JD Swann

A screen or two every few months would be great. ED still hasn't officially confirmed that the Hellcat is being actively developed and the last update on the WW2 Marianas map was more than a year ago. There hasn't been any WW2 news from ED this year, and it's already October. As far as we can tell from the newsletter there isn't any work being done on DCS WW2 at all. I'm pretty sure that this isn't really true but it's still a little disheartening to think that nothing important enough to make the newsletter has been accomplished this year. Of course you're right though, it will come when it comes and there's really nothing we can do to speed it up so there's no point in worrying about it. Still, it would be nice if they'd throw us a bone in the newsletter.

I know Sensor 3 but EWO is a surprise. In my day all the sensor stations were AW's (enlisted aircrew).

@Hiromachi posted in January that there wouldn't be any more updates until the module releases.

Do we know this. I've looked and haven't been able to find this anywhere. There is a picture from Magnitude 3's Facebook page that shows a Zero but that could mean anything. I'd really like to see your source for this.

Yeah, I'm thinking it will need guidance from the DCS app, which might mean that finishing it requires an update to the core game by ED. If that's so then Magnitude 3 can't finish it without ED's help.

Hey Magnitude 3, So, it’s been a year since the last update. I know @Hiromachi posted in January that there weren’t going to be any more updates until you were getting close to release but still, it’s been a year. Last week you posted some pictures of the damage model which were great. I love to see pictures of new development as it occurs, or new pictures of things which have been finished for some time. Anytime you think of posting a screenshot I would encourage you to go ahead. It doesn’t have to be new. But anyway, it’s been a year since your last update so I was reading back over some old posts and I had some questions. I’m kind of hoping there’s something on the list that you can address as a sort of mini-update. If not, no problem, I’ll continue to wait for whenever you’re ready to talk. Here’s what I was wondering: About the aircraft: 1. Warning lights. You mention in an old update the possibility of having a way to turn off the stall and water/methanol warning light in special options. All of the screen shots I’ve seen seem to have these lights. Are you still planning on making them optional? 2. YE/ZB. You’ve suggested that you’d like to implement the YE/ZB homing system. I think this would be a great addition and just what I need to get me to learn Morse code. Is this something you’re still planning on? If so is this something you can do on your own or would it require changes to be make to the base game by ED? 3. Tiny Tim rockets. This seems like a very cool weapon. Big rockets to make big booms. As I understand it once a weapon is fired it becomes the property of the core game which takes control. I assume this means ED would have to update the base game. Do you expect you’ll be able to have these working when you introduce the Corsair? 4. Bat bomb. OK, this looks terrifically cool. But it seems like it will require some fairly significant coding on the part of ED to model the radar homing. It also seems to need some kind of radar display in the cockpit to identify a target but I haven’t seen anything like that in any screenshots. Do you think this is on track for release with the module? Is there anything you’d be willing to share about how this weapon will work in the game? About the carrier: 1. Spawn points. In pictures of WWII carriers spotted for a strike there are a lot of planes at the back ready to go. Something like this: It looks like the aircraft are placed about four across on the deck and several rows deep. Do you think something like this will be possible to set up in the mission editor? It doesn’t seem like taxiing around the deck was much of a thing on the straight deck carriers. Deck crew took care of the spotting so being able to position planes it a reasonable pre-strike formation seems really useful for mission designers. 2. Barriers and barricade. ED have said that they want to add the barricade to the Supercarrier but so far they haven’t. A barricade is obviously much more important for a straight deck carrier. Is this something you can do yourselves or will it require changes by ED? Do you think it will be working at release? 3. Elevators and hangar doors. You said you want these animated and functional. I’m not sure how I would use them but they would look really cool. I think I saw a picture of an elevator in the down position but I haven’t seen anything with open hangar doors. How is work going on these items? 4. Masts. The Essex class carriers had large masts on the starboard side which apparently are lowered for flight operation and raised at other times. The screenshots I’ve seen all show them down. Do you plan to animate them? Bonus questions: (I really don’t think there’s any chance of an answer to these.) 1. Zero. The picture at the top of your Facebook page shows a Corsair with a Zero. Is this just decoration or do you think an AI Zero is in the foreseeable future? 2. CVE. @-Rudel- has a model of a Commencement Bay class CVE at the top of his home page in the forums. USS Block Island (or one of her sister ships) would be a great addition to your Corsair. With some USMC liveries and ED’s Hellcat we’d have two thirds of her air group in the game. Flying close air support off a CVE would make for some great missions. I don’t really have a question but if you can make this happen please do! That’s all I have for now. If you don’t want to respond that’s fine. I’ll get over it. For everybody thinking “Stop being such a demanding prick. Let them finish their work. They’ll announce things when they’re ready.” You’re right. I’m bad and I feel bad. My only counterargument is: It’s been A YEAR since the last update. Oh, one last thing. I think it’s pretty obvious from this post that I have a lot of time on my hands. If you need someone to beta test your beautiful new module feel free to ask. Love, JD

It's been on the official list for years. Sometime around New years it was shown in the distance. I hate to be a pain but, what official list? I don't think I've seen this. Do you have a link.

Where did you see this. I can't seem to find it.

To my eye both of the silhouettes in the Magnitude 3 image look like they came from the Ki-84 in the War Thunder wiki. Magnitude 3: War Thunder: I thin they look exactly the same. The War Thunder image is from here: https://wiki.warthunder.com/Ki-84_hei If the silhouettes are just copy/pasted from the web I'm afraid there may be less there than meets the eye. But hope springs eternal.

@Stackup and @Cunctator thank you very much for the detailed explanations.

Fascinating. I never noticed that before. Any idea what happens if you put the tail hook lever in the down position with the gear up?

I've never heard this before. Where did you find it. BTW your campaigns are great. (And your videos.)

A small update on Facebook today: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=576610830929238&set=a.554310483159273

So, since there hasn't been any recent news or updates about the F4U I assume that it's more than six months away?

All right, I'll ask. How do you think it might work. It seems like a problem to me. WWII carriers were dependent on the crew for spotting the deck and there's nothing like that in DCS currently.