A reasonable representation of real world combat systems This is going to sound crazy, but there once was a time War Thunder did not exist. Gaijin Entertainment wasn't always the purveyor of free-to-play, 2000+ vehicle tech tree, combined arms combat. The developer created three combat flight simulators four years before the introduction of War Thunder. Of them, Apache: Air Assault was their only modern-day combat title. It focused on the Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow and provided a reasonable portrayal of the aircraft and believable scenarios in which an attack helicopter would operate. The AH-64D is built on the Apache's already ground-breaking performance and innovation, with its centerpiece being the AN/APG-78 Longbow Radar. With the ability to track up to 128 targets and fire upon sixteen at once, now paired with its already formidable Target Acquisition and Designation Sights (TADS), the Apache Longbow became even more formidable. In Apache: Air Assault, this aircraft's ranged attack capabilities are displayed in a simplified but well-represented way. The game is firmly a flight arcade title, but not to the extent of its fixed-wing fighter-based contemporaries. One or two well-placed MANPADS or unguided rockets can bring the player's aircraft down. Harder difficulties remove beginner-friendly flight restrictions, resupplying mid-mission at forward arming and refueling points is more important, and a minimal Heads Up Display (HUD) user interface notably increases the quality of gameplay for experienced flight simmers. But most importantly for this article, the onboard loadouts and weapon capabilities were grounded in reality. Whether it's a more standard load of a few dozen rockets, eight Hellfires, and chain gun or a full missile-slinging loadout of sixteen air-to-ground missiles, the number of weapons onboard is nothing like the 80+ missiles found in other games. UAV Teaming In-game, the Apache can connect to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The UAVs provide limited real-time camera feeds. They provide top-down views of a target being tracked by the attack helicopter. While the UAVs cannot be used to find yet-to-be-identified targets, their camera feeds can assist in pre-planning attacks. Seeing that an emplaced target may be surrounded by obstructions or still unseen defenders could prompt the helicopter to reposition before attacking. There is a limited ability to swivel the UAV cameras and zoom in, but nothing beyond that. Longbow Radar Supported Engagements While flying in third person, pilot view, gunner view, or HUD camera views, players can cycle through the ground, naval and airborne vehicles using their Longbow Radar. The targets can be tracked either individually, or up to sixteen static or moving targets can be designated for a simultaneous blow. Even with automatic midair weapon resupply available in easier difficulties, dumping all missiles onto a cluster of lower-threat targets results in either a flight back to the nearest FARP or waiting many minutes for resupply. Players instinctually begin reserving Hellfires for higher threat targets like armored vehicles, air defenses, or even speed boats toting MANPADS. Any Hellfire launched using this method is essentially fire-and-forget, with the radar guiding the missile. Direct View Optics and FLIR The most well-known camera to anyone familiar with combat aviation. While players fly the aircraft, the 30mm M230 chain gun is controlled by the AI gunner as they automatically scan and engage threats at short range. Longer distance engagements must be done by the player taking manual control of it with Direct View Optics (DVO). DVO consists of a black-and-white daytime camera and white hot Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR). Optics can gradually zoom with decreasing image clarity the more it zooms in. Getting familiar with the shapes of common weapons and vehicles helps greatly. Furthermore, frequently using FLIR to scan the terrain or areas hostile forces may inhabit can help spot ambushes or targets of opportunity before they detect the player. When firing from a distance or while the AH-64D has any movement, players must manually lead targets, correct for the aircraft's flight path, and cannon shell drop over distance. While using DVO, players can enable an automatic hovering mode or manually fly the aircraft. However, flying while in DVO does not give aircraft altitude, attitude, or bearing indicators like targeting pods carried by fixed-wing combat aircraft. Flying the aircraft like this greatly increases the chance of a controlled flight into terrain. Practicing small control inputs and remembering the aircraft's flight path before entering DVO is necessary if firing while on the move. Hellfire missiles are launched with laser guidance while in DVO. The crosshair of the chain gun acts as the crosshair of the guidance laser for the missiles. The Hellfires loft shortly after leaving the Apache with a time until impact displayed. When fully zoomed out, the missile can be seen in flight. The benefit of launching with manual guidance is the ability to hit clusters of soft targets like infantry or groups of light vehicles. What the Gaijin Entertainment of long ago gave us in Apache: Air Assault isn't anywhere near the full fidelity AH-64 brought to Digital Combat Simulator, but it's a noteworthy representation that captures a bit of the "real thing" in a genre that prides itself on the rule of cool trumping any inkling of simulation. While the game will inevitably draw you into multiple action packed close ranged engagements, patiently using FLIR, zoom optics, radar and Hellfires in combination can thin out even the toughest groups of hostiles before the rolling gun battle begins. About the Writer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. Read Staff Profile.

The first considerable update to a game that reappeared from obscurity The reception of At Skies' Edge was unexpected, even by its current solo developer, Marckel Sky. As mentioned in our previous article, this flight arcade game appeared from years of unknown obscurity with a sudden launch on May 1st, 2023. And now, what felt like a potentially transient release for the sake of releasing the project just to get it out there, has received a considerable update. However, the developer continues to make it clear that their real world obligations and minimal experience with 3D modelling is a factor going forward. ASE version 0.002 was released on June 12th, 2023 with a seemingly short list of new additions. They may not seem like much to the average player, but these are very important updates that make up the core of any flight arcade game. The first mission, now known as "Operation Argus", is focused on air-to-air combat. There are no notable changes to this mission. It is also important to note that there are no significant changes to the flight model, which I had nothing but praise for last month. The speed and maneuvering system which separates the flight model into three speed regimes, while being augmented by an optional super maneuverability technically has two new speeds. Taxi and takeoff. The newest mission of ASE has a basic, minimally textured airfield to demonstrate this new ability. Speed is limited in the apron of the air base, stopping players from attempting taxiway takeoffs. Upon reaching the runway, the limiter is released and players can rocket into the air, hitting a toggle to raise their landing gear. The runway zone that unlocks the taxi speed limiter definitely needs some work, but it is functional. Players can also land mid-mission if they wish. The second mission, "Operation Desert Fury", is the new mission that introduces the bulk of the notable additions to At Skies' Edge. This mission focuses on air-to-ground combat, with multiple ground based unit types introduced to the game. These include tents, supply containers, armored personnel carriers, main battle tanks and watch towers. The most important units are self-propelled anti-aircraft guns (SPAAG) and surface-to-air missile launchers (SAM). The SAMs have a relatively long range when comparing them to the standard missiles and cannon carried by the air superiority focused aircraft, the MD-15C. In version 0.002 these are the only two original weapons capable of hitting ground targets. Fortunately, a new air-to-ground missile was added for players. Known as the PR-78H, this stand-off land attack munition is able to strike land forces from long range. Even outside the range of the new SAM units. While it is not terrain following, meaning it will run into obstacles if any are in its flight path, the missile does strike targets in a top-attack profile to clear smaller obstacles in the immediate vicinity of the target area. Its heavy fragmentation warhead allows it to destroy clusters of enemies with ease. Taking time to maintain distance and let the PR-78 lock onto targets at maximum range doesn't always pay off, as the missile occasionally cannot fly as far as the aircraft's radar can achieve lock. This missile can also be launched without lock. By lining up the HUD whiskey mark and the velocity vector icon at the desired target, the PR-78H becomes a heavily destructive unguided rocket. The current SPAAGs in At Skies' Edge are somewhat slow firing anti-aircraft units, but surprisingly are able to intercept missiles. They do not actively target the missiles like a close in weapon system does. The SPAAGs are actually targeting the launch aircraft, but if a missile flies into the anti-aircraft barrage it has a high chance of being intercepted. This threat can be minimized by the aircraft that launched the missile changing course sharply. This drags anti-aircraft fire away from the missile, giving it a higher chance to succeed. I strongly support this game mechanic because it forces players to be a bit more tactical even with the high volume of weapons they can carry. ASE 0.002a is an incremental update, which is big for this particular title, but may seem small in the grand scheme of things. As always Marckel Sky, its openly honest developer, hasn't promised much in the near future but has said the next update may include dialogue, a better mission structuring system and an overhaul of the current weapon system to allow for new weapons like bombs and rockets. On a personal note, I do hope a solution to the inaccurate gun reticle for the aircraft cannon is also found. My interest in At Skies' Edge continues as this unknown title from years ago now etches out its own space in the current indie flight game scene. It is an unusual story I look forward to seeing progress. About the Writer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers.

It is incredible to me that it has been over a year since the UH-60L got released. Working on that project alongside Kinkku, Bailey and Jonas was an amazing experience and getting to see it used in videos, screenshots and more is very humbling. It is this community that surrounds the Black Hawk that made the entire project worth the amount of time we spent making it, which leads me to today's article. A couple of members of the community that grew around the Black Hawk have taken it upon themselves to evolve the UH-60L and develop some variants of the aircraft, something that shows just how dedicated and passionate they are about this project. ANDR0ID made the Armed Black Hawk mod, which is self-explanatory, Xag made the SH-60B mod based on the Spanish Navy birds and, today's focus, Tanuki44 made the MH-60R Sea Hawk mod! EXTERNAL 3D MODEL AND TEXTURES Tanuki's work, is pretty amazing as it brings a series of "firsts" to the simulator, but before we get to that I would like to talk about the models and show off some of the new textures that I helped make for the mod, as you will be staring at them for most of your experience. The developer used the UH-60L as a base for the 3D model, so it will not be a 1:1 replica of the real Sea Hawk, but it is pretty good for it being a mod of a mod. The rear landing gear is fully modeled and animated, the folding mechanism for the tail works just as expected, including the folding main rotor blades. All of its pylons and even the crew have been implemented, textured and animated, which is awesome. The external tanks, side gunner station, sensor suites and even the sonobuoy racks are modeled, including the cover that goes over the launchers when they are not in use! As for the cockpit, it still uses the model from the UH-60L with some minor differences to accommodate the new systems. NEW GAMEPLAY POTENTIAL, ANTI-SUBMARINE WARFARE AND FEATURES As for features, this mod has some of the most interesting and unique ones of any mod out there. It innovates in several aspects, too, in particular when it comes down to mission sets and new options for gameplay. Its sonobuoys are not just for show. Thanks to a simple script that Tanuki developed, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) is now a reality in DCS World. You are capable of taking off with a pair of torpedoes and, with the aid of your buoys, you will be able to hunt submarines like fish in a barrel. It is an awesome experience and I would highly recommend it for people that have experience with helicopters but need that added challenge to have some fun. To make ASW work, Tanuki also made it so that both the Torpedoes and Hellfires work! I hope this short overview made you a bit interested in the MH-60R. If you want to download it, you can visit the official H-60 Project Discord server! About the writer: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000s, leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities, but only started being active around the mid 2010s. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as the co-founder and writer ever since. Twitter | Discord : Cubeboy

To say that this module has the biggest and longest running hype train of any other DCS module would be an understatement. Everyone wanted to get their hands on this module for years, and now it's the time; we finally got our hands on the F-15E Strike Eagle module. Released yesterday (06/22/2023) in an extremely unexpected manner, this module rapidly climbed in popularity as thousands of DCS players rushed to buy it and download it. We did not get media access to this module, therefore our review will consist of a first impressions approach to all the aspects of this module from a pilot-oriented perspective. This review will be updated with every content addition that RAZBAM releases for the Mudhen, which means that some of our opinions might change in the future as the module evolves, but with that out of the way; let's get started! EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL 3D MODELS I was kind of speechless when I first saw the modeling work that was put into making these models. The attention to detail put by its creator, Metal2Mesh, is absolutely amazing. Everything from the rivets, the small dents in the panels, the grime and oil in the seams between panel lines and the excellent use of weathering is absolutely mind-boggling. I have not been able to find any faults in the model like I did with Aerges' Mirage F1 module. In fact, in my search for any glaring mistakes, I managed to find some hidden details that made me appreciate this models even more. Small details such as the cable connector inside the Sidewinder rails (above gallery, 5th image) or the signature from the paint shop where some of the liveries got painted, all livery and airframe dependent. This attention to detail is not limited to the textures themselves, but also bleeds into the unwrapping. This model is +90% compatible with the old AI-only F-15E, which means that liveries that were made for that model will be easy to port to this module; which is something that I appreciate as a livery creator. The same level of quality as the external model can also be appreciated in the cockpit model. It feels like a weathered bird that has seen some action. It does not look as weathered as the F-14A/B cockpit from Heatblur, but it still has some personality. Some of the panels are more weathered and even slightly polished from the friction of being constantly used, there are scratches and imperfections in areas where you would expect them. Both the pilot and weapon system officer (WSO) are amazingly detailed and textured, which to me, somehow explains at least one of the reasons behind the delays. These models are excellent and make me regain some trust in RAZBAM's products. VISUAL AND SOUND EFFECTS In terms of visual effects, the Mudhen is on-par with some of the best in the simulator. It utilizes a range of audio sources to immerse the player in the experience, which is quite challenging since it is extremely easy to over do it in this regard. Thankfully, some of the best elements utilized here have been used by RAZBAM before in previous releases; which usually means that they have somewhat mastered their implementation. This involves effects such as over wing vapor, which to me really makes the model shine even more and sells the movement of the aircraft through the air. G and AoA dependent vapor effects are always great, as you can see in the image above. Aside from the main wing vapor, there are smaller vortexes that are created along the intake ramps and even the elevator tips. As for audio design, this aspect of the module has been extremely well done. Everything from buffeting, engine feedback, and even the cockpit switches and alerts are implemented well. One effect that I liked quite a bit was the famous pneumatic activator sound that the nozzles make when pushing from idle power. I captured this sound here along with the amazing engine nozzle animations, so let's hear it: FLIGHT MODELING DISCLAIMER: This is always a tough category, as like with any other aircraft, there is a lot to take into consideration other than just the feel of the flight model. This category is the most subjective one in this article, as I do not have any real world experience with this craft. I will only base my opinion on practical experience and knowledge of practical aerodynamics and the theoretical behavior that an F-15E should have under certain scenarios. With the disclaimer out of the way, I think that RAZBAM outdid themselves with the flight model. The aircraft feels heavy yet powerful and carries some very palpable inertia with it when you maneuver. It is a feeling that I had sorely missed from other flight models that have come out recently, and one that I can not help but to appreciate. You can feel the thrust coming out of those engines and, believe it or not, it is that feeling that has made my experience with this aircraft such a delightful one. I can load this aircraft up with a full combat load, full fuel and I can barely feel it! Coming from a Hornet or even the Viper, this aircraft feels like it is in a league of its own, at least in terms of thrust. Something that impressed me is that the wings have plastic deformation if brought to its structural limits, which means that if you pull too hard and at high speeds, you will permanently deform the wings which will affect the way your aircraft performs in a very negative way. It is also possible to completely rip your wings off if you fly it like you stole it, which is a very nice touch. This will make players more conscious of their maneuvers and the limits of the aircraft itself. Here's a picture of the deformation, look at the wingtips and how they are bent upwards. MISSION CAPABILITIES As of release, the mission capabilities of the Mudhen are limited to the weapons and systems that were implemented into the initial build. With the current weapons and systems, the F-15E is capable of performing all weather, day and night missions in both air-to-air and air to ground role, which would put it at the same capability level as the Hornet or Viper at release. Night operations are made easy by the implementation of the LANTIRN TGP and NVP systems, both of which allow for all weather and night operations by using FLIR imagery. Additionally, both the Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground radars are implemented to a high level of accuracy, which means that you will be able to use them to target and map targets at incredible distances. We are still missing many of the sensors, modes and weapons that are needed to put the aircraft at the same level as the current versions of the Hornet and Viper that we have in game. Specially, as of the writing of this article, there are no true smart weapons implemented in the game; which is a bit of a let-down, but it is something that the developers had made clear since they announced which features would be available with it at launch. With the addition of smart weapons and improved sensors such as the Sniper XR pod, this aircraft will be a mainstay of DCS multiplayer missions, with thousands of players that will specialize in mastering its numerous quirks and features. ARMAMENT M61 VULCAN 20MM CANNON 510 round of reliable 20 mm destruction at a variable refresh rate of 4000 or 6000RPM. AIR TO AIR MISSILES Since it is based on the original Eagle, the Mudhen is still an extremely formidable air-to-air platform. To do this job properly, it has access to a pretty decent arsenal: The AIM-9 family of missiles with many variants: L/M/P/P5 The AIM-7 family of missiles: M/MH The AIM-120 family of missiles: B/C UNGUIDED BOMBS, CLUSTER MUNITIONS AND RUNWAY PENETRATORS You can carry an unbelievable amount of unguided bombs that would any WW2 aircraft blush: Mk.82 500lb bombs in both low and high drag x 14. Mk.84 2000lb bombs in both low and high drag x 6 CBU-87/97 Cluster munitions x 14 Mk.20 Rockeye Cluster munitions x 14 BLU-107 Durandal Runway penetrators x 12 LASER GUIDED MUNITIONS The most advanced bombs currently available, they come in several flavors: GBU-12 500lbs x 10 GBU-10 2000lbs x 7 GBU-24 2000lb "Bunker Buster" x 5 EASE OF USE AND LEARNING CURVE There is no way to sugarcoat this, but this is a complex module that will require some time and dedication to properly learn how to use its systems. This is in-line with any other 4th generation fighter, regardless of which country it comes from. Its complexity lies, mainly, in the unintuitive controls and the insane amount of buttons that need mapping in order to operate it at the same level as other American 4th gens. To explain how complex it can be: I ran out of buttons while trying to map all the essential controls that are required to use the plane's systems. I was surprised since I do have 4 different hat-switches and plenty of buttons. Yet, despite that, I had to create two levels of modifiers for my throttle to have all the functions I needed handy. You will need to be clever in order to map all these buttons to a simpler controller, something akin to an Xbox controller or, alternatively, you will need to have a beefy set-up to map everything you will need to operate this jet as a solo pilot. IS THIS AIRCRAFT FOR YOU? If what you want in a module is: An incredible flying experience. An air-to-air beast with a powerful radar that can also map the ground. A platform that will continue to grow with time, just like the Hornet and Viper did. An all weather platform that conquers the day and rules the night. If you don't mind: That it is an Early Access (EA) product. The lack of smart weaponry at launch. Dealing with all the control bindings. Not having more advanced sensor suites at launch. If all or some of the above is what you want, then the F-15E Strike Eagle by Razbam Simulations is for you! About the writer: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000s, leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities, but only started being active around the mid 2010s. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as the co-founder and writer ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy

Low Situational Awareness Laser Guided Bomb Delivery The smarts in smart weapons don't mean much if the pilot flying the aircraft is having a "helmet fire." The air combat arena has been complex since the first observation aircraft met over the battlefields of World War I. As technology moved forward and combat aircraft became more capable, pilots' physical and mental workload has only multiplied. Even in the most capable 4th generation of combat aircraft, having the knowledge to operate them correctly, manage communications, and evade threats from the land, sea, and air can be a tall order. Especially when you're being shot at. Task saturation, misprioritization, reduced situational awareness, and tunnel vision is a dangerous mix when flying. Even the most experienced pilots can get lost in the information buzz. This combination of factors is a commonly cited reason for mishaps and missed targets. During a combat mission, a member of the flight being "tumbleweed" or dealing with a full-on "helmet fire" makes them wholly ineffective and dangerous to a degree. Besides talk-ons, bullseye calls, and other methods to give the confused wingman information, there is an unusual technique that can be used in Digital Combat Simulator World and similar combat flight simulators. "Buddy Bombing" is a technique that works best with laser-guided bombs deployed from higher altitudes. While it is similar to "Buddy Lasing" that a forward air controller airborne (FAC-A) would provide, there is a noticeable difference. Buddy Lasing calls for allied aircraft to approach a known target in an identifiable area illuminated by a laser from another ally. The attacking aircraft engage the target from any briefed or verbally agreed upon direction and altitude. "Buddy Bombing" calls for a member of the flight to fly on the wing of an allied aircraft equipped with a targeting pod to work together to deliver a laser-guided weapon on target. In our example with the confused pilot, they are called to rejoin the targeting pod-equipped aircraft. Upon rejoining formation, the confused pilot only has to match their flight lead's airspeed, altitude, and direction. This minimizes the amount of information they have to manage, resets their mental workload, and simplifies their immediate task. All they need to do is fly on the wing of their flight lead as the flight lead maneuvers them onto the target. The flight lead can talk their wingman onto the target, give visual references, sensor-based references, and even a description of the target they can visually identify. Both aircraft coordinate matching laser codes for weapon guidance, and the flight lead gives a countdown for the wingman to drop their weapon. After weapon release, the wingman can leave the flight leader with now rebuilt situational awareness or remain with the leader to set up for a second attack. While the wingman doesn't have to fly close formation throughout the rejoin and turn onto the target, flying close formation will be required for the run-up to the target. This is needed to send the weapon in the right direction with enough energy behind it for the flight lead's laser designator to guide it onto the target. If the aircraft deploying the laser guided bomb releases it far off target, it will be hard or impossible for the bomb to maneuver itself while tracking the targeting laser to hit the target. If the bomb is released at the same speed, altitude and vector as the aircraft illuminating the target, the deviation is negligible . Buddy Bombing isn't a go-to tactic. It can be somewhat time consuming to set up while in the middle of a mission. All aircraft maintaining SA and attack targets from varying directions and altitudes makes it harder for the defenders to fight back. However, when faced with the possibility of a mission failing and a confused wingman being ineffective or potentially shot down, reducing their workload to maintaining formation and releasing a weapon at the end of a countdown is a great alternative. About the Writer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. Read Staff Profile.

Besiege Flight Machinima Creator Those enamored by flight will pursue it wherever it can be found. It's the type of passion that drives people to look up when they hear an aircraft overhead during their everyday lives. In the virtual world, that same passion drives people to bring flight to places where it was never intended to be. Our first interview for Creator Highlight Month 2022 is with Shadé, a machinima maker creating aviation-focused content on a rather unexpected platform: Besiege. For many years now, Shadé (pronounced zah-day) has created aircraft to fly in the medieval skies of Bisege and made elaborate videos of fictional and non-fictional aircraft in a wide variety of settings and situations. After years of being curious about how this was possible, we got an opportunity to discuss this subject at length with Shadé. There is a lot we do not know about this subject, so it is great having an expert here. Pleased to meet you. Hello! My name is Pascalis Sadewa, but the community knows me more by the name Shadé. I’m from Yogyakarta, Indonesia but now I have moved to Bali to pursue my dream of developing video games. I’m the one behind a YouTube channel called Dawn-Shade where I upload machinimas (animated films using video and computer games videos) using a game called Besiege. I’ve seen videos of your work for years without completely understanding what is happening. Let’s start from the top. What is Besiege? When I first played Besiege in 2015, just a couple of months after it launched as early access on Steam, I thought it was just a fun silly medieval destruction-building game at first. Besiege is a physics-based builder game in which you build medieval siege engines to solve puzzles, destroy opposing armies and structures. You start with a single 1x1 block, then you place more blocks connected to said starting block. Each block type can have its own function: Wheels can rotate, springs can contract, hinges can bend, blades cut, armor protects, etc. For example, if you want to make the most basic car, you start by making a chassis from wooden blocks, then you place two steering hinges at the front, then add four wheels. If you bind the wheel to Arrow Up, then steer left/right to Arrow Left/Right, you can get a basic working car. You then make machines this way giving them whatever functions you can think of to complete the objectives, solve puzzles, and finish the campaign. Does the base version of the game have a single player campaign or multiplayer? What is the goal in those game modes? Besiege has a single player campaign spanning four chapters. The first chapter is more like a basic tutorial, acquainting players with what each block does. Some levels have how-to-build guides that players can follow. Each subsequent chapter introduces new challenges and gradually makes it harder. Not every stage has destruction as its main objective, some need you to take and deliver a certain object into a specified place, some have a Zelda-like puzzle. If you’re more keen on just building creatively, there’s a Sandbox mode where you have a flat, vast area to test and play your machine. This mode is where the majority of players spend their time in Besiege, building machines and sharing it to the world via the Steam Workshop. Besiege also has a level editor where you can design your own levels or combine them into a campaign of your own. The levels you have created can then be used for multiplayer mode. Besiege multiplayer mode is where players can create a lobby and other players can join directly, playing custom levels with their machines. You can do racing, tank combat, just hang around, simulating battlebots, or PVP dogfights, with the last one being very popular in Besiege’s Japanese Community. Because of the medieval setting, machines like trebuchets and battering rams were probably was was expected by the Besiege developers. Users can build machines with various types of building blocks. Is flight as simple as placing a single flying block? Fun fact, the developer actually never expected that players could achieve flight like we did. There is only one flying-based level in the campaign. You’re supposed to make a flying machine to hit target balloons, but in actuality it can even be completed without flight, by simply shooting the targets from the starting point. In the early days of Besiege, planes were an elusive technique that only a handful of players understood. It’s surprisingly easy to get something into the air, however getting it to fly will require some basic knowledge of how planes work in the real world. Most players default to a quadcopter design, because it’s one of the easiest ways (and cooler than simply making balloon airships) to make a controllable flying machine. It took awhile for players to realize that the Wing Block and the Wing Panel the developer provided is not a good block to build the wing part of the plane. Turns out, building wing parts with the Propeller Block make things fly so well that now it has become the standard. You can dissect someone else’s machine they uploaded in the Steam Workshop to see how they work. But copying the mechanism without understanding how aircraft works will lead you nowhere. Aircraft that work in real life can work in Besiege, so knowing how real aircraft works helps. Small bit of trivia, on my earliest attempt at building a plane in Besiege, I put elevator control on the main wing. My brain thought aircraft gain altitude that way. I learned a lot about aircraft after that. After I’m confident enough to know about flight and the easiest way to build one in Besiege, I then created and uploaded a tutorial video on how to make a plane in Besiege. It’s a very basic plane that works well enough, but still covers a lot of knowledge of mechanisms needed to build your own. And the most important part, this should be possible even for players without any mods installed. Are mods to enhance or alter the game needed to create aircraft? Creating aircraft never strictly requires mods. Some mods that add handy tools can speed up players' build and can increase the detail on their machines, but after the developer added an update that contained Advanced Building Tools, players now can make detailed planes even in base game. The Besiege Japanese Community in particular are very fond of this tool. So much that the mainstream players are all about making powerful planes in vanilla and duel them together in PVP fashion. My old F-104 Starfighter was one of the first realistic planes that could break the sound barrier in the early days. At that time it was very challenging. From making an engine that doesn’t spontaneously burst at high rpm, then building a fuselage that can withstand that amount of Gs, and even making control surfaces that still work at high-speed. But now Japanese players say that 1000km/h is the bare minimum if you want to PVP. Initially they were strictly going vanilla, but as they discovered more techniques, vanilla Besiege cannons were considered underpowered. Now they use vanilla fighter + Weapon Block Mod. There are various other types of mods. Weapon Block mod is the type that can add custom blocks to the game. This mod adds fun real life modern armament you can place as blocks on your aircraft. I like these because they are useful for making action scenes more fun. But if you share something that contains modded blocks, you have to keep in mind that whenever other players that don't install the mod try to load it, that block would be missing. Before sharing you have to make sure with the block missing, the machine should still work. Other mods add many various things, like adding custom HUD similar to what Ace Combat has for that game’s camera, or add ocean to the game to test out ships or seaplanes, or allows you to write Lua to a machine you build, or change the game’s physics calculation speed, making things very accurate and laggy, or very wonky but smooth. The Ace Combat HUD mod is a mod I co-developed with another modder from the community. Besiege is a physics-based builder. Does this mean that aircraft design matters in this game? Can designs that are too heavy, unbalanced or just too unconventional still fly? Very much physics still matters. If an aircraft is too heavy, it won’t take off. If it’s unbalanced, it will require constant correction because it won’t fly straight. Wing aspect ratio too wide? Your plane will glide easily but rolling would be very sluggish, You make your wings anhedral? It will react to movement quicker at the cost of being more unstable. But with the Besiege, some limitations of the world don't apply, like airflow. When the design can’t take off, you can solve them with various things like increase the lift by adding more aerodynamic blocks, or increase the engine power. You can even reduce the weight by strategically adding strong hidden balloons inside. People who have full knowledge of what things affect the flying physics and what doesn’t affect can make anything fly. Examples are this CCC-166 Gharial Attack Helicopter which is an Attack Helicopter shaped like a tank based on a meme; or this majestic Swan ‘Boat’ that’s a boat but can fly and it comes with its own passenger; or a flying Ricardo Milos. You mentioned key bindings in your basic car example earlier in the interview. Can aircraft be controlled with gamepads? Have other types of controllers been tried? The developers said not to expect official analog support. Besiege uses Unity Engine so it should read XInput just fine, but currently you can only use gamepad buttons. When remapping key bindings, the inputs from analog or trigger won’t be detected, so all input you can use is digital. There was a mod that added controller support into older versions of Besiege. This is why on some of my uploaded planes, it has a control scheme for controllers written on its page. It’s quite powerful, you can even utilize the sensitivity of the analog or trigger to control, for example how fast the Wheel turns, or how much the angle a Steering Block turns. You can even use HOTAS to control the movement. Sadly it has never been updated to work on the current version of Besiege. The aircraft you’ve assembled in your Steam workshop collection, “Shadé’s Skycruisers”, covers a wide array of aircraft. From World War I biplanes, to modern day jets and helicopters to fictional aircraft from various other games. In your opinion, what are some of your best works? That is a very hard question! Each new upload I always strive for something new like trying different tech or try to not have weaknesses previous aircraft had. If I decide based on the stats alone, I don’t think the Gypsy Danger video counts because my helicopter there only has a supporting role. So then the Su-25TM “Frogfoot" with the most popular showcase video is the best. I like that I managed to design bombs with satisfying explosions and fit plenty on that plane. If based on the most subscribed on Steam, it’s the Aurora Alpha Bomber. The Aurora bomber has this one downside where it was really laggy, particularly because it was made from the period where I don’t know that a certain block is more laggy than other blocks. If I can redo it I would rebuild it without the block. Maybe my personal favorite is the F-4E Phantom II. It’s my go-to plane for testing new levels I designed. Something on it’s engine design makes the flight the smoothest, it has sufficient armament to destroy targets, and it’s agile enough to evade obstacles. If I remember correctly, at a certain point it also became one of my most reuploaded planes. Some of them asked for my permission first, which I always agreed to as long as they mention that it was originally made by me, but often others just stole it and reuploaded it to the Steam Workshop without any credit whatsoever. Steam Workshop's ability to easily share user-made machines is a powerful tool. What are some of the most complex or unexpected aircraft you’ve seen made in Besiege? There are few, the latest one is this Fully Mechanical Supermarine Spitfire. On the surface it just looks like a regular Spitfire, but on the inside it’s mechanical. Every control surface is connected to the cockpit where using the pilot camera you can see it moving. It does fly wonky thanks to a lot of the added weight of the internal mechanism but it’s still very impressive. There is also this almost perfect replica of the F-22 Raptor. This aircraft has everything you could possibly need in a plane: accurate missiles in the missile bays, accurate gear doors, very good agility, missiles are using sensor blocks so you can just fire-and-forget, and it looks fantastic complete with a canopy you can open and close. This one is called The Skycrawler, a giant ship using a rare method of propulsion called cyclo-gyro. It uses a horizontal-axis cyclorotor as a rotor wing to provide lift, propulsion and control. I still can’t explain it if someone asks me how it can fly. There is also this monstrosity called Balaculus with more than 10,000 total blocks that apparently can fly in addition to melting anyone’s PC. For at least 6 years now your machinimas have included one-off combat missions and recreations of scenarios from Ace Combat and Battlefield, for example. Can you give us a general idea about the filming process? The spirit of these videos I made is always sharing a new build uploaded on the workshop, either by myself or by other members of the community. So naturally I decided the scenarios based on what build will be shared next. Most animators are taught to create a storyboard first, before doing the actual take. I never actually draw those storyboards. Most of my storyboarding process is by pure visualization in my mind while listening to the music many times. I visualize what should I start with, what would happen at this part of music, when the climax occurs, and what would be the ending. Making a recreation of a scenario is generally easier because I already know what the sequence is. I simply insert dialogues from the scenario to the music then listen to it several times so I can get a good grasp on what part I should use, and what part I should omit. So deciding the music is usually one of the first things to do. When I make recreations of existing scenarios, the music is just what the original used. When it’s not, I pick various music from either free music library, shows, or from other games I’ve played. Next, I list all extra machines I need and scour the Steam Workshop to find which machines have been built. If some machines are not available, I’ll find some alternatives. But if the type of the machine is very important to the scenario, I’ll ask several other community members and they are usually more than happy to help me build one. When everything is assembled, it’s time to start recording. There are several ways to record multiple machines at the same time in Besiege. The old way is additive load another machine with a mod, so that both can appear at the same time within a world. When the machine is loaded this way, I control both machines using one keyboard. I sometimes need to remap the machine buttons so that their movement does not overlap. I fly the first machine with my left hand, and the second machine with the right hand while keeping the machines in frame (I often wish I had a third hand to control the camera with the mouse). Imagine it’s like you drive a car but instead of looking at the road, you look at the driver’s seat from the outside, while also making sure the other car behind it is still driving straight. When the Multiplayer update came out, recording scenes just became a lot easier. I can ask other community members to fly a machine or two for me, while I focus on the camera work. I often arrange a recording session on the weekends where most people are online and there sure are many good pilots from the community. This is where my camerawork quality gets better because now I don’t have to worry about where my plane’s nose is headed. I can ask them to do certain actions over and over again for each camera angle. A downside of this is that we need to be online at the same time. I often have to stay awake after midnight because the other person is in the European time zone. After the Replay Mod came out, my scenes can now keep their quality without having to rely on other people too much. With it, I just need to do a successful run with the machines once, then hit the replay button. The machines will accurately follow my previous path so I can just set up my camera on every angle I want without having to do the run multiple times. Simulation in Besiege is very CPU heavy, I don’t think there's a consumer computer capable of running more than 1000 blocks at 100% speed, not to mention OBS on top of that. People have been joking that my computer must be from NASA but I only have a laptop. So then how could my mere laptop do that? It’s because I always record everything in slow motion, at max 25%, down to 5% if there’s so much going on, then speed up in the editor. The advantage is that even if my laptop renders Besiege laggy as low as 15 FPS, in editor it will be sped up 4x which means I will have a sweet 60 FPS for the final video. This poses several challenges. For starters, everything is very slow. A 40 seconds footage is only worth max 10 seconds, usually less. Second, camera movement also needs to be very slow. You move the Camera in Besiege by dragging it with the mouse. To mimic the handheld shaking, you have to shake it with the mouse but do it very-very-very slowly. This is why in my early videos, the camera movement is not that good. This was solved with the addition of the cinematic camera the developer added in an update. In the early days I was the one responsible for making the aircraft for my videos, some time passed and I see the number of Besiege plane builders has grown a lot. So when the Level Editor update was released, I delegated the aircraft build to other community members so I can focus on other things I am passionate about, designing levels. This is why at the end of 2017 most of my videos become showcases of levels developed by me with additional supporting aircraft provided by the community. That's an ingenious video recording solution! Your videos have multiple machines and landscapes. This makes me wonder what the stage/world/level limitations of Besiege are and how you worked around those to create your videos? In the early days of Besiege, I can only use the campaign levels. It’s very limited, but planes are usually high in the sky so it doesn’t matter much. Then a mod came in and one of its features was adding a custom scene with terrain you can customize the texture. I used it for a long time until one day the Level Editor update came out. The Level Editor in Besiege is very powerful. The levels are created with various Objects that you can place and edit in the world. The object includes destructible structure, trees, NPCs, basic shapes, and even environmental effects. You can set every object’s coordinates, rotation, scale, and its specific parameters. The only hard limit is what the game can run, and that depends on the PC of whoever wants to play the levels. The official levels have about 10-100 objects, while the player made levels averages at being around 1000 objects. Some extreme examples reach 15,000 objects, like the Tyrie Continent or the Illushor Air Base. The Level Editor has a logic system that is used to make things happen in the level you create. Basically, players can script in-game events without any code or programming knowledge. You can make simple things like when a player destroys a building, a certain door moves to reveal the exit, or complex things like where you can make several rocket-shaped-objects with sets of Triggers that can track and chase the players, or even this Level Fighter, which is a playable fighter plane achieved only with logic and not physics. I have always had a passion for making or designing games. After Besiege released the Level Editor, I went from full plane builder into full level designer. I have made several racing levels, puzzle levels, but the community mostly knows my Ace Combat missions recreated as Besiege levels. They all have mostly accurate albeit simpler, objectives and win condition you can play with Besiege machines and Besiege physics. None of them are playable with standard medieval catapult Besiege are intended, so I often provided the level with preloaded aircraft you can just pick. A very limiting factor is that Besiege Level Editor world boundaries are very small, at 1980 m x 1980 m x 1780 m. This is more than enough for ground based machines, but for planes, it is just really limiting. Keep in mind that most aircraft made in Besiege are not 1:1, they are much bigger. Several missions from Ace Combat simply can’t be recreated because of this reason. You can mod the game to remove the world boundaries, but then you have to make sure anyone trying to play your level must also have removed the world boundaries or the level just won’t work. I’d rather have more people to enjoy my levels so I always make sure my levels are within Besiege limits. One other thing that is hard to implement is AI for the enemies. There are some other community members that have achieved AI aircraft that have convincing flight and fire homing missiles at you, but the logic needed for just one enemy is just so complicated, having more than one will severely lag the game. This is why most of my levels are ground attack or obstacle runs, where you don’t need a lot of resistance from the opponent. Still if you wish for some dogfight action, you can simply invite a friend to play as the enemy. Has your work with Besiege increased your passion about game development? Honestly, I don’t feel it caused any significant increase. I have been passionate about game development since I was a child, starting from making custom levels/scenarios, creating mods, to making small games with friends in college. I actually think that it was Besiege that has increased my interest in aircraft. Before Besiege, I knew fighter jets were rad, flying is cool and that’s it. Since I started creating an aircraft in Besiege, I've been using a lot of references from articles, photos, blueprints, video footage, and even 3D models to create an accurate representation of the aircraft in Besiege. This is where I learned a lot of things like how aircraft uses combination of aileron and elevator or sometimes elevon to turn, how aircraft airbrake work, how angling your thrust when turning grants supermaneuvrability, why helicopters must have an even number of rotor but not planes, and how different wing configurations affect flight characteristics. If possible, could you talk about your current game dev project(s)? I’m currently working with Engram Interactive studio, developing Fractured Core. It’s a classic JRPG with cyberpunk for it’s main theme using isometric 2D pixel art for the visual. You play as a mercenary undertaking various missions in a futuristic Germany. You can expect a standard turn-based mechanic for its battle system with plenty of customization for the magic available for each of the main characters. My responsibilities are directing its animation for the combat and cutscenes. The combat will mostly have hand drawn animation. I am also designing the layout and gameplay for the later dungeons. The dungeons will have random enemy encounters that you can turn off or on, and some will require you to solve puzzles to progress. There won’t be any aircraft or flight mechanic involved in the game though. There is a demo available on Steam that you can download. Our Discord is always open, feel free to join in and have a chat with me. Thank you so much for this interview. I must admit that I am somewhat in awe after learning so much about flight in Besiege. I feel like I have to give it a try myself now. This has been fascinating. Thank you for this rare opportunity. I would also like to thank my friends from the Besiege community: Brammer, daichi, and dagriefaa for giving me some valuable feedback when I was writing this. Several people heard about me first before Besiege, and they first played Besiege with the intention of creating planes and tried to follow my plane tutorial without any understanding of the basic tool nor the characteristics of each block, and thus can’t really follow my tutorial. So for readers who are also interested about learning flight in Besiege, try to at least complete the first campaign first and I’ll be happy to assist any difficulties. Just mention me, Shadé, in the Official Besiege Discord with the trouble you are facing, or you can also message me via Facebook. About the Interviewer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. Read Staff Profile.

