Average Age of DCS Players?

[Ironhand]

I knew I had seen a YT video on the history at some point. This is a few years old now:

 

[Aluminum Donkey]

You are confused:

 

http://www.listal.com/list/evolution-combat-flight-simulators

 

Ironhand is quite correct.

 

I'm not confused, misguided or deluded. I've played with this sim since the middle 1980s. Don't know where you get your info from, but the gaming industry as a whole essentially keeps re-releasing the same stuff decade after decade after decade, with various graphical improvements.

 

I flew DCS with the F-15, Su-27, Bf-109, FW-190 etc. over the Caucasus map and the NTTR back in the mid 1980s.

 

If it's not the original software and/or 3D assets, then it sure as hell was close, and it was actually called DCS and was produced by Eagle Dynamics. That was back in the mid 80s. Yes, some desktop PCs were good enough for it back then, and so were some video cards. Stuttering was common too, and we all griped about it :) I was 8 years old back in 1985, and we all were looking forward to the development of consumer-grade SSDs.

 

DCS World was re-released as a consumer video game in 2008 or thereabouts; but it was not "new" by any stretch of the imagination. It has been around for a very, very long time--and so has the desktop PC hardware required to run it.

 

That's one of the reasons I like DCS... It makes me feel nostalgic. I played it about a third of a century ago. I'm rather curious about where it will go in the coming years. If I had any coding skill, I'd join the development team.

[Ironhand]

Well, someone forget to tell the folks at Eagle...

 

As luck would have it...

 

A letter from Eagle Dynamics - 28 November 2017

 

First of all, thank you all for your support and being with us for the past 27 years and sharing our vision of what we believe the flight simulation genre can ultimately achieve. From the very beginning, when Eagle Dynamics was established in 1991, our main priority was the creation of highly realistic flight simulations. At that time, there were just seven of us when we released our first project: Su-27 Flanker 1.0 in 1995. Over the past 27(!) years, we’ve come a long way from a simple computer game, to a professional-level combat environment simulator. Today, we have about 80 internal programmers, artists, managers, testers and producers. Additionally, we have 18 partners and 3rd party developers that are participating in our internal projects, as well as developing their own modules for DCS World. During our entire history, we have remained loyal to our initial dream of making the most realistic combat aviation simulations. Starting from one simple, Standard Flight Model (SFM) Su-27, we took our next step in 2003 with seven aircraft for Lock On: Modern Air Combat (LOMAC). Following LOMAC, we created our first Advance Flight Model (AFM) for the Su-25T in 2005. Next came our first Professional Flight Model (PFM) for the Ka-50 Black Shark and the A-10C Warthog in 2008 and 2009. For an aircraft like the A-10C, it usually takes about three years of hard work to develop a PFM

[MRaza]

16, been playing since I was about 14

[cichlidfan]

I flew DCS with the F-15, Su-27, Bf-109, FW-190 etc. over the Caucasus map and the NTTR back in the mid 1980s.

 

No sir, you did not.

[Cowboy10uk]

42, my first sim was 747 simulator on the BBC model B, way back in 1983. :O

 

 

Cowboy10uk

[Aluminum Donkey]

No sir, you did not.

 

Well, you said so, so I guess I didn't then :)

 

Peace anyway.

[cichlidfan]

Well, you said so...

 

I said so because...

 

a) In 1985 Eagle Dynamics did not exist.

 

b) NTTR, for example, was first shown by ED in late 2010 and was a 3rd party project at that time.

 

c) Nobody was producing consumer 3d graphic games in 1985. Vector and sprite graphics were as good as it got.

 

d) The computing power needed for 3d modeling was not available on any personal computer platform in 1985. It did come along a couple of years later but only at a level suitable for static models with a limited number of polygons.

 

e) In 1985/86 (I was 26/27) I was researching the available CAD/CAM 3D modeling systems being considered for purchase by my employer. I have a rather intimate knowledge of what kind of machine it took just to render a simple static 3D object, much less to animate it. We ended up with a MicroVAX based system which supported 8 *NIX based workstations. The price tag was just shy of $500,000, not counting the maintenance contract. A 32MB memory board (a square foot board covered with memory chips) for one of the workstations cost in excess of $10,000, and those didn't even exist when we purchased our initial system.

 

Date is confirmed for me since I was on the way back from a trip to a local HP office when the Challenger exploded. It was a very long and quiet trip home.

 

 

I don't think you are delusional, merely mis-remembering the quality and identity of what you were playing.

Edited November 29, 2017 by cichlidfan

[Flagrum]

Aluminum Donkey probably has some selfies on his smart phone with him at his C=64 playing DCS:W in his F/A-18, back then in dem 80's. So, post them already, Alu! :-D

[Corvus]

I knew I had seen a YT video on the history at some point. This is a few years old now:

 

I'm going to remake it once 2.5 is out (that's my plan anyway).

[cichlidfan]

I'm going to remake it once 2.5 is out (that's my plan anyway).

