Ripcord

I am not saying that there should be no development at all. We should be adding more naval units as we go, I totally agree with you there. There is a lot of work to do, if we are going to have amphib ops and submarine warefare (and ASW). Adding a sub in the current theater would be great, just to show what can be done. And there should be work being done for amphib ships and operations as well. Great, let's lay the groundwork and build a foundation and get started. Just don't ask me to pay $50 for a new DCS NAVY module based in the Black Sea.

You bet -- Naval Infantry!!! That is exactly what we need -- amphib ops!!

Well, OK. I work for the largest manufacturer of construction equipment in the world, with factories in China. And sales are a helluva lot there, compared to any given Euro country, even Germany. But they are not growing like they were, they are flat. Construction projects are still going, but not like they once were. Growth there has slowed. Still growing, though, just not like it was. And let's not kid ourselves here, Chinese consumers are a big part of their economy but they are NOT fueling the economic miracle going on over there.

Soviet doctrine changed at the end, when they started the Tbilisi (now Kuznetsov). Remember the old Kiev class and Moskva class were primarily helo carriers, with an ASW focus -- well OK, the Kiev was also built to handle the Yak-38 with meant a very limited A-G force projection over the beach, to support naval infantry/amphib ops. But before the Tbilisi/Kuz, they were all about submarines, ASW and heavily armed major surface combatants, and long range bombers. Really it was a pretty radical shift in pretty long-running strategy. Personally I think it was mostly just a function of making a good old fashioned coldwar era display a national might/pride, much like their Buran space-shuttle project. Reagan had his 600 ship navy policy at the time... couldn't be outdone, now could they?

I agree with this. We are two counties at different places on developmental a bell curve. As for the amazing pace of economic growth over there, there are a few things we all need to keep in mind. First, for them to continue this miracle, they need strong markets in Europe and North America to trade with. That is why they are also FLAT right now, because our economies are down. Second, the pace of their growth is due to the fact that they were so far behind for so long, and the opening of global markets has brought in so much benefit so quickly. I am no economist, but I think it might be wrong to assume that this same tempo of growth will continue as they get closer and closer to our level of wealth.

Let's also remember that we have only DCS aircraft that you can actually purchase now and fly. So far we do have that measure of balance. And after that, the next may well be the Mig-21 .... or maybe the DCS Huey. Beyond that, folks, it is really just a lot of screenshots and discussion threads and anticipation. So who can say right now?

I think you got it straight. Should be happy, but we'll always want more... human nature, right? Personally I cannot seem to get proficient at all the neat nifty goodies that I already have. About all I can do to call up the JTAC. So I am with you.... I'll be happy as hell for a good long while, getting up a 3-4 new learning curves. Maybe by the time the Huey rolls out I'll be able to land the Ka-50.

Well I am glad to hear this. Nice to know it will go smoothly when the time comes. Eventually this day is probably coming for all of us. But not today.

Meanwhile I noticed this -- China has its first tailhooker (actually 5 of them). http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-11/26/content_15956489.htm OK, now THIS is what I mean by a compelling theater for naval ops.

What were the Georgian coast guard crews supposed to fight with? Who would lead a group of young men to sea in a 40 year old gunboat with 30mm guns and sail into harms way against a way more modern Russian platforms with modern ASUW missiles? This was nothing more than an unscheduled live fire exercise for the Black Sea Fleet units, sans the area closure warnings. Personally I don't think the Georgians intended to do this, I think they were just out there in the wrong place at the wrong time - maybe they were trying to reach port at Poti or otherwise accomplish something, we'll never know. But hey, the point the of the thread, I believe, was not this -- it was how we would really like to see naval ops modelled in this sim. My point was in support of that, but I made the observation that new theaters/regions need to be added in order to really make this compelling. Name the areas you think would be cool (I would make a case for several and derail this thread even further), but the Black Sea is just slightly more compelling than Nevada IMHO. Sorry, NATO units are just not going to enter the Black Sea region in a real scenario involving hostilities with the Russians. Maybe a couple of port visits to trade hats and drink vodka, but once you pass thru the Bosporus, skipper, you are WITHIN FIRING RANGE.

Not a tremendous loss, probably. Western civilization would have recovered eventually, I am sure. Maybe you should watch where you are pointing that thing you refer to... sounds dangerous. Lots of fun until somebody get's an eye put out.... :smilewink:

Or perhaps an Air FAC? Or are you thinking air targets?

You can create a template using static objects/structures? I thought they had to be comprised of ground units...

Good point. For now the Fortifications, which include armed houses, outposts, bunkers, watchtowers and the like, will engage enemy units with 7.62 mm. Just tested this and confirmed, they do engage. But 7.62mm is pretty light so don't expect a lot in terms of firepower. They will repel Hummers and trucks, anything without armor, but these defensive positions get overrun pretty easily by 3-4 LAVs and APCs, really anything with any kind of armor and a big gun (very cool to watch, I might add). Having a 12.7 mm machine gun nest and some dug-in ATGM positions would even this up quite a bit. As it stands, though, it is reasonable enough to add a few ground troops with RPGs hanging out near the block posts and bunkers -- they are kinda exposed that way, but they sure make a big difference! Bignewy, you make an EXCELLENT point, brother -- I think that Harrier jet is going to be awhile getting here, and I am not sure how much ED is really willing to accomodate it until it actually sees the light of day. I think if I am put in charge of setting up a Harrier FARP, I'm going to be looking for a short strip of straight highway to use, and just add some dirt/oil treated taxi ways leading off the highway to some parking. For me that would be ideal, essentially an LZ with assigned parking. But if nothing else, we ought to have at least a blank LZ.

