DCS World Afghanistan: It's More Than a Desert Map

PHH72

[chaadlosan]

I'm thrilled they are making an Afghanistan map. Making this map is not easy. I have a pilot friend who served in Afghanistan, and he is eager to create missions bases on his real-world experiences. This is exactly what DCS needs. NO ONE is doing anything even close to this at all.

[barrymcdonald]

Regardless how others may feel, I believe developing this map was the right decision. Twenty years of warfare took place here. This map holds sentimental significance and value to me. I spent more than a few years of my life fighting on the ground in many areas of that country. I was on a small outpost in the Arghandab river valley; the birthplace of the Taliban, outside Kandahar proper durning the timeframe this map is based on. I lost a few good friends in that area. So for me, being able to own something such as this is very personal on so many levels. I still have pictures, videos, maps, and grid locations of some of the most significant or impactful events that went down there. It would be wild to show my two younger children, in VR, where exactly I was when my son was a one year old and my wife pregnant with my daughter. Even more so, to pinpoint the very area I was standing, talking on a satellite phone when my daughter entered this world.

As I stated earlier, this map was needed. Well done ED! I hope you do your due diligence and really bring it for this one. Excited to see it, and more than ready to give you my money to own it.

@pricklyhedgehog and all the other content creators, thanks for everything you do for this community, it doesn’t go unnoticed. Looking forward to what’s beyond the horizon. Thanks again,

-Mack

[MrNegrete]

We need decent infatry in DCS for this kind of map.

[shagrat]

We needed this map since DCS: A-10C Warthog Open Beta, back in 2009/10. This is a fantastic addition to cater most more modern modules we have in DCS World, plus some in the pipeline. A-10C, F-16C, F/A-18C, F-14B, F-15E, AV-8B N/A, AH-64D, SA-343 Gazelle, L-39C, Mi-8MTV, Mi-24P, MiG-19P, Su-25 and with a bit of leeway the M2000C. Upcoming OH-58D, CH-47 and C-130J fit perfectly, as well.
It is a region that saw a lot of conflicts in the last decades, if not centuries including on of the longest conflicts in history. With detailed information from written accounts, through pictures and videos...
And I personally are bored to death, after 50 years of regurgitating the same old Vietnam war, scenarios in movies, books and computer games, but maybe that's just me. I won't object a Vietnam map for DCS, as I think any map is a great addition that ultimately benefits us, but I prefer Afghanistan over Vietnam, or a "fictional" middle Europe "never happened" Cold War. 😉
When finished, as a complete map it will provide a mix of terrain features from rocky foothills, medium mountain ranges to 7, 000 m peaks near the pakistani border, lush green hills in Faryab province, to dense forests and pine woods in the Nuristan mountain valleys, agricultural plains and steppe in the north and the Kandahar region, rich agriculture along the Helmand valley and yes actually there's the Dasht-e-margo and the Afghanistan part of the Registan desert crossing the border to Iran.🥰

[FNR]

They had better model the Tim Hortons and the hockey rink at KAF!

[rabidraven]

I have pre-purchased the full map, call me what you want, but I enjoy DCS so I purchase whenever I can, to me this is my Patreon way of supporting those who produce something I truly love.
Some may say I am mad. Well, Rabid. Perhaps I am. But where would we be without DCS? (Neither am I an online player, I don't feel comfortable enough or skilled enough and would not want to irritate or upset the ardent online community.) In fact, I now have all the Maps and all modules bar three and they are the F4-E and MB 339 and the Mirage F1. (One day.) Plus, I also have the extras the Supercarrier, NS 430 GPS navigation system etc.

Many modules I have never even flown. I have purchased a whole host of campaigns I think about 53 and not played one. So what do I do you ask? I create my own in the mission editor. It keeps me happy.

So Helmond and the Brits Pricklyhedgehog. Absolutely. 2009 would be Britain's bloodiest year in Afghanistan, with 109 deaths. 2010. Surge. The British participated in the largest joint offensive at that time in Helmand. So this area saw a lot of action, so bring it on. If you have a problem with it don't buy it. If you throw Patreon money at YouTubers, Twitch streamers, etc carry on. Just remember without DCS there will be no DCS streaming from them. (I don't mean don't support them.) But remember if you can give a little (sales and stuff) it all helps the creators to keep creating.


