The Channel: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 03:40, 2 October 2020

	This is an alpha module. This module is still being developed and is missing central features and equipment options. While it is playable, it may have major bugs, and procedures may have inconsistent or unexpected results. The intrepid and very interested may want to buy it; others should probably wait for a more stable or complete release.

The Channel is the second WWII terrain for DCS: World to supplement the Normandy map. However, unlike all other WWII content released for DCS so far, the Channel is not set in mid-to-late 1944, but rather some four years earlier and is intended to cover such arenas as the Dunkirk evacuation and the Battle of Britain.

It is essentially just an extension of the Normandy map, but set in an earlier period of WWII when very few of the aircraft and ground units represented in DCS had been rolled out, or even developed yet. To no-one's surprise, the news of this map instantly draw criticism from those wanting historical accuracy in their WWII DCS:ing, since this terrain offers none due to this mismatch. It also drew criticism since it is just a continuation of the north-eastern part of the Normandy map rather than any of the myriads of regions of Europe that saw air combat and that aren't as commonly represented everywhere else.

However, it is perhaps the most detailed terrain yet, rivalling the Persian Gulf, but this is tempered by the relatively small scale in terms of surface covered. On the other hand, a lot of that detail is, unsurprisingly, era-specific so while it would be excellent scenery for helicopter-specific mission, for instance, the view out the window might be a bit anachronistic.

Coverage of The Channel map

Features

Roughly 110×100 nautical miles of detailed terrain, half of which is the channel itself.
9 permanent and semi-permanent fields, ranging from concrete to grass surfaces.
Highly decorated and detailed cities, towns, canalworks, and of course the channel itself, full of ship traffic.

Missing features

Hard to tell since the exact scope of the map has not really been communicated. Compared to the Normandy map, it may seem like it could use a few more airfields. On the other hand it is more meant to cover something of a stalemate on the ground and an air-war based out of existing installations, as opposed to the quickly moving war front and the need for front-line bases that this would entail during the invasion in 1944.

Links and files

Compact airfield information (see also kneeboard mods).
DCS: The Channel Map in the DCS shop.

Related DCS modules

Fw 190 A-8 Horrido! Campaign by Reflected Simulations
WWII Assets Pack

More information

Dunkirk evacutaion on wikipedia.
Battle of Britain on wikipedia.

DCS World
Terrain modules	Caucasus · The Channel · Mariana Islands · Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) · Normandy 1944 · Persian Gulf · Syria

