DCS Newsletter discussion 30th December 2022 - Happy New Year | Dynamic Campaigns Update

[BIGNEWY]

Dear Fighter Pilots, Partners and Friends,

It is with the deepest gratitude to you and our Community, Partners and Friends, that we close 2022 and prepare for the exciting year ahead. We wish you and your family our very best wishes of health, love, and prosperity for 2023 and beyond. Thank you for your trust in our company and please don’t miss the ‘2023 and Beyond’ video, which will be released on 4th of January. Enjoy!

If you haven’t seen the Christmas Sale video or already taken advantage of what’s in store, don’t miss some of the super savings available until the 8th of January at 23:59 GMT. This special sale features massive savings across nearly the whole range of modules but also a rare 50% discount on the DCS: Mosquito FB IV, DCS: Mi-24P Hind, DCS: F-16C Viper, DCS: F/A-18C Hornet and DCS: Supercarrier. Thank you!

We are pleased to announce that our Dynamic Campaign Engine (EDDCE) is progressing steadily, albeit slower than we had expected. The size and complexity of this endeavor is substantial, but we are excited to report that things are moving in a positive direction and that we are confident that this will be a game-changing addition to DCS. We are pleased to share some of the progress on the strategic tasking logic that forms the foundation of this core enhancement. We have also made significant improvements to the algorithms used to process the very large data sets needed when moving and tasking numerous units. Please read the details below.

Thank you again for your commitment, passion, and support. Without your trust and determination, we wouldn’t be here. You make our dreams come true.

Happy New Year!
Eagle Dynamics
Happy New Year | Dynamic Campaigns Update
https://bit.ly/3Q412K3

[joker62]

Very exciting to read about EDDCE, its structure and the progress made. Obviously, I think we all are eager to field-test the flexibility and complexity of this engine. We stay tuned for more news when available. Thank you.

[skywalker22]

2023 will be exciting, lots of new stuff for DCS, really looking forward.

 

[Lace]

The DCE has to be one of, if not the biggest improvement ED can bring to DCS.  A literal game-changer.  Sandbox is great, but directed effort is better.  It might finally feel like we are fighting a virtual war.

Happy new year to the team!

[hannibal]

multi-threading to (hopefully) address game performance and experience (especially VR users)

but dynamic campaign to address needed depth to the game outside of cockpit study...

anything to improvements for the core engine is 

 

thanks ED!

[dawgie79]

15 minutes ago, Lace said:

The DCE has to be one of, if not the biggest improvement ED can bring to DCS.  A literal game-changer.  Sandbox is great, but directed effort is better.  It might finally feel like we are fighting a virtual war.

Happy new year to the team!

Agreed. I'll be flying more when DCE is released, since it will be much more engaging.
 

Best wishes to everyone at ED and the community!

[phant]

2 factors I'm curious about new EDDCE engine:

1. how will the (fundamental) intelligence resources be managed within the so-called Tasking Process?
2. how (if?) secondary tasks such as SAR (Search And Rescue) of dispersed resources on the battlefield will be managed.

PS: where is the Viking?

 

Bye
Phant

Edited December 30, 2022 by phant

[MadKreator]

I like the idea of unit culling that are out of range but logically and mathematically they are still there and functioning so not to  just put system performance in the can, but let the campaign progress in real time. Then I’d assume that as you get “in range” they will fully render and be 100% active units.  Sounds like this is a much needed thing for all missions and campaigns

[corbu1]

Great news about the EDDCE engine…..the dynamic campaign system will be another huge step forward besides MT and Vulkan. Really looking forward on more infos about!

Happy New Year to the whole DCS Team and their families and to the whole DCS Community!!

[linside]

MT and DC... I love this news.... 

[Financeman]

Happy New Year and Bonne Anne from Canada

[Sérvalpilot]

I'm super excited for the dynamic campaign engine!

I'm curious, how is the general flight model coming along?

[hannibal]

The end of waiting to eliminate the one hidden man pad on side of mountain of tress before the next attack wave or task should have ended yesterday, .but never too late

Edited December 31, 2022 by hannibal

[Exorcet]

Thanks for the update, this is really good news. Although one thing that I've been wondering about is if we'll have access to the strategic AI outside of the DC?

For example, it would be interesting if I could make a single mission in the existing ME, manually setup my side, but then assign units to the enemy side and leave the AI to decide how to use them. Is this a possibility? Or will the AI remain part of the DC only? If it's possible to separate them I'd really encourage ED to look into it.

[twistking]

12 minutes ago, Exorcet said:

Thanks for the update, this is really good news. Although one thing that I've been wondering about is if we'll have access to the strategic AI outside of the DC?

For example, it would be interesting if I could make a single mission in the existing ME, manually setup my side, but then assign units to the enemy side and leave the AI to decide how to use them. Is this a possibility? Or will the AI remain part of the DC only? If it's possible to separate them I'd really encourage ED to look into it.

it would definitely make a lot of sense to allow semi-manual/semi-dynamic missions. i think this would be the only reasonable solution to get the (huge) benefits of a dynamic and unpredictable situation together with the "level of detail" of hand-placed assets.

this is by the way the one big concern that i have with the EDDCE: obviously a dynamic cmpaign is hard enough by itself (but absolutely doable as other titles have shown), but what i see as a bigger difficulty is how believable assets will move across the map and be placed on the map. That other flight sim has simpler terrrain graphics which makes it easy to put down ground assets without them looking out of place. In DCS i often spend a lot of time searching for a good spot to set up an AI SAM somewhat realistically: Taking into account the heightmap, obstacles likes trees and powerlines etc but also tactical considerations. Since DCS has such high visual fidelity, it will be harder for the AI engine to place assets in a believable manner i think.

Hopefully ED can solve this. Alternatively it would be good if mission designers could "help" the DCE by placing some assets by hand, or assigning points on the map to help the AI with placement. Maybe the terrains could also come with handplaced "logical" positions that help the AI to "understand" the terrain better and make the DCE's assets placement more believable.

[St4rgun]

10 minutes ago, twistking said:

 In DCS i often spend a lot of time searching for a good spot to set up an AI SAM somewhat realistically: Taking into account the heightmap, obstacles likes trees and powerlines etc but also tactical considerations.

I imagine that in the future it will be inevitable to have modifiable terrain in DCS (either by the explosion craters or by the troops / bulldozers). In that case the trees and the terrain heightmap also can be modified according to tactical needs.

[MadKreator]

1 hour ago, Exorcet said:

Thanks for the update, this is really good news. Although one thing that I've been wondering about is if we'll have access to the strategic AI outside of the DC?

For example, it would be interesting if I could make a single mission in the existing ME, manually setup my side, but then assign units to the enemy side and leave the AI to decide how to use them. Is this a possibility? Or will the AI remain part of the DC only? If it's possible to separate them I'd really encourage ED to look into it.

This would be great… Several months ago in one of Wags’ f-16 videos, while he was in the ME there was an extra tab at the top that said “Dynamic Mission”… maybe, just maybe, the plan is to integrate the DC logic into single missions as well Or maybe the logic is being applied to single missions and then expanded to full campaigns.. they do sort of go hand in hand. Maybe not at all, who really knows. But it is something I would like to see as well.