There are many reasons to criticize ED, or even to give up on DCS for a while, perhaps even for good. But to be fair, "why is release of X module taking so long" doesn't really count among them in my opinion. Yes, it is frustrating, I got frustrated a few times for it myself, but if I look at it with a cool head, it is what it is, and it takes as long as it takes.

I am a coder too, but it is slowly progressing from "I am" to "I was", as I am not doing it full time anymore. But I do know how development goes, and even with years of experience, it is very hard to come up with a halfway accurate estimation, more so as the project gets more complex. In a sense, longer it takes the better, when it comes to DCS modules, because the earlier it is released, the further away it tends to be from the real thing, or at least a stable product. Hearsay has it, that the Hornet may release into early access first with air to air and unguided air to ground weapons, with advanced weapons being added with patches. That's just hearsay but, I hope it is not true. Mirage 2000 was not even worthy of Alpha title when it was first released in my opinion. The modules that took their time before the release, were all in a much more enjoyable state when they came.

Screenshots that look "complete" does not show us anything about progress, aside from the visual aspect of thing, but even then, for sake of a promotional screenshot a non-complete thing maybe hacked together to "looking good" state, and then re-done.

Majority of us have been here for many years, so I guess it is time we pick up the pattern with development times and accuracy of estimations by now, and adjust our expectations accordingly . Really folks, I know the wait is frustrating but, let the cook it well rather than serving a botched dish, even though we're frsutratingly hungry for some of the modules.

Alright, let the flak commence now .

To balance it out though, let me say that at this point I am a bit sour with ED for a few of their decisions, and won't be supporting their in house products for a while, probably even including the hornet, as much as I'm interested in it. At this point the only ones I'll buy directly would be the Belsimtek, and after careful consideration of how a release looks, I can give Heatblur and Leatherneck a chance too. Don't really have too positive an impression about Razbam, but they have many aircraft I am interested in, so after some consideration I may consider buying some of their future products too.

Rather than module release timelines, I'd really wish that ED would pick up the pace with fixing some years old core sim issues, take care of lousy frame rates, focus on unifying the versions etc. These are the things that are putting off from DCS even when I try to enjoy it again.

Thanks for weighing in, WinterH! I hope you realize that my "why is release of X module taking so long?" has really stopped being an actual question and is really more rhetorical. I'm just emphasizing that we don't have X module yet even after all this time.


Hmmm... I would say it is not up to us to "pick up the pattern with dev times" but rather the responsibility falls with ED to learn how to do this.... and how to communicate properly with their customer base. They've been in this business for god-knows-how-long and surely they should be able to give realistic projections on delivery dates....


True! The issue here, however, is that you're here waiting patiently for your dish.... and then you see the next table get their meal.... and then you see someone else gets theirs despite coming into the restaurant well after you did... after a while, it becomes a challenge to stay patient

There's an expression back home that roughly translates to "Are they still raising the calf that they'll slaughter later on so that I can get my steak?"


Heatblur is doing the Tomcat, so I'll give them a try. My resolve with the Hornet is waving.... I'd want to see more carrier ops and A-G radar ops to strengthen my commitment. I'm not bothered with basic A-G munitions as I find them more challenging to deliver accurately so I can have more fun with that --- but the accurate delivery of dumb bombs needs a good A-G radar.


A lot of us will +1 you on those issues too!