Baaz

I second Bart's statements. Personally I play on a 43" flat screen with TrackIR. Works well for me. I spent a better part of 2 hours on day one with TrackIR just fine tuning. Now, it's really a joy. Point my nose at the edge of the screen, and I'm looking over my right or left shoulder accordingly. I'm only turning my head 15 degrees to look 90. Not a lot of movement at all. You'll get use to it. Personally, I found TrackIR more comfortable than VR. I don't have the weight of the headset on my face, and don't have to break my neck to see behind me. I'm sure you'll be satisfied with the TrackIR/TV combo.

Smithsonian Channel, Air Warriors, Season 3 Episode 1, C-17 Approximately 4:30 into the episode, a USAF Major, and former C-17 pilot states that on a typical day during Operation Iraqi Freedom, due to the threat of IEDs, they would fly troops, equipment, and supplies from airfields in the north, to airfields in the south. Average flight time, 7 minutes. So, is it possible in DCS? Absolutely. Also interesting enough, the C-17 is one of the only, if not THE only USAF heavy cargo transporter with a control stick of a fighter, and modern HUD. Of all the possible cargo planes, the C-17 is the one I most desire.

You need to trust your wingman. He should be keeping an eye out for you during your attack runs, and vice versa. Unfortunately, during campaign missions, the AI are not the brightest. Lets hope ED makes some improvements in the future.

Would not hesitate. Day one of pre-sale.

Currently, if you're willing to use MIST and the CTLD script, then as long as the bird survives the crash and the pilot remains conscious, the troops can still be deployed. But I do agree, it would be nice if the above feature was included in the game.

Agree in full. Just trying to keep myself grounded as it would be years before we see anything like it.

I provided you with a quick mission (sorry, didn't have a chance to do it yesterday) to give an example. Smoke in zone is easiest to use. This can be repeated as many times as you wish, with as many groups/zones as you wish. Mission contains a single A-10 with a 7 minute orbit above a target group to show initial marking and reapplication. Smoke_Test.miz

if you're just wanting to use the in-game ME triggers, then the way to do it would be: Switch Condition :: Group Alive <TGT GROUP NAME>, and Part of Coalition in Zone, Blue <NAME OF ZONE> :: Flag On 1 Switch Condition :: Flag is True (1) :: Smoke Marker <NAME OF ZONE, 1(altitude), GREEN (color of smoke to apply)> Switch Condition :: Time Since Flag (1) (270) :: Flag Off (1) Now every time a member of Blue Coalition enters said zone a smoke marker will be placed on the target. The time more 270 is to ensure that you're not getting a new smoke marker EVERY time you enter the zone, but will more or less stay on while you both are in the area. Smoke will stay on for 4:30, turn the flag off, and then recheck parameters. If still true, fresh smoke will be reapplied to target. Note: Trying to type this from memory, so exact trigger type/name may not be exact, but I think you get the general flow of how to make it work. Good luck. UPDATED TO REFLECT EXACT TRIGGER NAMES

Then most likely that would be why I don't experience the wandering bug. HMD is active before I'm even wheels up. Brightness reduced to the point where it's barely visible so as not to be annoying. I use my eyes before all else. Then when I see something that peeks my interest, I use HMD to bring the camera to it. I'm constantly resetting and using HMD to look at various places. Side Note: It's even nice to use the HMD to fly the aircraft.

Yes, that is correct; I have not experienced this bug in quite some time. Now I quite often do a lot of scouting and pre-planning before I engage targets. I find them, mark them through D/L, relay to other Ka-50's, etc., possibly engage if SAM or AAA, and move on. Maybe it's the fact that I am constantly resetting the shkval that gives me a pass; I don't know.

Please understand Fri13 is being a bit over-dramatic. Yes the shkval has its bugs, but the shkval and Ka-50 is FAR, FAR, FAR, from unusable. Just the other day I flew the Ka-50 for over 3 straight hours as part of a clan mission. I racked up over 20 vehicle kills, 20 infantry kills, and shot down 3 Mi-8's, all with a combination of Vikhrs, UPK-23, and main gun, all between ranges of 2.5 and 8 km. This mission took place in Georgia between 5:30-9:00 AM Local time. Yes, the initial low light made it difficult to find targets and get a lock; but by playing with the brightness and contrast it can make it much easier. As for the Shkval wandering bug... well, I personally have not experienced it in quite some time. I've even recently been wondering if it had been quietly fixed. Guess I'm just lucky. Laser ranging, yes it's true it's not ideal, but it works. Sorry Fri13, but statements like, "Shkval is very unrealistic and very much unusable at its current state in KA-50," is an entirely FALSE statement, and kind of tweaked a nerve. I'm not looking to get into an argument with you; but obvious false statements only discourages and pushes away people who could realistically enjoy flying a great aircraft.

