Jump to content

[Part 2] Berms and Defensive Emplacements Wishlist - Defensive Emplacements


Aarnoman

Recommended Posts

Part 2: Placeable static vehicle defensive position models

 

(For part 1 of this wishlist post, please click here)

 

 

As was discussed prior, berms and defensive entrenchments are crucial in modern ground warfare, allowing for the creation of effective cover and concealment in a short time span. Currently, we lack the ability to place defensive positions in DCS without resorting to mods, as no static models are included in the current version.


This wishlist item is for the inclusion of a variety of static models of vehicle defensive emplacements. This is distinct from the berms in Part I of the wishlist post, as these vehicle emplacements would be static models analogous to other static objects currently available in DCS.

 

 

Picture12.png

 

Note the long berms almost surrounding the defensive positions, while the vehicle defensive emplacements are small - only protecting individual vehicles. These are shown in blue.

 

 

 

 

Picture13.jpg

Defensive vehicle berm surrounding Israeli artillery.

 

 

 

Picture14.jpg

 

A destroyed Iraqi tank sitting in a defensive emplacement.

 

 

Picture15.png

Defensive vehicle emplacements in Syria, protecting an MLRS site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Expected implementation in DCS:

 

I would like to see a set of static objects acting as emplacements. These would have a collision mesh, thereby allowing for units within the emplacement to have some additional protection from incoming rounds. By being static objects, mission editors would be able to freely place these anywhere on the map.

We already have several defensive emplacements as static map objects in the Syria map. I would expect to see several variations of these in terms of construction material and size, but as freely placeable static objects.

An excellent example of how this should be implemented is seen in the model available in the Frenchpack mod:

Picture16.png
In mission editor

 

 

Picture17.jpg  Picture18.jpg

In game demonstration of the frenchpack placable defensive emplacement. Note the effective protection offers to the front and sides from both air and ground level attacks, while still allowing the vehicle to engage targets effectively.

 

 

 

Picture20.jpg  Picture21.jpg

A set of vehicle defensive emplacements on Syria. Note the variations in size. I would like to see other such variations as placeable static objects.

 

 

 

What would it add to DCS?

 

Gameplay and visual benefits would be similar to placeable berms, providing effective cover and concealment for ground units allowing for a significant tactical challenge. This would benefit all aircraft with A2G capability by creating more interesting and immersive mission considerations, while adding to the visual fidelity of the ground war. This would particularly benefit the new set of flagship ED modules, including the Mi-24 Hind, AH-64D Apache, and PC’s OH-58 Kiowa.

For a full breakdown of benefits, please see the section covering gameplay and realism benefits in Part I of this wishlist, discussing berms.

 

 

 

 

Concluding remarks:

 

Like with defensive berms discussed in Part I, defensive vehicle emplacements offer mission editors a significant upgrade in crafting convincing defensive positions. Furthermore, it offers a significant gameplay addition by creating a more challenging environment to fight in, offering ground vehicles some protection from both ground and air engagements.

The upcoming set of flagship ED modules, including the Mi-24 Hind, AH-64D Apache, and PC’s OH-58 Kiowa would all immensely benefit from this by allowing mission editors to create significantly more believable and immersive ground environment.

I would consider this a high priority feature, as it will add significantly to the detail possible for the ground combat environment, while requiring very little work from ED – the models needed for such defensive positions are simple, as most are quite literally just small mounds of dirt. This negates much of the need of creating exact-to-specification models as would be required for vehicles or other units, as is standard operation procedure for ED per their recent whitepaper on the unit model creation process. As such defensive emplacements can be used in any setting (WW2 to contemporary, any map – Caucasus to Syria) it is a feature with limited work required while significantly adding to the DCS core.

Therefore, I hope that this is seriously considered and discussed by ED, with involvement of both primary mission editor developers and model developers.

 

Thank you for your consideration.

 

With Kind regards,

Yoyo


Edited by Aarnoman
  • Like 28
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agreed wholeheartedly!

 

It would seem that ED should develop a process for user-generated objects to be incorporated into the game more easily (especially fundamental ones such as these). I realize this is more involved and more work than for other flight sims, but it would seem something similar to X-Plane's Scenery Gateway would be a great way to enable community contributions while maintaining the necessary functionality/quality that DCS mods require.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I think to really get the most out of this fantastic idea, you need a 3D editor.  It is extremely difficult to place things on the 2D map as you have no idea of actual ground and the small nuances of the maps. I can’t believe how often I place objects on what I perceive as good ground only to be amazed when jumping into the mission as to the actual ground.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/16/2021 at 1:48 AM, DGC338 said:

I think to really get the most out of this fantastic idea, you need a 3D editor.  It is extremely difficult to place things on the 2D map as you have no idea of actual ground and the small nuances of the maps. I can’t believe how often I place objects on what I perceive as good ground only to be amazed when jumping into the mission as to the actual ground.

I totally agree. It can be very time consuming to get accurate placement with the mission editor as it is at the moment.

Ryzen 5900X, RTX 3080, 32GB Ram, Oculus Rift S, Thrustmaster Warthog Throttle and Stick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Resection said:

I totally agree. It can be very time consuming to get accurate placement with the mission editor as it is at the moment.

While nice to have, a 3d editor is absolutely not a prerequisite for this as illustrated by how easily usable the frenchpack mod berm is. 

Please keep it on topic, discussion on 3d editor should occur in its own dedicated thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/22/2021 at 12:39 PM, Aarnoman said:

I would like to see a set of static objects acting as emplacements. These would have a collision mesh, thereby allowing for units within the emplacement to have some additional protection from incoming rounds. By being static objects, mission editors would be able to freely place these anywhere on the map.

 

Overall some great ideas, but these elements should not be Static Objects but rather Ground Units. Unlike Static Objects Ground Units can be grouped, moved around and copied/ pasted to the users liking.

Ofc creating a new Sub-category or making SO´s group/ moveable would work as well 🙂

52d_Sig_Pic3.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, =52d= Skip said:

 

Overall some great ideas, but these elements should not be Static Objects but rather Ground Units. Unlike Static Objects Ground Units can be grouped, moved around and copied/ pasted to the users liking.

Ofc creating a new Sub-category or making SO´s group/ moveable would work as well 🙂

I think that is more of a shortcoming of the current static object implementation, and as you pointed out could easily be solved by allowing this level of functionality for static objects. FYI, you can already copy/paste static objects anyway with Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...