Why You Should Check Out Flaming Cliffs 2 (and the entire DCS series for that matter)

[+Dave 2,322]

While SF2 has the advantage of the ease of modding and the vast number of planes, the FC2/DCS series currently has things what we always wanted in SF2 and more.

 

1. Drag chutes

2. A2A refueling

3. Great terrain

4. Ejection sequence

 

The more part.......

 

5. Scalable complexity, (one that is little higher than the SF2 series) i.e. you want to just be able to lock and shoot like SF2, you can do that. If you want slightly more complex avionics, you can change that and be able to slew the AGM-65 seeker head or adjust the radar on the F-15. Or if you want to go balls to the wall and do the A-10C start-up sequence, you can do that. Those are just a few examples.

6. In Combined Arms, you can be a JTAC and call in airstrikes or be an M-1 or T-80...you can even be the M163. You can be a mobile SAM like the M48 Chaparral or check this out, eject from your plane, hop in a ground vehicle and drive it!

7. Multiplayer.......yep our old want, with the DCS series I can be on the ground and be the JTAC while you can fly the A-10C, while another is leading his tank formation.......yep.....or if you have Black Shark 2, you can fly that while someone is doing all the above too.

 

8. There are tons of mods for them too.

 

9. Also the DCS P-51D...yep it doesn't fit anywhere in the time frame of the DCS series, however its is freakin beautiful. It is so much fun to fly or even go after Mi-24's in. Or go train busting....not sure why it was made by ED etc but I got it and its worth it.

 

I have supported, modded and played SF series since day 1, ten years ago. But for me it has gotten long in the tooth and I think I may be done with it. FC2 and LOMAC are cheap as hell too. I like not having to mod it to get it where I want. I will keep the SF stuff on my HD though. I will fly it once in awhile too, but I have found a new world in the DCS and FC2 sims. So just food for thought if you are getting bored with the SF2 stuff, this would be worth a look.

[Lazarus1177 164]

If only we SF2 users weren't so lazy......

[PraetorH 166]

I know DCS makes excellent an sim, but I like the 50ies' and 60ies' jets so I fly SF. Aircraft from the 80ies, 90ies or worse are not my cup of tea. If DCS ever featured a Starfighter...

[Icarus999 70]

If only it had the variety of aircraft available in SF2, I would make the move.

[Lazarus1177 164]

I know DCS makes excellent an sim, but I like the 50ies' and 60ies' jets so I fly SF. Aircraft from the 80ies, 90ies or worse are not my cup of tea. If DCS ever featured a Starfighter...

They do have the P-51D.Only that you can only fight against it itself,or the other modern aircraft!

[+Stary 2,427]

Dave,

 

could you somehow delicately suggest to TK relasing a pack of DCS planes..? I surely would buy that!

[fallenphoenix1986 603]

Wouldn't mind if he did, though I strongly suspect TK "can't afford it",

The way things are heading in DCS its only a matter of time before F-4's start making an apearance.

 

Craig

[Stratos 3,191]

Altought fun in a very different way, Lomac/FC2 doesn't have tons of needed features starting with planes.

[+Gunrunner 314]

I never really clicked with LOMAC/FC/DCS, the time period, the plane selection, the place on the survey/study scale and more importantly, the fact that unlike SF I can't have a quick game only playing with a keyboard (yes, I am an heretic).

 

However the direction DCS World is taking is very interesting, but not as a SF replacement at the moment.

 

Having TW switch to providing 60's/70's modules for DCS World would be nice, but I'm sure that, beyond the money problem, TK would not be interested in that as it would remove the "fun" part of the coding from his point of view.

[+Stary 2,427]

Lomac/FC2 doesn't have tons of needed features starting with planes.

errr... "features" is slightly different kind of animal than "planes", I suggest not to put them in the same cage

 

I can life without 150+ flyable planes, the lack of features I was hoping Thirdwire would introduce with time (it's over 3,5 years after SF2 release) is what really annoys me in SF2 (more and more as months pass by)

 

right now given the fidelity of known projects authors are aiming at, I won't expect anything flyable (Beczl's 21 aside) until spring 2013... in a meantime people would happily jump onto Thirdwire planes released for DCS... even just to have something to shoot down. My 2 cents

[PraetorH 166]

They do have the P-51D.Only that you can only fight against it itself,or the other modern aircraft!

 

Well, props are a different animal though... They have their place even in a post WWII sim, but in such scenarios I prefer jets. And if there ever should be a DCS jet I am interested in, I will surely check it out again.

 

Btw, I certainly agree with Stary that features are more than just planes and in features other than that SF is lacking a bit.

[FastCargo 412]

right now given the fidelity of known projects authors are aiming at, I won't expect anything flyable (Beczl's 21 aside) until spring 2013... in a meantime people would happily jump onto Thirdwire planes released for DCS... even just to have something to shoot down.

