Eagle Dynamics Matt “Wags” Wager has long been a public face for Eagle Dynamics and for DCS World in general. Matt was recently the guest of ‘The Mover and Gonky Show’ where they discussed a lot of different aspects of DCS World among other things. I’ve got some key takeaways from the show and some related quotes. Let’s have a look!

Listen in

C.W. Lemoine has had a popular YouTube channel over the last few years with plenty of DCS combat action coming from the unique perspective of a former fighter pilot. He’s now on Episode 6 of a new podcast series called ‘The Mover and Gonky Show’ and for this episode he invited in Matt Wagner from Eagle Dynamics.

Matt is well known for his involvement in the series for a long time and we get some great chatter between him and the rest of the presenters on combat flight sims in general, DCS World questions specifically, and plenty of banter and some serious discussion alike. Matt has been in the industry for a long time mentioning his work with the Janes series including the tail end of the Janes F-15 development and the Janes F/A-18 series as well.

I encourage you to listen in above and give them a like and even a subscribe.

Some notes

Of course not all of you have time to listen in on the whole thing and so I extracted some key points that you may want to know about DCS – past, present, and future.

Some of the themes of the chat included quite a bit of discussion about the fine line that DCS World walks when seeking to realistically simulate air combat while also not using classified resources and not giving away too much to potential adversaries. Paraphrasing what Matt said in this section, he said that DCS as a game needs to be sure that its not too realistic so that it becomes useful to adversaries as an OpFor trainer. A lot of those sensitivities seem to guide a lot of their module making and aircraft decision making process. He even mentions that, when working towards a module release, they do talk to their SMEs and if something doesn’t pass the smell test on if the information is public, they remove it.

Another segment had the group talk about real world AI and how next generation systems like Loyal Wingman projects. With AI powering these systems, how will they potentially change the nature of air combat.

Let’s focus on some key DCS points now:

• Ground movement for infantry currently an older animation. An updated animation is coming and is being made right now.
• With so many 4th gen aircraft already done, Eagle Dynamics is looking at Cold War, Century Series, Pacific WWII, and ground combined arms. They would like to do a detailed simulation of ground units and have them operating on the same battlefield as helicopters and jets.
• No Ukraine map or Taiwan map as both are considered too sensitive.
• The Dynamic campaign is still in progress.
• Currently working on the Chinook CH-47F, glass cockpit version and the F6F Hellcat right now.
• Hornet/Viper radars are being worked on and the lock on problem is being solved.
• Hornet FCS/flight model is being reworked.
• Brief/Break room coming to Supercarrier, probably by end of the year.
• Top Gun 2 did help with sales of DCS modules. Matt points out that they did do a special package (the Be a Maverick pack with the F-14, F/A-18, and Supercarrier).
• Destructible trees was asked about. Someday is the answer but nothing immediate. A big change to the technology of the maps the way they are done now.
• Will do a Korea map and Vietnam eventually, not being done right now, several maps coming before.
• Matt is asked about getting a SAAB Gripen or a Rafale. Matt says the problem with a 4+ gen is getting the resources. Mover mentions that he’s interviewed the folks at Saab before and said he’d do an introduction. You never know what might come from that.
• A question was asked about getting the Flanker as a full fidelity DCS module. Matt reports that its the same problem as always and data is a problem. He does mention that there are more resources available on the Fulcrum.

In addition to that, there’s a thread about this video on the DCS forum and BigNewy responded to some of the comments on the MiG-29/Su-27 comment and filled in with the latest.

The Mig-29 is something we would like to do for sure, but we have to comply with rules and laws in many countries regarding information about aircraft and their avionics. To create the high fidelity aircraft you would expect from us we need to use public unclassified information only. Regarding the teams, no matter where they are in the world their safety comes first. 

Bignewy on the DCS forums

That seems to put a damper on any imminent MiG-29 announcement. Its something I’ve written about often over the years and something I hope we see eventually.

All in all we learned a bit of new information and enjoyed quite a bit about the thought that goes into DCS as a sim and everything surrounding it. Well worth the listen!