Depends on what you're comparing this reload time too. In reality, as a former munitions handler, 20 minutes can be a good time. It's been over 25 years now, so my memory is far from perfect, but I seem to recall 20mm weighing in at about 100-125 pounds per can, and believe each can contained 100 rounds. Now consider the gun contains over 1000 rounds per belt. It takes time to load that stuff. Now, if we compare the load time of a 20mm Vulcan to the rearm/refuel time of any aircraft in DCS, yeah, I would say it needs to be comparable to them. When we can fully restock an aircraft in 5 minutes or less, I agree the ground vehicles should have their rearm times reduced.

I was scanning at 279 bars @ 1140 degree sweeps! WINNER!!

I'm a long-time customer because I'm passionate about the aircraft. Over time things tend to break. It's a fact of life; it happens to everything eventually. When things break on a bird I love to fly, it's disheartening, but never "dis-satisfying". The Ka-50 is by no means an Apache, but it is a powerhouse on the battlefield. You must realize, that to my knowledge, this is the only attack helicopter in the world that's flown by a single individual. That means you're doing the work of two people all the time. Yes it has a lot of automations, but you still have to single-handedly aviate the aircraft and employ its weapons. Truthfully it's a joy to fly, thrilling to employ, and when combined with other Ka-50's shit really goes badly for enemy. I cannot recommend it enough. Pick it up. I can almost guarantee you won't regret it.

9 degrees is the offset. Subtract 9 from the carriers BRC to get final.

You had more at "More Nam..."

The larger zone is the search coverage, and the smaller is engagement. Now, what I had not noticed till watching it for the umpteenth time is the AWACS on the east side (sorry, was focused on the Su-27 and Ka-50). It is possible that he was picked up by AWACS. Again, sorry, it's too early in the morning for me to do geometry to see if he was or not. The question now is: if he were picked up by AWACS, would a human player disregard the much closer threats already engaging friendlies, or would he/she continue as the AI did and fly 100 km to engage a lonely helo? That one can only be answered by each individual pilot.

Someone clearly did not read the attached article :music_whistling:. These Apaches were not Longbows. They were A variants that did not even have the sophisticated navigation we have today. Hence why it was Air Force Pave Low III's that led the way. The sole purpose of the Apache was its firepower. Fact is, for every person that says something shouldn't be done, there will always be someone else to show that it shall be done. In DCS there's two primary examples: 1. Ka-50's will always continue to try and hit behind enemy lines without air cover (one of my fondest memories on DDCS server was taking off from Beslan as Lead in a two-ship flight of KA-50's to hit Sochi Adler. We took off from Beslan to make the enemy CAP think we were heading to Tblisi since I knew they could see where we were taking off from. We were quite successful in our mission, but it certainly was not for everyone as it was over 3 hours of flight time round trip); and 2. CAP will continue to be done at less than 1000' AGL. Now the reasons the above will continue to happen is: 1. The spirit that makes up every helicopter pilot in DCS; and 2. the simple fact that there's a Multiplayer UI that allows players to see what's opposing them, from where opposing forces are departing, and allow them to search accordingly, and often successfully, with or without AWACS or radar scanning. Now, I'm not saying I have a problem eating a missile or two. Nor do I have an issue with not having an RWR. The problem(s) I have is when things are spotting and tracking me when they shouldn't, as flying behind hillsides and buildings all mean nothing when you're still tracked by both radar and missiles; and the enemy often having just as much intel on my mission as I do. The OP showed the TacView of the mission he flew. If you watch it, you'll see that SU-27 spawned and made a direct line for him; ignoring all other blue aircraft much closer and engaging friendly aircraft. At no time was the OP picked up on radar, as he never entered any radar covered zone. That's the problem with the all-seeing eye of the AI that no one wants to address. Anyway, it's late. I'm tired, and I'm losing my train of thought. But, I think you can see where I believe the problems lie.

