A DCS World Customers State of Mind Address

[DigitalEngine]

This DCS World State of Mind is a follow on of my annual short shopping lists which I've done each year, however, with a new name and some new thoughts. With that said, I'd like to give what is called the famous (or infamous) "the good, the bad, & the ugly" approach on my DCS Customer State of Mind.

 

“The Good”

In short, in my opinion, Mr. Nick Grey and the TEAM, have created an exceptional living digital museum of historic military aircraft which is not only a commercial venture, but is an invaluable public service. No other software or product concept strives to digitally recreate and to digitally preserve these historically invaluable and rare military aircraft and equipment to the authentic, exacting physical details and duplication of functioning operations such as DCS World. This is simply an invaluable world wide community service, that cannot be overstated, nor should ever be allowed to degenerate, for the generations to come.

 

Not all of us peoples of this World will have the opportunity to go to Duxford, or some other similar event in order to see these magnificent machines running and living in person. And only a very few of us will ever have the opportunity to actually sit in the cockpit of one these machines, and only the most very fewest of us will ever know what it is really like to startup, taxi and operationally fly one of these magnificent beast in the reality of all the detail, skill, and knowledge it takes to do so. However, with the greatest thanks to Mr. Nick Grey and the Eagle Dynamics Team, we, that is, most peoples of this World, who could never dream of sitting in the cockpit of a P-47, and to know what it is like to start-up a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engine, producing 2,000 hp, do have the feasibility to have a significant part of that experience, even from our own homes, as much as technology will allow for us to do so. This is surly a magnificent world wide service that should never be undervalued.

 

“The Bad”

In short, incomplete modules. Enough has been said on these forms already about the subject, so as to not rub salt into the wound, I believe the TEAM is aware of this issue, and it is the whole heart-ed desire of the TEAM to address the issue. Enough said.

 

“The Ugly”

As an ordinary DCS Word VR customers observation, or maybe more accurately, as a personal perception, for DCS to continue being a "valued commercial product", I believe a Vulkan implementation is imperative, and that it must be “the top priority” to have a Vulkan api implemented into DCS World by the Eagle Dynamics Team as quickly as possible.

My reasoning is this, for my system (see sig), while DCS World will perform acceptably enough (2.5.5, that is) minimally, DCS World simply does not perform well enough for me, on my system in VR to justify the continuation of the spending of my available discretionary funds on additional modules at this time, as it is.

Now, any reader of this post could very reasonably say your system is not the most up-to date system, and maybe you should think of upgrading your hardware, and that would be a reasonably correct statement.

 

However, while I'm not opposed to building a new system, and I actually do have the discretionary funding available now, even in these times, to build a new "up-to date system" with the "latest hardware" (and it'd give me something to do, should I’d be quarantined). It is more of an issue of not receiving enough personal value return of the experience from DCS World, to the cost ratio of building a new system, that is acceptable for me. What I mean is this, even if I did build a new "the very latest consumer grade hardware" system, I still would not get an acceptable (for me) experience level of DCS World performance wise (fps/stutter) to justify the cost of building a new system, just for the sake of the single application, DCS World.

 

So with all that stated, to follow on with the top 12 items I’d like to spend my hard earned and deviously hid from the Mrs., disposable, discretionary DCS World funds on this year, in the order of, are;

1. A new PC build when/if the next gen of GPU’s (Nvidia, or AMD) are available (and see “the ugly above). I’ll rely heavily on input from the DCS World community for my build planning.
2. The Valve Index VR system.
3. Time to replace my trusty and still working, it just will not die, CH Products HOTAS system with something much more modern and flashy like a new Virpil HOTAS System.
   1. VPC MongoosT-50CM2 Grip (w/ dust cover).
   2. VPC MongoosT-50CM2 Base.
   3. VPC Flightstick Extension.
   4. VPC Desk Mount V3 – L (for stick), and V3 – S (for throttle).
   5. VPC MongoosT-50CM2 Throttle (w/ dust cover).
   6. VPC ACE-2 Rudder Pedals.
4. DCS: Yak-52 (only if it is released out of Early Access!).
5. DCS: I-16 (only if it is released out of Early Access!).
6. DCS: Fw 190 A-8 (however, see “the Ugly” commentary above).
7. DCS: AJS-37 Viggen (only if it is released out of Early Access!).

 

Keep in mind this is only my wish list with likely very little to no real world affluence on the modules that will be released this year or in the years to come.

So, with that in mind, please, please, please, keep this as a enjoyable discussion on the modules or products you would like to purchase for whatever reason you want,

and please, please, please, not any,

"I don't want you to purchase what modules you want because then ED will not have the capability to give me the module that I want to purchase, because my module is better than yours for xx reason and yours is a waste of resources, waa waa, waa...",

type post.

(just trying to head it off before it happens!)

