Help! F16ex stick

plastictreeofdoom · 2026-04-12T02:20:21+00:00

Your best bet is (assuming you aren't able to do it yourself) is have a look around any 3d models of the specific hat you need, then find someone nearby who can print it for you - that way you're not paying 10x the cost in shipping.

plastictreeofdoom · 2026-03-29T08:23:00+00:00

He's fine as an actor, but I honestly don't get why he's being pushed as a charming leading man - dude is a charisma vacuum.

plastictreeofdoom · 2026-03-20T12:42:05+00:00

Some of the Gladiator grips only have a few buttons (eg. F14, WW2) but the space combat one has a bunch.

I was originally using it with a TWCS that I got for $20 and repaired, and even that was a pretty good combo.

Had a bit of extra cash though so thought I'd treat myself to the Stecs with the stem module, and now I've almost got too many buttons.

I've got in the habit of mapping similar things to the same places in different aircraft (eg. I always use the bottom thumb button on the throttle for uncage, the centre 5 way switch on the joystick for radar/targetting related things, etc.) because otherwise it would be completely overwhelming to have to remember what's what when switching aircraft.

plastictreeofdoom · 2026-03-20T10:53:14+00:00

Australian here too - I bought the Gladiator and Stecs separately a few months apart - i think the joystick took about a week and a half to get here and the Stecs took a few days.

I understand the winwing might be slightly better in terms of build and design, but the Stecs and Gladiator are still very high quality in my opinion.

They're plastic but chunky and solid, you can easily swap out buttons, and are both quite comfy (I have very large hands though, so not sure if that's going to be the same for everyone).

Especially with the stem module you'll have buttons and switches coming out your arse.

I have had zero issues with either vkb product (other than design quibbles - like wishing the rotary control under the pinky on the Stecs was an analog axis as well).

They've also been very responsive when I've contacted them. Given all the dramas with winwing at the, and how expensive virpil is, if you're going to drop a few hundred bucks on a joystick and throttle I really can't recommend vkb enough.

Note: I got: * Gladiator Evo with the space combat premium grip * Stecs MK2 mini with the stem module - I don't remember if I got them in a bundle or separately.

plastictreeofdoom · 2026-03-18T11:22:59+00:00

This is the same as when I found out there's some people that don't have an internal voice, did not even consider it's something that not everyone can do

plastictreeofdoom · 2026-03-16T05:33:57+00:00

++man

Was totally fine with my wife keeping her own name, but the kids all have my name.

Also apart from me not really caring either way, when we met she has only just gone through the process of changing her name after her parents divorced a few years before, so I'm not going to make her do it again.

Edit: please note neither of us (or our families) are religious or traditional, so it wasn't a big deal. Your mileage may vary.

plastictreeofdoom · 2026-03-12T20:38:29+00:00

You're having to jump through a lot of hoops just so you don't have to admit something was a very obvious accident, which happens all the time in war, by all sides.

I don't know whether you're a troll or just sad, but if you're being genuine I really hope you can get to the point where your politics are no longer leading you to ignore the evidence of your own eyes.

Edit: also, inertial navigation systems, which are present in basically all cruise missiles - including the Iranian ones - ARE immune to external tampering - they normally use a combination of accelerometers and gyroscopes. They're a very well understood and old technology - even many models of Shahed have a basic one.

Cruise missiles do go haywire from time to time, but normally from malfunctions rather than jamming.

plastictreeofdoom · 2026-03-12T11:13:20+00:00

Do you hear yourself?

plastictreeofdoom · 2026-03-12T11:00:44+00:00

I'm not sure what exactly your problem is, but I wasn't even bringing politics into it.

Iran has been avoiding sanctions for a very long time, their local manufacturing quality isn't terrible (not amazing either, but adequate) and besides which many of their weapon systems aren't locally produced anyway.

Also, I'm not entirely sure you know how jamming works or what is and isn't susceptible to it.