People are always quick to say how helos don't do this or that without air cover. Yet in 1990 a 8 Apaches, 2 Pavelow III's and 2 Blackhawks did exactly what many want to say they don't do when they fired the opening shots of Desert Storm; knocking out Iraqi radar sites to clear the way for Allied airstrikes. That's right, they went in because it was too risky for it to be done any other way. https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/desert-storms-opening-shots-came-from-this-daring-helic-1753466057 All I want is the ability to do the same thing in DCS. However, the problem with DCS is the multiplayer UI that shows exactly who's flying what, and from where. Remove this stupid UI, and maybe we'd have planes flying CAP like they're suppose to at 30,000 feet instead of 50' scanning for choppers. We won't even talk about the all-seeing eye of the AI.

dawgie79: "VR above TrackIR anytime." While many will push the VR over TrackIR as it works great for them, it's certainly not for everyone. I for one have a really bad astigmatism, and prone to motion sickness which prevents me from playing with VR. After about 5 mins, I'm ready to vomit all over the keyboard. I recommend you try and test it out before investing. I spent $400 and didn't even get an hour's use out of it. Luckily the store was kind enough to give me a refund. Assamita: "I've seen that the TrackIR is about $180? is it really worth it?" As an alternative to VR, absolutely. I use to play much like you are now. Was night and day when I picked up a TrackIR. I also sit about 36" away from a 47" television as a monitor. At that range and size TV, I imagine it's almost like sitting in an actual cockpit. I've also adjusted the zoom so that it seems almost a 1:1 scale. I've set the TrackIR up so that when my nose is pointing to the edge of the screen I'm looking over my shoulder. Unlike VR, you almost have to break your neck to see the same thing. I've flown for hours with friends who use VR, and after two to three, they need a break as they will complain about their neck and shoulders hurting. They say much the same as David OC, in that VR can be a workout.

My understanding is the Ka-50 COCKPIT, much like the A-10 cockpit, can handle a 23mm round; but, like the A-10, the rest of the bird is susceptible to taking serious damage from a well placed shot, including that of a 7.62 single round. At low altitude (treetop levels) a 7.62 round still has quite the punch if we should fly close enough. I wouldn't expect to go down in a blaze of glory from a single well placed shot (though possible I guess), but some sort of system failure, maybe engine vibrations, fuel leak, etc., should be seen as a viable possibility. That being said, I do have to agree that the Huey miniguns need to be increased damage wise against aircraft. I can understand doing little to no damage against a tank, but aircraft are not 40+ ton armored vehicles. Just my two cents.

So much this (see attached from Ka-50 manual). If you're not moving the stick back too the center position, and instead continue pushing the stick further, you're compounding the inputs. As someone said earlier, if you push the stick to 10 degrees, then press trim and release trim, you're setting the autopilot for 10 degrees. From that point on, if you fail to return the stick to neutral, you're in fact adding additional input. You're 10 degrees of trim is now 20+ degrees depending on how much farther you continue to push the stick. This is why many of us, myself included, will tell people to press and HOLD trim while maneuvering the aircraft, and release trim only when you are ready for stable flight; even if that stable flight is in a banking turn; as sometimes there may be a point when you simply want to maintain a banking turn without holding the stick.

What's curious to me, and something I never paid attention to, is whether the weight of the gun rounds is taken into consideration, and where they are physically stored on the aircraft. As the aircraft expends its GUN ammunition, does the lean to the right become less pronounced? I've never paid enough attention in the past, but I assure you I will be checking in the future. Edited to add the word "GUN".

You're right, the weight of the gun doesn't change, but will always be present. Thus requiring a little left trim to counter the weight, just like we have to do on any aircraft with an asymetrical loadout. With any fixed wing, do we trim rudder to counter this? No. We trim for wings level.

"Aerodynamic symmetry of the coaxial configuration is provided by the lack of reactive moment on the airframe and the relatively close upper and lower rotors and their beneficial mutual effect. This results in little thrust difference when balanced. Balance is provided by the rotors' side forces directed in different directions as they balance each other with their lateral movement. This emerges due to their separation being insignificant. ...Thanks to the lack of the tail rotor, the coaxial-rotor helicopter is not subject to the constant effect of the alternate side force. The coaxial design ensures a smooth combination of efficient control and aerodynamic damping, which provides good controllability." This statement applies to any coaxial configuration, and not specifically just Ka-50. Taking that into consideration, one must realize that the Ka-50 from the start is not a balanced aircraft, but will always be heavier on the right because of the additional weight of the gun. Add in the additional drag caused by the gun when in forward flight, it's easy to see that the Ka-50 will have a tendency to lean right. Again, I'm no expert, but it's easy to see (at least for me) what's happening here. It's been present from day one when I started flying this bird over 5 years ago. I don't see any difference in it's performance now, and can't see what all the excitement is about.