Results for the State of Simming 2024 Survey!

Combat Flight Sim Gamers review 2024 and see if it was a good year or not in simming.

Outro Music:

Epidemic Sounds
Vivaldi_ The Four Seasons, Violin Concerto in F Minor, Op. 8 No. 4, RV 297 Winter_ II. Largo - Michelle Ross

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enigma,enigma89,combat flight simulator,flight simulator,war thunder,bms,nuclear option,BMS,falcon 5,combat pilot,dcs,digital combat simulator,enigma dcs

This channel focuses on combat flight simulators like DCS World, IL-2 Korea, IL-2 Great Battles, Combat Pilot and War Thunder. If you play either of these games or flight simulators like Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 / FS2024 and enjoy aviation and dogfighting then this channel is for you. Even if you are coming from milsim or non combat flight simulators like U-Boat or GHPC, you should be able to enjoy this channel.

I play using TrackIR5 and do not use VR, this means that I am able to capture footage for tutorials, how-to-guides and other multiplayer tips and tricks video in 1440p.

Eagle Dynamics has made it easier than ever to learn DCS because the game is technically free. The game has the F-15, F-16, Su-27, Mig-29, Mig-21, Mig-19, Mig-15, F-86 Sabre, Jf-17, Mirage 2000, F-18 Hornet and F-14 Tomcat. There are soon other modules coming such as the Mig-23 and F-4. Lastly, there are helicopters like the Mi-24 Hind and AH-64 Apache.

The same is also true for IL-2 Great Battles. With Battle of Stalingrad, Battle of Kuban, Battle of Bodenplatte, Battle of Moscow and Battle of Normandy being released, there is an immense amount of variety covered. The Bf-109, Fw-190, P-51, Tempest, P-47, Mc.202, Stuka, Ju-88, He-111, and so on are all in the game. I focus on making videos to make that part accessible so you can dive into IL-2 Multiplayer.

[Enigma]

Let me know what you thought of the collective POV from our survey and if you want to sprinkle on anything extra! Really looking forward to this year and how it pans out.

[dancingcow]

I remember when I got my first DCS module, it was pure magic. And I flew that thing every day and had an absolute blast. When I started getting bored, I thought it was because I was bored of that airplane, and so I bought another module, and another, and another, and another… Now, a few years, and hundreds of dollars later, I wish I had realized that I was bored with DCS, not the modules themselves.

[SonesBen]

I feel like I'm basically done with DCS World at this point, and I say that as someone that has been playing ED games since Flanker 2.0. The Razbam fiasco is part of the reason, but ultimately, it's more of a "body of work" reaction on my part that is also driven by the game's continuing lack of direction. Or in the case of single-player, lack of ANYTHING. Seriously, they started teasing the idea of a dynamic campaign back when the A-10 first came out, before "DCS World" was even a thing. But I've started to feel like their dynamic campaign is sort of like cold fusion: they say it's just five years off, and then five years later--yep, still five years off. And honestly, I think that trying to create a Falcon 4.0-like dynamic campaign for DCS World is a terrible idea in the first place, because their game engine is not suited to that sort of thing, at all. They really should be looking to iterate on the sort of random mission generator-driven career mode that IL-2 has, because DCS World is already built around that sort of mission scripting. I have no idea how they could ever get a Falcon 4.0/BMS-type dynamic campaign to work, short of rewriting their game engine from the ground up to incorporate mechanics like the Bubble. Add to that the laundry list of things that need to be radically improved (ATC and comms, AI, etc.) in order for DCS World to have a compelling single-player campaign and... yeah. I don't expect it to happen any time soon. If ever.

On top of all that, I also feel like their method of monetization has basically become "release half-baked new modules that will never be finished." Early access is like a drug that ED can't quit. Maybe they *literally* can't quit, depending on what their financials look like, because they basically only make money when they release new things. Improving the core experience and finishing EA modules is not a revenue-generator, and that creates a perverse incentive to keep releasing more unfinished modules in an ever-expanding house of cards that I suspect will one day collapse and kill the company. In retrospect, I feel like maybe they should have just made DCS World a subscription service, like an MMO. That would ensure them a steady stream of revenue and would place all of the development incentives on making improvements that retain players (i.e. improvements that people want).

