Slazi

I still need to get some practice time in before the flight! So what are the basics of the navigation? I understand how to use the radio equipment to find airbases and friendly areas. Do I also use the radio to find the dudes who need rescuing? Or, do I just have to navigate using the map and my distance measuring thing?

Should be good for me, too. Just have to hope the wife lets me :music_whistling:

Sorry Airwar. I am going to have to pull out. Have friend coming over from Australia that day.

Can't wait!

Back in action! Airwar, do you still need help with testing the mission? I have a second pc I can use as a dedicated server, but I can only use it when I am around.

Good stuff! Great to see the Mi-8 board a little busier recently.

Can't wait. I'm watching the forums for now.

Hehe. I reckon I'm probably out for another week or so. Injured my flying arm.

Interested, but still out of action right now.

I'm sure there's a lot more involved, but generally developers are working on simulating models they have a lot of information about. I'm pretty sure they had access to pilots who flew this model. That was probably a huge influence on the decision.

All rockets if I can. Those are the real killers.

We're hoping door gunners will be implemented. Definitely something I'd like to see. Lots of good stuff ahead for DCS pilots in general.

It's a perfectly good question. The Mi-8 is very difficult to use in combat. It is an easy target with limited range. But this is also what makes it fun. You have to fly it in a completely different way. When fighting any serious threats, you have to rocket from a distance. If you get close, you're dead. The Mi-8 is a great transport helo. It can carry a ton of troops - 30 according to wikipedia. It shouldn't be used as a dedicated attack helicopter.

You don't need to run the game through steam to join. The group is hopefully just an easy way for us to play together, and hopefully form a small community. We're up to 8 members now. Yay!

I've made a Steam group for Mi-8 pilots: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/DCSMi-8 It is often hard to find other Mi-8 pilots to fly with, perhaps this will make things a little easier. I don't want to control the page, I'd rather find a few people interested in running the group. Anyone interested?

I'd like to see someone try and mod in some visual assists. Frame rates are a huge issue for me with TrackIR right now. 120fps would make me happy. <18 is a slideshow. Crew should also assist with spotting targets. Flying with RL wingmen is good, but rare.

Nope, haven't tried that yet. I tend to use my own missions for multiplayer when possible, but often jump on public servers if I want instant access to other people.

I really love the Mi-8, it is so much fun to fly. I'd love to see more multiplayer missions for it that actually dont have it taking the role of an Ka-50.

I think a lot of mission designers are overestimating the capabilities of the Mi-8. Going up against multiple 23mm AA positions hidden around cities or in trees seems a little unfair. What sort of tasking should the 8 receive? I feel taking out small convoys, troop drops, attacking groups of infantry is a little more realisic.

Would be nice to have a copy of the WIP manual. A lot of the Mi-8 functions are still not implemented, so I guess the problem would be that the manual details a lot of things that aren't working yet. This would lead to a load of confusion on behalf of the players. I can kind of see why they haven't released it yet. I can imagine seeing the forum having a load of posts about why things aren't working.

GPUs are built for things like lighting effects. So it should be a GPU hit, not a cpu one. Most people have plenty of GPU power to spare in DCS.

Steam is also a good option.

The P-51D was originally an internal project for a physics test. IIRC they ended up putting so much work into it they decided to release it. It was never their goal. Apart from that, no other modules ED have put out have been out of context. Third party developers do whatever generates interest and money. I would like to see more modern / semi-modern aircraft. I think it's down to third party devs to flesh out the choices available.

If you want to improve your piloting skills, fly on the coast and practice landing on the oil rig for an hour or two. No weapons. Just get a feeling for how it flies. Take eveything slowly. Your main focus should be not crashing.

Like it! Basic component damage would be the next step.