Modern Air Combat by Eagle Dynamics

Probably worth a topic in its own right. The following lifted from the newsletter here.

Modern Air Combat by Eagle Dynamics Coming this Autumn!

Developed by the same studio that brought you the wildly successful Lock On, Modern Air Combat (MAC) brings you one game with 14 unique combat aircraft to own the sky! MAC aircraft include:

F-15C Eagle. US air superiority fighter with 104 kills to 0 losses record.
Su-27 Flanker B. Russia’s dominate heavy air superiority fighter.
Su-33 Flanker D. The Russian navy’s carrier capable version of the Flanker B.
Flanker B+. The Chinese version of the Flanker B, with R77 active homing missiles.
MiG-29 Fulcrum A. Russia’s widely exported light air superiority fighter.
MiG-29S Fulcrum C. The modernised version of the Fulcrum with latest weapons and defences.
A-10A Warthog. The USAF’s massively successful ‘flying tank’, designed to kill ground targets.
Su-25A Frogfoot. Russia’s primary ground attack and close air support jet.
Su-25T Frogfoot. A modernised version of the Frogfoot with enhanced sensors and weapons.
F-86F Sabre. America’s iconic top fighter during the Korean War.
MiG-15bis Fagot. Russia’s 1st generation jet fighter that opposed the Sabre over Korea.
F-5E Tiger II. The US light-weight fighter that has been operational since the Vietnam War and operated by over 30 countries.
MiG-21bis Fishbed. Russia’s most successful fighter of the Vietnam war. A supersonic fighter that closely matches the Tiger II.
L-39ZA. A Czech designed, two seat trainer that was then adapted to a light attack aircraft.

Each aircraft’s flight model, sounds, external model and cockpit is recreated to an exceptional level of detail and accuracy. Great care has been given to offer scalable gameplay that suits your personal levels and wishes. This includes intuitive and consistent keyboard controls between aircraft, selectable difficulty settings, option for more forgiving flight dynamics, and even the ability to fly these aircraft with just your keyboard.

As with Lock On and the Flaming Cliffs series, MAC is focused on east and west counterpart aircraft, and this includes such legendary match-ups such as the Eagle and Flanker, Warthog and Frogfoot, Sabre and MiG-15bis, and the F-5E and MiG-21bis. MAC is a blend of both east and west, and this allows you to re-fight historical conflicts from the Korean War to today, and to create your own “what-if” missions.


You can generate an unlimited number of missions using the Fast Mission Creator and Mission Editor. MAC also includes numerous instant action and single missions, as well as campaigns for most of the aircraft and is fully compatible with DCS World online! There are no limits to content.

In addition to the full Caucasus map, MAC also includes a limited part of our Nevada and Persian Gulf maps.

Key Features of MAC:

  • 14 exceptional combat aircraft from the United States, Russia, China and Czech Republic.
  • Shallow learning curve with consistent key controls between aircraft, and easy to fly with just a keyboard.
  • Professional level flight models, but with option for forgiving flight dynamics.
  • Play instant action, single missions and campaigns for most aircraft in single player or fly online.
  • Supports Virtual Reality like Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality.
  • Includes the Caucasus map and portions of Nevada and the Persian Gulf.
  • Purchase MAC aircraft individually or as a pack at a reduced price.
  • Flaming Cliffs 3 owners can purchase the MAC pack at a great discount.


Here’s the trailer:

Non-obvious things for existing DCS World owners:

  • It’s a module, not a separate game. Name makes more sense than flaming lips 4 or something.
  • The previews of the other maps are single player only.
  • It’s aimed at people wanting to get into modern, um, air combat.
2 Likes

I don’t particularly understand what a consumer would get out of simplified versions of four aircraft that are already very simple to operate, but I also understand I’m not the targeted market :man_shrugging:

That dedicated is extremely welcome news, here’s hoping it doesn’t meet any roadblocks :+1:

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Is this FC4? The only one of those I don’t own is the Fagot. I’m curious to see how the Fishbed works out. If the discount is enough (like a $10 price for FC3 owners) I might pick it up to be able to get the mig 15 and have a mig 21 that is not constantly being broken.

