bfr

Had a CH Pro for a number of years, only recently upgraded to the big heavy expensive Virpil. It worked pretty well and the switches lasted. As its mostly old school tech then the throttle axis potentiometer got a bit flaky after a few years but you can still source spares for it and it was easy enough to change yourself with nothing more than screwdrivers needed. The only other criticism would be the CH software is unsupported and now flaky on Windows 11, although the device works perfectly well with free alternatives like Joystick Gremlin and Joy2Key.

Having had a CM3 for a couple of weeks now I have to say that particular slider is easily the weakest and cheapest feeling part of the product (or at least it is in the context of DCS and how its sometimes has dual purposes on some planes for some axes). You'd think it'd be useful for stuff like radar elevation or zooming but that centre detent and/or the short throw on it up and down just seems to screw up a lot of use cases. Admittedly DCS itself doesn't help sometimes (e.g. the F16 radar elevation axis mapping seems to expect a momentary axis to be used, so its actually quite hard to finely adjust with that particular slider). FWIW in DCS I use the flaps lever axis for zoom and control actual flaps by other means (generally map one of the three on-off-on switches to step them up/down a notch). For zoom control that axis is perfect (good range, no detent, easy to find & reach).

Glad to be corrected on this but I don't think you can do this via the Virpil software alone as it stands. Joystick Gremlin & Joy2Key can both provide this for you though (and are easier/more flexible for doing other things helpful to DCS IMHO too like mode/shift states).

This. Just open the thing that shows you throttle/axis positions and you'll see ground idle is lower with WoW versus idle in flight. Also, when you say you've set a deadzone then do you mean within DCS? There are (probably) better ways of doing it via the VPC software (the only fettling in DCS axis tuning I had to do is that the % throttle for AB to kick in for the F-14 is slightly different to the other AB jets I own so I had to put a slight curve in for that to work right at the AB detent).

Yes, i'd observed the same (F-18 SC Cat 1 mission in the Persian Gulf map). 'Request Launch' gets teams sent to all 4 catapults but only 3 & 4 will only bother to actually get you set up and launched. Another run of the same mission I ended up (think it was on my 3rd trap) with the radio telling me to hold position repeatedly every time I tried to taxi back to the catapult for another go, and even the crews on 3 & 4 were not interested that time in getting me set up for launch. I ended up just restarting the mission so no huge inconvenience, but there didn't seem to be any way to move forward without the restart.

I get the impression that the list that was posted of what will be in the initial release is more high level highlights and not 100% exhaustive. At the end of the day, we will get on Day 1 what we are given on Day 1 and there isn't much you or I can do about it.

Ah, good shout. I don't think I bothered with the Vietnam one but did pick up Wings over Europe in a sale (which did do an A-7 as I recall). That family was very much a 'lite' sim though as I remember it.

The Intruder I seem to recall they said they were working on an AI version a couple of years ago with a flyable module to eventually follow. I can't even remember the last time I heard where the AI version was up to, so i'm certainly not expecting a full module any time soon!

Except this is ABS and traction control on cars that don't have them in real life (e.g. F1 cars), so in that context they are an optional artificial aid added to make the game easier. Each to their own but i've put quite a lot of time into AAR, still mostly suck at it and I'd say its a harder skill to master than driving 10-20 laps at a reasonable lick without binning it. Less axes of travel to manage for one thing (unless things go really badly) and acceleration/deceleration is a lot more responsive.

I was more on about the change in handling over the course of an entire mission rather than in AAR. And like I said, the luxury of unlimited gas is a gateway back into other bad habits.

As others have mentioned before, you miss out on aircraft handling changes with changes in fuel load and it can also make you lazy and use reheat more than you reasonably should be doing. So in those ways 'unlimited fuel' as an alternative is an un-learning aid. Its just making arguably the hardest bit (unless you're having a crack at formation aerobatics) a bit more forgiving and letting those who find it a tough nut to crack have a safety net whilst learning.

The 'forgiving basket/boom' kind of idea would still necessitate learning some 'gateway' skills of locating the tanker, radio calls, getting in some semblance of position (i'm not suggesting you can just hit a button from half a mile away and/or fly by a tanker at +100 kts and magically hook up). Once you've mastered the first part you can then have a couple of cracks and if it still isn't happening for you that time then you have the option to chicken out and not completely bin the mission you're trying to enjoy.

Going off the rest of that list of car game assists pictured, there's a few of them i've used at one time or another in a few titles (line assists, ABS, degrees of traction/stability assists) until i'd improved my skills (because I wanted to) to the point I no longer needed them (whilst still being able to enjoy the game without binning it every half a lap). Just because a kid might get training wheels on their first bike, it doesn't mean they'll want or need to ride with them their entire life.

AFAIK it was always intended to do stuff at low level and many of the systems reflect that capability (LANTIRN, TFR etc). In practice when you're up against an enemy that has had its SAM & fighter capability severely curtailed then you're probably going to switch to doing your thing from upon high because its much safer. Much like the RAF Tornado force switched from low level to high level attacks in the first Gulf War because it became safer to do so and what losses they did suffer mostly came from ground fire at low level.

I don't think i've actually sat in any fighter or bomber, although I did get to go up the ladder of a Vulcan for about 30 seconds and have a nosey once.

They should do an F-111 module though, just so we can compare They were lovely looking things. I saw them a handful of times prior to being retired (been past the old RAF Upper Heyford a few times back in the day) and one of my brothers said he was practically run over by one on low level exercise in northern England when he was out on a big cross-country hike.

It would be fun to see these ladies mingle (not introduced) in a room full of pilots of respective aircraft and see how long it takes them to catch on.

True. Already seen replies to the Razbam tweet to the effect of 'what about this bomb or that missile or this other bomb', as if this'll be the final cut rather than the starting point of a long old road (if almost every other modern era module in existence isn't indicative). Going off what was announced (the ambiguity about what RWR there is aside) there is a fair bit there to learn and play with to begin with. Hopefully the pace of adding new toys in following updates is steady.

Its going back a few years but DID's F-22 Total Air War had an autopilot mode for AAR which could take over from about pre-contact position. I forget if any of the other DID titles that came before it had a similar optional assist.

To be honest I just read 'EA' and 'out of EA' as 'there will be more to come' and 'there might be more to come'

Yes, both the official and Chucks Guide manuals have their uses and I still use both even on the more mature modules.

I probably missed that by about a year (I think I started PC gaming in about 91 or 92).

Ah OK. Yes, that's possible. Can't remember if it has happened in official manuals but certainly I recall occasional placeholders in Chucks Guides.

I'm struggling to ever recall a case of currently unimplemented features being in the manuals for any module. It wouldn't make any sense to do so and it'd be somewhat tricky to do anyway as how do you get screenshots etc for something that doesn't currently exist? The manuals just usually get fleshed out as new stuff is added and released (sometimes a bit after with video 'how to' guides at time of update release to bridge the gap).

Yeah, I get what the division of labour is in real life. After all, if the guy in the back wasn't needed/useful then he wouldn't be there. The point is whether you'll be able to do a passable job in DCS without either an AI/human back seater or constantly having to hop in the back yourself. From what i've read it seems you should at least get by from the front seat in the F-15 (perhaps having to switch some things on in the back pre-take off) for most scenarios but I expect the F-4 will be a bit more like the F-14 where there are things you genuinely can't do without some kind of assistance/hopping in the back.