I thought this might be a bit of fun. Imagine you could have any aircraft you wish. Obviously things take time to develop and might not even be possible with the sim in its current state (fully multiplayer AWACS or heavy bombers for example)
I imagine if we just have people naming random aircraft they like this would get pretty boring fast. So how about naming your top 5 wishlist for FLYABLE aircraft and a location of your choice for a new map. ANYTHING goes. Don’t think about the practicality or the development time just what in an ideal world you would have if it was your choice!
For my ideal map I would have a decent representation of the Falklands campaign area.
I think running tanking missions in multiplayer could be one of the most awesome add ons to dcs. Plus the tactical transport airlifters defended by fighters would be pretty cool as well.
Its interesting that I had a list in my head when I was writing this out that actually bears no resemblance to my final choices… I hadn’t even considered rotor wing stuff but they would be pretty cool
Razbam is actually working on this! Supposedly also working on the content to make an '82 campaign possible as well.
My ideal map would be Formosa/Taiwan strait, with a focus on the ocean area and only part of the Chinese coastline in place. Should be able to squeeze Okinawa in the area, making a nice battle zone with the open water.
Flyable aircraft are a bit more difficult, but with the existing plane set I’d like:
A-7E - Premier light strike, fits in with the F-14A and a service spanning from the late 60s to ODS. Had an exceptional air-ground capability for the era.
A-6E - While Heatblur may or may not tackle this as flyable in the future, I’ll add it anyways. As a flyable aircraft, it could be used for buddy tanking, air-ground, SEAD/DEAD, and anti-shipping. Saw service at the tail end of Vietnam to the mid-90s.
F-4J/N/S - While not as ubiquitous as the other variants like the F-4E, these were the premier naval variants in use from the 60s to 80s.
T-2 Buckeye - USN intermediate trainer for the longest time and once again fitting in with the above. I’ll be fair that it doesn’t fit with the existing planeset that well, given extremely limited combat capability, but I like the idea of a career mode starting out somewhere before going on to one of the three above, the F-14, or F/A-18.
J-10A/B - This was a tough one to pick. I would have said the Fitter-H/K, but I don’t think it fits well with what I desire for a campaign. I also considered the Q-5, but the capabilities of that would be limited. With the MiG-21Bis and upcoming MiG-19, we pretty much have much of the PLAAF/PLANAF’s planeset for the 60s-80s. So, as a counterpoint to a possible '05 era campaign, the J-10A/B are my choice. A very interesting little airframe with a good multirole capability, fitting in quite well in a Formosa campaign.
Overall, I don’t feel that helicopters fit well as flyable in my desired arena, so I’d relegate them to AI. They would be badly need assets, however, along with a number of ships, submarines, etc. I would be unwilling to give up any of my above flyables for more limited utility aircraft like C-2s, P-3s, S-3s, and so on; not that the missions wouldn’t be interesting, but they’re so limited in their roles as well as numbers. Better to have them as AI assets that must be tracked by the player(s) in a mission/campaign.
I absolutely must state a desire for a more customizable interface and mission system, especially in regards to multiplayer. A career mode that tracks one’s progression, from training to tour of duty, with a less “gray man” pilot that the player currently occupies. ArmA3 did this very well and there were many ways to track a player within a campaign, limited only by one’s imagination. I played around with some of this in the “Tarnished Gold” campaign, where certain scores and events were used to raise rank as well as issue awards. If DCS could allow for a similar amount of flexibility, it would be absolutely breathtaking.
That’s interesting @franze I never considered asking about that sort of thing when I thought this up. I’m only using the editor in the most basic of ways at the moment but I must say I find it (as a total beginner) to be much more user friendly than the arma3 editor. I couldn’t make head nor tail of what was needed to get things happening the way I wanted in that. I couldn’t even get the ac130 to pylon turn in the right direction to try out the weapons on some dumb tankers I had placed
I havent actually tried the helicopters yet in dcs but I do like the THOUGHT of them and how they fit into the sim so I thought I should of had a couple of them and it would of been boring if I just named 5 tankers lol…
The map I would really like to see is a northern Norway (from just south of Vestfjord) / Southern Barents / Kola Peninsula (to a few miles east of Murmansk). This was NATOs Northern Flank during the Cold War. If the “balloon had gone up” it would have been exciting.
Aircraft…I don’t have 5 anymore…my number one would have been the F-14A, but it looks like Heatblur is taking care of that.
So, in no particular order:
Su-24 Fencer - Yes, it looks like a F-111, so we could give it a USAF paint job and @Bogusheadbox might be happy. The reason I like the Fencer is the plethora of tactical ASM s it can employ.
Mi-24 Hind - I’d like to see a Magnificent 8 treatment of this monster.
J35 Draken - Yet another Swedish jet for me to decimate to @Troll ‘s chagrin. Seriously, an awesome fighter/interceptor; long career with Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Austria; a couple of interesting variants.
F-100D Super Saber - Fits in between the F-86 and F-4. Kind of a Goldilocks “just right” thing. More punch & speed than the F-86; without the complicated radar of the F-4.
I must admit it’s quite nice to see that out of 5 posts 2 mention @bogusheadbox I’m actually rooting for him as well. This forum really is a nice place isn’t it
Hmm interesting question. I’d like larger maps, particularly if we’re going to be talking strategic strike aircraft. Half the fun of a B-1 strike mission would be the low altitude flying for several hours rocketing along below radar coverage, through the mountains.