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Because of circumstances beyond my understanding, I have found myself flying a type of mission I never expected to fly in DCS: Logistical supply runs. I have learned a couple of lessons while trying to survive in these scenarios, so let's talk about them! THE RECENT EMERGENCE OF PLAYER DRIVEN LOGISTICS In missions like the many variants of Foothold, a relatively popular mission that many servers run nowadays, player driven logistics are key for the proper function of the mission. Up until now I had only seen smaller-scale implementations of these functions in-game, specially on multiplayer-focused content. The way that has been implemented is that if an airbase is "liberated", either a player or an AI logistics aircraft will need to unload supplies on it to capture it and reinforce it. To do this properly, it is essential that at least one of the players playing the mission takes the role as the AI is not the best at its job. That is where I come in, as I am one of the only ones in my group that actively flies helos in the sim. STAYING LOW AND FAST TO SURVIVE Just like we have seen in the recent Russo-Ukrainian war, helicopter survivability rates go up as they get low to avoid both visual and radar detection. The same applies to DCS. To run some of these logistic runs, I have had to go so low that all I see is my shadow reflected on the grass as I speed towards the objective. Doing this with cargo is a bit tricky, as the load you are carrying is worth more to the team than you are. Distance becomes a bit of a problem too, specially in maps like the Persian Gulf and Syria. I have done logistic runs that have lasted well over two hours due to the fact that the distance between the objectives and our bases grew and grew as my buddies kept capturing areas non-stop. It was a very fun experience and a very refreshing one for me. I depended on my friend's escort throughout the runs as the enemy did try to intercept my flights many times. It was a team effort to get me to the objective, which was somewhat of a challenge when coordinating with your friends over a Discord call. But we managed. THINGS TO COME: THE FUTURE OF LOGISTICS IN DCS If we have this level of logistics and non-combat flying in DCS right now, I can only speculate how much it will change once the official C-130 module releases. It would be the first fixed wing logistics aircraft in the game with the ability to be extremely flexible as to how that cargo or those troops get delivered. I love DCS for its combat aspect but I really enjoy this side of it. A side that does not hurt the enemy by directly engaging with it, but by facilitating the fight with the delivery of every tool necessary to bring the fight to them. About the author: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and the co-founder of Skyward ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

A Silent Release From a Long Forgotten Project Is a game developed by someone feeling the hype of Top Gun: Maverick technically a Top Gun game? Jokes aside, I was passed a link to a game by another Skyward staff member on May 1st, 2023 that I had never heard of. In fact, the demo for the game had come out just hours before I was made aware of it. At first glance, the most engaging part of the product page was the rather stylish illustrated poster by Monty. But after just a few minutes of gameplay, I can say there are some interesting details that should not be overlooked here. At Skies' Edge is an indie arcade flight action game led by Mackerel Sky. The developer themselves has expressed interest in further working on the project, but states that they need time to learn 3D modeling while balancing work and other commitments. As it is now, this is somewhat of a passion project / proof of concept utilizing premade 3D assets for aircraft and weapons with a customized version of the Operation Maverick/Operation Zero base arcade flight model created by Lunetis. Development of this project from something like a tech demo to a full game is not guaranteed. I'm not stating all of this to talk down to this game, but to be clear about its current status. Unexpected Roots This title was first mentioned as a project in June 2017. At one time it was known as "Project Sandwall" with its primary draw being a proprietary game engine being created using OpenGL 4, OpenAL, LuaBind, GLFW and Asio in C++. Its now defunct website mentions future goals for a co-op/multiplayer focused experience. Over time staff left the project, and it fell into obscurity from an already relatively unknown state. Mackerel Sky was a member of the original team as its Creative Director, and seems to have pursued the project on their own in silence after some time. That being said, a public game randomly appearing after 6 years is surprising. With no attempt to advertise it ahead of release, this is an actual bolt from the blue. Screenshots from the previous project (2017-2018). The May 2023 demo should not be held to expectations from the old project. There are non-working features and errors in the game demo that Mackerel Sky openly addresses on the Itchi.io page. Though, there are two things that caught my eye while playing. Weapon Loadout Decision Any fan of this genre knows the struggle of secondary weapons - optional high performance weapons that augment the onboard cannon and missiles. It is a fine balance between providing too many options and not making them impactful enough to break gameplay. At Skies' Edge chooses a more realistic option while still maintaining an arcade appropriate volume of missiles. For example, the M/D-15C (F-15C Eagle) has 10 weapon stations. Depending on their position, certain missiles are not compatible with the station. Stations 7 through 10 can only hold medium ranged multi lock missiles (based on the AIM-120 AMRAAM), which are the positions real world F-15s normally store such missiles. But on stations 1 through 6 a mixture of short-range infrared missiles or more multi-lock missiles can be carried. The more weapons that are added to stations, the more of them that can be fired at once. Wanting to become a SPAMRAAM bus? They've got you. As of the time of this writing, there are only three weapon options, but the potential flexibility created just by sticking to realism a bit is quite nice. Air Speed and Turn Rates These days, when I think of maneuverability in arcade flight games, my mind thinks of reasonable brief periods of super maneuverability like in Nova Squadron or Frontiers Reach depending on starting air speed. More extreme examples like Ace Combat and Project Wingman also come to mind. Holding two buttons at the right speeds can allow players particularly adept at manipulating the controls to perform unbelievable feats. Outside of that, the standard turning battles in air combat are dependent on the base stats of an aircraft and augmentations provided by in-game parts. But generally, altering between maximum and minimum engine output is the optimum way to find the best turn radius. What I enjoy about At Skies' Edge is that while it does have a super maneuverability mode, air speed management without using this mode feels great gameplay wise. Throttle setting remains where players set it at. This reduces the need to constantly adjust throttle setting, especially when coupled with the nifty minor addition to the Heads Up Display. The HUD speed indicator comes with text that lets the player know if their speed is optimal for Cruise (high speed) or Air Combat Maneuvering (dogfighting). The aircraft handles much better at its ACM speed, encouraging and rewarding players that fly the aircraft properly rather than rely on brute force thrust and liberal use of the air brake to solve all problems. Against more maneuverable enemies that appear later in the game, getting into close range turn rate battles adds positively to the experience. The use of rudder at just the right moment to snap the nose of the aircraft onto the harder to defeat enemies is often the best way to acquire a missile lock. With the missiles in this game not instantaneously achieving lock at all times, keeping the target in front of the aircraft for long enough to achieve a lock makes control over the aircraft all that more important. I don't have high hopes that At Skies' Edge will become the next break-out arcade flight game of 2023, but that's not to say that I am not interested in seeing it succeed. Its sudden reappearance makes me wonder where it will go from here. About the Writer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers.

The Strike Eagle by Razbam Simulations is fast approaching to our DCS World hangars, so why don't we take a step back and analyze what we know about it, its capabilities and what we will be able to do at launch judging from publicly available information. Both Aaron Mendoza and Santiago Cuberos will each give their thoughts on certain aspects of the module and talk about what interests them the most, or, which aspects they think that people need to know before they take a step into the Mudhen's cockpit. “THE NEW HORNET” Anyone that has been around Digital Combat Simulator long enough knows exactly what this phrase means. For years, the Eagle Dynamics F/A-18C Hornet Lot 20 was and arguably still is the most prolific module in the simulator. There are many reasons for this. From a development standpoint, the Hornet had the benefit of receiving much development attention throughout the years - even when compared to its highly advanced counterpart, the Eagle Dynamics F-16C Viper. The Hornet was arguably a more “complete” aircraft for the longest time. Capability wise, the Hornet can simply carry multiple weapons for every situation imaginable while still retaining respectable aircraft performance. Furthermore, as one of the most modern aircraft available in the simulator, its systems and sensors are easier to learn, highly capable and represent a capability baseline for every fourth and fifth generation aircraft that came after it. In the simulator, this resulted in what seemed like every aspiring DCS newcomer to purchase the Hornet, then primarily stick to that aircraft for years to come. In the experience of many others in multiplayer servers, the newly minted Hornet enthusiasts caused just as much trouble for their allies as they did their enemies. As such, the F/A-18C gained this unofficial status. Not every new module that comes to DCS World is guaranteed to see an explosion of use like the Hornet did - certainly there are no highly popular public servers packed full of players constantly flying MB-339s and Mirage F1s. The RAZBAM F-15E Strike Eagle is the first 4th generation multirole aircraft released for Digital Combat Simulator in quite some time. The last one was back in 2019 with the Deka Ironworks JF-17 Thunder, which has capabilities on the same level as the F-16C and F/A-18C. The Strike Eagle is perfectly positioned to fall into the same easy to access, easy to deploy and single choice preference, which is highly likely to see an explosion of sustained users over years to come. Which naturally comes with a population of users willing to learn the aircraft from top to bottom, and others more interested in learning the bare-bones basics for quick action (and potential trouble making). EARLY ACCESS PATIENCE While the “Year of the Strike Eagle” social media campaign has been on point, presenting the F-15E’s release as a major milestone for the public’s perception of Digital Combat Simulator, the public’s perception may also be a little muddled by the hype. That’s not to say that Razbam Simulations has been disingenuous, but the sheer excitement over the release of this module should be paired with the reality of the Early Access module experience. The day this module reaches its most potent Second CTU, which represents a circa 2015 F-15E, is most likely many months if not years away. This holds true not only for the development timelines of the F-16C and F/A-18C, as we mentioned earlier, but also for other aircraft developed by Razbam and other module development teams. The fact is that creating high fidelity and study level simulated aircraft takes a lot of time and refinement before they can truly be considered complete. The F-15E Strike Eagle that will be available at launch is a Suite4E+ representative of a mid-2000s version of the aircraft. A list of features has been posted by our buddies over in the Stormbirds blog, but the systems and weapons available make it more of a Desert Storm era aircraft; to put it simply. It will primarily be carrying its internal cannon, laser guided munitions, infrared short-range missiles, semi-active radar guided missiles and active radar homing missiles. No GPS guided weapons, air-to-ground missiles or stand-off munitions have been announced for release as of the time of this writing. While its powerful air-to-ground radar functionality will be available, only the first of the three announced targeting pods, the AN/AAQ-14 LANTIRN will accompany its release. The more capable AN/AAQ-28 Litening II and AN/AAQ-33 Sniper XR targeting pods won’t be released until much later. Keeping in mind the role and capabilities of the Strike Eagle at launch is important. Its initial early access form is that of a deep strike / air interdiction attacker with powerful air-to-ground radar that primarily relies on laser guided munitions for precision attacks. It will not easily fulfill the role of anti-ship, destruction or suppression of enemy air defenses or stand-off engagements without support from other aircraft within the simulator that have systems, hardware and munitions purpose built for these roles. The air-to-air capabilities of the F-15C Eagle are present, but certain additions like its conformal fuel tanks do affect its performance to a degree in basic fighter maneuvers. Furthermore, while the Strike Eagle can carry an impressive amount of air-to-ground ordnance, expecting a bomb laden F-15E to perform maneuvers expected from an F-15C during air combat is rather unreasonable. Despite the sheer power of the Strike Eagle’s power plants and its high maximum payload weight, considerations for maneuverability and speed in combat shouldn’t be forgone for the sake of carrying enough bombs to make a B-17 blush. MUDHEN, VIPER AND HORNET: THE 4TH GEN TRIO Another very compelling aspect that the Mudhen has is its partial system similarity with all the current 4th Gen American aircraft in the sim. Imagine this: it is launch day, and you want to get your brand new F-15E in the air, and a sudden realization fills your mind: everything feels familiar. That is not by coincidence, as you should already have noticed certain similarities between the F-15E and, say, the Hornet. The stick layout is similar, as well as some panels that should also look familiar. That is to be expected, since both aircraft were manufactured by the same company. Are they different enough to make it impossible to move from one to the other without training from scratch? Sure, they are, but at the same time there is an inherent familiarity between these aircraft that will aid you a lot in terms of learning its systems. If you have learned and mastered the Viper, the Hornet or even the Harrier, then you will have an easier time learning the Mudhen. The HUD is also pretty much a western standard design, with some aspects unique to the aircraft, specially when it comes down to weapon employment symbology and unique systems that the Mudhen has such as its NAVFLIR. The systems are not the same, if they were, it wouldn't be a Mudhen; but they utilize the same building blocks that people can easily recognize and learn. You have your UFC, you have your MFDs with a regular amount of buttons, unlike with the JF-17. All of those basic skills and flows will transfer better to the F-15E than they would to earlier generation western aircraft or even eastern fighters. This familiarity is what will make the F-15E many people's favorite aircraft to fly in DCS. No more need to relearn how to read gauges or retrain yourself on how to instinctively read your HUD or some other systems at a glance. A 4TH GENERATION TRAINING WORKHORSE: MULTICREW Have you ever been in a situation in which your friend has now just gotten into DCS, and they have no clue what they are doing? In a situation like that, it would be useful to have a way to get them familiarized with the systems of a 4th generation fighter without having to get them knees deep into flight mechanics and training. In such a case, I think that the Mudhen will bring something that no other aircraft has brought to the table just yet: joint training on a modern western fighter. If used like this, then the F-15E will not only be an asset for offensive operations, but also for groups that wish to have an extremely advanced trainer for those that need to train on system management and individual system operations. This would make it much easier for those who wish to instruct someone on how certain basic systems work or even on how to best employ certain weapons, as you have complete control over the training circumstances and the aircraft. Your trainee will have fewer variables to manage, leading to more attention being put into learning the systems and, if the multicrew implementation allows, even train as a Weapons System Officer (WSO) to play with their friends and have a great time in the Strike Eagle. Speaking of multicrew, we now know that the implementation will not be complete by the time we get our hands on the module. This is a bit of a disappointment, but one that I very much expected. We will be able to do all the basics, but I cannot wait until we have a fledged out system in which we will be able to do everything I described before to take full advantage of the wonders of the Strike Eagle. We cannot wait to get our hands on the Strike Eagle as, well, it is one of the most anticipated modules in DCS World's history. It has been in the works for over half a decade now, but it seems like there is not much time left until we have our hands on this module. Expect our first impressions article shortly after the release! About the writers: Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza & Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Co-founders of Skyward Flight Media and long time aviation aficionados

AT the beginning of the year, we showcased the best of the best when it came down to modding and how these aircraft, which are all free, would allow you to get a proper start in DCS without spending a dime. Now let's take a look at some projects that are still in development but that show incredible promise! DCS J35J by BAAS Dynamics This project, which started not long after the BAAS team dropped their Sk60B mod, has been making slow but steady progress over the past year. The developers seem to be aiming for a similar level of fidelity as the Sk60B, which means that it will be focused on modeling most systems, with some minor exceptions. The 3D art and texture work by Fredrik "Breadmaker", who we have interviewed before, is on par or better than the SK60B's, which would put it at the level of some official modules or even surpassing some! The amount of work and dedication that has been put toward the creation of this mod is absolutely unbelievable and, for now, it is my most anticipated release. The cockpit model looks phenomenal and the level of detail is astonishing. Everything from the wear on the side panels, the scratches on the stick and even the fingerprints on the radar screen is absolutely brutal. To me, this just shows that the skills of their creators is one that is only matched by projects that have substantial financial backing from companies. That being said, for these modders their personal life will always take priority over the projects they work on. As of the 05/27/2023, the J35J project will be slowing down development due to Fredrik's personal situation with work and life, as well as the situation of some of the other developers, specially programmers. Here is their statement: If you want to follow this project, please do join BAAS Dynamic's discord server! DCS ALPHAJET PROJECT BY SPLIT AIR The developers that brought us wonderful mods such as the OV-10A Bronco, Mirage 2000D and the Rafales, are now working on a new and interesting mod: The Alphajet. This aircraft was originally a joint effort between West Germany and France due to these countries' very similar needs for a light attack/advanced trainer jet for their air forces. What came out of that program was the Alphajet, a twin-engine aircraft capable of a versatile set of missions, some of which we will be able to accomplish in DCS World thanks to the work that the developers over at Split Air are putting into the project. At the moment there isn't much public information available about this project, but what we know does give us a clear idea as to what we will be able to do with it. Multicrew is currently in the works and armament will initially be the 30 mm gun pod! If this mod is anything like their OV-10A, then we will have one hell of a trainer in our hands. It is worth saying that the developers themselves have stated that this mod is hovering at around 60% completion, with steady progress being made eevery month. Whenever this aircraft comes to our virtual hangars, we will cover it, just like we did with the Bronco! To stay updated on this project, please join Split Air's discord server. Word of warning, this is mostly a French-speaking community. Si vous ne parlez pas Français, vous aurez probablement des problèmes de communication. Bonne chance ! PROJECT LANCASTER FOR DCS WORLD This project is unique. As far as heavy bombers go, none are flyable in both DCS World and even IL-2 Great Battles. This is where Project Lancaster comes into the scene, mainly because it seems to address this evident hole in aircraft availability. Having been in development for over two years now, this project has had its ups and downs, but it seems like recently they have made quite a lot of progress. From the look of things, it is still quite a ways away from release, but the quality that has been shown is astounding. The external model is quite a sight to see, specially after the numerous overhauls and reworked versions that it has gone through. It is specially noticeable that the 3D artist that is in charge of making this model is quite proud of their work, which seems to have led them into a very healthy progress loop that, if used properly, could propel their work to heights never seen before in DCS modding. The cockpit model and some of the other stations, such as the navigator/bombardier, are also in the works. All 7 stations in the aircraft, including gunner stations, seem to also be functional to some degree, with multicrew being an option that the developers are looking into. Integration multicrew without access to the DCS SDK is quite a challenge, so we will be looking forward to what this team has in store for the community. Only a couple of weeks ago, the developers showcased the mods in a video! They aimed to recreate the famous Dambusters raid that gave the Lancaster a place in aviation history. You can't see much of the mod during the video, but it does server as proof that this mod not only looks gorgeous, but also has potential for some extremely unique WWII missions for the community to exploit. To stay up to date with this awesome mod, please join Project Lancaster's discord server! About the writer: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000s, leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities, but only started being active around the mid 2010s. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as the co-founder and writer ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

Arma 3 is one of the most interesting games out there at the moment. It is neither a full on simulator nor an easily approachable arcade-y experience, the truth lies in the middle. It is a powerful sandbox-like experience that gives all of its power to its players and lets them go wild, allowing them to create experiences that tailor perfectly to them and their play style. We have been doing just that over the years with our friend group, letting us experience a side of simulated aviation that is very rare nowadays: helicopter operations alongside infantry. These ops are something of a rarity, not because there aren't games that integrate rotary wings and foot soldiers, but because there aren't many that justify their interactions. Arma 3 maps are big considering the age of the engine and the release date of the title, which is now a decade old. Getting around these maps is impossible without the use of ground vehicles or aircraft, which is where transport vehicles shine. In the operations we usually do with our friends, we use helicopters and ground transport vehicles almost as a necessity, since it would take us from half an hour to an entire hour to get from our base to our objective. So, seeing this, we decided to start doing some missions a bit behind enemy lines to secure some more terrain. We had two options, a stealthy infiltration or tactical insertion via helicopter. I don't really need to state what we chose, right? We grabbed one of our UH-60s, loaded all the AIs and players inside of it and set off towards our objective, that was a small compound that we could handle without relying on armored support, which would not be present since we would be kilometers behind enemy-controlled territory. We'd need to fly for a bit, so we all kept our eyes out for any threats. As with any good tactical operation, we flew fast and low, using the terrain as cover from longer range radars that the enemy might have had. Seeing the trees pass below us at over 170kts was pretty soothing, specially since the Tanoa map reminds me a bit of the type of vegetation that I see on a day-to-day basis. Soon after, we approached our objective. Kosmos, who was piloting the 60, slowed us down as soon as he could and dropped us on top of a building. He maintained a three feet hover over it while we dropped out, securing the immediate area. As soon as we were out of the Black Hawk, Kosmos started his journey back home. It was extremely cool to see the Hawk's blades ripping the air apart on top of me as he exited the area of operations. It felt like a staged cutscene out of an AAA game, with comms and everything. This was one of those moments where I realized that Arma 3 is truly a unique platform that is unbeaten, until its successor arrives in the form of Arma 4. For the time being, we will continue to enjoy doing many operations like these in Arma 3, utilizing rotary wing aviation to its limits. About the writer: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000s, leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities, but only started being active around the mid 2010s. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as the co-founder and writer ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

"What is the best range to launch this missile at?" Now there's a frequently asked question that opens up a litany of opinions, data points, arguments, and video playlists. The quest to consistently launch the perfect missile in Digital Combat Simulator (DCS) is fraught with staunchly sticking to on-paper specifications and potential accidental exposure to danger. As you can guess, this opinion was inspired by the untimely shootdowns of many friends, unknown players, and myself. They had held fire for a bit too long, got too close, or lost situational awareness while waiting for the optimal conditions to launch a missile. The results were the loss of their aircraft or being forced into a worst-case scenario defensive posture. The type of scenario where the threat is still alive and pursuing you doggedly. The pursuit of the "perfect shot" is tied to the desire to be as victorious and deadly efficient as possible in a single sortie. The term "ace in a day" comes to mind. It can be summarized as one missile = one air-to-air victory. Leaving with six missiles means returning with six splashed aircraft to your name. This is especially true with beyond visual range combat in this simulator. It is a mindset that demands ideal parameters at all times. You know the ones. Aviation documentary-style engagements that demonstrate the maximum potential of aircraft and their armaments. Scenarios like AIM-120s striking targets over 40 nautical miles away and F-14 Tomcats decimating six jets at once. Confirming the flawless conditions and techniques are topics that generate endless discussions about on-paper specifications of missiles, aircraft, speeds, altitudes, ranges, target aspect, radar cross-sections, etc. The types of things sourced from Global Security, Wikipedia, r/DCS, Eagle Dynamics forums, DCS content creator videos, and other easy-to-access sources of information. The subconscious assumption is that each target will fly in a way that allows for all the right conditions. The wild card in these calculations is the nature of combat itself. Nothing is guaranteed in battle, and adhering to the "perfect" parameters can be fatal. The reality in Digital Combat Simulator is that even against low-skill level AI aircraft or minimally experienced players, you won't consistently land beyond visual range missile shots. Alternatively, even feared off-boresight missiles like the R-73 can be unsuccessful in their tailor-made within visual range dogfighting arena. There are many reasons for this, yes, even factoring in the known quirks and bugs with Eagle Dynamics' own missile API, but the overarching reason is this: Remember that the best estimates for missile performance are primarily achieved in testing environments. Places where you won't be dealing with lethal external factors. Things like evading surface threats, contending with radar ground clutter, being surprised by a pop-up contact, electronic countermeasures, or other combat scenarios. Not to mention the target's own ability to defend and fight back. A Hornet's near-perfect AIM-120 AMRAAM launch from 18 miles away doesn't mean much against a Flanker's R-77 if the Flanker used less than ideal launch parameters to fire first but is now seconds away from destroying the Hornet before it fires back. Knowing when to adhere to by-the-book missile launches and when to take less effective launches to position yourself for future success is something that has to be learned and practiced. Ultimately, it is a change in mindset. Accepting that not every missile fired has to result in a guaranteed victory allows for more tactical flexibility. It also lessens the chances of failure against even the most advanced opponents who are willing to launch missiles earlier than what may be recommended as a part of their overall strategy. For example, the posturing shot is one of the most frequently used tactics in beyond visual range combat. Launching a missile to try to force the opponent to go defensive early, potentially setting up the aircraft that fired first for a better follow-up shot. Furthermore, being willing to launch a second missile onto the same target when it appears as though the first may fail is a life-saving tactic depending on the scenario. If the target recommits back onto you while evading your first missile, is the gamble of hoping the first missile worth going head to head with an enemy that's much closer? Air-to-air missiles are indeed quite expensive, and in some way, a missed missile is a waste of money, but if the loss of a multi-million dollar aircraft is the result of trying to save a missile or two, what was the point? This is the part where I could go into an entire explanation of beyond visual range combat concepts, but that's probably better left to DCS air combat experts like Growling Sidewinder. Someone who frequently flies, fights, and explains beyond visual range combat scenarios in detail. Loosen up those expectations! Respect the specifications of the missiles you're carrying but begin thinking beyond the book. There's nothing wrong with returning successful and alive instead dying as an ace. About the Writer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. Read Staff Profile.

Post-Steam Next Fest 2023 discussion about development details, early beginnings and future plans Nova Squadron is a still in development arcade flight rougelite that debuted its alpha demo just before Steam Next Fest 2023. On January 26th, 2023, the public was able to get hands on with the core functions of the game so far. After watching this games development over the past two or so years, I was pleasantly surprised to have the positive experience I did with this game. I mean, I was even pleased with how smooth and stylish the user interface was. After writing a first impression about the earliest version of the public alpha demo, I reached out to Clara Gale, the developer of Nova Squadron, for a post-Next Fest interview. Hello and thanks for this interview! Thanks for having me! I’m Clara Gale, I’m the lead developer of Nova Squadron and have spent the last 3 years or so designing, making assets for, and programming the game in my spare time - with plenty of help and support from friends and family, without which the game likely wouldn’t exist! By day I’m a software engineer, so I’m most at home with the programming aspect of things and still learning a lot of the art and audio parts of game development. How did your interest in gaming and game development start? Since I was a child, I’ve always been interested in how video games work and always wanted to make people feel happy - so making my own games seemed like a natural continuation of that. The first time I ever flew a plane in a game was when Ace Combat 04 came out; I was very young at the time, and it took me months just to get past the second mission! When one of my university semesters required me to make a plane that moved in 3D, I ended up using my previous experience with arcade flight games to design the project. Then, a couple of years later, I decided to go back and revisit that project and “do it properly this time” - and that eventually became Nova Squadron! On May 8th, 2020 the first tweet about Nova Squadron was posted. It mentioned being a "new project". Have you worked on other games before this one? This is the first solo game I’ve worked on that’s made it this far, that’s for sure. I’ve worked on projects before at university and in my spare time, but those were on a much smaller scale and were usually finished after a couple of months. There are a lot of things you don’t really learn how to do in game dev until you’ve tried them at least once though, and most of the experience I picked up from those projects has gone into Nova Squadron! Earlier in development, Nova Squadron was revealed to be on... planet Jupiter! An unexpected setting. Could you elaborate more on why this setting was picked? In the early stages of development, the game was actually going to be set on Earth and Mars! But as time went on, I started to have more and more technical issues with large-scale terrain and maps that were tens of thousands of square kilometres, especially when adding in procedural bases and tunnels. The main thing I wanted to do was have large enemy bases that you could fly around and through, and at a certain point I found myself thinking “Well, why not set the game on a gas giant? Then all of the bases can float in midair, and the player can destroy targets both above and below them.” I think that's the first time I have heard of this solution to a problem flight game developers often struggle with. What types of bases or other floating structures will players be seeing in the full game? I want to add more background structures to the game to make it feel more alive and less barren - floating spires, space elevators, slow-moving supertankers, and so on. I’m working on some gameplay-relevant structures as well; at the moment I’m designing attack and defence missions for “cityships”: an entire city on both the upper and lower sides of a giant disc, held in midair by several large turbines! You’ll be able to fly between skyscrapers on the outside of the ship and, of course, destroy tanks, AA guns and key infrastructure on their exteriors. These should feel a lot more like the ground-attack missions from terrain-based flight games, except that you’ll be destroying targets on the underside of the city as well. I would think that Jupiter not having any physical terrain would be something to avoid. How complicated has it been developing a game that doesn't have solid terrain? The main challenge is making sure players have a good grasp of where they are in 3D space without any proper ground beneath them. This is definitely something I still need to improve upon, but currently there’s a thick layer of clouds at zero altitude, which serves as a barrier that prevents things from flying downwards out of the combat zone and also makes it easier for the player to get a sense of their altitude and orientation. I’m planning to add a few more ambient floating structures near the cloud layer to serve as the landmarks you’d normally have when flying over solid terrain. That said, making those clouds in the first place wasn’t easy. Computers are incredibly good at rendering solid objects with clearly defined shapes… clouds aren’t these things! Early footage of the game used an incredibly powerful plugin called Simul trueSKY, which has some very impressive credentials on their website including Arma 3 and Ace Combat 7. Unfortunately I quickly began to run into issues with trueSKY due to the game’s setting and requirements, along with worries about adding new features later - mainly cross-platform support and the ability to run the game with multiple viewports for local split-screen co-op. (The game runs natively on Mac and should be available on it soon; I can’t confirm any plans for split-screen at the moment but I’m hopeful!) This led to me building my own volumetric cloud renderer from scratch over several months! I’ve lost a lot of visual fidelity, which I’m slowly working to raise back up, but full control over how the clouds are rendered is what’s allowed me to create that fast-moving, stormy layer of clouds at the bottom of the combat zone. Congratulations on creating your own system. That's very forward-thinking and ambitious. Were there any other unexpected hurdles? Any solutions you're proud of? Thanks! There are two main unexpected issues that come to mind, the first being the UI menu system: when building the main menu, I wanted to make sure that it would eventually be able to support and swap between keyboard/mouse, controller and flight sticks. However, the Unity engine’s built-in UI doesn’t have great support for flight sticks, and various other small teething problems resulted in me building custom systems for a lot of UI functionality. I think in the long term this has been really beneficial, as it’s forced me away from the basic Unity UI elements and led to Nova Squadron’s UI featuring a lot of animations and visual effects on its custom elements. The second problem is deceptively simple: missiles. The way both the player’s and enemies’ missiles behave is probably one of the most important things for how a flight game like this feels, and I originally assumed this would just be a case of telling the missiles to fly on an interception path towards whatever they’re targeting. But it turned out to be a lot more complicated to get them to feel “right” - after trying them flying directly towards the target, or flying to the target’s destination to intercept them, I ended up settling on a target point partway between these two positions. And all tracking systems in the game, whether they’re AA guns or missiles, can now be “shaken off” by fast turning, accelerating or braking - the more erratic the target’s movement, the weaker the target lock the missile has, until eventually it spirals off in completely the wrong direction! Will all of Nova Squadron happen on Jupiter, or are other planets possible? Although I’m not planning for the player to visit any other planets, orbital stations are definitely within the realms of possibility. One plan for some of the later levels may see the player flying inside a large, hollow ring-shaped space station, which could lead to some really weird and interesting missions where you can go from one side of a war-torn city to the other by flying directly upwards! The Phoenix is the primary aircraft players will use from the start of their first run. For the record, are there plans to add other aircraft in the future? Absolutely! I’m currently in the design phase on the second player plane, the Valkyrie (which combines aspects of the A-10 and Tornado into a VTOL ground-attacker), that will be added into the alpha demo later this year. There are then multiple new aircraft planned for future updates, including a variant of the Gorgon (the Mission 4 enemy ace squadron’s aircraft). Of these, the Seraphim multi-role and Archangel heavy bomber will also be coming to the alpha demo! Let's talk flight model. I feel like it wouldn't be fair to pass judgement on the flight model thus far, especially with the inclusion of rogue lite progression. In the demo, players won't be able to bring out the full potential of the Phoenix. Could you tell us more about how the Phoenix handles at higher level/mid-game gameplay? The Phoenix is intended as a high-speed dogfighter, and as with all the playable aircraft in Nova Squadron, you’ll be able to upgrade it from the low-end starting plane it is when you start the game, up to a much more agile fighter similar in stats to the end-game planes in other flight games. The main place the full game will differ is that with 12 levels in each run instead of 4, you’ll be able to afford a lot more upgrades, so the Phoenix can easily end up with more than double the turning speed it starts out with. There’ll also be some new and powerful parts - conditional upgrades that provide bonuses when you perform a certain action - that you can take advantage of; for example, in the demo you can unlock a part that increases your turning speed while air braking! All of the player planes’ stats are subject to change, as well - as more aircraft are added in, I’m expecting that the Phoenix’s mobility will be increased to balance it with the slower planes like the Valkyrie while also making sure they all feel good to fly. The level of customization in the demo so far is pretty great. Even the other members of Nova Squadron that fly with the player get the same treatment. Are there adjustments or updates to the squadron mates planned? It’s great to hear that the current customisation system is working well! Anything that the player gains access to in upcoming updates, your squadron will too - when the second flyable plane is added, you’ll be able to pick between the Phoenix and the Valkyrie for each pilot, so you can adjust how much anti-air and anti-ground support you want to take into missions. I’ll be using player feedback on that to help decide which AI options to add in - this might involve choosing your squadron mates’ flight styles in the hangar before a mission starts, or adding mid-mission commands to change what your allies are focusing on. Something that’s definitely being added to the game is the ability for you to make fire support requests, marking a cluster of targets in front of you. The nearest available allies will respond to the request, firing missiles and lasers at everything marked - in many cases your wingmen will be attacking the marked targets, but in others you could receive fire support from railgun battleships or even orbital cannon! A mysterious vehicle is teased in the release trailer and in the demo. Do you have any info you can share? Are there similar unknown enemies lying in wait? That mysterious silhouette from the release trailer - reporting name “Bifrost” - actually has its own mission update hidden in the alpha demo! Bifrost will launch a surprise attack on allied forces, and you’ll need to avoid its anti-ship laser cannon and escape out of the engagement zone. It’s one of three planned boss enemies along with Sceptre Squadron; in the full game, the 12-mission campaign will have a boss battle every 4 missions. Mission 12 is always an assault on a massive superweapon (and yes, you’ll need to make a tunnel run to take it down!), but Mission 4 will see you ambushed by a random one of the three bosses. Whichever boss you encounter in Mission 4 on that run, you’ll return to fight it again in Mission 8 - this time with a full strike force backing you up! It has been some time since Steam Next Fest in February 2023. How was your experience during this festival? Steam Next Fest was an amazing experience and an absolutely massive boost for Nova Squadron’s visibility - having it placed so prominently on Steam where so many people could see it was incredible, and it’s led to far more people playing the game than I’d ever expected! It was also a stressful period though as the deadline came up much sooner than I’d thought, and I had to cut some important features from the initial alpha demo release to make it in on time. This unfortunately included some parts of the tutorial, as well as full support for keyboard and mouse remapping. Bringing these features back in is my highest priority right now along with bug fixes, and I’ve learned a lot from Next Fest that I’m now able to use to improve the design of the existing game and the new features being added! You've mentioned some features being left out of the demo to make it in time for Next Fest. It seems like the demo will be receiving updates before the game's full release as well. Could you tell us about what you have planned? Nova Squadron’s full release is still a long way away, and I’m planning to keep the alpha demo updated and available right up until that release - as the full game develops, a lot of the features that go into it will also be added to the demo. This means players will get to regularly try out the new planes, missions and systems, as well as giving me the opportunity to listen to what people think about the changes and use that to help make the next update even better! What I’m looking to add to the demo in the coming months can largely be split into two types: gameplay improvements, and extra variety. In terms of gameplay improvements, you can expect to see an improved HUD; first-person and cockpit view options; and tweaks to the flight model. Extra variety covers everything from new upgrade parts to new missions - a big part of this is the update planned to add in the cityship ground attack/defence missions. When attacking an enemy-controlled cityship, you’ll have access to the new Valkyrie aircraft, and the Phoenix will be able to replace its secondary weapon with bombs for making attack runs over enemy tank formations. When defending your own bases, you’ll need to help allied AA turrets shoot down waves of aircraft, including the new Serpent multirole - heavier than the Kobold drones, the Serpent is protected by a shield generator and can be equipped for both anti-air and ground-attack operations. What type of feedback have you gathered from the first public demo? Has any of the feedback encouraged changes to the game so far? I’ve had two sources of feedback so far - charts on Steam, and comments on Steam, Reddit and Twitter. The main chart I’ve been keeping an eye on is overall playtime, as this helps to inform where players are hitting obstacles and quitting the game due to frustration or boredom; one of these that I knew would cause problems is the tutorial, but I’ve been really pleasantly surprised to see how many people have played my tiny little demo for over an hour! I’ve also been reaching out to people about bugs they’ve faced and critiques they have, and I’ve been using this to work on bug fixes, improved keyboard and mouse support, and quality of life features. I’ve heard a lot of different opinions on the flight model, and I’m making a lot of iterative tweaks to it based on people’s comments on the way the Phoenix feels to them. I’m looking forward to putting out more updates and hearing what the players think as Nova Squadron changes and expands! Thanks for joining me for this interview. I appreciate it and will be looking forward to seeing the game's development. Good luck! Thanks again for having me! It’s always great to hear that people have been enjoying playing Nova Squadron, and I sincerely hope that the upcoming updates live up to everyone’s expectations. I can’t wait to show you all of the content I’m working on, and see people playing through the new missions for the first time! About the Interviewer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. Read Staff Profile.