 

(You should see my long list…)

here’s my 2019 short shopping list

here’s my 2018 short shopping list

here's my 2017 short shopping list

 

DE's DCS World Hangar

Modules/Maps	Campaigns	DCS Eco System Products/Apps
Ka-50 "Black Shark 2" (*2015)	Su-27 The Ultimate Argument (*2016)	VoiceAttack (*2016)
P-51D Mustang (*2015)	Black Shark 2 Republic (*2017)	Vaicom Pro (*2018')
Fw 190 D-9 Dora (*2015)	F-15C 16-2 Red Flag (*2017)	Simple Radio Standalone (*2020)
Nevada Test and Training Range (*2016)	F-15C The Georgian War (*2017)
Bf 109 K-4 Kurfürst (*2016)	F-5E Aggressors Basic Fighter Maneuvers (*2017)
L-39 Albatros (*2016)	F-5E Aggressors Air Combat Maneuvers (*2017)
MiG-15bis (*2016)	P-51D High Stakes (*2017)
F-86F Sabre (*2016)	Spitfire LF Mk. IX Operation Epsom (*2017)
Flaming Cliffs 3 (*2016)	The Museum Relic (*2017)
MiG-21bis (*2016)
Combined Arms (*2016)
Spitfire LF Mk. IX(*2017)
F-5E Tiger II(*2017)
Normandy 1944 (*2017)
WWII Assets Pack (*2017)
A-10C Warthog (*2019)

(* denotes year purchased)

 

 

These products are deferred from my previous lists;

 

• DCS de Havilland Mosquito FB Mk.VI (unknown release date, however it would be some nice wood to firm up the lineup).
• DCS Me-262 (still high on my list, even though it’s being delayed, again. Kind of a historical irony, huh? A jet in a World of Props).
• DCS: P-47D-30 Thunderbolt...(the A-10 of World War 2! Nobody said it'd be easy!).
• Belsimtech's UH-1H… (deferred to my 2021 list, and only after full multi-crew is implemented, hint, hint, hint, hint, hint...)(Each year I'm gonna add another hint in).
• DCS: MiG-19P by RAZBAM Simulations… (and speaking of The Cold)
• DCS: Mi-24P Hind… (A Red Dawn is coming, eventually).
• DCS: The Channel map.
• DCS: F-14 by Heatblur Simulations…(OK, Heatblur has sold me on this package with Cobra847’s amazing development updates)!!
• Belsimtech's Mi-8MTV2 Magnificent Eight...(Deferred to my 2021 list, and only after full multi-crew is implemented, hint, hint, hint, hint, hint )(Each year I'm gonna add another hint in).
• Magnitude 3 LLC's: F4U-1 Corsair... (Deferred to my 2021 list, however, it’s still on probation depending the quality of their ongoing Mig-21 support).
• DCS: CVN-71 Nimitz Module... (Deferred to my 2021 list, got to have something for the Corsair to operate off of )(I'm not sure which studio is actually developing this module, or if it’s still planned at all).

These products have been depreciated;

 

• Magnitude 3 LLC's: Junkers Ju87 D-5/G-2... (depreciated, as in project canceled, really sad, as this thing would have been a scream while doing it's thing).
• Polychop's Horton Ho 229...(depreciated, as in project canceled, sad, it would have been sly to finally have a stealthy aircraft. Do hope another studio picks it up).
• Magnitude 3 LLC's: Iwo Jima Map...(depreciated, as in project canceled as far as I know).

Edited February 14, 2021 by DigitalEngine
various..

[vanir]

Didn't know about the Ho229, would've been nice to have that. The stealth angle is a bit oversold in commercial publications, it was entirely accidental as the design was purely an adaptation of a high performance glider built prewar when the Versailles air force ban was still in effect, which was an attempt to provide fighter pilot training using a sleek, high speed glider that adhered to treaty conditions: it wasn't a fighter pilot training school, it was a sports glider school with 300km/h gliders. As such it was built from plywood with a fighter cockpit in it and styled to create as little wind resistance as possible, whilst still providing a good amount of lift: so ultra lightweight flying wing with next to no frontal mass. It was a midwar inspired side project to dig up the prewar glider design and stick some jet engines in it, being so compact for their comparative operational performance even in early development, it was a surprise that airframe performance with little redesign was so well suited to a very high speed, powered aircraft, although the airframe was still mostly plywood and you probably wouldn't want to try loading up any high speed Gees in it. The whole thing was an educated guess at a good jet design by simply sticking them in a great independent airframe design and hoping for the best.

 

The stealth angle came entirely from NASA engineers at the Smithsonian in the 90s (I recall because Windows 98 was current when I read about this online at the time), in answer to a journalist's question about its resemblance to the recently declassified B2 Spirit. The journalist asked if stealth was an integral part of the Horton design and the spokesperson speculated that it is stealthy because it was made of mostly plywood, which is non reflective and the shape has a low radar signature but this was coincidence and there is no documentation to suggest any design intention of electronic stealth features. Nevertheless he stated at the time the radar technologies were such that by accident, the aircraft would be virtually invisible. Probably not on a later period computerized doppler.

