Computer game Review DCS

 

So I know its been quiet of late on the blog. Bur I am working on this, a couple of Napoleonic units, but it's slow going as I've been completely hooked on DCS.

When I wrote a review of IL2 flying circus, I said DCS was too complex for me, and it still kinda is. But I hunkered down and really studied the stuff, I also jumped through a million hoops to get the game to run ok, I fresh install of Windows, and various other tricks did the stuff, and I finally got it playable. 

I've been completely absorbed by the game, since I wrote the IL2 review I've played DCS for over 100 hours.


So what is DCS?

DCS(Digital Combat simulator) is a "free to play" game, not really free as I'll explane.

The base game is free, you get 2 maps, Caucasus, a big map of Georiga, and the black sea,  the oldest map, now almost a decade old, it had gotten plenty of updates since then, but graphically the simplest map. You also get the Marianas map, which just came out a few weeks ago, mostly water designed for carrier operations, it included the islands of Guam, Rota, Tinian, Saipan, It will get a WW2 version. 

Also with the free game comes to planes, but before we get to that, a short explanation of the planes in the game. 

The game comes with 2 types of planes, the "low-fidelity" or Flaming cliffs 3(FC3) planes, these are actually from an older game, that has been ported over to DCS and given a physics and graphical grade, they use the same flight model as the newer planes, but the cockpit is static and the graphics are a little lower in quality. You can still fly and shoot and bomb etc, but everything must be done with button presses on the keyboard to joystick, etc. 

The other is the "high-fidelity" planes, these are all the newer stuff made for DCS, the graphics are better, they are far more complex and every button, knob, and switch in the game is clickable, not everything works, but in most planes, 95% of the systems are there. Here you can dive deep into all systems and subsystems of the plane.


So the free game comes with two planes, one is the Su-25T one of the FC3 planes, so it's simpler in operation, but all weapons, etc work, I believe you also have a campaign and various missions to play, this is the best taste of the game you get for free, and you can use this playing online.

The other plane is a TF-51 Mustang a none combat P51, but this one is high-fidelity, and so will give you a taste of how the proper planes are, you can click and manipulate all the stuff in the cockpit, you can start it up from cold, turning on the engine like in the real mustang, etc. You need to control the power of the engine during flight to avoid breaking it. But it has no weapons or gun sight. 

You also have full access to the mission editor. 

That's what you get for free, everything else cost money, sometimes quite a lot of money. 

Other maps avalable for purches is

Nevada test and training map, a map of parts of Nevada, Utah,  Arizona and California.
Persian Gulf, a map of well Persian gulf, centered on  Strait of Hormuz., with UAE, Iran and Oman, with cities like Dubai etc. 

Syria, one of the newer maps, I'll quite directly from the store page what this map has.

This 900x500 km map covers most of the eastern Mediterranean, and it includes the island of Cyprus, Lebanon, a large part of Syria up to the border with Iraq, parts of Israel, Turkey, and Jordan. The cities of Damascus, Nicosia, Tripoli, Latakia, Tartus, Homs, Aleppo, Hama, Palmyra, Haifa, Acre, Beirut and Adana are simulated, as well as unique constructions of world famous landmarks and historical monuments.

You also have two WW2 maps.

Normandy, as you'd except covers Normandy, Cherbourg peninsula, and the land behind the beaches. 
With airfields in England and France. 

The Channel, also deals with Southern England and Northern France but further east with Dover and Calais, this is a fantastic map with the town of Dover looking fantastic. 
Each map cost around $50


Then you have all the planes, too many to mention them all but Mig21, Viggen, F16, F18, F14, F5, Mirage 2000 to name but a few, you also have helicopters like the Huey, Hind, Ka-50 "Black Shark, and soon Apatche. 

WW2 is covered with P51 Mustang(the one that got weapons) P47 Thunderbolt, Spitfire IX LW, Messerschmitt 109K4 Kurfyrst, Fw190A-8 Anton and Fw190D-9 Dora, and in about half a month the Mosquito FB VI. 

The planes cost between 40 and 80 dollars, depending on how new they are, each plane is made with input from the makers of the plane, technicians, pilots, etc. There is a lot of work going into each plane. so don't think of it like spending $80 on parts of a game, if you spend $80 on the F16, you got a full-blown super-accurate F16 simulator, each plane is a simulator in on itself. 

Besides the planes and maps, you also have "asset packs" like the WW2 asset pack, which adds WW2, infantry, tanks, planes, guns, and ships. And these packs continue to be updated with new assets. 
You also have Supercarrier, a fully working American supercarrier with a working deck crew. And you also have combined arms pack that lets you control ground and sea units. 

And finally the campaigns, these are more in the $10-15 range and worth it if you like well-made missions. 

It's hard to explain just how fantastic this game is when you get the hang of it. A so-called "study sim" where you spend a lot of time just learning the systems. 

I keep jumping between modern and WW2. 



