SparxOne

All good points. Though one i'd consider missing and has been on my wishlist for long now is how will Combined Arms be implemented withing the DCSDC ? Would that be a thing to take control of any driveable vehicle on the map and go about using it at your own wishes ? Considering AI will be doing its own thing, whether defending or attacking points, if i were to take control of a tank in a random group to simply shoot stuff and progress manually with the rest of the group, will that be a thing ? So many questions i'd wish to know regarding Combined Arms and DCSDC. Hopefully we get to have more info at some point

What do you mean by the Spot/Scan function still missing ? Not familiar with that function if it is linked to AIM-9 familly missiles

I think it is intentional and has always been the case, reason is, autostart will do the long INS alignement (Somewhere around 10 mins for a full alignement IIRC), that would force the autostart sequence to last 10+ minutes for it to switch the knob to NAV at the end of the alignement. If i'm not mistaken, the autostart sequence will be considered finished with the INS knob still aligning, it is your job to switch it to NAV when INS is fully aligned

Did you watch the video i attached though ? The comparison from the video with the image is really what shines in what i explained in my message

This isn't totally related to what you say, but in a way unfortunately goes to show the development time being given to CA/ground stuff compared to the rest of the Sim for the past years. I came across this on a Discord the other day and i have to admit, it made me laugh, not in a mocking way, but more in a way of realization of where the resources have been lacking the most over the years, DCS is beautifull, unfortunately not everywhere IMG_0268.MOV

Hello, These would be the keybinds you're looking for to instruct a manual reload and stop that reload. Why would you want to stop it you'd ask ? Because it can be quite long on certain vehicles with certain ammo types, +-15 minutes IRL for a full reload. While reloading, you are also blocked from any movement/interactions. (These keybinds you're seeing in the printscreen are not the default ones i think, i cannot remember if i changed them from the default) To know which trucks will allow you to rearm, my method is as simple as placing each vehicle or truck from the same faction in the mission editor and playing the missions and thus checking which one has the black circle around it in F10 view. null

I cannot wait to discover the Sniper TGP, its capabilities and differences from what we've had all this while, just something new to use and get to fiddle with will be a good refreshment Towed decoys is also a cool thing, but i doubt it will be as interesting to use as a new pod

Hello Bignewy/Nineline, Just to be sure, will the Eagle also become available for pre-order on steam (with the 30% discount) at some point ? Thank you

I know, i have not said otherwise...

On that note, i'm sure you'll have nothing to say, but i'm really curious what happened to Battlefield Productions after they came towards us with talks of developing the ground aspect of DCS further (I know their main objective was around assets packs, but they did say a pipe dream could be FF ground modules). They disappeared without a word even though it seemed like their intentions were quite well met with the community at least, can't say what ED thought of it and if they ever actually did contact ED, of coarse we won't ever know. But it's sad to think they were probably the first 3rd party to be ready and work on the ground side of DCS and it didn't work out it seems. One thing they wrote though that makes sense to me would be this "Not sure what the take up of Combined Arms has been, but having played it, it seems like it was a great idea that was probably not fully realised for various production reasons, the frame work is there, it just needs expanding as a concept and making into something which holds enough interest to generate its own player base. Re: the co-existence of these vehicles vs the "Airforce" - yes valid points, but I think if the ground forces became good enough it could start to generate its own player base with people running servers possibly exclusively for land war "one day", with the options of AI controlled Air Assets." I can understand ED isn't willing to risk the time and ressources on something that might not actually attract the amount of people hoped for, but this is why we're back at hoping a 3rd party is willing to take that risk (Which won't be Battlefield Productions from the looks of it).

