DarkFire

Let's not lose sight of the fact that FC3 is currently the only method we have of flying 3rd or early 4th gen Russian military aircraft, at least fixed wing. I suspect a lot of the long-time "Flanker" / DCS fans were drawn to this sim precisely because it featured things like the Su-27 / 33, or Su-25, which at the time were simply not available elsewhere, whereas there was very much a time when cookie-cutter F-16 and F-18 sims were numerous. I'm very glad that we have the F/A-18C to DCS standard and will in the future be getting the F-16C Bk.50 to a similar standard, but let's not dismiss the very significant portion of the fan base who enjoy red air. FC3 is their (our) only route to getting that experience for now, and likely for the foreseeable future.

I don't think the DCS version of the Su-30 has changed substantially since the early days of DCS World, so it's most likely a base line Russian Air Force Su-30 which I believe were modified Su-27UB training aircraft. In that case it shouldn't mount anything more advanced that the Su-27S that we get to use. I doubt it's anything as advanced as an MKI or later variants.

I very much doubt that the logbook issue will be fixed for 1.5.xx as that version is now obsolete. ED have made it quite clear that anything prior to 2.5 will no longer receive bug fixes. There's no real reason to still use the old version as the new one is a much more efficient user of hardware. All that being said, to echo Shadow the logbook only ever records anything done in SP missions. It does not record anything related to MP.

Agree completely with everyone else here. The praise is well deserved indeed. Considering the Hornet is still in early access the level of systems content and most of all the level of polish is very, very impressive. Can't wait to see what the Hornet will become as more systems are brought on line. Absolutely outstanding job ED, thanks very much for all your efforts.

Agree completely, this module really showcases the attention to detail that DCS is all about, even in early access. ED / BST did and are doing a truly fantastic job with the Hornet. It's a real pleasure to fly so far and will only get better as more capabilities are included. Thanks very much indeed to everyone at ED / BST and Wags for his educational videos. This was absolutely worth the wait :notworthy:

The Faceboook post by BST described an F-16C Block 50. Makes perfect sense to me. It'll be a great DCS place and makes perfect commercial sense for ED.

Thanks everyone for the further advice. Food for though.

Since Su-27 Squadron Commander's Edition way back in 1996 I think I probably have about 3-4K hours in the Su-27. Flying being a perishable skill I still try to fly it for 30-60 minutes most days to keep my muscle memory & skills current. The thing still has the capacity to surprise me if I do something stupid. I think I have all the other modules with the exception of the choppers. I can't really say that I even intend to learn them all. Bought most of them to support the developers. I think I'll probably devote quite a lot of time to learning the FA-18, not because it's one of my favourite aircraft but because it's so versatile and will eventually be able to fulfil pretty much any mission in DCS. If I have any spare time at all I'd also like to get to know the Viggen a lot better. I like the idea of a low & fast dedicated strike aircraft. All that being said, if ED made a DCS: Su-27 I would never fly anything else. Just saying ED ;)

I wonder if eventually we'll get a gun camera feature like the MiG-15 has. That would be cool. Otherwise I guess in DCS it's only really useful in the A-10C to activate PAC before firing the gun.

I thought it wasn't working but it is. As others have commented, it's subtle and very easily adjustable in small increments. MUCH easier and nicer to use than the trim on Russian FC3 aircraft.

I tried mapping the idle / off detente. It works when going from idle to off, but doesn't seem to do anything going from off to idle. Is anyone else seeing this on the Warthog throttle?

Very useful Thanks very much for taking the time to come up with this guide :thumbup:

Very, very early first flying impression: a real joy to fly. High AOA flight ability & nose control seems almost on a par with my beloved Su-27. One thing I did notice, and I may be completely wrong based on my first hour of flying, is that the relevant speed range for smallest turn radius seem to be quite narrow. If that makes sense. It feels like it's a very narrow bell curve, whereas the equivalent bell curve for something like the Flanker feels much wider. This is going to be such a versatile aircraft when we eventually get all the capabilities. I can see this becoming my favourite DCS-level aircraft.

Trim a lot? Yes, all the time. Any change in speed will require re-trimming the aircraft. In practice this means that any change in speed, any significant change in pitch without suitable throttle adjustment and any significant change in altitude will require re-trimming. As Velik suggested the best method of approach I've found is to bind the trim controls to a spare hat switch. This makes thumbing the trim switch almost an unconscious muscle memory action when you've been flying enough. If you watch cockpit video from real Su-27's the pilots are constantly thumbing the trim hat on the stick. For better or worse Sukhoi designed the ACS on the Flanker so that it would mimic older direct control aircraft: nose up as airspeed increases and nose down as airspeed decreases. Given the superb nose authority and amazing high-AOA capability of the Flanker I feel that this was a really bizarre decision on the part of the design team but I suppose it makes transitioning from a trainer aircraft that much easier. For what its worth modern Flanker variants such as the Su-30MKi, Su-35 etc all have more modern fully fly-by-wire systems in which manual trimming is not usually necessary. Finally a personal plea. If anyone from ED reads this, could we please, for the love of all that is holy, PLEASE make the trim reset work on the roll channel? Please? The near-inability to zero out roll trim by manual trim inputs is the single most infuriating thing about flying the DCS Su-27. FINAL NOTE ON RUDDER BREAKAGES: To the OP: I tested this at all sorts of altitudes up to 10,000m and all speeds up to Vmax (2,700 Km/h TAS). At any speed and at any altitude the AOA/G limiter will save your rudders. If you disable the limiter system, exactly as Ironhand found, at speeds at or above roughly 700 Km/h your rudders will break on full deflection. There are plenty of reasons to disable the AOA/G limiter under certain conditions and in certain situations, but under all those conditions & situations you are very unlikely to need to use your rudders. At nearly any speed the DCS Su-27 will perform ~95% co-ordinated turns for you. The only time you need to manually adjust the rudders are for cross wind landings and maybe during some of the more exotic WVR manoeuvres. Under normal conditions, even high AOA, the ACS will deal with rudder inputs for you, even cross-coupling yaw & roll channels to provide better roll control at high AOA. Feet off the rudders!

