Look on the bright side......this module will only take 6 and a half years to fix when 2.5 breaks it on its release in 10 years time.

I'd rather trap my knob in the armoury door than accept payware piece-meal modules. ED can ram it.

I've no problem with such addons. There is no sensible requirement that products offered appeal to me by content or price. What I fear is that patch content is conflated with new product content such that patch content is sidelined or conflated with additional product like the patch for Black Shark which was mixed with a little new content to confuse the issue and resold as Black Shark 2.

Maybe they did some work for a military contract and it's some kind of byproduct?

Jens

What do you use this product for in game? I know its GPS but what is their intent with the aircraft? Is it just fluff?

Its an excuse. Its so they can say "we havent fixed X because we were developing this #%&*$#" Its not like they dont have many other things on their to do list that have been paid for already. "Nah were not going to fix this yet because our sales have shown that that product had reached its sales peak a long time ago. So we'll develop a freakin GPS see how that sells, if it doesnt sell well we'll charge them for the use of the F10 map."

Why work on 'high priorities' like the 2.5 merger because that will be released and not directly generate any funds..........they're more interested in getting payware modules out and are really going to town on campaigns because they are easy money-spinners.

However, ED will need to revisit these after 2.5 is released because they will all be broken and will need patching. The more content and campaigns released before 2.5 arrives means more to re-test, and more to fix.....but ED won't be taking that into account because they don't appreciate nor plan with any logic.....hence why this is a false economy.

DCS has been a massive mess since 2010 after Black Shark morphed into the idea of a 'World' with integrated modules (comical)......they're not suddenly going to change now, but more people are starting to realise their incompetence in everything they do, and every turn they take.

I can't hardly wait for DCS: Left Wing for fixed wing aircraft as long as I don't have to pay for each DCS aircraft

And after this I'll obviously and eagerly wait for the their next module, DCS: Right Wing for fixed aircraft...

I can't believe they are serious

As long as you just want to turn right, you're golden.

Although you might have a fighting chance of flying level if you buy the DCS: Ailleron module, I'm only interested in the 'DCS: Rivets and Bolts' to ensure my chosen airframes don't fall apart on take-off.

they simply offer better option than "F10 F1 F10 F1 stupid cycle" and "spamming MARK in kneeboard" in legacy planes (such as F5) with hopefully, waypoint functionality.

15 for each planes is meh though.



but tbh I wanted to see working JTIDS in eagle instead of putting garmin in it.

I'm looking forward to the day they'll charge you for Garmin map updates!

I can't wait to see the "but this product did not interfere with 2.5 release!" responses... they seem to be a bit slow with this thread....

Truthfully, I was done giving them money. Then I talked myself into NTTR. This is the line in the sand. I'm done and over it.

Noodle, I totally agree with you that this GPS is a very good addition, realistic and useful etc. In fact I was looking forward to it.
However, the reason why many people have concerns has nothing to do with the actual GPS itself, but rather with the business model.

Take FSX for example:
- it's a GA sim
- for ~$50 (upon release) you got a bunch of medium fidelity aircraft
- The whole world, covered in very acceptable (for the time) detail
- Nav aids, ATC, AI traffic, radios, a full simulation of a garmin GPS + glass cockpit
- Dynamic weather

In other words, even without any addons, you have a GA sim with all the tools you need to actually perform a pretty realistic VFR or IFR flight.
It does what it says on the box.

Now take DCS with FC3 addon (this should put it roughly on par with the FSX example):

- it claims to be a combat simulator
- you get the sim for free, but let's say you have to at least buy FC3 to have a bunch of medium fidelity aircraft
- A theater of operations, covered in acceptable detail
- Low-fidelity weapons (A-A missiles, bombs and rockets with no blast radius damage etc)
- No ATC, extremely basic (useless) AI / wingmen / awacs
- No campaigns
- Dynamic weather

So, DCS clearly lacks some of the fundamental parts that constitute a combat flight simulator, and yet we have to pay for extra stuff (or fluff). Makes you think, if they ever make proper A-A missiles, how much are they gonna charge?

"How much is the bean soup?"
"It's $40 sir, and I highly recommend it, it's our specialty"
"Sounds good! I'll have the bean soup then."
"Sure sir, here's your plate with the hot water, already salted, and 2 chickpeas! Oh, by the way, you get the spoon for free! if you want we also have one slice of garlic bread for $14.99"
"I sure like garlic bread, but I don't see any beans in my bean soup!"
"Don't worry sir, the beans are cooking. Would you like to add some pepper to the soup in the meantime? That's only $14.99 if you add it now!"

P.S.

I don't think you have to explain this to Noodle, bkthunder All he's saying is that the Garmin module is useful and that it's used IRL in non-GPS equipped aircraft.

The "bigger picture" of this module being released now in the current ED situation is another matter altogether.

I agree with pretty much everything you said except for the "no campaigns" part in FC3 and also in the "free DCS World" (with the Su-25T).
- FC3 basically brings a campaign for each aircraft (F-15C, A-10A, Mig-29S, Su-25 and Su-27) and two campaigns for the Su-33.
- "Free DCS World" brings one campaign for the Su-25T.

But again, I agree with the rest of what you said.

This is fair critique of DCS, the combat side is pretty shallow and as a mission builder I run into the issue all the time. I'd agree with the statement that DCS isn't truly a combat simulator, but I still think the product offers what is claimed. The issue is there is no strict definition for a combat simulator. DCS offers combat, it's just bad at it. Not something to cheer at obviously, but it doesn't fall into the category of deceptive marketing.

As far as the business model, the reason why there are people failing to understand the negativity toward the GPS (or at least why I'm having a hard time understanding it) is because it doesn't hint at the sim being divided into minute parts that are going to be sold for extraordinary prices. The only real point of concern for me is if you need to buy it multiple times. That would be a very bad deal and not really make much sense. Were that to happen I would understand your viewpoint a little more. As a one time purchase, it falls in line with other products. Take FC3 standalone to represent the price of PFM (~$15), the GPS add on is $15. Together that's $30, which is less than the cost of some ,modules. Throw in another $25 or so for ASM (this "price" would probably vary a bit depending on the module complexity) and then you have something around the cost of a full module.

Let's also not forget all the good deals that ED provided. 2.5 is free but originally required a map purchase to take full advantage of. ED changed this with the updated default map. AFM missiles were provided free, though ED didn't take the guidance side of this into account which really hurt this effort. The alpha branch has introduced AI improvements for free and ATC is planned, although info is TBA. I suppose you could take this as a sign that ED's is changing their product strategy, but it also doesn't look much different from a regular product arrival.


The caveat I'd add here is that the server informed you that if you ordered now it wouldn't be ready.

Well, the server intially told you the meal would be ready in 10 minutes.... however, this happened about an hour ago.
When you ask the server now when your bean soup would be ready, he just shrugs his shoulders and says "due to hostile customer responses, we no longer give estimates on how long it will take before their food is ready."



Indeed, just as Ace Combat and HAWX are also combat flight simulators!



Not sure what you're getting at here... but at this point, we're not even sure if the GPS will work with other aircraft yet, just the Mi-8.



2.5 = irrelevant as it's not out yet
AFM = missiles still broken though
AI improvements = so.... fixing broken stuff means we should be grateful to the devs now?
ATC = irrelevant as it's not out yet

Again, I'm not entirely sure what your point is here. ED fixing things is not a "good deal," every software and game company worth the time of day does this. It is expected of them.

If they were to release DCS: Su-33 along the same fidelity as DCS A10C and make this new module free to all the own the Su-33 standalone or FC3, then **THAT** is a good deal!