isoul

Personally I found that my X52 was quite sensitive for me to fly smoothly! I reduced sensitivity using DCS options menu.

The cockpit would be HUUUUGEEEEEEE!!! Be careful tho... if you launch a missile police will evacuate all your neighbors!

You mentioned at some point : "...and increase their effectiveness in combating terrorist forces along their border and (unofficially) into Pakistan itself" If I understood right the scenario is based on fighting terrorist/extremist forces, not the Pakistani Armed Forces, right? I took a quick look on the pdf you attached (nice maps btw!) and I ve seen in a mission that you have to defend your base against enemy heavy armor assault. I thought "These terrorists are really well armed/trained!". Heavy armor or such weaponry are elements of Tactical Armies! How are you going to convince the player that he is against terrorists that they happen to possess heavy armor? Wouldn't it be a more realistic scenario to be against a typical national army rather than a terrorist group?

Good luck with your entry guys! Do you answer any questions based on your scenario?

@leroni : Mate you answered all the questions/comments with a realistic enough scenario. I just missed the whole image (night, dense forested are). Its nice to assume things about the enemy (such as possible minefields or mined passages) cause it gives more realistic feeling of the situation (its impossible to know everything about your enemy). One last thing... Please don't make a "Nation VS Terrorist" scenario. I prefer to shoot at some heavy equipment that only a Tactical Army possess rather than shooting footsoldiers armed with missiles and a AAA at the best. I am mentioning that cause recently I ve seen a scenario about battling terrorists and then, in one mission, your HQ is under attack by tanks.... where the hell a terrorist got such material? Whats next a terrorist B-52???

Probably a system specific problem cause I use inferior PC in every term and Win7 x64 + X-Fi. No overclocking, no use of ALchemy and still the game runs smoothly with no dramatic drop of FPS below 29-30. No sound probs too under any circumstance. Sometimes such problems(which I have experienced in other games) may be solved by disabling O/C or updating firmware of a PC component. I had a strange issue in another game and the cause was my graphics card firmware.

As far as I know ALchemy is a way to enable EAX in Vista. FACTS : 1) EAX uses DirectSound3D. 2) DirectSound3D is removed from DirectX10. It was sudstituted by OpenAL. 3) Vista/Win7 can't use EAX directly cause they only support OpenAL. 4) Creative ALchemy is a way to interpret DirectSound3D commands(which are being used by EAX) to OpenAL thus allowing EAX to work fine with OpenAL. QUESTION: Do DCS:BS support EAX? As far as I know it doesn't since I ve never saw an option enabling it(I may be wrong). In games that do support EAX(check ALchemy list) the option is activated once the games are ALchemy-Enabled(ALchemy puts two dll files in game directory if I remember right). I do have an X-Fi and used ALchemy on games other than BS.

Oh come on GG... They do cheat too when they pause the game while thinking what spell to use... we can't do that but we aren't amateurs either...:(

DCS: Black Shark - 527 Dragon Age: Origins - 420 Incredible WE ARE LEADING!!!! I CAN'T believe it!!! I voted from my father's old PC... I think I should vote from my netbook and my own PC when I get back at my place tommorow!!! (at least I 'll try) The thing is that after so many years a PC Combat Flight Simulation has the potential to win!!!

Onto the point now... =FG=Schtuzer I believe that you effort really deserves congratulations. The fact that the questions and remarks below will be (good-intended) criticism shouldn't discourage you or your team in this great idea and effort. The things that you do fine(in my opinion) will go un-commented, this won't mean I am ignoring them. I 'll just mention some questions that rise in my mind, since you are trying to make an ultra-realistic scenario, on things that seems odd to me. You may judge my comments and make changes or even reject them, but if you find any of my remarks well-pointed just bear them in mind for the rest of the missions. So we start... 1) Minefields - Judging from the position the Blue Team(BT) is in and from what you mention about minefields I assume that the area is something like a camp. Minefields take time to lay and can't be laid when under pressure by the enemy so they must have placed them before the situation turn so dramatic. Since BT is Georgia there is no need to place a minefield between them and their own country cause this blocks their escape route. 2) BT position - The BT's positions is completely disadvantageous while the Red Team(RT) hold high ground and are around them inside RT own territory, which is completely advantageous. This scenario leaves only two solutions to any reasonable commander... surrender or die trying to escape! I would suggest that BT position should be a forward commant post or artillery position(the position is ideal for placing howitzers or a command post) and BT should hold positions on elevated ground instead of Voron1,2,3. I would suggest to remove Voron-4 and relocate Sopka3,4 to the plains in the West. Voron1,2,3 should be trying to push the outer defensive perimeter of the BT's position inorder to overun it. That way the situation would be meaningful for both BT and for the call of CAS flight and the attack helicopters. 3) Flight path of Tur233 - The circling around BT position is wrong in my opinion because it casts the helos vulnerable for no apparent reason. Maybe the circling around would be done in order to perform a surveilance of the enemy positions but the Ka-50s are flying above elevated ground which makes them visible to BT's Anti-Air Defenses. Besides that, the circling is performed way to close to BT position(less that 4,5km) which place the helos inside the effective range of a Stinger missile. The whole circling around the enemy means that helos will lose the element of surprise. If I was on the RT I would send Tur233 behind Vorod1 position from where they should perform a pop-up attack or surveilance. 4) The Sudar team - I think that the deployment of SU-25 would make the work of the attack helis way to easy unless Tur233 mission is to Suppress Enemy Air Defenses in order for Sudar to strike unchallenged. I hope you won't think I was too mean with you and didn't make you to lose heart. I just made a so detailed analysis cause you are trying to create an ultra-realistic situation and your effort is incredibly promising. Please keep up. The thing I would suggest is to put yourself in each side's position and think what you should do to beat your enemy and survive. Having at least two different persons planning the Blue and Red teams movements seperately would also help!

