Third party scenery developer Orbx has just released DCS: Kola, their first DCS World project to come from the company. The map is now available in early access from the DCS World e-Shop, Steam and from OrbxDirect. Here’s everything you need to know about the new release.
Pricing, size, and more
Released today, DCS: Kola is a large new map for DCS World incorporating about 575,000 sq km of land plus even more area when factoring in the large bodies of water present in the area. Russia, Finland, Sweden and Norway are all represented on the map and the scenery features some incredibly rugged terrain including fjords, islands, mountain ranges, wetlands, lakes and vast forests. Most of the map falls into the arctic circle. It’s DCS World’s northernmost map by a long shot and its also the most “green” we’ve seen from a DCS World map release since the re-release of Crimea with DCS World 2.5.
This is an early access release (that’s worth emphasizing) and that means that there are parts of this project that are yet to be delivered. Right now, only the summer version of the map is available, however, a winter version is planned in a future update. Some areas of the map are also more detailed than others.
Orbx and Eagle Dynamics report that the early access version of the map does contain the complete map area with detailed topography throughout. The high detail areas include seven airports as well as nearby urban and rural infrastructure, as well as a significant number of points of interest (ports, cities, mines, monuments, bridges, etc.). Also contained within the high detail zone are two road runways.
Airports include:
- EFRO (Rovaniemi Airport)
- EFKE (Kemi-Tornio Airport)
- XLMV (Severomorsk-3 Naval Air Base)
- ULAK (Severomorsk-1 Naval Air Base)
- RU-1110 (Monchegorsk Air Base)
- RU-4464 (Olenya Air Base)
- ULMM (Emperor Nicholas II Murmansk Airport)
The map is set in the present day but Orbx have reportedly also chosen to represent the road bases and Russian air bases as fully functional as they were during the Cold War to enhance mission making options.
This graphic shows off where airports are and the green area marks where the highest detailed areas are.
One final piece that everyone will want to know about is the storage requirements of the map. Prepare yourself and your SSD because DCS: Kola is large at 150GB of storage needed.
Features to come
As early access progresses, Orbx will be delivering on some additional details. They confirm additional airbases will be on offer including the military airbases at Andøya, Bardufoss, Kirkenes, Evenes, Vidsel, Kilpyavr, and Alakkurti. They also confirm Tromsø, Hammerfest, Ivalo, Luleå for additional civilian airbases still to be added.
More cities and towns, more points of interest and industrial sites will all be added too.
The big feature still to come too is winter versions of the maps textures that will load based on mission date similar to what we’ve seen on some other maps.
A previous update indicated that we wouldn’t have long to wait for the winter version of the map with it expected to arrive sometime in June. Other features do not have a release date as far as I’m aware.
Now on sale
DCS Kola is available now with a 20% discount price of $55.99. Later on, after the initial discount is over, the price will rise to $69.99.
You can buy DCS: Kola from the DCS World e-Shop, from Steam or from OrbxDirect. The DCS World e-Shop and OrbxDirect versions of the map are not compatible with the Steam version so Steam players will need to buy from that storefront.
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