DCS: Iraq - Coming 2024

[rcjonessnp175]

Awesome news about Iraq map, look forward to finding my sniper hide on camp justice.

[jeventy26]

The war on terror just doesn't sound as exciting with the infantry units we have... Now if they were to improve to a more (please don't shoot me I am sure there are better examples) Call of duty-ish AI like infantry, THEN that would be fun.  When the southern expansion does come out Desert Storm is going to be a blast as it was more of a vehicle on vehicle type war.  Anyway, I think the southern part of Iraq should have been done first until the AI infantry improves...IMHO

[Stratos]

Not only your opinion but of many, also far more common sense.

[DaleRFU]

This map sounds great and I'm really looking forward to it. For me though a big part of this map is what will surround Iraq, I hope that bases like Tabuk, Dhahran, Bahrain and Qatar are incorporated as these were big bases used during both gulf wars.

[ak22]

On 2/8/2024 at 9:51 PM, Czar66 said:

Syria came a lot after than Persian Gulf. By then, the tech evolved a lot. Not dismissing the hard work done by Ugra Media, but lets understand that this software and a lot of its development work flow/techniques changed throughout the years.

Iran land mass still huge in the PG map, you can easily make 500 to 600nm sorties there. I fly it weekly along the Syria map.

The thing that bothers me in the PG map is detail, so I'd be going to the opposite idea of how vast the map is.

Pleasing everyone is impossible.

 

I don't think its a technology that limited ED on not included Qatar,Bahrain etc  I think its design choice. Yes its a big map but to much is left out and parts are very bare It really does need a update. 

 

What i meant by ED should learn from Urga media, is to keep adding to map. 

Edited February 13 by ak22

[Northstar98]

5 hours ago, ak22 said:

I don't think its a technology that limited ED on not included Qatar,Bahrain etc  I think its design choice.

Definitely - it simply lacked scope to include them. Frankly the scope of that particular map seems not only very limited, but also quite odd from the outset.

Suffice to say I really hope ED won't make that mistake again with Iraq and Afghanistan, it would be a royal shame if they did.

[Gunnar81]

17 hours ago, Northstar98 said:

Definitely - it simply lacked scope to include them. Frankly the scope of that particular map seems not only very limited, but also quite odd from the outset.

Suffice to say I really hope ED won't make that mistake again with Iraq and Afghanistan, it would be a royal shame if they did.

I like the map, but I have to agree. It should have maybe been named Strait of Hormuz instead.

[Northstar98]

15 hours ago, Gunnar81 said:

I like the map, but I have to agree. It should have maybe been named Strait of Hormuz instead.

Yep, I’m not saying it’s a bad map per se, but one that could’ve been so much better. The assets we have available for it doesn’t really help either (the complete lack of Iranian naval assets is a pretty big omission IMO).

As for the name, ironically that’s what it was called initially, IIRC the reason given for the change to Persian Gulf is due to players being unfamiliar with the Straits of Hormuz.

[Raisuli]

Withholding judgement on Iraq, but it will be nice to finally have a map on which I can run desert campaigns.  Honestly I was hoping for Algeria and Libya to go with Egypt, but with only NTTR, Persian Gulf, Syrian desert, Egyptian desert, and the Jordanian desert in which to run desert based missions it's been pretty limited.

Kola is a first day buy.

[Lace]

1 hour ago, Raisuli said:

Withholding judgement on Iraq, but it will be nice to finally have a map on which I can run desert campaigns.  Honestly I was hoping for Algeria and Libya to go with Egypt, but with only NTTR, Persian Gulf, Syrian desert, Egyptian desert, and the Jordanian desert in which to run desert based missions it's been pretty limited.

Kola is a first day buy.

Agreed.  I'd love a Desert Storm Iraq map, but we've got enough sand to do medium altitude CAS wheels over.  An OIF Iraq map* is just more of the same. 

For sure Kola will be my go-to map once that is released.

