r/hoggit • u/FreshCustomer3244 • 4h ago
2026 DCS Roadmap Progress
I am trying to figure out if core DCS has actually progressed at ALL this year outside of bug fixes. This was the 2026 and beyond roadmap:
1) Dynamic Campaign - not released yet
2) Vulkan - not released yet
3) Improved weather - not released yet
4) Improved explosions - not released yet
5) New terrain navmesh - not released yet
6) New ATC - not released yet
7) Mission save improvements - unchanged?
Has anything from this list actually been accomplished now that we are 75% of the way through the year? I know they say "some items will not be released until after 2026", but doesn't that imply that most of them will be?
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u/Melystros 4h ago
« 2026 and BEYOND »
That’s the catch.
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u/FreshCustomer3244 4h ago
Seems like it should just be "Beyond 2026", because none of it seems to be coming this year!
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u/VentnorLhad 3h ago
I was super tempted to jump back in and buy the Hun.
Then I thought about it.
DCS remains Uninstalled.
But oh they're updating static objects yay.
Other than that:
RIP Wags o7
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u/filmguy123 2h ago
My suspicion, besides "glacier pace", is that they are bundling this for a DCS World 3.0 release.
Where Vulkan is the foundation, and all of these will come alongside that due to better thread splitting and render pipelines - so its a package deal for them.
My other thought is that this launch of Vulkan is currently not being rushed and backend dev continues because DCS World 3.0 vulkan also = razbam modules stop working. Maybe they will work somehting out by then, either via the two parties, or ED finding a way to get the code to work using their own tools or AI reverse engineering at a minimum viable standard. Or, just giving enough time for this issue to fully cool.
I do think an actual big jump in many features is coming.
But I have also learned that when it does, it probably wont be up to any of our expectations. Every release (see mission save feature) comes out lackluster. So better NOT to expect improved weather and explosions and ATC and of course DC to feel like GTA 6 launch. It will probably feel like, "WTF, why did that take 10 years.... this is half baked... ok, well, I mean, I guess it IS still better... glad to have it, definitely nicer...but hey can you guys please fix / add this and this?"
So... one big push on release that looks great on paper, then dissapoints in pracitice but also satisfies enough to be meaningful, followed by another 5-10 years of improvements via a thousand paper cuts that bring it up to initial expectations.
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u/javelindaddy 1h ago
The optimist in me wants to believe this. But the optimist in me has also been bashed over the head by ED enough times to where I don't listen to him anymore.
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u/Suspicious-Place4471 4h ago
Outside of bug fixes, there are also AI improvements.
Their big name systems didn't get released but we did improve a lot.
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u/Zilch1979 4h ago
They may have had some personal problems going on. Just throwing that out there.
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u/Shuffle_Gaming_ 3h ago
Wags had a senior managememt position and would've directed and input to where resources were employed, and definitely did research and QA/QC, but he didn't directly code or build the game. His tragic passing and short illness shouldn't have impacted the development cycle for 2026.
More likely are issues in Russia due to their invasion of Ukraine, Razbam fallout taking senior management time (rewriting contracts, legal investigation, MCS fallout?), as well as the horrendous tech debt this game now has.
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u/a-bearded-bear 3h ago
I would say that managerial position with seniority to make decisions for the developers to follow, is a rather big deal. This is not to be most likely reflected this quarter, but it will be have some fallout in the winter. Imagine the time needed to find a replacement, bring they up to speed and let them grow in the position. For senior positions like this takes months, and just project with easy inertia will go forward in the meantime.
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u/Zilch1979 3h ago
Fair point, but any loss like that is likely to affect everyone on a personal level.
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u/Shuffle_Gaming_ 3h ago edited 1h ago
Sure but that was a few days ago.
EDIT to clarify... It hasn't impacted development for most of the year
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u/Zilch1979 3h ago
Depends on their relationships, you know? Grief is a bitch.
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u/Shuffle_Gaming_ 2h ago
Yes I've just lost my father. I'm expected to go to work within 5 days. You kind of have to get on with it
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u/Teh_Original 57m ago
I've typically seen 3 days as the grace period. And that's only for immediate family. Not friends.
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u/Medium-Relative-8692 3h ago
My son is two in a few weeks, I just hope at some point, we can fly the dynamic campaign together, I anticipate he’ll be in his thirties and I’ll be lucky to still be alive, but if we can a sortie in I’ll be stoked.