Far as AC:
FB-111 I’ve loved the 'Vark for a long time, and the Switchblade in particular
A-7 D I don’t do much carrier work, but I wouldn’t mind an E version either.
F-106 Who doesn’t want to scramble to knock down an incoming horde of Russian bombers?
Mig-27/SU-24 I know these are totally separate AC, but I’m really just after a modern Russian strike/strategic strike AC
AH-1 When I saw this wasn’t in development by Belsimtek anymore I almost cried, almost. Preferably an earlier Cold War vintage, but I’m not gonna be super picky.
F111 so @Bogusheadbox would stop filling the forum with that … Thing.
MiG 23/27 Because it must be insane to fly a low low altitude in that thing
Mi24 (any version) 'cause I’d actually like an Afghanistan map to make a Middle East Gone hot sort of campaign.
It would be like the original Falcon 4.0 campaign system.
Three variants in the same theater.
1: Russian side where russia actually is winning.
2: Russian side but real history
3: America gets physically involved and it nuclear limited WW3. Both sides playable.
But I’d also love to see lots of Heavies too…
Main WWII bombers, AC130, C130, AWACS, US Navy antisub ones… The one used to fly goods in but it’s terrible- we read some articles here.two months ago?
A B52 would be SICK! Several variants…
The Vietnam era Vigilante…
Good choice! The Draken turned out to be flyable by non-swedes and even americans, as opposed to its successor…
My dear friend. Aren’t you being just a tad bit naive?
Imagine the all out total F-111 screenshot spamming, that would flood the forum…!
I’d love to see:
A Mig Alley scenario with a 50’s Korea Map.
With F9F Panther and carrier ops.
A Vietnam map.
With the F-4D and E and A-6.
The F-16A. I know we’re getting a C, but the early A Block 5 or 10, would be a lot of fun.
I just end up realising how happy I am with my current planes when I think about this.
When you say F-16A, I think: “The Mirage 2000C is like an F-16A that is sexier, and French… oh wait we have that one.”
When you say A-6, I think that would be awesome, but also take a lot of time to learn, which I am not sure I would have, with the already quite full hangar. An A-4 would provide much of the same gameplay (carrier strike/ground radar without too many complicated systems to learn and without having to coordinate time with a co-pilot. Oh we have that one too!
When you say F-111, I think “Why not fly the Viggen?” Much of the same tactics/mission at the cost of a much smaller range. Which, given the current map sizes, is not a problem. Unless you really want to spend an entire day in the air, by then you should just load up a Tomcat with drop tanks and have some KC-130 tankers around. Bo(n/g)us: you get swept wings!
I thought I really really wanted a BO-105 after seeing those NOE through the woods videos on YouTube, but now realize I can also sneak up on tanks/SAMs and have an RWR in my heli while dodging trees and bushes, using the Gazelle. If I really wanted to.
So I don’t really have ant big wishes left in the plane/helicopter department. Sure, more planes would be nice, but I do not think they would increase my DCS enjoyment much at this point.
It is more about what you want to do with the planes you are given. I think a Mid Europe Fulda Gap theatre would be really cool, as well as Falklands. Then maybe to have more people playing those things in multiplayer, more period-correct units would be needed, although not directly for me personally: F-16A, Mirage III (in development), Sea Harrier / GR.3, MiG-23/27, Super Étendard (OK, that would probably get me out of the A-4 cockpit, but is probably the least popular overall)
My biggest wish would be a major overhaul of the AI. In my opinion that is the area where DCS is most lacking. Did you know that AI F-5E and MiG-21bis detect look-down targets at 150 NM? That is Tomcat territory right there. Then there are the countless cases of AI doing stupid things, such as crashing into each other, blocking each other while taxing, cruising at stall speed, not being able to climb while out of formation. Just to name a few examples.
A major area of improvement would be low level flying, which the AI is basically incapable of. What good would be an F-111 or Tornado when you are terrain following at 200 ft while being flanked left and right by your AI wingmen at 1’000 ft? It is a major issue that is holding back the Viggen for me too.
Then the AI needs to become a lot better at ground attack, especially in high threat environments, using tactics such as pop-up, loft or laydown. Currently air-ground AI really only works in no threat situations or when dive- or level-boming from medium altitude. The current AI concept of doing a low-level attack with retarded bombs is overflying the target at 1’000 ft.
So my wish would be for a major effort in completely overhauling the AI system. That would allow is to get a lot more out of the many planes we already have and that we are still to get.
Agree with lots of the suggestions here. My picks, in no particular order, would be:
Sea Harrier FRS1 - Can’t do the Falklands without them.
Westland Lynx - to fit alongside the UH-1
Sikorsky Seahawk - A Romeo or a Sierra, I’m not proud
Hawker Sea Fury - It had a tail-hook and It shot down a Mig 15 over Korea, enough said.
SEPECAT Jaguar - The poor man’s Viggen
Dassault Rafale M - An early block aircraft of similar age to our F/A-18C.
Theatres
Timor-Leste - if anyone played AV-8B Harrier Assault in the 90’s you’ll understand.
Northern Sea of Japan - Just an excuse to get Japanese Phantom’s and Eagles in game.
Ecuador and Peru - @near_blind really wants that Cenepa War scenario.
Baltic coast of Sweden - The Viggen really needs a place to stretch it’s legs.