 

Better check with Aluminum Donkey first, since your data is incorrect. ;)

[Geomann]

39 here. Got into this ”business“ since Chuck Yeager's Air Combat and loved Tornado

[cichlidfan]

On topic,

 

The first one was IFR Flight Simulator, on the C-64. Unless you want to count Zaxxon. ;)

 

Oh, and I am 58.

Edited November 29, 2017 by cichlidfan

[WildBillKelsoe]

31. Started off Flanker 2.0 then Fulcrum pre 1995-2000 (prep school) then around 2008 rejoined in Lomac then DCS.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Corvus]

36 here- my first flight simulator experience was back in my Atari 65 XE times. Can't remember the title, I but you could even retract gear! First game I've launched on my shiny new 386 DX2 back in 1994 was F-29 Retaliator:)

Better check with Aluminum Donkey first, since your data is incorrect. ;)

Doh! I'll better take down that misleading video!

[portman]

34 now. My first simulator was LHX Attack Chopper in 1990 on a i386 ;)

[Brainless]

Almost 39 now. Started with F29 Retaliator in early '90s.

[FanBoy2006.01]

42 Years old.

 

Can't remember exactly started either in 1989 or 1990 on a 286 CPU, 30MB, DOS, etc.

Flew missions over the North Cape and Central Europe listening to Def Leppard's Hysteria on a cassette deck Hi-Fi (Had a turn table to). One mission each night before bed.

 

Those were great times.

 

My first proper simulator was Chuck Yeager's Air Combat. Learned there to dogfight.

[DieHard]

Myself and a Co-worker we're talking about the age of pc game players. I told him that I haven't seen or heard of youngsters playing DCS. What is the average age?

 

My average age is circa 33. My real age is 66.

 

Started playing with PC flight sims with a Commodore-64 in 1985, but the C-64 was not really a PC.

 

Well, some of the guys i play against sure act like kids!! And I might be guilty of that accusation, too!

 

When I did high-school our PCs were slide rules but possible to create model flying machines using one...

Edited December 5, 2017 by DieHard

[Aluminum Donkey]

I said so because...

 

 

 

 

I don't think you are delusional, merely mis-remembering the quality and identity of what you were playing.

 

Well, I am a bit of a crazy ol' coot :) hehehe

 

But, desktop PCs with high-polygon count 3D graphics certainly were around in those days. They weren't all that common yet, and framerates, lighting & shadow effects weren't anywhere near as good as today, but 3d models and textures were already very good. People had high speed cable Internet (although I don't remember the service provider, we 'only' had a DSL line, but it all was around).

 

Gamers were into watercooling, overclocking and the whole gaming-rig hobby thing in the mid 80s. Some people also started using their PCs as home recording studios, playing instruments and recording & mixing their tracks. They even had those cheesy LED-lit computer cases with plexiglass side panels so you could ogle your gear :)

 

And, programmable flight sticks (think TM Hotas Cougar kind of deal) were available. The 80486 CPU was considered near obsolescence, but still good for many things and cheap to mass produce. Multi-core desktop CPUs, 4 cores on two dies and approaching 2.0 GHz, were on the horizon in the mid to late 80s if you didn't mind forgoing that new luxury car and bought a computer instead.

 

And that was way back in the old days, here in the boondocks (Canada) :)

 

We also played KSP back then. It's been around forever, and I remember it clearly. I guess I've just been out of it my whole life :)

 

Not messing with anyone, or being a troll, this stuff has been around a while. If you were looking for a CAD system, it's entirely possible your company was being fleeced because they simply didn't know what was available in non-business-market computers, *despite* otherwise being experienced and in-the-know. It happened all the time in those days--A product design and/or engineering company would spend an absolute fortune on the latest-and-greatest mega-workstation, only to find out that a decent desktop PC would do the same thing and use a hell of a lot less electricity to boot! That was one of the things that went on in the 80s here in Canada; in the States it might have happened later (although generally your country is far ahead of us).

 

Anyway, have fun and peace :)

AD

Edited December 6, 2017 by Aluminum Donkey
screwing up :)

[kolga]

...Not messing with anyone, or being a troll...

 

 

:doh:

You expect anyone to believe that?

 

:D

[Aluminum Donkey]

:doh:

You expect anyone to believe that?

 

:D

 

Not really, not anymore :)

 

Have fun anyway

[Weasel]

I am 35. I donˋt remember which exactly my first flight sim was (I believe it was a MS Flight Simulator in the early 90s). The sims I most have flown were F-15E Strike Eagle III, F-14 Fleet Defender (both from Microprose) Flanker 1 & 2, Jane‘s F-15E & F/A-18E and Falcon 4.0

[cichlidfan]

The 80486 CPU was considered near obsolescence, but still good for many things and cheap to mass produce.

 

The 80486 was announced at Spring Comdex in April 1989.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_80486

 

Btw,

 

The first public version was released digitally on Squad's Kerbal Space Program storefront on 24 June 2011, and joined Steam's early access program on 20 March 2013.[1][2]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerbal_Space_Program

Edited December 7, 2017 by cichlidfan

[MRSHADO]

43

 

My first combat sim was "Chuck Yeager's Air Combat" on my IBM PC junior.

 

Edited December 7, 2017 by MRSHADO