Sunbather

Years ago, travelling on foot through Spain, I wondered what the proper term for 'sparkling stars' is. It was then that I found out about "Scintillation". I've never thought about tieing it to how radars work. Then again, I've just started to really learn about radars like 6 months ago. So thank you for your post! And yes, the A/G was one of the most important reasons why I feel drawn to this module. Thanks for not only not snapping at me for making such a post but in fact complimenting me for it! Thanks! I really had questions regarding content and wasn't at all trying to tackle the drama. And I think it is great that everyone here understood what I was trying to ask about! Yes, F-15EX would be great but I agree with: In any case, the F-15E or whatever other strike variant should never be missing from DCS from here on out! I've heard this argument so many times already! "This new 79,99$ game is still dirt cheap. Dinner with my wife is 100$ and it only lasts 2 hours!" Or another classic, your variant: "Going to the movies twice is 60$!" Well, here in a big city in Germany, going to the movies is about 10€. I also don't go the movies because too much crap is produced nowadays and every time someone sits behind me with popcorn despite the theatre being completely empty. It would make more sense to compare it to a Netflix subscription. 60€ is 5 months of Netflix subscription. Even if we take going to the movies as example: a curated, compressed experience in the outside world is not a good equivalent to a game in which there are many downtimes (traversing the world, setting things up etc.). And if you are really adamant on comparing things: I like to read. I get about 100 hours of enjoyment out of a book that cost me 13€, minus all of the costs that are accompanying the other hobbies like energy and fuel costs. Yet another aspect, and sorry that I am assuming that you are American: when it comes to daily purchases, 60€ gives you much more buying power than 60$. Meaning e.g. that a sandwich in a city in the USA is 15$ while you get the the same for 8€ in Germany. Sorry for the rant. I don't try to attack you but I am tired of this argument because it is flawed in so many ways. Regarding your second paragraph, hahaha: now that I've paid and played the plane, I wholeheartedly agree. Completely worth it and I woudn't wanna miss it ever again! I did this way too many times already. Felt a bit like cheating. Also, I am then hanging like a sitting duck in the air. Or are you invisible when on active pause? Anyways, both the A/G radar and the TPOD have such a big reach that, in theory, I have enough time to prepare my bombs, if I give myself enough ingress time.

I pulled the trigger shortly after having read all your messages and it was very much worth it. The F-15E does exactly what I want: change up things when playing DCS Retribution. It feels so different than the F-16C! It feels heavier and much more powerful, evading SAMs is a joy, the huge fuel tank is a relief, the pilot cockpit delightfully uncluttered. The workload is insane, obviously, as there is a WSO seat for a reason but I do manage the A/G radar and the TPOD in combination with the Smart Weapons menu quite well already. Air to Air works much better than I expected. The sun visor is not to be underestimated! Yes, as a module with stopped progress and unknown future, 40€ or even 30€ might have been a more reasonable price. Things I miss: - HMCS - more armament like SDBs The real problem: - I am now even more invested in the whole 'situation' and I hope the F-15E stays playable for a long, long time with all the current features and maybe even some additions.

Unfortunately, no. I had some racing gear as a kid, and I think it was a pretty expensive one but I am afraid I sold it. It would be the perfect temporary solution!

Thank you guys for the quick response. I thought as much. I didn't know there was auto rudder and takeoff assist! Yeah, I've decided on a German plane because I am an Axis main in WW2 games. And the Fw 190s have the reputation of being buggy which would make my beginner's experience even worse, I reckon. Still, I am also going to trial the P-51! Thanks for the technical explantion. I am still a noob when it comes to flight physics, especially propeller planes, or piston engined planes as they are apparently called, haha. So it is in a very basic sense the same as the torque you have to apply when flying rotor wing, I guess. Funny thing is, I did purchase some rudder pedals >200€ and the experience was NOT good. Too many flaws for such an expensive product. Which kinda left me frustrated. I will buy rudder pedals eventually but right now I am fed up. And since I found out that I can fly the Apache without rudder pedals, I am somewhat content for now anyways. But yeah, I've already learned that you shouldn't buy cheap when it comes to flight gear. I had the Thrustmaster T-16000 for about 2 hours until I decided to buy a better one, hahaha. Even as beginner, the thing just felt too cheap and unprecise and the layout didn't make much sense either. Generally, this is good advice but see my previous response just above. Also, there is not much space to make in a cramped 1-room-apartment. But I am working on it. Right now, I am also more eager to spend the money on new modules and maps. And it's a lot of modules and maps you can buy for 250€ on a DCS sale. I understand this now. Thanks for adding your input though! Thanks for ending on such an optimistic note! The muscle memory thing is a thing, I've experienced this in other areas of life already. But on the upside: it will be like a new experience when I finally have rudder pedals. I reckon that a lot of jets, planes and helicopters will feel much different once I've upgraded my gear. @ all: thanks again for taking the time to respond!

