King_Hrothgar

My naval operations wishlist consists of the following: 1) Working catapults for appropriate carriers. 2) Properly working submersible objects such as submarines, torpedoes, mines... 3) Realistic water interaction with objects.

10GB is a really tiny limit. Are you getting your internet through a cell phone or some other mobile device? If so, you may want to consider getting a proper land line based ISP through cable or phone. In any case, my current DCS install is 20.6GB total, I have all the non-WW2 and non-trainer modules. A typical update for DCS is about 1GB I find but that's assuming it is kept up to date. If you're doing an old school DVD install from a disk you bought 3-4 years ago, then it's likely replacing nearly every file in DCS, hence it might actually be more than simply downloading the latest client from scratch. If you can't get around your data caps for whatever reason, go to the nearest public wifi hotspot and download the full installer on whatever device you have and then transfer it to your gaming machine. You'll still have to do an update, but it shouldn't be more than a GB or two. You will also need to install the A-10C from the module manager, but that is under 1GB.

There is only one winner in this matchup, it's Raytheon.

I prefer the Mi-8 over the UH-1 for that kind of flying, but the Huey does offer a level of simplicity not seen in the other two choppers. The miniguns are also rather amusing. In any case, the modules I recommend getting are BS2, A-10C, MiG-21 and FC3. The WW2 and Korea stuff isn't properly developed yet. That said, both the F-86 and MiG-15 are a joy to fly in free flight, very different from modern supersonic jet fighters and also not done to death like ETO WW2 fighters.

I know the WH has 2 throttle sliders, but I ignored that option since it isn't ergonomic and throttle really isn't that important. It's used to start the engine and then not touched again typically.

In general for choppers: Throttle slider = Collective Rotary axis = Throttle Flight stick = Cyclic Given that the TM WH is a bit short on axis compared to other HOTAS setups, you may want to use your rotary axis for zoom instead. If you do so, just assign throttle to two buttons. In all honesty, it isn't really something you use often in flight in a chopper and certainly not with the woefully underpowered Huey. As for axis inversion, I don't invert any of the axis compared to fixed wing planes, not sure why anyone would want to do that unless they vertically mount their throttle slider.

The trouble is, a mission maker can't exactly create a Bf-109G2 to go up against your P-40F. I realize you are focusing on planes you want but these are combat planes, they need something to fight.;) A few well picked AI planes would go a very long ways to making your WW2 modules far more appealing.

Actually they are basically sticking with UK planes. That's fine I suppose, but in the case of WW2 they will have to at least create some AI axis planes for their stuff to fight. It's impossible to create a decent mission for a P-40F with the only axis planes being an Fw-190D9 and Bf-109K. The problem thankfully doesn't extend beyond WW2 due to the MiG-15, MiG-21 and FC3 planes.

1. Been with this series since Flanker 2 in the late '90's. 2. The F-14 and F-18 were the standard USN fighters when I was a kid. I've always had an interest in military aviation, so I honestly can't remember a time when I didn't know about the F-14/15/16/18. 3. I love combat aircraft in general and don't have any particular feelings towards the F-14 at this time beyond that. It should be fairly interesting to operate thanks to the radar setup and the AIM-54. I also prefer the old analog cockpits to the early glass ones, so it should suit me well. 4. Not really, it was on TV a lot on weekends when I was a kid so seeing it was inevitable. I can't say I ever cared much for that movie, but it did have some cool flying scenes. 5. Not I, seen plenty of them over the years though at airshows and as static displays.

I'd be more interested in a good opponent for the MiG-21 though, right now it's a bit lonely. So I'd favor a 1970's model.

The big question I have is simply why? Very few people play anything but single player. Anything with more than 1 seat is problematic for these players as they have to hop seats constantly unless they are duplicates. In MP, what does adding a second seat offer? If you're trying to train someone, it would be just as easy to be sitting next to them in the same plane type as it would be to be sitting in the backseat. The reason I argue against 2 seat trainer versions is not because I'm against them but because they would come at the expense of the more capable single seat combat variants. And they do this without really offering anything that a single seat version doesn't in the context of a video game.