In a place where I could be wandering magical forests or dancing in clubs, I'm looking forward to being a passenger on a regional flight. Distance is one of the most well-known limitations in VRChat aviation (VRCA). Whether it's player vs. player air combat or general aviation flights around a familiar airport, everything takes place within a generally agreed upon maximum distance that has been in place since VRCA began. Flying long distances to new locations in lands far from home is integral to aviation's identity and function. Being unable to take extended flights seemed to be an accepted restriction by the VRCA community, but as of June 2022, the tools for cross-country flights are now publicly accessible. Why is there a limitation in the first place? It is because of the inherent floating point precision errors in the Unity game engine, which world creators in VRChat use to create flight worlds. VRChat has a default world size limitation of 20km x 20km, which works perfectly fine for what this VR social platform is made to do. For chatting with friends in a virtual pub, playing mini-golf, or touring scenic vistas, that's plenty of space. But when flying aircraft the limit is apparent within just a minute or two. Sacc Flight, the primary VRChat flight script, can provide a 40km x 40km distance increase, making aviation more plausible, but the problem remains. The farther towards the edge of the recommended distance you travel, the worse the floating point errors get. In aircraft, it can get to a point where instruments become illegible, and eventually, the vehicles themselves become uncontrollable. Here is a short, easy-to-understand video example of this error as seen in VRChat: The quick fix that flight focused creators use is called "Repeating World Distance." A basic explanation provided by VTail64, VRCA world creator and photographer, summarizes: "The way it works is there is basically a box boundary. Within that box is the play area, and how big this box is, is based on that variable. When a plane reaches one of these "walls," where the X or Y value in the gameworld reaches that distance, aka "hitting the wall," it forces that coordinate to become negative. So if you reached X:20000, Y:97, your next location would be X:-20000, Y:97." From the player's point of view, they are instantly teleported across the map from where they hit play area's border. This keeps players within a predetermined area, ensuring they won't fly so far away from the world's center the user experience becomes unplayable. While this is a sound choice to protect the user’s experience, the distance limitation remains a firm barrier. Despite the 40km x 40km limitation, some aviation-focused world creators continue to create aircraft systems and refine existing systems. Because each creator has their goals for developing aircraft, not every system seen in one VRCA world will be available in all the others. These systems include multi-frequency radios, AWACS/GCI style radar, onboard aircraft air-to-air radar, aircraft ground radar, trim control, functional glass cockpits, working analog gauges, heads-up displays - all equipment you’d expect to see in Microsoft Flight Simulator or Digital Combat Simulator World. Most releveant for the subject of this article are aerial refueling, TACAN, and horizontal situation indicators (HSI). These are essential long distance flights in civilian and military aircraft. Even when cross-country flights were not possible, creators developed these systems anyway, purely out of their love of aviation. The introduction of the Open World Movement Logic (OWML) system by ZhakmiZhako, has now unlocked the ability to fly hundreds of kilometers at a time. The OWML system is a floating origin point shifting system that, after users travel across a specific distance away from the center of the world, moves the terrain according to the coordinates that the users have traveled. The users are then teleported to the center of the world space, avoiding further floating point precision errors. See our interview with the developer for more information. Before the public release of OWML on June 26th, 2022, a test flight of the system was performed on March 23rd, 2022. The system's developer, Skyward Flight Media staff, and members of the largest VRCA community, the Black Aces, flew a record setting flight in the now public OWML demonstrator world. Utilizing YC-1000B aerial refuelers and SF-1 jet fighters, they flew non-stop for three hours and ten minutes over 1826km. With TACAN and HSI to guide them as they flew over multiple airports and air-to-air refueling to keep the short-ranged SF-1s aloft, the OWML system was stress tested with positive results. [Collapsible List] March 2022 OWML Endurance Flight Test Information As of the time this article has been published, there are few public examples of large-scale worlds using OWML, but they are in development. The most recent addition is a still in development project released by Yumemidori on September 7th, 2022. This 2000km squared map presents an early iteration of beyond visual range combat. Aircraft on both teams presented in the map have short range infrared missiles, semi-active radar guides and active radar guided air-to-air missiles with an engagement range of up to 100km. In my opinion, creators that focus on combat aviation will most likely need a longer time to develop for the OWML system, depending on the type of weapon systems they are trying to simulate. Long-range weapons require specific aircraft systems to deploy them. General aviation focused creators seem to have a majority of the systems they need for long range communication and navigation already working, theoretically lessening the amount of time they would need to incorporate OWML into their projects. VRChat aviation is effectively freed from one of its most significant limitations, so long as world creators take the time to learn and implement Open World Movement Logic system. Vacation-style trips to exotic locations are now possible. Regional flights with multiple passengers seem as though they are on the horizon. Long-range combat sorties are feasible and already working in limited cases. If anyone knows where I can pre-register for the first VRChat airliner flight, DM me! About the Writer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. Read Staff Profile.

The high-tech, hard-hitting SAF-22 Slayer air dominance fighter actually strolls over city crosswalks quite nicely. Its ability to snap turn into the tight alley between the CV24 corner store and the maid cafe is fitting for a fictional generation 5+ fighter. It's OK if you're raising an eyebrow in question. Japanese Otaku City R/C Flight shows that Project ICKX knows how to have some simple fun while riffing off of their most well known release in the West. ​ For those that have never heard of them, Project ICKX is a Japanese indie development team that also acts as somewhat of a production team. The original members have been releasing flight games since 2010. Their easiest to access and most well known title is Vertical Strike: Endless Challenge. It has gradually joined the libraries of flight arcade enthusiasts thanks to a mixture of factors, but mainly it being available on Steam and Nintendo Switch. The subject of this review is their game Japanese Otaku City R/C Flight. It's a free to download flight experience that lets players fly in a remote control aircraft sized model of the SAF-22 Slayer from Vertical Strike: Strike Endless Challenge. It's not an actual RC aircraft, just a scaled down version of the model from Vertical Strike. The setting this time not being a battlefield, but "Japanese Otaku City". The city is an asset for the Unity game development platform created by Zenrin, a leader in worldwide map publishing. Data from Zenrin is used to create car navigation software, residential maps, and similar products in countries around the world. "Japanese Otaku City" is based on Akihabara, Japan - a famous area around Akihabara station in Tokyo's Chiyoda ward that is considered an otaku cultural center. It's the first city asset released by Zenrin for free commercial and non-commercial use with proper accreditation. Altogether they offer over 70 different 3D models of cities in Europe, Japan, and North America for use by game developers. ​ ​ After being welcomed to the city on the radio by JOC Approach and taking off from a highway, you are free to roam the skies, streets, train tracks, and river. A large part of the city around Akihabara station makes up most of the play area. While the map is created using real 3D map data, one cannot expect to see all of the advertisements and promotions of the electronics stores, manga shops, and maid cafes that reside there. You won't be making a mid-mission landing at Mandarake or the AKB48 Theater but keen-eyed observers familiar with this city can pick out certain buildings and landmarks that represent those businesses. The few bits of signage available are mostly generic with simple names like "French Fries" and "Amusement". Other buildings feature Query Lovecraft, aka 'Query-chan'. She is a digital mascot created by Japanese game company, Pocket Queries inc. Truthfully, Query-chan fits in perfectly here. That's Akihabara for you. ​Makes you wonder if we'll ever get a Query Lovecraft themed SAF-22. With no need to dodge missiles or deal with enemy fighters patrolling the sky, the experience centers on free flight in an unusual setting. Leisurely exploring the city can quickly turn into daredevil flying. After adjusting to the size of the RC fictional fighter, you'll find yourself eyeing gaps in billboards and tight alleyways thinking "I wonder if I can fly through there?" The game is forgiving when colliding with objects, but running into things at high speed will cause the aircraft to explode. This results in the game starting over from the highway for takeoff. It's no real penalty, but if you weren't paying attention to the map, you'll lose track of your latest self-imposed challenge location. The aircraft control scheme and handling are the same as Vertical Strike. All options in the mid-game pause menu are also the same. The aircraft is not equipped with any weapons or flares, as they are unneeded. Instead, focusing on speed and control while toggling the angle of attack limiter on and off to pull of risky maneuvers is the only real danger players will face. This is the same ability seen in Vertical Strike that enables aircraft to do wild flips and perfectly balance its thrust-to-weight ratio to hover above terrain. The ability to land anywhere can make for some fun pictures. Randomly landing on buildings can lead to driving the aircraft around streets and bridges at high speeds, in what may-or-may-not be an attempt to become the first aircraft to win the D1 Grand Prix. That or deliver tofu quickly. For those that want to know, the sweet spot for the best turn radius on the ground is just a little below 500km/h (260 knots). Rely on yaw, short bursts of acceleration and air brake to drive all around the city. You're welcome. So why even mention a small game like Japanese Otaku City R/C Flight? It can serve as an introduction to Project ICKX style games and flight models for players that have never heard of them before. And unlike a majority of their other full games that are difficult to acquire because they are primarily distributed at in-person events, this game is free to download from their website. No deep understanding of the Japanese language needed to enjoy the game either. Just install and fly! About the Writer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. Read Staff Profile.

The co-founders of Skyward Flight Media take a pause from content creation to reflect on the third year of operations. Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza My reflection on Skyward Flight Media's third year of operation is late, as our anniversary is formally on March 24th. In retrospect, I was still writing flight-related articles as early as 2015. From then until 2019, it was mostly about a single-game series: Ace Combat. Going even farther back, my first serious try at creating something was an English database centered on that series, all the way back during my time as a High School student in 2005. Despite what I publicly produced only reflecting that series, in private I routinely flew in just about every flight game or flight simulator I could get my hands on. In 2019, I learned a tough lesson about doing what is expected of me and doing what I truly want to do. A portion of what caused the 2020 rebrand can be described as coming to the realization that doing nothing but the same thing over and over can make it unenjoyable. For me, this was the driving factor in making Skyward Flight Media an organization that "creates content about flight games and simulators across all levels of realism from past and present." I had hoped this would broaden our horizons. Not wanting to potentially fall into the single-subject creation loop I was in before, I willingly took up the position as the unofficial variety writer for Skyward. Old flight simulators, new fast-paced flight games, experimental titles that are hardly known - everything is open to me. This is the exact opposite of what I wad doing before. Reviewing the assortment of content Skyward produced in the past year has once again made me genuinely smile and appreciate the journey so far. One of my first releases for the website in the past year was for Creator Highlight Month 2022, in which I interviewed someone that was creating aviation machinima videos and gameplay assets in Besiege (of all places!). I discussed strafing Jedi in Star Wars Battlefront II, the F-14 Tomcat Simulator that used the Atari 2600 itself as a controller, and my continued bedazzlement with VRChat aviation. All while still writing about my ongoing love of Digital Combat Simulator, my original muse, Ace Combat, and pursuing any aviation related project that grabs my interest. I am most proud of the engagement with indie developers. As with everything in this life, it is the need to innovate that drives small business, entrepreneurs and in this case, developers trying to strike out on their own to make a name for themselves. In my opinion, this is where consistent innovation and experimentation meets the love of aviation. Being able to make direct contact with these developers, interview them, create pre-release content or even help test their creations has been a privilege. In 2023, I want to continue this trend with more of an effort to connect with developers of all types and sizes and flight peripheral manufacturers. A key part of this may be our involvement with Flight Sim Expo 2023 and attendance to the event this year. It will be my first time travelling to an event like this in many years because of COVID, so I'm equally excited and nervous for many reasons. I want to thank everyone that supports us and the developers and content creators that have supported us so far. I know Skyward is an odd duck in terms of the content we create about the flight sim genre, so having your support while we pursue our interests without reserve means so much to me. Here is to another year. Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos For me, this last year was one of progress and discovery. We finally passed three hundred posts and managed to, in a way, find our own place in the flight sim community. We got to work with developers of many sizes, from big to small. So to say that it was an eventful year would be an understatement. I am most proud of all the reviews I was able to write about both DCS World modules and some indie games like Tiny Combat Arena. These reviews are the bread and butter of my content on the site, and I look forward to adding even more aircraft and games to this growing library of long-form content we have in our site. Additionally, a highlight of 2022 was getting to work with more small and upcoming developers in the DCS arena. Meeting and talking to developers like PeeJott and Fredrik about their projects was an awesome experience that helped me understand a bit more about how these passionate developers work behind closed doors to bring these mods to life. Sadly, due to where I live, I will not be able to attend Flight Sim Expo in person. Does that mean I will not cover it? No, of course not. I will be there every second of the event, publishing all the new information as it comes out. That being said, Aaron will be there in person, so do expect some exciting coverage from him. We accomplished most if not all the goals we set for ourselves and built upon the foundations we already had since 2020. Our audience has grown, too, all thanks to the effort we continue putting into the site every day. I sincerely thank everyone that has stuck with us for this long and those who have collaborated with us in any capacity, without you, we would not be the organization we are right now. Now, here's to many more years of Skyward! Skyward Flight Media is an aviation enthusiast organization that creates content about flight games and simulators across all levels of realism from past and present. Our passion to pursue and discuss simulated aviation wherever it can be found has resulted in unique articles, interviews with development teams, insights into module creation, access to closed alphas and closed betas for upcoming projects, contacts with international flight sim organizations and more.

If we could distill Ace Combat to a singular, recognizable trait, what would it be? Silent protagonists? A constructed world of unrealistic air power? A signature console exclusive? Whittling away at this to arrive at that singular eyebrow-raising realization is difficult, but picture yourself playing this game for the first time. Maybe you were a veteran of air combat simulators, or maybe it was your first foray into the unfriendly skies, but I’ll bet the first surprise that caught you was that number “60” flanked by the silhouettes of Sidewinders. The “Ace Combat Loadout” is infamous amongst video games. Even casual players can’t help but poke fun at the idea of a real-world aircraft holding bottomless magazines of complex computerized homing rockets. Yet that it still only the first half of the incredulity of these magic spears: they possess the ability to hit targets in the air—or on the ground--with equal precision and power, limited only by a reload rate of two missiles per salvo. Such a weapon in reality would represent a holy grail of tactical and logistical pursuit. Technological innovation has never quite achieved this goal. But what self-respecting military-industrial complex would let such a theoretical achievement stop them? Often depicted in-game as a NATO-standard advanced, longer-ranged Sidewinder or CIS-aligned extra-lightweight and shorter-ranged R-60, the STDM seems like a simple enough concept in its primary role of air-to-air combat. These missiles were built for true visual-range fire-and-forget engagements, and at that they excel. Until recently, a maximum-range of five miles could be expected, with a very short burn time and the ability to hit a target maneuvering well above a human-sustainable g-limit. Improvements to these missiles in reality have since diverged what semblance of accurate representation they may have shared to their virtual counterparts, but with this base performance in mind, we can start to build out and see where these weapons re-converge into an ideal reality. The Sidewinder itself went through several incremental improvements—the AIM-9M and AIM-9X both being the most recognizable in the modern day, but the advancement of this platform and construction of these new models left quite a few of the obsolete older models in inventory, including the unique AIM-9C radar-guided variant of the Sidewinder. Between 1986 and 1990, it was decided to reuse these airframes and components to rebuild the missile into an air-to-ground, anti-radiation missile known as the AGM-122 Sidearm. The compatibility advantages should be clear; the missile could be mounted on the same platforms and the same racks with the same weight-penalty as the AIM-9, granting a short-range anti-surface capability to fighters and helicopters already wired for the Sidewinder. Though not as effective as dedicated anti-radiation missiles like the AGM-88 HARM, the idea was popular and effective enough to propose another batch of remanufactured missiles under the designation AIM-122B. This proposal was not realized. The lessons achieved by this device were however not forgotten. The AIM-9X was a revolution in the Sidewinder family. It is in fact so different in operation and construction that it holds the Sidewinder legacy in name only—even its base-airframe functions differently than its previous family. Beyond its thrust-vectored exhaust and re-evaluation of control surface deflection to the front-mounted airfoils, the AIM-9X does away with its old analog guidance system and replaces it with a modular, reprogrammable digital array. This allows the missile to be updated with new target info, including new infrared signature data, better filtering algorithms, advanced image recognition and processing, and as a consequence, the capability for a new mission profile: light ground attack. In 2009 a successful test was accomplished with a USAF F-15C attacking and destroying a small cigar boat using a reprogrammed AIM-9X. Bellow you can see an example of the off-boresight capabilities of the missile, which only aided in its new impromptu air to ground role. No hardware modification was required, and unlike the Sidearm, its air combat capability is unaltered. The missile retained its warhead and detonation system, limiting it to unhardened targets. A true force multiplier, the demonstration has opened up new avenues of capability for platforms once solely regarded as air-to-air only, though whether this option was adapted by the USAF remains in limbo. But there’s still a desire to increase the capacity of the fighter. In the past five years there has been interest in the “missile truck” concept, which loads a heavy fighter with a slew of long-range missiles. The F-15C 2020 and F-15X are recent examples of this concept, theoretically being able to mount and fire up to 22 AMRAAM’s in a single sortie. However this is unique to specific platforms, using legacy equipment. The future requires something smaller, faster, universal—and ideally something that can increase the carrying capacity of stealth-capable platforms with internal bays. The Lockheed Martin SACM, marketed as “Cuda”, aims to offer this capability. The F-35 itself is projected to carry up to twelve of these missiles. Changes include pure thrust-vector control for reduced drag and precision to perform hit-to-kill on maneuvering targets. It seems like a previous feature is missing from this system—the ability to engage ground targets. Upon a service requirement stemming from the JDRADM, DARPA decided to redevelop this concept into the T3 program, producing a missile that combines the abilities of the air-to-air AIM-120, and the air-to-surface AGM-88 HARM. The future points to an abundance of firepower, and yet another eerie convergence. What may come off as unexpected is the superposition of the real with the meta; A simple, silly observation that makes the Ace Combat concept function as a game, pursued as a tactical trump card for next-generation air combat—from the air, to the air, and to the ground. About the Writer T.J. "Millie" Archer A Life-long realist and aviation enthusiast. Once the co-founding Administrator of the Electrosphere.info English Ace Combat Database. In the present day he is freelance, roving the internet in search of the latest aviation news and entertainment. Read Staff Profile.

As a big supporter of airshows and fly ins, I was heartbroken over roughly two years of cancellations because of the Covid 19 outbreak across the world. During that time my substitutes for organized aviation events included airshows from the now gone Virtual Airshow group, esports style dogfights from DCS World Events and "live" VRChat aviation events. There have been many groups and individuals that have put on airshows and tournaments in VRChat aviation's history so far, but these days the largest organization, the Black Aces, present the most frequent aviation events on the platform. While VRChat aviation is still primarily a combat focused experience overall, the Black Aces perform just as many airshows as they do player vs. player tournaments. We reached out to Riko and Uni Power, the leaders of the Black Aces Stunt Team, to discuss their operations at length. Thanks for accepting our interview request on this unique subject. Could you please introduce yourselves? Riko: Hello, my name is Riko. I am the owner of the VRChat Black Aces, the hub for all VRC Aviation. Uni Power: Howdy, Uni Power here! I am the Black Aces Stunt Team Lead and an assisting official of the Black Aces. How did you both get involved with VRChat? Riko: When Covid hit, and it ended my Senior year of High School halfway, I ended up becoming extremely bored on what became the longest spring break of my life. I saw VRChat through YouTube videos back in 2017, and I was so bored in 2020 I wanted to give it a try to see what it was like. I ended up meeting some wonderful friends and experiencing all sides of VRChat. Uni Power: I ended up playing VRChat back in 2017 when some school friends found it on steam, since I had a VR headset at the time I joined in and had an awesome time exploring and meeting humorous people. I stuck around for a long time after finding some awesome maps that had a connecting puzzle-based story and that eventually led me through into the start of VRChat Aviation. When were you first introduced to VRChat aviation? Can you remember your first reaction to seeing it? Riko: I first ran across VRChat aviation in 2021, when it was in its early stage before the Virtual HOTAS system we have now. I wasn’t too much into it at first, but once the F-14 world was updated with the Virtual HOTAS and more realistic physics, I started to get way more into VRChat aviation. To the point where my friends already knew which world I was in when I was online. Uni Power: My first real notice into flight maps was when Zweikaku's F-14's hit the public world list, I thought it would be really cool to finally be able to fly vehicles in VRChat but I didn't pick up too much traction on it until late 2020 when the Test Pilots world started getting a lot more attention. It’s safe to say that most people are interested in VRChat aviation for player vs. player combat. When and why did you two start considering putting together airshows? Riko: When we first started running events, we already knew that PvP was everyone's favorite, but there was a smaller crowd slowly building, favoring airshows. We also wanted a way to show off new aircraft that we have been working on instead of them just appearing in worlds out of nowhere. What better way than to show them off in an airshow for all to enjoy? It also became a thing to take people away from the competitive scene of VRC aviation and just enjoy talking with other aviation enthusiasts while an airshow is going on just like in real life. Uni Power: After the third tournament of our original group, the tournament creator had some planes thrown together ready to be shown off; because I had won that tournament I was invited to participate with Riko in showing off the new aircraft (which I had no prior practice in flying). Eventually other creators came along ready to show off some new aircraft and we needed to start a team whose purpose was to learn the aircraft beforehand and show off its full capabilities. I say airshow, but the term that the Black Aces use for these events is “showcase”. What is the difference between an airshow and a showcase? Uni Power: Airshows usually consist of multiple groups/organization showing some capabilities of aircraft which we are familiar with, which in turns gives some fame to the airframe. We use the term "Showcase" because we are one group ready to show different aircraft, each which have their own functions and usability to showoff its full capabilities. Riko: Airshows are more formed into the discipline of a team with exact and precise movements. While our showcases are more focused on showing the new aircraft we are working on and pushing these aircraft to their absolute limit. I mean what's the point of seeing planes in a game if they’re just following FAA rules? Unlike real-world airshows, which have teams performing one practiced routine across countries, the Black Aces seem to have different choreographies in each showcase. Why is that? Riko: Since all of this is done virtually, if we were to do the same thing every time, it would get quite boring very quickly. Bringing variety to every show with new routines and aircraft keeps something new from show to show. From seeing cold war aircraft doing low passes to futuristic planes doing backflips with lasers. What also causes these differences in routines is that these aircraft tend to be made by different people with different backgrounds of aviation experience. From Ace Combat, War Thunder, MSFS, and DCS. So values from one world creator to another can be quite drastic since they all want to give people a different experience. So you can go from an aircraft that feels like you're flying in DCS from one world creator to doing five backflips without losing any altitude from another creator. It makes the difference in air shows, and even practicing makes every event fun, no matter how many showcases we have done. Uni Power: We don't have a set aircraft which we practice in, for all we know we could be showcasing a cargo plane which shouldn't be able to complete a barrel roll, or we have a really fast aircraft which has a extremely tight turn radius and we need a way to show that off compared to flying a set course which may be applicable to all aircraft. Overall, it keeps the show intriguing by introducing new routines. What is practice for the Black Aces Demonstration Team like, considering that each show is different from one another? Riko: Quite chaotic, especially for the first couple of days due to us having to learn how the new aircraft flies and how far we can push the aircraft. It also comes down to how to match our flying to music to help emphasize maneuvers the aircraft will pull. Matching music to how they fly can truly make the show more intriguing and neck-turning. Another part is near the end when doing the final formation and trying to compensate for lag since we, for a while now, have hit VRChat's hard cap limit of 80 people in a world. Uni Power: The big thing everyone likes to hit first is "fuck around and find out what the aircraft can't do". After the pilot is comfortable, they start planning a route which they will want to take alone or with a wingman if applicable. Next is cueing up the music; finding out what time the aircraft needs to take off to meet the end of the song playing before their routine, and then when/where they need to start playing their music so that they meet the crowd at the most striking part of the opening segment. Eventually the team throws together ideas for the Black Aces Signature Formation (All aircraft in the sky, big group(s) bunched together), what would be the best angles to show off the aircraft in the surrounding environment in accordance to the audience, and how to break the formation to put the audience in awe. How do the early showcases from last year compare to the recent ones? Riko: Extremely, more organized and well formatted than before. Most showcases in the past the aircraft were learned on the spot of the actual showcase so barely to almost no practice. Still, people loved it and as we have gotten bigger as a community we started to organize our showcases more by having multiple practices and staying up late to perfect what we do. New pilots bring a variety of stunts certain pilots like to do. For example, Uni does all the Cobra Maneuvers. He loves to pull those while other pilots, like Razor, are more for the high-speed lowpasses like he did in the MiG-27 recently. Uni Power: The first showcases had very limited practice, some members flew impromptu without a defined routine. Once the Stunt Team was created there was set group of pilots to choose from, instead of having to grab a friend to fill up any remaining spots, and it made things more smooth because we knew each person's real life schedules and could pick a set time where most people could be in attendance. Early showcases featured more solo flights due to having poor networking, it was dangerous for the wingman to have to predict when an aircraft was going to turn due to an almost 2 second delay of input from the lead pilot, and it wasn't very pleasant to see one aircraft trailing behind instead of having a close formation. Over time aircraft controls have swapped from heavy and slow inputs to fast and tight; Early day aircraft would require the pilot to worry about predicting a pull in dangerous situations because it would take time to accelerate into a turn or decelerate back to level from a high AoA turn, but recently creators have given us faster and full controls, now we watch out for pulling too hard on the controls so that too much velocity isn't lost so we may finish the routine on time with our music. In both of your opinions, what do you think the some of the best Black Aces performances are? Riko: I love all the performances we have put on but if I were to choose the best that's a bit hard. September Showcase 2021 Day #3 made by Non was really good. It was also when Sacc Sync was still in the early phase and it just made the aircraft look so much better than what it was before. Some of my favorite aircraft were also flying. The March 2022 air show created by VTail and Raptor probably has to be one of my favorites. I was so stressed out from running the tournament seeing such an amazing show with no mishaps just made everything so much better. Last but not least September showcase 2022 Day #1 made by VTail. It was so much fun flying the Draken and the crowd loved seeing low-altitude Cobras going straight past the crowd. That airshow was simply so much fun. Uni Power: If I had to put our showcases in a Top 3, First I would choose March 2022's VTail/Raptoritasha Russian/Ukraine showcase, featuring an interesting ekranoplan, the Bartini Beriev VVA-14, along with a performance of a duo MiG-29 set featuring some high AoA maneuvers, and a special remembrance featurette of everyone's beloved Antonov An-225. The next show I would like to favorite is the June 2022 showcase, made by yours truly, introducing some reciprocating dive & torpedo bomber, such as the SBD-3 Dauntless, SB2C Helldiver, and the BTD-1 Destroyer. The planes had some target boats to utilize their payloads on but then things got heated as a manned Destroyer and Patrol Boat entered the stage, they were multicrew capable meaning their weaponry was fully available for users to control, and thus the first showcase with a battle between the sea and air had begun. Lastly I would like to mention the January 2022 Showcase, featuring Reason2Die4's BigBoi aircraft. The final aircraft to be shown in the event was the CL-1201, the largest aircraft to ever be concepted by Lockheed Martin, which took the crowd's minds by the shear size of the aircraft and the noise it produced. At the end of the show, the rest of the aircraft joined each other and passed over the crowd with the CL-1201 in trail, astounding money shots were made. Are there any maneuvers you saw happen during a performance that made you both get worried? Riko: Every showcase, I'm always a bit worried to see someone crash, but one that has made me the most worried, although he’s the only one I trust doing stunts like that, is Uni. Other than that it's really hard to choose which other one has made me worried. Uni Power: As somewhat stated by Riko, I stretch to bring the aircraft and its maneuvers as close as possible to the crowd for the best view, sometimes they are indeed worrisome. The maneuver that started the trend was a completed backflip less than 200 feet off the ground in an experimental J-20, at the time I would agree that it was a very "cracked out" aircraft, however controls were heavy and hard to keep steady when in the moment of gliding backwards. In September of 2021, I had convinced my wingman at the time that it would be hilarious to hover the current aircraft we were showing off, a Harrier, inside of the open hangar behind the crowd, both aircraft fit inside and circled around each other, we called it "The Harrier Dance". Overall the maneuver to top the stupidity meter was during the VTail/Raptor showcase of 2022. Inside of my MiG-29, the final maneuver I would pull off at the end of the set was to play chicken with the ground and then cobra maneuver away, my angle was very steep during the live show and recordings caught the tail of my aircraft mere inches off the ground. Putting on a showcase isn't just about coordinating routines in the air. Creating the aircraft and the worlds they will be flying in is also a big part of it, right? Uni Power: The creator has a big impact on the show, majority of what makes routines so different is the different types of aircraft that will be flown, and how flight physics will be set up. Another major thing is where the audience is located in the map, they may be put right in front of a cliff, there may be buildings or terrain behind them, and sometimes the sun's current angle can become a factor in trying to give the audience a nice look at the aircraft while flying. Most showcases are featured on flat land with a hangar that isn't too much taller than the stand the audience is put on, which gives a simple, very easy and basic show; if we introduce a expansion, such as a cliff, we may be able to utilize it to fly below the audience, hide from them, or just have some extra space from the ground when we want to get close. Riko: Yeah, without them, airshows would never be possible. They put in so much effort to make each air show a one-of-a-kind. We even had VTail coding a whole new showcase manager allowing us to control what goes on in the world. It truly is a lifesaver when it comes to managing events. Another factor is social media management and coordinating with posting video links to the online audience. How many members of the Black Aces does it take to make these events work? Riko: Other than me and Non, the co-owner of the Black Aces, we have a total of 5 organizers who truly do help with both showcases and tournaments. People like Raptor, REaSoN2DiE4, Uni Power, and especially VTail who is the photographer for our events. Thanks to Zweikaku, Stagnation, ServerBaka, and Ahri, we are able to stream these events to the public and they even help with managing our social media with Razor and VTail. Commentators also really help with Mama-san being our main commentator and getting support from Skyward staff helping with commentating. We have a total of 21 other staff who help with our events. The most significant difference between Black Aces showcases and virtual airshows in other flight games and simulators is a live audience. What are your thoughts on having a live audience? Riko: The live audience truly makes it so much better. It's being able to socialize with people during an event and maybe even make new friends with similar interests. In my opinion, it makes the community feel more welcoming and way more engaging. It feels like you’re at an actual airshow. What also makes it even better is that a lot of aircraft that have been scrapped or you may never see them fly in your country. Now you can see them in VR and get up close to aircraft like the AN-225. It really was a wonderful thing seeing that plane up close. Uni Power: It's enjoyable having a live audience and livestream, when possible I always go back and see how the reactions were from the crowd. I wonder if they liked what they saw or questioned something we did. Having that big of an audience is quite the responsibility. Is there anything that VRC has natively that limits or hampers airshows? Riko: Well, the hard player cap is 80 people per world instance. I never thought we would hit the point where people are complaining that they can't join the instance because we hit the hard cap. Luckily when it comes to performance, VRChat has been implementing more stuff to help with the frame rate of a full instance by adding hiding avatars by a distance. When it comes to flying for the showcase, it does help. When flying toward the crowd we were lucky to have 12 frames per second before but now we can sit around 20-30. Meta Quest compatibility is probably what makes setting up these showcases the hardest for the world creators. We do our very best to make every event Meta Quest friendly but it does limit how much we can add since we have to stay under 100MB. I wish we were allowed to work with 200MB but I'm not sure if the Quest can handle that. Uni Power: A fair note on having a live audience is a wear on performance in the show, a lot of connected users can make a world laggy in both a sense of having a good connection to the server, and also slowing down the game while your hardware tries to keep up with everything. VRChat has recently introduced some new tools for users, allowing them to slow tracking data thus allowing a breather in all the heavy processes, but it isn't flawless and we still have to keep in mind that our inputs may have delays. Are there any plans for future Black Aces showcases that are being considered? Riko: Showcase-wise, it matters when a world creator is almost done with their work or they want to show off their aircraft. These showcases were originally designed as a way to show off to the community what new planes were being worked on to build up hype for them. We have been discussing hosting an event more community-based summer of next year. Allowing people to make their own air show teams and show off their skills in a summer air festival. It is still in talks but it's something that's high on the possibility list. Thanks a lot for this interview! Is there anything you would like to add? Uni Power: Thank you for the invite, it is a pleasure to receive some notice about our showcases! I hope the Stunt Team can continue to achieve great performances, try some new things, and hopefully continue expanding the collection of planes. You can catch me on Twitter as I continue to fabricate prop planes, and I hope to keep showcasing! Riko: If you wish to experience the aviation community you can join the Black Aces on Discord. Or if you're looking to stay updated on VRChat aviation you can check out our social media platforms on TikTok, Twitter or YouTube. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity. Seeing VRC aviation grow as a whole is truly an amazing sight to see from its small beginnings to where it is now About the Interviewer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. Read Staff Profile.

Flight of Nova is a space simulation title that has been striking out on its own when compared to other space flight games and simulators that are currently available. After trying the February 2022 demo multiple times, Skyward Flight Media reached out to its developer to request an interview. We would like to thank the developer not only for the interview, but also for press copies of Flight of Nova which we used to write our first impression and run a week long giveaway. Congratulations to JettStorm and Rhett for winning! Our interview with David Lloyd from Aerovery Lab comes a little over a month after its initial early access release with its developer now able to reflect on how it is being received by the public and how far the project has come. After trying the demo and early access release version of Flight of Nova, I was very motivated to reach out for an interview. Thanks for accepting! Thank you! My name is David Lloyd, solo indie developer from Switzerland. Being a fan of flight sims since my childhood, and a programmer too, I ended up making one. It seems I made the sim I never found anywhere. The one I always wanted to find. Is Flight of Nova your first game development project? Flight of Nova is not my first dev project. But it is the first one that reached early access release on Steam. I worked on a helicopter simulation in 2016. Certain details in this game give the impression that its developer has a passion for space flight. What inspired you to start creating this simulator? Being a fan of flight sims since my childhood, and a programmer too, I ended up making one. It seems I made the sim I never found anywhere. The one I always wanted to find. Before making games, and for a long time, I regularly searched for new flight simulations online. Around 2010, I discovered the Orbiter (now Orbiter 2016) project originally made by Martin Schweiger. That sim just blew my mind. After that, I found 'Lunar Flight’ by Shawn Edwards and also played it a lot. I think these two simulations were my main inspiration. Recently, there are many games or simulators set in space that have combat as a core part of their gameplay. Why did you choose to remove combat from Flight of Nova? I thought a simulation can also be exciting without any combat. It is possible to create tension/conflict through threats or dangers that do not involve combat. These threat/danger aspects are not yet fully developed in the Flight of Nova, as the game is at a very early stage. Instead of combat, what are players tasked to do in Flight of Nova? The player is flying transport ships to make deliveries of materials. There are also search missions. As most of the ships have a VTOL flight mode, the player learns to hover in order to land properly and also scan ground objects. There are also orbital station platforms to dock with that have docking ports. I feel like removing combat was a good decision. Not being frequently shot at makes the finer details of flight more prominent. This simulator features realistic gravity and orbital physics, atmosphere density data, and drag calculations. Can you talk about this in more detail? I started to play with gravitation in 2015 and shoot objects in orbit around small bodies and see what happens. It was fun to find the correct launch direction and force to get a circular orbit. No atmosphere was involved at that time. After a while I looked at Kepler and Newton’s laws and implemented the math, this was only to have instruments that display orbital data. I wanted to verify that it was really working, and that the data was consistent. In 2017, I used earth atmosphere data about air density to have a ‘progressive' atmosphere. Before that there was a ‘proto’ atmosphere that stopped suddenly at 100 km. (lol). Also using real earth atmo data made it easier for flight tests and to balance things using real publicly available reentry data. After setting the atmosphere air density, I made a certain amount of reentries in the simulation to adjust parameters. Then I went for an approximation of energy calculation due to drag, which also leads to a hull temperature. Of course this hull temperature calculation is -very- simplified. Orbital mechanics are very well simulated in-game, but sometimes we felt a bit lost when de-orbiting. In the future will there be a way to plan a route with your orbital burns and maneuvers to better navigate in zero gravity environments? A tool to ‘aim’ at specific outposts from orbit will be added. This will help to target a designated area on the surface before de-orbit. About orbital maneuvers, like transfers, or have a 3D visualization of current orbit and a target orbit, all that will be much more difficult to design and implement. Planet NVA-31 is where players will spend their time. It has a diameter of 12'700 km. What advantage does having a full-scale planet in your game give you? The advantage is having a huge surface area to build the game and create areas for missions. Is there an idea of how many orbital stations and surface outposts could be in the fully released game? What does the player do at these locations? For the outposts, there is a maximum of 199 possible land bases per planet. Each base can have up to 40 buildings. The player is taking transport and search missions at these land bases. This is the same for the orbital stations in the near future. It is unclear at this point how many orbital stations there will be in the fully released game. The game should reach the state of full release in approximately two years. For now it’s an early access release period. You've mentioned limits about outposts per planet. Is there a chance for new planets to be added to Flight of Nova? Yes, there is a pretty good chance for new planets. Two more planets are planned. Are players able to fly multiple spacecraft in this game? The EA release currently has two spacecraft to fly. The Freighter TL-01 and Shuttle CF2. Soon a third one will be added. As shown by your videos on Twitter and the "Hot Reentry" mission in the demo, the damage modeling of spacecraft seems relatively comprehensive. How deeply does damage affect gameplay? Currently the damage is only visual and does not affect the gameplay/aerodynamics. I had something in place to affect the flight model when damage was taken, but it wasn't conclusive enough, so I turned it off. I intend to work on it to affect aerodynamics when parts of the spacecraft are damaged or detached. Something that we were not expecting was a story. The opening cinematic in the demo and what seems like an interaction with an unknown spacecraft imply there is more than meets the eye. Is there anything you can say about the story at this time? I prefer to keep this a secret for now, so as not to spoil the surprise. At the moment in the early access version, there isn't more about the story than in the demo. It will take me some time to add these story elements into the game and realize my vision. While the demo loads, it states that playing with a gamepad controller is recommended. Everything works well with a controller, but are other devices supported? Are there any hardware limitations? HOTAS / HOSAS are also supported. The current limitation is a max of 5 USB devices simultaneously connected. I will probably increase that to 7 soon. While Flight of Nova has received much attention recently, it has actually been in development since 2015. How do you feel about the project in 2022? It is amazing for me to reach the current stage, and to see that some people like to play it. It is incredibly rewarding… but there is still a long way to go to fully realize everything that has been planned. Are there any milestone achievements during development that have encouraged you to pursue releasing a full game? In March 2020, when for the first time, I made the project public and started showing images, and I saw people's reactions. It was an important moment. It has been over one month since the game's release into early access. How has feedback been? Any new development priorities in the short term? Lots of feedback, lots of enthusiasm. It seems that the target audience is happy with what they experience in the game. It is amazing for me to see it. This gives me strength to continue the development and bring the simulation to its final destination. There are lots of short term improvements on the list. Thanks for this interview and congratulations on the early access release of Flight of Nova! We look forward to watching the title progress further in the future. Thank you so much for contacting me about the game. About the Interviewer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. Read Staff Profile.