Right now, I don't have rudder pedals and that won't change for the foreseeable future (space, money, cable chaos etc.). However, I do have a twist stick and I have zero problems with modern jets, no problems yet with the F-4E and I can even comfortably fly the AH-64, especially when I use force trim. Now, I see it mentioned a lot that rudder pedals are WW2 really need rudder pedals. How true is that *after* I've already managed to take off? I would imagine I need them in dogfights to edge me into just the right position to get the enemy in my sights but for what else do I really need rudder pedals? Inb4: Yes, I know that in general having rudder pedals is a must and will change the feel and immersion. It will come, just not now. I basically want to know if I am able to enjoy WW2 in DCS without rudder pedals or if I should wait until I get rudder pedals. I will also trial the Bf-109 in the next few days and see for myself but I won't spot the nuances that might require a rudder pedal.

EDIT: I was wrong. I was looking at it the wrong way. The non-sale prices or rather the € and $ prices are way more different than I thought, hence the amount of % off is different as well. Except for Kola it does result in similar prices on both storefronts. Both the Super Carrier module and the Kola terrain are off 40% in the DCS store but only 25% over on Steam. I know that with Kola the calculation is a bit different anyways because the 40% is deducted from the future 1.0 price but it is still 38€ on Steam while it is 33$ here. Worse with the Super Carrier which is really only 25% off over on Steam but should be 40%, no? As sale prices have been wobbly before on DCS Steam, I suppose that this is an error and would appreciate if you were able to adjust it. EDIT: AH-64 off 37% on Steam but 50% here.

Thanks for the info! I am going to pick up the MiG-21 today and your campaign will be bought as well, either now or later when the rework is finished.

Any news about this campaign, @SorelRo?

THIS! There is no unwritten morale rule for wargames/combat simulations to not have civilians in them. Consider e.g. Arma 3, Combat Mission (abstracted), Armored Brigade 2, Command: Modern Operations. In fact, a strong argument can be made that a wargame/combat simulation that pretends that civilians don't exist is even more insulting and harmful than actually having them in the game (and hence allowing people to commit 'war crimes' for 'fun'). Right now, a huge aspect is missing from DCS which makes CAS but also Deep Strike missions very unrealistic. There is literally zero backlash for you bombing the wrong building or annihilating the wrong pickup truck with your 30mm GAU-8. So we not only need (more and) region-appropriate civilian assets, we also need the logic behind it to make missions actually meaningful. @shagratobviously said it much better than I did but I wanted to butt in because it is wild to me that this aspect is not modelled at all in DCS. A proper implementation doesn't have to be ridiculously complex (again, look at Command: Modern Operations or Combat Mission) but it would increase the tension and complexity and variety of missions in a way that a whole new dimension would be added to the game (rather literally).

Yeah, I don't understand it either. As a consumer/customer, one of the most important aspects for me to buy a new map is whether or not there is community content available for it. I can't look for content for the Iraq map. And using the general search function leads to chaos.

But wasn't it already 145 GB before they added winter textures? I also would like to see a reduction of file size across the board. It's okay for DCS to be a big game but if they want to sell more and more maps to us, it can't be that each new map needs 150 GB when fully released (e.g. Iraq which already now is 110 GB if I remember correctly).

