DaveB it is not so much a gear setting problem it is the way the cat launch works, the launch assist settings being the controling factor, if they are not right then you will get nose down, nose up, all gear going through the deck and other odd happenings.
I have spent a lot of time on this deck ops thing with both Ark and Victorious and any problems with cat launch comes back to the launch assist settings and nose over on tail draggers are down to tail hook positioning and now have problem free catches on all my tail draggers.
In this screenie you will see a white light just behind the nose wheel and a green just below the cockpit, these lights relate to launch_bar_lug = white light, launch_bar_pivot = green light, this represents the RN bridle launch.
The white I use as the fixed point and move the green the get the correct or accepable behaviour, takes time changing the figures from the lights entries in aircraft.cfg to launch bar assistance.
[launch_assistance]
launch_bar_pivot = 6.433, 0.0, -2.522
launch_bar_lug = 10.423, 0.0, -4.42
All my tests are carried out on static and moving carriers using saved flights and launches and traps work ok but it does take time and patience to do it
Ben your screenies as far as I can see is on the cat ready to launch where the nose wheel is not a problem have you watched the actual launch in spot view as that is where the sinking nosewheel occurs.
These are the launch_assistance settings I have on the T8
[launch_assistance]
launch_bar_pivot = 6.433, 0.0, -2.522
launch_bar_lug = 10.423, 0.0, -4.42