Last night after a short delay (Heatblur requested more time to add on the final sneak peak), we got our annual look at what will and won’t be released this year. Below is my opinion on the video and what I think we can expect this year.
Better Ground/infantry Units
If the video is to be taken at face value, it appears that we are due some updated infantry units for the very least. We see advanced movements and interactions between units and the world around them. Whether this is going to be fully AI or will need human influence (Tell unit to go to X and do Y), it is a huge difference over the level of basic movement the current units we have in game are. It will be interesting as this was such a large part of the footage whether we will see it this year or not. But looking at what they’ve shown it looks pretty far along. It could well lead into and be released concurrently with what I’m going to talk about next….
Dynamic Campaign
We Finally got a look at what a DCS World “Dynamic campaign” might look like. The UI looks neat and easy to understand and the map looks fairly straightforward, as with all things along this route, they could have made it too complicated and complex for newer users to understand and alienate a large part of their user base from using this part of the game.
Modules
A fair few Aircraft modules where on show in this year’s video, 1 that we can almost say is nearing release is the Typhoon. It’s the only jet (unreleased) other than the F-14B(U) that we saw the cockpit of, and if they’re willing to share images of finished cockpits, that’s a sure sign that things are moving forward quickly now for the team.
We also so the F100D by the incredible Grinelli. We have yet to see a full module from this developer, but if his infamous F22A mod is anything to go by and what he created without the full SDK, we can surely expect big things for this module.
We also saw several shots of what I can only assume is the Mirage F1M that’s been teased for a very long time now and the final version we are due to be a playable jet in the Mirage F1 series. It’s been long time coming and nearly two years since the last flyable release from the F1 series. Whilst the Devs are always updating and improving their current line of jets. This final version will be the cherry on the top.
Panavia Tornado. That’s all I can say. Not much shown in this video, but it’s more than we’ve had before. No cockpit shots from what I saw, just some fast external shots with no detailed close ups. This is the jet I’m looking forward to most in the DCS future and I was hoping for more of an update than what we got with this video.
F104?! This is a sort of reveal. Though it’s been known for a long time that this is coming. But from what I’ve seen it’s not had an official announcement. It’s a cool old jet and I’m sure will scratch someone’s itch. But not mine. With limited role capability and poor flight in general. The flying coffin can stay as one for other people.
Easter Eggs and Teasers.
Now, I’m not the most observant of people. But on a second watch I noticed that there’s a few shots of what looks like a C17 Globemaster? At first I wrote it off as the C130 until the engines came into shot. So, is this going to be an AI module that’s well overdue for the AI world building capabilities and if so, will we see more aircraft along this line.
Dassault Rafale… That’s all we know for now, we know it’s an official Dassault release and that HeatBlur are stretching themselves even thinner with apparently another module when they have so many unfinished products already it makes me wonder if they’re taking on staff for these extra projects and or what is going to suffer.
What we didn’t see….
One thing we didn’t see any mention of, at all, in this year’s video was the hotly debated F35A module as touted in the 2025 and beyond video. Does this mean they overstretched and it’s no longer coming?! I wouldn’t think so. It’s probably more the case they’re realising how much work it’s involved that they are in no position to share any kind of gameplay videos. It’ll sit in the background I’m sure, perhaps like the MiG-29A, it will be a shock release when no one was expecting it.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read my ravings. If you like what you read, we tend to post on a month by month basis and whilst it’s mainly aimed at our own Flight Community, we will start posting more varied DCS related content as well.
Joe ‘RedBear’ Couzens-Howard
Owner/Creator of Virtual Air Fighters