I spent quite a lot of time on the F18 but found its systems confusing, I then spent a lot of time on the F16, making my own super simple missions to learn one and one system, while watching videos on youtube showing how to do it. 

I play exclusively in VR but you don't need it to play, it just enhances it soo much.

I'll let videos do some of the talking, here I am on the deck of a supercarrier in my F18, sitting there in VR seeing those F18 taking off right in front of me is probably one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. 

After getting too confused by the F18, I went back to the F16, as a Norwegian it holds a special place for me. 

I made a series of "training missions" A trilogy, where I pretended to save my Friend Sven who lives on Cyprus from evil Russians. 

In the first missions, the evil Russians have stopped right outside of Limassol, they have plenty of trucks full of chemical agents. I need to take them all out, And this shows the effect of dropping 12 250lb bombs in ripple mode. 

In the second part of the "Save Sven" trilogy, the Russians have snuck in armor and infantry, since they are within his neighboorhood, I must use "smart bombs" 

And finally, the Russians have gone full out, a full platoon of infantry, and armor are about to attack his house, and this time they have a SAM site ready to try and stop me from saving Sven. 
Let's just say, this time I made absolutely sure they would not come back by going totally overkill with 6 CBU-97 bombs. 

I played with the F16 a lot and got decent at it. Starting to understand the systems, But playing in VR I have a hard time using the keyboard, I needed more buttons. So I've invested in the full Winwing system, It comes with a 1:1 F18 stick and throttle, as well as man buttons on the throttle part, I also got the Take off-panel and combat panel, giving me easy buttons and levers for landing gear, laser etc. Even though the panel is modeled on the F18 it works fine on the F16 or whatever else you want to use. 


I also spent 8 bucks on Voice attack, letting me control stuff with my voice, in theory, you can use your voice to activate any system in the planes, but I only use it for communicating with ground and wingmen, and for controlling menus and views and map. This means I can no completely forget about the keyboard when I play. 

I have now gone back to WW2, I wanted to wait until I got my spitfire flight controls, but I couldn't wait. So I jumped back. 

Making some fun missions.

Like attacking a German airfield, The editor is incredibly powerful letting you do so much. 

This video shows how I've managed to program 12 B17s to fly and carpetbomb. 

And of late I've been practicing dogfighting in WW2. 

After trying and trying to get the hang of the P51, I just can't fly it the way I want, its style of flight doesn't match what I want to do. 

So I went back to the good old Spitfire. not as fast as the P51, but the Spit lets me do what I want it to do(most of the time)


Here I am in the most classic of all of history's aerial duels, the Spitfire vs the Bf109, the Bf109K-4 is very very late warplane and actually superior to the IX spitfire in most ways, only the ludicrous turning rate is better in the spit. You can also download missions, skins, and even planes for free made by modders. I've naturally used Norwegian skins on my F16 and on the Spitfire. 

Another dogfight this time 3 vs 3. I end up cutting the 109 in half, I still stuck at Aerial gunnery, it just takes a lot of practice. 

I recommend this game to anyone interested in WW2 or modern(or cold war) air combat. It's not an action game, this is as hardcore as a simulator you are gonna get outside of actual airforces. 

A few warings-

1: you need a HOTAS, (stick and throttle) playing this with a mouse and keyboard or a gamepad is technically possible but just no, even a $100 one will improve the experience enormously. 
2: Even without VR the game demands a lot of the computer, a 5-year-old family computer won't do it, And in VR we are talking $2500 level computer.
3. STEEP learning curve, if you are a bit more technical in the head than me, it will go easier for you, but I'm "easily confused" by complex systems. So while I can keep an aircraft in the air without much difficulty, actually controlling the systems is harder, if you keep to WW2, a lot of this goes away, the most complex part there is the start-up(which you can skip) and a little when it comes to managing the engines, but the warbirds are much harder to fly, I mean you can't do what you want with them, A spit will blow its engine if you fly straight up for 10 seconds, a Fw190 or P47 will stall its wings if you do even a half hard turn. But they are a joy to fly. And if you like systems upon systems, you have the F18 or F16s, Or maybe you want to jump into the 50s nostalgia with the Mig 15 or Mig 17. 
4. This is a hobby by itself, As of now, this is the only game I have installed on my computer. 

I haven't been this hooked on a game since my early teens(which is now over 20!!! years ago) this is really the flight sim one dreamed of when you played games like Microsoft combat flight simulator or F16 fighting falcon. 

If you are interested I recommend you get the free game from https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/ 
You have a lot of good deals there, like the ability to try any plane or helicopter for free for 2 weeks, after two weeks you can try any other plane for 2 weeks, that way you can try them all before buying. 
They also have a loyalty thing, where each purchase gives you credit, that you can use later, so if you buy 3 plans, the 4th one will be at a decent discount. 


Buy Buy!!! 

I'll try and get back to the scheduled programing soon.