I meant the Red/Warsaw Pact stuff. I doubt you'll find it online.

Hah, that is good. Brings back good memories -- back in the day, the guys I served with had something called 'office brevity' codes, consisting of one letter and one number. So it was like Bravo 3, which meant something like "don't interrupt me while I'm reading the Hockey News, you baffoon!!".... Can't remember then now, but as I recall they were pretty detailed :)

There might be somewhere (cannot confirm this), but they would be extremely sensitive as far as classified material is concerned. The extent to which one side is able to monitor and understand another sides comms signals can never be revealed -- if you can understand even some of it, then you would never want the other side to know that, because then they would just change it up. This isn't just freqs and callsigns here, this would include brevity codes as well. Look up Frank Walker for more. So this is NOT something that is ever going to be released to the public. If it is, then I would suggest to you that there will be some government agents knocking at the front door, and somebody is going to jail.

I like the idea, but I don't think that can be done. I don't think the number of player slots can be changed in the middle of a mission. Maybe if you had ONLY one unit that was human controllable, or rather a very limited number (just a handful) then when those get killed in action, there would be no more units for the MP ground commander to control. But not sure how fun that would be.

I REALLY LIKE that ED went in and created a subsection under Ground Units called FORTIFICATIONS. This contains Armed Houses, Bunkers, Watchtowers and Armed Barracks, and Block posts. So evidently, this means they are capable of shooting? I'll need to experiment to verify this -- for now I am assuming this is the case. I like this a lot, because previously I needed to place these objects as fixed structures. Now I can roll them all into one GROUP with multiple units. Works great when setting up little camps around FARPS and bases, etc. Going to be fun as hell trying to overrun these positions while player as a combined arms ground unit commander. Thanks for this, and thanks for bringing back armed houses. Suggestions -- (1) need to add LANDMINES to this subcategory called Fortifications. This is a very easy one to impliment, I believe. (2) While on the subject of landmines, it would be cool to have a few variations of multiple landmines -- like a 4x3 pattern or a 2x6 pattern, etc. A user could place a couple of these pre-made patterns and have a ready made minefield. (3) I would also like to have a string of some kind of barrier -- fencing, barbed wire (concertina wire), or sandbags or those ugly concrete slabs the soviets loved so much. Something to place in between the outposts and watchtowers and bunkers to create a wall/barrier around a small base or camp. This might be harder to do, but I'll throw it out there. (4) Bridges. Need to be able to place bridges as fixed static objects that can be destroyed. These models are available in game already, since we can see them on the map, but are unable to select & place them in the ME. (5) Buildings. Same thing as bridges. We have a Supermarket and Restaurant -- can we add a few to this list? In particular I would like a hi-rise of some sort, something that could serve as an embassy to place in the capital. (6) Helipad, or a plain old LZ. Similar to a FARP but smaller to accomodate just one helicopter. Preferable a couple versions, one with a H pad, one lit one not lit, and a Red Cross landing pad (for med-evac flights). And lastly, give us a plan old LZ -- no model, just blank spot, where a helo can be assigned to land and take off. Thanks again, fellas, for listening and implimenting all that you have, based on feedback from the community. Great stuff so far!! Ripcord

You gotta be kidding me. That wasn't a war, it was a 2 week training exercise for the Russians. Naval battles? A bit one-sided, don't you think? Technically yes, they fired a few shots in anger, but the whole naval battle was over in half a day. We could model this in the sim right now as a campaign consisting of one mission. OK they ran a blockade action around Poti, and in the process they sunk an old Stenka-class patrol boat, armed with two 30-mm cannons -- basically a coast guard ship. Sunk it with an ASUW SS-N-9 Malakhit strike from a missile corvette. They took out another while it was still tied to the pier in Poti. That is about the extent of their naval battles. Probably not a naval battle, per se, but no less interesting is that they did conduct a naval infantry landing at Ochamchira. Again that was probably more of a training evolution than anything, but they did have an Alligator class landing ship and two Ropuchas with the Moskva providing escort. So they at least pulled out all the big guns for this op. The 'Morpekha' just went ashore and picked up their equipment & supplies at the local railway station.

OK, right -- you got me. I keep forgetting now we have the P-51 Mustang to fly around, and we have the ability to create a WWII scenario.

Brings up a good point here -- we would need something more in terms of terrain/theater to play in. The Black Sea Region is just a big lake for Russian/Ukrainain training and trials/testing ops.

I don't agree. Alekseevka village (selo) is a wide spot in the road just west of Tbilisi International. So that one is modelled in the game. The area where the airport is located seems to be referred quite often as Novo-Alekseevka. http://www.collinsmaps.com/maps/Georgia/Tbilisi/P1003416.00.aspx As for numbers, go to global security. There is not a good OOB by location/airbase, but they do have the number of aircraft. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/georgia/af.htm

Oh what the hell, take my money. Worth it get all these planes flyable, I suppose, in DCS World.

This does look very similar to the campaign resource system in Janes F/A-18. Maybe not surprising, considering Wags is/was producer of both. In Janes FA-18, however, the campaign resources were changed mission by mission, so that was much simpler to use and understand. This looks like it is much more sophisticated, which I think is a good thing -- just need to get our heads around it.