Ghostrider9667

Drooling. I wish they'd just give us the roughest idea of whether there will be any AI assets to fly against. I've had the argument in DCS about whether any aircraft should be allowed in DCS that aren't absolutely perfect in every way. The argument runs something like this: "We don't have all of the necessary performance documentation to have an absolutely perfect Zero (flight model, etc.) or any other Japanese aircraft for that matter, so we can't have any at all. You'll just have to fly against "Zero skinned" Focke Wulf-190s, and pretend that they're A6M5s or something." Now that's realistic and immersive (rolls eyes). Much better than a Zero, etc. that looks perfect, and performs at a very believable 90% solution. I am very eager to trap aboard and launch from the Essex class CV, and do ground attack missions, but if there are no Japanese AI aircraft to fly against - I mean WTF? I don't understand the objection. It throws the baby out with the bathwater. "Our sim is so perfect, there's nothing for you to fly against."

How about SPAD.NEXT support?

I'll chime in, and agree with those who say that if you have the hardware to run it, even a Reverb G2 (what I have), a decent, reasonably priced headset will blow you away. I can't go back to non-VR. Being fully surrounded by everything, life-sized, wherever you look - there's just no comparison. I'd describe it as the difference between looking at a printed photo of a scene versus standing in the same scene in real life. There's no going back. And yes, I still use all of my USB/HOTAS controllers. Muscle memory.

Fair enough, and I don't claim to understand the programming involved, but I have run into this problem on multiple different flight sims when installing on Steam vs. a standalone installation. I've had to use workarounds like DINPUT.dll, etc. If the number of controllers can be hard coded in the sim itself, or the API being used, and Steam doesn't overlay it's own limitations, then fine.

Okay well, do what makes the most sense financially for the devs, and the future viability of the sim. But for the love of God, don't limit my number of USB controllers like Steam has done in the past.

We need the ability to steal Scotch from the Squids and the Mud Marines, and to fly to Espiritu Santo to piss off COL Lard.

1. Coral Sea/Midway/Early US carrier raids (Doolittle too?) 2. AVG 3. Guadalcanal campaign 4. Later Solomons/Slot 5. SOWESPAC New Guinea/5th AF 6. Fast Carrier Ops

So many good ideas here, and I know that this is 'just' a wish list. Anything that can be incorporated over the life of the sim is all to the good. Here are some ideas that come to my mind that might differentiate Combat Pilot from some of it's competition, while staying true to the combat flight sim genre. 1. Offline campaigns are very important to me. I want to fly on my schedule, not a bunch of other people's schedules. And I'd rather fly in a dynamic campaign than just a bunch of disjointed single missions. 2. What I'll call "Investment". Investment in your pilot staying alive. IRL, this is the FIRST consideration. Instead of pressing forward in an impossible situation, I want my first thought to be "Can I get home, rather than just go "kamikaze" mode, knowing that you have no chance to successfully return to base, and stay alive. How this is implemented in-game, I don't know. But there should be great rewards for staying alive, and completing a tour. Sort of a "Dead is dead" mentality, versus just 'replay the mission again and again, until you survive it. I guess the ultimate "goal" of every mission is to NOT die. Maybe as you stay alive and gain experience, your pilot functions better in-sim. If you just replay your last save, you don't gain experience. But by bringing your plane and yourself home, you do gain experience. 3. Along the same lines, the same goes for AI squadron mates. Incorporate SAR ops. If you read accounts from the war, there is a lot of time and effort spent on escorting damaged/malfunctioning comrades back to base, flying 'cover' over a downed friend in his life raft, and escorting SAR missions to rescue your fellow pilots. Sometimes with success, sometimes without. It would be cool to see "investment" in your squadron mates staying alive too. Those bonds were really tight, teamwork and cohesion, and experience working together mattered. I know, hard to implement, but worth a try? Maybe AI skill (flying, shooting, detecting E/A first, etc.) is improved by flying together and surviving/completing missions, and you can feel the difference as your team gets better, whether as a section, flight, or squadron. 4. Similarly, serious injuries, or completing a tour should result in being sent home, (alive) so maybe you keep your accumulated experience, so the motivation is still to RTB. 5. I also like the idea of walking/running around the facility and climbing into the cockpit, maybe engine already started and warmed up by the ground crew. Make me feel like I'm there! Really looking forward to this! GR

Please, no Steam, if at all possible!

Ghostrider from CFS2 days here. Been flying CFSs since 1990. This is the one I've been waiting for for a very long time! I can't wait. Best wishes to the dev team, and thank you!