And even *then*, there is still the problem that ED just has no focus, at all. They develop planes and maps haphazardly, as though they were making random MS Flight Sim modules rather than trying to model air combat conflicts. This is another area where they need to take notes from games like IL-2 that start by saying "Okay, we're going to do the Battle of Normandy, " and then figure out what planes and map they need to make in order to model that conflict. Instead we just get a scattershot of random stuff like the Falklands (even though they have basically none of the aircraft that fought in the Falklands War) or the Corsair (even though they don't seem to have any plans to make a Zero). Sometimes they give us all the planes we need for a conflict BUT NO MAP (I'm lookin' at you, Korea!). It's frustrating. I feel like "Digital Cockpit Simulator" is a pretty apt description of DCS World these days. It's certainly not much of a combat simulator.

[brownfloyd]

Gamers yearn to be part of a vibrant community with new and old friends, all passionate about their hobby. This is so much easier when you have *developers* who are enthusiastic about what they've created, who engage with the community, who are excited to present new updates and features, who actually play the game that they've created, and who have a clear vision of the the game in the years ahead. This channel has really helped the milsim community writ large develop that enthusiasm with your developer interview videos and video essays on games such as Nuclear Option, Falcon BMS, and Sea Power, while also hitting the nail on the head with the "vibes" around other games whose best days are behind them.
Looking forward to another great year for this channel. Please keep up the great work and service that you provide to all of us.

[ogboyy]

I think bms has a lot more potential now especially because they proved they can realistically modle new planes without basing them on/ using the f16 avionics.

[-OnionTerror-]

id say 2023 was the fertilizer year and games like Nuclear Option, Sea Power, Combat Pilot, etc, are the fresh new buds of that dissatisfaction

[michaelcole]

I feel that consumer software in general has pivoted to short term gratification, visual impact and shallower gameplay. There's not much improvement on Harpoon in terms of depth. DCS still has more depth than most, but in terms of depth, software in general has gone into a dark age since the 2000's.

[Laerei]

This december was the first time I got to properly experience VR. I got myself a Quest 3 and of course one of the first things I tried was DCS in VR. It took a bit of figuring out to get it to run well and look good but once it did and I finally took off in Fw-190 A-8 for a test flight (I figured a slower plane with less buttons to press would be a good pick for first flight) the experience was unreal. Banking plane for the first time and pulling on the stick sent a strange feeling down my spine as if I was really in the cockpit. I performed a low level flight following train tracks north, then entered the Caucasus mountains and followed a highway through the valleys. Looking at the passing mountains high above me was awesome. And every twist, every turn felt so damn good. And I really mean felt. I instinctively tilted my head every time and with all the aerobatics left my neck sore by the end of it. But no regrets, I was sold on flight sims in VR.
The image quality is not nearly as good. But I forget about it within a minute after jumping into the cockpit. The feeling of true immersion greatly outweights to cost.

[BlackbirdDrozd]

This metaphor of "making a home in a game" and DCS being not worth the effort resonates with me and instantly helped me to express why despite spending most time last year in other titles THE "home" and "never being let down" feeling I will forever associate only with the BMS. Simply because that is the only title that you have the feeling of "owning the whole world" inside it, with a giant RTS like dynamic campaign inside it. It is the one flight sim to take to a deserted island. And this RTS style dynamic campaign available for both single and multiplayer so even busy adults can scale the time spent with BMS to managable chunks.

When the 4.38 version will be released and the map system finally dumps the tiles based system for a satelite textures, I will probably take a week vacation and test out how much my wife can withstand me role playing a teen nerd for a whole week.

Falcon 5.0 if ever funded by Microprose will be a second comming if released.

[CROW-]

I think it was a net neutral for DCS, all the modules that released are cool BUT the whole razbam stuff plus the divide of Afghanistan mixed with the delays of the F4 did upset some people. Can’t wait for 2025 and beyond and to seeing more of your content this year!

[BrokenFarmer]

One thought - why are people not using VR? I would argue that it mostly has to do with 1. Expense of the hardware and 2. Difficulty of using it (getting it to interface well, run with programs, switch back and forth conveniently, etc)

VR is amazing. At least recently, I don’t think it’s even close. DCS now runs pretty well and conveniently and it’s really great.

