coolts

It’s a question of "how do you learn". As a former teacher, that in itself is a subject of endless (subjective) debate. This time round though ED have all the bases covered. An excellent manual, (in draft), which improves on the key limitations of the KA-50 manual by including applicable procedures, etc. and the new interactive training missions, which, if there are enough and varied, will be an invaluable combination. I’m not going to criticise anyone for leaving that tempting icon alone on their desktop till they have “done their homework”. Whatever floats your own personal boat. I am just amazed by your self-restraint. I broke within minutes, and, yes I am equally frustrated and engrossed, and the frustration would be lessened greatly if I had read the whole manual first, but my attention span is limited when reading technical manuals. I learn by applied study. I read a chapter then practice the content, until I can do it unaided, then onto the next chapter. I cheated with mavericks. I skipped a lot and went straight to mavericks. And I can’t shoot a damn thing. Those missed chapters. SOI this and SPI that. Chinese hats and boat switches! Grumble grumble grumble. This sim can’t be cheated! Hog heaven population +1

I tried, I really did. I got to page 350-something but the icon was looking at me. I know what to mean though, the falcon forums.......”how do I?” .....”Nosewheel steering”.....etc. But, I had a quick bash with the mission editor. Created a nice relaxing jaunt at sunset out of Batumi. It was a seminal moment. The runway lights bleeding into each other, the engines spooling up, the amazing ground handling shaking me as i prepared to rotate, then as I lifted off, the dying sun filled the canopy, blazing, lighting off the instruments. I turned, spooling up my mavericks, the sun, now behind me, bathed the dash. My jaw actually dropped. I yelped. Not since Goldeneye on the N64 or Far Cry on the PC has my jaw actually involuntarily lost control. And this is only a damn beta. So, yeah, RTFM Then fly damnit! I recommend a sunset trip. Just take tissues. (oh, and the Hog HOTAS launched! http://www.simhq.com/) Gibber

Deff. Whilst its still fresh in the mind and the scribbled notes are still at hand. + what he said ;)

I did the same! Ive been ebaying like mad to balance things. Its amazing what stuff people will buy! The MFD's are mint. Only used in falcon so far but they bring everything to life. they have been sat dormant whilst playing FC2.0.... but now i have DCS:A-10.... mwaaaaa haaa haaaaaaaa! :joystick:

Thats a very worthy attitude which i believe is for the good of the community as a whole. well done sir ;)

Any you would JUST HAPPEN to be selling one would you? :lol:

Grumble. Wheres my £3 Amazin? I can buy an A-10 warthog pen TBH. I save £10 over amazon at FS BUT I spend £7 on delivery vs my free amazon delivery THEN I save £3 Therefore if Amazon give me a £3 voucher, I am equal so I may as well maintain my amazon preorder. They have clever bean counters over there thats for sure ;) I just want the new stick TBH, as i am learning the new DCS A-10 beta sim but have now to create a Cougar profile before i can really start. its a pain. a nice pain mind you. a contemplative pain

or a twist rudder :music_whistling::megalol:...... or a free copy of DCS:A-10..... or force feedback..... BUT I DONT CARE BECAUSE ITS LOVELY

Bloody, 'ell mate. I pity the fool who tries to erect a mobile phone mast in your street! Amazon can't argue with the fact that they are being undercut by £10, (not sure of the $ or Euro equivalent). Thats 3 pints of beer in my book. Entering irate customer mode............. ##EDIT## My less detailed attempt. May be p1ssing in the wind. we will see... Hi This item was pre-ordered months ago and i do not want to cancel the order but it is being listed at £10 cheaper here amongst other websites; http://www.flightstore.co.uk/thrustmaster-hotas-warthog-for-pc.asp/simulation/joysticks Maybe your buyers got the price wrong initially, or the supplier has change pricing in the interim, i don’t know. Can you please update me as to Amazon’s stance over matching this price please? I have been an Amazon customer for years and always found your prices to be competitive. A £10 difference, however, can’t be ignored. Regards You have to go through the Amazon sites interface. Make sure you are calm first as its a bit annoying.

