Varis

If you can't find a truly interesting squadron or campaign, there's a third option: take some time off and start reading on IRL conflicts: military history, the political background, tactics, weapons and technology... Reflect back on DCS and maybe you find whole new dimensions, or you can group up with some mission creators and do some of the writing for the mission.

The expected feature list is quite impressive indeed. And I think a lot of people purchased the hornet as a long term bet, not to say it can't be a lot of fun to fly already. Early access stuff was discussed on the forum and in Steam reviews so there was some awareness of the potential risks. The summary from Schmidtfire was really good, but not sure if correct on all points - has ED committed to all the listed weapon systems/radar modes? What I understood not every weapon that is in reality employed is actually coming to the platform. The 4 people were the ones coding the systems. (Means there could be some coders working on other aspects of the software as well?) Most probably there are a bunch of other people involved with the hornet as well. But 4 coders is already a lot when the whole DCS ecosystem is like 100 people (figures given by ED some time ago). I don't really see ED possibly increasing the pace of development, we're already in a good situation and adding more people to the team would be counterproductive, ED seems to think that way and new resources would go to other teams to bring us new aircraft or (hopefully) work on neglected parts of the platform like multiplayer or combined arms.

Swaying bushes and various kinds of moisture could give great immersion to cold start missions. Maybe some time in the 2020's.

"Solutions" basically in the first message. The markings in the original screenshot are correct for the A2A mode (just maybe a bit high on the HUD). Haven't checked the scoop on HUD positioning yet. Playing with keyboard you can adjust your head position higher-lower when needed (which is a bit of a pain) but I just got head tracking which kind of makes it much easier - you can just lock your default position to the correct spot and people tend to do that a lot already with head tracking. My guess is HB mostly flies with head tracking and they might not notice the HUD placement that much :)

Almost a carbon copy of my desktop specs :) Does it run hot/noisy? CPU sounds like it has room to spare... you could go for quite heavy missions I believe.

Nice to hear the Viggen is getting some love even if within the limits of reality and with no exact promises on timeframe :smilewink: Even with the new ground radar requiring developer time to learn, HB would have the first mover advantage with the Viggen. They could decide to implement a new aircraft with the new radar and benefit from the experience for a Viggen update later down the road; or they could use the Viggen as a platform for experimenting with the system and then go forward with that knowledge gained.

Dang. An Air Defense Network controllable at some level would add a lot of excitement to multiplayer. Given that new hard counters against it are coming and obviously many juicy targets are already well modeled in the game :smilewink:

It might still happen: -Coders usually don't specialize in bug fixing. Everybody basically gets to fix their own bugs. -They may have started developing the next feature/milestone before the bug was reported. Funny I also understood the Hornet has only 4 coders (of course there could be other people as well, eg... testing team). DCS teaches us to read messages very carefully :D The majority of the community would be very pleased to just get bugfixes to what was recently released. We've been getting features at a pace that was a bit surprising to be honest. (And "only" 4 coders is a LOT in DCS.)

Hmm my previous Black Shark 2 install was in HDD... In my eyes the engine and optimization has come forward in big strides in the last 6 years or so (during which I was away). My system spec is pretty much a high performing mid-end with 16 GB RAM etc. I know many spend tons on hardware to get the most out of DCS. I would guess a lot depends on what missions / settings people are running. Mine is all set to high but I doubt my missions are the most demanding yet... unit count is low but I've seen 14 vs 20 air battles with no stutters etc.

Dude, you'd need to ask that from NineLine and not from us. It may have been some kind of a misunderstanding. Just send a PM that's framed in friendly and neutral terms... of course you do so at your own risk. In any case opening new threads when the previous one was closed is not a smart move, esp. if the moderator already has any reason to be annoyed. The stable client would not be able to connect (I guess unless both are the same version which then makes it all a non-issue). And I guess the beta servers would be clearly labelled as such. Would be a way to help people on stable to find out they need to get to beta to play MP.

Well done! :) You may sometimes feel like getting stuck with this sim, but feelings often are illusory and don't reflect true reality... Try and work different angles of approach when the slope rises... like weapons - sensors - navigation - free flight or just different aircraft. Learning with someone else may be of assistance as well.

Thanks pretty much sorted this one out and A2A weapons have fewer limitations according to Chuck's guide. Will need to check what's the latest scoop on the funny default PoV.

Aka newbies try to fly the Viggen... Trying out air combat with the Viggen but HUD is displaying something pretty odd here. Totally new to the craft - could be user error (illegal loadout, wrong positions for selector switches etc?) or possibly a bug? Air start and flying at approx 3.5km. Trying to learn using Chuck's guide, not sure where I read it but the plane is very picky with what loadouts you can fit (basically it was planned for single weapon type deployment at a time). Trying 2xRb24J, 2xgun pod, 2xRb74 here. EDIT: Seems to be ok with flight path + height bars (I call them northern lights :D) displayed on the HUD at start, but only when I switch to IR-RB it gets messed up. Will need to check if it's indeed the weapon setup. EDIT2: Saw that Chuck's guide actually has the same kind of markings with the A2A missile. But they are way off the center by default (5 + enter on numpad). Something to do with pilot head / PoV positioning by default, think it's a known issue with the Viggen.

