Lithion

So by that logic, I would be able to check out DCS in VR for 1 day with my own planes at a friend's place without losing activations? And then continue playing at home the next day etc?

Ships are a different subject, I heard somewhere they have a capped 30 mile range for some reason, don't quote me on it since it could be outdated info.

Correct! Though I think this just serves as an illustration of the calculation, no idea if planes actually ever took off overweight from the 'Cat. Bit OT but I tried it out in the editor and actually couldn't get the Hornet heavy enough to break that max weight restriction with the current available weapons.

Cheers for the update Cobra, I got really excited when I saw the first footage, hope you guys' poking towards ED helps bring the new clusters in a little bit sooner!

It depends on the desired effect really, and for this answer it's important to know what lower/higher altitude does. If you're going for a lower HT altitude, the submunitions have less time to disperse. In a nutshell more bomblets will hit the same targets in a smaller area. If you're going for a higher HT altitude, the submunitions disperse more. So in this case, the same number of bomblets will cover a wider area. If you need to hit a tank, you need multiple bomblets: low HT altitude. If you need to hit multiple (lightly skinned) in a wider area (AA emplacements, convoys): higher HT altitude

I've been trying them out just now, and I've made a couple of ground rules for myself: -Don't chase the pipper, meaning, don't try and push Neg-G to get your CCIP on the target. Do a proper run-in. -Release altitude should be a factor of 4-5 to your separation altitude (example: HT 1200: release altititude is about 6000ft) This helps with giving the ordnance proper ballistics before separation. -Learn to account for wind dispersion. Check the briefing for the current conditions and adjust your aiming for this. Lighter submunitions get pushed around more than a heavy 1000lb MK-83.

You guys are both missing the fact that even slightly damaging a missile or radar renders it unusable IRL. This is just a shortcoming on the current DCS damage model. Fragmentation does less to damage tanks and APC's than a nice spread of cluster bombs. Pressing pickle and getting your MK-83 on exactly that point is a complete fantasy and just a limitation of what can be accurately simulated, or a shortcoming of mission design: no wind settings? No multi-layered wind directions? I just tested it against some tanks: a lower separtion altitude does more to damage a tank since more bomblets are hurting it, but it was quite difficult for me to actually kill it. But then I realised that IRL, that would've knocked out the gun, engine, maybe a track or the vision slits, or maybe even a crew member or ammo cookoff. They would just bail out or have to call in the engineers to get fixed up. Just because things don't go boom doesn't mean you haven't achieved the objective you were dropping that ordnance for. As a finishing note, Heatblur and ED have been working on improving the cluster (sub)munitions damage model, and some improved BK-90 footage is out there on the forum/youtube.

Agreed, wondering if we'll get access to iluminating warheads for the Hydras. Probably depends on whether the Navy had access to those munitions.

This very same question has popped up on the A-10 subforum as well, the answer I saw listed there was that the CBU-99 would have more anti-tank focussed charges, whilst the MK-20 would have more anti-material (little less penetration, but still HEAT) charges. However, just did some digging HERE and it seems like they're essentially the same, except for the dispenser.

Interesting suggestion, +1 from me namely: I have a few Target Practice ranges on various maps, to keep unit count low, I place a few empty planes, which I then rearm with whatever I want to practice for that day -in mission-. If you can only change the rocket settings in the ME, how will it be handled when you start with an empty plane and then load up some rockets?

You're right that they're starting the MiG-23 after the MiG-15, but that doesn't mean it'll release after the F-15E. MiG-23 might be 'easier' to make after all.

Yeah they've been talking about the damage model for a while now, but hey, 2.5 just took longer than they expected, and I've been really amazed by the progress over the last few months. My guess is that after the Hornet dust has settled, we'll see some progress on these core game mechanics.

