Eagle Dynamics is now offering up pre-orders for the forthcoming DCS: Afghanistan map for DCS World. The new map is aimed at offering a 2008-2010 era recreation of Afghanistan including detailed airbases, terrain and more. It does come with a bit of a twist that we’ve not seen before in DCS maps so you’re going to want to check this out and see if this works for you. Let’s have a look.
Pre-orders begin, development path laid out
Last week Eagle Dynamics revealed that the early access version of the DCS: Afghanistan map would encompass roughly half of the country and that other sections would be added in later on. Things are actually a bit more complex with this pre-order as the map is actually being offered in three separate sections or as a bundle with everything included.
Available for pre-order today, you can pre-order DCS: Afghanistan or DCS: Southwest Afghanistan. The former will eventually grant you access to a highly detailed experience across the whole of the map while the later will grant you access to a highly detailed rendition of a portion of the map.
This map graphic, shows off three three segments that will ultimately be offered with a Southwest eventually being joined by the North and East.
Why do this? According to Eagle Dynamics, DCS: Afghanistan is the largest and most ambitious that they’ve undertaken to date with 1,449,216 sq km dwarfing DCS: Persian Gulf (200,000 sq km), DCS: Nevada (366,000 sq km) or even DCS: Syria (450,00 sq km). With a bigger map and a bigger effort, the price has naturally gone up so eventually the price for the complete edition will come in at $69.99 USD. The split allows them to sell smaller, though still substantially sized regions, for $29.99 USD each.
Pre-order discounts are in place with the complete map being offered for $48.99 USD while DCS: Southwest Afghanistan being offered for $23.99. Eventually the price on the full map will go up to $59.99 USD during early-access.
Differing reactions
Naturally, any change or price increase is going to be carefully scrutinized by the community and this offer is no different. I have seen some posters saying that they are only interested in a specific area, such as DCS: East with Bagram airbase and surrounding region, and will therefore wait and buy that part of the map when it becomes available later in the year. Others are concerned about the map being sold in components for only slightly cheaper than what a full map cost some years back.
I’ll admit to mixed feelings on this initially and I think what brought it into scope is the scale of this map. It definitely a factor as individual regions are often bigger than some DCS maps previously offered. With the size of the map comes added work by the developers which go into populating each region with details. While some of it is indeed autogenerated (they don’t place individual blades of grass or small stones), quite a bit of work is still needed for hand placed and fine tuned details both big and small.
The other most critical thing for me was multiplayer compatibility and for that we turn to the Eagle Dynamics FAQ. They have wisely chosen to ask and answer a lot of questions that I’m sure they anticipated with this announcement. So, in answer to “Can I Fly with Friends or on Servers if We Have Mismatching Regions of DCS: Afghanistan?” we have:
Yes, you are all flying the same map and will be able to fly together without issue but the detail that each of you sees will differ. Remember that by purchasing individual regions you are curating the areas of the map that you wish to see in high detail. Those who purchase the whole map will see the whole map in high detail as and when each region becomes available and receives updates during the Early Access phase.
DCS: Afghanistan FAQ
And can you fly missions that interact with other areas that you may not have access to? They answer that too with: “How Might Missions and Campaigns Be Affected by the Individual Map Regions?”
If you are flying in a region where you do not have access to the highest level of detail, it may be that the creator of that mission or campaign references a world object you are not able to see. Otherwise, there will be no effect.
DCS: Afghanistan FAQ
The rest of the FAQ answers other key questions about the incoming product so you may want to check that out right here.
I’m curious what your reactions to this are. Will you be buying the map and if so will you be purchasing a specific region or are you interested in having the whole thing? Let me know in the comments!
Stormbirds 
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