Have you ever been in the middle of a mission, one which you thought would be much shorter than it actually was, and said to yourself: "I think I should have planned this better, I am going to run out of fuel" ? It is at moments like those where you start considering using air-to-air refueling (AAR) to save yourself. It is a task that can be quite daunting if you haven't tried it before. The mere thought of having to fly that close to a tanker with surgical precision is not something most players are used to. This was something of a stressful process for me to learn, all those years ago; but ever since I've done been able to do it, I have noticed something: I find it therapeutic. It is relatively hard for me to describe it, but the entire process of connecting to the tanker has become a bit of a ritual to me. Anything from the pre-contact preparations to locating the tankers and the approach to the tanker, everything has become a rhythm that I love to follow without missing a single beat. I compare it to a dancing merengue with your significant other. It is a careful balance of knowing exactly where you are, where you should be and where you will be. This is something you will control with your pitch and yaw, with some roll input from time to time; a fact that will demand your full attention. Keeping your position is not easy, regardless of which system is used (boom or basket refueling). But it is that inherent difficulty that has been leading me to doing AAR more and more, as getting into that mindset is somewhat relaxing to me. It allows me a break from the combat and a bit of time to reflect on what I've done in the mission and what I want to do next, specially now that most of my time in DCS is spent alongside friends playing highly dynamic missions where everything's possible. If you haven't tried it out, please, give it a go! It is a skill that will most likely save you some headaches at the cost of having just a bit of patience while you learn it. About the Author Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000 leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities, but only started being active around 2010. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and the co-founder of Skyward ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

A Guide to Ace Combat's Epic Worldbuilding The long-term popularity of the Ace Combat series boils down to its rosters of well-known aircraft, an accessible flight model that even newcomers to arcade flight can learn quickly, and particularly its worldbuilding. The term "Strangerealism" used in Vice's Waypoint Podcast in October 2020 is pretty well-founded because of how dense the history of the original world of Ace Combat is. A single web search can send someone into an multi-hour deep dive. The series has excelled in worldbuilding and storytelling in ways that literally decades of other flight series have never matched. For new players, wrapping their heads around a fictional planet and its history can be a bit of a hurdle when all they did was show up to blow up some airplanes. Our first entry in Creator Highlight Month 2021 is an interview with Solutus Eversol. A creator that specializes in producing videos that explain even the most obscure lore with original diagrams, animations, and illustrations. The interview covers his beginnings, recent change in style and digs a bit into understanding the still expanding and evolving world of Ace Combat. I just want to say for the record that this interview was a long time coming. It started back in 2019, but Skyward’s rebranding in 2020 canceled it. I’m glad we can finally do this properly. Me too! I can finally say, Hello friends and fans, my name is Solutus Eversol! I run a YouTube channel under the same name covering many known and unknown Ace Combat lore topics through digitally hand drawn scenes. When I am taking a break from content creation, I am learning how to draw, or playing games and chatting with fans over on my second channel SolutusLive. Right now, I mainly cover Ace Combat lore but I hope to branch out to other flight game lore in the future. How did your interest in aviation and flight games start? It all started when History Channel aired their one-time special of Dogfights: The Greatest Air Battles in September 2005. It's an old show I recommend military aviation fans to check out if they haven't already. I recalled being mesmerized learning that we had planes that were capable of performing what seemed to me at the time impossible maneuvers. That documentary made me invested in fighter planes so much that I bought books and die-cast models of any aircraft I could find. Luckily my Dad decided to strike while the iron was hot and brought home a copy of Ace Combat 5, The Unsung War. We will dig deeper into this later, but in short, what was it about the Ace Combat series that initially grabbed your interest? At the time, I was terrible at video games. I always quit during the first mission and never went back to try again. Ace Combat had that one thing that kept me returning to play it; Strangereal. Growing up, I had an interest in history and world maps. I would stare at World War maps seeing the before and after of a country's borders learning what happened and how such events changed the world. When I started Ace Combat 5’s campaign I was introduced to Strangereal’s earth. I knew the game was set on planet earth since I saw the image of the cover but the landmasses were different. Here was an alternate earth with unique nations and it’s very own historical events. No matter how many times I struggled at a mission, I kept on trying and trying just to see that map again. I had to learn more, especially about the war 15 years ago. You can imagine my excitement when I found out that the next Ace Combat game was taking place during the Belkan War. Today, I am still that history loving buff with a passion for worldbuilding and Ace Combat lore. How did you decide to begin creating content about this series? Have you created anything besides video? I always wanted to have a YouTube channel but I never knew what I wanted to discuss. In 2018, I was getting back into Warhammer 40K and thought about becoming a WH40K channel. I could create tutorial videos on how to make battlefield terrain from cardboard or convert your models into unique poses. As I thought about it, I felt I wouldn't have put all of my heart and soul into that idea and decided to scrap it. Jump to 2019. Ace Combat 7 was released in North America. Finally, after 12 years we get to return to Strangereal. What stood out to me the most in the story was the references to previous Ace Combat games. As a returning player I appreciated these nods to the past. However, it would fly over newer players' heads and probably confuse them. After beating the campaign I thought, “What if I created documentary style lore videos explaining the events mentioned in Ace Combat 7?” If a new player was interested in learning about Strangereal history, there was a short video for them to watch. Even veterans could watch them to brush up on their lore knowledge. I still do today. The current landscape of video content for games is primarily live streaming or gameplay heavy video. Why did you choose a more documentary style? As someone who lives with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), I am a visual learner and have an easier time retaining information by watching documentaries. I can sit down and learn something new from a book but I do not enjoy it. My ADHD also influences how I want to teach people. I am an animated/active person who enjoys giving a powerpoint presentation in front of a crowd rather than remain seated and write a paper. Naturally, I just gravitated towards structuring my video and narration as a documentary. Plus presenting the lore as a documentary can help the viewer imagine that they’re living in Strangereal. On February 13th, 2019, you released the first Strangereal History video. What was most surprising about it was everything being hand drawn. Up to this point other Ace Combat focused video content creators primarily use in-game video or screenshots. Why did you choose to hand draw things? Before I started making my first video, I had to figure out how I was going to visually present the topic. I could have used random images and photoshops on Google but the transition from a real life photograph to a CGI screenshot would have felt jarring from a stylistic point of view. If I had the gameplay recording equipment and a pc built for video editing, I probably would have gone down that path. However, I did not have the budget to purchase what I needed back then. All I had was MS paint on my old laptop, a free voice recording app on my iPhone, and iMovie. After watching Simple History one night, it finally clicked. I can draw the scenes. After a few weeks of drawing and editing the images on my iPhone, the first Strangereal History video was uploaded. Is it true that your first videos were made solely on mobile devices? What does your current workflow look like? That is true. Now I draw and edit my videos on an iPad and I don’t think I would change that process. Back in 2019, I could crank out two videos in a month. By the time I obtained a full-time job at a school in 2020, my workflow was drastically cut as expected with any job. Despite this, I will continue making lore videos for Project Aces and the community. My plan this year and beyond is to upload one video every two months. Is there a video from within your early period of activity that you can call your best work at that time? What are your thoughts on it looking back to it now? I considered my second video “Planetfall and Aftermath” to be my best work. As I look back on it today, I still consider it as one of many in the playlist to be my best despite the art being outdated. I do have plans to remaster it sometime in the near future. On March 30th, 2021, your video "The World of Strangereal - Strangereal History" was posted. It is considered the start of a style shift by some people. How do you view this change in your style? I view it more as a positive than a negative. Do I get nervous if I make a change to my formula? Yes. When you make a video with consistent style, theme, or topic, people will return to your channel more often. If you change anything about your videos, the viewer's interest drops and the videos won’t show up in their recommendations. But I do not let the amount of views or likes influence how I make my videos. My goal from the beginning was to make the best Ace Combat lore content that helped everyone understand the lore. By the time 2021 began, I looked over my old videos and wanted to improve upon the presentation and art. I made it a year long goal to improve my art skills and find my style. That is also why my upload schedule for 2021 was very sparse. The World of Strangereal and Fenrir videos are my test videos for style and presentation. I hope to continue to improve my art skills for the community and give the franchise the quality it deserves. Have you considered re-recording any of your earlier videos to match your current style? Absolutely. It has been on my mind ever since I started studying art fundamentals in 2021. Plus there is some information that is incorrect and not up-to-date that I want to fix in a future remaster. Ace Combat has outlasted many other game console flight series from the past. Air Force Delta, Aero Dancing, Sidewinder, Energy Air Force, etc. Do you feel as though Strangereal is a part of why Ace Combat has survived for so long? I believe Strangereal gives Ace Combat a bit of an edge over other flight games. Project Aces creativity would be limited if the stories were set on our earth. Players would always question the realism of a conflict, motivation, or item unless an earth changing event was introduced. Strangereal is Project Aces sandbox that gives them more creative liberty for storytelling. But the worldbuilding does not end with the world map and campaign. Project Aces always takes the opportunity to establish a backstory. Let's use the Arkbird as an example. In Ace Combat 5, the Arkbird is described as a low orbiting spacecraft made to clean up asteroid fragments orbiting the planet. Diving a bit deeper into extended lore from official books and lore-accurate websites, we learn that the Arkbird’s original purpose was to counter enemy ICBM missiles during the Cold War between Osea and Yuktobania. Even if it is a minor detail, Project Aces still puts in the work to flesh out their world. Now, you are focused on Strangereal but I do have to ask about the spinoff timelines that have appeared in the past. What are your thoughts on these spinoffs? Honestly, I played two spinoff Ace Combat games: Infinity and Assault Horizon. In short, they’re not bad. Even Assault Horizon is a good Ace Combat game despite what some say. The one thing I was not a huge fan of was the Dogfight Mode (DFM). Don’t take it the wrong way, DFM was fun at certain times but when it was the only way to take down specific enemies (besides the boss) it felt forced. If the game gave us the option to switch DFM off, the community would have been a little more favorable to the mode. Taking a look at the rest of Assault Horizon, it is a pretty solid Ace Combat game. The campaign was not bad. Although I like Ace Combat 5’s story, I would rank Assault Horizon’s story higher than it. The second half of 5 becomes convoluted when the Grey Men are introduced and character dialogue contradicts what's happening whereas Assault Horizon was simple like 04 and Zero. The soundtrack is an 11 out of 10. If anyone tells you Assault Horizon's soundtrack is bad they are lying. Personally, Naval Warfare is the best song on that soundtrack. The flight mechanics have not deviated from the original formula making it easy to pick up for long-time fans. Finally, destructible aircraft. When DFM is used at the right times for cinematic moments it is satisfying to watch an enemy plane break apart. I am very happy that the game introduced this addition and is continued to be used in future installments. The lore of Ace Combat is somewhat daunting for newcomers. It’s something that covers multiple official websites, games and books. What is your advice for people who are unsure how to approach it for the first time? Just start learning about the lore within the first Ace Combat game you play. Almost every Ace Combat campaign can stand on its own without relying on previous stories. Then branch out to other Ace Combat games. If you haven’t already go and check out Acepedia. The team at Acepedia have done a superb job of gathering and organizing the lore. Also remember to take your time as you traverse the wiki pages. You don’t need to cram all of the lore in one sitting. Selecting from your video catalog, what do you think are some of the most important videos newcomers could watch to get started? I would recommend newcomers to watch “The World of Strangereal” video. I created that video as a starting point for people to get generally acquainted with the Strangereal universe. The extended lore you’ve mentioned is often only described in text with no visuals to go along with it. Is your video about the Rectan Conflict an example of how you’ll handle these events? The Rectan Conflict and Birth of Aerial Warfare video are great examples where I have to come up with an artist interpretation with little bits of lore. For many people Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (2019) is their first Ace Combat game. Would you suggest they go back and play all the games in the series or is there a short-list of games they could play to get the “Ace Combat experience”? If you have a PS2 or emulator, I recommend playing Ace Combat 04, Ace Combat 5, and Ace Combat Zero if they want to get that Ace Combat experience. If they do not have access to those, watching playthroughs on Ace Combat Fan or Zaptroxix YouTube channels is another good way to experience Ace Combat’s story. The Ace Combat series has had a few retcons in the past 25 years. It’s something long-time fans have noticed as time goes on. How do you feel about the development team’s efforts to keep everything connected? The retcons Project Aces have made so far with the previous games is welcoming. I admire the work they do to keep the Strangereal continuity as cohesive as possible while figuring out a way to incorporate the game before Ace Combat 04. Have you ever considered adding others to your team or working with other Ace Combat creators to produce content? I have and still do. Especially for a big project in the future. I worked with my buddy Netzone by using scraped music tracks and remixes of current Ace Combat songs. If you ever have a song request, I recommend reaching out to Netzone. That guy can create some beats! I would also like to reach out to modders and other artists for possible collaborations but that will have to wait once I get my ideas organized. Besides creating content you’ve also been managing your own Discord community. What has that experience been like? Was it something you had planned on doing from the start? When I first started uploading videos, discord never crossed my mind. But after some time thinking it over and having some responses in the comments asking if I will make a server, I decided to make an account and see what the community was like in discord. It was a decision well made. Over the past 2 years I was able to meet and make friends with so many great people! Plus, making a Discord community was the next step to reaching out to friends and fans for ideas and feedback. Have there been times where owning a server was not fun because some people join and choose to misbehave? Yes but every online community has its few bad apples you need to chuck out of the barrel. As long as you focus your energy towards the friends you care about and the things you want to create, you will have a great time. I want to thank my server moderators and online friends on Discord! You are wonderful, funny, and kind hearted souls who brighten up my day! You have started livestreaming with your secondary channel, Solutus Eversol Live. How is it being able to interact with your audience and being more casual on stream? It is really nice to just lay back and be myself while gaming and talking to the fans. That's what a livestream should be about. A relaxing time entertaining fans around the world. I haven't been as active since last year. But now that a few games are coming out this year, I am looking forward to streaming it on the second channel. Many have praised your recreation of the Strangereal map from Ace Combat, but it seems like your map skills have also been utilized by Dawn, the upcoming animated audioplay direct by Jose Pavli! What a development. How did this happen? I would spend my free time creating fantasy and Strangereal inspired maps in my notebooks in middle school. You could say world building has been an interest of mine growing up. When Jose Pavli announced that he was gathering a small team to make a fighter pilot audio drama set within a fictional modern day world, I reached out and asked if he needed someone to design an original world for Dawn. After a few days of conversing, sharing samples of my recent works, and creating quick concept sketches, Jose came back and said yes. I was very excited and a bit nervous because this was my very first commission I was making for a development team. Once I signed an agreement and was given the go ahead, I got started aiming to give them my best work. Was there any direction from the Dawn team about how the map should be designed or was this map made with only your design? Yes, right from the start Neiwa Interactive provided me with information about Dawn’s world in order for the map to make sense with the story. You have to approach it from a geological perspective if you want your landmasses to not feel random and out of place. In order for the map to fit their vision and feel naturalistic, I spent 90% of the concept phase looking at fictional maps, landmass creation tutorials on YouTube, and using a free tectonic plate simulator. Once I gathered every info I could, I drew and modified a rough sketch. Neiwa Interactive reviewed my work and shared what they liked as well as directed me on which areas they would like to see changed. They also gave me the names of nations that were going to be featured in the story. By the end of the summer, the final version was finished and given to Neiwa Interactive. Now that you’ve worked with a development team, do you have any interest in working with other projects? Audiobooks? Indie game dev teams? My time spent working for Neiwa Interactive was a pleasant experience. The team was professional, kind, willing to teach you a few things, and were great to work with. I would gladly accept to create another commission for them. If any other development team reached out and asked if I would be interested in working with them I would not shy away from the offer. As we begin 2022, are there any personal goals you have set for your content creation? Any big announcements coming up? My goal is to post a lore video every two months. As for big announcements for the channel this year, I like to keep the videos a surprise. However, there is one big project idea in the back of my mind that I want to do for 2023 so be on the lookout on YouTube and Twitter for an announcement. Outside of Ace Combat, I’ve been getting into Dungeons & Dragons and would like to try and start a D&D session later this year in my Discord server if people are interested. Lots of worldbuilding can be done with D&D and would like to try my hand at writing a campaign. Thanks for the interview! Best of luck going forward in your efforts. We look forward to how your lore videos and future videos turn out. Thank you for the interview! I hope that everyone was able to get to learn a little more about me and my channel! As always my name is Solutus Eversol and I hope to see you all in my next video! About the Interviewer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. Read Staff Profile.

The wait has been long but BAAS Dynamics' Sk60B mod for DCS World is out, it comes with everything we talked about in our preview and even more. If you are hesitant about it, fear not because this wonderful little plane is FREE for everyone to download and enjoy. Just click the button here which will redirect you to their GitHub page where you can find both the module and its installation instructions! This plane is for everyone, so be sure to give it a try. If you have a discord account, why not join BAAS' discord to be informed of any updates and development progress on their current and upcoming projects such as the J35 Draken and more! They are a great community and a very welcoming one at that. With that being said we would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays. Enjoy this mod and stay safe! About the writer: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as the co-founder and writer ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

After a couple of years of waiting, we finally have our hands on Eagle Dynamics latest iteration of the Ka-50, the Black Shark III! This update is quite extensive so we will only be taking a look at some of the highlights and features that are critical to understanding this module and its place in DCS World. We did review the Ka-50 Black Shark II before and much of what was said in that article still holds true with Black Shark III. Like usual, I will divide this in several categories for the sake of organization and so that you, the viewer, can scroll straight to the parts that matter to you: External/Internal Model Changes Flight Model and Sensor Display Changes. New weapons and core systems. Is this upgrade/module for you? EXTERNAL/INTERNAL MODEL CHANGES This is the main point of the Black Shark 3 module. It is a comprehensive overhaul of both internal and external models for the Ka-50. It is a great to see that this module is not only one of the most detailed ones to date, but also one that seems to not kill my framerate in the process! The amount of detail that has been put into the external model surpasses what many would consider as "necessary" or "basic". It has almost every single centimeter modeled to such an insane level of detail that it somewhat puts some other modules to shame. Just look at how brilliant the work is, particularly when it comes down to the internals and the access panel, the pilot model and more! The internal model seems to mostly be the same as the updated Black Shark II cockpit which was added sometime in the past. Its textures are alright and everything looks mostly as it did when we wrote our review for Black Shark II. That being said, there are some key changes in the cockpit such as the removal of the old laser warning system and its display from the cockpit. Here are some shots so you can judge for yourself: The best part about this model, though, it is the absolutely brilliant implementation of rotor and blade blur. FLIGHT MODELING AND SENSOR DISPLAY CHANGES Just like Black Shark II, it seems like a lot of thought and care was put into making sure that the Ka-50 feels just like it should. It is an extremely unique helicopter thanks to its co-axial rotor system. It feels extremely good to fly and is as stable as I remembered it to be. The fact is that this is pretty much identical to BS2 and that's for the good. The Shkval sensor, the optical sensor that allows long range tracking and engagement of targets with ATGMs and laser guided missiles has also received an upgrade. Its display now uses a green-ish display which makes things much harder to see at night and even sometimes during the day, when the light hits it in a particular angle. You will now have to constantly adjust the brightness and contrast knobs! NEW WEAPONS AND CORE SYSTEMS Black Shark III comes with a new weapon system and a new defensive system: The IGLA air to air missiles and the new Missile Warning System (MWS). Both of these systems have been implemented pretty well, with the exception of the Igla's lack of damage. I have seen Hueys tank 4 missiles and keep flying like nothing happened. I suspect this is also due to the Igla's extremely small 1.2Kg warhead, but still, it feels extremely underpowered at the moment. IS THIS UPGRADE/MODULE FOR YOU? If you are upgrading from Black Shark 2, the answer is a definite "yes". For the discounted price of USD9.99, it is a no-brainer. For full price, it is still an extremely solid module! About the writer: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as the co-founder and writer ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

Around this time last year I uploaded an article about Falcon BMS and how much I liked what the team at Benchmark Sims did to the base Falcon 4 game. But, for one reason or another, I kind of stopped playing Falcon BMS for a while. That, I would learn, was a mistake. I never imagined that Falcon BMS could get even better, but it did. Released earlier this year (April, 2022), Falcon BMS 4.36 brought a plethora of improvements and features to the simulator that, unbelievably so, make the Falcon experience even more realistic and enjoyable. Let me list some of these features which blew my mind. I do know I might be late to the party, but I thought this was still worth talking about. BASKET AIR TO AIR REFUELING WITH SIMULATED HOSE PHYSICS This might sound like a basic feature that should have been in the sim before, but one has to remember that there are no operational F-16 variants that use this method of refueling. That means that the only aircraft that use the basket system in the game are the secondary ones. These include the Mirage 2000, AV-8B and F/A-18C. But now that there is an F-16 variant in the game with the conformal refueling adapter, the devs have implemented something truly amazing: basket refueling with proper physics. This is somewhat of a rarity, as even games like DCS World seem to be lacking in this particular area. As you can see in the gif, which I extracted from the 4.36 trailer, the probe and the hose act like physical objects that interact with one another. They collide and move in a fluid manner. The same goes for the hose itself, which seems to move in a life-like manner. It stretches and even straightens as it reaches its limits when pulled by the Hornet. To me, the difference between simulators lies on how the developers treat these tiny details. This shows that the guys at Benchmark Sims really care about their product in ways that many of us would just take for granted. But speaking of realism, this leads us to another feature which amazed me. REALISTIC JTAC IMPLEMENTATION If you were ever interested in working with JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller) and destroying ground targets even through the thickest of cloud covers, then this is the feature that will define 4.36 for you. As demonstrated in this video by Wheelman 105th, realistic JTAC operations are now possible in Falcon BMS 4.36. The possibilities this opens are huge and, from what I have seen over the past few months, the community is already using this tool to the best of their abilities. The feature also seems to be more complete and realistic when compared to DCS World's current JTAC implementation. This means that, if judged purely from a realism perspective, Falcon BMS now has something that makes it better for mil-sim groups wanting to dabble in realistic air to ground operations. I do hope that Eagle Dynamics takes some notes from Falcon BMS in this regard, because I would love to do what Wheelman did in his video but in DCS World. UNENDING LOVE FOR AN OLD GAME These two features are the ones that got me to look at Falcon BMS again, but that does not mean that they were the only ones included with the 4.36 update. Several improvements to the core were done, including many visual enhancements to both textures and special effects. AI aircraft also got a revamp alongside a rework of the missile guidance code. Another feature that I did find worth mentioning on its own is the new reflection and light pollution mechanics. When flying at night over a city, clouds will be affected by the city lights, making them shine with that oh-so iconic orange tint of street phosphor-based lights. This should make flying at night a bit more interesting for everyone! That being said, what never ceases to amaze me is how much love and care is still being put into this project. All of this just for the sake of giving the community something that they will enjoy, and all for absolutely free. Benchmark Sims, if any of you are reading this, I would like to extend my sincere thanks for everything you guys do. Keep at it! About the author: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and the co-founder of Skyward ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

An article which focuses on all variants of the Sukhoi Flanker family of aircraft as portrayed in the Ace Combat series. This article covers all members of the Flanker family with information on how their combination of special weapons and aircraft stats affect their overall performance throughout the series. Since the start of the franchise, the Sukhoi family has been present in various forms, expanding between the Su-27 to the Su-37 and the more specialized Su-34; no matter the type, they have always been some of the more lethal aircraft at the player's disposal. Su-27 Flanker-B ​We start with the oldest brother in the family. The Su-27 is the original Flanker, so you can expect a lower performance in terms of maneuverability, acceleration and in weapon carriage capacity than the rest of the family line, but it's still a formidable mid-tier aircraft capable of defending itself throughout an entire play through without that much difficulty. ​​ In Ace Combat 1 (1992) and 2 (1997), the aircraft behaves good, being one of the more balanced planes in terms of stats (possessing 3 Defense, 4 Attack, 4 Mobility, 4 Offense, 3 Stability), making it a master of none but a worker of all.  The Su-27 behaves a little sloppier than the aircraft of its tier in Ace Combat 5 (2004). Thanks to the one-special-weapon-per-plane system made during AC5, it is stuck with Semi-active Air-to-Air Missiles (SAAM) which force it into an air to air role with a somewhat limited performance special weapon.  In Ace Combat Zero (2006), the Su-27 is remarkably similar to the F-15C in terms of stats and performance, even weaponry. It is a mid-tier fighter with the possibility of turning into a multirole if you choose one of its two air-to-ground weapons: Unguided Bomb-Large (UGBL) or Self Forging Fragmentation Submunitions (SFFS). It continued to perform as a multirole aircraft utilizing an identical special weapon selection in Ace Combat X (2006) and Ace Combat: Joint Assault (2010). The Su-27 made an appearance as a non-player character unit in Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (2011). It’s primarily seen as an enemy aircraft at the height of the single player campaign but is also used by allied forces.  Its addition in Ace Combat Infinity (2014) would designate it as the Su-27 Flanker-B and return it to being a strictly air-to-air combat platform. Its selection of SAAM, Quick-air-to-Air Missile (QAAM), and  4-target Air-to-Air Missile (4AAM) place it on equal footing with its F-15C Eagle rival in terms of available special weaponry. Su-35 'Super Flanker' & Su-35 Flanker-E The next member of the Flanker family is the Su-35. As a direct evolution of the original Flanker, the Su-35 uses the lessons learned during the Su-37 program as it employs trust vectoring nozzles and canards; said canards are only on the Su-35 "Super Flanker" as seen in Ace Combat 2, Ace Combat 04 and Ace Combat 5, But in reality this aircraft is known as the Su-27M. The actual Su-35, known as the "Flanker-E" as of NATO designation, is only presented to us from Ace Combat: Assault Horizon and the ones that came after that. In Ace Combat 2, the Su-35 flies like a charm. It possesses the third largest missile count in the game, with 80 missiles, stat that is tied with most of the high tier attacker platforms, while being an extremely maneuverable and agile aircraft with high statistics (90 PWR, 80 MOB, 70 STB, 90 CLB, 60 DFS, 80 A2A, 80 A2G). This makes it better than other aircraft in its price range (200.000 cr), giving it the position of a top tier destruction machine. The Su-35 is a mid to top tier fighter in Ace Combat 04 (2001), capable of multirole by using Unguided Bomb-Medium (UGBM) if the situation presents itself. The player will soon unlock the much better Su-37, making the Su-35 an aircraft that lives under the shadow of its big brother. The Super Flanker performs a different role from the Su-37 in Ace Combat 5, due to the unique special weapons system. Thanks to it having the Advanced Long-range Air-to-Air Missile (XLAA), it serves in more of an air superiority role over longer distances. This distinguishes it from the Su-37 and its limited combat. The Su-35 has its first somewhat high profile role in the series serving as the primary aircraft of the Ofnir squadron, one of the antagonists of the story. It is in Ace Combat: Assault Horizon that the Flanker-E plays a starring role in the story. The aircraft is not only the aircraft of choice of the primary antagonist, Akula, but is seen extensively in the final, cinematic missions of the story. The well known “Shark Mouth” paint scheme that Akula uses is featured in Ace Combat Infinity as well.  The player-controlled Su-35 removes any air-to-ground special weapons for the first time in the series. This trend is continued in Ace Combat Infinity, with its weapons being 6-Target Air-to-Air Missiles (6AAM) and QAAMs in both titles. Su-37 'Terminator' The last of the main Flanker family is the Su-37. Known as the “Terminator”, this aircraft was the father of the Su-35 in the real world. Featuring thrust vectoring engines, canards and advanced avionics, this aircraft had an incomparable performance when it came to maneuverability and close range air combat potential, but never made it to mass production due to the fall of the USSR in 1992.  The Su-37 was present in Ace Combat 2, but as a non-player character aircraft. In the hands of the Usean Rebel Forces, the enemy Su-37s present the player with a first in the Ace Combat series. In close range combat, these aircraft would perform Pugachev's Cobra and Kulbit maneuvers to quickly turn the tables on the player. Though these aircraft were only seen in limited numbers near the end of the campaign, they left a memorable impact. In Ace Combat 3, a fictional, futuristic version of the Su-37 is operated by the Universal Peace Enforcement Organization. Known as the Super Flanker, it is the plane of choice not only for the player but also for two of the ace pilots that accompany you throughout your journey, Rena Hirose and Erich Jager. From the player´s side, it is a pretty formidable plane, but falls short in comparison to the more outlandish aircraft that may be at your disposal depending on your allegiance. Aircraft like the Su-43 Berkut, XFA-36A Game and R-103 Delphinus III for example. In Ace Combat 04, this plane is not only available to the player, but also serves as the aircraft of choice of the infamous "Yellow Squadron", Erusean Air Force, 156th Tactical Fighter Wing. This puts the Terminator in the spotlight in cutscenes and poses as a power ceiling to the player. After having a series of successful missions early on, suddenly having this new enemy presented as such a massive threat that it fades away the feeling of success the player has been experiencing until then. Seeing all allied aircraft ordered to retreat shortly after the Yellows arrive makes the player feel like they are a true foe. This feeling of their lasting superiority makes combat against the Yellows have more of a lasting impact as they are encountered throughout Ace Combat 04. The portrayal of Yellow Squadron, their iconic Su-37s, the addition of Pugachev’s Cobra and other post stall maneuvers may be the most effective use of the Terminator or of any other antagonist aircaft in the Ace Combat series. The Su-37 that is available to the player is a complete improvement over the Su-35, capable of multirole missions without losing any maneuverability or speed in dogfights. It feels snappy and reactive to every control the player inputs into it. It is just a joy to fly. In Ace Combat 5, the aircraft receives the QAAM as its only special weapon, forcing it to a close range dogfighter role. While being quite maneuverable and fast, this handicap limits its potential drastically. ​ In Ace Combat Zero, this aircraft also serves a role aside from being at the player's disposal. It is the aircraft of choice of the Belkan Air Force 5th Air Division, 23rd Tactical Fighter Squadron “Gelb”. They were present during the battle for the recapture of Ustio's capitol recapture operation. By this time, on their first play through, the player does not have access to many aircraft. Due to the focus being on defeating Belkan ground forces, most players would have probably chosen an air to ground loadout. Gelb are fierce opponents, having the “magical” ability to launch missiles from behind their planes once you are at their 6 o'clock. Interestingly enough, this ability is based off of real word tests done by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. ​ As for the playable version of the ACZ Su-37, it's a thing of beauty. It has within its arsenal the Fuel Air Explosive (FAEB), a weapon of incredible power only available to a few select aircraft in the game. This gives the Su-37 the capability of living up to its nickname: “Terminator”. Equipping it with FAEB makes you a pilot to be feared, as you are capable of disposing of clustered enemies with ease, dealing massive amounts of damage. This is a desirable choice if you want to speed run the game. Each version of the Su-37 in Ace Combat X, Joint Assault, and Cross Rumble also features the FAEB as part of its special weapon line up, alongside more specialized weapons such as Long-ranged Air-to-Surface Missiles (LASM), Omnidirectional Multi-purpose Missiles (ODMM) and a variety of long-ranged air-to-air missiles. The Terminator, as seen in these PlayStation Portable and Nintendo 3DS titles, is the most flexible version of this aircraft seen in any Ace Combat game. Ace Combat: Assault Horizon and Ace Combat Infinity ditch the air-to-ground and unusual weapons for a proven combination of 4AAM and QAAM, along with the High-Velocity Air-to-Air Missile (HVAA). This mixture of weapons capitalizes on all strengths of the Su-37, arguably making it the pinnacle of all Flankers as seen in this series. Su-34 Fullback The Fullback sees little to no action during the single-player campaign of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon as there is only one mission it can be accessed. However, it shined as one of the top attackers used on Capital Conquest In Ace Combat Infinity . As an attacker in Assault Horizon, the Su-34's high speeds and maneuverability allowed it to defend well against enemy aircraft while still being able to activate Air Strike Mode to dole out considerable damage with its Guided Precision Bombs (GPB) and 4 Air-to-Ground Missiles (4AGM). With extra stat buffs granted by Pilot Skills, its attack power and armor can be maxed out, making it a tenacious attacker. Thus far, the Su-34 Fullback has seen its most successful apperance inside Ace Combat Infinity; especially during online competitive co-op and team death match game modes. Its set of special weapons features multi-target striking 4AGMs, extended reach striking Long-range Air-to-Ground Missiles (LAGMs) and heavy hitting GPBs. With extensive Aircraft Tuning available in Ace Combat Infinity, both its special weapons and baseline high performance elevated it to one of the best attackers available in the game from the time of its introduction. The crux of its success being its damage output capable of destroying a majority of ground vehicles with no more than one or two Standard Missiles. Another factor that contributes to its lethality are its guided special weapons which allow it to maintain high speeds when engaging clusters of targets with a salvo of 4AAM. Su-33 Flanker-D Last but not least, we have the Su-33, the naval version of the Su-27 with added canards more powerful engines to help it take off and land on carrier operations. Its NATO reporting name is "Sea Flanker". This aircraft first appeared in Ace Combat 6 (2007), being featured as the platform of choice of the elite Estovakian Air Force, 370th Precinct, 9th Tactical Fighter Squadron 'Strigon'. They used the aircraft carrier capabilities not at sea, but onboard the heavy command cruiser “Aigaion”. This was a flying aircraft carrier that housed the Strigons throughout most of the Emmerian-Estovakian War. Though they did take losses, the surviving members of the original Strigon squadron, along with replacement members from their sister squadron known as Vampire, continued fighting until the end of the conflict. ​ The playable version of the Ace Combat 6 Flanker-D is a formidable 'dogfighter', which could utilize the High-G Turn system in AC6 to make abrupt, sharp turns. Though it would lose all airspeed in just a few seconds, it's High-G turn rate allowed it to quickly get a shot on opposing aircraft it entered close range combat with. Being able to get its nose onto a target within a few seconds opened up many chances for quick attacks on opponents that were not watching it closely. In a sense, it is a master of head-to-head engagements in online multiplayer. It should be noted that the AC6 version has an unusual ace up its sleeve. It can equip Rocket Launcher pods (RCL), capable of destroying clustered enemies without that much trouble, assuring at least a couple of burning piles of ash each run. In the right hands, the RCL could also be used against other players in online multiplayer modes when in gun range combat situations. The Su-33 in Ace Combat: Assault Horizon was used by enemies during the height of hostilities seen in Assault Horizon's campaign. In the player's hands, the Su-33 maintains its above average performance. However, with the more capable Su-35 and the Su-37 adquired via downloadable content which boast better performance and special weapons, the Flanker-D can be quickly overlooked in terms of aircraft stats. This aircraft falls into a similar situation in Ace Combat Infinity. With a lower speed than most aircraft in the Fighter tier but with a higher maneuverability, the Flanker-D can be considered an aircraft only true fans of the Flanker family would invest time in. This is reinforced by the fact that unlocking the Flanker-E and Terminator is can be done by just unlocking six other aircraft parts. The special weapons of the Su-33 not only restrict it to an air-to-air role, but also to targeting a single aircraft at a time using High-Powered Air-to-Air missiles (HPAA), High Capacity Air-to-Air missiles (HCAA) and Hyper Velocity Air-to-Air missiles (HVAA). Towards Ace Combat 7 The Flanker family has always accompanied the Ace Combat franchise ever since its conception back in Air Combat. It has passed through every form and shape the platform has taken over the years, even taking spotlights in the franchise in the form of the Yellow, Strigon, and Akula. Now, from the trailers of Ace Combat 7, we can see that yet again, Flankers will take a major role in the plot. ​Though not much is known at the time of this article being published, the Su-30SM is the aircraft of choice for a high profile enemy known as Mihaly. It’s paint scheme and livery show that it belongs to the Erusean Air and Space Administration (EASA) and features cutting edge, most likely experimental aviation technologies. ​ ​One can only hope that the Su-30 variants and the other marvelous machines of the Flanker family will keep being featured in many games to come. About the Author Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

The last couple of weeks had Ace Combat fans all over the world were anticipating news and info about the new entry to the flight shooter genre, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. As soon as the doors opened at Gamescom 2018 in Cologne, Germany, a new trailer with a definitive release date was released to the public. Please accompany us as we take an in depth look at every remarkable frame inside the trailer, explaining it and pointing out things that viewers may have missed. ​This analysis will be divided into two sections: Audio and Video. Each finding will contain timestamps inside the video to allow for side by side viewing. These timestamps are made using the PlayStation Europe Release Date Trailer and are only compatible with this trailer. Video Analysis 0:22 We start the video with some beautiful shots of the F-104C cockpit rendered with extreme detail, artificial horizons, altimeter and even the exhaust temperature indicator were functional, which is impressive. 0:26-0:40 After some shots that we have seen previously and a couple of Ulysses asteroid craters, we cut to a night refueling of an F-15C, which could mean the return of night time missions to the series. 0:44 What follows is quite interesting. We see an F-35C being moved to the deck of a Nimitz class carrier, but this carrier in particular has something rather unique. This carrier seems to be equipped with an anti-aircraft system that is not CIWS. In their place there are what look like large metal balls. As of now we do not know what these are but one can speculate for them to be some kind of laser weaponry or a shield similar to the one equipped on the Arsenal Bird. 0:54 More familiar but slightly altered shots show a scene that was previously thought to be a cut scene. This scene implied the demise of Spare 8´s Super Hornet at the hands of Mihaily in a past trailer. The difference this time is the plane being piloted. Instead of the Super Hornet we are presented with a returning veteran of the franchise, the MiG-29 Fulcrum-A. 1:19 After that we see another incoming aircraft. This time its a JAS-39 Gripen-E being piloted by Trigger as he fights Mihaly. 1:32/1:33 ​A couple of establishing shots of several characters pass. We see a close up of a hanging clock followed by a gunshot; the gun being fired has the markings “XD.50” indicating the supposed model and caliber of the weapon. An instant later we see an object that for the sake of simplicity will be called a “hard drive”. It gets shot by what appears to be the same pistol fired earlier. The hard drive has the inscription: “TESTER: [MIHAILY] VERSION: 13” on the bottom. Meaning that his flight data is being recorded and saved on these memory devices. 1:34 We see the face of the young woman that has been accompanying Mihaly and Rosa in the other trailers, but this time the focus of the shot is entirely on her. It suggests that she will play a more important role than what we thought before. Her dress is royal-like which suggests that she might be a member of the royal family, but she might also be a caretaker for Mihaly. We will see her face again a couple of times in the trailer. 1:35 A screen opens and we see a holographic representation of the satellite network. In the same frame objects named ASAT-01 and 02 hit orbiting satellites. One can deduce from this frame that the trajectory of these ASATs (Anti-Satellite weapons) show that they come from the southeastern part of the Usean continent. 1:37/1:39 Princess Rosa appears crying beneath a dark sky, the same sky that we will see the prisoners of the 444th walk over. This implies that they are at the same location and the same time. Afterwards we see a conversation between Rosa and Dr. Schröder. In this conversation something of great importance appears for the first time: "Harling´s Mirror" with the presence of one of the Erusean royal family sitting on the floor beside it. 1:40 "Harling´s Mirror" seems to refer to the painting that depicts an elven dance, peace symbolism and the use of the International Space Elevator as a symbol of peace. With 5 of these ISEVs being present in the painting along with the Strangereal world seen from space in the background. We will see its role once the game finally releases in January 2019. 1:42/1:45 After that we see a flight of four F-14s with Osean markings (most likely belonging to Gargoyle Squadron) shooting down a V-22 that was protected by MQ-101 drones. This seems to be an event of great importance, as the radio chatter suggests that the V-22 is not Osean and show not be fired upon. 1:47/1:48 A shot of a computer that probably belongs to Dr. Schröder monitoring the satellite network as it is being destroyed. This scene is reinforced by a shot of Schröder looking up at a what seems to be a meteor shower but is most likely satellite debris. The hard drive is seen yet again in the background and later in the hands of the Doctor. 1:49 A flight of four F/A-18s, but these do not seem to be conventional Super Hornets due to the unusual red light bar that appears beneath their cockpits. It's reminiscent of some sort of laser. 1:50 through 1:52 ​After some shots that we have previously seen of the Avril Mead, we see a very fast succession of shots. The first of them shows a hand with white nail paint looking at a map of Usea. The next transition reveals the darkened sky scene now over the Prisoners from the 444th. We can somewhat identify the location thanks to the background. A Mass Driver, rocket launch pads and cranes, along with a shot of a Space Shuttle that is being investigated by the 444th. There is only one place in Usea that is known to have these facilities - Riass Space Center located on the Comona Islands. The assertion of Riass being included can only be considered speculation based on the terrain. 2:00/2:02/2:07 A transition to more action shots, showing what appears to be Stonehenge being activated. A gigantic base or airport suspended above the ocean, located in a snowy area with a C-17 a top of one of the platforms. A visual that is familiar to Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies players is the shock wave and shot effect of a Stonehenge cannon. This is undeniable proof of this once defunct railgun being reactivated. 2:12 We see a soon to be destroyed Admiral Kuznetsov class aircraft carrier being approached by an Su-33 Flanker piloted by Trigger and a familiar shot of the Su-30SM of the Erusean Sol Squadron, but what follows is what grabs attention. 2:21/2:22/2:24 ​We see a line of trucks opening their cargo compartments upwards, showing that they are in fact drone launchers equipped with MQ-99. As they launch we see that this is inside a city. Possibly the opening strike of the drone attacks mentioned during the mission briefing for Mission 03. One thing I noticed about these MQ-99 is that they do not appear to posses landing gear. Only weapons bays and optical sensors are seen possibly meaning they are disposable UAVs. This is followed by the image of what appears to be the drone´s targeting cam and the Doctor´s face while he looks at the destruction of the satellite network. 2:24 ​We see a drone that is completely new flyby a looks like a C-17 Globemaster. This aircraft seems to have similar design features to the other fictional we get to see later on the trailer. ​ 2:29 A taste of the real power of the Arsenal Bird is shown as it deploys its shield. The shield survives an impact of 15 missiles without any wavering on the shield´s part. 2:36 After more combat the return of the Machine Gun Pod (MGP) special weapon is confirmed with it being deployed on the MiG-21BIS; which is also a new confirmed aircraft. 2:39 Another new aircraft confirmed, the Su-47 Berkut. 2:45 ​We see yet again the girl of the royal family during a night shot. This is followed by a shot of a Su-57 equipped with 'laser gun pods' attacking at night. We only knew of this weapon equipped on the F-15C before this, so it is good to know that it will be available to more planes. 2:56 We again see the unknown drone, now in better detail. Its shape is reminiscent of the ADF Falken design. The design is most prominent in the nose of this drone. 3:02 We see our first glance at what might be one of the new fictional aircraft available to the player. It also appears to be based on the ADF-01 Falken design made by Gründer Industries. It lacks vertical stabilizers and the front canards are heavily modified. This aircraft seems to feature a Connection For Flight Interface (COFFIN) system rather than a standard cockpit. This aircraft will prove important to the main plot. Audio Analysis ​0:17-0:32 We start the trailer with the continuation of the dialogue we first heard way back on the Gamescom 2017 trailer. The dialogue is spoken by Avril Mead (female penal squadron pilot). In her tone of voice and her choice of words you can sense that she is very passionate about flying.  0:34-040 Just after that we hear the static of a radio being turned on/adjusted into a new frequency and the newscaster from previous trailers starts her announcement. This time the only difference seems to be that she is repeating the message after that with a tone that strikes the importance of the message to the listeners. 0:50-0:52 Then we get a new dialogue line from Mission 6 never spoken in any previous trailer, in this line Spare 6 “Full Band” squadron makes reference to a character that goes for the name of “Jailer”. Looking into previous trailers and into what we previously know about the penal squadron, the most probable conclusion is that this character is the base commander of the 444th Osean Air Force Base. 0:53-1:02 Just after that, we hear Spare 11 state how he thinks High Command sees the Penal units, just them as “pawns”. After that we hear the reaction of the Spare Squadron pilots (including a female pilot) and the AWACS to their sighting of Mihaily´s SU-30, and the terror that that aircraft truly is in their eyes. 1:04-1:19 We then transition to a conversation between two of the characters, Avril Mead and Spare 11 “Tabloid”. We hear a less detailed and more confusing version of this same conversation on previous iterations of the trailers. This time we do get a more complete version of their dialogue, and now we know that Spare 11 is most likely is referring to Trigger when he is talking about following his flight lead into an enemy squadron formation. Because of that they both jokingly call him a “fool”. 1:20-1:24 Erusean control then contacts Mihaily as his callsign, Sol 1 (Sun 1), and the voice that is on the radio sounds like a young man checking in on the status of Sol 1. Mihaily then responds in a joking manner. 1:25-1:30 We then hear a now familiar line about the Three Strikes as Trigger battles Mihaily. Remarks of the disdain and anger from who appear to be Osean pilots towards Trigger follow the battle, stating that “as long as you´re here, this country will never know peace.” 1:31-1:40 Mihaily states his now famous line "what is a nation?" An important dialogue between Princess Rosa and Dr. Schröder includes the dialogue “I wonder which path you would choose… when looking at Harling's mirror?" 1:41-1:48 Gargoyle Squadron, an Osean unit that was never previously mentioned, talks to an entity by the callsign “Babel”. This is a reference to the Tower of Babel story from the Bible, but in what way we can only speculate. One could assume it is related to the ISEV in some way. The radio chatter during this scene suggests an attack against a foreign countries’ asset by Osean forces. A voice on the radio refers to them as Osean fighters, so it has to be a non-Osean radio operator calling off the attack. Just after that we hear a pilot questioning his assignments.  1:49-2:04 After a couple of known lines from Avril Mead, we transition to more combat oriented dialogue we would hear during a mission. One line stands out: “friend or foe, so be it”. This could mean several things but any conclusion would be just speculation at this moment. 2:05-2:07 We hear who we can only assume are the operators of the only Stonehenge cannon talking over the radio. 2:11-2:14 A radio news broadcaster states a very interesting fact about the penal units. Rumors about these units turning on their allies. Speculation leads one to believe that this means that at one point a penal unit started destroying Osean assets, but that is not confirmed as of now. 2:15-2:23 Dr. Schröder states that the Strangereal society had been functioning thanks to the flow of information, but at the start of the war, maybe because of the destruction of the satellite networks, this is no longer a reality. 2:24-2:44 More combat oriented dialogue, but after that comes what could be one of the most important bits of dialogue in the trailer. Princess Rosa states in surprise “this is the aircraft my grandfather told me about." It is not known which aircraft she is referring to, but as she states that her grandfather was the one that mentioned it to her, it might be the F-104C that we have seen throughout the trailers. 2:45-2:50 Mihaily states that he has knowledge of incredibly skilled pilots of each generation, but that he has succeeded in shooting all of them down. This revelation stoked high levels of speculation into his origins and how he was capable of doing this due to the Strangereal timeline. 2:51-3:05 As the trailer closes what we hear are all of the known characters calling out to Trigger with the only exceptions being an AWACS and the Princess Rosa. The Princess speaks in a concerned tone about an aircraft that “needs to be taken care of." This implies destruction rather than protection. About the Author Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

