DCS Global Map?

[Eddie]

Are there even any "pure fighters" beside the F15C? :P

 

 

There are still a fair few block 2B Typhoons in service, so yes. :D

 

Now personally I'd love to see at least large enough theatres so that it would be impossible to fly right across them even in a mud hen with three drop tanks. I very much doubt we'll ever reach the point when it would be possible to model the whole world to any useful detail, but if we get to the point where modelling a region could be achieved I think that's all we really need.

 

For example. If we had the Korean theatre as in Falcon but with the whole of Japan, the Yellow sea and much more of China/Russia it would allow for some fantastic missions. Especially if/when we do start getting some supersonic fighters and strike jets. Small theatres are fine for choppers, but what we have now is almost too small for even the A-10, even more so when you have a force on force mission as you then have the problem we do now where you take off and then 10 minutes or less later you are running into enemy aircraft/ground forces. Having a theatre where you could utilise real world borders and still have enough space for a 30 min flight to the FLOT and maybe even another 30 mins or more to the target would really turn DCS in to a truly winning sim for any aircraft type.

 

 

OT: Speaking as someone who's flown a multi role fighter sim (Falcon) for over 10 years and spent much of that time specialising in air to air, I always found the a/a mission much more enjoyable when I actually had to protect strikers and or ground forces, even if they were AI much of the time. Simply taking off and lobbing slammers at other aircraft for no real reason is no where near as much fun, nor as challenging. When you have to be aware of what one of more friendly flights are doing, as well as watching for enemy air threats the challenge itself creates a much more enjoyable experience. Not to mention that fact that it turns you in to a much better virtual pilot than guns only/air quake ladders ever will.

Edited July 23, 2010 by Eddie

[aaron886]

World terrain would be fun, but unnecessary. FSX does everything... but poorly. The design of DCS is to do a few things very well.

[element1108]

If by 'egocentric' means they're confident and back themselves, then yes, they are egocentric.

 

If by 'egocentric' you mean selfish, petulant, reckless, disrespecting of authority, and arrogant as they are portrayed in film and TV then no, they are not egocentric. Every military pilot I've met (and I was one) is nothing like they are portrayed by the US entertainment industry (incidentally, they're not particularly good looking either - but they *are* awesome at what they do).

 

I mean it in the most endearing way possible. I have a very close childhood friend who's a cf18 pilot now in afganistan and it takes th right kind of "ego" ( self confidence, courage and intelligence) to become a fighter pilot. No disrespect to anybody who flies planes/helo's or military.

 

Hollywood is entertainment 100%, definitly do not draw conclusions from them ;).

[Krippz]

Sorry to say this, but Protos: I think I can see that you are not a software engineer. ;)

 

I'd say there are probably very specific hurdles involved due to the fact that things have to actually fight on the terrain, and do so in a predictable manner and in a way that the computer can handle. Completely aside from the detail of generating the terrain, that is, to a sufficiently detailed degree that it is both qualitative and "good enough" to allow ground interdiction missions (which I guess would be the objective of having such a radically expanded map) to have any point.

 

Whether he is a software engineer or not he is entitled to his opinion no matter how out of touch it may be. Challenge someone on merit; no need to be sarcastic :noexpression:. I mean our community is already a "niche" community.

[Xifos]

Challenge someone on merit; no need to be sarcastic :noexpression:.

 

 

Agreed, bad form. Its the same in all forums. Cant win on points so make it personal.

Also I didn't see any mention of the authors own credentials .. :music_whistling:

[Eddie]

Whether he is a software engineer or not he is entitled to his opinion no matter how out of touch it may be. Challenge someone on merit; no need to be sarcastic :noexpression:. I mean our community is already a "niche" community.

 

Agreed, bad form. Its the same in all forums. Cant win on points so make it personal.

Also I didn't see any mention of the authors own credentials .. :music_whistling:

 

Sorry gents but I fail to see where Ethereal made anything personal. He merely responded to a somewhat unrealistic suggestion in a light hearted manner, and gave good reasons why it was unrealistic. The only posts that could be considered making things personal are yours.

 

As for credentials, perhaps you should open your eyes and look a bit closer, they are there for all to see.

[Sticky]

Whether he is a software engineer or not he is entitled to his opinion no matter how out of touch it may be. Challenge someone on merit; no need to be sarcastic :noexpression:. I mean our community is already a "niche" community.

 

Where is the sarcasm?

[Sticky]

Agreed, bad form. Its the same in all forums. Cant win on points so make it personal.

Also I didn't see any mention of the authors own credentials .. :music_whistling:

 

Where did he make it personal?

[Panzertard]

Alright - the who-said-what will stop here.

 

As for global maps - "nice to have" - ED may have to consider:

- They probably would love to see implemented, they love sims as much as we do.

- Work vs payback, will this bring more customers, or new contracts?

 

So from a business perspective and the work required it may be quite far down the priority list.