* Of course I'll still buy it, begrudgingly.

[Raisuli]

34 minutes ago, Lace said:

Agreed.  I'd love a Desert Storm Iraq map, but we've got enough sand to do medium altitude CAS wheels over.  An OIF Iraq map* is just more of the same. 

For sure Kola will be my go-to map once that is released.

* Of course I'll still buy it, begrudgingly.

Right now I'm leaning against Iraq and Afghanistan.  I look at the cost estimates and look at my wish list in other ecosystems and ask myself 'More deserts in DCS or something that might actually get some use?'.  Several of those somethings are by the same company that's doing Kola; totally get why Wags spent years talking them into a DCS map.  Those would be the first maps I don't buy, but honestly I have a hanger full of aircraft I paid for (because I bought them all) and don't use, along with Combined Arms, which I've never figured out how to use. 

Owning all the modules will probably change also.

If ED ever gets a map that's not a desert, even an updated Caucus, I'm in. 

Deserts?  I have plenty, thank you.  Mostly desert with interesting terrain in one corner or along one edge?  Got enough of those, too.

[draconus]

1 hour ago, Raisuli said:

Deserts?  I have plenty, thank you. 

We get it, you don't like it - don't buy it. I'm not into WW2 so I don't go in that direction. What you're doing here?

[Raisuli]

14 minutes ago, draconus said:

We get it, you don't like it - don't buy it. I'm not into WW2 so I don't go in that direction. What you're doing here?

Looking for a reason to buy it, because I've never not bought a map.  What are you doing here?  Certainly not selling the idea, but thanks.

[draconus]

59 minutes ago, Raisuli said:

Certainly not selling the idea, but thanks.

We don't know anything about the scope of the Iraq map so I cannot sell you that yet. If it ends up like Persian Gulf being just the Strait of Hormuz it may not sell so well. If it allows for some big Desert Storm action, include Kuwait, some most important blue and red bases in the area and a good chunk of the gulf sea - it might be a hit. Whatever the scope though - there will be sand, lots of it, something you have enough already.

[Raisuli]

4 minutes ago, draconus said:

We don't know anything about the scope of the Iraq map so I cannot sell you that yet. If it ends up like Persian Gulf being just the Strait of Hormuz it may not sell so well. If it allows for some big Desert Storm action, include Kuwait, some most important blue and red bases in the area and a good chunk of the gulf sea - it might be a hit. Whatever the scope though - there will be sand, lots of it, something you have enough already.

I've seen screenshots outside the sandbox; kind of hoping for someone who'd actually been there to have some sage advice.  I've been to Pakistan, and the north end is pretty amazing.  For that matter so is Iran if you're outside the PG limits.  So far I've seen very little about the country.  Some serious Iran-Iraq with the north end of the bathtub, where I have been...but as you say, no information, other than an apparent "support it blindly or go away". 

Happy to do the latter.  Thanks for sharing what you know.

[Slippa]

What am I doing here? I’ve got plenty of maps yet to be investigated already.

Besides, I’m supposed to be busy doing something else. Stop posting things to read, it’s very distracting.

Thank you. 

[NineLine]

Guys, just a reminder, the topic is the upcoming Iraq map, thanks. 

[Pikey]

If the map is to be 'centered on Bagdad', just under 150NM away is Kermanshah and we can have a good old 80's disco over the Zagros mountain range with an ever-increasing 80's lineup of modules from the golden era of air combat. That's less distance to Mosul in the north, Basrah in the south and the border to the west which is just a big vacuum of nothingness. So basically, there's nothing around here but the Iranian border and the Tigris and Euphrates if you ignore the mountains in the northeast between Iran.

The problem seems to be that everyone wants to simulate GW1, carrier ops and 900-1000 mile round trips. Why? There's no save game, I've read popular social media where seemingly no one has more than 15 minutes to fly. At the very least a 70 mile flight to the merge over some mountains has to be the most favorable 'game'. The Navy were guarding their own anyway and weren't playing that much due to technical reasons. It's always so weird what people say they want.