I don't think these companies care if you're doing a battlefield series level plane or full DCS study sim. To them it's a name and a 3d model. In any case, I agree that DCS is moving towards a troubling place in regards to plane lineup. Some here may say that common planes have been done to death, but I have to ask when the last time anyone here saw a reasonable fidelity MiG-23, 25 or 31 was? I don't think I've ever seen them as anything but AI. And it isn't like the F-series planes have been done to death either. Since the last serious F-16 sim was released, there have been 5+ serious CFS's released that had a Bf-109 in it. And yet people clamor for more WW2. In regards to LNS itself, 2 out of 3 jet fighters/attackers as major types isn't a bad ratio. The thing that concerns me with DCS's future plane lineup actually has nothing to do with LNS itself, it's the combined efforts of all the various developers. As it stands, there are about a dozen western jet fighters being developed, there are zero eastern block fighters in the works. That's a very serious problem unless the USA decides Queen Elizabeth has been sitting on her throne far too long and opts for a little regime change.

Why not find out? You said you already have it. But to answer your question, I think it depends on what is on your checklist. Everything directly related to flight and navigation appears to be in but some ancillary systems such as cabin lights and signal flares are not.

I don't think a Viggen would sell poorly. Most combat flight sim fans are in it for aviation in general, not an obsession with one particular plane or nationality. That said, I don't think a Viggen would be a big seller either as it doesn't have a large fan base. Instead it will be just another plane that will have to sell itself to DCS players based on what it offers.

http://www.vfp62.com/f14_rio.html

External programs are never a good solution. I agree this feature should be added to all axis in DCS.

I agree BST is doing their releases the right way by doing opposing pairs. Hopefully LNS copies this approach. The Viggen (in either fighter or attacker version), odd of a choice as it is, does seem to reasonably match up against the MiG-21bis. If they do a MiG-31 after the F-14, then that will also be paired up nicely. This setup just leaves the apparent WW2 plane as an orphan. However, given the large number of US/UK WW2 planes already in development, I don't think they'd have to make an opponent for a Japanese fighter as VEAO and ED seem to have that part covered. In any case, both the MiG-25 and MiG-31 occupy the top spots for my most wanted red plane. Both would be day 1 purchases for me.

I'd classify it as such. In the 1970's, lacking BVR missiles was not uncommon for fighters. Here are some 1970's fighters without BVR missiles: MiG-21bis, F-5E, F-16A, Harriers and Mirage F1. That is not a complete list and many of them later received BVR missiles as upgrades, but they didn't have them in the '70's.

Pepin, your youtube link is super broken. Just copy/paste the entire address bar or share address into the forums here to link.

I loved the first two Witcher games despite their wonky combat. But I'm going to wait a couple months for the third one, just to give them time to sort out any major issues it may have. I may also replay the first two first. Edit: Oh, 24GB isn't that big for a game these days. RoF is 22GB, DCS 20GB, FarCry4 32GB and RomeII 24GB. So yeah, 24GB is very much the average. Aren't you glad no one sells this stuff on DVD's? We'd be back to the old "insert disk 7 to continue" nonsense of the PC dark ages.

I'd do the same but we weren't given that option. Of the oddball aircraft of little historical or potential significance, one can do a lot worse than a Viggen. But I absolutely agree that major military aircraft types should be given priority in general. I'll buy the attack Viggen if that is in fact what they are making. But I'd be unlikely to buy any other non-standard types. One is enough imho and this one is unusually interesting given the anti-ship, air to ground and air to air ability.

Another thing that needs a bit of love are the utility choppers. Right now these don't serve much of a purpose but I have an idea on how to change that. As it stands, A-10's, Su-25's and Ka-50's are a bit at the mercy of enemy aircraft and often have long flights to a friendly base to resupply. If the UH-1 and Mi-8 could drop a FARP anywhere, it would really help the Ka-50's on some of the more spread out objectives. If they could also drop some medium ranged SAMs such as a HAWK or TOR, that would also help the fixed wing strikers. Other missions do this kind of thing already, so I know it can be done.

Yep, the Viggen seems very likely now. I missed Cobra's avatar change but a lot of others saw it and all seem to agree on what it was. For what it's worth, the Viggen did pop up as a possible option very early on in this thread as it always did fit all the clues. As for what the Viggen brings to the table, it may not have seen much (or any) action, but it will add a lot of new things to DCS. The addition of fire and forget anti-ship missiles is certainly something by itself. Another interesting bit is the use of manually piloted radio command air to surface missiles. The Viggen had a second joystick in it for this purpose, despite being a single seater. Using those is certainly going to be a challenge. In the air to air role, from what little I know it looks like it will be a good opponent for the MiG-21 if they stick with a pre AIM-120 version. Given that the AIM-120 was added only very late in the Viggen's service life, the earlier models seem more likely.

Historic, Korea but another option is the Taiwan straights. No pesky B-29's to worry about in that scenario.

Excellent guide and nicely broken up so you can look up only what you don't already know.