I assume that the effort here is to have an ultra-realistic scenarios and briefings etc etc. This means you 'll live the (close to) real experience of the whole procedure and realistic situations.

For real pilots its trim, trim, trim I suppose. Once you get used to the behaviour of the ka-50 with Stability Augmentation on you have to trim quite often while you are flying around. Once you are on a linear course you rarely trim as GGTharos mentioned. While you are in trouble, like being in an area where you have to jink AAA fire, and make steep turns or other manouevers you may find FD useful. In real Ka-50 the trimming is more "natural" meaning that the cyclic, once trimmed, it stays there while the non-FF joysticks will recenter. This means that real Ka-50 pilots have an advantage cause they can see and feel the cyclic's trimmed position while we can't.(Ctrl-Enter window may help you see the last trimmed position of your cyclic)

Guys I don't want to be messenger of bad news but Dragon Age, although a hardcore RPG, has a vast audience compared to a hardcore helicopter simulation such as DCS:BS. For a simulation to be in second place is a tremendous achievement and I think that beatting Dragon Age is almost impossible (the fact is that most people, when they see a new simulation is out, they just "skip to the next article" while in a new RPG they will probably read a few lines before rejecting) Simulations such as Black Shark are not for the "majority of people", they are for the few... and personally I am proud to say that I have a few flight hours with it.

Damn! Poor CAPT Miller wasn't armed with a KAAAS pistol? He survived the tank by coincidence? Bad, bad Hollywood...

From what I see(I am not expert in reading tactical maps either) and before I read what others posted here is what I get out of the map : --------------------------------------------------------------- Tactical Situation : Blue Team got stuck and set defensive positions in a small plain area surounded by mountains just south of the "Elevation 16324". Red Team forces divided into 4 groups (Voron1,2,3,4) have surrounded the Blue team by taking positions on the elevated ground N,S,E,W of the Blue Team's position. Apart form these, a 5th group(consisted of groups Sopka-3, 4) of the Red Team have taken position (almost 1km SW) in support of the Voron-4 group. The Blue Team (judging from the continuous blue arrows) tried already to break encirclement by assaulting Voron-4 and Voron-3 positions unsuccefully. Voron-4 counter-attacked(judging from the continuous red arrow) but were repelled by the rest of the Blue Team's defenders. Possible shift of the situation The only possible escape route for the Blue Team is to create a diversion by attacking Voron-4 and try to break encirclement by passing throught the gap between Voron-4 and Voron-2 positions. From there they can pass to elevated ground and escape towards the Russo-Georgian border to the S (almost 3km from the time they reach the foothills). This scenario is extremely risky given, the mobilization of the Red Team forces, but its possible since the Blue Team is in disadvantageous position. Tactical Planning : Given the situation, the Red Team is sending in a flight of SU-25 (Sudar) and a group of Ka-50 (Tur-233) in the area. Sudar will approach from NW striking the Red Team's defensive positions and break to the NE. Tur-233 will fly a circle path around Red Team's position (Waypoints Ctrl10-15) and commense their attack with ingress point Ctrl15. The groups Voron1-4 will advance from all sides towards Blue Team's position (I pressume afted Sudar and Tur-233 have completed their attack runs) ------------------------------------------------------------------- I dunno how good I was but, in case I red the map right, may I make a few questions and comments on that? Possibly I can make a fictinal but close to reality scenario of how Blue Team ended up on that position(which is totally wrong judging it from tactical perspective according to my little experience in military service).

Happy new year to community and ED Team!

Tho Hollywood's pistols are famous for their anti-tank and anti-air capabilities. They are known as KAAAS(Kick-Ass-All-Around-Sidearms) in the military circles but due to its lethality UN restricted its use only to Hollywood!!!

The incident was stated that an AT-6(9k114 Shtrum) was used which is supersonic (345m/s) but if you are sure about all the facts you are stating above I can't deny it. The incident is probably fake... at leat one thing is for sure In war, truth is the first casualty :smilewink: @GGTharos : We agreed more or less afterall!!!