One of the issues is radar signals were human interpreted, not electronically rendered into images but translated directly to a screen and an operator who required genuine talent to read linear impacts on a signal wave in CRT and try to tell you if it's a storm cloud, a squadron of e/a or a mountain range and it wasn't easy to identify specific things, a hill turns out to be a balloon, etc. In that environment it was accidentally invisible to things like Chain HD, sure. It would probably look like someone just switched on a UHF radio nearby for a minute, bit of minor signal interference, nothing like a squadron of Heinkel He111 or something like that, which basically looks like an advancing mountain range signal wise, hence it took talented operators to read these things.

 

Mainly the impressive thing about the Gotha led, powered version of the Horton design was a Mach 0.8 operational speed combined with incredible low speed handling qualities, it was a self contradiction in basic airframe design at the time.

In combat sure pilots would discover wow, no interceptor reception overflying the UK. But mainly that it's even more slippery than a 262, lighter, carries more, has excellent takeoff performance and handling is as good near stall speed as it at high speeds. Its flying qualities were remarkable due to the glider heritage, what nobody expected was that the design is inherently perfect for the speeds jets kick around at too. I did read about the initial flight test somewhere, in a book about the history of Test Pilots I think. They honestly thought it was just going to break up, but what it actually did was some high speed passes and agile banks that made current fighters look like slugs, pats on the back all round. The real work was all about trying to balance the airframe with all the combat equipment weight and things like that. Speculatively, in combat trim this aircraft may have had some structural weakness under demanding flight conditions compared to all metal aircraft specifically designed to carry combat equipment and routinely operate at performance extremes. Perhaps the plywood would delaminate like Mosquitos like to in the long run, except with the bigger envelope of jet engines that long run might be a short run and it delaminates in months instead of a couple of years, perhaps doing so mid-flight. All its deployment performance is purely speculative and modern assumptions about it almost entirely result of postwar examination of static airframes and pure speculation by NASA engineers. There is exactly one flight test record of its actual flight performance which amounts to an airfield anecdote a project leader wrote down that survived the war.

 

The main reason I love the Go229 is the basic armament of multiple MK103 high velocity guns and ostensibly, later the MK212 revolver cannon (almost ready for production at VE day). These weapons could not be synchronised due to uneven firing of the sizable propellant charge, but the 3cm shell using tungsten penetrators has roughly similar ballistics to the GAU-8 conventional AP and both DEFA and Aden cannon are direct copies of the MK212 captured postwar for mixed ammo comparison, in fact like early Soviet jet engines they were purely German blueprints placed into production in those countries. Israeli combat records with the DEFA in the Mirage is considered a perfect guideline of MK212 performance using wartime quality German munitions: everything from tank top armour to SAM sites to enemy aircraft of any type are accurately blown to bits from good range, the Israelis love, I mean love the DEFA. Some said the arrival of the F15 and F16 was the end of an era of true fighters that use great guns and great pilots to achieve kills on any target type, by comparison they referred to the F15 as a flying SAM site and a different skillset. This gun superiority was where German aerial munitions development was entirely headed with the MK103 and MK212/MG212 (MG is the 2cm version), a tradition began in Rechlin with the MG151 back in 38: seeking the perfect aerial gun for the time and standardizing it.

You couldn't do that with the MK103 because it won't synchronise and requires an extremely stable gun platform because it kicks a lot, it knocks a heavy Me410 around when fired and that's just one. It was supposed to go into the BF109K as standard equipment motorkanone (MK designation means motorkanone because 3cm and up can't synchronise, aerial guns that can synchronise are called machine guns or MG regardless of calibre or HE filler). When Rechlin tested MK103 on a mockup BF109K it shook the engine off its mounts with airframe vibration due to recoil and its high rate of fire. The Messerschmitt is just too light to even touch this gun. It can go into a much heavier Ta152 as motorkanone or the Do335 because they're either built like tanks or weigh as much as one and can handle the recoil without budging.

The Me262 had low velocity 3cm MK108 in a pack of four (2 deleted if fitted with bombs), but the nosecone was built with a modular weapons compartment with options for armaments packages ranging from 2cm revolver cannon (when available) to 5cm BK converted tank guns designed to take out bombers with single shots from more than 2km range.

The Horton was to have a pair of MK103 at the wing roots, so centrally mounted for high accuracy but no issues with synchronisation. During the flight test period it was already mooted for stores capacity with its high load bearing capability and inherently good weight distribution, a pair of SC250 or racks of rocket tubes being of little concern. Basically, as a glider you apparently had to forcibly try to stall it so loads with a pair of jet engines are just no trouble at all.

 

And that's why I regard it as one of the most unique late war proposals actually set up for series production and realistic in serviceable conception, like the 262, Do335 and Ta152C, the Horton is a niche craft of sheer air superiority in its performance envelope and combat strengths, if the 262 was a generation ahead of the 190 then the Horton was half a generation ahead of the 262. Yet it was entirely accidental, just an amazing glider that turned out to be a rocket ship.

 

Yes that's right, like you I'm a rambler :smartass:

 

What was the question? :megalol: