Digital Combat Simulator (DCS) Black Shark: First Impressions

A few years back, when "Lock On: Modern Air Combat" was hot out of the oven, I would never had imagined that in the future I would be flying a simulator from Eagle Dynamics with a clickable cockpit. Neither I would have imagined a study simulator nor a helicopter one. Whatever reasons have shaped Eagle Dynamics' choice for this new flight simulator, I am thrilled to see that there are still game developers in the business of making hard core war simulations.


I purchased the english version of Black Shark, available by download. For those who are wary of copy protection schemes, be aware that the english version of Black Shark uses StarForce. I haven't experienced any issues with StarForce: my machine didn't explode and it didn't cause me erectile dysfunction as I read somewhere. Installation was a breeze and setting up my CH HOTAS, pedals and TrackIR4 was very intuitive.


The documentation included with Black Shark is extensive. There are several pdf documents included and the main two are the graphics user interface (GUI) and flight manuals. The 300+ pages of the flight manual may sound daunting, but this is study flight simulator. Both manuals are available for download at ED's website.

Black Shark can be played in two main modes: game and simulator. The differences between both modes are the flight model and the avionics. The player can also customize his experience by choosing what parameters he wants realistic and which ones he wants to be more simplified.

Black Shark is a study simulator. When playing in simulator mode, the avionics is extremely detailed and the flight model is unforgiving. There is a lot of learning to do before becoming fully competent at flying and delivering weapons to targets. Below you can see the cockpit of the bird. The red mini-display in the lower left is a simulator aid that shows the position of the cyclic, collective, rudder pedals and throttle. This little thing is very useful because of the trimming system of the Black Shark helicopter (more on that in a future entry).


The level of detail in this flight simulator is quite deep. For starters, the damage model just blows my mind. Besides the very impressive graphical candy (see my bird hit by a radar-guided SAM) in the screen shot below), the simulator models many systems that can be damaged by enemy fire at several points. If you have studied your manual good, you should be able to figure out what was damaged and alleviate the problem to bring back home your bird.




In a future entry, I will point you to some good reviews of this simulator. Also, I will share my experiences flying this simulator.


Cheers,

Close Combat Marines / Combat Mission Shock Force Comparison (Part 3)

Combat Mission Shock Force features a powerful and easy to use map editor. It took me two hours or so to to imitate the Close Combat Marines map. Again, I want to emphasize that I'm not trying to create a 1:1 replica. Although this could be done to a certain extent, it could be labor intensive.

Here is an aerial view of the CMSF map, viewing towards the south-east (image is clickable).


A few minor things to mention at this point:

1. Roads in CMSF can only be laid out at 0, 45, 90, 125, 180, 225 and 270 degrees. Creating a curved road like the one in the CMM map (see previous post) cannot be done in the out-of-the-box CMSF engine. I think there are a couple of mods somewhere that allow this, but for the time being, I'll just use the stock roads.
   
2. In the CMM map, the river bed cuts through the terrain and thus can be used as a concealed approach. Since there are no water tiles in the CMSF engine, I faked this small stream as a relatively narrow, rock-covered cut in the terrain. I think that the tactical value of the stream is preserved in the CMSF map.
3. There is a wire fence at the east extreme of the CMM map. There are no wire fences featured in CMSF, so I used a tall wall instead. It is more cosmetic than anything, to create a certain impression for the player that he is fighting east of the airport. I don't think this shortcoming of the CMSF engine has any tactical impact in the gameplay of this scenario.
   

One obvious advantage of CMSF over CMM is that the former places the player in a 3D environment. Some tactical considerations like fields of fire, good defensive positions or concealed approaches are more easily grasped in the CMSF engine than in CMM. For example, take a look at the following view of the map (looking south from the access street of the airport).




In the next installment I will add troops to the scenario and edit the computer opponent.

Close Combat Marines / Combat Mission Shock Force Comparison (Part 2)

This is a general description of the mission from Close Combat Marines that I will try to create in Combat Mission Shock Force Marines (image is clickable)



The action for the player focuses on the east of the airport. A close-up of this part of the map looks like this:



There are a couple of graphical glitches on the right side of the map and this is due to the stichting I had to do from in-game screen shots.

Digital Combat Simulator: Black Shark

Now available in English, by download only.

From Eagle Dynamics' webpage:

"DCS: Black Shark" is a PC game of the Russian Ka-50 attack helicopter and is the first title in a new Eagle Dynamics and The Fighter Collection simulation series: "Digital Combat Simulator" (DCS). Following Eagle Dynamics' tradition of excellence, "DCS: Black Shark" will bring an even more realistic simulation experience than its predecessor "Flaming Cliffs". "DCS: Black Shark" will offer an unprecedented level of realism in regards to flight dynamics, instruments modeling, avionics systems, and weapon systems. The artificial Intelligence of ground vehicles and helicopters has been improved dramatically as well as weapon modeling. A new Mission Editor includes a powerful electronic mapping system that allows user to easily create missions and campaigns. A new campaign system allows the front line of the battlefield to move back and fourth according to your mission success or failure. Due to the increased flexibility of the DCS system, additional fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter add-ons will follow shortly.

From the previous quote, you can see this is a study flight simulator. I'm looking forward to sink my teeth into this simulator.

Close Combat Marines / Combat Mission Shock Force Comparison (Part 1)

Since the release of the Marines module for Combat Mission Shock Force (CMSF) I have been wondering how it compares to Close Combat Marines (CCM). CCM was released in the September 2004 issue of the Marines Gazette as part of program to train Marines in tactics. CCM is based in the Close Combat popular series by the now defunct Atomic Games. CCM was released with a workbook that serves as a guide on the scenarios featured in the game.

In this series of entries, I'm going to try to adapt one scenario of CCM into a CMSF scenario and find out what are the most outstanding differences and parallels between both games. It's not my intention to replicate everything exactly from one game into another, as that would be at best very time consuming .

Stay tuned.