bfr

I imagine there is at least strong overlap between the two maps in terms of who is working on them. Hopefully now Afghanistan has had this big update then efforts pivot towards moving Iraq onwards (and the technical improvements from the last Afghanistan update trickle down).

FWIW I was considering picking up the Mirage at the next sale (as it was usually a 50% reduction) right at the same time a couple of years back that Razbam stuff started not appearing in sales (which with hindsight was the first sign all was not well).

I'm sort of in the same boat as an owner of the Strike Eagle and the Harrier. I'm kind of OK regarding the Harrier as I've had it since launch so have had about 7 years use out of it. I'd kind of like to see credit or similar for the Strike Eagle though as it hit the buffers so early in its lifespan.

Yeah there were a lot of things teased by RB over the years that never really went anywhere. Like I said, originally i'm pretty sure what ended up as the AV8B was meant to be an FRS1 and looking at that then attempts to derive an FRS1 from the AV8B didn't go anywhere either. You can already get credit back from DCS if you bought the F-15E from them (Steam purchases are another matter). I suppose if a hypothetical in-house F-15E ever came into being then DCS MIGHT offer a discount to any RB F-15E owners who never asked for a refund. It'd be a tougher sell though if a different third-party did a remake to then expect them to sell a number of units at a very significant discount.

If they're not modelled then they're not modelled and it becomes another thing that needs doing. And if I remember right they already said they won't feature in the full fidelity F-15C as very few units ever used them on C models in real life.

Contrary to what you said earlier, the F-15C (which is itself not finished in FF form) isn't exactly the same radar as the F-15E and even if it were then they'd still have modes to model that the F-15C won't have as it doesn't need them. Then add integrating all the A-G weapons and other SE-specific avionics, adding the back seat plus tweaking the flight model for the CFTs and I doubt its as quick a job as you say to move from one to the other.

I don't think that was the case. The Harrier would've benefitted from being the only full fidelity fast jet until the Hornet got released. The Mirage 2K was well thought of (especially once some of it got reworked) and i'm pretty sure the F15E sold in decent numbers before things went sour.

The AV8B had already been released in late 2017 I think, although I think mods were attempted for both marks of Sea Harrier based on the AV8B. From memory Razbam wanted to originally do a Falklands era Harrier, which would've been the FRS1.

Sea Harrier FRS1 I think, as getting the docs for the Blue Fox radar was a major problem. And yes, the AV8B has a fair bit of overlap with later RAF variants.

I think RB originally meant to do a British Harrier version (probably the Sea Harrier) but ran into a wall regarding documentation of some areas, hence the pivot to the AV-8B.

It'd obviously be the version that is easiest to get accurate data on.

Whilst there isn't any reason that DCS on Windows 10 would just stop working, its difficult to see why they'd be too bothered about continuing to support a platform once it is itself unsupported if something did come out of left field.

I don't think they've yet committed to doing any on the Iranian side of the border but I agree that it'd be a massive missed opportunity if at least some don't ever happen. They had however committed to adding some Kuwaiti bases.

The Iraq map is a lot like this in the south where the buildings are yet to be done but the roadways and so on are clearly already there waiting.

Iraq is already at 111GB (v 154GB for Kola) but a lot less 'done' i.e. there is basically half of the map with no buildings on it yet. So i'd be surprised if it doesn't end up about the same footprint in time.

Its very much there (including 'death strip', access roads etc). If you're looking for an easy reference point to pick it up then fly to the Bundestag/Brandenburg Gate (which sit either side of it). Or fly east from Tempelhof and you'll hit it a little bit short of the river.

Its already on the list for Phase 3.

Sources like that can be used as a starting point certainly, but there is still a massive amount of work to then get to a finished and polished product.

Really impressed. Did an Apache joyride around Berlin first up, then a blast over the same in the Hornet. I then jumped in the Hornet again and did a north-south run along the Inner German border from the Baltic before turning east to land at Berlin. Never once did it feel like it was struggling.

Iraq is as big now as phase 1 of Germany is (110GB) and similarly a WIP. Kola is also about the same storage footprint.

I had the same, seemed to recognise i'd bought the map at about the 3rd attempt.

Indeed. Haven't seen anything resembling a confirmation or denial. They've probably been burnt too many times to commit to anything by now!

I initially assumed (for no reason at all) it might not be in this one. There are still a couple of weeks left in the month and I sort of expected they'd at least be taking orders slightly ahead of it actually going live.

Looking at my installation folder now: Iraq - 111GB (and that has a long way left to go still) Kola - 154GB Falklands - 114GB So a final tally of 200-odd and 100-odd for phase 1 given the densely populated areas doesn't seem all that surprising to me. And I thought the installer already didn't pull down the entire map again per update? I would've expected to have noticed if that were the case with the last two in the above list.

From a systems POV they do nothing, although in a campaign I played recently they were used as a trigger during a recon part of the mission.