on :)

Just remember that the sour and negative ones are way more likely to post on topics like this than the positive /eagerly waiting ones. Just because some people are screaming all kinds of things on topics like these doesn't mean the whole community is like them :^).

I came here to see if there had been a solid date given - I flick back the last few pages and all I see are people whining about how long it's taking and demanding refunds. Some people may be over-reacting just a tad.

Clearly, there's no hard date yet (which is disappointing in my case because I go away for the whole month of March next weekend so unless the F-14 releases before then, I miss the release and won't get to fly the Tomcat until late March, early April) but we're not outside our prospective date range. Heatblur have a bit of time up their sleeve. If anyone wants the Tomcat release to be sooner, rather than later, then it's me - for selfish reasons. If that can't happen - that's how the cookie crumbles.

My question to Heatblur, regarding Jabbers' latest 3 hour stream, is there wasn't a VF-1 Wolfpack livery for the F-14... Granted, as far as I know, VF-1 only operated F-14As but are we going to see a VF-1 livery for the B model? Again, for selfish reasons. - Not a demand or request, just a question.

I came here to see if there had been a solid date given - I flick back the last few pages and all I see are people whining about how long it's taking and demanding refunds. Some people may be over-reacting just a tad.

 

Clearly, there's no hard date yet (which is disappointing in my case because I go away for the whole month of March next weekend so unless the F-14 releases before then, I miss the release and won't get to fly the Tomcat until late March, early April) but we're not outside our prospective date range. Heatblur have a bit of time up their sleeve. If anyone wants the Tomcat release to be sooner, rather than later, then it's me - for selfish reasons. If that can't happen - that's how the cookie crumbles.

 

My question to Heatblur, regarding Jabbers' latest 3 hour stream, is there wasn't a VF-1 Wolfpack livery for the F-14... Granted, as far as I know, VF-1 only operated F-14As but are we going to see a VF-1 livery for the B model? Again, for selfish reasons. - Not a demand or request, just a question.

We made a decision pretty early on to not put any -A liveries on the -B, since we don't expect the -A to take us that long to get to. (Something we'll detail in our EA release roadmap)

I guess we're seeing things vastly differently.

Dude, I’m on the take-all-the-time-you-need side, but you can’t argue with...

Actually, screw it. Doesn’t matter.

I’m excited and rooting hard for you guys!

Good evening to all gentlemen, although I have never written anything in these years of development of the module, if I have been up to date in the forum. on this occasion I think that if I can contribute something, and therefore these words. Cobra, your work, regardless of the price of the module, is converting the desire of many people who love this bird to become a reality. At least for me. I had lost the faith that someone would take my favorite bird, I owe a lot to heatblur and I am conscious but not 100% of the work you have done, it more than meets my humble expectations. That said, I'm desperate because this wait is over, and I understand that younger or more impatient people end up frustrated and lose perspective because of who is offering them the opportunity to enjoy the plane of their dreams. To these say that this is like the desire to shit, the closer the toilet is, the less you hold it. Greetings to all and any time baby !!

Just remember that the sour and negative ones are way more likely to post on topics like this than the positive /eagerly waiting ones. Just because some people are screaming all kinds of things on topics like these doesn't mean the whole community is like them :^).

There is no negativity here. Some posts are more emotional than others, and that's about it. This is called constructive criticism, or feedback if you will.

At the end of the day, everyone here wants the same thing.

Its all good:thumbup:

At the end of the day, everyone here wants the same thing.

Keep it up the work Cobra! We (and you guys) have waited like years for this...we can wait one more month!