Some notes: Bombs are argueably more a question of ED updating the damage model. Depending on which you are using, a foot away is far enough for the little fragmentations the submunition drops, the HEAT warheads need a direct hit anyway. The FPS issue... yeah there's a reason why CBU drops don't get a 'pickle' call but a 'frames' call over the radio :D

Hi Razbam, very clear roadmap, thank you! I personally wondered if any initial progress has been made on the 'Big Helicopters' subject? I get this wasn't the scope for this roadmap, but hoped you could answer anyway. Would personally love and CH-53 with all these naval aircraft hitting the market.

Same here, since I've said up the very minor deadzone BALT has been engaging wayyy better for me than before. Even with my HOTAS being less than a year old.

Part 10 - weapons and armament. stores SMS page. page 117. The accompanying photo has MK-20 and MK82SE mixed up. Edit, the part after that, "Contermeasures" Thank you very much for your efforts!

The reason why you're seeing the comms menu, is because people are hitting comm 1/2 on their Throttle, that then gives the 'old' comm menu. Depending on your comm 1/2 setting, the tanker will hear you and respond. Iirc the default comm channel for AI flights is 251MHz, cycle through your comms (mouse wheel the channel knob) until you hit 251MHz. If they don't respond to that the channel may be different and the mission maker /should/ have listed the channel in Briefing.

Good news guys, The last Patch gave way to making templates of Static objects. Could be that they're looking into SAM fortifications so you can make a fortification and SAM template to mix :) Here's to hoping :D

I know how it works in reality, but we're talking DCS here. Missiles usually just go dumb after losing lock once.

I have 16 gigs, haven't crashed while playing once.

Bit obvious suggestion but set it up so it's properly sensitive and you don't have to angle the TC Pro away too far from the camera :) I also have never messed with TrackIR settings/axis in DCS itself, but used the TIR software itself for all my initial mappings/adjustments.

But you were flying, iirc the nose has a small blindspot for the RWR, could be that just flying straight already took you through a few blindspots, to account for the lost-lock idea, since as you said, SARH doesn't reaquire, same for DCS, unless you were fired on by SAMs with their own seeker head, but they are very rare and I'm not taking you for one to fail to notice the difference. On the point of improving ECM simulation, there have been a lot of threads requesting this, but know that ECM is one of the most closely kept secrets of every plane that has been 'declassified' and the simulation itself is incredibly complex. I wouldn't count on (dare I say ever?) seeing it getting an improvement in DCS. Decoys is another matter, yes the F/A-18C will get the TALD decoy glider, and GEN-X decoys. Not sure how they will implement this, but I think the BK-90 from the viggen is viewed as 'another plane' or thereabouts behind the scenes. Which is exactly what the TALD is trying to mimic, maybe they're going for that course, time will tell.

Wow, I couldn't disagree more! For me the cities are the low part in the map. Too much repetative suburbs for me. The canyons and mountains of Oman/Iran are spectacular. They've already stated that they're adding two new airfields in the center upper portion of Iran to the map. Central/western Iran also has a lot of smaller towns/settlements with a lot of greenery that don't show up on the map, I was pleasantly surprised when i saw those. I would have been OK with more open flat desert spots but was surprised by a lot of gradually building mountains and canyons, home to settlements and the like. A lot more settlements than I expected, especially in Iran. (And not marked on the ME map!) For me, this map has it all; An actual reason to traverse a body of water (Blue/Red side), strategically placed islands, mountainous areas for COIN or hiding from AWACS, short strips neccesitating lighter loadouts, large open parts of desert for simulating desert warfare. These pics are all from central/western Iran, last pic shows where they were taken:

Is that not because you're maneuvering and getting in the RWR blindspots? The Viggen has a few. As QuiGon stated, ECM in DCS usually just lowers acquire and thus launch range of SAMs.

Not to highjack the wish, but: Alternatively, a real time speed limiter might be your solution here. Just let it download during the day at a slow speed, and finish it up at max at night. A speed limiter would also help those who live with other internet users who play online games etc. I can comfortably let steam download at 7MB/s while the others on my network have no issues. Though DCS maxes out the bandwith.