Rogue Trooper

The initial and first release of the Ka-50 was the most complex chopper and nothing has surpassed it in god knows how many years! There are choppers like the MI-8 that are far more complex, starting her up and managing her systems are truly complex. she is a truly superb model. the UH-1 is also fascinating. The Chopper is a capable manoeuvrable hunter that carries precise guided weapons!... it is in essence, a superb delivery system. The gazelle is the ultimate tutor of what hard work is required to bring accurate weapon to bear in amongst tight city buildings! The KA-50 is king in DCS as it needs massive pit management, global management, threat management and target management...... there is nothing else that matches this machine! KA-50 all the way!

Looking forward to a 6 HOT sniper that can be pushed into extreme manoeuvres in tight urban fire positions!

"It doesn't hurt to use ground power, but I find it to be extra steps that aren't necessary and don't really save any time." Really? Really Ranma13! You do not have enough wartime me reckons, not enough spool time under mortar fire I reckon mate. It has to be the reason you would make such a mistake when I can half the spool time due to external power! The way you do it, the AC power supply comes from a fully spooled rotor blade! This powers the majority of the high end electronic systems! The way I do it the AC power is delivered from an external power source instantaneously, it powers the nav and computer, weapon and defensive systems form the get go! The KA-50 is Weapon ready, opticallyready, Navigation ready when the engines finally reach full spool. Ranma13, we can spool our choppers side by side and I will walk my Kannon up and down your ass half way through your start up.

I do not want tooo much from our Kamov, Our KA-50 must remain within reality and what we want..... what we really really want is a weapon that can defend itself like the cheap punk Gazelle! How did such a magnificent weapon end up being compared to a cheap and dirty little punk like the Gazelle! How did we get here! How can a massive war machine like the KA-50 be unable to defend her position within the high tech battlefield when the French light weight, low yield weapon can? If I was Russian, I would be embarrassed that such a mighty but incomplete weapon was being portrayed on the DCS world stage! A British machine would never suffer such embarrassment in DCS world!

Surely you joke? Bringing the entire fleet up to current standards is something ED will do as standard, they do this simply because it makes sense to bridge such an enormous gap in the old and new graphics engine. They also do it because they have pride in what they built, this is very evident over the years and the work they put into old modules to keep everything tip top and Bristol fashion. They also do it because the KA-50 is the ONLY High tech attack chopper in DCS and even then she is not equipped to defend her self in an European high threat environment....... which is a shameful state to find ones self! As you state at the end of your rant, a major avionics change is required for cash. Defence is where this nasty aggressive weapon needs upgrading! The only real true value of your weapon and how to use and protect it is to know when it is time to withdraw it, a $13,000,000 machine is an asset you protect and you spend another 2,000,000 dollars protecting it....easy! Is she really to throw away because a radar guided AA missile launcher locked and engaged you and you knew nothing about it until the baby Jesus explained it all to you whilst standing on a fluffy cloud? We pay for defence only! if this is not possible then fine... No defence no cash!

First thing you do in DCS at start up is; comms to ground crew and connect external power online (door open no noise). This is DCS and there is always one external gen lying around somewhere. The external power will power EVERYTHING! Switch on the batteries, switch on the external DC and AC power. Spool up the nav and Abris systems immediately, engage the fuel pumps and start the APU, All comms on, Ekran on and work the back right panel.... it is all powered!!!!! If APU is still cooking engage the defensive weapons. rotate your head in pit and engage the left engine, continue switching the KA-50s electronic systems on as the left engine spools... if you are lucky enough to have a vibrating jet seat then your arse will tell you when the left engine has reached rotor idle speed... scan the dials to check all well? Spool the right engine.... plenty of work left in the pit left to do. start setting scan frequencies for the shkval and defensive weapons to your preference. Drop the HMS and dial in the eye piece, hud and targeting monitor to todays brightness and contrast. Crank up those engines to nominal power, switch off the APU, disengage external AC and DC power, command disconnection of external power.... and there you are, hot to trot, nav aligned, defence ready to pop and weapon free real fast! Nothing brings weapon to life quicker than external power! I think it is probably only me that starts the KA50 every time like my very life depends on getting the hell out of dodge city real fast!

The greatest problem with DCS is a lack of complexity in coms. Both military and especially civilian when it comes to airspace and airports. The great benefit with trainers would be training you to use airport maps, coms and basic navigation. To re-enforce a fundamental truth in each country when it comes to flying. If the trainers like the C101 really trained you how to use real world navigation, real coms, landing and take off to the enth degree, they would be worth their weight in gold. If they really took you through a DCS exam of flight proficiency they would be superb. Unfortunately complex coms, airport complexity, simple military and civilian air traffic across one entire single map just ain't there in DCS. I reckon this is where the trainers need to be and be there toot sweet. A huslin map full of military and civilian airframes taking off and landing is where the trainers miss the mark! I can jump into the F-18 tomorrow and it will teach me how to get me some real quick.... it will teach me to get a lot more than any trainer will! We need modules that teaches us the basics and will hopefully lead us to a better managed airspace, civilian and weapons free. They should then teach you how to conserve energy, how to use what you got against someone who has something different.

There is an error in the playback! Looking forward to seeing it.

agreed, there is easy money right there for the taking! And ED must now push the Russian tech development history in this sim like they do with the western world.

I do not know if I got my facts right but I think I am right. If serial number 8798000025 was to be developed and deployed in DCS. With its full RWR, laser and threat defensive suit included... (she was the test bed for the KA-52 defensive systems... I think). With its superior sensors and rotating missile defensive turrets aft of the rear wheels.... Then this BS3 would be an insta flip of the wallet for me. 360 degrees of raw threat information in the most heavily armed and agile weapon.... Fu£K yeah, if this came to be then it would be an insta flip of the wallet, no thought required and I would never look back. But both the old and new must exist together because I think the test bed had no Abris nav system.......I think... but not sure. What a horrible 2 team chopper squad that would be... fu£K yeah!

