ThunderChief

Anyone knows if an addon helicopter (like this one) will be more realistic (in terms of flight model) that the stock FSX ones? I mean after testing X-Plane I won't fly FSX helicopter again, never thought that the diffrence could be that great.

You could try this for head shaking: http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=ONjAwKO-IjA&feature=user

How about a similar convoy (2 Shilka, maybe 1-2 MANPAD) attack but this time in a valley. Lets say the convoy tries to reach a crashed airplane (e.g. Russian Mig-29 downed in Georgia), and only you and your wingman are around to stop them. The convoy is going uphill, and about 20km from the crashsite, you are somewhere near the Mig. At the crashsite the valley is very narrow and minimum elevation is ~2500m and mountains up to 4000m. Further down the valley gets broader, but you know there is a SAM side and other AA threats "down there". So what would you do? Wait for the convoy in the narrow and high part of the valley or risk an engagement in proximity to AAA and SAM? What I don't know is at what altitude will the KA-50's performance starts to suffer, and if icing could become a problem in the mountains (consider its winter and clouds at 1000m OR 3000m in that mission). Any suggestions?

I am no expert on this, but if you get the order to take out that convoy before it reaches the right side of the map, it won't help you to have more space for operations. Even if you could allow the convoy to move farther east, you would probably not know where it goes and so you would have to make contact as soon as possible. I think the basic problem with that task is that you will be forced to hide behind terrain with at least ~5km distance to take out the air defence. Given your maximum speed is only 6x the speed of the convoy, you will have only limited options to position your self before the convoy can escape. Will BS allow stinger teams on regular vehicles that will be deploy only after they detected you? That would make it much more complicated that in LOFC were you could simply use the Shval to take out any air defence at a save range.

My guess was that the laser would need 6 seconds for cooldown. How long would you have to wait for another shot?

+ 12 for my wingman ;)

"Not all F-16s within a given block are the same. They fall into a number of block subsets called miniblocks. These sub-block sets are denoted by capital letters following the block number (Block 15S, for example). Miniblock designations originate for production purposes." source: http://www.codeonemagazine.com/archives/1997/articles/jul_97/july4a_97.html

This is from the DCS website: The simulation algorithms of ground vehicles, ships and weapons had been improved to provide a significant system performance improvement. This allows users to place many detailed units in a mission without a large system performance penalty. All vehicles now include several Level Of Detail (LOD) and also help assist in system performance. IMHO this will be offset by all the new features like higher terrain detail, flight model etc. so you would still need a faster CPU than for LO:FC

That won't happen, Ka-50 is for low intensity combat ONLY. ;) Seriously I think this is already a very complex scenario. I thought about the following 1. Order the wingman to recon OR place it somewhere out of danger so that it can see the convoy 2. Hide behind one of the small hills on the center. 3. Wait for wingman to report targets. I think you would wait for ever because hiding would mean to lose radio contact to your wingman (thats what I understand).

This handbook looks realy amazing, never saw it before. There are webshops were you can get a book for less then 50€, all you need is mail them a PDF. And of course it gets cheaper the more people would order it. (And in Germany there is a law that those books will be retailed by every bookstore) So I think ED could very well make a printed manual possible.

You need tactics for this situation? There is nothing harmfull in your convoy as long as you stand off at Vikhr range right? 24 Vikhr should be enough for that convoy. If not my wingman will go in for guns 8)

So how will force trim work in DCS as I have no magnetic brakes in my stick as far as i know ;)

What i forgot to say was that I am interrested how it works in DCS, because a gameing joystick is diffrent to a real one and DCS is so realistic that I thought the transition could cause some trouble. Maybe it would help to know how fast the helicopter would respond to stick input.

That better explains my question. I would like to know if that transition to neutral AFTER trimming will be smoothly. I mean after trimming the stick will be far of the neutral and the helicopter might react to this before you had enough time to move the stick to center position? (without FF) And if you have a FF Stick will trimming move the "center point" or will it behave like normal stick?

I read about some people (x-plane forum) removing the centering springs from their joysticks and pedals because real helicopter don't have them. As I understand it you can use trim so the stick can be at center postion while not manouvering. Does the trim work like in airplanes or can you simply press a button to make current stick position the new center position? And if so will this go smoothly even if there is great trim diffrence?

Can you use the slider (at the throttle, where your thumb is) as an axis in LO? If not what is it usefull for?

Anyone had a Saitek X35 USB? I still have one but didn't use it for a long time. If anyone had this stick too, what are the differences of new sticks (like X52) and would it be worth it to by a new one? Aeroscout how are those Pro Pedals? Is the Saitek Software still buggy?

Would you say that 40 - 50 kph more speed would make a real diffrence in combat? I mean its slow anyway compared to aircraft and missiles.

I thought the coaxial rotor wouldn't suffer from retreating blade stall as it would happen symetrically.

I currently use a MSSFF2 and I am happy with it in LOFC. As it seems to me that DCS:BS will require at least HOTAS + Pedals I need an alternative. Any suggestions for pedals?

I have the same stick and you can use only 4 buttons with your right hand, and as it is no HOTAS you need the left hand for the keyboard. I don't realy need a profile for those 4 buttons I am happy with default LO setup.

How long did it take you to create that picture of the battle scene?

The Ka-50 seem to be very slow compared to this. Producer Note #3 stated that you get warnings at 300 kph. I thought the koaxial rotor would allow higher speeds?

I think we are both right but maybe I used the wrong words. ;) It's stable but it will cause oscillations (yaw and roll). In fact the oscillation is caused by too much stability and anhedral is used to reduce this.

An interresting document what might happen when the Hind joins the fight http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA071904&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf