Varis

I guess just 2 missions with every new map would send a message that the module is still getting love, and to help you start out on the map. Personally I tend to play with user created content, haven't yet gone wild with the editor.

EDIT: Just noticed this was not in October but is coming in November... my bad. Do I need new glasses... eyes? :D How did it go? Any footage from the event? (EDIT: just noticed the twitch.tv link, going to watch Tournament 2) Was thinking the Gazelle L model is limited on ammunition - though maybe you don't live that long with such competent opponents :D EDIT: not an issue, see HT #2. Need to get a bit of practice and I might be up joining the next... :bounce:

My thinking would be it takes long to master the F-18 but you get bored of Caucasus quickly ;) From what I read it sounds that the F-14A at least will be completed much sooner than the F-18C. Apparently F-18C has no deadlines just updates coming frequently. Personally I'll probably wait it out with the Tomcat, already have the other stuff mentioned plus a good bunch of other modules. Always depends on the appetite so how ED will play its cards :D

Nice shots can't wait to fly it :)

Was wondering if there is even regular maintenance on the module, or whether it's just on a case-by-case basis. They are a small studio. For what I know the sales of Gazelle have been pretty ok, for a good reason.

Thanks. Will be interesting with the Mig-19 & 23.

Interesting. I tried to fly around some of the central parts of Iran (northern areas of the PG map) with the hornet. Ran out of fuel. Twice. There is a lot to improve in my DCS skills :music_whistling: :lol:

Wonder if it's all up to the module vendor when a new map is created?

Obvious next question from the kids: how large is the usable low-quality area of these maps? And what happens when you reach the edge of the map, the game just reverses your flight direction so you bounce/tilt back at the edge? Never tried to do that yet :D

It doesn't seem that any Missions are listed for the map for any of my modules. Instant Action is mostly there. Are there plans to add Missions for the existing aircraft modules (older and recently released), or would you only get those from separately sold campaigns or modules yet to be released? Just curious since obviously there would be tons of other content available. Would it also be possible to create separately sold extensions for the map(s)? Say if people want the rest of Oman or to extend the Iran part west or north, each could be an extension for maybe $10 but still a part of the same map? Since we already have limited&full versions of the map coming, would this just be too complex? You'd need to eventually consider like 20+ different map modules when figuring out if you're compatible with your friends or some MP server. One way to do it could be to make the maps mostly low level of detail and sell the mid/high parts as extensions for areas that people want. I didn't easily spot a comprehensive features list / roadmap for this map, hence asking. The ED store obviously has a list but that is low granularity. Maybe somebody from the community could create a kind of a FAQ?

One might expect this to change with MAC, especially as limited versions of two maps are included.

You guys scared me for a moment... just bought a brand new 500 GB SSD :lol: Now ED scares me a bit - the drive is almost full already... Interesting how maps take so much space, PG seems to indeed be a tad over 30GB - aircraft modules take almost nothing in comparison, I don't have many yet! Would think there's a benefit if almost the whole map can fit in your memory too... are we talking of video or main RAM here? Interesting approach with the level of detail, could make a lot of sense. I read some info that the detail levels are actually low - medium - high. Is there an easy way to view which areas are which in the mission editor?

All depends on motivation. Hence personality. If he has a very strong interest in a particular era then it's a starting point. Does he play because his friends (want him to) play or because he comes obsessive about learning a system once his interest is sparked? What decade were you born? How long is his patience... 5 minutes or 5 weeks? What is his code in Meyers-Briggs style personality sorter? What type of platform is best? Jets are straightforward - it goes where you point it and if you apply throttle, you can go... VERY fast. Some like the feeling of power and it's said optimists fly jets. The other end is helicopters and pretty much all of the opposite is true. You can't just pull the stick and zoom straight up to the sky - they can be a very complex and fascinating platform if you have a taste for something different. Like scouting out the enemy and hiding just behind the next hill before it's time to send a big nice greeting. You can get up close and personal in a heli like no jet can. Ah, forgot about WW2 era planes. They are slower so the scale and pace is more human, perhaps easy to start with if you're not sure. Preferably survey level aircraft so the F-15 could be a good choice (you don't need to use all the systems at the very beginning even). Sadly I don't think DCS is the best place to start if you want helicopters - you would need to be very humble about learning curve things. There are "game" level settings for at least some helicopters in DCS though and there are differences between the models - the Ka-50 has the most complex systems while it's probably one of the easiest to fly, tied with the UH-1H.