Today we have a special interview with BG, our Chief German Translator and representative during Gamescom 2018 in Cologne, Germany. Those following our Gamescom 2018 coverage would know that BG was able to get his hands on the showroom demo of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. He managed to play the demo many times to get a general feel for the game through the limited version of Mission 6: Long Day. A video of his game play is available on our YouTube channel. The interviewer for this being Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos (CB). How do the flying physics compare to the ones present in previous games? (i.e. AC4, AC5 and ACZ) ​It is hard to compare the physics to the other games of the series. The way the planes flew was something completely different from anything I experienced. I would say, the game which I would compare it to is Ace Combat X. It felt so real, even though I never flew a real plane myself. When activating afterburner did the plane accelerate in a controlled fashion or was it too sudden? With afterburner active the plane accelerated smoothly. I really felt how the plane accelerated, starting slow and accelerating smoothly every second. It gave me that incredible feeling I missed in the other games. ​​ Did you notice any graphical glitch or stutter (FPS drop) while you played? The graphics were way better than anything I saw in previous games. I would dare to say, they are like a mixture of Ace Combat 6 and Ace Combat Infinity graphics, but with massive improvements in the details. The only thing I can say something negative about is that when you look closely at the explosions they do not seem completely smooth and perfect, but I think I am nitpicking at this point. ​ How did the physics react during landing? Were they closer to Ace Combat 04 or to Ace Combat Zero? The landing itself was also really smooth. It felt like you had a bit more freedom than in AC4/ACZ. It also felt like you have to be more cautious with landing than usual, but that could just be me. It was a great experience either way. Was the lock-on system reactive?  Did target acquisition feel intuitive or did the game target unwanted objectives? The lock-on system was really quick no matter what the target was. The game itself sometimes locked onto a target that I didn't want to attack while I switched targets. This resulted in having to take another run onto my intended target, but it wasn't a problem to me. How did the 8AAM work when compared to the previous iterations of the same weapon? What other Special Weapons were you able to test? The 8AAM worked a bit similar to the ADMM system of the CFA-44 Nosferatu or the targeting systems from similar special weapons of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. You could let the 8AAM lock multiple missiles onto the same target to deal massive damage. When targeting, let's say 4 targets, each target would be locked with 2 missiles. I don't know if there is an option to avoid that in the game settings. The same also went for the 8AGM ground missile. Again, one target can be locked onto 8 times ending with massive attack done to that target. It is also a nice touch to get the some small dots in the HUD UI when a target gets locked onto more than once. ​ Are High-G maneuvers available to the player? How do you activate them and were you able to use the Post Stall maneuver system? It seems like you get the High-G turns back, you just don't have it visualized the same way like in Ace Combat 6. To make a High-G turn, you have to hold brake and throttle at the same time while pulling the flight stick back to turn. Of course, at lower the speeds, the quicker you turn but the faster you stall. I can't say anything about the Post Stall Maneuvers. I either didn't figure it out, or it wasn't available in the demo. ​ How did the gun behave in comparison to previous games and how effective was the ammo? Did it feel satisfying to use it in both an air-to-air and in air-to-ground roles? I would say the gun has also changed completely from the previous Ace Combat games. You need to be more precise with it and from what I saw it also seems like you aren't able to deal a lot of damage with it. That could be because of my bad aim with a gun that you need to be very precise with. Maybe with some more time and practice, this version of the gun could be really deadly. ​ Can you introduce us to your assistant, Hazawa? Hazawa got in contact with me around two weeks before Gamescom began. He asked about the stream, when it would happen and things like that. Later on while we chatted, I realized that I may need help so I asked him if he could lend me a hand. To my luck, he did. Without him, I think the livestream and the YouTube video upload would be impossible. Hazawa himself is also a big Ace Combat fan. He started with AC4 and then worked through the series. Again Hazawa, I would like to thank you for helping me the way you did. Much of this content would not be here without you. We would also like to formally thank Hazawa for their assistance. How was the Ace Combat 7 area constructed? To be absolutely honest, I was a bit disappointed after I saw how small the Ace Combat stand was compared to the other games from Bandai Namco. Sure, they had a big poster over the stand and some small title screen based wallpapers over the demo screens, but that was it. ​ How many people were in the line to play the demo? Did you have to wait long to get your hands on the demo? ​ The average number of people who waited there was around 20 people. But we never had to wait for long, at least no more than than 20 min. ​ How long were the game sessions? A game session was not longer than 10 minutes. Well, I am not sure when the hidden demo timer started to count. After looking at the footage I recorded, I spent around 2 minutes 30 seconds in briefing and inside the hangar, and around 7 minutes in-flight. But the recording is missing a bit of footage at the beginning, which could mean that overall it’s 10 minutes. ​ How many times were you and Hazawa able to play the demo? ​Each of us had 4 runs, 8 in total. At the stand we switched after the first person was done. While switching to take pictures and video on the 7th run the staff started to make sure we weren't just standing there restarting the demo over and over. Their tone seemed serious, so I think they were getting annoyed with us. I think it's safe to say you had plenty of time with the demo. After playing the game, did they give you something to remember the occasion? Yes, we got a nice bag with a poster in it. The bag and poster are double sided. One side related to AC7, showing us an F-22 Raptor in the clouds with the "Unknown Astronaut" on the Lighthouse ISEV. The other side belonged to Soul Calibur IV. Image Gallery About the Interviewer Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

First released in 2006 by Russian developer 1C: Maddox Games, IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 is a compilation of all the expansions and updates released for IL-2 Sturmovik (2001). This game has proven that even while being limited in graphics and technologically, it can still offer incredible flexibility in terms of gameplay options. Modders of this game have created amazing things with the limited resources they have at hand. Today we will take a look at some of their creations. ​To start let’s talk a little about IL-2 1946 and what it originally was. It was released as a World War 2 flight game with simulator like characteristics. Though limited to the Eastern front in the original IL-2 Sturmovik, the game received several expansions that took the action to the Pacific, the Western Front and into forgotten battlefields. After these expansions, 1C: Maddox Games released Il-2 1946; an expansion that included prototypes and “paper planes” that were not available before. It contained over 220 aircraft. Not all were playable until some modders decided to delve into the game files and made them available. The 1946 expansion is now the only way to obtain IL-2 Sturmovik through Steam, as it is a compilation of the base game and the previous expansions. Before we get to the main topic, I would like to introduce the modding community responsible for all the creations that we will see in this article: Special Air Service 1946 or SAS 1946 for short. This forum based community has been active since 2009 making mods for IL-2 which change the very foundation of the game in the process. Their changes to the game stretch from graphics and audio improvements, fixing broken mechanics on the ‘vanilla’ (standard) version of the game, improving the flight model of several aircraft and more. The creation of new playable models of aircraft such as the F/A-18C/D, F-16A/B/C, A-10, B-52, and other aircraft beyond the World War 2 time frame. These user made aircraft models don't only include functional cockpits, but also functioning systems like radar, RWR, in-flight refueling and countermeasures. They also include multiple weapons loadouts that are completely recreated from their real world counterparts. The recreation includes functionality. i.e: when you want to drop a GBU-12 from the F/A-18D, you first have to lock onto your target with a laser designator located in the TGP.      Most of the mods are simpler, implementing reused assets from either the vanilla release or previous mods using new 3D models, flight physics and weaponry. The most reused assets in fighter jets belong to the famous “Jet-Era” mod. Jet-Era is one of the biggest modding efforts done within the community, launched by SAS~Anto and his collaborators. This mod contains a variety of Korean War-era planes, such as  the F-86 Saber in a selection of variants and the MiG-15 and MiG-17 with their own variants available for use. The damage model on a great majority of modded aircraft is pretty good. At least as good as the original aircraft damage model provided by the developers. In some cases the modded damage models can be even more accurate to the real life counterpart. You can have plenty of fun shooting down any aircraft in several ways. From wing damage to engine destruction or killing the pilot inside the cockpit with a very accurate gun pass. Large aircraft like the TU-95 “Bear” and the B-52 “Stratofortress” are available as flyable aircraft with their cockpits and crew positions mannable. These, alongside other modded aircraft like the F-4 and MiG-21, are pretty entertaining to use. Other features that make IL-2 1946 so enjoyable - even in 2018 - are the mission creator and the implementation of custom missions and campaigns through mods. The mission creator can be somewhat hard to learn at the beginning. When you get the hang of it, it can prove to be one of the most enjoyable features of the game by allowing the creation of combat scenarios of varying difficulties with modded planes and modded maps What amazes me about the IL-2 1946 modding community in general is the dedication and passion that they put into their creations. How they have worked within the limitations of a now 12 year old game, taking it far beyond what it once was; from 220~aircraft on the standard release to now over 310 playable models. All created through dedication by the community.      There is one thing you should consider if you want to mod this game for yourself: it is not very easy. Many things have to be done by hand, there’s not an automatic installation program available to assist. Usually mods come with their instructions but the majority rely on someone already having knowledge about the modding process. Because of this getting into adding mods to the base game can prove troublesome. Do not be frustrated if you fail an installation, the people over on the SAS 1946 forum can help you. Believe me, it is worth the effort.   The community that surrounds IL-2 1946 is a demonstration of what a dedicated fanbase can provide to a game in terms of support, creativity and talent. Crossing barriers that even the developers over at 1C:Maddox Games couldn't imagine. Image Gallery About the Author Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

Ace Combat Fan (ACF) has completed a full day of hands-on experience with the demo for Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown at PAX West 2018. On August 27th, 2018, Bandai-Namco America announced that it would have a booth at PAX West 2018 featuring demos of four games. One of these games being Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. Shortly after buying his ticket Ace Combat Fan agreed to attend the event as a public relations correspondent. With his gameplay checklist complete and new video footage being prepared for his YouTube channel, he took some time shortly after returning from his road trip to PAX to answer some questions about his experience. How did the flight physics react when you were hit by the wind? Did the plane react differently depending on the angle in which the wind was gusting? i.e: Crosswind, Tailwind... You can definitely feel the impact of the crosswind on your aircraft since it will drift to the side. The 3rd person camera helps you identify this drift because the aircraft will go to one side of the screen unlike in no-wind conditions, where it remains in the centre. On one occasion I remember being in a narrow ravine and I had to pull out because the wind was pushing me to one side. Of course the player should be able to apply the rudder to correct for this situation but since I still wasn’t used to the aircraft response in AC7, I took the safest option of climbing out of the narrow passage. I believe I also felt some headwind/tailwind but that is much easier to deal with since you can control it with your power setting/throttle. During the landing sequence, how did the physics react? Can you compare them to any previous game or do they feel completely different? I’ve only done one landing and was mostly focused on recording the airbase and the aircraft parked there, thus my approach was horrible. Still I noticed that when you get closer to the ground your aircraft gets a slight nose up tendency unlike previous games. So you can perform a smoother landing. The takeoff transition is also smoother since your aircraft doesn’t just “jump” straight into the air like past games. During Mission 7, how did the weather feel whenever you were flying? Did you think that it was realistic or that it was a little too harsh on the player? As someone with some flying experience in real life, I’ve really enjoyed the turbulence because it feels authentic. You get a considerable feel of your aircraft shaking but at the same time it is not overwhelming to the point you would panic. As for visibility, some areas where quite good and others quite poor so there’s some diversity on the environment. Overall, Yinshi Valley is a challenging map due to the combination of both the weather and the terrain. I’ve seen many nuggets* playing the demo and many crashed because of a wrong turn, clouds in front of the rocks and wind shear/crosswind. Even more experienced players had some difficulty in that map and I had my own share of close calls! *Nuggets: aviator slang for pilot trainees / new pilots. ​ During the landing sequence, did you got the chance to see if there were any other parked aircraft in the base? If there were, what were they? When I was landing I was able to see three black transport aircraft. I believe all of them are Osean C-17 Globemasters (so a new confirmed aircraft!). ​ Were you hit by lightning strikes when you were playing on Yinshi Valley? What were the severity of the effects on gameplay? ACF: I was never struck by lightning but I talked to another player who was. He mentioned that most of your HUD (armament, damage indicator, speed, altitude, timer) is effected but comes back to normal quickly. The mini-map/radar on the other hand takes a while to come back to normal. ​ CB: Clouds look amazing on Mission 7 but in terms of gameplay, did they become a frustrating mechanic? Yinshi Valley had few enemies that used the clouds as cover, so I wasn't bothered by the clouds which were relatively thin and more like a mist. The major problem in the valley was the low visibility. Taking the wrong turn into a cloud to later find a wall of rocks waiting was the leading cause of deaths among the nuggets playing the demo. I can only try to imagine their frustration! With that being said, even making a turn will require some consideration, especially when clouds are present. Was there any plot related radio chatter in mission 7? There were no major spoilers in neither mission 6 or 7. Thanks to the demo's countdown, the mission ends before the mission update happens. Even experienced players at the event were unable to reach these mission updates. ​ Was the wind in Yinshi Valley easier to deal with at lower or higher speeds? I think this depends on the skill of the player, since I was still getting used to AC7's controls I preferred to keep a slow speed while flying through the valley. The downside of this is that you spend more time under the effect of crosswind. On the other hand, I think a experienced player could speed up and deal with the crosswind with the rudder/yawing, though I was not very confident and was afraid crashing due to under or over application of the inputs. I never flew slow enough to be close to the stall speed but I think it would be interesting to see if your plane could stall due to a change from headwind to tailwind. ​ What can you say about the High-G maneuver game mechanic? There's no visual indicator of the High-G maneuvers unlike Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation. When performing them I felt that in AC7 the maneuver is a bit slower, less aggressive. The same can be said about regular acceleration and deceleration. ​ Were all of the game consoles available PlayStation 4 only or were there some Xbox Ones available as well? There were only PS4s at the location. ​ We saw the primary AC7 demo area in your Twitter video. How was the rest of the area? That was the only area with four set ups. The remainder of the Bandai booth was dedicated to other games. ​ Did you meet any other hardcore Ace Combat fans? Have any interesting discussions? ​ Yes, actually I met quite a few of them and I wasn't the only one with a flight suit! We had some really good discussion about AC7's gameplay and story. We all agreed that according to the demo AC7 has the right stuff to succeed as the sequel we've been waiting over 10 years for. Of course we discussed some theories about the story, how some previous games could connect to AC7 but that would be a very long response if I was to mention everything said! In addition to some hardcore fans I’ve talked to a mechanic from the US Marines who works on the F/A-18 and he said he’s excited for the game! Was Bandai-Namco working the booth this year? Yes, the crew there was from Bandai and thanks to that I was able to get some information about the game. For example, they said they’re considering a bundle consisting of the game and the special edition flight stick. They also told me they’re planning to bring the VR demo to New York Comic Con in October - so if you are in New York or the surrounding area this could be your chance! ​ Did you score any merchandise for attending the event and trying out the Ace Combat 7 demo? I got a lanyard from Bandai’s Jump Force but that was it. There was no Ace Combat merch, though I wasn’t expecting any due to how niche the genre is. You were giving out some business cards and other stuff on your own while at the convention. Did you have anyone say "Belka Did Nothing Wrong" to get a keychain from you? Yes! As a matter of fact those were the first words I heard when I was met by other fans who knew the channel! Guess that Belkan propaganda is working nicely. Haha! What are your current feelings on AC7? Did anything surprise you or exceed your expectations? ​​Playing the demo is the final piece to the puzzle after getting samples of the story, graphics and music via the trailers. While I will admit that my hype has fallen due delays in the game, I am very pleased with what I have seen, heard and played in the demo. The gameplay is similar to what we have played in the golden days of Ace Combat but with innovations that merely compliment but do not disrupt the core of the gameplay. I believe the end result will please the fans who have been waiting for so long yet still be challenging enough to entertain them while attracting new blood to the series. About the Interviewer Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

Today's interview is with a very special guest. He is a video content creator on YouTube and has been active for quite a while now. He goes by the nickname Tomcat 171. This interview is very extensive with links to his YouTube videos and an exclusive picture or two from himself. The subjects range from how he got started with the Ace Combat franchise, his experience at EGX 2018 and several other things. We thank Tomcat 171 for his participation. Be sure to check his video channel and social media after reading the interview. First, let’s start by briefly introducing yourself. ​Well, my name is Jon, but I suppose I’m better recognised by my callsign, ‘Tomcat171’. I’ve been a big fan of the Ace Combat series since 1998, and have operated an Ace Combat-related YouTube channel since 2008. When did your start playing Ace Combat? Do you remember your first experience with the franchise? My journey with Ace Combat began in 1998 when I was given Air Combat for the PlayStation as a birthday present; for an impressionable 8-year-old whom already had an interest in aircraft, it was the perfect gift. I doubt I’ll ever forget the wonder of witnessing the opening cinematic, with the Phoenix Squadron in formation, the YF-22 downing an enemy and, of course, all over an action-packed techno-rock backing track. It was the first time I’d played a game like it, so I was using the novice controls to get used to it, but even while using it I felt like a young Ace. ​ Could you share a fond memory that you have with the franchise? ​One of my best ever memories with the series is the awe and joy I felt when I first unlocked the X-02 Wyvern in Ace Combat 04. For context, I owned and had completely played through AC04 before I ever owned 2 and 3. Because of this, I had only ever believed Ace Combat games to use real aircraft in their rosters (outside of the Aerial Fortress at the end of AC1, of course). I found myself confused as to why I hadn’t yet unlocked one final plane in AC04’s line-up, and after a slowly-traveled internet search (we’re talking 56k, still!) discovered the unlock criteria for a mysterious aircraft designated ‘X-02’. After hours of going through Normal difficulty and achieving an S-Rank on all the missions (since I was still pretty inexperienced by that point), I found it waiting in the hangar ready for purchase. It was the first time I’d ever laid eyes on a fictional AC aircraft, the sharp angles and sleek design reminded me to a degree of an X-Wing (my favourite Star Wars fighter), and when I used it to play Sitting Duck for the first time and saw the wings fold in, I knew I’d found a new favourite AC aircraft. And knowing I’d unlocked it through my own grinding was the pinnacle of achievement for a 12-year-old me. Unless Ace Combat 7 is hiding something truly special, I doubt anything else will dwarf that sensation. ​ How did you decide to start doing YouTube as a hobby? Was there any external influence for your decision or was it something personal? ​The earliest influence that comes to memory is when I frequented the Ace Combat Skies fan forum, in fact it may have even been before it adopted that name. A user had posted a video on how to complete Ace Combat 5’s ‘8492’ (Mission 18+) on Ace difficulty by destroying all the enemies therein. During the time I myself had been playing the game, I’d only ever done the safe thing and flown to the end of the map to complete the mission. The video featured commentary and annotations, and my passion for the Ace Combat series was such that I felt compelled to ask how they captured their footage. I’d already had my YouTube channel since mid-2007, but I had very random content on it and wanted to start fleshing it out. About a year later I had some money saved, and a little more financial independence, and remembering back to that video I took the opportunity to acquire a capture card for myself, a little Dazzle DVC170, and some RCA splitters. By that time Ace Combat 6 had already been out around half a year and I’d already unlocked everything that could have been. YouTube was still in relative infancy and I hadn’t noticed any other proper AC6 material, so I felt I had the chance to be one of the first. That’s when I made my first AC-related video, a rundown of all possible medals and how they were unlocked. As mentioned before, I had a very strong passion for the series by this time, and I had a compulsion to share that passion with the web and possibly help other struggling future aces with tips and tricks I’d learned. ​ Is there any video that you feel is the sole representative of your channel, one that you value above the others? ​Honestly, there have been so many different kinds of Ace Combat videos I’ve made that I couldn’t say any one in particular speaks out above others. But if I were to highlight one as the epitome of what my content is about, gun to my head, I’d choose Part 22 of my Ace Combat 6 100% series. ​ ​I’m tempted to believe that my temper when playing games is one of the things that is remembered most fondly (somehow) amongst my subscribers, more-so than the actual flying! This part has that in droves as I rage at Pasternak and his countless salvos of ADMM fire, inhuman manoeuvres, and swarms of annoying drones...and it wasn’t even on the hardest difficulty! It’s testament to how tricky Liberation of Gracemeria can be to S-rank. And, of course, there’s some of the typical Tomcat banter all the way along, too, as well as some rather colourful language, to boot. ​ We’ve heard that you have quite the collection of Ace Combat goodies, could you tell us how you got started on this and talk about some of your most rare items? ​It was only around 2012-2013 that I decided that the physical Ace Combat material in my possession - which equated to all of the numbered games plus Zero, X, JA and Assault Horizon for both Xbox 360 and PS3 - was inversely proportional to my actual passion for the series and for whatever reason - perhaps a matter of vain pride - I wanted to expand it even further. I then remembered that the Japanese version of AC3 had more content, so I effectively treated it as an entirely new game, and sought to somehow get a copy sent to me from Japan. It worked, and I then knew that it wasn’t as difficult to break the import barrier as I’d led myself to believe. Once I’d recalled how users in the ACS forum posted photos of earlier Ace Combat-related Hasegawa models, I knew I wanted to get in on it. In having a steady and well-paying job, I went out of my way over the space of around 8 or 9 months acquiring the models that had already been released through various sources, and after that I was able to lay down pre-orders for newly announced releases. The rest, as they say, is history. There are 2 rare items I managed to get my hands on that I cherish above the rest: a 1:100 scale ADF-01 Falken from 2006, and an official AC04 Hori Flightstick boxset, which I only acquired just under two months ago as of writing this. For the former, I knew the model had already been discontinued long before I caught the collecting bug, but by the time I was taking it seriously I wasn’t about to give up searching. I found an eBay user in Japan selling one unopened and as good as new and they were willing to ship internationally. I pounced at the opportunity, but it certainly hurt my wallet, I won’t deny! ​ As for the AC04 stick, I had already managed to purchase both AC6’s Ace Edge bundle and the AC5 stick bundle a few years prior, and that in itself wasn’t easy because neither were ever released in the UK! However, the AC04 stick was almost something of legend, a pot-of-gold-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow kind of affair that had only seen a Japanese release. I’d been looking for one on and off for about 3 years without any luck. By some freak coincidence, I decided to scour the web again in wake of the news that Ace Combat 7 was going to see a flight stick release. What do I find but an eBay user selling one in my own country? It was a no-brainer, I snapped it up immediately! The rarity of these two items in particular is only half the reason why I hold them in high regard, the other half is the sentimental value in remembering the joy I had at managing to finally purchase items for which I’d been searching avidly. What has been your experience with the Ace Combat Community throughout the years? ​The Ace Combat fan community as a whole has always been one of the most transparent and open that I’ve known. We have always been open to helping out those new to the series and welcoming back players whom for instance may have played a PS1 title but had their interest reinvigorated by a newer title such as 6 or Assault Horizon. At one point Ace Combat Skies was the place to be, and through that I met a great group of people in the form of a clan called the Belkan Air Force. We were all AC fans at heart, but a lot of our fun together online stemmed from a combination of playing other games online - such as Forza 4 and Mass Effect 3 - and just generally bantering at one another. I still keep in touch with some of them, but we have slowly drifted away as time has passed. Having said all that, over the past 6 or 7 years many had realised that attitudes had soured due to the relatively lacklustre titles that were released after Ace Combat 6. The fans’ attitude was slowly sullied, and alas so was their view on new ‘nuggets’ trying to get into the series. With Ace Combat 7 on the horizon, I would like to believe that a breath of fresh air will reignite everybody’s excitement once more. ​ How are you feeling about Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown? Any of the editions has caught your eye in particular? ​Personally, I’m pretty excited! When the first teaser was unveiled in 2015 I was skeptical, mostly due to Ace Combat’s shady history in the few years before what with Joint Assault, Assault Horizon, Assault Horizon Legacy, and Infinity. Having since played some demos at EGX, my confidence in the game has vastly improved. As of writing, the Strangereal Edition has only just been announced, but I’ve wasted no time in ordering my own copy. The Arsenal Bird model looks awesome, and it will look intimidating as it provides overwatch and guards my collection! There is a unique Japanese Collector’s Edition as well... and I’ve managed to pre-order that, too! ​ From your experience with AC7 during EGX, how do you compare the game to any of the previous entries of the franchise gameplaywise? Is there anything remarkable that can make this entry stand out from any previous on the franchise or is it too early for that? ​Playing Ace Combat 7 at EGX finally gave me the chance to give the new flight model a good shakedown, and what I managed to play definitely gave me confidence that the series is heading back in the right direction, both in how it plays and looks. After using 5 different aircraft across the demos available (F-14, Rafale, Typhoon, F-35 & F-2), I'd say by feel alone that the flight model feels like a peculiar hybridisation between the roll of AC6, the strong pitch speed of 5 and Zero, and a throttle similar to 04. The standard missiles have the same exaggerated manoeuvrability as they did in 5 and Zero as well, making the destruction of targets much simpler, especially for any new players. Having the weather mess with your radar systems and flight path was an intriguing mechanic that gave a slightly more sim-like feel, and I definitely felt like I was more on edge when playing the Yinshi Valley mission, trying not to smash into the rocky outcrops while fighting against a rogue crosswind. As for the clouds, I'll have to be honest and say I didn't notice its effects all that much, but that could be down to a multitude of factors regarding the demo I played such as the difficulty, and whether some other mechanics had yet to be enabled to their fullest extents. From my perception so far, all I could say is that Ace Combat 7 feels like a proper throwback to the Holy Trinity with some added twists. Having said that, I believe we still haven't had a full introduction to the concept of the Post-Stall Manoeuvres; I certainly wasn't able to perform them in the EGX demo, so only time will tell as to whether they will be a helping hand or a damp squib. Lately you have been experimenting with playing the older AC titles with flight sticks, what do you think is advantage of a stick over a controller? What would you recommend more? ​Honestly, there is only one predominant advantage that playing the Ace Combat titles with a stick actually presents: Immersion. When using a stick in combination with either of the first-person cameras, there is a greater sense of feeling like the pilot sat in that cockpit. There’s also a tingly feeling of achievement when downing difficult enemies or performing tight manoeuvres and swift gun kills. Having said that, there is no real benefit from a practicality standpoint, and I would still advise that playing with a standard controller is the more efficient way in terms of speed and ease of play. ​ And finally, is there anything else you want to add? ​​Only that I hope to continue sharing my passion with like-minded fans and those new to the series alike, and that we can continue to get Ace Combat the recognition it deserves in modern gaming audiences. We would like to thank Tomcat 171 for his time and detail in this in depth interview. About the Interviewer Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

Designated as Quick Maneuver Air to Air Missiles (QAAM) thanks to their incredible ability to turn on a dime. These highly advanced missiles possess superb tracking thanks to their advanced seeker head that features off-boresight capabilities. In this article we will be looking into the story of this weapon throughout the Ace Combat franchise while also looking into the history of the real world missiles that are labelled as QAAMs inside of Ace Combat. ​ Ace Combat Overview These missiles tend to have double the damage than a standard missiles, but their actual damage varies from game to game. For example, you need still need to get two shots with the QAAMs to down aces on Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War but they inflict way more damage to regular enemies. ​First appearing in Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies (2004), these missiles were infamous for their almost surreal maneuverability and their capability to provide an almost guaranteed hit. If they failed their target they would go around for another pass keeping this attitude until the motor ran out of fuel. They were the ultimate close quarter weapon, bordering the overpowered spectrum. ​On all subsequent entries the QAAMs were tweaked towards a more balanced state or at least they tried to. Starting with the two other PS2 titles, Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War and Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War. The weapon behaved very similar if not identical on both games, feeling a bit more balanced and fair while still being a very powerful weapon. Their ability to pursue enemies through multiple turns was noticeably diminished. The missiles behaved almost in the same way on Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception as they did on Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies; this is due to the similarities between the two in a technical level as they shared the same engine.  In Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation the QAAMs were a very good weapon capable of shooting down enemies upwards of 80° off boresight. This is one of the more wide reaching versions of the the QAAM seen throughout the Ace Combat series, but also representative of their maximum capability.  The QAAMs were one of the top tier weapons available on Ace Combat: Assault Horizon due to its usability inside of Dogfight Mode. On the other side, the weapon performance inside of Ace Combat Infinity was pretty good, but it depended on the parts you had equipped, the level of your plane and the level of the weapon. Its performance in Ace Combat 7 is to be determined, but now that we have knowledge that the Aircraft Tuning system will be similar to the one used on Ace Combat Infinity, you can expect them to be a formidable weapon choice for air-to-air engagements and multiplayer. Hardware AAM-5 ​Manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, this missile is the successor of the AAM-3 missile. Being a very new platform, having entering service on 2004. This missile is cosmetically similar to the IRIS-T, but internally they are completely different weapons. This missile is only operated by the Japanese Air Self Defense Force on the F-15J and the F-2A. AIM-9X Sidewinder Created as a Joint Effort between the US Airforce and the US Navy, the AIM-9X is the most advanced variant of the long running series of AIM-9 missiles, a line of infrared guided missiles that dates back to 1953. This advanced variant of the AIM-9 uses the same motor and explosive charge from the AIM-9M variant, while changing the seeker head and adding thrust vectoring nozzles for improved maneuverability. IRIS-T ​Created as the result of an international collaboration between Germany, Italy, Sweden, Greece, Canada and norway, the IRIS-T is an advanced IR guided missile that is at the same level of the AIM-9X and the R-73. Manufactured by Diehl BGT Defence, this missile is more than capable of giving their operators good fighting capabilities. R-73 (AA-11 Archer) Created by the Vympel NPO Bureau, this missile development line is the Russian produced equivalent of the AIM-9 and other IR counterparts. Dating back to 1984, the R-73 is one of the most advanced IR missiles currently deployed with Russian aircraft. Featuring thrust vectoring nozzles and an advanced seeker head, it offers great combat capabilities. While there are more advanced variants of the R-73 family (K-74) the ones portrayed inside of the Ace Combat franchise are limited to the R-73 - they are primarily found onboard Russian designed aircraft. Real World In the real world the missiles are just known as highly advanced IR (Infrared) guided missiles, the QAAM designation for them is an in-house description of the missiles inside of Ace Combat. While they work on a similar manner as other IR guided weaponry there are some big differences between an older missile (i.e. AIM-9C) and a more advanced missile (i.e. AIM-9X). Stuff like the software that it carries, the motor system and more importantly, the guiding optics. Early missiles (i.e. AIM-9B) had a very poor Field of View (FOV), being limited to only being capable to follow targets that went at ~11°/sec of it and could only guide itself into the target if it had direct line of sight to the exhaust of the enemy’s engine (Rear Aspect); meanwhile modern IR missiles have a very high FOV thanks to their advanced seeker heads that possess off-boresight capabilities allowing the missiles to shoot at targets with head mounted displays (i.e. JHMCS.) These missiles also are equipped with thrust vectoring nozzles that allow the missile to pursue targets going upwards of 125°/sec. These missiles are also All Aspect, meaning that they can target a plane from any angle, not being limited to the exhaust. Deployment Notes Minimize Lock-On Time The off bore sight range that makes the QAAM a lethal close range dogfight missile can also work against it. Letting the missile attempt to lock onto targets on their own take longer than turning nose towards the target, as is needed with Standard Missiles. Continuing to maneuver to get nose onto the target will greatly reduce QAAM locking time.  Manual Multi-Targeting Though designed to engage one target at a time, the QAAM can be utilized as a type of 'crowd control' weapon in local and online multiplayer game modes. While engaged in close range combat, rapidly switching targets while firing one QAAM at each target is a noteworthy tactic. By not pursuing a single target for a long period of time, the QAAM carrying aircraft can instead maintain pressure on multiple aircraft, providing distraction for other allied players to execute their own strategies with somewhat distracted enemies opposing them.  Defensive Fighting Utilizing the wide lock on ability of the QAAM when being pursued by the enemy is a unique part of deploying this weapon. Performing sudden sharp turns in an attempt to both force the enemy to overshoot but bring them into the firing envelope of the QAAM can allow the defensive aircraft to fire back at their pursuer. Occasional missile fire like this can force the attacker to focus on evading, letting the defending aircraft successfully break their pursuers attack. About the Author Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

