britgliderpilot

Unfortunately it's not possible to get the hook to work in Lomac. It's there on the 3D model, but the half-present MiG29K flight model does not include a hook. The AI can use it for some reason, but it's not possible to trap on the carrier using the MiG29K flight model. A new 3D model would be pretty cool, though :)

Unlikely. If a full and immaculate set of documentation for a prototype Sukhoi aircraft is mysteriously discovered on a desk at ED it wouldn't harm it's chances . . . . without that documentation there is zero chance. Even with it it might be an outside bet.

Relatively simple . . . but to be honest, what would be the point? It'd be simpler and probably more reliable to just have randomised weather. Who'd be able to tell? Expect Black Shark to be set in the future, too. Dunno how good your local forecaster is . . . . think mine would be hard pushed to predict weather in 2012 ;)

The Shkval has changed a little bit since FC - but yes, if you have the laser lit up then a Vikhr will fly straight down it. Which only leaves you with the problem of acquiring the threat at several miles, at night, while using the NVGs . . . and if you can then place the Shkval reticle over the target, and keep it there, and keep nudging the reticle back onto the target that you can't see . . . then yes, it might work. As near as impossible as makes no difference ;) Make no mistake, the Ka50 is not something you want to be fighting in at night.

This one seems to be degenerating a bit . . . Give GG a break - it isn't a tester's job to make development decisions. ED have decided that Combat is more important here than every little detail of Flight. You're unlikely to get that decision reversed at this stage. Just to put this into perspective, Black Shark is already far and away the most realistic helicopter simulator ever, in terms of both the aircraft and it's physics. It is not a weather simulator, and to expand it to such would take considerable time and effort. On the effects of turbulence - if a gust of wind is going to put a ten-ton, 4000hp chopper into a hill, then either you're doing something wrong or you're flying in some seriously freaky weather. Vortex ring is a much, much bigger risk. I do know a little bit about strong wind and hills . . . . and yes, it's an issue. But you need some serious weather before it starts being a major problem. Yes, it'd be great to have Condor's weather effects in DCS. But that won't happen in the near future.

No, trust me on this - impossible. If there's a Shilka or a Vulcan protecting your target and you can't take it out with the Vikhr, you might as well give up and go home. There'll be a very pretty fireworks show and your aircraft will be destroyed. You CANNOT take on these things with unguided rockets in the Ka50.

I'd say unlikely. Day/night cycle changing would be a definite no-no - the Ka50 as modelled is almost useless at night. NVGs and unguided rockets are no substitude for optically sighted weapons. I'd like to guess that most simmers have jobs, too. All night missions would make any campaign impossible.

A physics card requires parallel processing stuff to offload the physics to another processor. BS does not properly support dual cores yet . . . . so no, it's not likely to support physics cards. How many people have actually bought those so far? Last I heard the consensus was such that powerful, multi-core CPUs were going to arrive before PPU use took off . . .

That's a good find - could prove very useful as a tactics source. Take note, chaps!

A suggestion - creating a working dynamic campaign to the depth of Falcon 4's campaign would take a very, very long time. Microprose didn't get it right for the initial Falcon 4 release, remember. ED are setting ambitious goals with DCS - I don't know if a more advanced campaign system (i.e. closer to the dynamic mission generation) is going to be part of the plan in the future, but it's a possibility that might remain open. The intention IS to update the core engine of DCS as well as add new aircraft. In the meantime, though, what we've got is a significant step up from Lock On, and as good a mission system as a helicopter sim has featured before. I'm sure I've said it before - there's no such thing as the perfect flightsim ;) Give it time, though, and we might get closer :)

The learning curve on Black Shark will be extraordinarily steep. If at the first attempt you can make it far enough to wish you'd read the manual, you'll be doing better than I did . . . .

No there won't - not for the Ka-50, anyway. This has been discussed before . . . . . it's because there is precisely no information on such a subject. ED aren't in the business of making stuff up, they simulate real systems. For the record, A2A missiles wouldn't improve your chances much, and at the cost of two pylons of A2G pylons to boot.

