What if ?

[toni]

Just wondering , would fit a WHAT IF moduling into DCS at a long term ?

Maybe platforms like this could be flyable some day

[johntitor]

Just wondering , would fit a WHAT IF moduling into DCS at a long term ?
Maybe platforms like this could be flyable some day

Try ace combat

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[SharpeXB]

Sure. Perhaps 30 years from now when the info on those is open source

[upyr1]

2 hours ago, toni said:

Just wondering , would fit a WHAT IF moduling into DCS at a long term ?

Maybe platforms like this could be flyable some day

Dcs 2084 and beyond DCS F-40 Phantom III. 

Edited January 17, 2024 by upyr1

[Exorcet]

It really depends on what you're asking for. Simulators are perfect for what if scenarios. However DCS specifically would require consideration of a few different points. One of the biggest being that a large portion of the player base, even those not opposed to what if scenarios, also want to be able to limit DCS to realistic situations. Fortunately that isn't hard to setup, and some options for this already exist (like the ability to exclude planes from missions or warehouses, etc). What's currently missing is clear labeling. Not everyone may be able to tell what is historic or what is not. Labeling would solve that issue.

Another factor to consider is what exactly do you mean by what if? The plane in the opening post is completely unknown to me. I assume it's totally fictional. That isn't very appealing in DCS, though there are ways to model it (more on that in a bit). In the case of DCS, something like prototype aircraft, or proposed modifications of existing aircraft that were not built may fit in better. They could have more data to stand on and thus be easier to fit into a plausible combat situation.

If you really wanted to allow anything, that is possible. It's not even unique in the sim world. Just look at X-Plane:

It takes advantage of being a realistic simulator to allow the user to design fictional aircraft. DCS could do the same thing and expand it with weapon simulation. It would be a really cool feature. Imagine for instance simulating hypothetical WWII 1946. If DCS had a plane editor you could load in a Mustang for example, and raise the engine power to simulate a newly developed engine that might have arisen from a more drawn out war. All while being completely plausible. Of course the downside here is that the plane maker/editor needs to be designed and coded. It could be a large and expensive product. That doesn't mean that it shouldn't be done, but it needs to be considered carefully.

Maybe some middle ground could be found by increasing DCS mod friendliness. If ED had a sample module that users could tweak, that could serve as a gateway to adding custom vehicles to the sim. As a bonus it could also work as a compatibility tester or test bed for serious module development. Deka added a thrust vectoring mode to the JF-17 for testing purposes. What if DCS had a dummy module that could be used for such things out of the box to let developers play with the sim and see what it could handle before putting resources into full module development? Might that increase the attractiveness of DCS as a sim platform?