DCS Newsletter Discussion 24th March 2023 - PC-9/A Announcement | Spring Sale 2023

[DD_Fenrir]

The short sightedness of some commenters is surprising.

Is a PC-9 getting me moist in anticipation? No, not really.

However, we have another 3rd party developer interested in bringing content to DCS and using a trainer-light attack to cut their teeth with learning how to interact and integrate with the DCS code base.

This is a tried and tested entry route for DCS developers; Aerges, M3 and India Foxt Echo have all done the same to provide themselves a solid understanding of how to simulate systems and flight models in relatively simple aircraft, then utilise this experience as a stepping stone to produce more complex combat aircraft thereafter.

So, quit the petulant whining about useless aircraft and just be happy that we have yet another 3rd party interested in expanding the DCS meta and the potential that exists for what more they could bring in the future.

 

[Stratos]

Can we expect the Pc-9 to be released with proper weapons? gun pods, bombs and rocket pods?

[Gunfreak]

1 hour ago, Stratos said:

Can we expect the Pc-9 to be released with proper weapons? gun pods, bombs and rocket pods?

Laser guided SBUs(Satly Bomb Unit) drops 4 Salties on unsuspecting targets.

[Beirut]

6 hours ago, DD_Fenrir said:

 

Is a PC-9 getting me moist in anticipation? No, not really.

 

Now, of course, everyone wants to know what does render you uncontrollably... humid?  

 

6 hours ago, DD_Fenrir said:

So, quit the petulant whining about useless aircraft and just be happy that we have yet another 3rd party interested in expanding the DCS meta and the potential that exists for what more they could bring in the future.

 

I'll be happy to see the PC-9. Looks like fun. My only "issue" is the quantity of modules in production vs. the production time and managed release schedules. If we see four or maybe five releases a year at most, it's gonna be years before we even hear about pre-orders for some of the stuff already announced. 

 

Granted, I know nothing about coding, but remain perplexed that it can take longer to make a single virtual airplane for a flightsim than the build a skyscraper or get a medical degree.

[DD_Fenrir]

35 minutes ago, Beirut said:

Granted, I know nothing about coding, but remain perplexed that it can take longer to make a single virtual airplane for a flightsim than the build a skyscraper or get a medical degree.

Point 1 - it’s not about timescale it’s about man hours; a skyscraper will have a couple of hundred bodies working on it; a developer crew may have as few as 4 people in their team; maybe even only one. 
 

Point 2: for most of the 3rd Party developers, building DCS modules is not their day job/primary source of income. Most of these people are building these modules in the small hours after dinner or at weekends. That effectively halves the man-hours you can invest per week.

Suddenly those timescales seem a lot more impressive.

[Beirut]

4 hours ago, DD_Fenrir said:

Point 1 - it’s not about timescale it’s about man hours; a skyscraper will have a couple of hundred bodies working on it; a developer crew may have as few as 4 people in their team; maybe even only one. 
 

Point 2: for most of the 3rd Party developers, building DCS modules is not their day job/primary source of income. Most of these people are building these modules in the small hours after dinner or at weekends. That effectively halves the man-hours you can invest per week.

Suddenly those timescales seem a lot more impressive.

 

Yeah, maybe.

 

But making planes for DCS is probably not just what Bob does between dinner and putting the kids to bed. There's got to be more to it. In any case, I'm still surprised how long it takes. You'd figure after all these years of DCS and dozens of planes put out, there would be a sort of standard formula to work with. I can't imagine that making a plane requires re-inventing the wheel each and every time.

 

That said, I fall back on my stated claim that I know next to nothing of what I speak. Thus my defense. 

[Hotdognz]

I understand that ED are letting us know about a new plane and it seems letting other developers know that a new plane is coming and that it has now been taken/assigned to a developer. (its a rather strange way to let other devs know from a PM point of view)

But also the news about the beginning or end of a sale, I believe its hardly worth pointing this out to people who know the sale is going on and will have already made their purchases, just seems like filler to me.

ED this is the really the big opportunity each week to tell us major news that's going on in the world of DCS even it its ages away from release, I know you may say look at the forum but not every one will do that.

What would be nice from these news letters is some info on a regular basis about the EA modules that are still in development, that have had little to no news about them last year, for example.

The Mosquito, which had very little news last year but surely still had a ton of development done in the back ground that would be worth sharing

And I must say it The forgotten Yak52, no news at all from what I can recall in 2022, this module has been in EA nearly as long as the Hornet nearly 4.5 years to be exact, the Hornet released the 1st June 2018, the Yak52 Aug 3rd 2018.  The Yak52 is a way less complex plane than any of your other modules, but you have fallen way behind in finishing it off and it seems it truly is a forgotten module for ED, for a module with much more simplified systems as this bird, it could/should have be completed by now and out of EA years ago with all the talented coders that you have on board at ED now. (look what you did with the BS3)

Sure they will come in here and say we have no news to share and will share it when we have some but that's the std reply for everything for this type of question.

