JediMaster

They've said there will be. I've not acquired the beta, so I can't say for certain. I will say this, though--DCS is harder than Lockon was. A LOT harder and far steeper learning curves. I'd recommend Flaming Cliffs 2 as an intro to what DCS will be like, since it's both cheaper and easier than DCS (albeit harder than the LOMAC 1.0 release from years ago). You need to invest a lot of time, though. Landing in LOMAC is far easier than in DCS. The only plane I ever mess up on landing in LOMAC is the Su-25/T from Flaming Cliffs because of the advanced flight model. The other planes have a standard, simplified one that means you can make MISERABLE approaches and land successfully. I mean, I've taken that A-10A on a steep dive and touched down at the center of the runway, but off center-line, not properly lined off, and come to a nice rollout onto a taxiway with battle damage! In DCS, you'd be dead on impact.

When I say "officially" I meant "possible routes bandied about by people in ED or TFC online as hypotheticals." The fact that they brought up those specifically meant to me there were seen as feasible products. The ones Gwyno mentioned were NOT and therefore I doubt their probability is in the double digits. I flew F-22s in games in the 90s and they were pretty fair about it. You know it can supercruise over M1.5, it has powerful engines with TVC, it's hard to see on radar but IR missiles still have a chance, agile, and has a LPI radar and datalink that lets it see enemies and fire on them before they see the F-22 and fire back. The cockpit is all glass, so whether or not the symbology and pages were accurate wasn't really that important as I've heard they can be customized by the pilot to some extent anyway, it's just software. I don't anticipate seeing the F-22 in DCS as a flyable (although perhaps as an AI like in Falcon), but I thought iF-22 was a very good sim from about 12 years back. No, my guess is DCS will have 4th gen fighters and equivalent attack, transports, and helos. I think 3rd gen and earlier will be left to TK and others.

There's a cultural tendency to believe that if they build it, it's better than when foreign-produced, even when it's not. Also, the whole issue with IP not being respected seems to be based on a similar attitude, sort of "there's no idea we can't make better, so we don't need to pay for it". They've sort of made lying to oneself an institution.

Here I was thinking we could go a whole month without a natural (or not) disaster of some kind...

Those artifacts belong in a museum!!

I watched the pilot and wasn't impressed, only had 1 real LOL moment. Did they get better later?

I think Calais/Normandy is the closest map to that area, don't think I've seen a mod for the UK area itself. I'm sure the stutters are the video RAM choking on the textures. You're either going to have to lower the landscape detail or turn off the FSAA (which uses more video RAM) I think. I'd try lowering the detail first as I personally find little extra value in perfect over excellent anyway and the game really does need FSAA!

Other than the 2 released ones, the only ones I've heard mentioned officially were the A-10A and AH-64 (but no model letter). I'd really like the Apache to complement the Ka-50, but I'll go for pretty much anything they're likely to pick. I must say A-6, F-4, and F-111 are not likely.

With all the talk about how the 330 was so much larger than the 767, I don't think something significantly bigger than a C-5 will cut it. Besides, not all transports make good refuelers. The wake turbulence has to be within acceptable limits for small fighters to slide into and out of position smoothly.

I've not gone thru the site yet to find out if my Dell laptop is on the list (although the model and manufacture date are in the right range), but as to date I've not had any problems with it I doubt I'll be eligible or that I'd bother even if I was. I've not done a massive amount of gaming with it, just on trips, and so far the 8600GT in it has held up fine.

Well, it has the ski jump so it's obviously designed to be able to launch Harriers on operational missions. How many it can carry below decks and service properly, I don't know.

I have a cunning plan...I'll climb to the top of a 1763ft mast...

Interesting that 64-bit is recommended. Actually, none of that is too off the wall other than the CPU.

Always install the oldest OS first. As for partitioning, well, with 2 OS my personal preference is 3 partitions--one for each OS and the final for the data/programs. You will of course have to install most programs twice, but if you install them to the same place (overwriting the first install with the 2nd) you'll be unable to uninstall in both OS, just whichever you installed last, so it's not generally recommended. If you got the 1TB drive, I think I'd feel safe with pretty much any split. As long as the partition is 200GB you're good for most situations. Some people swear by more or less, but you've got room to spare.

His was one of the last sitcoms I watched on TV, I think That 70s Show was the actual final one. The only 30 min comedies I watch now are animated. Stacy Keach was very good as his father.

Well it's all about the editing isn't it?

I want to play beach volleyball with Val Kilmer...

Sunshine Superman was the title, but never sang in the song, only separately with "sunshine" in the first verse and "superman" in the last. It was one of those songs like The Beatles' "Something" that didn't have a real chorus, it was instead the guitar riff. The first verse is something like "sunshine came softly through my a-window today Could've tripped out easy a-but I've a-changed my ways It'll take time, I know it but in a while You're gonna be mine, I know it, we'll do it in style 'Cause I made my mind up you're going to be mine"

Uninhabited replaced the term unmanned some time back in official documentation to be PC...after all, the pilot may not be a man!

If there's no exposed skin, that would be very difficult!

O&M is where the BIG money is at.

That would be funny, because for some reason I'm expecting TK's SF2 Exp Pack 2 today. Maybe my Spidey-sense was just giving me the wrong tingle.

The J-11B is the unlicensed version using indigenous engines IIRC.

Uh, he contradicted himself! First he says to build a new design instead of adapting an existing one costs too much and is irrational, then he says there will be a fair and open competition implying that a new design has just as much chance as an adapted one!

Only half as many as the previous 2 contracts, and half of those are Growlers. Looks like the Super Hornet program is starting to wind down as the F-35C grows closer.