Happy new year to everyone. I wouldn't make another post just to insist on the matter. I just found these photos and it should be enough proof, not that Apache's can carry Stingers(thats the least I care about), but that I am not making things/stories out of my mind. So please take a while and see the images linked below. Check this image. On both the wingtips there are missiles attached. http://img63.imageshack.us/i/ah64stinger01.jpg/ In this image you can see (I didn't have photoshop on this computer or else I would do a zoom-in on the wingtip) better the Stinger missile attached on the wingtip. http://img192.imageshack.us/i/ah64stinger02.jpg/ This is no dummy missile or expiramental Apache or photos before a test flight or what ever. This is one of the AH-64DJP(export version of AH-64D for Japanesse Armed Forces) that were delivered to Japan a few years ago. Japanesse were interested in the ability of the AH-64D to carry A-A missiles and ordered them along with the Stingers. These photos were taken during a show to the public. To be more precise on each wingtip there is room for 2 Stingers. In most Apache photos you can see the mounting points on the wingtips... I could even post a picture of myself posing next to an AH-64 were the mounting point clearly visible but thats not the best thing to do. I was in service in the Army Aviation Brigate of my country, and althought I wasn't neither a pilot nor a technician, people that have flown that bird or repaired it confirmed that the stores on the windtips were designed with AA missile in mind althought my country wasn't interested, at least at that time to use AA missiles on the Apache. I can't say if every army that uses the Apache has all the wiring ready to equip Stingers, some armies aren't even interested on that for sure, but the AH-64D at least is capable of carrying it. I could post a dozen links that refer to the matter but text repots may be inacurrate or fake but these images aren't. End of the matter for me!

In real scenarios the Ka-50's main enemy is AAA and SAMs!

Oh come on GG, AH-64A was designed with the ability to carry the AIM-92 Stinger (a variant of the man portable FIM-92 Stinger), just Google it. There is even a debate if the Apache should carry AIM-9L Sidewinders instead of Stingers cause the later is less lethal mostly due to its size(the size makes it ideal for Helicopters). Now the fact that AH-64 rarely carries AA missiles is just because aerial threats rarelly appear for the Apache. And if it does,as Wizz said earlier, the outcome can not be judged in advance. From the way you are talking I presume you are a real life pilot of a fighter plane or a helicopter or even both. The Stingers are part of AH-64 armament ,someone who knows better than both of us thought that for some reason[thats a fact] and they rarely carry them because aerial encounters for attack helis rarely occur[thats also a fact]. To down a jet fighter with a Stinger launched from an Apache may sound weird but would someone risk it? Equally weird sounded that a F-117 would be shot down but in Serbia it happened... How can you be so sure? EDIT : Actually there are claims that a Mi-24 downed a F-4 Phantom II during the Iran/Iraq war using an AT-6 Spiral missile. Personally that is hard to believe but still the fact that a pilot must go "Low and Slow" and expose himself to AAA and SAMS doesn't worth the effort of downing a heli... Thats all I can say... I won't keep up cause I think its tiring for the rest of the people.

Personally I disable labels. Its more real to me and I kinda like it that way. Frederf is right about spotting targets in real life, then again I ask myself... is it so easy to spot a tank 6km away and probably hidden, with only your eyes? No! So labels off till I can't spot my objective!

GG don't forget that a helo radar signature isn't that strong and a lock may not be so easy to obtain cause the heli can fly a few meters above the ground. Apart from that the helo can move in places with a lot of cover(hills,trees) or fly in places where a jet can't manouever that easy(such as slopes or steep hillsides). Making dives(to attack) and steep climbs(to evade) may be a sound tactic but you still risk too much as a fighter pilot just to shoot down a heli. In case your adversary is an Apache armed with decent A-A missiles your chances of being shot at are many even if you follow the tactic you mentioned above. I don't think I am wrong since history record of Jet VS Helo fights are close to 0 till now. On the issue of shooting helos with Vikhr I forgot to mention that I avoid that in game since its difficult to lock and I have 12 Vikhrs max(usually 8). In real life it is by far better to use a missile that to approach a heli at less than 2km.

I would disagree with you since Ka-50N, along with Ka-52, is an announced variant/modification since 1997. Its goal is to feel the gap that standard ka-50 leaves in night-time operations, as Nikolai Emelyanov(program director at Kamov) admitted back in 1997. But ED knows better... I just posted a wish on the wish list(not all wishes become true).

- Import the Arbalet radar. (Russian equivalent of the Longbow radar for the Apache which at least was tested on Ka-50) - Import the Ka-50N (night attack version with improved/IR sensors) - More interaction with ground forces like the ability of a ground observer to assess the effectiveness of your shots, mark targets for you and upload them to your Datalink, to mark a target area with colored smoke grenades for you to hit with rockets. (though this may already be possible for someone quite experienced with the mission editor)