Yeh. Thats right I'm Rabid.😁

[stefankohler]

Brings back Memories ... we have six Tours in Kabul, Masar-e Scharif and Kundus between 2003 an 2011.

[ChrisPBacon-myyt]

I was stationed at bagram for 15 months. Strangely curious to see it again in DCS.

[daviddavids]

Hi Prickly, Music was Dystopian Strings, of which there are 2 parts, in the link you sent. Not the title suggested, but I’m sure after x hours getting the video out, remembering the music name is the last priority, cheers

[pethell]

Afghanistan is a No Brainer. One of the most hard-fought areas on earth. Absolut playground for Soviet and Nato assets.

[Camo_T]

When they first announced the Afghanistan map before showing any screenshots I wasn't really interested. But after I saw snippets of game play and screenshots I was blown away, thought it looked incredible. I didn't know they were raising the bar with map fidelity which is awesome. I'm excited for it as of now, but would still like to see more game play.

[Feintgames]

So much hate in the comments. I'm excited for this map. DCS is better than MSFS in many ways (especially if you fly in VR) and I'm excited to see this detailed map.

[Squid]

Good take, and on the question about why the backlash, simple, a lot of people thrive on drama, and need it to feel good. and you will see that with anything, be it the kind of cola offered at a party to the choice of what kind of buffalo you pick for the steak.

[xXEGLEyEXx]

Would be interesting if they could pull an 'IL-2' on maps, if you purchase it you can play it on SP/Career/Host it on your server. If you do not own it, you can still fly it on multiplayer servers who host it.

[brandonchappell]

The squeaky wheel is always the loudest!! It looks incredible, cant wait to pick it up

[MichaelMoellerTRLInc]

Give me more locations that are as amazing looking as this map. Vietnam is of course extremely desirable, however it will present some serious challenges to look as good as the recent maps have. It takes time to develop the software to pull off what they are doing. Until then we have a map where two decades of conflict occurred and we can now simulate much of it.

[rdioctivman]

I´m not very excited about the Afghanistan map. Even though i´ve been to Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif, it is one of the maps in the pipeline i´m less interested in. In fact, only North Australia is less interesting to me than Afghanistan. And i´m definately not going to buy North Aus., so i´m still struggeling with Afg. I admit to your conclusion that it is not "just another desert map", but not beeing just another desert map is not enough imo. I´m looking more forward to the Iraq map and this will definately be another desert map.

The history of Afghanistan is interesting, very complex and contains a long period of military conflicts suiting a lot of modules we have in DCS, no doubt about it. Also Afghanistan has some breathtaking countryside, i´ve been there on the ground for a couple of times and have seen it with my own eyes. I totally respect that and i absolutely adore maps with a rich history of modern military conflicts. But the history about conflicts prior to the soviet invasion in ´79 is completely unimportant to me for this DCS map and within the modern conflicts, it is pretty much pure anti-guerilla warfare wich can be recflected historically correct.

So fighting mostly infantry, technicals, suicide bombers and maybe a few BTRs / BMPs. That´s great for ArmA 3 or any other Infantry Simulator, but not realy what i prefer in DCS. Every other scenario (i.e. runway attack, CAP, SEAD etc...) is just fictional as usual. And for fictional scenarios, i´d rather take a Balkans, Korea, Taiwan or a North Cape map over Afghanistan any day. I´m realy looking forward to the Iraq map and i still have high hopes in the Kola map though.

Good sitrep as always and thank you very much for giving credit to the discussion about this map.

[Savage_Viking]

Map is going to take me back in time. Yes, we would like a Vietnam/Eastern Europe maps but also maybe some Japanese Zero's and Order of Battle.

[Vortex]

DCS Afghanistan map will immediately become my favorite terrain. The haters in our community need to calm down. ED made a good decision here.

[qcumberpatch]

Great vid. A really balanced overview of the map. It looks amazing.