For this week’s update, we are pleased to show some initial renders of the Ju-88 medium bomber of the Luftwaffe. The Ju-88 will be a welcome addition to the DCS World War II battlefield as both a target or an asset to defend.
As part of our efforts to improve and create a more complete World War II experience in DCS World, we continue to add new ground units to the DCS: World War II Assets Pack.
Today, we have Work-In-Progress images of German telemeter KDO Mod. 40 in development.
The Kommandogerät 40 is an anti-aircraft fire director used principally for major caliber weapons such as the 8.8 cm FlaK 36 and 10.5 cm FlaK 40. The director is basically an analog computer that uses visual observation to solve the firing parameters.
The director computes continuously by using a target speed and angle of approach method, and can handle diving and curving target courses. The time from initial pickup to first round is estimated to be 20 or 30 seconds. When shifting to a new target in the vicinity of the target previously tracked and flying an approximately parallel course, as little as 10 seconds may be required.
Since the initial Early Access release of the DCS: Normandy 1944 Map, we and Ugra Media have been working on several improvements to increase its enjoyability and increase its accuracy. In addition to further refining the map for improved performance, we have made the following improvements:
Region and period correct water towers
Region and period correct wind mills and increased the population of them across the map
Farm houses interspersed in countryside areas
Several variation of bridges that match the region and time period
Removed brick buildings from the Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) airfields
Concrete runways for correct airfields
Improve beach transition
Here is the image showing one of these new objects that we hope to release soon.
Another new unit being developed for the DCS: World War II Assets pack is the Sd.Kfz.7. This was a very versatile unit for German forces and had multiple uses during the war. For its initial appearance in DCS World, it will act as an artillery tractor.
I am happy to be able to give you a small update on the new Damage Model ED has been working hard on. An early version has now been submitted to ED internal testers. As Testing proceeds and all the bugs are squashed, expect some more info to be shared, hopefully some screenshots and/or videos as well!
In our continuing effort to add more content to the World War II Assets Pack, several new AI-only aircraft are in development. These include the Ju-88, A-20, and C-47.
The Junkers Ju-88 was a German, twin-engined medium bomber. Over 16,000 were produced and ranged in roles including bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, torpedo bomber, and others.
The Douglas A-20 Havoc/Boston was a United States light bomber that was flown by several allied nations during WWII. The A-20 was a very versatile aircraft with good speed and maneuverability for a light bomber.
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain was a work horse for the allies in World War II and served as a troop and cargo transport. Also known by the nickname “Gooney Bird”, the C-47 was also instrumental in paratrooper operations.
DCS 2.5.0 opens a new page in DCS development. This is a unified version of the game, which allowed us to combine all the maps in one package. This version includes a significantly improved Caucasus map.
There are three primary components that currently make up the DCS World War II, the Normandy 1944 map, the warbirds, and the World War II Assets Pack. We’d like to update you on each of these:
DCS: Normandy 1944 Map
Since the map’s release, there have been several improvements like new period objects (windmills, water towers, farm houses, etc.), better beach lines, corrected mesh errors, cleaned up textures, and more detail in the England portion of the map. Currently, Urga Media (the developer) is occupied with their Syria map. However, once the Syria map is complete, we will discuss with them further improvements to the Normandy map like use of speedtrees.
Warbirds
In addition to completing the final touches to the Spitfire (fuel tanks and bombs), our other primary focus has been the P-47D. More so than any other warbird though, this has been the biggest challenge due to the lack of data. Following the war, all wind tunnel and needed flight dynamics data was destroyed. To overcome this, we are using Flow Vision to recreate the needed data. This has proven a long and expensive endeavor. However, to create the detailed flight dynamics that DCS requires, we consider it mandatory.
In consideration of what to work on after the Thunderbolt and Me-262, we asked people to express what they would like to see next, thanks for all the votes, we have submitted the results to the team and will look at what can be done in the future! You can view the results here.
World War II Assets Pack
Many new aircraft and ground units are in development for the DCS World War II Assets Pack and we’ve included images of a few of them in this week’s newsletter. We plan to release the first big update to the pack in June 2018. At that time, the cost of the pack will increase by $5 given the additional content.
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