More realistic inferfaces for ground units / Multicrew surface combatant module(s)

[FalcoGer]

Right now ground units feel very arcady. All the tanks have basically the same interface, there is no interior/cockpit like view. the driving and shooting is done by the same player, commander and loader is completely abscent.

The sam systems are a joke, it's basically point and click.

Ships are basically not controllable at all, sometimes they fire, sometimes they do not. There is no direct control and everything is done through the map screen.

The damage model on ground units is practically non existent. They're either dead or fully operational. A few things do exist, for example tacan stops working if you scratch the deck paint on the stennis.

 

 

 

I know that CA is not very well received, and I think it'd help if you fleshed it out some more.

 

I know damage model is in the works, detrack, loosing fluids, crew injuries/death, etc certainly would make it a lot more fun.

Adding interiors to tanks with controls to click, optics to look through, lasers to fire and so forth would go a long way in making an interesting tank simulator along with the air element of DCS.

The ground is made of large sections of flatness that then transition into sharp edges over hills, etc. This makes it hard to find cover as you are fully exposed, but can't depress the gun enough to shoot downhill as you come over it. Roads float in the air over the terrain, and in general it looks rather ugly down there on the ground. I don't know if there is anything that can be done about that, given the already huge map sizes, but perhaps a bit more detail in the terrain would help a lot here, too.

I'd love some multi crew naval action, being at the helm, radar, sonar or fire control of a surface vessel or submarine, even with a simplified interface would make it interesting, maybe able to switch and share stations with others. Underwater sound propagation is fairly well researched and can be simulated, but of course that requires some serious addition to the engine to add to what is mainly an air combat simulator. Pressure, temperature, salinity, sea state, currents, sea bed materials and shape, etc all affect how sound is propagated through water. But things can start simple and get more complex as we go.

Even something as simple as this should suffice for a start. It is better than nothing, since we basically have no player involvement in naval warfare at all as things are now.

 

 

Also please forgive me that this is in reference to a game, but the explanation is still relevant to the real world. (as said game is a simulation.) And given that said game can run on a toaster, the concept should be able to be integrated into dcs world without too much of a performance loss.

 

 

Those things can go into modules, as combined arms would probably not make up for the cost of developing such things. Make proper modules for specific tanks, air defense plattforms, ships, submarines with the appropriate stations and weapons please. Digital combat simulator right now is mostly "digital air combat simulator with some arcade like shooting from tanks that no one uses."

[Mars Exulte]

They did some research on Abrams tanks before, so they have thought about it, at least.

 

However, DCS has never really been geared toward that, the ground stuff is obviously intended as targets for the aircraft (a strategic asset). Mixing the two is likely to be problematic, especially online, as ground vehicles cannot stand against aircraft that can singlehandedly waylay entire companies.

 

CA is mostly used as an RTS, not an FPS, which DCS is illsuited for (enough abbreviations?) There ARE products that are DCS-like that already fill that niche for ground stuff, though.

[FalcoGer]

If they expanded into the ground/sea side of things, things could be more dedicated to ground wars with limited air. of course air power will always dominate, but with fighter and sam cover a ground war is still very much a thing. aside from that there are significant turnaround times for aircraft that are simply not modeled in dcs (and I hope they will not be modeled, as that would be ridiculously boring)

It is not like you can have a jet every square mile to pounce on any tanks that roll your way.

[Mars Exulte]

No, that's true. In RL you don't have nice columns lining up on the highways for you. Usually. The Iraqis demonstrated why that's probably not a great idea.

 

Anyway, yeah, a proper AO will be heavily contested on multiple fronts. I'm not saying it can't be.done, just commenting on why it is how it is and what probable issues there are with actually doing it.

[QuiGon]

As zhukov has mentioned, ED was investigating doing a full fidelity M1 Abrams module, but nothing has been heard about it anymore after a while. There were also plans for a "Combined Arms 2.0", which too became very quiet. So I guess in the long run something like you described is the ultimate goal for DCS, but it takes time. I too dream of DCS combining all kind of other games (tank sims, naval sims, etc...) into one single game (the abovementioned game is still my No.1 modern naval sim, especially because of it's excellent sonar simulation) :)