For the purposes of this article, we will ignore Open Alpha and Open Beta installs and instead just focus on the core stable DCS World install. The auto-updating nature of DCS World is convenient for new and experienced users alike. The installer is very efficient, using torrents and Eagle Dynamic’s own servers to provide the files. For internet users on slow connections, or those that pay per GB of data, this could be considered limiting I suppose, but I don’t think this is a situation that is often encountered.
I suppose if one were wanting to stretch the definition of a barrier to entry, one could object to the fact that the installation of a bare bones DCS World install is going to weigh in at nearly 25GB. The conversation (or walls of text with various people coming down on either side of the issue) naturally expanded out to include combat simulations and it got my mind to thinking: How would I view DCS World as a newcomer to the series and what “barriers to entry” would I encounter on the way? There was only one way to find out – to start fresh!Īs most of us experienced users know, DCS World is comprised of a free-to-play base game that includes the Su-25T and the TF-51D.
Examples were given of premium priced add-ons and the cumulative cost of bringing a sim up to par, with specific mentions of some popular FSX products. The post was a long editorial on how sims in general have too high a cost of entry for new users. This article was inspired by a post I read a few months ago on a social media site that I found both interesting and confounding. A flight sim veteran attempts to take a look at DCS World from a newcomer’s perspective, and finds a surprising amount of gameplay… Back to the Future