Recent air combat sim recommendations?

Got an email about this one, looks pretty cool, apparently you’re both pilot and mechanic?

Steam page:

Not sure how arcade-y 303 Squadron will be, but it’s only $13 US to support and there are airplanes in it, so…

I’ll be happier if it’s a pilot sim more than a plane sim, and it looks more in pilot sim territory.

So DCS Hornet is now available for preorder! This will finally be the impetus required to get my lazy ass up off the couch and get VR and my HOTAS setup sorted.

It’s the most excited I have been about simming in years. 2018 just got a whole lot brighter.

So Early Access is six months away. There’s not going to be any missions or campaign, is there? I notice these days they tend to sell them seperately, later. :(

Indeed. But at least they put it up for preorder. I was beginning to think this module had foundered in the Bermuda triangle. As a big fan of the F-18 I take what scraps I can get these days. Not much to be had since the halcyon days of Jane’s F-18…

I thought they just said they were targeting late March for their initial Hornet release.

Soon after 2.5 hits the harrier training stuff should get released. Really looking forward to that.

I’m self-taught so far, and it’s not bad at all. If you’ve spent much cockpit time in Falcon 4 or the A-10, there’s not much you need to learn in terms of concepts. It’s just learning procedures.

yeah, I also need to (re)learn the A-10C. I used to know Falcon 4.0 by heart, but that’s so long ago, it doesn’t count anymore. I really like the DCS interactive lessons. They are the game in it for me atm. But they are all set in the Caucasus, so I’m currently holding off on doing more training on the hog, the viggen, the fishbed and the choppers. Just treading water blasting drones in the planes I know (the FC3 ones, the Mirage and the F-5)

I think that’s still the goal, but now they’ve given themselves an out by saying it will ‘release’ “by the end of Spring”, which is July. :)

Is it better to deal directly with Eagle Dynamics for DCS World stuff, or do they keep Steam pretty much in sync?

I deal direct. Third-party modules usually take a little longer to hit Steam than they do the Eagle Dynamics direct setup, at least.

Yeah same here. In particular the campaigns tend to take an age to release on Steam.

For example, the F-15C Georgian War campaign just hit Steam a few days ago but was available on the ED shop in August last year.

Yep. Buy direct and you get stuff sooner, plus you get credits you can use for future purchases.

Also, more of the money flows into the ED coffers.

What are y’all using for HOTAS controllers nowadays? Having calibration issues with my beloved and discontinued Logitech G940 so starting to look at what’s out there. Doesn’t look like anything new has been released for quite some time. Logitech now owns Saitek, which at least probably means if I bought something from them I wouldn’t be totally screwed if it broke post-warranty like in the previous Saitek regime. But the reviews on the X56 are pretty negative.

So, anything good out there?

Mix and match my friend. I’ve Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 stick, a Saitek X-52 Pro throttle and CH Pro Pedals. It’s great for old games and new because with many old games, you still get all the axes you need on the Sidewinder, but for games that can use multiple devices, using everything is the bees knees.

I’ve been happy with this Thrustmaster:

https://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-T-16000M-FCS-HOTAS-Controller/dp/B01KCHPRXA/ref=sr_1_2?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1516223475&sr=1-2&keywords=thrustmaster

It replaced my Saitek X-52 setup that I had for years.

It also has the same internals (sensors) as the far more expensive HOTAS Warthog set. If you can lay hands on one of those for a fair price (2nd hand perhaps? They are Full metal Awesome and clean up well. In-fucking-destructible) That would be your first choice.