And the guys are working their pants off already with alot of new features. ;)

 

But we can f course hope that some customer in the other industries require more global environment, which means there's a chance that we'll see it in the DCS series. :)

Edited July 24, 2010 by Panzertard

[claud]

Global terrain is a good idea for DCS as it opens up the Aircombat to its fullest potential. I think its quite possible that ED could add Global terrain if they wanted too and I would not be surprised if it became the next thing that all sims have. Currently there is FSX and Xplane plus FO in development which are going to have this feature. With Google Earth and other sources I can imagine that it'll be someday in DCS. The advantages are that Virtual Squadrons could be based in home countrys, you could have conflicts and dynamic campaigns running Globally and alliances could add politics to the way in which wars are fought online. It would be good to have the SDK released so that people can expand DCS further into ship and tank combat and possibly even FPS. With FSX you can download terrain mods which make it very close to how it looks IRL so even if EDs too buisy to make the terrain more detailed I'm sure someone would probably make some payware or freeware terrain mods. Also if they did expand into a Global map they should also tap into the void left by FSXs devs and make civ aircraft as well.

 

 

I almost thought its a vaild point but then u said "plus FO in development"...ya right in development where? in your dreams?

 

its a nice dream , and i wish it were true ( the global map not FO thats just a fantasy) , maybe if they release the SDK..maybe..

 

either way dont u guys think they should ..hmm i dunno have more than 2 planes before a world map? what are u going to do with a world map with just the KA-50 and the A-10C?!?!?!? , after they have some migs and F-16/18/15 etc.. think of a world map with bases for squadrons , its a good idea but as i said get real for now its a useless idea...with a chopper and a A-10.

 

dont take it personally, I think its a bad idea and u guys dont , thats life ;)

[shu77]

I remember reading that the LOMAC engine only supported so much terrain, and the DCS engine supports a lot more, I guess what I would like to see is that the engine handles moves between terrain sets on the fly, so that we can have the Crimea back, but then also the SDK to allow landscape to be added. With these two things then it would be realistic for ED or the community to be able to port say the X-plane scenery kits across, i.e. the NAV data and landscape objects which would mean you could use the freeware scenery from X-plane.org, but also the payware scenery from the game itself.

 

Personally I Would rather FSX as a port, so I could run my ORBX scenery and run ops out of williamtown. Given the amount of scenery out there it would be nice for ED to give us the mechanism and then concentrate on more planes, because the scenery Many people do, but the Planes and DCS engine are what make the game unique.

[TeeJay82]

Alright - the who-said-what will stop here.

 

As for global maps - "nice to have" - ED may have to consider:

- They probably would love to see implemented, they love sims as much as we do.

- Work vs payback, will this bring more customers, or new contracts?

 

So from a business perspective and the work required it may be quite far down the priority list.

And the guys are working their pants off already with alot of new features. ;)

 

But we can f course hope that some customer in the other industries require more global environment, which means there's a chance that we'll see it in the DCS series. :)

 

Have you seen the sales charts for exsample fsx`s ORBX and UTX products? they are near top sales allmost all the way... so clearly its a market for it... perhaps give a 3rd party dev the rights to do it since ED have theyre hands full at what they do best... the modules :D

[element1108]

Have you seen the sales charts for exsample fsx`s ORBX and UTX products? they are near top sales allmost all the way... so clearly its a market for it... perhaps give a 3rd party dev the rights to do it since ED have theyre hands full at what they do best... the modules :D

 

In a Combat Sim, ground data and AI are INTEGRATED. It's not just about texturing or creating land mass...it's about creating a combat environment from which the ground/air units fight in. I don't think third party could do that on it's own without blending the new terrain data with the core simulation code so that everything in the sim is on the same page so to speak.

 

Besides, ORBX uses data already existing in FSX global map, they're just jazzing it up with new textures and 3D models.

 

I also like the idea of ED being in full control of their product right now, it ensures a level of quality control and makes it so everyone who plays the sim has a universal experience. People who didn't purchase the $79.99 Western Europe map can't play on 33% of the servers that are running it.

Edited July 26, 2010 by element1108

[RustyNuts]

The level of detail that we already have of a such big section of global real estate in DCS is IMO, fantastic compared to all other flight sims let alone combat flight sims.

The amount of work required to make another large sector to that level of detail and quality would be a huge undertaking.

 

FSX caters to a far larger base of the flight sim community (many being real world pilots just keeping up some procedural practice etc) and as such can justify and support an aftermarket industry in updated textures and terrain detail which look great and worth it if your into that. I've spoken to other simmers who have spent thousands on FSX addons and good on them, it looks great and all but I sure couldn't afford or justify it in my family budget.

 

Even if we got a new high quality sector map at $X dollars for the patch/addon/upgrade, is there a big enough market of DCS pilots who would buy it and fly it?

 

I'm sure the forums would fill with comments supporting it but its how many people who actually do put the money down at the end of the day that makes it happen.