I really believe the news letter content creators should have a good look at refreshing what they put out to the community, as its starting to look a little stale, but that's only my opinion.

Cheers

Edited March 26, 2023 by Hotdognz

[Fastbreak]

On 3/25/2023 at 9:49 AM, BIGNEWY said:

As mentioned above we changed the policy on releasing information on third party projects when they are approved, this helps other teams decide where to best put their own future plans for modules. 

As for the base game, we have just released multithreading, it was featured in our newsletter and a very big step forward for our teams. We will release more information on core / base game developments when they are ready, but it will probably not suit your own time frame, development will always take a long time and does require some patience. 

thank you

79Au, enclosed an example of rough times for development process:

 

Product announcement: e.g. 1st April 2023 

Start of development & programming: 1st April 2025

EA access: 1st April 2026

Final product: 1st April 2029

Bug-fixing period to technically mature product: 1st April 2029-2033

 

You see, even if you devide time period by 2, it is absolutely corrrect to require some patience.

But: the good thing is, you can save a lot of money, if you are patient and withhold any purchase until 'complete' product completion - easy, isn't it?! 

Don't mention it

 

[Jester986]

19 hours ago, Hotdognz said:

I understand that ED are letting us know about a new plane and it seems letting other developers know that a new plane is coming and that it has now been taken/assigned to a developer. (its a rather strange way to let other devs know from a PM point of view)

But also the news about the beginning or end of a sale, I believe its hardly worth pointing this out to people who know the sale is going on and will have already made their purchases, just seems like filler to me.

ED this is the really the big opportunity each week to tell us major news that's going on in the world of DCS even it its ages away from release, I know you may say look at the forum but not every one will do that.

What would be nice from these news letters is some info on a regular basis about the EA modules that are still in development, that have had little to no news about them last year, for example.

The Mosquito, which had very little news last year but surely still had a ton of development done in the back ground that would be worth sharing

And I must say it The forgotten Yak52, no news at all from what I can recall in 2022, this module has been in EA nearly as long as the Hornet nearly 4.5 years to be exact, the Hornet released the 1st June 2018, the Yak52 Aug 3rd 2018.  The Yak52 is a way less complex plane than any of your other modules, but you have fallen way behind in finishing it off and it seems it truly is a forgotten module for ED, for a module with much more simplified systems as this bird, it could/should have be completed by now and out of EA years ago with all the talented coders that you have on board at ED now. (look what you did with the BS3)

Sure they will come in here and say we have no news to share and will share it when we have some but that's the std reply for everything for this type of question.

I really believe the news letter content creators should have a good look at refreshing what they put out to the community, as its starting to look a little stale, but that's only my opinion.

Cheers

 

While I don’t think a slow news week is anything to care about I wholeheartedly agree on the Yak. I feel really let down on that one. I trusted ED to put the same effort into that product that bears their name as anything else that does. Obviously I was wrong. I love DCS. But not more excuses for the Yak. How it’s been handled is just wrong. 

[twistking]

19 hours ago, Hotdognz said:

Yak52

I feel you!

[draconus]

On 3/26/2023 at 6:23 AM, Hotdognz said:

ED this is the really the big opportunity each week to tell us major news that's going on in the world of DCS even it its ages away from release, I know you may say look at the forum but not every one will do that.

Also not everyone will read the newsletter, it's just one way of communication in one of the media they use for that. Just imagine a line at the end:

"We're still doing it, WIP, new features, bug squashing, tweaking going on, thanks."

and you're covered.

[harv]

On 3/25/2023 at 1:25 AM, 79Au said:

I hate to say it but I'm fed up with all the premature announcements. It's ridiculous. I'd rather hear about the modules that were announced 2-3 years ago, or you know, the ones that stalled in development like KW and F4U.

Wait until you are almost done and have something that's actually in reach and about to enter the market and not some concept stuff we won't see for the next 2 years minimum.

The base game doesn't get nearly enough attention and the empty newsletters are depressing. I mean, I'm waiting for a couple AI planes for over a year. And that batch doesn't even include the KC-10. SAM repetoire is incomplete and inaccurate, so many things could be optimized or corrected.

But of course, new modules it is.

Have you had chance to update your copy of DCS lately?

My base game has changed rather significantly in the last few weeks.