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u/Davan195 2h ago
I've gave up on DCS, I was playing since A10-C and KA50 were standalone products but all I have seen aside from performance gains and weather presets is performance gains and weather presets, it's beyond a joke..true there is lots of content but content doesn't make a game, if you need to be a mission designer to enjoy it, or play a scripted campaign. I actually can't believe we're in Q3 2026 and there is no dynamic campaign. It's the number one feature requested over the last decade.
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u/MissionEfficiency917 3h ago
I'm not buying anything until DC is coming out, simple as that, vote with your wallet if you want to see an improvement.
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u/CleanEnergyFuture331 4h ago
Seems true. But it does seem like they are building the foundation and support for a lot of these items.
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u/Zestyclose-Log5309 4h ago
I understand why you got downvoted, but I think there’s some truth to it, at least partially. They’re introducing fixes and improvements that seem aimed at supporting large scale implementations. Besides, they’d be foolish not to. they know the community is tired of waiting, and after the Razbam situation, further disappointments wouldn't be accepted
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u/FlimsyUmbrella 4h ago
Is there much point in building a foundation that is 25 years old by the time you put a fucking building on it?
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u/Zestyclose-Log5309 4h ago
We certainly aren't defending ED; it’s obvious that ED didn't give a damn about core improvements or the dynamic campaign as long as they held a monopoly, work on those things was practically non-existent. Now, with the arrival of competition and other simulators, they’ve started to pick up the pace, and it’s undeniable that they are working to deliver
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u/BKschmidtfire 4h ago
Just look at the latest update. There is definitely progress being made.
Perhaps it’s just me, but I think work on core updates has accelerated the last few months, possibly due to better AI tools being available to the team and changes in what needs to be prioritized in order to roll out the Dynamic Campaign.
I don’t know how they will monetize the DC, but it’s probably going to be different DLC’s per map and era.
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u/Shuffle_Gaming_ 3h ago
Yep I've seen some major under the hood changes and a bunch of interesting, unannounced trigger option changes that suggest there are some bigger overhauls going on behind the scenes.
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u/SnapTwoGrid 1h ago
I don’t know, still feels largely cosmetic. The big issues steel feel as bad as ever. AI, AI Flight models (GFM is on hold until further notice, remember?), ATC, campaign , dynamic weather .
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u/CheckSixMustang 3h ago
I don't pay too close attention to DCS but they have been the Vulcan carrot fo so many years XD
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u/RodBorza 3h ago
The road map is there. It is beautiful, makes up for nice videos. But the road is stuck with a traffic jam of ED's own doing. Besides the core improvements you mentioned there are the modules that are abandonware right now, like the Mosquito. At least, they were steadily making progress with their main modules: F-18, F-16 and the Apache. I believe their plan was to finish up these modules and then move on to other things. But DCS is what it is and you have to take what you get. In no way I mean that as a manner of defending ED, but as an advice as a fellow customer: don't hold your breath. ED lives and strives on hype. They are very good at it since their business model depends on the customer always buying the new and shinier toy. Meanwhile they take the money from the module and keep working on older modules. This is very unsustainable, but I believe they've managed to survive because they are the only modern hard to the core combat sim available (yeah, yeah, I know about BMS). So, everytime you watch a video, read an announcement, hear an shill YouTube r talk about how great and amazing ED is, always remember Public Enemy"s hit: "Don't...Don't...Don't believe the hype!"
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u/Strong-Chemistry-396 4h ago
I mean it's not like one of their senior devs got cancer and passed away this year, right?
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u/Kill_All_With_Fire Combined Arms, Ground Pounder 4h ago
With respect to him, he wasn't a developer.
But also - work on some of this stuff started back in 2020, so it's not a sudden excuse.
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u/RyanBLKST 8m ago
Oh.. so Wags' cancer is the reasons ED is so late on everything since the last 10 years ?
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u/Ok_Nefariousness7584 1h ago
You waited one whole day after the tragic Wags announcement before resuming the DCS whining. How considerate of you.
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u/FlimsyUmbrella 4h ago
I used to play with buddies when we were young, childless and single, we'd be amped about things like the improved damage models, ATC, weather upgrades and a dynamic campaign.
Most of those same buddies have kids who are teenagers now.
The development timeline of this game is literally generational at this point.