Today’s interview is with BillyTheKid, a DCS skin modder and Twitch streamer that has created amazing Ace Combat related liveries for almost every module available on DCS. These skins have quite a lot of work put behind them so be sure to click the download links provided at the bottom of the interview to view more of Billy’s work. To start, please tell us a bit about yourself. ​Hi there. My name's Billy but ever since I was a kid I've always gone by the nickname Billy The Kid. I've always been a fan of spaghetti westerns so the nickname seemed appropriate. I've been a big Ace Combat fan since Ace Combat 04 and been glued to series since. ​ You seem to like military flight games a lot. What was the first sim-like game you flew in? Any good memories with that game? Yes indeed, flight sim games are my go to games to play. My first experience with a flight sim was probably Rowan's Battle of Britain on the PC which came out back in 2000. I remember playing it with a Logitech controller (I didn't have access to a joystick at the time) and was able to shoot down a Stuka dive bomber and land my Spitfire without crashing. Good times. Shortly afterward, Ace Combat 04 came out on a demo disk and I was hooked on the series. ​ ​ How did you get started on DCS and how long have you been playing? Any reason behind it or was it just for fun? ​Started playing DCS back in 2012 and have close to 1000 hours in the game total. For me, I've always like WW2 flight sims like IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 but have always wanted to play a flight sim with modern combat aircraft in it and so DCS World was the answer. I played it's spiritual predecessor Lock On: Modern Air Combat so it's great to see more aircraft being added to DCS like the AV-8B Harrier II, F/A-18C Hornet and the soon to be released F-14A/B Tomcat. Really looking forward to that aircraft as it's a popular one in Ace Combat too. ​ ​ One thing that I always wondered about DCS skin modding are the creation of skins on the highly complicated textures. Could you guide us through the process you use when creating a skin? What programs do you use for their creation and how long does it take to make a skin?​ ​Firstly, I choose the aircraft for which I will create a skin of. There is quite a large selection of aircraft in DCS but thankfully there have been many skin templates created to help livery makers out in the skin making process. Once I have selected the aircraft, I open the files in Photoshop and then I open an military aircraft color chart and pick two or three colors and start painting. I will then preview the skin in game and check how it looks. If i'm not happy with it, I'll pick a few different colors and try again with different schemes. Once I'm happy with what I have, then I decide which Strangereal nation would best suit the livery. Then I go ahead and create a squadron badge/emblem for the aircraft to increase the Strangereal Ace Combat feel. The whole process of painting, editing, previewing and editing again usually takes 7-8 hours, as some aircraft are more difficult to create skins for than others. For most of the skins I will make a Flight Leader and wingman skins with the Flight Leader version standing out with small additions made such as painted wingtips/tails and extra decals. ​​ From your collection I have picked three skins that really caught my attention. Could you give us a little insight of what the creation process behind them was? Where did you get the inspiration from? ​ Excellent choices! For the OADF Mirage 2000C, I've always been a fan of military aircraft with a digital camo scheme. The aircraft that inspired me here was a gorgeous Slovak Air Force MiG-29 Fulcrum in a digital livery. So I got some digital camo pattern on Google and started painting both the Mirage and digital pattern itself. Was a tricky process but enjoyed the challenge. ​ Next is the Leasath Air Force MiG-29 Fulcrum and here I inspired by the Korean People's Air Force MiG-29 old solid green camo. They have since updated their Fulcrums to a new modern two tone grey. Many would look at the solid green color of this North Korean Fulcrum and go "That looks disgusting!" but for me I thought "That looks interesting.". So I began painting tried a two tone green scheme of solid green with a darker green on top. I may do an edit in the future and update the colors slightly. It's on the To Do list. Lastly we got the Federal Erusean Navy F/A-18C Hornet. I remembered the mission "Invincible Fleet" in AC04 and thought "What would a FEN Hornet look like?" Granted we already have the FEAF scheme in the game but I thought of something different. So I looked at multiple F/A-18 liveries from various nations on Google to try and drum up a suitable scheme. I also downloaded some model aircraft decals to assist in the process. I noticed I had made a few errors post upload of the livery so I had them corrected. Last but not least, I would like to thank you for giving us the chance to interview you. Anything you want to add before we close?​ ​Only that it's been a pleasure and I wish to say a big thank you to the Project:Lighthouse community for liking my work and for sharing it with other DCS fans who also love Ace Combat. You can expect to see more Ace Combat theme liveries for DCS from me in the future, especially after the release of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. Many thanks again and see you in the skies, fellow Aces! Links to official Billy The Kid media: Twitter Twitch Downloads About the interviewer Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

Do you remember when you were a child and the world seemed to be larger than it was?​ That feeling of excitement every time you went on a road trip with your parents and stared in awe out the window, looking for anything that might catch your eye? That's the same feeling that I got the first time I opened Elite Dangerous. ​At first it was a little too much to comprehend the immensity that this game presents to you when it drops you on your first Sidewinder in the middle of a station. I went through the menus and opened up the Galaxy Map. Taking in the fact that, indeed, there's more than 400 billion star systems out there and you are free to visit them if you want. So I set my first goal. This goal was to get one of the three largest ships in the game, the Anaconda, and tune it for long range travel; and with this goal in mind I took off with my Sidewinder now named "Jokey Runner", a line of names that would become tradition, into what would be my first bounty hunting run. After a while I got enough credits to buy me a medium sized ship, a Cobra Mk.III which I named "Jokey Runner II". This ship would prove to be one of the most important ones on my fleet as it allowed me to go do another activity that Elite offers: mining. With the addition of deep core mining, I prepared myself to go and hunt the mother lodes full of Void Opals, the most lucrative material to grind for if you want to accumulate money quickly. A month passed and I had accumulated a little fortune, one that allowed me to buy "Jokey Runner III", a Krait Mk.II which I fit for mining as well. This Krait served me well and it is my favorite ship so far, allowing me to mine an absurd amount of Void Opals that quickly allowed me to reach the first part of my goal. And so "Jokey Runner IV" joined the fleet, my very first Anaconda. This big bucket of bolts is truly impressive, the sheer size of it makes you feel powerful just by being on it, but this wasn't it, I am still missing the jump range tune for it, this massive ship is still incomplete. I grabbed "Jokey Runner III" and headed towards a Guardian site, one that allowed me to easily unlock the Guardian FSD booster, a device that adds 10 light years to my jump range at no significant cost. With this FSD Booster I went to Felicity Farseer, the engineer that would help me get my Anaconda into the jump range that I desired. All was set to go now for the journey that I wanted to do ever since I couldn't participate in Distant Worlds 2 due to time constraints I had in my life. I departed from my home station, Readdy Gateway on Wolf 424, with my route set towards Sagittarius A. At first the journey felt slow but once the rhythm was established, it felt almost natural. Once I was about halfway through the journey, I noticed that the stars were starting to get more and more visible, and their concentration increased with every light year. There was one time that the concentration of stars got so high that I just stopped and stood there with my engines off, orbiting a gas giant. I was awestruck at the beauty of the scene that was unfolding right before my eyes. Much of my time was spent looking for the one needle in the galactic-sized haystack, those nuggets of gold deserving to be captured for posterity. I did this by exploring almost every system I jumped into through the scope of my FSS (Full Spectrum System) scanner, a tool that allowed me to quickly detect all objects orbiting a star and discern what type of object they were, ranging from asteroid clusters to gas giants and everything in between. It took me around 400+ jumps and some time, but it was all worth it the moment I came out of the Witch Space and saw that distortion, the same distortion that a black hole produces when it bends light due to its immense gravitational pull. The destination was worth it, but what was even better was the journey and the things I saw along the way. I discovered many things during my journey: Earth-like planets that could be of use in the future of our species, gas giants that dwarfed Jupiter in size, ringed worlds that caught my eye for minutes on end, I even got to see a couple of ringed stars; this list could go on for a couple of paragraphs, but I prefer to let the pictures I took do the talking for me.​ My journey came to an end the moment I landed and finally repaired my ship on the newly constructed "Explorer's Anchorage", a station right at the center of the galaxy that was built thanks to the effort that many players put into it during the Distant Worlds 2 expedition. If there is one conclusion that I can take from the journey that I took is that Elite Dangerous made me feel like that child again. That innocent child that looked upon the stars with wonder, that same child that couldn't take his eyes out the window during those late night rides. It made me feel that joy of discovery once again. About the Author Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

Made by the folks over at the Frecce Tricolori Virtuali team, the MB-339 is a free module based on the famous trainer made by Aermacchi during the late seventies that now serves with the Italian Air Force and many others as a trainer/light-attack aircraft. The type has seen combat over the skies of the Eritrean–Ethiopian War and the Falklands-War where it saw successful combat deployment. In this review of their latest release (v.2.01) we will be taking a look into several different parts of the module and evaluating if this pretty but capable bird is a fit for your style of flying. These points will be divided in several sections: Of note: This is a free module made by a dedicated community, therefore, it shall not be judged to the standards of a paid module. External and internal 3D models Visual and sound effects Flight modelling Mission capability Armament Ease of use and learning curve Unique module features Is this aircraft for you? EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL 3D MODELS The external model is of very high quality even when compared to professionally made modules available for purchase. From the animations of the landing gear, the deployment of the taxi and landing lights to the fantastically recreated gunpods and weapon models. It has that feel of quality that a passion project such as this can bring to life. One thing that does need to be pointed out as it is of importance. The external model lacks a visual damage state for when you receive damage, enter a collision, etc. This is a minor thing to point out but it is noteworthy nonetheless. A lot of mods in DCS utilize cockpits from the Flaming Cliffs 3 module such as the F-15 or the Su-33. While useful to avoid coding, modelling and configuring a cockpit from zero this practice can prove immersion-breaking to some users. But the Frecce Tricolori Virtuali team went far and beyond with their project. The pilot and instructor cockpits don't not fall behind the external model's quality. With the exception of some systems which are not modeled and all the critical systems are working and all flight critical instruments are working accordingly, such as a fully functional gun sight that looks wonderful in both day and night. The developers have said that many of the systems that are non-functional are being worked on so keep your hopes up for those. VISUAL AND SOUND EFFECTS In this area the module does the job but does not shine like it it does in other aspects. All the bells and whistles are there and in-cockpit lights do serve their job, but they do feel a bit off like they were a bit too unnatural. External lights and effects are good, having configurable navigation lights as well as a beacon and formation lights that have a very nice look to them. When it comes to sounds, particularly in-cockpit sound, things are both excellent and serviceable. Switches sound nice when you click them giving you that feedback that is needed so that they feel believable and tangible. The engine does sound a bit too quiet for my liking but it does have a very clear RPM curve that allows you to know in what throttle position you are without having to look at at the gauge at all. Here are two examples, both on-ground and in-flight: Engine sound while on the ground: ( Idle-->Full Power-->Idle ): Engine sound while in-flight: ( Idle-->Full Power-->Idle ): FLIGHT MODELLING This bird's EFM (External Flight Model) was modeled with the help of retired MB-339 pilots and even a couple of Aermacchi engineers which allowed the developers a step-up their ability to give the Macchi some life. The work put into making the feel of flight has not gone unnoticed as it does feel natural and I can say with confidence that this is the most accurate modded flight model in the game. The Macchi feels like it wants to be flown thanks to its easy and forgiving flight characteristics which is to be expected from an aircraft that was designed to be a trainer. Do not let this "trainer" talk make you think that it is not able to do some incredible maneuvering and very high-g turns for all your acrobatic needs. MISSION CAPABILITY As expected, this aircraft excels in its training role thanks to the way it was built. The cockpit is shared by both a trainee and an instructor that sits in the back. The instructor has mirrored instruments that allow them to guide the trainee in a plethora of scenarios. When not functioning as a training aircraft the Macchi is also capable of being a relatively effective light-attack aircraft. In this role, it performs surprisingly well giving its size and payload. It lacks dedicated air-to-air armament, relying on the use of gunpods to engage other aircraft. You will have to put your trust upon top-cover when you attack ground targets and hope that there are no MiGs hunting you. The MB-339 also lacks any kind of countermeasures which is not rare for training aircraft and is not inherently a negative point but it needs to be noted as it restricts the situation in which this platform can be used effectively during combat. The best scenarios for this machine are low-threat targets such as anti-insurgent CAS (Close-Air-Support) missions in which air-superiority is secured. ARMAMENT GUN PODS: Cost-effective and reliable, these will be your preferred weapons in almost every scenario as they allow for more staying time over the battlefield. They are capable of dealing with both infantry and lightly armored targets. They come in two flavors: Two AN/M3 12.7mm Gun Pods ( 350 rounds each pod ). Two DEFA 30mm gun pods ( 125 rounds in each pod ). ROCKETS: These are devastating when dealing with convoys and APC vehicles. You can carry a ton of ordinance with these pods and it can last quite a while if you do not salvo each pod like a lunatic. Three pods are at your disposal: LAU-10 ( 4 ZUNI rockets each and a maximum of two pods) LR-25 ( 25 rockets each and a maximum of six pods) MATRA TYPE 155 ( 18 rockets each and a maximum of six pods) You can always mix pods to get a wider variety of pods in your loadout. BOMBS: It is always fun to obliterate your enemy with devine wrath from the heavens, right? That is what bombs do so having them available is always a great thing. You sadly only have one type available to you but it does not mean that this type of bomb is not famous for being a reliable and efficient all-rounder: Mk.82 (500lb~ low drag bomb. Six maximum) There is also the BRD-4-250 Dispenser that comes with four Mk.76 and two ARF-8M3TP. EASE OF USE AND LEARNING CURVE As said before, this aircraft is easy to learn and fly with thanks to the way it was designed. Employing weapons comes with a certain difficult due to its lack of a dedicated HUD or any kind of aiming-aid system outside of its gunsight. Said gunsight operates in a way similar to most old aircraft seeing as you have to manually set your sight for every type of weapon by introducing a gunsight elevation value in mils adequate to the scenario. High-altitude bombing is out of the question as well. But once you learn how to use the sight, which is not hard, you will find yourself flying at tree-top level and bombing everything on sight like it was second nature to you. UNIQUE MODULE FEATURES There are a couple of noteworthy features that come packaged with this module which are multi-crew, voice-acted training missions and an in-depth smoke system. Other trainers such as the L-39 or the C-101 include multi-crew so that they can be used as actual in-game training aircraft. The MB-339 is not the exception to this rule since it also features a multi-crew capable cockpit although not to the levels of detail that the modules previously mentioned include but that is to be expected of a free module. The sole fact that they managed to get this module working with multi-crew is exceptional and remarkable. Speaking of remarkable, the training missions that come with this mission are a treat. They are voice acted and masterfully done with scripts and triggers that give them an air of life that even paid modules lack. Done by Stefano Moretti, these missions are a key piece that makes the MB-339 module even better. The smoke system that is equipped to the MB-339 thanks to its PAN modification is something that most players will overlook very rapidly. This system has a lot of behing-the-curtain work that makes it stand out from the typical smokewinders. It is an addition that is really welcomed by acrobatic pilots and myself included. IS THIS AIRCRAFT FOR YOU? This is a plane that because of its features becomes a must-download for all DCS:World players. The team of Frecce Tricolori Virtuali gave the community what is a free module that doesn't feel like one and that is admirable. My thanks go to the team for letting the community enjoy this special machine that we would not otherwise be able to experience in our lifetime. Get it here! Rewritten as of the 9th of April, 2020 to improve quality. Original post date: 24th of March, 2020. About the Writer Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

The Frecce Tricolori Virtuali (FTV) are a group of passionate individuals that have dedicated themselves to both portray a virtual representation of the wonderful Italian Air Force team by the same name and to develop mods for a variety of games throughout the years like IL-2 1946, Lock-on and DCS. After our review of the DCS MB-339 module, we reached out to the team of Frecce Tricolori Virtuali to conduct a series of interviews with them. One about their experiences as an acrobatics team and their history. Another about their projects, both released and upcoming such as the Fiat G.91, their know-how on module development within DCS and more! FTV-Duke, Frecce's EFM developer, was our main point of contact during these interviews, so I want to extend my gratitude towards him for his great disposition while coordinating the interview. What motivated the development of the MB-339 and how long was the process? Was it always planned to be released to the public or was it initially meant to be for private use by the FTV? The development process for the MB-339 began by taking into account the strong needs of the Frecce Tricolori Virtuali to get their routines as real as it gets to their real counterparts the Frecce Tricolori. First steps of the development were put in place in 2015, the same year the team transitioned from IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 to DCS World. The trial and error process started from taking already existent planes and features within the DCS World and adapting them to the needs of the team. Finally, the team came to the conclusion that the efforts needed to be focused on the development of a brand new DCS World aircraft for private use, also considering the good feedback from the previous IL2 & Lock-on MB-339 (that were distributed for free to the public). What went into creating the EFM for the mod? Did you guys have any official/unofficial documentation to help you in recreating the characteristics of the MB-339? Recreating the EFM Model for the aircraft has been quite a challenge! It all started from data gathering such as performance manuals, to geometry and flight handling characteristics. Luckily enough, the MB-339 has quite a heritage on its shoulders and much information can be easily retrieved. Second step would be the aerodynamics and stability of the aircraft as a whole. Once all the data has been collected, force and momentum equations have been written and coded into DCS for each of the flight conditions. Despite what some could think, letting the aircraft behave in a decent way once on the ground has been without a doubt the hardest challenge. In fact, almost 6 months in the making for studying, coding and fine-tuning each of the many suspension coefficients for reaching the current ground feeling and behavior. Given that this is a mod as non-third party developers, we could not access some of the information needed to speed up the development process and to lessen the frustration behind the inevitable trial and error phase. The third step is represented by testing the now usable jet in every possible condition by both real pilots and the entire Frecce Tricolori Virtuali Team. The multitude of important feedback through the months of testing helped in increasing the fidelity by furtherly fine-tuning the model to get to the current status that you could enjoy. What was the point that made you guys switch from an SFM to an EFM? Was the SFM interfering with the team’s ability to do proper formation flying? Going from the SFM to the EFM has been a critical and mandatory step for bringing the needed performance to the team. Being that the routine encompasses many extreme envelope maneuvers (especially considering the solo pilot) the SFM would only let the aircraft adhere to a believable behavior close to the nominal flying conditions (slow change aerodynamic conditions – possible only for the formation flying – and not always). The EFM allowed the aircraft to stretch its wing to the outer borders of the real envelope, having then an almost identical performance in the nominal state, but also being able to represent in an acceptable way some extreme envelope conditions. A well-coded engine model has also been crucial for a proper formation flying, engine spool up and overall response has been tuned to reflect the real MB-339. The acceleration time has been modeled as the real one by having a high responsive engine in the range 70-100 % which allows better formation flying characteristics. Was it hard getting the multi crew feature working on the mod? What went into implementing it? Adding the multicrew to the MB-339 has not been hard, few lines of code needed to be implemented in the configuration file. On the contrary, it will be much harder to visually synchronize the front and back seat instrumentations and aircraft systems which require a dedicated net code. Are there any features left to be implemented on the MB-339? The current version (2.0.1) of the MB-339 features simplified systems (LUA-coded) to have a flyable aircraft from the beginning. After the release of the 2.0.1 the team dedicated to the complete re-coding in C++ by starting over and modelling system by system and also subsystem to achieve the best possible realism. Starting from the next release, the electrical system will be an advanced one (different buses, loads), oxygen and pressurization system acting as the manual prescribes. In addition, a new fuel system is being developed (with fuel dumps, transfer etc…) a new navigation system and a new damage model plus minor features that will get the MB-339 on to a new level. The cockpit 3D model has been updated and the textures as well with a new restyling to augment the graphical impact. We have seen your screenshots from your most recent job, the Fiat G-91. How has the progress been with that aircraft? How many people are working on the project? The G-91 derives from a joint collaboration with Sim Skunk Works that shares passion and dedication for this bird. This has also been the time to test the import in DCS and its graphical rendering. The team eventually fell in love with the model and the aircraft that has also starred in an Italian Movie from 1972 named “Forza G” (literally “G-Force”) representing those mighty years at the Frecce Tricolori, with an exceptional soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. Currently the project encompasses the same developers that work on the MB-339 plus one 3D modeler from the Sim Skunk Works, creator of the original 3D model itself. Despite the aircraft being flyable in DCS as we speak (it closed the performance at the Virtual Burning Lake Airshow 2020), currently the aircraft is undergoing some work in the external and internal (cockpit) 3D model to get it to the DCS standard. How has the G.91 been in terms of difficulty of development? What weapon systems and avionics equipment will the team implement since there are different versions of the aircraft (R1, R3 and PAN in particular)? Currently the team has all the 3 variants’ model, as far as the cockpit is concerned, only the R1 version is ready. Speaking about the avionics and systems the aircraft is comparable to the MB-339, being developed for reconnaissance and ground attack missions, it has no radar and countermeasures. This will allow the team to use a large part of the work from the MB-339 and be tailored to the G-91. The aircraft now has guns, free fall bombs and rockets implemented, but we would like to expand its ground attack capabilities (e.g. to add air to surface missiles like the AS-20). In-development pictures of the Fiat G.91 module as of May 2020. Can we expect a public release for the G.91 or is it going to be a private mod for the Frecce Tricolori Virtuali? The idea of releasing the model to the public is very attractive. However, both the FTV and SSW need first to define some terms. We heard the news about some of the team’s involvement as “insiders” for Microsoft’s Flight Simulator and saw the possibility of having the MB-339 inside of that spectacular game as a possibility. Will this affect the development of the G.91 and other DCS projects in the long-term or is there nothing to worry about? FS2020 is absolutely spectacular in terms of scenery and graphics and has progressed a lot since the previous version. The team has internally started to discuss a future inclusion of the MB-339 in the new MS FS2020 and we really look forward to it and the possibility to start some tests. It is too soon to say something about possible delays on other long term projects but from the first impressions, we think we are capable of creating the MB-339 for the new FS. Apart from finishing your current mods do you have any other future aircraft you would like to work on such as the AMX? The team is absolutely eager to continue on developing other Italian Air Force aircraft such as the AMX, but given the effort for the current project we cannot take on new commitments. This is part one of two from our interview with the Frecce Tricolori Virtuali. The next part will be all about their organization, their history and their acrobatic routines. We would like to extend our thanks to the entire team of the FTV that treated me kindly and were really attentive and generous with this interview, specially FTV-Duke. About the Interviewer Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

Modding has always been something I have been amazed by. From small quality of life additions to full-on transformations, modders have always found a way to amaze me on so many levels. The first time I actively modded was FS2004. I still remember that little me was impressed by how someone on the internet had managed to introduce aircraft that looked even better than the official aircraft which the game came from. Many years later I started creating skin mods for the game that I was playing the most at that time, IL-2 1946. This new series, Mod Life Upgrade, is a play-on-words of the term "Mid-Life-Upgrade" used for life-extending modifications done to keep airframes up to date and competitive. This series will be centered on highlighting mods that I personally think are not only great but fantastic. Usually these will be mods that fill-in the gaps left by the original developers, others that exploit the potential that the title had from the beginning, ones that completely re-imagine and transform the experience that the player gets from the game, or ones that are just fun to explore! It will also be a series centered on flight games but it won't be limited to only them, other titles will be covered such as Arma3. Please support the official creators as this highlight article does provide credit and link to each mod's creator. They deserve at least a nice comment for all the work they have done to deliver content for the community, free of charge. DCS:WORLD SIMPLERADIO STANDALONE by Ciribob The amount of game changing mods in DCS can be pretty limited at times but there is a mod that has trascended being a novelty and has become part of the multiplayer environment due to it filling a void that Eagle Dynamics has yet to fill, an in-depth player usable radio communication system. While ED has not implemented an internal VoIP system as of the writing of this article, this mod will fill that gap by allowing you to communicate with other players using the in-game radios giving that extra sense of realism that was missing from the game. At this point most servers in DCS have SRS installed and have a plethora of radio frequencies that allows groups of flights to coordinate with each other be it for airfield operations, for GCI operations or simply to talk to each other. This mod can not be recommended enough, you can get it HERE. IMPROVING IRANIAN FLEET SKINS [IIF PROJECT] by sadjad_vosoul Sometimes all it takes to improve your experience are some really well done skins and the Iranian ones done by sadjad_vosoul are a perfect fit for missions over the Persian Gulf map. From the F-5 to the Mi-8, F-4E, F-86 and so many more; these include an impressive amount of detail and the work put into them is noticeable. Some of the skins are fictional due to not having the specific aircraft variants for some of the aircraft as it is the case for the F-14B and the Yak-52 skins, since they represent both the F-14AM and T-6 respectively. Highly recommended if you have the Persian Gulf map to give yourself accurately represented enemy (or allied) aircraft! The forum page with links to all current skins is HERE STRIKE FIGHTERS 2 OPERATION DARIUS BY THE COMBATACE COMMUNITY There are so many mods for Strike Fighters 2 that choosing a specific one to be highlighted would not give the community justice. Operation Darius, on the other hand, is the modpack that allowed me to get the experience I have always wanted from SF2. Helicopters, ground units, aircraft of all shapes and sizes from all over the world are included with this pack. Set in 2012, Operation Darius is a fictional campaign in which Western nations fight a 4 week-long campaign in order to remove Iran's nuclear facilities The number of mods and creators involved in the creation of this pack is one of the longest lists I have seen for any user created content out there in the internet. Expansive would be an understatement. These individuals got together and delivered what is an unofficial expansion to me, one that I still play to this very day. You can get this modpack with the following links: Part 1: HERE Part 2: HERE Part 3: HERE Part 4: HERE IL-2 1946 T.O.A.S (SOUTH ATLANTIC OPERATIONS THEATER) MOD by DREAM MAKERS AND SIMARG I have long been a user of a lot of mods that were created in the forums of SAS, one of the largest and most active IL-2 1946 modding communities out there. They have brought so many inconceivably complex mods to this old game that have in themselves have changed the sim-lite title into something completely different. This expansion, created by DREAM MAKERS AND SIMARG, encompases the Flanklands War operational theater from both the British and Argentine perspectives with the aid of the Falkland's Islands map and the aircraft utilized during the conflict. This mod depends on the biggest modpack available in IL-2 1946 known as B.A.T and the installation can be somewhat troublesome but it is worth it if you want a really nice experience to pass time by while most DCS users wait for the South Atlantic map that is being developed by RAZBAM. Forum post over on SAS is HERE About the Author Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos: Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer, translator and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

Being one of the planes flown in competitions such as the Red Bull Air Racing Series and boasting unworldly levels of maneuverability the Edge 540 is certainly a one-of-a-kind plane inside DCS, Christen Eagle II aside. After two years in development, the team at VARS and their collaborators have brought this outstanding aircraft into DCS for all of us to enjoy. It will be used in the Virtual Air Racing Series 2020 season, so if you want to see this aircraft being used to fulfill its intended purpose as a racing aircraft be sure to tune into their streams. This will be a quick review into the DCS Edge 540 mod by the VARS community and its collaborators as of its v1.0 release (Version release date: June 7th, 2020) Of note: This is a free in-development module, therefore, it shall not be judged to the standards of a paid module. In this article we will touch upon: External and internal 3D models Visual and sound effects Flight modelling Ease of use and learning curve Unique module features Is this aircraft for you? EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL 3D MODELS The external model of this aircraft has been excellently modeled. It has that sleek look that racing aircraft have with an incredible presentation. Animations and external lighting work correctly even with some more complex features such as pilot animations as you move the flight surfaces which is impressive coming from a free mod. A note-worthy point: There is no damage model implemented as of now but the developers have said that one will be coming at some point in the future. The cockpit is a pleasure to look at and I do not say that lightly. The design of it makes you feel like a Formula 1 driver since everything you will need is displayed in front of you in the form of an easy to read display and a peripheral vision indicator that can either display your G-loading or your speed. This display is crucial for racing as, at least on the velocity mode, it shows you how close you are to the speed limit to enter the gates on the course that is 200kt maximum in most instances. Textures are pretty solid. The carbon fiber looks realistic enough, the exposed frame surrounding you and the addition of weathering to show wear is the cherry on the cake that makes this interior an excellent one, even more when considering that this came out of a community project. As you move the controls you can see the push rods move around, t both the trim indicator and peripheral vision display have convincing-looking LEDs. Overall, this cockpit is one of the most unique-looking interiors we have gotten in DCS so far. VISUAL AND SOUND EFFECTS Internal lighting is serviceable and the addition of several colors of flood light is nice but this is one of the areas in which the Edge 540 does not shine the brightest. This does not mean that there is something wrong with the way that internal lighting is handled, not at all. It just means that other free modules, such as the MB-339, have done a better implementation of internal lighting. Now, an area in which I was highly impressed by quality was both the internal and external engine sounds. In this area this plane has one of the best external sounds I have ever heard from both a mods and paid modules alike. I am sure that these sound effects will show themselves at their best during the VARS 2020 season streams. The team outdid themselves here. There is one minor nit-pick I have and it is that if you are going relatively fast, normally over 170kts, as you reduce power the engine sound doesn't seem to change that drastically even when reducing the power to idle from full power; but as I said, this is a minor caveat in a very well implemented piece of software. You do not even have to believe me as I recorded internal and external and internal sounds, have a listen: EXAMPLES: In-cockpit engine sound: External engine sound: Fly-by engine sound: FLIGHT MODELLING The flight model (FM) made by Aero is really good. It is very apparent that this FM was made with racing in mind as it has sacrificed some of the realism for race optimization. Do not get me wrong, aerobatic-wise this aircraft begs to be flown to its limits due to its incredibly high roll-rate of 420°/sec and high-g capabilities. Engine response is almost instantaneous when accelerating and formation flying is a breeze. Fluttering and shaking can be felt as you put the aircraft in certain scenarios, which is excellent as it communicates to the pilot the state of the aircraft during high tension portions of the race such as when performing a High-Cuban or in long slalom sections. Ground handling and take-off behavior are this flight model's Achilles heels. It feels a bit too hard to taxi around and when going full power on the take-off roll, wheel screeching happens even if you trimmed the aircraft correctly and are not pulling up hard enough for something like that to happen. There are some other quirks like momentum from your previous flight carrying over to the newly spawned one but this is a known issue that the devs are working on. The development team is not gigantic and they are working on polishing the FM for which I have high hopes and wish them the best. LEARNING CURVE AND RACING This is a very unique plane when it comes to handling. While it is easy to fly and control in most scenario, it is when it comes to mastering this aircraft for racing that it shows you its true colors. Racing can be a very fun activity to do in DCS, even more when your performance is being evaluated by the VARS Pylon mod that comes included with the Edge 540. To be competitive in racing you will need to learn the FM very well in order to avoid those tiny mistakes that can separate you from victory. Minimizing the amount of drag your elevators induce while pulling too hard by being less aggressive on the controls will become second nature once you practice and dedicate a bit of time to this. As VARS themselves said on several of their livestreams and on their Discord server: Racing in DCS is about FUN. What matters is that you, as a virtual pilot, are having fun while racing and I think it is the best way to see competitions like these. Challenge your friends to a race or try to beat your own personal time on the lap! UNIQUE MODULE FEATURES This module comes packaged with several unique and nice features which are not present anywhere else. One of these is the VARS Pylon mod that comes packaged with the aircraft which is so detailed that might even deserve its own mini-review later down the line but I will do a summary for the time being. The VARS Pylon mod allows the user to create and or use racing pylons to organize a circuit. These pylons go beyond being aesthetic and are fully functional, counting your time between gates, measuring your altitude and speed while being capable of giving penalties to players that infringe the rules. They also have a championship functionality that places players in a leaderboard and many more features that give this mod, which can be downloaded independently, a place in the DCS community. The Edge 540 also includes two main features that are note-worthy in this category: The MP3 player and the in-game customization screen. The first of these two is a page on the Edge's "MFD" which allows you to play music from within the game, just like the Viggen and the Tomcat can. The second one is the capability to change both your winglets and pilot's head on the fly! IS THIS AIRCRAFT FOR YOU? This is an aircraft that is worth the download just for how unique it is. It is well put together and has a place inside the DCS arena that was only occupied by the Christen Eagle up until this point. What more can you ask when the asking prize for this plane is a grand total of ZERO dollars! Definitely a must-download for every DCS player out there that wants a fresh experience and a new toy to play around with. Get it HERE. About the author Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos is a longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

When it comes to the currently available mods that DCS:World has there are only a few that have become so feature-rich that at least to me they are at the same level of some of the paid modules out there. One of these is the A-4E-C Community mod which was a collaborative effort between community members from different communities that united to make the Scooter fly in the skies of DCS:World. One of these developers is Heclak, with which I had the pleasure to have today's interview talking about the Skyhawk's latest update, the difficulty of being a modder for DCS and the possible future of the project. Many thanks to Heclak for letting me have this chat with him! To start with, could you introduce yourself and the work you have done before entering the A-4E-C mod team. Hi. I’m Heclak and one of the current developers on the Community A-4E project. Working on the A-4E-C is my first time modding for DCS World. However, I do have prior experience in programming and 3D modelling which I had picked up in my personal time. For how long have you been a part of the A-4E-C team and how many members does the team have right now? I’ve been working on the Community A-4E project in an unofficial capacity since it first officially released in November 2018. I started by releasing an unofficial patch for the A-4E-C to add more accurate rocket capabilities and later improving the weapon systems capabilities of the A-4E as a contributor to the project. I was invited to be part of the official developer team at the end of March 2019 and have continued working on the A-4E-C every since. The A-4E-C currently consists of Plusnine and myself as the official developer team but we would not have been able to accomplish what we have done if not for the support from the community members. Especially the community testers on our discord channel who have been providing valuable feedback and testing before each public release. Modding in DCS has been a hot topic as of late due to many popular mods that have stopped working due to changes in DCS' way to handle anti-piracy measures. Has this affected the A-4E-C as a project in any way? Thankfully the A-4E-C had not been affected by the changes, this is due to the A-4E-C being a standalone module and does not require any modifications to the DCS core files nor does it require the use of any files from other modules. One of the key goals for the A-4E-C was to be a fully standalone module so that there are no prerequisites for using it. This would allow anyone to hop into the A-4E-C as the only requirement is DCS World which is free. Congratulations on the release of v1.4 of the Scooter! What do you consider to be the most relevant improvements made to the mod since its v1.3.1 release? I have been asked this question a lot and I have always struggled with answering this question as there are simply so many changes in the version 1.4 patch. The version 1.4 patch is a patch that includes a wide variety of improvements across all aspects of the aircraft. While a number of the changes are not immediately obvious, we feel that version 1.4 provides a layer of polish to the A-4E-C with the upgrades and bug fixes. The visual fixes and upgrades in both the cockpit and external models, especially with the improved lighting, provide a more immersive experience for the pilot. Various systems such as the electronic countermeasures (ECM) panel and navigation system were further developed. One of my favourite but least visible upgrade is how the underlying hydraulics and electrical system were revisited to better model the intricacies of the system so that we can simulate emergency procedures. You will need to know which subsystems can be powered by the ram air turbine and how to use the emergency systems to land safely on the ground. How hard has it been to maintain the Scooter flight-worthy in DCS? Were there any moments in which you have been frustrated by the constant fix-break cycle that happens when working in the Open Beta version of DCS? Maintaining and improving the A-4E-C certainly has its challenges as we have been doing it without official support from Eagle Dynamics. We do not get advance information about changes to the way DCS works, which require us to react after a new version of DCS has been publicly released. We are affected in a very different manner when compared to the official modules as we use different parts of the DCS system. The A-4E-C uses the Lua application programming interface (API) of DCS World which the official modules have been using much less of in recent years. A lot of these functions could be considered legacy by Eagle Dynamics and we have had challenges in getting support when a code function is not doing what it is supposed to be doing as it doesn’t affect any of the official modules. One example is the Standard Flight Model (SFM) system in the DCS World core. I believe the last official aircraft that used it was the C-101 and the Hawk before they had implemented their EFM. There has been an outstanding bug where the nose landing gear sinks into the ground when the aircraft is loaded from specific start scenarios. Since this issue does not affect any of the paid modules, we have been having trouble getting traction for getting it fixed. There have been several close calls were the A-4E-C would have seen an end-of-life situation due to DCS changes but they were thankfully mitigated. We hope to not encounter such situations in the future as it does give us a heart attack when it happens. Have the lighting changes in DCS affected the A-4E-C? Could you show us what improvements are being made to accommodate this new lighting system? There were several changes to the light rendering in the DCS 2.5.6.50726 Open Beta, one of these changes was a change in one of the shader which was often used for warning lights and annunciators. I have been told by some of the official 3rd-party developers via a reply on a Reddit post that the particular shader has mostly likely been deprecated. Fixing this has involved an updating of the model to use a different shader to render the lighting and it has been looking great again. Since the light rendering in DCS World 2.5.6 is a moving target, it has also required us to make constant brightness changes to the lighting effects to the cockpit lighting. Our biggest concern is having to release too many small patches which would trouble the users to make constant manual updates to their installation. I have taken the opportunity to give the lighting in the cockpit another upgrade with the new shader effects and adding more lighting-related features that are found in the real A-4E. In an upcoming patch, the dimming wheel on the Angle-of-Attack (AOA) indexer will allow the dimming of the AOA indexer for night flying and some of the annunciators will switch to a dim mode when the cockpit lights are set up for night flights. The lights in their dim state will be more difficult to observe just like the real aircraft. These will more accurately reflect the pilot experience in different lighting conditions. Do you think that ED's way to handle modding has been flawed? What do you think could be done to improve this situation? Wow. This is a tough question. I think this topic is far too difficult and complicated to be answered here. This is a multi-tiered situation which requires addressing numerous aspects and it would not be correct to trivialize in a simple reply. I wouldn’t describe Eagle Dynamic’s approach as flawed as I have always been under the impression that they do not really take a clear stand towards modding so it would not be fair to say if the current situation is flawed or not. I do wish that they would support the creation and use of mods in a more proactive fashion, particularly with a public release of the entire software development kit (SDK)that the official 3rd-parties have access to. That approach would be in line with the overall flight simulation community but I understand that they also have their business interests to protect. I hope that there can be a mutually beneficial approach in the near future. Last but not least. Will the A-4E-C continue to be supported in the future as long as you and the team are available to work on it? Are there any features you would personally like to add to the module later on? Our goal is to keep the project running for as long as we can and one of the things that we have done to work towards that goal is to put the files on a community repository like Github where everyone can see the development progress and contribute if they wish to. We have facilitated the creation of an active community on our discord channel where numerous A-4E users have contributed in many ways from research, testing, mission creation, community-help, and even fixes to the A-4E-C. We are working with some members of the community to create more liveries and missions for the A-4E-C. We would like to encourage more people to contribute to the project if they can, especially in the development of the module itself so that it can continue to be the community module that it started as. We believe that there are many talented members of the community who can help take the A-4E-C to greater heights and us as the development team can play the role of facilitators for that process. My most desired feature to add would be radios as that would allow for air-to-air refueling, intercoms and radio communications but that is simply not possible without the SDK, so I have put that goal aside at the moment. For now, I am just slowly making my way through the different systems as I learn more about the aircraft. There are many sub-systems that can still benefit from more research and improvements and I would like to keep working on them to create a really polished module for the community. About the interviewer Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