Wow you have a long learning curve ahead of you. Take it easy and enjoy the ride! Can't stress the point more that you should try and benefit from all the learning that the community has already performed before you. Chuck's guides or YouTube can be helpful first steps when something seems a bit difficult to figure out. Prepare to read the manuals though :smilewink:

There was a thread about this not many weeks ago. As I see it the MP community are being the guinea pigs for the benefit of SP oriented players. I guess something to do with the active players "wanting to help" and getting access to the latest stuff as early as possible. After all few people rush to MP before learning SP first, and the best way to make progress with DCS is to join a community anyway.

Do DCS developers specialize by functionality and not by aircraft? My impression has been that each module has separate teams and resources are not easily moved between them. Also what I've gathered models&textures would be largely done by the time code side development (flight models, systems etc) gets in gear. Though there must be some areas where there's lots of art <-> code integration. If it's on Wags's desktop it could mean they "are working on it"... ie. we might be just a few years away from the release :P

As it is it's the #1 module I'm waiting for. (Possibly excluding Afghanistan but you can't fly Afghanistan.) Perhaps a bit similar to the gazelle but the mast mounted sensors give it unique capabilities. Also flew it briefly in Longbow 2 and liked it quite a bit. Shooting behind hills and cooperating with other aircraft is pretty far out for today's DCS. I hope the proper datalinks will be at least easily user moddable.

Usually need a couple of minutes before the menu becomes active on many multiplayer servers. Check if the scroll bar is moving... it's an indicator if it's loaded yet.

The OP has been edited 1.5 weeks ago - I suppose that's when it has been updated (couldn't really count on that though). Consider that in the 2010's many software teams have been working in 2 week iterations internally - ie. they don't necessarily even assess the progress of their tasks in any way more often than that. Interestingly the release cycle in DCS is also 2 weeks (at the minimum). And also that the median module takes what, perhaps 3 or 4 years to develop if not longer? If you are a customer in DCS you need a lot of patience. It's interesting to see RAZBAM stepping up its act, at least they aim to have very good communications with the player base. Will see how the interaction with the community develops, at least this level of transparency is beyond the norm for DCS. I know a bunch of players are taking note and following closely what RAZBAM is doing currently.

Or it's just an experimental project which is not ready to be announced and might already be canceled and never will see the light of day. I would imagine ED is constantly running dozes of projects/prototypes which we've never heard about. Don't go starting any silly rumours when there isn't even any context :huh:

Hi guys, haven't been following this module but it's another aircraft in DCS with quite interesting and unique capabilities. My question is what kind of reconnaissance capabilities or functionality does the plane have? Are these concentrated just on maritime (ship) targets? I read that some functionality that already exists is partially broken (HB will fix later but not high priority for the time being). Are all the recon capabilities of the aircraft in principle already implemented or are we still missing certain features as well?

I'm actually finding it more rewarding to alternate between platforms according to the mood or what sounds like I want to learn X today on it. Eventually I'll be able to competently fly all three in multiplayer or perhaps I'll fall in love with one of them. As it is I'd buy more modules if there was a sale :P

I think I bought Black Shark 2 before DCS/Steam went live even. Gave up after a bit of frustration due to the complexity of the avionics/weapon systems and survival challenges on missions etc. Six years later came back and bought more modules on Steam. Installed the Steam version, the old DCS:BS2 key activated on Steam with no issues. Decided I want to go eventually to the ED standalone version. Bought the Hornet+PG bundle for that and installed the standalone. Activated my old BS2, the keys I bought on steam etc. again very hassle free. I did my research. Would not have been possible for all modules out there. To be more precies: no items bought in the ED store seem to be viable for Steam any more (hope/think it's only for items you'd purchase in present day and not ones you might have purchased in the store before).

Thanks that's quite interesting info. I was thinking the Mig-25 was too extreme and limited in capability... but who can say no to Mach 3? Then again there are very interesting versions like SEAD planes or the recon variants - India apparently got very good service out of them. Perhaps as survey level aircraft? Same for Mig-31. Could an earlier version be expected to become declassified enough to make it into the game in years to come? The aircraft is much more combat capable in terms of DCS and also has some reportedly unique capabilities for the period with still a very high speed, the datalink, radar etc.

For the distant future the hornet might be the best option of the three since it's the newest and it's being developed by ED as their flagship, and also it's strongly multirole. The L-39 Albatross could have the most value in the long term. Apparently tons of fun and easy to learn for a beginner, it seems to have a role in mainstream multiplayer too. Pretty much all replies above have good points you should research. Giving a meaningful answer depends a lot on your personal parameters. What I found important is being able to figure out where the fun is in DCS for you (it's very different from the usual game and much slower to get into). You will probably end up owning multiple modules. You need to take the first steps or you won't have a long term. Joining a good group can make a world of difference. Keep it simple and keep it fun. About sales, there are often several throughout the year though ED has stated there will be none before the end of 2018. The Hornet was already in the excellent Persian Gulf bundle. I would expect something in January. In the meanwhile you can utilize the bonus system to make slight savings if you go shopping.