jym

Given my flying skills, we might as well name him HAL.

It's an old joke (I remember it from the original Il-2 days) from when every query about imminent updates or releases would be met with endless responses of 'Two weeks'.

The good news - I have my Rotor Plus base with Ka-50 grip. The bad - it's not compatible with my Monstertech chair mount system. Now comes the thumb-twiddling while I wait for the collective mount addon to arrive.

That looks like it clamps onto Smallrig's 15mm-diameter carbon-fibre tubular rods; they have a wall thickness of 2mm and are effectively rigid.

The Thrustmaster TFRP are pretty good for the price - certainly good enough to keep you going while you save up for a Crosswind - but are rather narrow. Ultimately too much so for my tastes (coming from a Simped F16 and finally going to MFG Crosswind), but if you need something small, light, and reasonably priced, they're well worth a look.

Heh. Paid for my copy, too. Worth every penny.

Free or paid. The free version is somewhat limited compared to the paid, but not necessarily so much that it should be ruled out.

You can always supplement your controls with something like VoiceAttack (which would cost you somewhere between zero and ten dollars, depending on version).

I'm having a great time with a VKB Gunfighter III with a 20cm extension. Can recommend it highly - especially on a centre chair mount.

Having used a couple of MS Sidewinder FFB2 sticks (and still owning one in fully-working condition), I'd be wary of investing money in a force feedback stick: They're old. FFB2 will be about 20 years old, and that's about the same for all the other types you'll find. Or they're new commercial simulator items, and you'll have to be ready to sell a child or two to pay for one. Used sticks can be pricey (and you're usually at the mercy of eBay if you want one) because you're fighting over a limited and dwindling supply. Sidewinder FFB2 are rattly, have few buttons, and a pretty poor grip layout. With the FFB2 at least, my experience with Win10 is that getting stick forces is a sometime treat. Even when it does work, DCS doesn't seem to do much more than force trim with it. YMMV, and I've no doubt that other users will have wildly different experiences with FFB sticks. Mine suggest that a good sprung stick with replaceable springs would be a better choice.

VKB Gladiator II is a great mid-range desktop joystick. They're out of production but the replacement (Gladiator NXT) looks to be a worthy successor.

Wags' latest video on using Hind ATGMs might give you an idea on how to split up the commands. Now I have to train VoiceAttack to understand "Petrovich you idiot - you'll get us killed!"

At least you have some armour protection in the Hind. It's not like the Mi-8 or UH-1H where you're trusting your life to a greenhouse and a little tinplate.

Sounds like you're forming up with the second pair instead of with the flight leader (Springfield 1).

The TWCS throttle is pretty good once you deal with the stiction, offering a mini joystick and a fair number of buttons, hats, and sliders, for the money. Going for the quality joystick and rudder first would be my choice (I have a VKB Gunfighter III with MCG Pro on a 20cm extension, v2 MFG Crosswind pedals, and a butchered TWCS throttle).

High rate of fire, probably with the breech closed and locked for close to the bare minimum of time needed to stop the cartridge case splitting. No wonder there's plenty of hot gas venting from the ejection ports.

Right, but who has a cardboard box big enough to hide a Hind?

Probably the radio to call up someone with antiship weapons.

The NXT can, since its mounting plate sits on top of the horizontal profile and the mounting holes are far enough out for the screw heads to clear the profile (I did this with a Gladiator II). CM3 uses the same adaptor plate as the MongoosT so I suspect it'll have the same problem. I'd suggest getting a couple of short profiles anyway, or buy an 80x40mm extrusion off Amazon and cut pieces to length as you require.

And if you want a more collective-like feel on the cheap:

Have a hierarchy of control sets? Sure. Set your defaults across all modules and override settings per vehicle if you wish. Force uniformity of controls across all modules? Hell no. Having the ability to match controller settings to each vehicle's actual controls is something I value.

Frankly most of the switches are used so infrequently that it's easier just to click 'em with the mouse or VR pointer. Even the throttle can be ignored aside from start-up and shut-down. If you can map inputs for the cyclic and collective switches, weapons selectors, flares, and gunsights, you're 90% of the way there.

JoyToKey?

Central position trim halts cyclic input until you return your stick to its centre position.

For those using rudder pedals with office-type chairs, how are you preventing your chairs from rolling and/or rotating when you push on the rudders? I guess it's less of an issue with helicopter-style pedals where one can keep one's heels on the ground, but what do people who have to keep their whole foot on the pedal do?