Understood. My apologies since you were voicing a genuine concern. That being said, I think the Flanker has been brought in line with reality rather than having been significantly downgraded. The days of doing magical 50G turns using direct control mode are gone, and in my opinion rightfully so. As I said, performance is now heavily dependant on configuration, weapons loaded and fuel load. A lightly loaded Flanker performs astonishingly well at WVR whereas a Flanker carrying a maximum bomb load plus full fuel will turn like an airborne T-72 :) Something that is tangentially related: I wish the fuel dump system worked in the Flanker. This would be really useful in order to dump some excess weight for combat and also for landing purposes. Edited to add: fuel dump does in fact work perfectly, and has a nice graphic to boot! I hadn't noticed that FD was fixed. Nice work ED!

Agree with this. Nearly everything else about any given mission can be customised, except the knee board. The default pages are OK but we should have the ability to customise them all, even if its as simple as the knee board displaying a paginated pdf file or similar.

Thanks everyone for the recommendations, much appreciated.

Serious question: are you trolling? Let me assume for a moment that you're not. The Su-27 is not the slowest aircraft in DCS, it's actually the fastest (playable) at the moment, capable of Mach 2.53 at 12,500m altitude, which is significantly faster than it should be. It can be relatively heavy, depending on configuration, but WVR performance is heavily dependant on configuration. At under 35% fuel load, with 4 missiles loaded, the Su-27 will out-turn everything except the MiG-29. Added to this it has a very high off-boresight capability with the R-73 which is further boosted by the helmet mounted sight. On the other hand if you have >90% fuel and a full missile load then turning performance will be significantly lower. The same applies though to any other aircraft. For example, an F-15C that has a full missile load and 3 x fuel tanks loaded will also have a significantly lower turning ability than at ideal conditions. To address your later question, speed is not the characteristic that will decide who will win a WVR fight. Turning ability and the ability to successfully bring weapons within launch parameters are much more important in WVR combat. To use your example, if an enemy turns away to extend during a dogfight then they make themselves an excellent target for a follow-on R-27ET missile shot. If they maneuver to avoid the missile then they're back in WVR combat and have not escaped. I can't think of any aircraft that actually exists that can enter and exit WVR combat at will with no consideration for the enemy aircraft involved in the fight.

I have a friend who's brand new to DCS. He's not in to fixed wing but loves his choppers. Primarily he wants to learn chopper piloting but would also like to blow stuff up occasionally. What chopper module should I recommend to him?

I like my scifi shows and have just finished watching Altered Carbon on Netflix. Great cinematography, excellent acting and very nice special effects. The story was altered from the books but I felt in a good way which in no way detracted from the central themes. Very highly recommended for scifi fans.

I would love to see a Su-27SM in FC4. For me that would be my dream option. Even if not, I'll be happy to see whatever other aircraft they decide to bring in. More generally upgrading to FC4 is a no brainer for me - I'm happy to pay to help support future development.

As per page 117, para. 3 of the DCS Su-27 flight manual, rudder travel should be limited to 50% above speeds of 600 Km/h. This is slightly different in the real Su-27 in that rudder travel is limited at speeds over 600 km/h to no more than double the turn & slip ball diameter. Rudder movement is limited to 1/3 of total travel at a force of 17 kg on the relevant pedal. To be fair the above refers to the Su-27SK not the -27S as we have, however I can't find anything to suggest that the rudder channel of the ACS differs in any way for the two variants. As to the Su-27 being the slowest turning, I'd refer you to GG's comments above. It's entirely dependant on configuration but to say that it's the worst performing is factually false. IIRC under optimum conditions it is in fact the best performing, with the possible exception of the MiG-29S.

Great videos :thumbup: also can't beat some AC/DC

I was very sad to hear about this. I didn't always agree with his conclusions about games but I thought that his videos were always thoughtful & well reasoned. On line gaming reviews are diminished by his passing. So sad that he was only 33. Requiest in pacem Mr. Bain :(

With my setup I'm getting maybe 5% lower FPS in the busiest areas of the Persian Gulf as opposed to the busiest areas of the Caucasus. Considering that there's probably plenty more to do in terms of optimisation with the Persian Gulf map, I think this is pretty impressive and compares favourably with the NTTR map over Vegas. ED did an excellent job.