A complete guide on how to build a DIY head-tracking setup, from start to finish. In twelve years of playing flight simulation games, I have only experienced a couple of hardware upgrades that have truly reshaped the way I played. The first one was when I started using a joystick. The second one when I replaced my joystick with a HOTAS (Hands on Throttle and Stick) and the third is when I built my own head tracking equipment. These are changes so substantial that I could never find myself going back to my old ways ever again. I had known about head tracking ever since I saw a video from one of the YouTubers I followed, Ralfidude, in which he talked about his TrackIR setup and my mind was blown. I knew that motion tracking/capture existed but seeing it in action made me want to use one instantly. I went to see how much it cost, realized that it was way over my budget and told myself that I was never going to get one. The situation stayed the same until I started seeing some people building their own head-tracking systems. This reignited my interest in the topic, pushing me to start my research into what materials I needed. In this article I will share the results of that investigation and the process I had to follow to build the system I currently use with as much detail as possible so that you can build your own. STEP 1: UNDERSTANDING THE TECH AND YOUR NEEDS Before we get deeper into the building process we must first take a look into what this tech is really all about and the build alternatives you have at your disposal. In layman's terms this is basic motion tracking technology. The software has been designed to track a specific pattern of identifiable points to determine the position of your head in a 3D environment. It transmits said position to the game of your preference if it has head-tracking support. This is usually done with an Infrared (IR) sensitive camera and a tracker which emits an IR signal, be it self-powered (IR LEDs) or through the use of IR reflective surfaces. TYPES OF TRACKERS There are two types of trackers that have become the most popular options for gaming related applications. These are clips and caps. Clips are usually self-powered trackers that come in a vertical 3 point layout comprised of three IR LEDs. These are pretty popular for their self-powered nature and ease of use. Caps are usually powerless trackers that come in a variety of arrangements but usually they use two or more reflective surfaces which don't require power to work. The main aspect of the cap-type trackers is that they are always mounted on top a cap to allow for ease of use. WHICH TRACKER TYPE SHOULD YOU BUILD? Clips usually offer the most consistent and stable experience when compared to caps. By virtue of being self-powered it becomes a little harder to build as you have to design your clip layout and your circuit. There's always the option of 3D printing an opensource file to use as a base. You will always have to solder your own electronics so please keep that in mind. If you don't posses any experience dealing with electrical circuits, then a cap-type tracker would be your best alternative and one that would give you a similar if not indistinguishable experience. This guide will follow the process of building a clip, so if you are going to build a cap you can go directly to step five for software configuration. STEP 2: PREPARATION The entire set up will consist of a PlayStation 3 Eye camera (PS3 Eye Camera), which we will modify to turn it into an IR sensitive camera, and a simple clip-type tracker which will be a basic 3v circuit. DISCLAIMER: I am not an electrical engineer, so please take caution with the procedures that will be described in the following paragraphs. Safety first. Manage your tools correctly and take the necessary safety measures to ensure that. TOOLS You will need these tools to continue forward as they are crucial for everything we will do. Hot glue gun Solder iron Electrical solder and flux Xacto knife or equivalent Patience, a lot of patience MATERIALS For the clip we will be building a simple 3 volt parallel circuit with three IR LEDs connected to a CR2032 battery. Be careful with the ones you buy since this could cause the circuit to not work. You will need: One (1) CR2032 PCB Battery Holder. Three (3) IR LEDs rated at 3v. One (1) 6 pin push switch (Mini DPDT Push Switch). At least three (3) meters/nine (9) feet of UL2468 cable . Three (3) meters/nine (9) feet of 1mm steel wire. One (1) 2mm thick balsa wood plank. Electrical tape. You will also need a PS3 Camera which can be found for cheap and a floppy disk, but we will go more in-depth on that during step four. STEP 3 (1): BUILD THE FRAME Now it is time to build and for that we will be using the following printable template: In the first step we will cut away the two balsa wood sections and bend the wire frame using the template. Now apply glue to the bottom wooden section with your hot glue gun and adhere the bended wire frame to it. Make sure that the frame is straight as any excessive bends will affect the usability of it. Before it dries, apply glue to the top wooden section and adhere it in place. Let the glue dry a bit. The frame is done! The frame will also need a base to be held on your headphones but that one will be up to your design as each frame will have minor differences that have to be taken into account. STEP 3 (2): WIRE THE CIRCUIT To start, let's have a look at the electrical diagram of the clip that we will be building: A very simple parallel circuit with a switch and 3 LEDs, as you can see. Since we will be using 3 volt LEDs this circuit doesn't need any kind of resistor, making everything easier. The layout will be a little more like this: The process will be quite simple, but have patience: Cover the tips of the frame's legs with electrical tape before soldering to avoid any kind of undesirable contact later on. We will be soldering a bit so please do educate yourself on how to solder first. Measure using your wires the length you will need according to your frame's dimensions. Since each frame might have slightly different dimensions I won't give any measures whatsoever. You will need the following cables: (It is recommended that you cut them a bit longer what you will need since mistakes do happen and it is always better to have the excess than to) Two running from battery (notice the length difference on the negative cable due to it's role with the switch). One from switch to the negative junction. Two from the negative junction to the corresponding LEDs. Two from the positive junction to the corresponding LEDs. NOTE: Remember to remove the isolation from the tips of your cables and secure your connections with the hot glue once you are sure that no more changes are needed. Now onto the first electrical part, the battery. For our purposes we will be using only two of the three pins of the battery holder. Since we will be using a CR2032 PCB battery holder, we will need to run cables from it as you can see above. IMPORTANT: Please make notice that the POSITIVE side of the CR2032 is going to be facing UP, which is marked by the positive sign (+) on the battery holder. Paste the battery holder to the frame as indicated in DIAGRAM N°1 and follow the cabling routes. We will run the negative cable directly to the push switch, connecting it to the middle pin which would be pin N°2 as per DIAGRAM N°2 (bellow) which is a top side view. Securing the cables can be quite tricky at first, so have patience and continue until both the output and input cables are secured on their respective pins. For more information on this type of switch, this Hackster.io guide is highly recommended. The positive cable will stay disconnected for now, just solder it to the battery holder and secure it to avoid any possible damage. After you have tested the connectivity and the switch's functionality with one of the LEDs by using your phone's camera to see if it lights up, secure the switch to the frame with the hot glue gun. Make sure that they have no play/slack and are stable. Now we move on to the major part, which is the connection of the battery with the rest of the cables and the front LED. This part will require that you remove the isolation from the ends of the cables, both for the upper and lower frame legs. Follow this diagram to see how the connection is done. Note that the front LED lacks any cable connections and is soldered directly into the joint. Trim the LED legs accordingly and please make sure that the polarity of the LED is being soldered into the correct joint. The longer leg on the LED typically is the positive anode. We are almost done, now all that's left is soldering the other two LEDs. This step should be pretty simple since you have already made more difficult joints. Now that you are done, make sure that everything is working by checking the LED's functionality with your phone's camera as we did previously. Once that's cleared out, secure the cables and the LEDs to the frame with hot glue to avoid corrosion and any kind of damage. At the end, you should have something like this: STEP 4: MODIFY THE PS3 CAMERA For this step you will need the PS3 Camera and the diskette/negative film that I mentioned back in step two. There are TWO types of PS3 Eye cameras, one of which will be useless for this project. Thankfully, these two are very distinctive from one another when it comes to the lens. You DON'T want the one that has the flat lens. This one cannot be modified and would be a waste of time to even open it. Here is a reference so you can see the flat lens: Please note the flat lens cover and the ring. These are telltale sings of this model of camera. The one we want has the rounded lens, which is very evident once you see it: This is the one we want as it has a modifiable lens, specifically, it has an easily removable IR filter. This will allow our camera to become very IR sensitive. Since I modified mine off camera a long time ago, I cannot provide you with my own photos as examples. Instead, I will guide you to the video I followed when modifying mine. It was made by Vazina Robertson: STEP 5: SOFTWARE To get your computer to recognize the PS3 Camera, you will have to download drivers for it. The only one that's completely guaranteed to work is CL-Eye so look for that one. Make sure that it is working properly. For our tracking we will be using OpenTrack, which is an opensource head-tracking software that's very reliable and relatively easy to set up. When you first boot it up you will be greeted by this window: Although it might look a little crude and daunting at first, this software is very intuitive once you are done with the initial setup. Before you do anything else, please click on the hammer that's next to PointTracker 1.1 Make sure that your device is set to the PS3 Camera and that all the other parameters are good to go. Once you are done with that click on the Model tab. Click on the correspondent tab and adjust the measurements to your specific profile, be it a clip or a cap. Calibrate your model position too, that will help the software to make more precise calculations. We are now done with the model side of things! Now we need to set up our curvatures and game detection. To make OpenTrack function with most games, you will have to go to the Game Detection tab under Options: Click the + icon and add the executable name and a profile. It is that simple! To set up the curvatures we will need to click the Mapping function on the main menu which will open this window: These values are completely up to your discretion and will be completely dependent on your setup, distance to the camera and head position. This will take some effort and time to get right but you should be able to tweak this values down to your liking. STEP 6: ENJOY! I hope that this guide helped you build this game changing tool and I wish that you will enjoy it as much as I do. Please contact me if there are any mistakes on this guide or parts in which I could expand upon. About the writer: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

After a very long time in development, Team Fusion Simulations has finally released a new expansion for IL-2 Cliffs of Dover-BLITZ on August 6th, 2020. This comes in the form of IL-2 Desert Wings-TOBRUK, a very huge expansion that will mainly take you to the skies of Africa to participate on historical battles for, or against the Afrika Korps. As usual, with my reviews I will separate this into several categories so that you, the reader, can formulate your own judgement as to whether this expansion is for you: Introduction Scenery and Aircraft variety External and internal 3D models Visual and sound effects Flight and damage modelling Single player content Bugs, issues and the promising future Is this expansion for you? DISCLAIMER: I was given a review copy of this expansion by Team Fusion Simulations themselves, which was very kind of them. Even then, they gave us complete creative freedom over this review and the opinions that will be written are my own. INTRODUCTION If any game deserves to have its development story told, it's this one. It is a story of a game that was launched in a sorry state to later be fixed by a dedicated community of modders, who eventually became the sole keepers of its code and kept the project alive. The official developers moved on, allocating their full resources to their newest game, IL-2 Great Battles. Launching in a broken state in 2011, Cliffs of Dover was naturally met with mediocre reviews. The sim was absolutely riddled with bugs, many of which made the experience quite the hassle for customers. That's where Team Fusion comes into the scene. As a group of modders, they dedicated themselves to keeping CLoD alive while also maintaining a community of fans of the game entertained with fixes and patches. This all changed when 1C Game Studios announced that Team Fusion, now known as Team Fusion Simulations, would take over development of CLoD while 1C focused themselves on the development and maintenance of the IL-2 Great Battles series. This left two active series on the IL-2 franchise: IL-2 CLoD and IL-2 Great Battles, both are independent from each other and add-ons are not compatible between them as they both use different engines, CLoD's being the older one of the two. Please keep this in mind as it will be important later on. It is truly inspiring to see how a group of passionate individuals, against all expectations, became something much larger and I congratulate them for it. They now have managed to release Desert Wings after its development started in late 2016 with an initial release date of 2017 that got delayed little by little until it finally released a couple of weeks ago to very good reception. SCENERY AND AIRCRAFT VARIETY Set in the desert of North Africa, this expansion brings to life a somewhat overlooked side of WW2. From Tomahawks and Messerschmitts duking it out in the skies over Egypt to Heinkels intercepting allied convoys on the Mediterranean Sea, it truly lets you experience this side of the war in an unprecedented way. The map is pretty decently sized with 385 kilometers square of play area for you to fly over, which is divided somewhat 60/40 between ground and sea with most of the ground areas being filled with endless desert. Coastal regions are pretty attractive with cliffs and beaches and the few cities that there are have enough detail to make them pop when you see them. Although, that being said, do not expect this to have the graphical quality of its younger brother: IL-2 Great Battles. The color pallet seems to be a bit weird which makes the sand sometimes look a bit too bright but that is not the norm. It is noticeable that the devs are pushing this game engine to its limits, at least when it comes to graphical fidelity. But if there is one thing that this expansion does better than its successor is that it provides an impressive amount of aircraft to fly with several new flyable aircraft and a lot of new variants to the already available aircraft from CLoD. There are three of these that caught my attention: DEWOITINE D.520 This little bird won my heart the moment I set my eyes on her. From the way that it looks to the way she flies, this has got to be one of the most impressive ones included in Desert Wings. It is available in both standard configuration, and its tropical variant. While it does not boast the heaviest firepower around, it can still defend itself quite well while fighting early BF-109 variants. Additionally, just like the aircraft that I will highlight next, this is the only modern game to include this beautiful machine in a flyable state. GRUMMAN MARTLET MK.III Powerful, chunky and with a lot of charm. That's the best way to describe this version of the Wildcat under RAF colors. While it isn't the best dogfighter in the allied roster, it does have very good survivability when compared to some of the Nazi aircraft. Also, as far as I am aware of, this is the only modern simulator to include this bird in a flyable form which could not make me happier. VICKERS WELLINGTON If you want to go big, you have this. Amazing to fly and easy to operate, this heavy bomber will either be a pleasure to use or a pleasure to die on. Available in both conventional and torpedo capable versions, it brings a completely different type of aircraft to the game. There are a lot more aircraft than these three, including a couple that I wasn't expecting such as the Fiat CR.42 and the Gladiator, overlooked biplanes that served for the Italians and British respectively during this conflict. Recon/training aircraft, dedicated fighters, fighter bombers, medium and heavy bombers, this expansion has them all; making it of the most attractive parts of the product. I am sure you too will have a very enjoyable time flying them over both the deserts of Africa and the skies of Britain and France. EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL 3D MODELS Out of all the areas that I have evaluated for this review, I was the most impressed by this one. The developers have one quite a good job with the modeling and texturing of their assets, mainly with aircraft. Some of these do look a bit too glossy some times, but that is something that is not as bad as it sounds. External models are brimming with details, rivets and panels are discernible when the sun hits them, glass looks like glass although it might be a bit too reflective. Markings are modular giving you the chance to represent a large amount of squadrons regardless of allegiance and time period. In the customization menu you are able to do something that no other game can do, this being the capability to add or reduce texture weathering effects which has been a feature since CLoD released. In my honest opinion, the cockpits are significantly higher quality than the external models. They have very high quality textures, detailed models and semi-clickable functionality. Are they study-level? No, but that was never the point to begin with. They look realistic enough to immerse you into the game and that's what matters. Here are some of my favorites, but keep in mind that these screenshots do not do these cockpits justice as too much detail is lost on the larger zoom settings as it is natural: The way the light shines on the gauges and the way it is reflected from the different types of materials inside of the cockpit is truly wonderful, even more when you consider that this expansion is built on a 2011 game engine. I applaud the developers for their work on this department. VISUAL AND SOUND EFFECTS This area is a bit of a hit and miss. While the visual effects can be pretty good at times, even when considering the age of the game engine, the sound effects can be a little off. Don't get me wrong, it is not that the sounds are terrible, it is that there are times which sounds were the factor that took me out of the immersion of flying in this simulator. Engine sounds are better inside of the cockpit, mainly regarding the engine. The aircraft's engine will still communicate critical information to you constantly with its sound and it does it quite well. This is more notorious when you have already received damage either through combat or incorrect operation of the engine. Metal cracking sounds from high stress scenarios will communicate to you the limits of the airframe you are on. Gun sounds and external sounds are the part that suffers from most problems but it is also the one with more exceptions. While some external engine sounds are wonderful, such as when they are taking off, some of them are not. The one I would consider to be the most problematic would be the "fly-by" sound as it sounds like a time accelerated engine sound instead of a dynamic one. I sincerely hope that this could be addressed on a future patch as it would improve the experience significantly. Visual effects are of better quality than I was expecting, but one has to remember this is an expansion to a relatively old game. Even when taking that into consideration, I was pleasantly surprised by some of the things I saw. From oil leaks on the canopy once the engine had received some damage or the flames coming out of a downed bomber with pieces of fuselage coming out as it tumbled down into the coldness of the Mediterranean Sea. I do have one small gripe with the flight control surface animations. If you move them slowly there's no problem but if you move them rapidly they seem to act in a weird way, skipping some positions and moving in a janky manner. I had noticed this way back when I bought CLoD BLITZ but I hoped that this release would have addressed it. It is not a game-breaking issue but I do hope that it is addressed in the future if possible. FLIGHT AND DAMAGE MODELING More important than both sound and visual effects, this is the category that both makes and breaks a game. It can be difficult to get a flight model to feel right as there are so many factors that can interact with it. Fortunately, flight models of both CLoD and Desert Wings received some attention and has been noticeably improved! Torque effects seem to be more natural and trimming now feels smoother. Pulling tight turns is now a pleasure on fighter aircraft, making you feel completely in control with your aircraft. This is also noticeable on the less maneuverable aircraft like the Wellington or the He-111, which feel heavier and at the same time more powerful. They take time to react to your inputs, which is natural for a larger, heavier aircraft. Damage modeling is also pretty extensive with simulations of oil, water and fuel leaks, overheating, asymmetrical lift due to wing damage, etc. You can lose parts of your engine or even your entire engine or wing if you are that unlucky/unaware. I was honestly impressed by the flight models, they are fun to fly. I am glad that Team Fusion improved them over what they were on CLoD, and they were not bad there. SINGLE PLAYER CONTENT This expansion oozes with content of all shapes and forms. From quick missions, pre-arranged dogfighting scenarios, short missions and expansive campaigns across both Africa and the Channel. The highlight of this gigantic content pool comes in the form of the previously mentioned campaigns, which are, in no particular order: Gravity is my friend (Ju-87 Desert Campaign) Blue Wellingtons (Wellington Daylight Desert Bombing Campaign) Rising from the Ashes (Beaufighter Interceptor Channel Campaign) Desert Hawks (Tomahawk Desert Campaign) Eagles over Tobruk (BF-109 Desert Campaign) On ne passe pas! (Dewoitine Channel Campaign) Operta Aperta (Gladiator Desert Campaign) Tempesta sull'Africa (CR.42 Desert Campaign) Rats over Tobruk (Hurricane Desert Campaign) Nine different campaigns that cover several different aircraft and timeframes. That's quite a lot considering that some of these campaigns were made with realism in mind, following routines and combat mission records from the war to allow the player to experience something akin to what the real pilots went through. I, for one, quite enjoyed the addition of these campaigns as they allowed me to immerse myself in some of these combat missions. But realism comes at a cost and that is time. Some of these missions can be quite lengthy at times and, as it was routine back then and now, you will have little to do on the way to the area of operations. Whether that is a good or a bad thing is up to each person, but I personally don't dislike it. Time acceleration can help with these long stretches, minimizing the downtime and making more efficient use of your time. Additionally, you do have access to a full mission editor that allows you to create the missions that suit your taste. Do you want to fight a cloud of He-111 with a Gladiator while escorting a British armada? It is possible with the mission editor. It is a powerful but somewhat unintuitive tool so it is recommended that you read or watch some tutorials on how to properly utilize it. BUGS, ISSUES AND THE PROMISING FUTURE I have spent 20 hours in-game since I received the expansion and in that time I have encountered some bugs, but surprisingly, none of them were major or game-breaking. I have mentioned some of them throughout the review but there is one still that is noteworthy: Under certain scenarios, like engine damage, the propeller effect can be seen duplicated/out of sync which makes it seem like there are two counter-rotating propellers. This is not that bad but it does happen from time to time. The only other issue that I have with the game is not related to the expansion but to the game itself, and that's the UI. There are multiple issues with the UI that could be improved with a bit of design work and coding, but since I am not a coder I can't tell how easy it would be to reprogram this. The part where this is more apparent is the Quick Mission Builder, as here the amount of icons and text on screen can be a little confusing to the eye. It becomes usable once you start to work with it but that does not make it less cluttered or unintuitive. This is the biggest flaw that this game has had since it launched way back in 2011 but I hope that Team Fusion will allocate some effort into redesigning it. What brings me a bit of hope is the fact that Team Fusion has stated that they are now dedicated to continue bug fixing and to start feature development for the game. These improvements include but are not limited to VR support, new weather system, a dynamic campaign generator and improved ground rendering. All of these improvements will be released for both owners of CLoD and Desert Wings in the form of incremental updates free to all users. More information on this on their forum announcement. IS THIS EXPANSION FOR YOU? At a price of USD$69.99 this expansion can be a hard buy for many people. It is on the same price bracket as the expansions for its younger brother, IL-2 Great Battles. But comparing one to the other wouldn't be fair as they run on different engines and are developed by different development teams. But with the amount of content that it provides it is hard not to somewhat justify the pricing a bit as it includes nine different campaigns and single missions, over 40 aircraft including 8 rare warbirds all which sport very detailed and well made 3D models, an expansive map, new ground and sea assets with the possibility of controlling them in the future with an upcoming update. If what you want is: An immersive desert warfare experience. the possibility to fly some very rare warbirds. Experience an overlooked side of WW2. If you don't mind: Some of the bugs The current UI design. The somewhat dated sound design. The somewhat high price If some of all of the above is what you want, then IL-2 Desert Wings-TOBRUK is for you. Once again, we would like to thank Team Fusion Simulations for providing us a review copy of their expansion when we got in contact with them, so thanks to both Mike and Pete for trusting us. It is a gesture we appreciate a lot. About the writer: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034 Thanks to Aidan, Prov and Hueman for their proofreading of this article.

For years now, the Royal International Air Tatoo (RIAT) has been one of if not the largest airshow in the world. It has brought together aviation fans from all over the world to partake in a celebration of aviation and military aviation. Sadly, due to this year's situation, the physical event had to be cancelled, but that did not mean that there was not a RIAT in 2020. This year RIAT moved to the virtual space, livestreaming a two day show free for everyone to see. Instead of the numerous real life demonstration teams that usually attend, this was the first time that virtual demonstration teams took the main stage and showed the world that the virtual side of aviation also has something to present. There were seven acrobatic display teams of various sizes that participated. Virtual Patrouille Suisse, Virtual Patrouille Française, Virtual Swiss Hornet Solo Display, Virtual Belgian F-16 Solo, Virtual Rafale Solo Display by Jetesons, Virtual Red Arrows and our friends, the Frecce Tricolori Virtuali (FTV). Today in this short interview we had the chance to talk with the FTV about their time during Virtual RIAT 2020 and the experience they had during the event: Q: Getting invited to RIAT is not something that happens that often. How did you guys feel when first getting invited to perform there? A: Excited ! We actually could not believe [that during such difficult times] the world was [going] through, it turned out [to be] an incredible opportunity for us in the virtual world. It then took a couple of days to cool down and let us realize the correct methodology in order to correctly [structure] our training sessions. Q: To your knowledge, before RIAT 2020, has there ever been a real world airshow organization that has worked with virtual demonstration teams to create a program? A: Not on a macroscopic scale such as the Virtual RIAT in 2020. Many airshow organizers are considering involving a virtual counterpart not being the star of the show (unfortunately or luckily …it depends) but to let the everyday people have at least 1/100th of the feelings of what they are showcasing in the air. Q: Because RIAT was such a unique opportunity for FTV and virtual demonstration teams as a whole, was preparing for RIAT more stressful or complicated than your past shows? A: It was the natural step [forward] for us. No one [improves] by being stagnant and not stressed, at least a little bit more than before. So it was for us the mental preparation the 2 months before the show. Q: How long was the team given to prepare for the event? A: Not everything was ready [at the time that] the official communication that we would take part on the show [happened] (and that is normal business), so to some degree this question has [several] answers. In fact, our routine was slightly changed starting from 2 months before to accommodate for the different ways we would start and finish the show. The team continued to train and as the show approached, a few but significant additional features (the scenario, the length of the show, etc) were added and so our training sessions increased to accommodate those additional modifications. Q: Did RIAT ever give the team a time limit for the routine? Did you guys have to adapt your usual routine to fit this time slot by leaving some maneuvers away? A: We were given a certain amount of minutes that were aligned with our show and we did not cut away any maneuvers. Q: What maneuvers does the team feel were the highlight of the routine this time around? A: The correct positioning and harmony of flight of the two sections while in front of the crowds are always the most difficult and the most proudly accepted among our team and the viewers. Q: There were other virtual acrobatic teams participating during RIAT, like the Virtual Red Arrows. Did you guys watch their routines? What do you think about how they performed? A: The Virtual Reds have always expressed a high level of technical maturity and preparation. They displayed very well during the RIAT 2020. Those performances should constitute the “raised bar” every major team should want to reach. Q: You guys closed Day 2 of RIAT but your time slot seemed quite short and was not included in the official public schedule for that day. Was the team aware of this prior to the live show? A: Unfortunately, no one could [have been] aware of the technical difficulties that could arise. Q: How does the team feel in regards to the technical difficulty that cut several minutes from the routines you had recorded? How long was the routine originally? A: FTV were not very happy in the beginning, but the organizations explained the reasons, so] that we completely understood. The standard FTV display is about 23-25 minutes, shortened to 15 minutes by rules. Q: Do you feel like the RIAT organizers should have done something different? What would be your recommendations for them so that they can improve? A: It [was] a first and so it worked out pretty well I should say. There is always room to improve and the [organizers] should take [note] of what [is] necessary to introduce close to the show and [to try] to let everyone know more in advance. To conclude I would like to thank Duke, as he is our main contact point with the FTV as a whole. Grazie mille, amico mio! Their entire Virtual RIAT 2020 display is available to watch here, so be sure to give it a watch if you have not already: About the interviewer: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

During the Autumn Steam Game Festival 2020, a couple of flight games released public demos for everyone to try. One of these was Red Wings: Aces of the Sky; an arcade flight game set in during World War I. Initially released for the Nintendo Switch earlier this year to mixed reviews, this game is now getting a release on Steam so I gave the demo a go. I will divide these short first impressions in categories so you can go to the ones that are more crucial to you as a reader, that way you can judge it on your own: Graphics and Art-style Gameplay and Aircraft Variety Mission Design PC Port Oddities GRAPHICS AND ART STYLE Instead of going for photo-realism, this game has a cel-shaded cartoon-ish art style which is very unique for a flight game. The menus and interfaces all look really sleek and well designed. This style also applies to the environments which most of the time do look like paintings done in oil. The opening cinematic has more of a comic-ish art style which is really well done for what it is supposed to accomplish. The UI and HUD elements also have this cartoon look to them, making each element pop when it is on screen. The animations of the UI elements are also very well done, no critiques to give there. Overall, this has got to be the strongest appeal of this title Here are a couple of screenshots of both the main menu, the in-game HUD and a frame of the opening cinematic: GAMEPLAY AND AIRCRAFT VARIETY Gameplay-wise it is a pretty straight-forward game as it is to be expected from an arcade flight game. Simple flight dynamics alongside simplified bullet mechanics make this game one that is pretty easy to play and even easier to master. You do not have to lead your targets as there does not seem to be any kind of bullet travel time, making distant shots more of a matter of effective weapon range rather than skill. The flight mechanics are even a bit too limited to the point where they feel restrictive. You lack full control of both the X and Y axis, and the Z axis is basically none existent. While this is partially solved by the use of your abilities, specifically the barrel roll and the U turn, the fact that these abilities have a cool-down makes them a bit harder to use in a pinch. One of these abilities recharges as you get kills, let's call this one a "take-down". It allows you to finish off an already badly damaged opponent with your handgun. While flashy-looking, this feature feels unnecessary as you already have the enemy in your sights when you use it. Very anime-esk, which I really like. To summarize: the best way I have to describe the feel of flight in the game is an even more limited "Novice" mode from Ace Combat. At least in that flight mode you get full pitch authority, unlike here. And it is not something that can just be just patched in as the game seems to have been built around this flight model due to the fact that you can used "canned" maneuvers just like in games such as Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces or Ace Combat: 3D Cross Rumble. I suspect this was a decision taken to make this game as accessible as possible. This game does have pilot skills which you can upgrade called "Ace Perks" which improve the issues mentioned previously. These go from minor upgrades to your abilities to major improvements but sadly, the latter were not possible to unlock in the demo. You upgrade these abilities with the stars you gain after completing a mission, gaining one upgrade point minimum and three maximum. It is uncertain as how impactful some of these upgrades will be in the long run due to the limitations that the demo has as you can only obtain a maximum of 12 stars in the demo during its 4 available missions. The demo allows you to fly three aircraft, all of which are real and relatively famous designs from the Triple Alliance's air corps/air forces during WW1. These are the following: The only aircraft that feels different is the Fokker, with it being a bit more maneuverable that the other two. Both the Albatros and the Taube feel almost the same, both having a bit more speed than the Fokker. There are five aircraft in total for the Austro-Hungarian side, but the other two are unavailable to fly on the demo version. MISSION DESIGN This is the part which gives me the most worries. The demo shows you two types of missions: Dogfight oriented missions (with three variations) and a race-like mission. The dogfight missions can have different focuses such as obtaining the maximum score to time trials in which you have to shoot every plane down in the shortest time possible. Missions are really short, with them only having a short "story" paragraph to justify the combat scenario. Story does not seem to be the focus of this game, rather, it seems to be an excuse to put the player in different scenarios. This works perfectly for a demo but, in a full game which promises to be 50 missions long, I sincerely fear that mission design will become rather repetitive. Remember, these are my first impressions, the full game might prove me wrong here but all I can say is that I hope that I am wrong about the feeling I got from the demo missions. PC PORT ODDITIES I will keep this section short and sweet. There are no performance issues what so ever, the game runs smooth as butter even in my three year old computer; but that does not mean that there are no problems with the game when it comes to the port. The graphical options are pretty limited, with only three presets available to set the graphical parameters (LOW, MEDIUM and HIGH). It lacks any kind of graphical customization aside from brightness and the other typical options such as window mode. The main issue I have with the port is that it is still designed around a controller, therefore, there is no mouse cursor to be found. Not even in the menus, there is no way of using the mouse in this game. This frustrated me a bit and I really hope that the devs add it, even if it only pops up to use the menus. CLOSING THOUGHTS Overall, this was a very solid demo that showed the good and the bad that the game has to offer. It gives you just enough to judge if the game is for your or not. If what you read sounds like this is something you could like, give the demo a go, although it might not be available as of the time of publication. Here is a link to the Steam page for the game so you can check it out for yourself. This is not an affiliate link, therefore, we stand to gain nothing from you clicking it. But we encourage you to at least give this game a go if you enjoy arcade flight games at all. About the author Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

War Thunder is a game well known for a lot of reasons. From its impressively extensive line-up of vehicles to the drama that happens from time to time in the community from unbalanced tiers or broken features that eventually get patched out, until the next patch where the cycle repeats. But inside of the War Thunder community there is a smaller group that strives to use the game in other ways, to modify it and use its engine for their own community creations. The modders of War Thunder always try to push the boundaries of what is possible in this free-to-play game by creating everything from their own custom missions to more complex mods like custom aircraft and vehicles and sharing them for everyone to enjoy. To date, the most complex mod of them all is Ace Thunder Zero. This mod is, in my opinion, the single most amazing piece of content that the War Thunder community has ever put out. Today we talk with its main developer and the person behind the vision that made this project possible, Avarik, to get a little more perspective as to how complex this mod really is and what it took to make it a reality. Q: What made you get into modding War Thunder or just modding in general? Did you have any help or someone that helped you learn the ropes? A: I've got into modding in War Thunder from my desire to create cinematics. I first started to learn the ropes of the Mission Editor back when Gaijin Entertainment opened up user missions to online custom battles, I joined the group of mission creators who were the first beta testers of that functionality, from then I played around a lot with the mission editor and learnt to utilize actions and conditions more efficiently, and I have lightly touched at modifying existing units in War Thunder for some of my earlier cinematics. But my first true experience with modding the game was when I was making Battle Thunder 1944, a recreation of Battlefield 1942's intro cinematic, it was my first attempt at exporting a model to War Thunder and my first true experience at modding the game, where I modified and created custom units so that I could create most of the scenes using both myself and the AI to make them as accurate as possible. It took me about 3 or so months to finish, but I learnt valuable information from it and from there I continued to develop my experience and knowledge of the War Thunder CDK and the Dagor engine in general. I did have help to learn the ropes from another guy who I was working on the mod with, RideR2, but also other fellow people in the CDK community, Gallonmate in particular who taught me how to export 3d models into War Thunder, and when I couldn't find some answers I turned to datamining and reverse engineering existing configurations, which helped me develop my own methods for more serious modding. Gaijin Entertainment themselves have also been fundamentally involved in helping me learn how to us their tools, when I didn't know how to do something that wasn't available on their wiki or I failed to datamine myself, I turned to them directly, their developers are amazing people who love to share their knowledge, I wouldn't have known half of what I know if not for them. Q: This has got to be the most complex mod out there for War Thunder as of now, congratulations on finally getting out there. But I have got to ask, with so many features, for how long were you working on this mod? Did you ever think about giving up at some time? A: It took me approximately 1.5 years on and off to create this mod, I work in the gaming industry myself and my job takes a considerable amount of my time so I spent most of my free time developing Ace Thunder Zero, it was a long ride but I feel it was worth the effort. I didn't really think about giving up, but my original pitch was actually to just continue to create cinematics, but when I saw the overwhelming amount of people who wanted to play with the exported models I figured I might as well try to make an actual proper mod for War Thunder with a higher production value than most mods, RideR2 joined me in this endeavour after showing interest in creating an arcade-like game mode for War Thunder, and Ace Combat was clearly the best choice for this game mode. It isn't a secret that I've invested both time and money into this, I didn't want to just create a visual mod or a simple one, I wanted to create a mod with a story-line and completely new game mechanics, that is what kept me forward from giving up. Q: Where there any features that were particularly hard to implement or ones in which you had to take a creative approach in order to make it work? A: The one thing that ended up being hard to make it work properly were the SAM, TLS and MPBM. Originally, ground and naval units in War Thunder could not fire rockets or missiles properly without some workarounds, and this is to an extent true to aircraft as well. Me and RideR2 discovered that, if we bind the weapon group of the missile to that of a standard weapon, and make the AI also fire a dummy gun, it will make them fire a missile too, that is how we were able to get SAM units to work. The TLS was mostly an easy implementation, but as more patches came out for War Thunder, the more broken it became, at some point the laser stopped doing damage and we were forced to add another invisible weapon to compensate for that, which worked out well in the end as we were able to more easily balance the damage the TLS did. It also currently only renders in cockpit view, yet it still functions normally in any other view and will damage enemies correctly. The MPBM was mostly an easy implementation, but we ran into some issues with the blast radius until we figured out we can override the game's normal parameters by removing the explosive type the weapon would use, making it purely dependent on blast radius and explosive mass. Q: As far as I understand there were other people involved in the making of this mod. Who are they and what did they do? A: Originally it was just me and RideR2, me being the 3D model/animation guy expert who created custom assets and also the one who used the CDK for asset utilization and the main mission creator, while RideR2 was the guy who did most of the configuration and template creations and made all units and weaponry behave the way they did, he also created The Gauntlet mission. I've also received major help from RythusOmega and Dantofu when it comes to handling models from Ace Combat 7, if not for them I wouldn't have started doing Ace Combat cinematics and later on the Ace Thunder mod. Besides me and RideR2, there were a lot of other people who contributed the following: Net-Zone: Broken Accord's OST GaMetal: The Gauntlet's OST Pandramodo: Trailer creation njmksr: ADFX-02 skins leroyonly: Dracul, MiG-21 & Potato skins reyhael: Normal mapping mobiusu14: Briefing Screen mothman47: Briefing Narrator Flipped StuG: AWWNB Pilot 1 Essi: Escudo 2 Ronan Yakowitz: AWACS Sick2Day: Savage 1 & AI skins The Iron Armenian aka G.I. Haigs: Savage 2 Michiganon: Osean Army Platoon Optical Ilyushin: Halo 1 Yimie Yu: Halo 4 and Grau Team emblem artwork Lt Rainbow Slash: Dracul 1 - Ac3ofNight: Grau 3 Flaschengeist: Grau 2 Dane Ewell / SwissChicken: Grau 1 Eclipse: Grau 4 Atsuk0: Tester lnVader: Tester Killerofal: Tester Vulpinaut: Tester MikeGoesBoom: Tester Roach: Tester Q: I was genuinely surprised to see the opening cutscene having as much detail as it did. It felt like a genuine homage to Ace Combat Zero’s style with a lot of attention to detail. For how long was this in the works and how hard was this to make? A: In short: Very hard. Before coming up with the idea of making a briefing cinematic for the mod, I wanted to make sure I get all the details correctly and not just make a simple briefing that shows what the player needs to do, there have been a lot of lore to cover to make sure no holes are made or mis-match with existing Ace Combat Zero canon, I wanted to stick to the original story but from a different point of view. I've commissioned Mobiusu14 to create a briefing cutscene after I have seen his previous artwork of an Ace Combat 7 briefing styled in Ace Combat Zero. Mobiusu14 created all the 2d assets and 3d animation, while I animated and organized all the 2d assets and script for the narrator, Mothman47, who did a spectacular job being the briefing guy. Mobiusu14 is also an excellent artist and I hope we all get to work together again if more missions are made.The briefing itself took us about 3 or so months to finish, implementing it in the game wasn't as hard but certainly not easy either. The cinematics rely on a feature that exists in War Thunder but has not been made open for custom assets and has only been utilized in tutorial missions, until Gaijin opened it up for us - It's basically a configuration file that tells the game to render video and image files located in the game's folders. Q: How are the “Destroyed” and the rest of UI elements handled? Are they static images over imposed over the screen? A: Correct, they are static images I created myself based on their Ace Combat Zero counterpart, they too use that configuration file I mentioned which renders external images and videos in the game. Q: Story-wise the mod does fit very well with what we know happened in ACZ, taking some liberties of course. Did you have any help with the writing of the dialogue and the setting? Ace Thunder Zero trailer by Pandramodo. A: For the most part the dialogue and settings was mostly my own research and knowledge of Ace Combat lore, but since I was working with other people who have played and know a lot about Ace Combat lore, they too have helped with that, especially Mobiusu14 while we were working on the briefing. I have thought a lot ahead for when and if I create more missions, so I have the full storyline already in check and ready to be utilized for future missions implementation, all fitting within existing canon, I have no intention to change the storyline or the outcome of the original Ace Combat Zero ending, but I'm not gonna spoil how I plan to wrap things up. Since I believe most people recognize the "Mercenary route" as the canon route in Ace Combat Zero, I am trying to follow A World With No Boundaries story and point of view with that in mind, and the lore actually goes much deeper with that - Try to decipher who each member of Grau Team is for example and then look how deep the rabbit holes goes. :) Q: The enemy AI is very aggressive and maneuvers really well, for War Thunder that is. Did you make any tweaks to it? A: Of course, the AI uses modified flight models and damage models, but other than that it uses standard AI behavior from existing configurations located in the game, we currently have no way to create true custom AI properties but perhaps this will be doable in the future, we do know how to customize them but the game has no way of reading custom properties at this time. The standard AI is also not able to fire missiles normally, like with the ground units. RideR2 and me have discovered that AI aircraft can in fact fire rockets and missiles if they are fired from a turret, so the solution was to add static invisible turrets to them and this way they can fire missiles at enemy aircraft. Q: It was a bit odd seeing heat seeker missiles track ground targets as I know that is not a possibility inside vanilla WT. How is this handled in-game? A: It wasn't a possibility back then which forced us to use a workaround - I created an invisible box model and designated it as an aircraft. By planting that aircraft under ground units, I was able to make heat seeking missiles track and attack them, but nowadays this is a simple toggle feature in the missile's configuration file, you can simply tell the missile what kind of unit it can track, so if you want to make a heat seeker that can track both air and ground targets, you can very easily do just that by changing a line of code. Q: Last but certainly not least, do you have any future plans in regards with War Thunder modding? A: Hopefully, yes. Besides advancing the Ace Thunder mod further, I do wish to share my knowledge and help expand the modding community in War Thunder so that more people will give it a try and perhaps come up with things even greater than what I have done - War Thunder is a game with limitless modding potential, but the knowledge and desire to actually mod the game is very scarce in the community, I hope that can be changed for the better. I would like to extend my thanks to Avarik for allowing me to have this interview with him, it was a pleasure to talk to him. Please, if you have not already, do yourself a favor and try Ace Thunder Zero. I assure you that you will have a blast playing with the Morgan against hordes of aircraft and even aces! About the interviewer Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy#9034