[therealCG]

I find it difficult to see 2024 as anything but an unmitigated disaster for DCS. Like yeah the phantom is cool, the kiowa is one of my favorite helicopters in the game now, but even beyond the razbam stuff this year brought on all sorts of technical issues- performance degradation, bugs that go unfixed for multiple patches (and we're on a six week patch cycle so that means literal months of dealing with some of these bugs), all that sort of thing.

ED also, at least from where I'm sitting, didn't really try to excite the community for the game's future this year. We didn't really get any big new features for any of the flagship modules (I don't really consider the Apache FCR submodes to be "big new features for a flagship module"), and they made very little if any effort to hype up future releases. It's really odd to me given how much negative sentiment the Razbam thing generated, I'd have figured they'd be making every effort to talk about the Fulcrum or the sniper pod for the viper or fucking something, but all we got were newsletters showcasing community events and running paid advertisements for fucking vr headsets lmfao. It's a really bad look, IMO.

[themastrofall]

Yeah I think finally after 13 years of playing DCS World, I am pretty happy to never launch it again, happily retired to FS2020/2024 and happy to have my storage space back.

[teggy]

Your summary of DCS really resonates to me, the "digital aircraft museum" is such a good description and is probably one of the only reasons I play it, for the aircraft, and not the gameplay. I find myself picking an aircraft first, then mission type second. Which is probably why there is such a vast difference of experiences within DCS.

Doing CAS in the F-16 is very different to doing CAS in the A-4 Skyhawk, both are killing tanks but in the F-16 you would never have experienced the ridiculous AI accuracy issues or lack of splash damage. For A2A jumping in an F/A-18 and fighting an AI MiG-29 feels like fun, but if you get into an F-4 and try to fight a MiG-21 the UFO qualities of the AI become apparent. It is probably why a lot of people didn't really complain about the ground units in DCS until there were more attack helicopters present.

I find DCS is about trying to find the best combo of aircraft, mission set and AI adversaries. Which is so difficult to do as you mentioned because they are all made in a vacuum, it is sad really, because I love the cold war jets, but they do not really have a place of importance in DCS. I feel like Eagle Dynamics is trying to turn DCS into a GWOT playground, considering all of the middle eastern maps and modern NATO aircraft that have been coming out. The popularity of the F-16, F/A-18 and Apache cannot be understated, look at any server and they are the big 3, I think they are trying to get the European audience now with the Typhoon.

This is the "gotcha" in DCS, lure people with the airframe that they love, they buy it and some maps to play in, have a great time learning how to use it, and then figure out there is not much to do with it. I honestly wish they would stop producing modules for a year or two and just concentrate on fixing what we have.

[TheLateBird]

Thanks for taking the time to put the survey together and presenting the results in this interesting way!

[griffincheng]

If you want dynamic campaign and full-if F-15C, BMS is the way to go. I am surprised most don’t care about this. I have higher hope on BMS, the new upcoming terrain model looks amazing. If DCS ever goes to subscription model, my investment will not go into the drain. Fingers crossed

[wade]

ED is kind of like a Chinese Tofu Dreg Construction builder, they ask for money for an unfinished module, then likely use that money to start up another project instead of finishing the the module you gave them money for, then rinse and repeat over and over. I've stopped buying early release games and am only buying completed modules, so with that being said I don't think I'll be buying anything anytime soon unfortunately.

[wmouse]

I think one reason IL2 fares so poorly is that aerial gunnery is hard, and the tactics (and skill floor) of those aircraft are very different from jet combat with air-to-air missiles.

(It's also a real pain to bind buttons in IL2 GB, which always keeps me from bothering with it.)

[PanzehVideos]

Honestly the big surprise for me was Nuclear Option, with a focus on playability, it's pretty lite as a sim but it really hooked me, i play MP in it a lot, and i haven't done that in a flight sim in years.

[sebastienhebert]

I'm 54 years old, so I've been around the block. I'll say this. The SIM community is probably the biggest complainers I've ever seen. Most specifically when they complain about the costs. Purchasing a Module at 75$ is nothing when you consider how much time you spend enjoying and flying the thing. Try other hobbies like photography or motorbikes, traveling etc... DCS is probably the biggest bang for the buck in terms of intertainement value. I truly dont understand the negativity. And BTW. DCS will absolutely survive the Raz vs ED split..