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As far as I can tell, this is FC4

Looks like it will have some sort of map demo for NTTR and PG. Will be interesting to see how it plays out, especially in the online atmosphere. If the map portions are single player only, I think that would be a good idea to add to the free base game, try to get some people to try the new maps.

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Yes, more or less this is an FC3 upgrade to FC4. And the maps are only single player, and right now only for the MAC pack.

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I think that this makes sense and there is a good mix of fixed wing aircraft in there to make it interesting for new players. Hope this does well!

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It’s a good idea. Nice use of existing assets than fills a gap in the market. The unified keyboard commands, simplified avionics if wanted and some action/hollywood missions bundled in then it’ll sell like hot cakes on Steam hopefully. For those that want more in terms of switchology then there’s a nice path to go spend some more dough.

5 Likes

Coming here to check on this… now this is what I like… sure I have most of those high end planes, but rarely fly them, personally for ME, I prefer this middle ground…

Now my question, didn’t understand when I saw the video… is this a complete stand-alone game, or one Hugh module for DCS world?

THX.

1 Like

If it makes more people divert their cash towards ED, and maybe even find their way over to the dark side of hardcore flightsims, it’s all good.

Let’s face it. Most gamers don’t buy programmable HOTAS hardware, and spend hours and days, figuring out the start up procedures for simulated aircraft.

Nor do they hang around forums like Mudspike, I’m afraid…
But hey, let’s see if we can reel some of them in. :fishing_pole_and_fish:

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A big ol’ module I believe.

For me this is a great (and hopefully cheap) way to check out the Mig-15, Mig-21, and L-39 along with NTTR and the PG. Sure the full fidelity module will be a different experience, but if the fundamental flight experience of one of the birds just doesn’t grab me I know I probably wont enjoy the FF module.

3 Likes

Great news. It will be great for someone who played Strike Fighters series and was too afraid to dive into full blown modules of DCS World. Also it’s nice they got back to Modern Air Combat title (seems like the Ubisoft licence expired as IIRC they own the right to that name since 2003), Flaming Cliffs was a bit confusing for someone not familiar with the series history.

For me it will be great way of checking out the planes I don’t own like F-5, F-86, MIG-15, MIG-21 and L-39 (though in their simplified mode).

4 Likes

THIS!
I would personally like to thank @NineLine and all at ED! This is a great idea and I can’t wait to buy it.

As I accumulate games and modules I don’t really have all that time to learn new study-modules but with this I can easily approach the MiG 15 and 21 that always interested me a great deal but for both price and Full-Blown study features scared me off enough to the point of not buying them.

I personally love the idea. Way to go!

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Is it confirmed those modules will be simplified? Because they are pretty simple already, especcially if you start them with the “startup” key command :sunglasses:

MAC & Me cover art early look…

image

:wink:

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I got the impression that the changes are:

  • An addition of a simplified avionics mode flight model (as in they still have the Pro/Advanced Flight Model thingy if you want it).
  • Removal of cockpit mouse interaction for the DCS lobotomized versions (i.e. the DCS Tiger II to be turned into the MAC Tiger II will get the clickable cockpit code removed).
  • Common keyboard commands throughout the package, so you don’t have to rebind between them all per MAC aircraft.
  • ‘Sampler’ other maps included in the module, i.e. a bit of Vegas etc.

I guess for stuff like the MiG-21bis there will be a ‘U’ undercarriage key, while the existing module you can press 15 keys in sequence to simulate locking gear, moving gear, breaking gear on landing etc.

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:frowning:

One additional thought - if this is the Modern Air Combat module package, then this leaves the door nicely open for perhaps a WWII Air Combat new module (or Warbirds Air Combat sounds nice too), with lite versions of the P-51, Spitfire, 109, 190 etc. done in a similar manner.

Not sure how the packaging of the WWII Assets Pack or Normandy would work, but I could picture a bunch of stuff bundled in, in a similar way a sampler of Nevada and Persian Gulf got put into MAC.

So MAC and then WAC one day?

No clicky clicky. For some, that is very daunting to learn all that. FC3 is a very popular module, one of the top selling ones for ED, I am sure this will be as well.

4 Likes