NEW DCS Kola Map: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly & FIRST IMPRESSIONS!

#orbx #dcs #huntforredoctober
Hey guys! It is super exciting to finally have the DCS Kola Map from Orbx in our hands and you are probably wondering if you should spend some of your hard earned money on this new addition to our favorite game.
The DCS Kola Map spans the northern tip of Scandinavia and encompasses all of the Kola Peninsula. Due to the Northern Fleet's home base at Murmansk and the Submarine Pens at Polyarny, this area would be ground zero for a fictional World War 3 scenario where the Cold War has gone hot as the Soviet and or Russian Northern Fleet's submarines dash to the North Sea and the Northern Atlantic to interdict American Supply convoys shipping war material to Europe.
DCS Kola is everything that DCS World players have been asking for, its a green map that pits the East and West against each other in a pivotal and strategic area of the world. Coincidentally this area of the World factors heavily into two fantastic Tom Clancy Novels, The Hunt For Red October and Red Storm Rising.
While DCS Kola has a couple of rough edges due to releasing into early access I believe it has the best roadmap of coming single player content and updates we have ever seen with the release of a DCS World map from a Third Party Developer.
I cannot wait for the coming updates and additions to the map and I hope we see more DCS World projects from new third party developer Orbx!
So lets explore the Good, The Bad and the Ugly of DCS: Kola Map:
0:00:00 - Intro & Overview
0:01:30 - The Good
0:06:00 - The Bad & The Ugly
0:09:30 - Upcoming Campaigns & Should You Buy It?
►►System Specs DCS/Gaming PC:
GPU: GeForce RTX 3090
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-14900K CPU @ 5.20GHz
Memory: 64 GB RAM 3600mhz
Current resolution: 2560 x 1080, 144Hz
►►System Specs Dedicated Server/Video Editing PC:
GPU: GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X @ 3.9GHz
Memory: 32GB RAM
►►Here is a link to my Patreon Page every bit of support helps make awesome DCS videos and missions possible!
/ spudknocker
►►If you want to contact me with feedback on videos or want to collaborate feel free to join my personal discord here:
/ discord
►►And if you do donate to my Patreon make sure to link your discord account for your Roles in my Discord server.

[@Spudknocker]

Hey guys! I hope this video helps you guys figure out if this map is for you and its worth your hard earned dollars! (Or Pounds, Rubles, Euros or Canadian Rubles, etc)! **Correction, I said Ugra Media developed Sinai Map When in Reality it was OnReTech**

[@speedycpu]

Still waiting for Vietnam

[@matts2758]

Kind of over the early access model. Gonna start buying modules when they are complete and on sale.

[@dexter7954]

Yup. I'm infuriated that the Strike Eagle will likely lose support and become broken as the game moves on. I won't be sinking any more money until the sim ecosystem the situation is resolved.

[@algroyp3r]

@@dexter7954 Why don't you chill out instead of getting angry at gossip? You don't know that yet. So far one patch update was missed.

[@Michelsen77]

Exactly this

[@kularace7351]

I agree. Sure, we got a $14 rebate but the map is missing way more than "$14 of details", and I'm not even being picky when I say that.

[@termitreter6545]

@@algroyp3r The F-15E has officialy stopped development, and IIRC its not gotten updates for months. Its not gossip.

[@Audfile]

Ah, my youth on F19 Stealth Fighter, Commodore 64, it lives again!

[@Red-Magic]

Im at least glad we get a map that is finally green. I'm so tired of the same-same dirt maps, we already have had enough of them for a few years now. Maps like this, of east Europe, Vietnam, Korea, and Alaska are some of the the more variety we need now

[@columbar5518]

No coniferous trees? The map seems to me to be on the same graphic level as an x years old Caucasus. The textures of the ground cannot be compared to a map of the South Atlantic... The whole map looks plastic and unbelievable to me. I don't need precision but I need to believe that I'm flying over real ground, not a mesh of terrain.

[@MrArraiga]

It looks nice but it's a kind of caucasus 2.0 to me

[@bird.9346]

Apparently for now the trees are the way they are so they can use less of them and improve performance. To me it looks many, many times better than Caucasus. Even the pointy mountains alone are a big improvement. Even Syria isn't perfect with a lot of repetitive textures, buildings, inaccuracies, etc. And this region is inherently harder to make look good. As long as it receives timely updates I'll be happy with buying it. Though the bigger issue is always whether it receives support in the community. I guess those two campaigns by baltic and reflective are a good start This isn't directed towards you in particular, but I find it very funny that we've gone from "Boo! Another sand map!!!" to "Boo! Caucasus 2.0!!!" when we get another very green map in a location that many have wanted for a long time. The DCS community never stops...