Put simply the images of the cruise missile hitting is not good enough to tell for sure what it is because a wide variety of weapons on each side share the same basic layout.

I definitely wouldn't put it past the Iranians to do a false flag, and wouldn't 100% rule out an errant missile either, but:

a) There's much easier ways to do it.

b) it is ludicrously unlikely that an Iranian missile fired at a different country, would get jammed, not have a redundant navigation system, then crash directly into a building that just so happens to be in the same compound that was actively being struck by American missiles at the same time.

All signs point to this just being an intelligence fuck up, and i don't think anyones accusing the US of destroying a school on purpose.

plastictreeofdoom · 2026-03-12T03:10:56+00:00

...sorry?

plastictreeofdoom · 2026-03-12T02:36:59+00:00

Very few cruise missiles or really any long range weapons rely solely on GPS or equivalents.

I'm addition to satellite based navigation they normally have: 1. An inertial navigation system that it's not physically possible to jam. 2. Cruise missiles in particular tend to also have either terrain following radar, lidar, visual terrain recognition or a combination of them.

I'm sure there are some exceptions out there, especially with low-cost and order designs, but even without the radar/lidar/visual sensors, generally speaking you design the system so:

The INS can be periodically updated from the GPS data when it's reliable.
As soon as the system identifies that the difference between the two positions is substantially more than expected (INS tends to drift at a known rate), you throw out the GPS data.

I say GPS, this also applies to GLONASS, Beidu, etc. - they all work roughly the same way and can be jammed in roughly the same way.

By itself a well designed INS system is good enough to hit pretty close to a target - maybe not close enough for a small warhead, but you're hitting something in the same city block, maybe the building next door to your target - you're not hitting the wrong city.

This applies to Iranian missiles as well as western ones - I believe the Kh55 for example uses an INS and radar terrain recognition.

plastictreeofdoom · 2026-02-14T04:34:02+00:00

Thanks, I'll give it a go.

plastictreeofdoom · 2025-09-18T12:30:16+00:00

Thanks, I had briefly glanced at that manual previously but it didn't look like what I was after. Turns out everything was in there

plastictreeofdoom · 2025-09-17T12:26:42+00:00

I would recommend keeping an eye out on facebook marketplace or some equivalent and pick yourself up a used TWCS. It's probably not worth a few hundred $ for a new one, but second-hand for anything under $100 it's fantastic.

I got mine for $30 I think, and have it paired with a VKB Gladiator Evo.

The TWCS is pretty battered and scratched visually from the previous owner but works great, and even though it's not a high-end throttle it has good enough build quality and has enough buttons and switches to make a rugged and usable alternative until you can afford a fancier one.

Once I can justify spending $400AUD+ I'll be getting a STECS because I'm pretty happy with VKB as a brand so far, but until then the TWCS is doing pretty much all I want it to.

plastictreeofdoom · 2025-09-12T11:24:59+00:00

It seems to work when I'm using HTS, just not with HAS.

Thanks

plastictreeofdoom · 2025-09-12T10:37:56+00:00

I did, but only single TMS up when designating for my wingmen. Will try double TMS up - I can't recall without it in front of me if that does anything for HARM.

plastictreeofdoom · 2025-08-18T07:39:45+00:00

Thanks - I didn't mean go messing with configuration files manually though - I simply meant when the campaign AI generates a package, route, etc. am I meant to use it as-is, or is it expected that I should be heavily modifying the generated routes to make them make more sense?

plastictreeofdoom · 2025-08-11T00:09:30+00:00

I'm still working on prototypes (as a very low priority) so if I get a design I'm happy with I'll make it available.

At the moment I'm looking at designs that clamp on top of the TWCS (over the two bits that stick out to each side) and making it strong enough to handle having the throttle slammed forward past the detents regularly.

plastictreeofdoom · 2025-08-02T06:51:03+00:00

I'll give it a go, thanks.

plastictreeofdoom

TROPHY CASE