 

I don't think TW would ever consider the idea. I'm sure the 3d modeling, texturing, etc isn't that different between TW and DCS. What I'd be curious about is the FM and avionics coding. The fact that avionics have to be coded for each aircraft (vs something like TW where every aircraft uses a common framework) could make coding very complicated. Does anyone know if the FM is table based, shape based, or some combination of the two?

 

FC

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

FC, the manual for ye ole Su-27 Flaker 1.0 for DOS from 1995 stated that the air flow is divided into little chunks and the maths is done from there. I don't know if that carried over to this century.

 

 

Dave, you are retiring again?

 

I swear, I'm gonna be the last one playing SF, 15 years from now, I doubt there will be another combat flight TheSim that I can use as a base for my strategic game. As far as I can see now, I'll never move beyond SF.

 

Dave, I never asked you but why not mod a totally new game, based on SF? Would you be interested in trying to make a fictional strategic campaign, SAC vs PVO 1950 to 1970 so it has to be fictional, with a touch of RAF, and figuring some way to make it believable, and playable? You know the planeset can't be beat, ever. It means making the game work differently. TK doesn't seem to like that kind of thing, so he's locking it up. Hurry, before its too late. I never asked you before, but hey...

[skwabie 0]

my strong belief that russian software isn't the way out. no matter how well they model US aircrafts it still feels russian. more importantly despite it looks feature rich, it gets boring and empty much faster than SF. but i'm and always be hardcore Falconeer so that's just me :)

[Viggen 644]

So DCS World is free and includes the Su-25T? I'm down with that. Before I got into Third Wire stuff I had LOMAC/FC2 installed, and other than 20+ minute loading times and constant CTDs, I had fun flying the Su-25 around the Crimean on joyrides. Learned how to fire the gun that way!

 

The fact that there were 102nd FW F-15C skins included stock sure helped too!

 

 

I've got A-10 and Blackshark on Steam but not installed.

 

 

EDIT: Question, is there a Legacy Hornet module in the works? If so, I'm sold (once I PCS, that is)

Edited August 27, 2012 by Viggen

[+Stary 2,427]

I don't think TW would ever consider the idea. I'm sure the 3d modeling, texturing, etc isn't that different between TW and DCS. What I'd be curious about is the FM and avionics coding.

FC

Of course FC, say it's my lucid dreaming idea

and I'm sure porting models/textures would be around 5% of the work needed, have yet to look into DCS tools and formats myself one day

 

what sucks in DCS though is ye olde BlackSea theater -and to be honest I even prefered old more NW Crimea than Georgia, there was more to it than just flying with sea on one side

[+Stary 2,427]

one more thing sitting in back of my head -I suspect that any and all 3rd party module that will not be above DCA A-10c in fidelity level will be flammed on ED forums by so called fanboys... matter of them die-hard realism junkies twisted evil psychology

[Spinners 15,986]

We already have a DCS sub-forum so I'm not too sure why this post has been placed here.

 

I'm open-minded about DCS and at some time I will give it a go but for the moment the planeset is of almost no interest to me.

[+allenjb42 4,234]

We already have a DCS sub-forum so I'm not too sure why this post has been placed here.

 

I'm open-minded about DCS and at some time I will give it a go but for the moment the planeset is of almost no interest to me.

 

+1

 

(Let's hope this doesn't deteriorate into anything like the Targetware vs Thirdwire debates of many moons ago.....)

[Stratos 3,191]

AFAIK there's not a single plane (and avionics are related to the plane, thats why I talked in the same sentence about features and planes) that have a A-G radar. A-A is fun for a little while, but gets boring too, A-G is more fun If done properly, and altough the A-10 is the A-G master, is not A-A capable. Maybe one day we will have multi-role jets ala F-16 or F/A-18, but seeing how long it takes to develop a DCS plane at least a couple of years will pass until we see one of them.

[Lazarus1177 164]

What I,as well as a lot of other people would like to see would be DCS:Vietnam(OK too much of a dream! )

[+Stary 2,427]

We already have a DCS sub-forum so I'm not too sure why this post has been placed here.

Pssst! Dave's recruting new DCS folks

[Stratos 3,191]

BUT, If the codder need to code the avionics for every plane. Maybe we can create a basic template for all of them, and then adjust for every unic plane. And made the avionics as hard or as easy as wanted. LOMAC/FC2 avionics are more easy than A10C. A bit more realisitic than SF:2 can be great, where you can slew the radar cursors and select your desired air or ground radar contact. Same for Mavericks/HARMS. This way we will don't need to learn all the keys and procedures like in the A-10C

 

Stary, is already possible to create new terrains for DCS, AFAIK a guy is working on a Afghhanistan theatre. Sounds like a really hard job, but can be harder than creating a new terrain for SF2?? after hearing you guys saying how hard and frustrating is, I really doubt it.

Edited August 27, 2012 by Stratos

[+Stary 2,427]

I'd say maybe easier than SF2 terrain... matter of data aviability and tools

[FastCargo 412]

I'm taking a 'wait and see' approach. Mainly I want to see how it all fleshes out, and to see how the modding world forms around it first.

 

FC