Which one is your favourite Gazelle? Why? Which one do you think would be the most useful? SA342M = Hot3 AT missiles SA342L = rockets and 20mm

Thanks, that's quite nice. Some info is maybe outdated - the PG map recently got the Kerman airbase added but in this it looks like the city is 200 km north of map edge.

Guys it's a valid point - the customer is always right. The early access business model brings great value to the developer. If abused the customers will suffer but if done right it just means that we (can) get more of better stuff earlier for a lower cost. Risks are things like will the developer go out of business before my product is complete, will the features and implementation be eventually what I actually like, and so on. Look at the developer and make a decision. ED's business is very well established. It's not likely they cannot finish a product because there is no money. They will take a brand hit if they push out crap and leave their customers hanging. It looks like the ED customer base is a very valuable cash cow - they would not like to make us angry, we'd go to another developer and ED might go out of business. We already see them taking flak from the community for the EA business model. I take the EA model is a quite new thing with ED? Also they have ramped up the ambition with more modules released, a fair bit of promotion, 3rd party developers... It's not easy to coordinate all this and do everything right. After a while they need to take a hard look at what they are doing, are they trying to achieve too much too soon and are the customers still happy. Is there a risk that the players will be fed up and walk away if one module release is a fiasco? If the product is in early access and you are not sure, don't buy it, it's the smart move. As a customer you have to decide which part of the product lifecycle is the optimal point for you to jump in. Do you want pre-order discounts or ones that come much later from bundles with stable products in them? Do you want to help the developer and influence features and implementation while the team is still working on the module? Is it exciting to get the first dibs on a module or to see it evolve into a stable, complete product? It's not an issue that's unique to ED but it's been in gaming for at least a decade - back in the day some experts said don't buy anything before 6 months after release - but today the envelope is much more aggressive. Yeah the Harrier module has bit of a bad reputation for being buggy and so. BTW it's early access too... How many modules are EA vs how many should be considered stable? The F-18 module was released just over 4 months ago - that's not awfully long for a complex software but in gaming, yes there should be definite improvement visible in that time - unless something really big has been worked on which cannot yet be released to the player base. Game companies are often not very good in communicating what they are doing - to me it looks like ED actually communicates quite a bit and there are frequent releases addressing all kinds of small things. The business has changed a lot in the last 10 years and the companies face new kind of challenges, they need to find ways to engage with the players much more closely.

Sounds like a bad move from the part of ED to bundle it - new players spend big bucks, then get greeted by bugs, incomplete features, balance/realism issues - not a good first impression of DCS. Seems to be listed as Early Access in the ED store though (too bad Steam doesn't have that option for DLC?). I guess not worth the bucks with MAC just around the corner :huh:

MAC will replace FC3 before the end of the year. There will be an upgrade option if you already have FC3. You can buy FC3 aircraft individually if you want to save money right now, but the upgrade options might be limited. (You can always gift the aircraft to friends if you don't need them.)

Shouldn't there be more information released if the product is going to be available in just a month more? Or maybe they're going with the odd seasons? I mean... if I can only get this by Christmas then I'll be waiting for Christmas as well :D ED should probably post a FAQ since "a few" people are confused by things, and obviously there's a few open questions. Will it be offered as early access or fully featured when it's released? How does map compatibility work? Full compatibility I hope? At least if you create missions and have full version, limited version or both, all of the players that have full version, limited version or both can play it, assuming you created with "limited version" setting?

Sounds SWEET that DCS has this - the stick is notorious for losing calibration under Windows, it's like you have to calibrate every day if you dream of flying the Gazelle and don't like it to jerk around all the time! Is it easy to adjust the center of the deadzone on the fly - it's the center that seems to travel with the stick. Would you recommend installing the Logitech software? Just for DCS? Is there a guide or tutorial somewhere, about how to get the best out of this stick? I'm thinking of going back to Ka-50 and get the most out of that heli and its weapons platforms. Plus a few other craft I need to try out esp. when MAC hits.

Probably depends on the season. Looks like some areas would be above 3km in the south-west/central parts of the country, south of Kerman - is that area included in the map? Map: http://www.maps-of-the-world.net/maps/maps-of-asia/maps-of-iran/detailed-physical-map-of-iran.jpg For the highest peaks take your pick :smilewink: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mountains_in_Iran

Strange I didn't realize there's any other than the Denmark/Australia system. And even that is not much of a hard and fast reference, for starters the weather can be just about anything. I know in parts of Estonia the 5th season is high water/flood. But 5-6 seasons, how do you manage that?