Nice one. My inner bean counter is rubbing its Dickensian hands together over a wooden bowl of gruel! Seriously though, that’s a good idea, its not as though Amazon are short of a few bob. Chuck us your email to Amazon if you don’t mind and we can use it as a template to get something done. If enough of us point out the price difference they might match it. One propeller/jet head might be ignored but a whole 'hanger', (not sure of the proper collective noun ;) ), is more likely to get a response. That $20 could go in the kitty for DCS:A-10 To battle!

I would, (cancel amazon), but i get free amazon delivery, so flightstore would only work out about £3 cheaper for me. decisions decisions ;)

Atmosphere is what most flight Sims lack. Most devs come from either an aviation / technical background which is completely understandable in the industry, and can therefore model the aerodynamics and flight model given enough time and funds. The problem is, what do you do then? You have a great engine, great models, funky lighting, realistic airports, and all the guns. Entertainment is another matter. It’s all about the stories you tell, and the entire videogames industry is going through immense and accelerated growing pains and only beginning to realise that it’s now bigger than Hollywood in terms of revenue but is still wearing short pants in terms of pacing, immersion and storytelling. After I’ve flown a great sim or played a great game I am left with stories. How missions unfolded unexpectedly, how a seemingly innocuous enemy gave me the fight of my life, how I limped back to base on fumes after saving the day……. If “Microsoft Flight” can catch some of that, then I will buy it. But it’s not easy. Wings did it, Wing Commander did it, Falcon did it, (eventually and in spite of itself), [insert fave Flight Sim here], hell, Civilization does it again and again. Letting you tell stories, making you part of it. The Sim devs need writers. Deus Ex, Bioshock, DCS: Why not? It’s more than an engine and some planes. It’s sitting round the camp fire with friends and a beer. Its lightning in a bottle and i want some! :D

And the soda straw IR mav technique only works if you are looking in right area anyway. Pre-flight map recon and waypoint tweaking help a lot however as the campaign intel & maps leave a lot to be desired compared to............the .......other....game. Thats one area I want A-10 to get right.

As long as the engine isn’t actively rendering waves, splashes and reflections under the ground terrain then it doesn’t matter, it’s just a big polygon which is clipped out before it hits the screen buffer. And as GA said, you can turn it down as with a lot of things. I am having a vision of the future………its coming………i can’t hold it in….. DCS: A-10 will use DX9. That’s 2 below an 11 and one below a 10. 8 more than 1 and sounds like a German “no”. The graphics will be configurable. There will be options. Some will moan about the graphics being too intense and making their computers run slow. They will be advised to TURN SOME SETTINGS DOWN. Some will complain about the graphics being too basic and not making use of their mega-sli-hex-core PC’s. They will be advised to PUSH ALL THE SLIDERS TO THE RIGHT. Some will bemoan the DirectX version and the loss of features that they don’t understand. It’s a lower number and therefore must be bad. When the next DCS module ships with DX11 many will moan that they are not prepared to upgrade their gfx card and how outrageous everything is. When the next DCS module ships with DX11 many will moan that it doesnt support DX13 or whatever version comes with windows 8. When the next next DCS module comes out with support for DX13 many will moan that they are not prepared to upgrade their gfx card and how outrageous everything is. Again.

Feurfalke mentioned BOB was near. I havent been keeping an eye on the BOB forums because i got bored a long time ago waiting for that game. Oleg Maddox team do take their time but so far, the products have been consistently very good. They have a patient publisher thats for sure!

The difference from a Q6600 to i930 isn't that great to be honest. Both ran OC'd @4ghz. Its faster but......DCS:A-10 will tell I guess. I have a Creative audigy so sound wasnt an issue. The gigabyte motherboard is mint and cheap. I basically read reviews till they were coming out of my ears and ended up following the buying advice from bit-tech/customPC magazine.

Dont you guys have cornwall to yourselves in winter when the "ants" are gone, (as my cornish friends grandmother fondly terms tourists)? Just put a call into the passport / visa office. you may see less annoying surfers for a while. :thumbup: We dont have that problem up north. Who wants to surf when you are going to get frostbite and hit by a rusty pram, a traffic cone, used condoms a load of fish heads, (apologies to Northumbria tourist board). What you really need is a good old UK/US built oil rig just off the coast. Nice and cheap, never mind Health and Safety. Just turn the pressure up a litle.......bit more..........just a tiny SPLAT!

