A Brief DCS Su-27 Review by Eric J

[Skyviper 1,101]

DCS Su-27 Flanker Mini Beta Review

By Eric J

 

 

 

The DCS Series began with the Su-27 Flanker back in 1995, and has always been the best high-fidelity flight –sims on the market today.  Now in 2014 Eagle Dynamics has actually improved the flight handling and characteristics of the one of the most popular Russian combat aircraft today.

 

 

Flight Model

Overall the new Professional Flight Model changes the whole dynamics of flying the aircraft.  Roll is sharp (at the default settings) and once you takeoff you have to trim the aircraft heavily in pitch to make It flyable.  It should be noted that this causes Sticky Keys to be activated if you use a keyboard modifier for trimming your aircraft.  Once you get the aircraft trimmed to your liking however the aircraft handles very well but sometimes there is noticeable downward pitch that needs to be noted.  To get a feel for its handling I usually any aircraft out into the Caucasus Mountains to get a better read on how it handles as opposed to air combat or any related activity.  With the sharp valleys and turns that helps me understand how the aircraft handles, and the Su-27 again once trimmed handles it very well.  A lot of buffeting is modeled (which is a nice touch) and the aircraft bounces around more with the new PFM than the stock flight model that most pilots of the series has been known for.  The aircraft is heavier and you can feel that in the stick when landing, which is a great sensation as now you have to counteract its mass more than you are used to doing prior to the current build.  It should be noted that you now need to retract the landing gear before reaching 450 km/h or the gear will not retract properly when taking off.  Another issue is the Stabilization system control.  This is mapped to the S key by default and should only be used with zero trim.  Remember to pull the stick once you press that key/button mapping as it enables you to perform the Cobra maneuver or you will crash, as the aircraft will pitch down violently and enter an unrecoverable spin.  However since I’m more of a combat pilot than an aerobatic one, I simply remove the mapping and don’t use it.  Needless to say there’s plenty of discussion on the usefulness of the Cobra on various forums so I don’t need to discuss it here.

 

 

3D Model/Textures

                The reshaped Su-27 looks like it should, with the aircraft drastically updated to look (in my opinion) like the real thing.  Upon returning to DCS I took a flight in the aircraft before the update (1.2.10) and when I was taxiing in F2 view I noticed the shaping and it was beautiful.  The aircraft comes of course with well-done camouflage patterns as stock and layered PSDs are available on the DCS Site if you need to create your own custom Livery for the aircraft. Naturally the cockpit and other essential areas are always the hallmark of Eagle Dynamics and therefore I don’t need to go too much into detail about that as they’re also well done and deserve a mention.

 

Functionality

                The new interior has some changes as well, such as the MFD.  Using real data it’s modeled accurately and hasn’t changed much to me, who’s seen the same MFD for years, doesn’t get lost.  The same functions are present, so the transition takes one flight.  Needless to say the radar display is the same, and overall other than graphics changes, functions as normal.  Given that the Su-27 and most Flaming Cliffs Aircraft do not feature the 6DOF system that some other aircraft (notably the A-10C) there’s not much more I can go on this subject.

 

 

 

Major issues so far

                The current build does have some major issues of course.  Again I think the S system isn’t mature enough and needs to be adjusted but that’s my personal viewpoint on the whole thing as it shouldn’t pull you down like that.  Another issue is the fuel use is excessive, which to my knowledge isn’t and shouldn’t be equivalent to a Mig-29 Fulcrum.  Using the weapon load of the images here with a full 100% fuel load the aircraft on a lo-lo-lo profile can fly from Tblisi to Beslan and prior to reaching there I got the “Fuel 1500” warning.  And it has been recorded that a real world Su-27 has flown from Moscow to Paris on one trip (with no aerial refueling) but given the flight profile it was probably a very high altitude.  Nonetheless it is a major bug and should eventually be fixed, sometime.  Regardless the aircraft is fully functional and flyable and those are the only major bugs that I have noticed while flying the aircraft.

 

Final Thoughts

                The Su-27 is one of the best aircraft to fly.  Even though currently I focus on the A-10A and the Su-33, the new PFM is a welcome addition to the DCS family.

 

[+streakeagle 871]

I got some time in the with the new Su-27 PFM tonight. I see what you mean about having to trim a lot of pitch down. It seems when an aircraft gets a PFM, it also gets better damage modeling.

 

In the run up to FC3's release, I had played a bunch of FC2 as the F-15C vs MiG-29 and Su-27 in guns only DACT. Once FC3 was released, I continued doing so and did a lot of the reverse: MiG-29 or Su-27 vs F-15C or F-16C in guns only DACT. It amazed me how many cannon rounds it took to down a fighter, even using the 30mm of the MiG-29/Su-27.

 

Somewhere along the way, the effectiveness of cannons seemed to improve a bit, especially the 30mm.

 

But now that the F-15C has PFM, the Su-27's 30mm was dropping the Eagle with a single minimal burst no matter where I hit... as it should be. Likewise, the F-15C no longer has to dump multiple bursts in the Su-27 to take it down. Whereas, the F-16C can still survive multiple 30mm hits. I can watch chunks fly off if I hit the fuselage without destroying the engine and I can punch a hole in the wing that makes a fuel leak. That's not very fair for the F-16 to be like a tank compared to the F-15 and Su-27. Of course, if it still goes down easier than I remember back when I was playing FC2, so it's not that bad. Just annoying.

Also: I wish the wheel brakes on the Su-27 were modeled more realistically. I don't know if they work like the MiG-21 or have pedal brakes like US planes, but either way having an axis (or two) to apply brakes would be nice.