I expect someone to make a new game-breaking original content video on this comment next week, how Afghanistan doesn't work for DCS, when I've said it for years.

 

[MAXsenna]

Save games are coming...

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk
 

Edited February 23 by MAXsenna

[draconus]

5 hours ago, Pikey said:

The problem seems to be that everyone wants to simulate GW1, carrier ops and 900-1000 mile round trips.

We've had this conversation already. Save game functionality is coming. There already are airstarts and load mission functionality (even from other map) so you can have your missions divided into chunks or even offer only the fun part one. There are other sims with pilots regularly flying to other continents - I see no problem here. Of course not everybody likes long flights or have the time for it - nothing new. DCS just have to give us the possibility, the map big enough with bases for both sides and some sea to put the carrier far away enough.

[Lace]

5 hours ago, Pikey said:

The problem seems to be that everyone wants to simulate GW1, carrier ops and 900-1000 mile round trips. Why?

 

Because realism.  Because planning, anticipation, fuel management, pressure to make ToT over a long ingress and get desired weapon effects otherwise hours have been wasted. Needing to AAR otherwise you just won't get home.  Operating in some of the most heavily defended airspace in the world at that time.  Needing a full strike package to work together, rather than just safely cruising around a killbox waiting for a TIC call.

It doesn't appeal to everyone, but there are plenty who do want that. 

Desert Storm was a real 'pilots' war against a near-peer enemy.  GWOT (especially in later years) was a low-intensity ground operation against insurgents and technicals, with a bit of uncontested air support thrown in.

 

[MAXsenna]

Because realism.  Because planning, anticipation, fuel management, pressure to make ToT over a long ingress and get desired weapon effects otherwise hours have been wasted. Needing to AAR otherwise you just won't get home.  Operating in some of the most heavily defended airspace in the world at that time.  Needing a full strike package to work together, rather than just safely cruising around a killbox waiting for a TIC call.
It doesn't appeal to everyone, but there are plenty who do want that. 
Desert Storm was a real 'pilots' war against a near-peer enemy.  GWOT (especially in later years) was a low-intensity ground operation against insurgents and technicals, with a bit of uncontested air support thrown in.
 

Exactly this , when I have the time. We also have time cheats.

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[Pikey]

OK, OK, you want realism and immersion and you are going to use saved games and time speedups to achieve it. That wouldn't work for me at least, but there might be a way to put the carrier off the map anyway because the coastlines might be drawn out like they are with some of the other maps. If you are playing offline I reckon i could mod/script that if it's going to be popular.

 

[durka-durka]

There seems to be people who want something certain, or else.  "If this map doesn't fit x criteria, then I don't want it."  Green map, or else. Huge map, or else. Water, or else. Must fit a specific month/day/year in history, or else.

No map is going to satisfy everyone. Can't we be happy that we are getting two maps soon that encompass two of the biggest wars of our lifetimes? If it doesn't have a specific base, is it really that huge of a deal that you don't buy it?  Sure, all those bells/whistles would be nice, but I'm not going to refuse to buy the map because it lacks it. I'm going to buy the map because I enjoy flying, history, geography and exploring those areas will be nice.  I'll make my own scenarios.

• Iraq is not a huge wasteland of nothing but sand/desert.  Sure, it's super dry in the Summer. It's not North Carolina. But there are areas that are really nice, and in the North, there are some really unique mountain formations. 
• Seasons would be really nice to illustrate.  Example: It snows in the North quite a bit.

[draconus]

17 hours ago, durka-durka said:

Sure, all those bells/whistles would be nice, but I'm not going to refuse to buy the map because it lacks it.

Don't make a drama. Of course we want it bigger, better, encompassing as much as possible - it's out of passion and out of that feeling that we're so close to our perfect map. Most will buy anyway whatever it ends up to be but too small scope for sure will affect the sales.

Edited February 25 by draconus