I am thinking about buying the F-15E. The Razbam vs ED situation does NOT play into my decision, I have already discussed this with myself so please don't make any arguments here based on 'the situation'. So basically, I am asking myself: Why would I need the F-15E when I already own the F-16 and F/A-18C? Or should I rather go for another fighter jet that differs more from those two than the F-15E? Yes, the F-15E excels in strike missions which are among my favourite missions by the way. But the Viper and the Hornet can do the same, right? Here are some things that I found out myself: + the F-15E has much more fuel, hence can travel a much longer distance before the need of AAR + the F-15E can carry much more ordinance than the other jets + the F-15E has an extraordinary A2G-radar + the F-15E can release multiple JDAMS at the same time on different targets +´the F-15E has a sexy and useful NAVFLIR And here some disadvantages that put the F-15E behind the other two jets in my opinion (again, please no disussion about the situation, I know that some of the missing features might still come or will never come, let's talk about the current state of the F-15E) - no helmet-mounted cueing system --> no TOO capability or at least it is much harder to mark the TOO - no Link-16 --> worse situational awareness - very little variation in armaments, basically the same the F-16C has minus the HARMS (which is a big deal for me. I usually want at least one new 'weapon' when I buy a new DLC) What do I make of this? Did I forget something? How do you feel about the base question? Do the F-16 and F/A-18 make the F-15E superfluous in your virtual hangar? Maybe one last bit of information from me: currently I am mostly playing singleplayer DCS Retribution and I would like to change things up a bit, in that I can fly a different aircraft in each new mission. I am also playing a lot of Israeli scenarios and as I understand it, the F-15E even has a IAF model. Hence, the F-15E seems like an ideal aircraft.

Do note that there is a 5700X3D! Maybe not in all countries though. I also wanna congratuate you for staying strong and not letting all those fancy hardware PR campaigns trick you into buying something you don't really need. Keeping a system for 7 years is quite an accomplishment!

That seems to be a very unwise standpoint, seeing that one of the biggest sellpoints for a map is that it has custom content and official campaigns. Is there any official reasoning why they don't hardcode the frequencies?

Again, I want to present the already circulating idea of having high fidelity asset packs. Make the AI models available for *everyone* but with low textures; high resolution textures are payware. I am almost certain that a lot of people would buy the HD AI packs, if priced correctly. Of course, there is also an argument to be made that free asset packs boost sales of terrains and FF modules. I don't really see myself buying more Cold War planes as long as we don't have the units to go along with it (planes, ground vehicles, map assets). In a similar vein, I might be getting into helicopters (rudder pedals are on their way) but I am curious how the CAS experience will actually feel like regarding the fact that we have woefully little variation when it comes to infantry models.

Yes, Nvidia GPUs get pricier and pricier. Still, a 5070 or even 5060 is a viable option (if you are still on 1080p and don't need lots of Vram) because DLSS and maybe one day even Frame Generation will go a long way to make your GPU somewhat future proof. Depending on what mainboard you got, you could also hunt down a used 5800X3D. The 3D cache works wonders in games like this. I also recommend Memory Cleaner, a neat little tool. Works well with DCS for me.

I was humbly and calmly awaiting the huge Afghanistan update. My wallet was (and still is) ready. But yes, I also expected a much bigger newsletter.

Read the FAQ in the respective F-35 sub-forum.

I am still wondering what those palm trees were all about. I didn't really see any Vietnam or Marianias Pacific WW2 action.

It really does seem that way. The first 2 minutes were basically only showing ground-to-ground action.

Noticed that as well. This is absolutely great!

So horribly funny. Especially after Silver_Dragon already posted the Youtube countdown timer. But I guess you can't be bothered to actually scroll up three or four posts... Timezones... They are a thing in the real world.

Probably processing now. And working on the video until shortly before release isn't unheard of either. And some other stuff accompanies the video (a newsletter, a post on Steam), so that takes time as well for last-minute corrections. But yeah, in a perfect world the video is already uploaded and processed, the accompanying texts are already written, and everything releases in sync at a specific time. But do we live in a perfect world?

Copy that! Thanks again!

Absolutely great! I've been meaning to start the campaign but wanted to wait for this to get fixed. Thanks for not having us wait for the official patch!