Polychop Simulations OH-58D Kiowa

I remember watching videos mid-2020 of this thing. What happened? I get the "part time" thing, but those videos and streams were of a nearly complete project.

Before anyone says "software" - that's my job so I know how that works.

Did they go on holiday or something? This extreme delay of nearly 3 years is long enough to have started from scratch. Twice. I understand the FM problems with the Gazelle (I have it) but I'm left questioning if they can actually do this.

At the time Casmo and Barundus put out the introduction videos of the Kiowa Warrior, it looked really close to release. But then the lead designer had a medical incident and was put off from work on the project for long time.

Luckily the lead designer could recover after a long time. Then Polychop decided to add two more variants of the Kiowa of different eras for the release, what is quite unique for a DCS module. 

Edited August 31, 2022 by Rosebud47

In addition to the delay and the extra variants, I can't help but speculate that since (at least IMO) the standard of quality for DCS modules has increased since 2020, meeting it might take some unforeseen refactoring / polishing / tuning.

I remember correctly, I used the kiowa to distribute targets to AH 64's in "Janes longbow" back in the day. That alone should bring new challenges.

is kiowa multicrew still dead?

10 hours ago, hannibal said:

is kiowa multicrew still dead?

At this point, we dont even know if the Kiowa in any state, is alive. 

 

1 hour ago, ST0RM said:

At this point, we dont even know if the Kiowa in any state, is alive. 

Do we even know if Polychop did acquire the license by Bell?

Edited September 13, 2022 by D4n

3 hours ago, D4n said:

Do we even know if Polychop did acquire the license by Bell?

I know people get bored waiting for the Kiowa but why make things up when the answer is in the Kiowa FAQ from 3 years ago ?

On 12/11/2019 at 11:31 PM, Polychop Simulations said:

Bell Textron granted us a product specific license for the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior for commercial use, which means we were given permission to recreate the helicopter for game or entertainment purposes. Without this license a module for the DCS World environment would not be possible.

 

 

Edited September 13, 2022 by Ramsay

Edited September 13, 2022 by Nahen

Poly,

Any update on your long awaited Kiowa.  Just looking for something small to keep the flame lit.  Can you shed just a glimmer of light so we no its still progressing.  Much appreciated.  Still highly anticipating this module.

Yesss pleassssee give us only one small sign about lives or death of project...

It’s dead Jim. If they aren’t answering that’s an answer isn’t it? 

6 hours ago, Paladin1cd said:

It’s dead Jim. If they aren’t answering that’s an answer isn’t it? 

Damn it, Bones, you're a doctor. You know that pain and guilt can't be taken away with a wave of a magic wand. They're the things we carry with us, the things that make us who we are.

Lol amen Devil 505, and I hope I’m wrong. 

Hmmm... This is a little interesting.
Anyway, the good news would be that they have expanded, already sort of knew this. The dev of the UH-60L, is part of the team it seems.
Cheers!

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

 

So it seems like in the past few years, there have been headaches for dev teams and ED, with how things have been. And after having thought of it, ED has made some policy changes to reflect the current reality.

 

An example might be the Kiowa PC project itself: for some time now, there's very little we the public can see as far as screens and dev progress details. Yet  in the first year, the Kiowa project had lots of nice screens, many detailed streams showing entire mission profiles. And then it stopped.

So why did the project continue but the screens and streams stop?  That'll be for PC to decide about sharing. They DID tell us about personal life issues, and medical issues... real world that hurts projects of all kinds, especially ones with just handfuls of people involved.

It would seem that ED may well be concerned about the greater community getting all this hype built up, whipped up into a frenzy... only to then be acting all desperate, pleading begging for screens and updates... junkies wanting that next "hit", suffering a mild form of withdrawal.

Maybe the new strategy is: the minute ED approves of a module's development for DCS, the announcement is made so that others don't duplicate (this was laid out by an ED moderator last month), show off a few screens showing us what that might look like, but after that, so silent or mostly silent, no idea of timeline or estimated release date. Spark interest, gauge that interest from forum posts, but then don't build massive hype, let people get on with their lives, enjoy the modules you have. Then, when ED is happy with progress, and sees the project finishing up, has met quality control tests, and looks to be soon ready for release or early access... then and only then will they be allowed to release 200 screens, multiple videos, tutorials and so on. Enlist DCS focused "influencers" to promote or review the new module, maybe make tutorials themselves.

Or something sorta maybe vaguely a bit like that.

As opposed to watching streams of doing full mission profiles... and then silence. For months at a time. Just a few words "yep, still working on it". 

We as consumers ought to have a little more patience ourselves too, often real world can't match the timelines we would like... I mean, this isn't EA putting out yet another annual sports game for console, with where the budget for marketing swag is many times larger than the entire dev budget for a DCS module... with literal armies of humans to make it all on a super-tight timeline. Ultimately we need to manage our expectations in terms of time required.

This notion of "silence = dead" has happened MANY times now for the PC Kiowa project. And each time, after a week or two of no response, people conclude it's dead. And then someone says they heard from one of the devs that it's still being worked on. 

Edited October 3, 2022 by Rick50

On 10/2/2022 at 4:49 PM, Paladin1cd said:

amen Devil 505, and I hope I’m wrong

LOL! You cannot beat the Original Star Trek.  Back when people knew how to write a script and convey emotion.  Now Polychop needs to pull my emotional strings and release the Kiowa so Darkhorse 1-6 can start Scouting for the Apaches.

To translate the posted discord channel information, the information between the lines: with Kinkku PC might have a programmer now, with the crucial ability to do a helicopter flight model. For the first time in 8 years. Oh man...

You're like a broken record.

You're like a broken record.

Yeah, but imagine the praise when PC releases a bad ass Kiowa and a remade Gazelle FM. We'll never hear the end of it I'm confident!

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

On 10/8/2022 at 2:05 PM, PickleMonster said:

You're like a broken record.

If there is a broken record, it's the Gazelle module.

It is coming up to 3 years since this was announced. Can we get a definitive update please ED?

6 hours ago, OzDeaDMeaT said:

It is coming up to 3 years since this was announced. Can we get a definitive update please ED?

A definitive update of what? It's being worked on. They don't have a release date. That's it.

The F15E guys have been waiting over a decade for a release date and they still don't have one...

what is three years of waiting for the OH-58 when waiting forever for the F-15E??

7 minutes ago, Nahen said:

what is three years of waiting for the OH-58 when waiting forever for the F-15E??

all always coming... remember F/A-18C, F-16C and AH-64D...