Sunday, November 13, 2011

DCS Black Shark 2 - My Shark is Short on Sensors (and Targets)

I learnt about the DCS Black Shark 2 upgrade at SimHQ.com. The upgrade was a surprise to many, including myself. I have been aching to get back into the Ka-50 for a while and now I have the perfect excuse.


Yesterday I took off to a CAS mission to find out how much my rotary wing skills have rusted.


All cleared to start engines at a tiny airbase near the border with Chechnya.
The "office". Automatic start procedure for me fellows. :)
Rotor RPMs (gauge in the bottom) is for helicopter pilots what airspeed is for fixed wing pilots. Note how the Ka-50 has two needles (one for each rotor).
Take off, making sure I had the right forward speed.
Searching for dismounted insurgents near the target area (Surkhakhi).
I guess I have grown spoiled by the luxury IR sensors in the A-10C. The Ka-50, with its TV based sensor that can magnify up to 73X, is no slouch. But I just couldn't acquire the dismounts.

Returning to base and on final for a roll-in landing in the runway.
I landed a with a tad too much vertical speed and I blew my rear tires.
Not bad for a first mission after a long time. Couldn't find my targets, though. Sure the Ka-50 can use a FAC. I'm off to find out if the new editor allows for that.

Cheers,

4 comments:

RangerX3X said...

This was a missed opportunity by DCS. Instead of working on a patch for the game and calling it an upgrade to justify the gaul to charge for it, they should have went a completely different route and made an actual Apache sim.

kylania said...

I absolutely love the new Black Shark 2. It's absolute quality.

As for it being just a patch, this is a huge change to the game. Play some BS1 then try BS2 and try to call it just a patch. :)

Also, those are the Engine RPM gauges. :) One for each engine. The rotor RPM gauge is on the other side cockpit. I'm been having a hell of time with them myself since when rotor RPM gets to high they tend to rip themselves from your helicopter, which never ends well. I've had three missions scrubbed so far with that happening. :( Only tore the wings off my A-10C once in comparison!

Coolts said...

Automatic start-up? Wuss ;)

Flying BS2 online tonight. It's brought me back to the game. I would kill for a proper IR TGP upgrade though!

Anonymous said...

Just FYI... if you didn't know, more coming...

"In the coming months we plan to release several new projects. While we wish to have open communications with our customers and let them know of our planned projects, please understand that plans often change due to unforeseen circumstances. The below list is a road map of our intentions and not a promise of things to come. As each product nears completion and feature lists are finalized, more details will be provided.

1- Combined Arms. This $19.99 add-on will allow A-10C, Black Shark 2, and Flaming Cliffs 3 owner to act as ground force commanders as the mission is running. Users can direct ground units, set fire missions for artillery/multiple rocket launchers, and take the role of a Joint Terminal Air Controller (JTAC). As the JTAC, players will have night vision goggles, IR pointer, laser designator, and Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR). Several other new items are still being considered. Combined Arms will work in both single player and multiplayer missions.

2- Flaming Cliffs 3. This will be a paid-for update to the Flaming Cliffs series and brings it to the same world, mission editor, AI, units, etc. as A-10C and Black Shark 2. We plan to include several upgrades to the aircraft, a resource management system, and several other new features. This will also make Flaming Cliffs online compatible with A-10C and Black Shark 2. Pricing will depend on what new features are included.

3- Nevada map. This will be a $19.99 add-on that will be compatible with A-10C, Black Shark 2, and FC3. Users that purchased the A-10C beta will get this map for free.

4- The first "DCS Flying Legends" aircraft will be released in the first half of 2012.

5- The next US fixed wing jet DCS aircraft is being worked on in parallel.

For Combined Arms and the Nevada map, a single purchase will allow these add-ons to work with A-10C 1.1.1.0, Black Shark 2, and FC3.
More information, visit: www.digitalcombatsimulator.com