[@MrArraiga]

@bird.9346 I mean sand maps looks all the same and green maps looks all the same in general and it will never change imo, I'm not bitchin about it

[@bird.9346]

@@MrArraiga The earth looks like earth

[@MrArraiga]

@bird.9346 and dcs looks like dcs, sand or trees all the same

[@madaxe606]

Orbx has a great rep for making maps... but honestly this doesn't look like anything to get excited over. I was expecting to be blown away, and this doesn't look substantially better than Caucasus. It looks like it's years away from completion.

[@plokkum]

But it’s a nice money grab to release it in this state. That way they can sit back and relax and release it in the far future ‘when it’s done’. Nah, I’m not falling for EA anymore.

[@johanverhoeven3937]

I think this has more to do with the DCS graphical engine than with the quality of the developpers. And as for detail, take a low pass flight over the Vegas strip in both DCS and MSFS and your conclusions might be quit the opposite.

[@bartbroekhuizen5617]

​@@johanverhoeven3937 Well that's the point, DCS Engine needs a thorough examination and rework. If they engine is the issue for getting progress and better maps, i won't buy any maps until they fixed their stuff. Its sad that nice third party companies are struggling with the engine to realize their ideas and the performance and visual fidelity are suffering from it. This is the second third party company who is saying they did want to do more to improve the visual fidelity but where hampered or held back by the engine.

[@RaisinBran]

A video that’s not an hour and a half?! Now this is the content I like 😂

[@hhubert1088]

One thing I did notice that isn't mentioned anywhere is that the asphalt could use a bit more texture. In real life, that piece of Road 4, where the base is located, has cracks along the right and left, and the roads are rough from the snowplow. The same goes for the taxiways at Rovaniemi, but the runways have really nice textures already. However, this is nitpicking and should not be a priority on the development road map.

[@Spudknocker]

I would agree, the Syria map does a great job of simulating rough taxiways and runways thats for sure!

[@mro9466]

50 euros is stip for a map, especially without any new asset

[@stepstv4466]

Its more without the sale 😂

[@forafewpossumsmore]

Really solid interview! Showed some cool locations I haven't seen in any others yet and was very fair and honest regarding the drawbacks. Definitely excited to pick it up sometime in the future and reminisce over Red Storm Rising.

[@possumteeth1692]

As always, amazing video Spud!

[@ytdlder]

What a beautiful map! And great review, thx!

[@ImpendingJoker]

As one that has been with Orbx since the FS9/FSX/P3D days, I can tell you that this Kola map is not on par with the high standard of the PNW region in FSX/P3D, and that was $100 15 years ago and it was worth it. This however is not worth the $52 they are asking.

[@termitreter6545]

DCS isnt MFS, its way more complicated, with a whacky engine. Cant expect the same. Tho I hope Orbx keeps polishing, and ED keeps fixing up the engine.

[@HUCHANRONify]

You can't expect DCS to achieve the high image quality of MSFS 2020, because DCS also needs to consider the high load on the processor caused by the air combat behavior of fighter jets. In terms of DCS map quality, kola map is quite good.

[@NoNoNoNoYoureWrong]

This map isn't worth the price of electricity I used to DL it.

[@HarryTrent]

@@NoNoNoNoYoureWrong Bet you're a German and like stupid Germany that made it's electricity expensive by shutting down their el-production. Talk about falling out of the stupid tree.

[@finnm.2582]

@@termitreter6545the amount an engine can be tweaked with is limited, unless you want to rewrite the entire core. I‘m very impressed what ED has done with their dated in house engine. It’s based on Flaming Cliffs 2.0 and that was the reason why it only utilized one and half CPU Cores before Vulcan was implemented.

[@bigrivercod]

Thanks for the review Spudknocker. Soon I’m going to need a bigger SSD for DCS with all the new content that is coming out.

[@therocinante3443]

I just installed one for this reason haha

[@jcd248]

Great review. Thanks. 🙌🏻

[@orionmec]

Thanks Spud. I love it and will go for it.

[@PsyObsy]

i am looking forward to fly around in Lofoten! I grew up there :D

[@jpgabobo]

Great content, noticed the bland tarmac and similar qualities to the South Atlantic map, but think this map has far more potential. Thanks for the quality DCS content and 'Keep Flying' (even upside down}.

[@caixanegra]

Buying it, but for the first time feeling like I shouldn’t.

[@Spudknocker]

Dont feel bad man its a great map, set to get even better!