First hitting the skies of DCS in 2017, the AJS-37 Viggen has established itself as a standard of quality in the game. It was released under Leatherneck Simulations at first but after some internal struggles arose, the entire development team behind the Viggen parted ways with Leatherneck and Magnitude 3, becoming the studio now known as Heatblur Simulations. A ground-pounder by soul, this double delta provides a suite of possibilities like no other module out there. Unique weaponry and a very believable ground radar functionality, this aircraft makes itself shine through raw uniqueness alone. In this review I will dive deep into the Viggen and all its quirks and features to let you, the reader, judge if this Swedish monster is for you. This piece will be divided into several parts: External and internal 3D models Visual and sound effects Flight modelling Mission capability Armament Ease of use and learning curve Single player content Is this aircraft for you? EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL 3D MODELS If there is one thing that defines Heatblur it is quality and the Viggen shows it. This aircraft has been modeled to an extreme amount of detail. Nothing comes out as wonky or out of date, which is impressive considering that this module is now over three years old. A lot of love was put into making it a realistic depiction of the AJS-37, down to some things I wouldn't have thought important or crucial. EVEN THE SMALL THINGS The thing that impressed me the most is that this is one of if not the only aircraft with a modeled RAT turbine. This is something that most players will not even notice or care about as it is not a weapon or a system you will rely upon constantly, but it shows the degree of which this module has been modeled. If there is another set of features that I particularly liked, they are all the animations, particularly the thrust-reverser. A unique feature to the Viggen as of the time of writing. While I will not go in-depth in this section of the review on how awesome the reverser is. I will show you its cool animation just because I do not want to think I am the only one that likes things like this. Cockpit-wise, the Viggen continues to impress me with its quality. From the lighting to the texture work, this is one of the only cockpits that I turn in just to look at it. The way the lights react with the weathered textures and the glow of the radar scope give it a very in-era look, which I always welcome. The only "bad" part is that some of the textures are starting to age a bit, particularly on the text, but that is something that Heatblur can improve upon. Here are some day and night shots of it so you can see for yourself: VISUAL AND SOUND EFFECTS This is an area in which a lot of aircraft do good at and the Viggen is no different. While it does not have any fancy over wing vapor effects, wingtip vortexes can be seen on both the main wing and, in cases of high AoA, on the canards as well. In terms of other external effects that are noteworthy the only one that I can think of my mind is the afterburner effect: The effect is different from other aircraft as the "flame" does not extend too far away from the fuselage, but as far as I know that is by design and correct to the Volvo RM8A engine. The area where the Viggen shines the most is its sound. It is clear that the developers wanted this part of the module to be much more polished than the rest of the modules out there. From the distinct clanks of the switches to the clicks that the throttle makes as it moves over its detents, this gives life to the aircraft. Afterburners are no joke either, being clearly audible from inside and outside the cockpit, letting you know how your engine is behaving. There is one particular sound in this aircraft that you do not want to hear, but I will go over that in the next section of the review. Overall, the Viggen has one of the best designed sound environments in DCS and I am glad that Heatblur put a lot of effort into it. Here are some clips so you can hear what I just described to you, pay attention to the clicks of the throttle as I move it: EXAMPLES In-cockpit on the ground (idle-full afterburner-idle) In-cockpit in the air (idle-full afterburner-idle) External sound on the ground (idle-full afterburner-idle) Fly-by at 900Km/h (Volume warning) FLIGHT MODELING Ohboy, here is the best part of the module. This bird feels authentic not just because it is a joy to fly, but because it can also be a pain to fly. Let me explain myself. The brilliantly crazy people that made this module made sure that even the bad parts of the Viggen's characteristics were there, including the dreaded compressor stalls that one can suffer at high AoA. That is the only sound you do not want to hear in this aircraft; I will leave a sample at the end of this section. The Viggen likes being down-low, it was designed for it. It has outstanding acceleration on the deck and can out-accelerate most other aircraft but only at low altitude, so keep that in mind for those intercept missions out there. Maneuverability-wise this is not an aircraft you will want to do dogfights in. Even though it has an excellent instant turn-rate, that will stop the moment you run out of energy. Your engine starts starving, craving for air that it is not getting, so be careful with those. It is a relatively stable platform with the help of SPOK, your stability augmentation system. With it enabled, you will notice less oscillations as you get out of a bank or similar situations. It can also help you to land thanks to the AFK, your automatic throttle control. This system will maintain 550kph when the gear is up and an AoA of 12° or 15.5° if you so desire by pressing the 15.5° button. The entire computer suite does feel restrictive but it is good enough to make your life easier while flying. The thrust reverser is the cherry on top of the cake, allowing you to land almost everywhere you want provided that there is at least 500m of level terrain, preferably paved but gravel will do. If you get the Viggen, use this even if it is just to do donuts in reverse to make fun of other inferior aircraft that lack reverse capability. Overall, this is a wonderful little machine with quirks upon quirks that make her special. Here is the sample of the compressor stall, notice the warning that precedes it: MISSION CAPABILITY This is an area in which the Viggen both shines and is at its worst, at least to me. To understand the Viggen's role one must put itself in the shoes of 1970's Sweden. At this time a Soviet invasion was a real possibility, one that was taken so seriously that the entire Swedish Armed Forces were built around it. The Air Force, specifically, had as a requisite that all Swedish Air Force front-line fighters were to be able to operate from short/damaged airfields or even road-side bases in the case the Soviets destroyed all the runways. A PRODUCT OF ITS TIME For that reason, the Viggen we have in game (the AJS-37, not the JA-37) has a very specific role in mind: Anti-ship and low-level precision strikes. This leaves the Viggen highly dependent on pre-planned targets and pop-up attacks that require specific target information to be performed successfully, primarily the target's QFE (atmospheric pressure). To be clear, this does not necessarily mean anything is wrong with the module, it is just that the DCS multiplayer environment does not lend itself that well to highly planned missions outside of smaller, more coordinated group sessions where pre-planned objectives can be followed. The Viggen can be operated on a target of opportunity basis too mainly thanks to the amazingly done ground radar that the module has, but at that point you are missing some of what makes the Viggen such a capable aircraft despite its shortcomings. I love this aircraft but I find myself flying it less than what I would like for this very fact, but for some odd reason I still keep coming back and flying it more. ARMAMENT AKAN GUN PODS 150 rounds (per pod) of 30mm-sized death at 1300RPM. These are for when you want to kill something and you do not know much about it. They can be used for both air to air and air to ground roles. They are pretty accurate, if you aim right. RB-24 / RB-24J SIDEWINDER MISSILES As with the F-5E-3, these are the only dedicated air to air weapons you will have aside from the gun pods. You have access to two variants: the RB-24J (AIM-9P) and an RB-24 (AIM-9L). They are easily spoofed by flares so you better pack several of them. ARAK ROCKET PODS The most fun you will have with the Viggen, period. These are 135mm in diameter making them deadly even against well reinforced armor. These pods empty in only 0.6 seconds , spitting a figurative wall of death and destruction in the direction of the poor souls who dare stand in front of you. Oh, and they can be used for both pre-planned and unplanned targets. RB-75 MAVERICK One of the only precision guided munitions, and in fact, the only one that has its dedicated TV scope mounted to the side of the HUD (see second picture by clicking the arrow). These are your standard Maverick missiles, so nothing really out of the ordinary. A cool weapon nonetheless, though. M/71 GENERAL PURPOSE BOMBS Capable yet a bit lacking in firepower due to their 120Kg mass, these bombs rely on their numbers to carpet bomb an area into oblivion. There is also an illumination variant that will turn the darkest night into daytime in less time that I empty my ARAK pods. RB-05 RADIO CONTROLLED AIR TO SURFACE MISSILE Manually guided by you, the pilot, this missile will follow your directions to its last moment. Capable of air to ground and air to air thanks to its proximity fuse capability. They are quite a lot of fun once you get used to them. RB-04 ANTI-SHIP MISSILE Packing their own radar, these oddly shaped missiles are the older option for anti-shipping operations. Once launched, they will find their own target and give it a date with Poseidon. RB-15 ANTI-SHIP MISSILE A more modern alternative for the anti-shipping business, these missiles do not screw around. They can be pre-programmed with their own waypoints and search patterns, making them a lot more complicated than the RB-04, in theory. In practice, you can just designate a target with your radar and call it a day. BK-90 CLUSTER MUNITIONS A.K.A MJOLNIR The wrath of Thor will fall upon your enemies once you throw these out. The only thing that they are missing are lightning bolts coming out of them. They are truly bringers of destruction if employed correctly, which can be tricky. They have both an AP and HE variants. COUNTERMEASURES AND ELINT Lacking internal countermeasures aside from the radar warning receiver, the Viggen has to rely on external pods for self-defense countermeasures. One pod for chaff and flares (right) and one for ECM (left). This can be a bit frustrating as you have to give away two of your pylons just to have the ability to defend yourself against missiles. ELINT allows you to do recon-stuff, data gathering and most things of that nature. Some servers have it implemented as a core feature so it can be useful under some circumstances. EASE OF USE AND LEARNING CURVE This is the only part that makes me weary of recommending the Viggen to some of my friends. To put it bluntly, this aircraft is not for everyone. Not because of bugs or anything like that, but because of how different it is from every other aircraft out there. Everything from the cockpit layout to the weapon management system is just alien. Well, as alien as Sweden can be. It was an aircraft designed in-house for the needs of the Swedish nation with little to no external influence at all. This is not a bad thing, it is just something that someone has to get used to first prior to enjoying the Viggen for what it is. It does have its good parts. DESIGN DIFFERENCES For instance, the HUD design relies much more on symbology than, for example, American aircraft. It is absolutely brilliant in its application but for someone transitioning from an A-10C or a F-16C, the HUD might look bare and unintuitive; which it is not. It is in fact rather well designed and allows you to take all the information you might need at a simple glance. A sign of a good design. This is not a novice-friendly aircraft either, mainly due to the way one interacts with the data computer. The keypad, (top of the right console in the cockpit pictures of the first section), is the only way you can interact with it. It relies on a lot of codes to do certain things, like program RB-15 missiles. It is not the worst I have seen, so there is that as well. To summarize: I really don't recommend this aircraft for beginners as the learning process can be quite complicated. But, don't let me discourage you from taking up the challenge. If you feel like you can do it, then go for it! SINGLE PLAYER CONTENT This module comes with two campaigns that are linked narratively. These campaigns offer quite a lot of fun and showcase the pre-planned mission potential that the Viggen has in a way that many other campaigns fail to accomplish. I sincerely recommend trying these out even while you are learning the module. Even if it is just to hone your skills a bit more in something other than a simple training mission. IS THIS MODULE FOR YOU? If what you want in a module is: To break space-time on the deck. A very interesting avionics suite. An excellent flight model with a tons of room for fun. A Swedish masterpiece. If you don't mind: The design differences that come with indigenous aircraft. The somewhat limited dogfighting capabilities. The excessively steep learning curve for a novice. Having a lot of patience and time to learn how to use it. If all or some of the above is what you want, then Heatblur's AJS-37 Viggen is for you. About the writer: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

IL-2 Great Battles is a game filled with wonderful aircraft from two of the most important eras of aviation: World War 1 and World War 2. From the humble yet powerful Albatros D.Va to Germany's wunderwaffe, the Me-262. This game is filled with legends of wartime aviation like almost no other game out there, even without considering that a new expansion is coming. Today, we wanted to give one of these legends, the P-38J Lightning, the spotlight in the first article of our new Plane Spotlight series. We will take a look at the aircraft, some of its history and how the game represents it. Without further ado, let's jump in! INTRODUCTION Designed by Lockheed-Martin, the P-38 is one of those aircraft that is instantly recognizable for its unique silhouette and intimidating profile that inspires both admiration and awe. It strays from more conventional aircraft design philosophies of the era by utilizing a twin boom design with the pilot located between them, "suspended" on a nacelle which also held the guns and cannon. This configuration was also used similarly on an another similarly unique-looking aircraft such as the German Fw-189 and the P-61 Black Widow, another american aircraft. Due to this wing configuration it is also equipped with a tricycle landing gear, a feature only a few aircraft of the era had but one that would become the norm with the birth of the jet. The Lightning had many variants made throughout the war, but the one present in IL-2 Great Battles as a Collector aircraft is the late-war P-38J-25. This is, in my opinion, the pinnacle of this aircraft's design. It includes better engines with a better intercooler and, most importantly, dive recovery flaps that aided in solving the P-38's most important problem: loss of control due to compressibility. For those who do not know, the P-38 was designed before compressibility was a known physical effect. In fact, it was one of if not the first American aircraft that suffered from this. During testing, this aircraft demonstrated adverse effects when crossing a certain speed threshold (usually above or around Mach 0.65) which made it borderline unrecoverable during a dive. The J-25 models and some older ones (J-10 and J-20) were fitted/retro-fitted with a dive recovery system in the form of an airbrake/dive flap which eliminated much of this issue. The Lightning is an aircraft that in its time pushed engineering to its limits and one that many pilots trusted their lifes to, becoming the one that made some of them aces over the Pacific and Europe. THE BEAUTIFUL LINES OF THE LIGHTNING In IL-2 Great Battles, the P-38 has been beautifully represented. Every bolt, seam and panel has been modeled to a very high degree of detail. What impressed me the most were the visible marks of wear and tear that an aircraft would have, it does not look like a factory-new aircraft. The area around the intercooler has a lot of oil as it should, and notice one more thing; the oil splatters follow the direction of the airflow. Look at the propeller's spinner and see how the oil follows the rotational direction of the prop, amazing. This is simply-put, a beautiful depiction of a spectacular aircraft. The cockpit is equally well-made. All the gauges are there and mostly correspond with this model of P-38. My only gripe about this and all other aircraft in IL-2 Great Battles that I can not interact or click any of this gorgeous cockpit unlike how I would be able on IL-2 Cliffs of Dover/Desert Wings. I would love to click and move around all the levers and switches. The following images are a gallery, click the arrows to scroll around! FLYING AND FIGHTING IN THE LIGHTNING To be completely honest, I love the way it flies. I do not know what it is but it feels a bit better than some of the other aircraft in the game. It has more weight to it and it does not lack in engine power, which makes it feel a bit more like a flying battering ram. It lacks a bit of maneuverability but that is natural considering that it is heavier and larger than something like a Spitfire or a Mustang. Another part that I really like about the Lightning is how the superchargers spool up as speed increases. This is characteristically distinctive of the Allison V-1710 engines equipped on the aircraft, which aided it in high altitude performance and endurance. Here, have a listen: The best role that the P-38 can do is, in my opinion, that of a fighter-bomber. It can carry a lot of ordinance for a very long distance with the added bonus of being able to defend itself from enemy fighters with its four .50 caliber machine guns and its singular 20mm cannon. Do not get me wrong, this is an aircraft that can dogfight if the pilot manages its energy well, but there are better and more maneuverable fighters on the Allies' roster which are much more easier to dogfight on than the Lightning. Oh, by the way, sometimes all it takes is a single hit of your 20mm cannon to decimate the enemy aircraft. Really satisfying. CONCLUSIONS If I had to buy just one of the Collector aircraft for IL-2 Great Battles, it would be this one. It is versatile, unique and a lot of fun to fly. It has showed me that sometimes it does matter if you can dogfight on an aircraft but that you can also have fun doing boom-and-zoom attacks on enemy aircraft and ground-pounding airbases into oblivion. The Lightning will serve you well- About the writer: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

This article is dedicated to my dear friend Gabriel, who is the helicopter pilot that first opened my eyes to the wonders of the rotary wings so many years ago. Thank you so much. For a lot of years I have felt a sense of awe when looking at a helicopter, be them civilian or military. I have fond memories of spending hours upon hours on a mall's terrace as a child, looking at the only airport that my city has and the air traffic that came and went. Many of those hours were spent looking at helicopters, mainly at the Twin Hueys and Mi-2s that the national Air Force had based there. I always liked them but it never beat the feeling of a King Air 200 passing 100 feet above me on final approach. It was not until my country, for good or bad, decided to acquire some Mi-26 helicopters that I realized how amazing helicopters were, not only as aircraft but as marvels of human engineering. When I saw the Mi-26 fly, I was shocked at the sound and the sheer size of it. In fact, I was so impressed that between me and my friends we always called them the "Flying Whales". But my real life amazement for helicopters was not one that I shared in simulators. For years all I ever used were fixed wing aircraft, for reasons which I can not pin-point with accuracy. Maybe it was the speed of the fighters or the comforting sound of a turboprop, I really do not know why I was and am so drawn to fixed wing aircraft. I, willingly, never gave any helicopter a chance in any of the simulators I have had since the early 2000's. It wasn't until recently when I finally decided that I would give the rotary wings a go, both for my sake of trying something different and to allow myself to create more diverse content for the website. But I was not willing to take a full dive into helicopters just yet, hence why my first ever experience with rotary wings was the Kamov Ka-50. I had previously heard that the Ka-50 was a highly automated machine with tons of autopilot aid which should make the flying experience much more friendly to a novice. And in fact, what I heard was true. It was a bit tricky at first because I was not used to using my throttle as a collective, which led to some very embarrassing crashes. Once I got used to it, it became second nature to me so I started doing more interesting things with the Kamov, such as cargo lifting and scout operations in multiplayer servers. But it didn't take me long to realize that the Ka-50 does not offer the true helicopter experience I was searching for. I was not using my "anti-torque" pedals as much as I thought, nor was I correcting for many undesirable effects. Hovering it was a piece of cake, even without the auto-hover being enabled. In my eyes, it felt much more like a fighter aircraft than a helicopter. For a complete summary of my feelings on the Kamov, and why I like it despite everything, I suggest you check out my DCS: Ka-50 Black Shark 2 review. During the last DCS sale, I took the decision to buy the UH-1H for review purposes but-oh- how it surprised me. I went in thinking that this would be different experience when comparing it with the Kamov but I did not expect it to be a figurative night and day difference. The Huey is a very different beast, one that requires much more attention. I found myself not only enjoying myself but I also found myself having the same feeling of amazement that I had in real life. I will not lie, it took me a while to adjust from the Kamov to the Huey but now that I feel confident enough in my flying I can truly understand what I was missing with the Ka-50. I went from barely using my pedals in level flight to using them constantly. The way I use the cyclic and the pedals is much more different than how I used it on the Kamov, with the Huey requiring much more hand-foot coordination in order to counteract the torque. Torque was the main thing missing from the Kamov but that is to be expected due to its co-axial rotor system. This experience changed my mind when it comes to appreciating the work of a helicopter pilot and the precision one has to have in day-to-day operations. I also realized that a fixed wing aircraft is inherently stable by design, which makes them much more simple to fly in most scenarios. To put it bluntly, in a fighter aircraft I find fun by employing the weaponry that they have, in the Huey I find fun just by the sheer experience of flying it. Hence, the title of this article. The DCS Huey is the digital helicopter that convinced me to stop worrying about the complexity of learning a helicopter and taught me how to love them. I can not wait to see how the DCS: Mi-24P, the Mi-8 or any other helicopters differ from this one once I get my hands on them, consider me impressed. About the writer: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

After many years of anticipation and a long development cycle, Project Wingman finally took off on December 1st, 2020. This game, which takes heavy inspiration from other flight arcade titles but primarily from Project Aces' Ace Combat franchise, has a lot going for it but at the same time there are some things that do need to be addressed. As usual with my reviews I will separate this into several categories so that you, the reader, can formulate your own judgement as to whether this game is for you: Introduction and origins Environments, art style and UI design 3D assets and Textures Story Gameplay Conquest Mode Day-one bugs/problems and the future Is this game for you? Thanks to Prov, Hueman, Ribbon-Blue and BillytheKid for their contributions to this article. Also, thanks to Humble Games for the press copy of the game, much appreciated! DISCLAIMER: Humble Games gave us complete creative freedom over this review and the opinions that will be written are my own. WARNING: This review will contain spoilers for this game's story. These will be contained in the STORY section of the review or when explicitly disclaimed. INTRODUCTION AND ORIGINS Project Wingman (PW) as a game has its roots all the way back in 2016 with the first 0.1.0 Alpha versions of the game. These, as its natural for very early WIP builds, were very rough but showed a lot of promise from the very beginning. After two years of development and various very interesting public demo releases, the developers decided to start a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to fund the project in order to be able to develop a fully fledged-out game. The team was a small group of three individuals, the most crucial of them all being RBD2, the main developer/art designer/sound designer/almost everything game dev related behind the game. He served as the driving force behind the project, being the one that started it all. Alongside him were FlyAwayNow, the Producer Manager, and Jose Pavli, the song writer behind the game's soundtrack. A small thing with very big goals. Unsurprisingly, their goal of 35.000AUD was not only met but surpassed threefold with a total of around 115.000AUD having been raised by the end of the campaign. The demo version of the game which was tailored as a showcase for the Kickstarter campaign is still available. After two more years of final development and a couple of delays, the game finally dropped on December 1st, 2020 to very positive public reception. Now, let's go look at the game itself. ENVIRONMENTS, ART STYLE AND UI DESIGN Even at the very start, with the first alpha builds of the game, PW has had a rather unique art style and art direction while also letting itself be inspired by UI layouts from other flight games. The color pallet used seems to be more grounded, less flashy which lends itself really well to the somewhat prevalent bleakness of the environments.The game was built around Unreal Engine 4, which does lend itself to some absolutely stunning visuals if utilized correctly. Environments are varied as well. From mountainous regions to deserts, oil rigs, lava deposits, cities and tropical islands. I think it is better if I show you some examples so you can judge for yourself (POSSIBLE LOCATION SPOILERS). The UI is very stylish, opting for a sort of canted and angled look to its elements which blends well with the rest of the game while also allowing for a bit more viewing space for the player. I have some small critiques such as the use of post processing on the UI itself which can make it look fuzzy and unfocused. There is also the difficulty in reading some of the distant UI elements of the HUD such as the names on named Ace enemies. One fact that I do like about the UI is that it is rather customizable, allowing the player to change its color, scaling and even the subtitle position on the screen. A good UI is one that gives the players all the information they need without getting in the way and this one surely accomplishes that. It is also worth mentioning that the developers are still tweaking some aspects of the maps, which they have already done by giving a couple of maps a lighting re-work that fixed some of the complaints that the community had (patch 1.0.4C). This is something I will mention later in greater detail, but the fact that the devs are listening to the bug reports is very important. Another very important aspect of this game is its soundtrack. Composed by Jose Pavli, this OST has a lot of amazing songs that fit the game very well. One of the best examples I can give is Mission 11's song, Showdown. It is a song that reminded me of one of the most famous songs from Ace Combat 04, Comona. But it also does not let the inspiration take control and defines itself very well. Have a listen: The only factor that I will "critique" about the OST is that it sometimes gets a bit buried by the sounds of battle and the gameplay itself. The songs have delicate arrangements that end up lost by the factors I have already mentioned. But I sincerely love the OST and believe that its composer did a fantastic job, regardless of the shortcomings. 3D ASSETS, TEXTURES AND EFFECTS This area is a hit and miss, a constant that will become apparent on other areas of the game. And please, do not get me wrong, as we have to look at everything with context in mind. This is a game that was made by a small team, and the word small there seems kind of huge. There are also budget limitations and certain things take priority, things which I will expand upon later in the review. Aircraft external models and their textures are pretty spot on, they look sweet. The 3D models are very nicely rigged and animated, the control surfaces move with some weight to them and do not make exaggerated movements. The textures also look like they do belong on a post-apocalyptic mercenary group, having marks of extensive use and chipped/weathered sections that have not being touched up in a while. Overall, pretty neat. This also applies to the enemy aircraft, although appreciating them in the heat of battle is quite the challenge. To me, the best part of this game's world-building is shown through the modeling and detail that was put into this game's most iconic enemies, its airships: These behemoths fit into this world's aesthetic fantastically. The detail that was put into modeling these beasts should not be understated. But not everything can be sunshine and rainbows. Every playable aircraft has its own 3D cockpit model. These range from pretty alright to obvious asset reuse. Don't get me wrong, asset reuse is very justifiable under certain scenarios as it allows developer to have a bit more time and resources that would be rather be spent on more critical areas. But something like what I will show next is not: To the left is the F/C-16 and to the right is the cockpit of the Chimera, an original superplane prototype. To me this is nothing bad, more so when one can see that the Chimera was inspired by the F-16XL prototype. But it is undeniable that the Chimera's cockpit is nothing more than a F/C-16 cockpit that was tinted red and without the HUD frame. None of them look bad, to me this is just a missed opportunity that would have made the Chimera stand out a bit more. What is a bit worse is that some textures are clearly being reused over numerous aircraft, with some of them being quite evident as it is the case of what I will call "the green circle screen". This is one of many textures that are present on several of the cockpits, but mostly on those that have multi function displays (MFDs). The worst of these cases is the one present on the Sk.27's right screen. Take a look for yourself: It is clear that this texture was made for square screens. So grabbing it and enlarging it to cover the space of a rectangular screen just makes it look disproportionate. I have talked with several other people and most of them pointed out this to me as well, so I am not the only one that noticed it. I am sure that this is something rather easy to fix as it is a texture, so I do expect that the devs will fix it in the long run, at least when they have fixed some of the other bugs that deserve more attention. The cockpits are not the prettiest but they get the job done, I just wished that they were of the same quality and style as the external models. Yet another problem that I have is with the quality of the ground textures. Sure, you won't be flying close or slow enough to the ground to notice it most of the time. But when it shows, it shows: Coming back on a good note, let's talk about something more positive: the visual effects. Explosions are wonderfully made and emit just the right amount of glow, making them illuminate the smoke that they produce. Here is an example taken by BIllyTheKid, who kindly provided several screenshots for us to use. As you can see, particles effects are pretty well done and the explosions have this "oomph" to them that make them satisfying to watch. A fantastic job, if you ask me. STORY (SPOILER WARNING) From a point of view of complete honesty, I have my reservations with some parts of the story. But let me start from the beginning, as it is important that we are on the same level of knowledge. The following recap is very rough, so a lot of subtleties will be lost: You play as "Monarch", a mercenary working for the Sicario Mercenary Group, specifically for the Hitman Squadron. The game starts with you finishing the last part of a contract for a client (The Federation), which has you attacking another group of mercenaries. At the end of the mission, yet another group of mercenaries informs you that civil war has broken on the country of Cascadia as they seek independence from the Federation. So your boss, taking advantage of the situation, sends you Cascadia's way to join the Cascadian Independent Forces. The story moves from point to point, introducing certain aspects of the world and the story as missions pass. From your antagonist to certain aspects of your own squadron mates. You face against the antagonist (Crimson squadron) several times, each time you leave an impression on them as the only mercenary that can challenge them. The war continues and your momentum is impressive, annihilating Federation forces. It was not until very late in the war that the Federation decided to go a bit "nuclear". They cause a second calamity on the city of Prospero, leaving almost no survivors and causing a chain reaction that created a new uninhabitable zone on the continent. In the midst of the calamity, you fight another squadron of mercenaries that are trying to hunt you down, they know your real identities. The fact that they know who you and your squadmates are means that you will be hunted down by mercenaries and bounty hunters. The Cascadian government offers you a deal, a deal that will make sure that your identity's reveal does not mean anything after the war, total protection. You survive through the calamity by hunkering down on an improvised airfield (which in actuality is an incomplete highway) until the worst passes. After two months, your squadron starts attacking the remnants of the Federation's army that are still alive on Cascadian territory, including Crimson squadron who you shoot down in its entirety. You make the Federation retreat until the fight ends during the final attack to retake Cascadia's capital, Presidia. It was a long battle but little by little you take apart the Federation's forces until, at the last minute, a ceasefire is settled during a diplomatic meeting. Frustrated by the decision, you accept it reluctantly. It is at this time that the radar fills with more cordium missiles, the same ones that were used to destroy Prospero. Presidia falls and all of your allies are presumed dead (although some after you finish the game on Mercenary it's revealed that some survived). The only ones flying are you and the man behind the cordium attack, Crimson 1, who is flying a prototype aircraft. You proceed to have one final dogfight against him, besting him and shooting him down. Then, the credits roll, the deal was honored. Now, to my opinion. This story needed more time and room to breath. It's pace is fast and leaves you no time to reflect on the actions of the characters, their motivations or their personalities. The game's lack of cutscenes of any kind (apart from one that sincerely does not really count as it is a single static image for a 4 minute long dialogue) really impacts the story. The game overly relies on in-mission dialogue to develop the characters, which is not good as much of the game has very intense gameplay that necessitates the player focus, making it a bit difficult to pay attention to the subtitles or even the voices. Some of the game's characters come out as flat and shallow because of this, the best example being Crimson 1. Crimson needed more in-screen time to explain his motivations. His actions during the final mission have left many players, including myself, blaming him for ruining the pace and claiming that his actions blew the story out of proportion. If the game would have had some cutscenes, even static images à la Ace Combat 04, from Crimson's POV. That could have made the player understand his feelings on an out-of-mission setting, maybe even accomplishing on making the ending have a different impact on me and on many other's perspectives. The destruction of Prospero felt impactful, it felt like it showed the Federation's true evil side. They were so desperate as to blow up the commercial hub of Cascadia just to stop the advancing Cascadian forces without even caring about the civilians or the consequences. But the destruction of Presidia, on the other hand, felt completely unnecessary. Moments like that have to be used sparingly, because the feeling of despair is one that has to be earned. You had already seen the destruction that Cordium can cause, you saw your base in ruins. That was more than enough to prove that the Federation was evil. Presidia's fall felt undeserved, rushed or even questionable. Instead of feeling anger or despair from seeing it in that sorry state, I felt a deep sense of confusion and disappointment. I do believe that the game and its world have great promise, there is an evident amount of care that was put into the setting, but the execution behind the story hurt it. GAMEPLAY This is where Project Wingman shines. It's gameplay is one of the best - if not the best - I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing on an arcade flight game. The sense of flight is very well represented and planes feel like they have weight to them. Is it realistic? No, and that does not matter. An arcade flight game is meant to be fun and to give the player a nice sensation of flight, and Project Wingman does that in spades. Weapons feel fun to use, none of them being too gimmicky or difficult to use. My only complaint would be that the reticle for the unguided bombs is a bit hard to use as it does not really allow the player to judge depth. But besides that the most satisfying weapon to use by far is the gun, both internal and gun pods. The gun pipper is accurate and the time to kill is just right. Overall, I have no more to comment other than that they nailed it! Last but not least, I want to talk a bit about the way Project Wingman handles special weapons (SP) because it is noteworthy. Unlike with other flight arcade games this one uses a "Pylon" system, allowing the player much more loadout freedom than they would have had otherwise. Some aircraft have more freedom than others, but each one has their own unique way of handling certain SP weapons. Speaking of aircraft, the roster will have a lot of familiar faces. It is ample enough to make the game feel like it does not lack variety but not enough to say that all the holes have been filled in the roster. The devs are planning on adding more aircraft down the line so be on the lookout for them! The biggest gameplay feature that this game has is its ability to be played entirely with a VR headset, I will now quote another Skyward staff member, Ribbon-Blue, as he talks a bit about the VR impressions of the game (he will go in-depth with them on an upcoming article): One very positive thing that virtual reality in Project Wingman does have going for it (intentional or not) is that by being forced to use cockpit view, players really can take in the visual style this game is pushing. There is a lot of weather detail and lighting that is missed when flying in third person or HUD views. The canopies actually have scratches and scuffs, missions like Eminent Domain became way more intense because of the absolutely overwhelming amount of weather. Other missions that have low light or haze have more impact and do change the way you approach combat. I noticed myself actively avoiding weather in certain situations, looking for holes in the clouds to go through and really having to pay attention to my HUD when descending through the cloud deck to avoid colliding with terrain. VR being available in both Campaign and Conquest is a huge plus for this game. Even if it could be a slightly better experience in some aspects, I keep needing to remind myself this game was made by such a small team. CONQUEST MODE Do you want the thrill of the gameplay but none of the story? Then Conquest mode is for you. Conquest mode allows you to "transform" Project Wingman into a rogue-like game. It is one of the best aspects of this game, to be honest. You can conquer territory over the period of one run, gain points, arm your own personal airfleet full of fighters and airships. As you conquer the territories, your alert level will go up and with it, the difficulty. But, the moment you die or crash, it is game over. Your progress gets reset with only one exception: your unlocked aircraft and your "prestige points" which are nothing more than fancy credits. This game mode adds a lot of replay value to the game and makes the Project Wingman experience last a bit longer. DAY-ONE BUGS/PROBLEMS AND THE FUTURE It is important to mention that this game, at the day of its release, had an incredible amount of problems and complications. Some of them were not that severe but others were so bad that they made some people's games not even boot up correctly. I personally did not encounter any game-breaking bugs but some of my friends encountered issues with their drivers, others had Unreal Engine 4 issues, others were able to boot up for some time and after closing the game and opening it again, the game refused to boot and crashed instantly until they moved it to a secondary drive. Other issues that people encountered ranged from enemies spawning underground, boss fights having unfair strategies and unclear mechanics, clouds tiling up and looking like waffles from up top, etc. The only issue that I personally found, and ones that I still have, are severe UI scaling issues on 5:4 aspect ratio screens and severe slowdowns during certain scenarios. I have already reported this one to the devs. VR users are still having problems but some of the biggest issues have already been solved. Project Wingman seemed to have launched very rough around the edges, with a lot of unpolished features. We do not know why it launched this way or why they moved forward the release date to December 2020 when they had stated that the game was going to release in 2021. I, personally, would have gladly accepted a delay or the already announced 2021 release window if it meant a more polished game at launch. Yet, here we are. The devs have said that they are focused on bug fixing and that they are even working on adding more planes and features to the game. I sincerely appreciate this from them as it shows that they listen and that they do care about their game. Well done. IS THIS GAME FOR YOU? At an asking price of 24.99USD, Project Wingman has a lot to offer for a very low price. It is not a perfect game and some of its flaws are pretty apparent even to the most diehard of fans. I will just say this: Project Wingman showed that you do not need a big team or a big budget to make something great, all you need is the will to make it happen. If what you want in a game is: Awesome gameplay Thrilling dogfights A replayable gamemode with hours of entertainment A different experience than other flight games A fully VR compatible flight experience A game with modding potential If you don't mind: A story with room to improve Some bugs and performance dips That the game is not a simulator (not a flaw, but there are some people that only like sims) If you agree with all of the above, then RBD2's Project Wingman is for you. Again, thanks to everyone that helped me with this review and to Humble Games for the copy. About the writer: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

Digital Combat Simulator (DCS) is a game that has positioned itself as one of the only surviving modern combat flight simulators of this decade, with its only competition coming from games such as Falcon BMS, which is not technically its own game and more of a community overhaul of a 1999' game. Titles such as IL-2 Great Battles could also count as competition as they do have partial overlaps with regards of WW2 combat, but nothing more. To put it frankly, DCS is the only one doing proper modern combat simulation as of the writing of this article. A big part of what makes DCS, well, DCS; are its aircraft. From propeller-driven warbirds of old to modern marvels of technology, it has something for everyone. Most of these aircraft are simulated to a very high degree, which requires the player to learn them in a similar manner as they would on a real aircraft. This includes a lot of procedures and check-lists to operate the aircraft systems such as radars, targeting pods, guided and unguided weaponry, etc. Are they 100% true to their real-life counterparts? No, and probably for the better as many of the fighters in the sim are still in-service with nations that would very much like some of the things that these fighters have to be kept as secret. What matters is that they are modeled well enough to not cross that line and still give the player one hell of an experience. With this complexity comes a certain learning curve that can, in some cases, be pretty stiff and unforgiving. To get an aircraft from cold and dark to mission ready is a bit of a challenge the first time you pick up an module, no matter if you are a new or experienced player. You will have to do research, read or watch tutorials on how to do the most basic of stuff before you get to the more complex systems and their operations. But this is where I find most of my enjoyment and the main reason why I dedicate a big chunk of my free time to DCS. I have never had the same feeling of getting a laser bomb hit on a target after practicing for almost two days-worth of training to get it right on any other game. It is a feeling that only simulators can give you as they allow you to master your skills. It is that same feeling that drives me to learn more and more about the aircraft that I fly to know about their systems, the way they function and how to interact with them to use them to the maximum, be them combat aircraft or otherwise. But as I said previously, this does not make the learning curve less stiff or harsh. It is only natural that a combat aircraft will have complex systems that need to be managed in order to be combat effective. While I personally find enjoyment in learning to fly these aircraft, I have also heard the opposite from many others. It is an activity that is very time consuming and you already have to have an interest in these things to try them. It is not so much about difficulty as I do believe that everyone is capable of learning anything if they put their minds to it, but more about about time and dedication. In addition, while I cannot get the same feelings from them as I do from a sim, I also enjoy arcade flight games quite a lot (this website has quite a few examples of that). From the more recent Project Wingman to classic Ace Combat games and everything in between. One noteworthy example being Strike Fighters 2, as it brings some of that sim-like excitement without the learning curves of an in-depth sim. But there is just something that DCS has that makes it shine a bit more in my eyes, making it one of those games that I always come back to either to relax after a long day or to learn something new. It must be all the years I have spent playing flight sims, but I have really learnt how to find satisfaction in their complexity and I hope you have too. About the writer: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034

This is going to be a more personal and less formal piece, as it is one that deserves a bit more emotion and openness due to the circumstances that this year brought to many of us. But this will be an article about how this year was very positive for us at Skyward and how you, our readers, have allowed us to do some pretty cool stuff with some very interesting people. Let's start, well, from the very beginning. We rebranded from Project Lighthouse to Skyward Flight Media back in March to search of more creative freedom and a broader set of topics we could tackle aside from Ace Combat. It was a bit scary but I am glad we did it. Since then we have covered many other franchises and expanded our horizons into a more diverse and healthy pool of titles and content types. This year we also did many interviews and collaborations, from shouting out content creators such as the Flight Sim Historian to interviewing groups such as the Frecce Tricolori Virtuali or developers like the wonderful Why485. It has been a very pleasant experience to interact with every single person or group we interviewed this year, thank you so much to everyone who accepted our proposals. We also created different content from what we were used to back in the Project Lighthouse days, such as the series of in-depth reviews of Digital Combat Simulator: World modules that we have available. These take a lot of time to write as they require a considerable amount of research to be able to publish them up to our own standards of quality. Oh, and since I am the one that writes them, I like to give them my own personal touch my making a personalized skin for each and every single aircraft I have reviewed, with the exception of the F-5E and the MB-339 (back when it was a mod and not an upcoming module). Here are the skins that I've created so far for review purposes; I am planning on making them available as soon as the next review is out in January 2021: This year was also the first in which we have received press copies of games and expansions, allowing us to cover games that we wouldn't have been able to. Such was the case with Desert Wings TOBRUK, Project Wingman and IndiaFoxtEcho's MB-339 for FS2020, the first two being some of the most extensive reviews that we have on this site. These opportunities have been crucial in our growth and we appreciate them a lot. Even though this year has been full of struggles and hardship, we were able to grow and expand in a way we were not expecting and for that, from all of the Skyward team, I want to thank everyone who read our articles and explored our website this year. It means the world to us and that is not an understatement. Now, onto more exciting things, let's take a peak into our preliminary plans moving forward into 2021! For 2021 we plan to expand our operations with more dedicated staff, and primarily a third dedicated writer. We also plan to expand our content creation to the video space around Q2 of 2021 with both casual and high production videos. These things are not set in stone but we will make sure to post updates with our plans as soon as they are set. That being said, we will be taking the first two weeks of January to plan out the year and make sure everything's being accounted for. We'll be back in force on the second week of January 2021 with more articles and interviews, so be prepared for those. We'll see you next year. Cheers! About the writer: Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000's leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities but only started being active around the mid 2010's. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and content manager ever since. Twitter | Discord: Cubeboy #9034