I hate to have to bring another game here to make comparisons, but in my opinion, this one is worth it. Talks about upgrading CA to a level of better tank controls etc is nothing new around DCS, i can understand the argument that it is not feasable because X Y Z, but when looking at IL2, which is a WW2 flight simulator, or at least close to it, one could say they never had the game built to accomodate ground tank control etc, yet they did, and in quite a decent way if you ask me ! The terrains have not been changed to make it look better for tanks if i'm not mistaken, they've always been this way, DCS could do the same, ground level detail is good enough to use CA and still enjoy yourself. Tank interiors in IL2 is what probably stands out, but once again, if it were up to me, it would really not be necessary, or really just a nice to have. CA could be like IL2 tank battles if a few modifications were made to make the ground war feel a little better, but overall, my feeling like is if IL2 was able to do it in a game/sim focused on aircraft, DCS can surely do it, but we know the deal here, as ED have said before, it's not about not wanting to, it's about having the ressources and time. Edit : This makes it even clearer ->

Of coarse that's a legitimate feeling, which i have too, but who knows what they have planned with the coming of the Dynamic Campaign (And i'm hoping they do have something) ? Maybe they'll have an AI pathfinding overhaul and/or a revamp of the unit control too. I mean, they are most probably aware just like you and me how bad these areas are, what good would it make to the so long awaited Dynamic Campaign if these areas were still as bad as they are ? How would the Dynamic Campaign even properly handle a campaign if the AI could hardly handle the pathfinding ? It must be something they worked on/ or is planned before the release of it.

This is how i also believe Combined Arms should be developped further. At first i am more into the First/Third person element, i really enjoy using Combined Arms that way, but i feel the Real Time Strategy element added would make it quite enjoyable throughout anyway ! Hopefully that is something planned with the coming of the Dynamic Campaign, from what i read on the Dynamic Campaign Newsletter on the 30th of Decemeber 2022 -> "When a campaign starts, the strategic AI initiates the tasking process (ATO Air Tasking Orders, Ground tasking and Naval Tasking etc) for each unit in the side’s asset list and order of battle. This process of tasking and decision making is ongoing for the duration of the campaign and is a function of assets remaining and reinforcement and resupply cycles. It is important to remember that the player can take control of any AI unit and participate in its mission task and/or take indirect control over the strategic AI decisions, in addition to direct control over specific tasking orders." The line i've bolded and made Italic hopefully sounds and ends up being what we're looking for, the mix between RTS and First/Third person control. Let's wait and see if that will actually be close to our wishes Can't wait to see how Combined Arms is integrated with the Dynamic Campaign, i've always imagined myself being able to control what ever unit on the map while it is doing whatever task, say a TOW Humvee approaching a town with a few targets of opportunity, you able to manually drive it now and use the TOW as you wish, when you're done doing that, leave the control back to the AI and slot in an Apache and fly in that town for CAS cover, scenarios will be so dynamic (no pun intended), it will hopefully make it feel like an actual war being alive and ongoing, not the typical static defensive units we see all the time.

While i agree with you concerning the invesment of time, money and ressources, i like to keep in mind how much potential CA has in DCS, from what its main purpose was back in the days to how it slowly evolved to what it is now, CA remains a really fun experience when used in proper scenarios CA will never replace a war thunder tank experience, neither Arma, because CA is barebone compared to them titles, but just like plenty things in life, unless you create an appeal/ necessity for something, don't expect said thing to have any demand/use, and by that i mean, nobody needed internet back in the days, yet today every single person in well developped countries need it, nobody needed cellphones back in the days, yet today people spend a months wage on a new cellphone every 2 years almost, social networks (Facebook, instagram, ticktoc etc), nobody needed them back in the beginnings of wide spread internet, as you guessed it, same story for them, the vast majority of people use them nowadays... (I could come up with tons of other exemples, but you get it i suppose ) What i'm trying to say here is that CA could become a very appealling product of ED, something allowing another fun experience in the world of DCS, but that would require what ED simply doesn't have or are willing to put into it -> Time, money and ressources. Until that changes, CA will stay as it is, fun to have (In select scenarios) but far from a necessity.