Its 99% a hub power problem. Check the hub power draw in device manager. They put out 500mA each. My TrackIR sometimes won’t start and I have to unplug/plug to get it to kick in. It’s annoying. Distributing devices to different USB controllers helped, but Track IR sometimes sleeps. (Here you see my overloaded port. Each MFD is called "HID Compliant..." and draws 250mA) Also, when my PC comes out of standby the USB port on the CH pedals stays down and needs to be unplugged.

My advice would be, (with x64), to ignore game installers default predilection with installing everything in C:\Program Files (x86)\. There are permissions issues in win7 with that folder sometimes if the software doesn’t follow strict MS guidelines, (Freefalcon, TrackIR, Foxy, etc). I would therefore create a separate C:\Games folder for all game related installs. You will have an easier life! As for OEM vs. Retail. Sure the EULA states that on OEM you can only have a few upgrades then you have to phone MS to allow you to activate again. I’ve done it loads of times. Just say, “My PC died”. They can’t argue with that. Dumb EULA anyway IMO. Again, retail will give you an easier life, (and a few less phone calls to Inda), and your wallet will be lighter ;)

Meh, I'm not waiting till xmas for any imaginary double offer, (think about it a minute, it would either be TM doing a free DCS A:10 download offer or ED offering a voucher for $15 off the HOTAS RRP or something). If it happened. I want to use the TM hotas in other games as soon as it comes out. I have a viking funeral planned for my Cougar. Possibly involving mead. :drink: And a monastery. :glare:

Cheers guys. Jerda, I hadn't considered formation flying. Now I come to think about it, there are several factors contributing to my FC2.0 A-10 bad habits. · In the A-10 campaign i rarely have to co-ordinate with other assets therefore TOT is never critical, therefore 100% throttle. · Transitioning from fast jets to the a-10 is a lesson in patience sometimes. “Are we there yet?” syndrome, therefore 100% throttle. · Unlike Falcon, single player is never a wingman therefore no need for formation worries apart from slowing up to allow my flight to form up after takeoff, then 100% throttle. · With no afterburner on the A-10 there is no massive fuel consumption increase, (seems quite linear. Well compared to fast jets) when at 100%. · As Panzertard pointed out, engine preservation would make me slow down. I assume it’s modelled in DCS as in FC2.0 I can burn all day at 100%. To cap it all, I usually only get an hour or so per night for simming as RL gets in the way, and I never liked time compression as things have a nasty habit of popping up. Habits will have to change with DCS:A-10! Looking forward to doing things properly.

I’ve been playing the A-10 missions / campaign in FC2.0 through again to get ready for DCS:A-10 & the new TM hog HOTAS and I noticed that compared to, say the F-15 and Falcon for instance, I tend to fly around with the throttles at 100% pretty much most of the time apart from landing manoeuvres or for really tight turns in valleys for instance. Is this realistic in a real A-10? Are none afterburning jets throttles floored during combat zone ops? After all, you don't want to be bumbling around at 200kts over tanks and shilkas That would take some of the shine off the new HOTAS just to have to “spinal tap” the throttles foregoing their supposed new sensitivity and accuracy of the new DCS FM.

DCS:A-10 + Warthog HOTAS + BOB? I would actually start believing in santa again :pilotfly:

Try the laser in the AFM SU-25T in comparison! You are spoilt in the KA-50:) Its, activate, fire one, its overheating, fire two. Switch off, extend, jink, dump flares and repeat. I have enough faith in ED to model whats there. If its an operational limitiation in the real aircraft, ED wont leave it out unless they figure it isnt important, and a targetting system mainstay is very important.

Looks like we will have 3 months or so without the game however, ho hum. Still, its going to be interesting when people start posting profiles for FC and Falcon, etc. (all those switches.....gibber...) I wonder if there will be a review of the stick in the next PC Pilot mag. Last months issue said they were planing one. It will be interesting to see if the historical warbird guys take to it. BOB should be out early next year i reckon.