element1108

Your legs will be feeling it the next day as well! ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7OelDYBS5Q&feature=related FSX with that cockpit is pretty darn cool! ;)

I won't pre-order anything no matter how good it looks...just not my style. It looks very promising and if the reviews and user testimonials are rave, I will drop the coin. Since my current hotas does the job, the mark of conspicuous consumption is all over this thing for me.

In a Combat Sim, ground data and AI are INTEGRATED. It's not just about texturing or creating land mass...it's about creating a combat environment from which the ground/air units fight in. I don't think third party could do that on it's own without blending the new terrain data with the core simulation code so that everything in the sim is on the same page so to speak. Besides, ORBX uses data already existing in FSX global map, they're just jazzing it up with new textures and 3D models. I also like the idea of ED being in full control of their product right now, it ensures a level of quality control and makes it so everyone who plays the sim has a universal experience. People who didn't purchase the $79.99 Western Europe map can't play on 33% of the servers that are running it.

Probably have to wait just a bit longer to make sure the change features are finalized and accurate what what will be in final.

That's a shame, navigation by stars is the basic fundamental of navigation. To know where you're going you should know where you've been. Besides, if they get shot down behind enemy lines the stars may be all they have to rely on. But what do I know about what the navy feels is required knowledge....nothing. :D

Navaids for the air force may be redundant as they would have learned all that in flight school. I think the a10c sim contract was to teach systems etc for the upgrade not how to fly using navaides. The contract vs the commercial release are going to be fairly different (more features in commercial). The list of features hasn't been confirmed yet. Good reason to hold off for being flammed if pre release features don't make it into final release. Dragon rising made that mistake and paid the price. Nav aides would be sweet, I can't imagine the majority of players who fly will use them though. I would :D

I'm excited about the British dlc. Arma is a great series, having tons of fun online!

I mean it in the most endearing way possible. I have a very close childhood friend who's a cf18 pilot now in afganistan and it takes th right kind of "ego" ( self confidence, courage and intelligence) to become a fighter pilot. No disrespect to anybody who flies planes/helo's or military. Hollywood is entertainment 100%, definitly do not draw conclusions from them ;).

War is an ego boost, ;). All aspects of a war are jobs and essential in order for the efforts to be effective. I was being sarcastic. ;) should have put a wink in there. Everybody knows air to air "flyboys" are egocentric to some extent ;).

A/A is an ego boost, definitly won't win a war. Wars will alwatlys be won and lost on the ground.

You can pretend your over anywhere in the world in an air battle, it's when you're moving mud you see roads, landmarks that identify a specific region.

Technical challenges of a global map have not been conquered in a combat sim. Commitment and financial respnsibilty must always find balance. If it took ED 5 years to develope a global map vs or 3 modules...I would put my money on the fact most would want the 3 modules (insert favorite modules here). Most are satisfied operating in the area of conflict and for a10 we're getting nellis plus an expanded map which is pretty cool.

Love the idea, but would be a huge waste of resources IMHO. 99% of that sky, airports cities and roads won't be used to enough to warrent the effort. There are still places in fsx I've not yet seen and will probably never see. Fighter ops is claiming a global map, so if that ever sees the light of day youmay find it there. I'd much rather ED concentrate on new modules and avionics/engine updates than laying out a few hundred thousand global airports. I won't complain though if it ever happens you can be sure of it. :D

Probably because you're doing the flying yourself moreso than most modern jets which rely heavily on computer assistance. It will be interesting cross referencing the flight dynamics in the sim with what's mentioned in the documents.

Careful with that, you may find yourself wit an unexplained engine failure if you tick off the ground crew guys.

Discovery Canada commissioned a show covering the training process for Canadian fighter pilots called "Jetstream". It was actually a pretty damn good show and it feels like it was the audio/video version of these documents. 10 1 hour episodes covering the entire training process for CF-18 figter pilots. Ground school, first flight in fighter, formation landings, night flying, formation flying, air to air refueling, weapons deployment all the way up to graduation. Pretty intense stuff, but I'd love to see a similar series for an American/European/Russian fighter. If I can't watch it though, it's nice to read about it :). Thanks for the links Viper

It would be a lot of work to code and implement just to update the battlefield. Those new birds hve some complicated avionics and radar signatures that would have to be worked and I'm not sure how feasable that would be simply to enhance the surroundings. It's not like the player will be able to enjoy those features all that much. I don't expect it, but it would be a wonderful addition obviously. I'm just glad we're gettin the c model over the A model. Obviously I don't know more than the next guy, but just what my logic tells me :). Excellent question though, didn't even cross my mind.

I doubt it will go exclusive to Steam, ED does fine with it's direct to download...options are proving to be nice though for some :)

Bucic, I assume you're flying?? How are you finding it? I got this game over a year ago, but tracker IR was really glitchy with it for some reason, I couldn't find a fix. This whole online campaign day by day thing sounds great though!

Good enough for me! :), I normally don't ask questions like that at this stage in the game, but my curiosity got the better of me.

I would go as far as to say it's easier to copy what already exists than to "make it up" so yeah I would fully agree the accuracy of this airport/terrain is probably bang on.

New terrain geography will always make a sim fan happy. ;) http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&q=Nellis%20AFB&gs_upl=1552,48,6,2,96,111,5,1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl Lots of visual references ;), that black highway for one thing. I think it would be pretty interesting to have a MP server setup at Nellis specifically for online training. A-10's taking off and rtb, formation takeoff's, landings etc. Throw in a dedicated ATC in there and I would be very happy! Anyway you can let us know what the Nevada map size is?

It's where all the training takes place, gun ranges etc. I'm guessing it's an immersion thing, you don't train in the area of combat, you train in the US. The Nevada terrain MOD has always been very popular, this just makes it a bit more official. I doubt you'll ever see a KA-50 in the real Navada desert, but perhaps in the DCS world ;)

Thanks for the grabs Wags! Navada Terrain looks OUTSTANDING!