Yep :)

I can't speak for ED's future intentions, but I doubt the Su34 will make an entrance as a modelled aircraft. It does share the limited-production prototype status with the Ka50, but that's about all. The Ka50 was partly chosen thanks to what I'm told was a very popular movie in Russia involving the Ka50. Think of it as an equivalent to someone making a Tomcat sim after Top Gun, perhaps . . . ED also got a spectacular level of cooperation from Kamov on this aircraft. And that's a real key piece of the puzzle . . . you need to know everything about the aircraft to be able to model it at this level of detail. ED have a lot of information on the A-10 from a US government contract to produce desktop A-10 sims for training ANG pilots, and they've managed to obtain Apache-A documentation as well. Getting documentation on the Su-34 could prove MUCH more difficult. It's a prototype, so it may not even have formalised documentation. It's not a random decision, there's a lot of background that goes into stuff like this ;) As for why what is and isn't modelled . . . well you do the work to support the aircraft you're modelling. If an aircraft is introduced to the DCS series that uses A2G radar, well you'll probably see ED work on the radar model at that point.

Hasn't changed since the last time I answered this question. The only sure-fire way to get a PC that'll run Black Shark perfectly is to empty your bank account into a sack (hopefully a large one), take it down to your local components vendor, and ask what you can get for it :P At the moment I'm running a Core 2 Duo at 2.5 GHz, 2Gb RAM, and a 512Mb 7950GT. I'm not running maxed out, but it looks good and runs well. I wouldn't worry with your setup. The Core 2 Duos work well with BS just because they have so much raw power.

;) :D

A big chunk from the front. Such a big chunk, in fact, that it would also cover the middle and the back :P

The French are very protective of their language. They've got several laws like this - one states that you can only have a certain percentage of English-language songs played on any radio station in one hour. They keep the identity of the language intact, but it's hardly changed in 400 years. Whereas reading Shakespeare is virtually impossible without a old/new English dictionary, reading Moliere in the original 17th century French is easy. Even for my schoolboy French . . .

Give it a few months, then I challenge you to do it ;)

Nah. You do the Charlies Angels thing, where they're on a train that falls off a bridge . . . but it's OK, because they get into a helicopter and start it up while they're falling. Actually . . . I'm going to bet the combination of those girls, that movie, and being stoned would be awesome :D

Very good point! Not sure if there's a "make AI more aware of your presence" option for the triggers . . . but an imaginative mission builder could almost certainly do something clever with them . . .

The tactics for killing a fixed-wing aircraft from a Ka50 is to run away and let another fixed-wing aircraft do it ;) You are inferior in the areas of: - Speed - Climb rate - Visibility - Weapons range - Weapons sighting - Weapons guidance - Survivability In a head-on fight, you're almost guaranteed to lose. If you can spot an A-10 before he spots you and sneak up on him - difficult when he's going a lot more quickly than you, much higher up, with much better visibility - get your sights locked on him (try locking the Shkval in the Su25T to an air target and imagine that in an unstable, vibrating helicopter), and fire a couple of Vikhrs before he shoots out of range . . . you might have a chance. The chances of that happening are tiny. Labels help.

If you mean tactics by which an attack helicopter can shoot down a jet in air combat . . . no. You're at such a massive disadvantage in that scenario, in every way that matters, that you're best off hiding and hoping a jet never sees you. If you want to give it a go in Black Shark, though, the only resource I've found that covers such an eventuality is the Nicolas Cage film "Firebirds". It's not very factually accurate . . . but hey, what the hell. Poko - yes, the attack helicopter is a high-risk unit. We've already seen the introduction of UAVs which can deliver one or two strikes more cheaply and with no risk to aircrew . . . and the trend is continuing. A heavy UAV with a load of Hellfires would be a cheaper and safer way to wage war against an advanced enemy. But we're not there yet. For now there's an existing system, with a human at the controls, two sets of eyes to scan (except in the case of the Ka50, of course) and adequate countermeasures in place. So it'll do just fine :) Those tactics are very good guidelines, but may or may not be applicable to Black Shark. For example, all the stuff about evading detection is very much dependent on how the mission is built and where all the enemy units are placed. I'm pretty sure ED haven't modelled enemy sympathisers in towns with direct comms links to the enemy! As such, if you take an unusual route to the target you might be guaranteed an unrealistically safe and easy route in. Building good missions for this sim is going to be a real challenge, I look forward to seeing what comes out :)

I tried this once. Or strictly speaking, several times . . . . It's a lot harder than GA makes it look in that vid ;) But HUGE fun!

A potential recession in America could affect the whole world - not nice. However, I can see no way in which that could cause difficulties in ED getting Black Shark finished and delivered . . . . so I've got no idea what this guy's panicking about. Unless he's a stockbroker who will be honour-bound to take the High Dive Of Destiny from his skyscraper on news of a stock market crash, of course. Or possibly a rogue trader on the run from French police. But hey, I'm sure Alienware would hook him up with a laptop suitable for Black Shark so he can play on the run. What? You mean he didn't KEEP any of that $7 billion? That's just careless . . .