Was the gun somehow special on the F-14? (A bit like on the A-10.)

Well it would feel something is amiss in multiplayer balancing if everybody is flying the latest top-of-the-line, heavy air superiority jets. Indeed the F-18 would be less specialized and more of a bread-and-butter rig when it comes to modern day A2A (similar perhaps to Mig-29 or 2000 in that role). Operated by countries like Finland, it's even the sole fighter jet around here (Cold War, we had Mig-21 and Draken, but I guess the nation nowadays feels less of a need to kiss up both directions of the compass). Then again I don't have much clue on the MP scene in DCS, just hear that it's not that great (I'm used to top-of-the-line PvP multiplayer games). And I wouldn't expect to hold my own against players with thousands of flight hours, much of that in MP, anyway :D Coming from ED the F-18 indeed must be a fairly safe bet in the long run. The more stable (in terms of software maturity) survey level aircraft from Flaming Cliffs/Modern Air Combat series might have a bit fewer bumps along the way. Also the F-14 should be one of the better quality modules coming from Heatblur, but the F-18 will have at least 6 months of advantage in the development life cycle and maturity over the F-14. Still I've been thinking a bit … might end up picking up the F-14 from a sale, esp. if they for some weird reason bundle it up with the Syria or Afghanistan maps (great interest for helicopter pilots, I guess the F-14 obviously is a more maritime proposal though) - in gaming terms it's still an expensive purchase. What has the F-14 going for it? For starters, the avionics of the F-18 may feel a bit complex and overwhelming for a beginner, once all the systems have been implemented down the road. I had my first false start at DCS years ago, with the Ka-50, and it was a bit my feeling that it was indeed too much at one time. Coming back to the Gazelle it's been a bit of an exhilarating experience - easy to fly since helicopters have been my platform of choice for 30 years - but the weapon systems are like braindead simple (in DCS terms!), yet quite varied and suited for very different roles. And the personality! F-14 is a bit of a big, lumbering beast compared to modern, agile jet fighters. Without fly-by-wire it's also a bit retro, and comes from the era when the opponent was thought to be heavy strategic bombers (1960's) and not light strike aircraft like the many multirole fighters are themselves (1980's). It even feels a bit like a placeholder for the Mig-25 & Mig-31 which sadly don't seem to even be in the roadmap. Not to mention the variable swept wing which is likely to be unique in DCS for years to come. It could just generally be that beginners in DCS will have more fun with the older aircraft. The avionics are much more simple, so if you just can figure out how to navigate, you could more concentrate on the flying and the fighting instead of learning the complex and numerous radar, targeting and autopilot modes etc. That pretty much was my experience with helicopter sims in the 1990s, HIND and Longbow 2 - I found out I pretty much prefer it up close and personal with rockets and lots of maneuvering over just blips on the radar. The more avionics you add the thicker the manuals get, and you have to read them. Not saying that F-14 is the best pick in this regard. It's a long range interceptor and what I gather the radar was very advanced for its time. But all the older A2A choices seem to be included in the upcoming MAC module or are roadmap items only at this point. Just when I now think of it... it could be an intriguing aircraft to fly. Also of interest to me is the stronger A2A profile of the Tomcat (although it has the ground attack capability, never really thought of it as one of the attack craft), and that initially it's more likely to be rolled as a REDFOR aircraft in multiplayer - just because they are not making any Russian fighters at the study level. Edit: Mig-23 is on the roadmap so the F-14 is not the only variable wing option. It's probably way more fun though; the Mig-23 wouldn't be my first choice for air combat, the performance is possibly somewhat better for ground attack. It's a bit funny since back in the day, planes like Mig-29, the 2000, and Viggen were thought of as multirole fighters, the name of JAS Viggen even explicitly states that it's for the three main branches of the jet air arm (the third one being reconnaissance). Perhaps ED didn't implement them as such, though some players claim that the ground attack capabilities of 2000 are grossly underestimated by the community.

One strategy to sell maps that never got popular is to just discount them very heavily after 1-2 years. Like get your favourite plane and this one map you don't yet have for just $5-10 more.