The tornado sounds superb mind, but with VR around the corner, and this time I see no reason to believe VR is a fad.... and I saw all fads come and go... predicted the demise of all of them perfectly. No VR is different, it is fundamental to our need. It offers pure absorption into the source code. when that happens, this stick will be worth less than the Hawg in the world of the blind.

As mentioned before it is a part of the alarm system and it is loud. I can hear that clacking alarm sound when the world just seems to be full of hate and pain..... it is there trying to push its way out of the nightmare I suddenly found myself. A sound of meaning in a world of hate... Clack.... Clack.... Clack! Thank god for good design.... Clack.... Clack.... Clack!

Having said that, there is a problem. I believe that the enemy ground troops are god almighty when aiming for the engines, they are programmed at source to engage the most vulnerable component of an airframe, and if simple avoidance is not taken... they will pop an engine. The RL British SAS could not achieve such results at such a constant rate! And they train every one else!

Faster than the Huey brother! when moving into a hot LZ the chopper should change height and speed randomly. Dropping collective and letting the airframe fall 5 to 10 metres is all that is needed for avoiding incoming fire that originates 0.600 - 1 km distance. A straight flying chopper is a magnet for bullets, even some slack jawed backwater ingrate can hit such a predictable target. No one said this was gonna be easy.

Start a mission or free flight mission with no weapons. Slave the "auto pilot emergency disengage" button to your Hotas, this Button is (LALT+A) and disengages all auto pilots. In real life it is located on the cyclic... it is that critical! You will never regret placing this button on your stick! When you start in a mission hot to trot, hit the emergency disengage button(LALT+A) and have a go riding this girl bare back. She is a wild one! The pit problem with lighting is truly disruptive as the autopilots cannot be visually confirmed on or off. The emergency disengage button brings you to a point of certainty.... they are off!.... all of them! It is on the real life cyclic for a reason, it was deemed important to disengage these mofos toot sweet and without hesitation! It is important to know and understand how the original design engineer understood the problems that could occur, It is important to know that such a button, is a fundamental override by intent.

Defo +1 on the winch. Fast rope egress for elite troops would also be excellent.

This will be an expensive grip. Very specific to one module and offering much less diversity than the great Hawg grip. I find it strange that TM offered it for manufacture. But then again when you build the best grip ever first time.... I guess its all down hill from then on. Then again a plastic grip with weaker buttons and switches, It could work.

looking forward to the updates, no matter how long they take.. the gazelle is and will be worth it.

I got me a whole new level of respect for RL NVG goggle night flyers once the new DCS night goggs came out. I had read about the infinity focus thing in books but now we got it too. I have not flown night flights much but I found turning on the instrument lights and looking at the instruments under the NVG viewing circle worked... It didn't work great... but it worked. I am a track IR user by the way so it was easy to tilt my head up whilst looking under the NVGs.

More American jets.... yippee!.... not! Superb video from ED by the way, possibly their best yet. probably emotionally the best ever, it all tied together with what we want and where we are going perfectly. very nice. lovely song.... Top notch. The F-16 is a long time coming, it is an essential airframe that the community wants. But for sure the balance goes from bad to worse in regards to east and west. Where are the Russian study sim jets? I cannot think of any excuse why an early mig 29 is not in development.... are they that bad that the Russian government will not release data? I am starting to believe that Russian jets are a joke when it comes to targeting. Try harder ED, hard core Russian jet sims please! I am a chopper dude, I love me choppers..... I only love me choppers I love choppers long time! Where is the choppers at! where is the hind? Where is the Apache!?! Again an east/west deficiency, where is the western weapon of intent? The western heavy load weapon! Is it me? some noob gonna suggest a BO-105 is coming as a replacement to a weapon like the AH-1W, AH-64A, AH-64D or tiger? Any knob out there got some wet comment like that? And where the hell is the popping Christmas lights? It is me is it not, It is me rightt?

Guys, it is the AI ground troops! Those guys are top notch regardless of who they are. The regular troopers fire and lead like highly trained spec ops. If you have weapon, then yours will reach further than theirs.

I have not used the shark in a combat environment for quite some time. I spool her from cold and then take her for a fly real regular, but this is simply to maintain feel of weapon. From the very beginning, the KA-50 Module always impressed me how the time of day affected my kamov's visual targeting system.... I believe this to be correct modelling for a Russian visual targeting system in the 1980s'. If there was a problem, I always manually held the target box on the target if the environment dictated. Some attack positions at a certain time can and should cause problems with the lock. Comparison between the A-10C and Kamov is worthless, the west was and is, well advanced with computer targeting. How the new engine behaves with the Kamov, I cannot comment. But optical weakness is modelled. whether it is correct with the new engine I cannot say.

Each AP is slaved to my warthog stick as well as the auto pilot emergency off button but the lack of instantaneous feedback from my APs lights is truly detrimental. I would reckon I spend 3 - 5 seconds confirming my APs are on or off whilst maneuvering a tight mountainous firing position. Gagging for the new pit! Happy it is on the "to do list"!

The mountains are superb in some areas, the way the tectonic plates have pushed the mountains inland to create lower narrower mountain ridges that create thin long deep hides for a chopper attack position. The larger, higher fully formed mountains behind the ridge line helps confuse radar and radar guided weapons.... I think I never felt so safe.

The best looking map in DCS hands down. Iran looks just right.