Note about poll. Your choice isn't permanent and won't lock you down in any way. It's there to get a number count so that we can see how many are interested in doing one of the options. The options for being a tail gunner or controlling ground forces is there for those that are not interested in flying but are willing to participate through other means. Those who have marked themselves as pilot will still be able to play those roles when they want to. Again, tt's for keeping track of things and seeing the numbers. Also, the pilot options is for both fixed wing and helicopters. I'm a very large fan of flight sims. Be it flying a biplane over the trenches of the western front, providing close air support in an A-10 or transporting troops with an UH-1H. I find that all of it have it's own charm that makes it enjoyable. Ofcourse i want to do this with all of you. Afterall, you are my favorite group of people on the vastness that is the internet. Therfore i'm creating the Skjaldborg Virtual Flight Squadron. The idea is to gather up those interested and start practicing togheter. Once we feel we are ready, we will start going to online server for both PVP and PVE missions. While we might be more focused on the combat side of things there is still space to do civilian flights aswell. Now, since this is about planes/helicopters it does tend to require that you know how to fly one. If you don't know how to fly, don't worry. As long as you are interested and willing to learn. There will be instructors to help you along the way. From setting up controls, telling you what happens when you move the stick in that direction. To teaching you bombing, air combat manoeuvring (ACM) and formation flying. Enough interest and we will possibly even do a flight school. This is just the start and more information will appear later as we see where this goes. Now about games, these are the ones we will most likely use. Modern - Digital Combat Simulator (DCS) WW2 - IL-2: Battle of Stalingrad and it's expansions WW1 – Rise of Flight DCS have 2 planes avaible for free aswell as the black sea map. Rise of Flight have 3 planes avaible for free and several maps. War Thunder can also work. It's an ok game from a flight sim perspective. What it lacks in simulation it makes up for with the amount of content that it have. I always like to use videos to show things. So here are some. Things aren't always serious My favorite
I don't know how i forgot something so important that is coming in the future for DCS. DCS is adding a "multicrew" system. What it will allow is for example with an F-14A. You will have one player in the front seat acting as the pilot, and one player in the back seat acting as the Weapon System Officer (WSO). This will also be avaible for helicopters like the upcoming Mi-24P . What this means is that there will be alot more options in what to do for those that doesn't want to be the one flying.
If anyone is interested in learning to fly in any of the models in DCS or even IL-2 I can work to help you on that, Aspius can also do that with a number of the DCS modules and all the IL-2 and RoF modules. So if you ever thought that you wanted to try one of these out but were concerned about being able to learn them we would love to help you with it. While the trainers in DCS are the best to start with, any of the FC3 aircraft are also good starting points to learn before diving into the study sim level modules like the MiG-21, A-10C, AJS-37, Mirage 2000. That is not to say that all of the study level sims should be avoided or learned afterwards, I jumped directly to them myself, and while still learning them, they are a joy to play with. IL-2 Battle of Moscow is currently on sale for 50% off if you have thought about it and wanted to get it, this is a great time. https://il2sturmovik.com/store/battle-of-moscow/ Speaking of DCS: I can recommend is moving any steam DCS keys over to the standalone version from Eagle Dynamic's site if you still can. They are splitting the two game versions between the standalone and steam. The standalone version has a number of benefits with adding 3rd party modules, both official and community made ones as well as having the latest updates pushed to it constantly. They have been going to where if you buy on one platform you are locked to that platform so be sure you know which one you want to play on before you invest in modules from here on out. (also they do a lot more sales on the DCS site than they do on the steam store, so if you want to save money its the way to go) Currently multi crew is implemented in a couple of DCS aircraft with more to come, the L-39 Albatross advanced trainer and light attack aircraft as well as the SA342 Gazelle helicopter are supporting it. The Hawk from VEAO had the ability to have a second pilot riding in the back seat with no controls but that was broken during and update and subsequently removed. With VEAO pulling out of DCS, there is question if the Hawk will ever actually be completed, so buying with the thought that will have the advanced flight model worked out and completely working feature set is a risky prospect. My general rule of thumb is that unless you just want to look at the model and are OK with it being unfinished, only buy it if it is on sale for at least 50% off and you already have bought every other module for DCS. As Aspius mentioned in his latest update in the Combat Flight Sim thread, there are a number of upcoming DCS modules with multi crew, or existing modules that will have it added to them. This should include the C-101 EB & CC, F-14 A & B Tomcat, F-4E Phantom, Bo-105, AT-29B Super Tucano, UH-1 Huey, and Mi-24P Hind. There has been some thought that the Mi-8 may have it added down the road as well.
For those of you who are interested, is there a specific game/era that you prefer? I want us to have a clear idea of what game we are starting with, so that those who have not invested will know where they should start. From there we can slowly expand to the other games aswell. Speaking of sales, DCS is having up to 50% off on most products until 23 october. https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/shop/modules/
Ok Aspius, I have now read the thread. Definitely interested but will need to sort a few things out wrt timing and availability. Really like the idea of multi-crew planes like the F-14!
It looks like we will be focusing on DCS. It seems to be the sim that have caught the most attention so far. I have also started planning a training session. No experience or prior knowledge is required. We will start with going through the controlls & key bindings. I know from personal experience that it can be hard to tell what you need. Will also recommend which one you should rebind. From there, we will go step by step with helping you to learn what is needed.
So i haven't said anything about this in a while but this is still a thing. The big thing right now is waiting for the release of DCS 2.5 which is scheduled for the end of january as that will bring some big improvements.
Now that DCS 2.5 is so close, i'm wondering about what aircraft/helicopter that people are interested in flying of those that are avaible in the game. Personally, i'm most interested in these: L-39ZA F-5E M2000C AV-8B Plus the F-4E and F/A-18C when they get released.
Still primarily flying the M2000C when im in DCS, need to spend some time learning the Viggen, looking forward to the SLUFF. Most of my time lately has been playing around in IL-2 with the unprofessionals or instructing fixedwing for Arma Flight school
We have a squadron crest and "fake" history i made awhile ago btw. Might be something there to incorporate: more info here: http://www.theskjaldborg.com/index.php?threads/flight-regiment-no-23-the-skjaldborg.8708/ Im interested in taking part, but would prefer we stick to inexpensive games.
That would be great, Currently the games highest on our list is Digital Combat Simulator (DCS) and what is now called IL-2 Great Battle Series (IL-2 Battle of Stalingrad and so on). DCS is the only one that have a free plane available while IL-2 Great Battle Series requires you to buy one of the battles that are available. If you have any questions or need help with anything you can always ask me or MH.
This is still a thing and we are still waiting for it to leave open beta which is soon. They are currently working on fixing the loading time, memory leaks, and performance issues they have with 2.5
I would like to have a meeting with everyone interested after our monthly meeting. We would discuss things about what we are going to do, what we play and our goals.
The game we have chosen to use is IL-2: Battle of Stalingrad. We feel its the best choice with it being very realistic while still being accessible without requiring a massive amount of time to practice. https://il2sturmovik.com/about/ The combined name for all the version is IL-2: Great Battles Series There are currently 3 versions of the game covering different battles, they all use the same client and are compatible with each other. The 3 battles they cover are Stalingrad, Moscow and Kuban. If you buy from their webbsite you can use any version but if you buy from Steam then you must buy Battle of Stalingrad. They currently have 3 things in development for the future. "Battle of Bodenplatte", "Flying Circus - Volume 1" (WW1 planes) and "Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka". More info here: https://il2sturmovik.com/news/360/announcing-battle-bodenplatte-flying-circus-tank-c/ More info will come on when we do start flying but the idea is that it will be soon.