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Unreleased}}
+__NOTOC__
+{{Alpha}}
-[[File:The Channel WIP.jpg|800px|frameless|The Channel teaser]]
+[[File:Dunkirk.jpg|800px|frameless|Dunkirk]]
-In the second newsletter of 2020, Eagle Dynamics announced the release of a another WWII terrain for [[Digital_Combat_Simulator|DCS: World]] to supplement the [[Normandy 1944|Normandy]] map. With more a couple more period aircraft released, and with even more on the horizon, the D-day invasion would no longer serve as a good setting for them (if, indeed, it ever really did for the ones that are already released).
+{{RightImg|File:DCS_The-Channel_700x1000_v2.jpg}}
-{{Tocright}}
+[[File:Channel icon.png|frameless|left]] The Channel is the second WWII terrain for [[Digital_Combat_Simulator|DCS: World]] to supplement the [[Normandy 1944|Normandy]] map. However, unlike all other WWII content released for DCS so far, the Channel is not set in mid-to-late 1944, but rather some four years earlier and is intended to cover such arenas as the Dunkirk evacuation and the Battle of Britain.
-The new &ldquo;The Channel&rdquo; map fails to achieve any real purpose since it is essentially just an extension of the Normandy map, at a period of WWII when that particular regions saw next to no air action, and certainly none of any relevance to the war effort on either side. Curiously, it includes Dunkirk as one of its centrepieces, but the evacuation happened in 1940 as did the Battle of Britain that affected roughly the same area; all aircraft in DCS are 1944 models, and by the time those aircraft were being used, it was over mainland Germany (with very few German aircraft since the airwar was very one-sided at this late stage), not southern Britain or north-western France.
+It is essentially just an extension of the Normandy map, but set in an earlier period of WWII when very few of the aircraft and ground units represented in DCS had been rolled out, or even developed yet. To no-one's surprise, the news of this map instantly draw criticism from those wanting historical accuracy in their WWII DCS:ing, since this terrain offers none due to this mismatch. It also drew criticism since it is just a continuation of the north-eastern part of the Normandy map rather than any of the myriads of regions of Europe that saw air combat and that aren't as commonly represented everywhere else.
-To no-one's surprise, the news of this map instantly draw criticism from those wanting historical accuracy in their WWII DCS:ing, since this terrain offers none. In addition, since it is just a continuation of the north-eastern part of the Normandy map, it drew criticism for just being more of the same rather than any of the myriads of regions of Europe that saw air combat and that aren't as commonly represented everywhere else.
+However, it is perhaps the most detailed terrain yet, rivalling the [[Persian_Gulf|Persian Gulf]], but this is tempered by the relatively small scale in terms of surface covered. On the other hand, a lot of that detail is, unsurprisingly, era-specific so while it would be excellent scenery for helicopter-specific mission, for instance, the view out the window might be a bit anachronistic.
-[[File:ChannelArea.jpg|250px|thumb|Approximate coverage of the Channel map]]
+[[File:ChannelMap.jpg|250px|thumb|Coverage of The Channel map]]
 == Features ==
-Parroting the sales pitch in the news release: This map will represent southeast England, the English Channel, and portions of the low countries and north eastern France. The map is built to support missions and campaigns between the late 1930s and 1945 with a new level of detail and realism not seen before in a DCS World map. Airfields of the map include:
-* Manston
-* Detling
-* Hawkinge
-* Lympne
-* Dunkirk Mardyck
-* Saint-Omer Longuenesse
-* Merville Calonne
-* Abbeville Drucat
-It will also include detailed renditions of the cities, towns, road and rail network, forests, rivers, canals, communication lines, radar stations, of this important region during the Second World War.
+* Roughly 110&times;100 nautical miles of detailed terrain, half of which is the channel itself.
+* 9 permanent and semi-permanent fields, ranging from concrete to grass surfaces.
+* Highly decorated and detailed cities, towns, canalworks, and of course the channel itself, full of ship traffic.
 === Missing features ===
-All of it&hellip; It has not been released yet.
+Hard to tell since the exact scope of the map has not really been communicated. Compared to the Normandy map, it may seem like it could use a few more airfields. On the other hand it is more meant to cover something of a stalemate on the ground and an air-war based out of existing installations, as opposed to the quickly moving war front and the need for front-line bases that this would entail during the invasion in 1944.
 == Links and files ==
-* [https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=4168367#post4168367 2020-01-10 Newsletter] offering the first details on the terrain.
+* [https://dcs.beyondreality.se/pdfs/ChannelAirfields.pdf Compact airfield information] (see also [[Kneeboards#Airfield_data|kneeboard mods]]).
+* [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/shop/terrains/the_channel_terrain/ DCS: The Channel Map] in the DCS shop.
+=== Related DCS modules ===
+* [[Fw_190_A-8|Fw 190 A-8]] ''Horrido!'' Campaign by Reflected Simulations
+* [[WWII_Assets_Pack|WWII Assets Pack]]
+[[File:Folkestone.jpg|800px|frameless|Folkestone at sunrise]]
 == More information ==
 * [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkirk_evacuation Dunkirk evacutaion] on wikipedia.
 * [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Britain Battle of Britain] on wikipedia.
-* [https://earth.google.com/web/@50.87901491,1.56804056,-1.2255138a,205141.71154495d,35y,0.00000189h,0.26968294t,0r Folkestone-Calais-Dunkirk] on Google Earth.
 {{Terrains}}
 [[Category:Terrain]][[Category:Modules]]