robmypro

Sent!

Not too interested in FC3 without AFM and ckickable cockpits sporting 6DOF. But we will see what ED delivers.

When I pre-ordered the A-10 I did so in part because of the bonus Nevada map. I have also waited a long time for that bonus.

Yeah, it's one of my favorites, too. Lol

I think this is a great problem to worry about. What happens if we have 2 of the same plane in DCS? I imagine the day when DCS aircraft are as plentiful as FSX. That would be amazing. I cannot wait to the day when I am trying to figure out which of the 3 F-16 versions I should buy! Not to mention terrain, sound, weather, and airport upgrades. Orbix DCS: Iraq! The wife is going to kill me.

I guess the point was having something that says the mod lives up to DCS standards, as reviewed by them. How will the community distinguish this?

Thanks dude! Love it.

I have complete faith in the boys from ED, but i am wondering how much thought they have put into a DCS Certification program. It could go something like this... 3rd party developer creates an F-16 Block 52. They would like to carry the DCS or DCS Certified label, which tells the community that ED has reviewed it using a comprehensive checklist of items. The 3rd party developer pays a fee for this service, with no guaratee that they are buying certification. ED publishes the criteria they will use for certification, and will provide details the 3rd party developer needs to address if certification tests fail. The 3rd party developer provides the data requested, and ED reviews the application, models, FM, code, etc. BTW, when setting up online matches, DCS Certified content could be made mandatory, if desired. From a marketing standpoint, 3rd party developers would have incentive to develop high fidelity content. The community would also have something from ED certifying quality. And ED would put in place incentives for the DCS brand to remain top quality. Maybe this has already been put in motion?

We have nails?

Good points, guys. The future is interesting! ED has been doing a great job, so we know they are well aware of this pitfall. And balance also means having a/c realistically modeled (aka the Mig 21 has no chance against an F-15). They need to make sure strange anomolies don't occur. At least some QA to verify the plane matches real world specs. Challenging...but also exciting.

With so many new aircraft in development, I am thinking about force on force / Cold War encounters. What mix of aircraft would we need on both sides to provide good balance, and avoid that one dominant aircraft that everyone is forced to fly to have a chance of survival. I am thinking real world situations. For example, if the U.S. has the F-15E, what would the Soviets need? Would the Mig 29 counter this threat? What about the Mig-21? If the admin wanted to limit aircraft choices to a fair fight, what would the U.S. need? Having plenty of choices is great, but I think attention needs to be given to reaching balance. I am sure ED is thinking about it, but will we get any sort of balance on the path we are on?

Holy crap.

Sounds good. Thanks Nate.

Just thinking about this. Maybe basic models are added to DCS World periodically by ED, given what they know about the 3rd party development pipeline. These are low fidelity versions, but they allow people without that plane to have a lower fidelity version rendered in DCS World. If they do have the aircraft installed, they see the high fidelity version in DCS World. So in this way updates to DCS World are minimized. I imagine many of the low fidelity aircraft can be ported over from FC. This leaves the issue of making aircraft player controlled when creating missions. Maybe every aircraft can be player controlled, so the logic determining what can be flown moves down to the client. In our ever expanding world of aircraft, it might not make sense to integrate that logic into DCS World. Just a couple of ideas.

It would be nice to have a better installation process. An updater would be really appreciated that does not require downloading the entire sim every time. Maybe this is already being addressed, but if not please consider something like ROF has.

I noticed much better looking graphics. Everyone said it looked great, but to me it was so so. Now it looks great. No idea why.

I wish these guys could take over development for IL2: Ben Dover.

Okay Nate, here's a prediction. The next aircraft will be the FA-18E Super Hornet, with full on carrier ops. 2 for 2?

Quick question Nate. Will ED be reviewing 3rd party content before it is released? Or are you guys following the FSX approach where anything goes? How do you maintain the quality?

I'm running out of them, Nate. But very happy to see the direction you guys are going. Combined Arms took me by surprise. Excellent idea. Once we get the 3rd party developers kicking in (within 12-18 months) the DCS universe will expand rapidly. Again, great job going in this direction. A lot of us had hoped for this, and you guys are the ones we want to see do it.

When I originally posted this, I really didn't think we would see this come to fruition for many years. But the new plans pretty much are dead on, so looking forward to spending a lot more time and money with DCS!

I am glad you guys decided to go this direction. It opens things up, and makes the DCS world that much better.

At some point this just sounds like poor or no planning.

I have the original spiral bound manual from 1998. The Falcon is just an incredible simulation. The thing that is great about the F-16 is the multi-role capability. We once did an online campaign (it lasted 2 weeks and ran in real-time) and every mission was different. Sometimes we'd have to take out ground forces, and then we'd do SEAD. The bastards would be rebuilding a bridge we just took out a few days earlier. It's really a war simulation with a balls to the walls F-16 sim thrown in for good measure. DCS sims are the same level, which is a huge compliment. And BMS just upped the stakes big time with a new graphics engine, 3d clickable cockpit, and more. It's brilliant.

It killed any desire i have to explore it in another sim. In other words, i wouldn't purchase a DCS version of it, since it has been done well enough. Now an F/A-18...