Should I upgrade to DCS 2.0?
One thing to consider, at the moment DCS 2.0 does NOT support free Caucasus map so in order to play it you will need to purchase Nevada or Normandy map. Free Caucasus terrain is being updated and hopefully will get release to 2.0 in a few months. Other than that with 2.0 you have access to all new planes, betas and it also looks phenomenally better with pretty good performance.
…another thing to consider (in kind of the opposite direction) is that 2.0 — and specifically the Nevada map — allows you to then go on and purchase the excellent training campaigns that they've made for some of the more popular aircraft.
Now, setting aside the whole pricing and monetisation model of this (you get 2.0 for free, but you have to buy the map, then individually buy the 3 aircraft involved, and then individually buy each campaign), the quality of work and the outright usefulness in all of this is astounding. The designers have set out to not just obsessively simulate the aircraft, but also the training regimes that you'd go through to learn how to use them — often with the benefit of learnings something that will be applicable to
all flying.
Take something as simple as the F-5E familiarisation mission — a part of the basic fighter manoeuvring campaign — which simply tasks you with flying a tour around the Nevada map. To aid you, you have a single, bare-bones TACAN receiver, five different stations that you will need to tune in to, and a kneeboard listing 12 waypoints. The F-5 has no other navigation aids. You
will learn how to use TACAN for offset flying to specific points on a map, and you'll do it quickly, or you'll run out of fuel and won't be able to proceed to the next mission. What you learn here will help you with all other aircraft, and possibly
other simulators as well.
…but, as mentioned, this all comes at a pretty staggering cost. It makes upgrading to 2.0 worth it over just having 1.5 (but then, you can have both installed at once if you really hate free hard disk space). But only kind of.
I was looking for vtol jet for DCS and thankfully RAZBAM made one - those guys have some top quality stuff for FSX so I`m sure this will be a decent addition to DCS hangar!
