DCS 2.7 | Hornet CAT3
Whew, that was a dash of Intense. So, I’d figured clouds would be visually neat-o, and they are. As others have said they are a game-changer in other, not immediately obvious (to us non-flyer types), ways.
Mission
Eastern Med., Off the coast of Turkey
Sunrise + 1+00 Hours
Wx: OVC2 + Rain (forget the actual METAR)
Task: Drop GBU’s on some truck carcasses on the bombing range.
Game Changer 1 - Takeoff and Rendezvous: Thought it would be ‘safer’ (made me feel better anyway) to pull Dilbert in close before we penetrate the weather, “Go Finger Four”. Kinda neat watching him drift in/out as we plowed through the mushy bits on our way up. The visual goodness, seeing him pop out as we popped out, was a plus.
Game Changer 2 - Targeting In Weather: So, yeah, using the T/Pod wasn’t the best idea in these conditions, but I knew that (was pre-loaded and I didn’t want the Red Shirts to get wet 
). Had to maneuver around to find a small slot in the clouds to do a quick lock & drop. Would be REAL dicey if there was anyone shooting at me!
Game Changer 3 - Recovery: Split Dilbert off (“RTB”). Got my Marshal directive (6,000ft on 017-R). Twas nice that the AI decided to hold Dash 2 at 7,000. Appropriate ATC-stuff there. Added pressure though - I must hit my Commence time/position on the dot so as not to mess him up. I did, with one lap in holding. Man! - That rain noise. Had to up the concentration level a notch as it was approaching the distraction level. Not sure this is real but I, well, kinda liked that (cuzz I’m a little odd that way).
3-Wire (with the EGIW note - I’ll ponder this over pizza in the ready room )
Poor Man’s ‘Burble’: The FPS hit as the Boat appears jolts my system such that I have to be wary at this point. Ho Hum, someday I’ll throw some funds at this.
Cold Sharpies (opposite of Warm Fuzzy?): Seeing those foreboding dark ‘caves’ under the bottom layer, especially with mountains down there, gave me some, “Nope, not going in there” moments. Love it! Nice ED!
Sim Performance: Good work again ED. I didn’t think I’d be able to pull this off (in these conditions) but it displayed more smoothly than I thought it would. Again this is in Syria which is the worst performing map for me (but it just looks soooo good!).
NOTE: I still have to use Kegety’s VR Shader Perf. mod for this to be enjoyable.
Issues
[1] The D/Link seems ‘off’: Dash-2 was tracking just fine initially in the JHMCS but, after not that long, he was no more. Was hoping to use that as an aid in not running into him in the soup. No luck though. Caught him on RADAR intermittently as we both drove around the holding stack.
Now to try it AT NIGHT! Another layer has been added to this sim with weather (no pun intended).