[@couchpilot_1993]

As the saying goes, it's not wrong to listen to your gut feeling

[@RaXXha]

I find it a bit strange that they haven't included the Swedish Airforce base in Luleå (F 21), even though it is located within the maps boundaries. It's the main Swedish airforce base in the area, Kiruna and Vidsel are more like auxiliary bases to F 21. 🤔

[@TheMack]

I'm gonna fly low in the Viggen! :)

[@Spudknocker]

Heck ya man go for it!

[@ALPHARICCO875]

Super vidéo 👍 Thanks and good Weekend

[@whatis6x9]

Looks pretty damn good to me, already.

[@masons3251]

I'm anxious to see how they continue to populate the map. The massive expanse of flat nothing that is the center just feels like mindless void for now. However, I'm super excited to see servers implement more targets and strike missions amongst the mountains. Don't get that enough on Caucasus.

[@rpersen]

The north of Norway, Finland and Russia is pretty empty in real life. I am from the north of Norway, and the details is quite good IMHO.

[@Heitzsche]

That's kind of what most of the nordics look like irl lol

[@andrewfranson4756]

Cool, that map will remind me of the old country, Southeast Alaska

[@superfarmer53]

I have a few hours on this map so far and i really enjoy it.

[@Dipper737]

Hope they add Southern Norway and the baltic area soon as well.

[@sagaindustry6342]

That is beautiful!

[@oldmanfunky4909]

Are the trees indestructible? Is that one man pad going to be able to kill every because he is hidden by a tree you can't shoot through?

[@wilbuzllf5057]

Great video, thanks for posting! It looks good already, not Sinai good in terms of detail (that one is amazing) but good. I love the area as a Swede but also due to the fact that one can play out everything from WW2 to WW3 here.

[@_Mokkas_]

Hey nice videos as always. I tried your graphic settings video and it looks so good now. It runs constantly on 70fps with really good settings. But sometimes when i change the perspective from cockpit to outside, i get extremely framedrops. Also it runs more stable in cockpit than in external view. Do you know wich setting i could put down to maybe help the problem?

[@ricbish4122]

I would say thats a fair assessment of the map. It really reminds me of when the SA map was first released, kinda rough. It’ll get better though so I’m happy with my purchase.

[@zeroomicron4821]

I'm still Undecided on this one. Maybe on sale.

[@MrArraiga]

Afganistan looks like a more solid "investment" in the game atm

[@Krysfranqui3638]

I’m willing to give them a chance. I’ve being playing on this map with Micro-prose F-19 Stealth Fighter, and later Jane’s F/A-18 Hornet for years. It may take time to get the map polished up but it will be worth the wait for me. I would love to try and recreate the campaign from Jane’s in DCS!

[@NineLineED]

Good fair and balanced opinions, thanks for sharing!

[@Spudknocker]

Glad you liked the video man!

[@Scarebus_Driver]

Thanks mate but dont worry about just WW3. Numerous airstrikes against German shipping took place inside the Norwegian Fjords meaning some fabulous terrain for challenging anti ship and A2A in ww2 aircraft.

[@jonasfogelberg9300]

One interesting fact is that it’s never get dark here during the summer or hardly any daylight during winter. Otherwise fuel management will be important since it is long distances here.

[@Guy777man]

I bought South Atlantic with it first came out. Empty but i loved flying around while a carrier fleet cruised in bay. Bought Sinai immediately. One of the best vr experiences flying in the black hawk at sunset with the pilot door open with the silhouette of the pyramids in the background. Sometimes, these things are worth it to enjoy the art. But, i don't see the appeal of this map

[@corybente5786]

Did you play on the Ed MT version and if so, any FPS stuttering? Great video

[@MrChaosProf]

I was soooo excited for this map and would have bought it day 1. But the fact that - even after weeks - I still don't know if or when the F-15E will be finished, makes me not want to buy anything in early access anymore. Sorry, OrbX, i know it is not your fault.

[@LewisODonnell-im9iy]

Great video Spud! Being a Swede myself, I'm pretty excited for this map to get fully released.

[@rossb2006]

Curious as to what date/time & weather settings you were using?

[@MerlinsHatt]

It’s a great map, loads of potential!

[@smiletrainofficial]

Looks very good. Alas, my computer can't run DCS anymore.

[@rpersen]

I am from the north of Norway, so bought it just for that. Will see if I recognize my home town. EDIT: Found it and it resembles quite well, especially the airport. Great stuff. EDIT 2: it is Lakselv (BNK)

[@Gibnetz]

Hvordan så Kirkenes ut ?

[@rpersen]

Var ikke innom der, men Vardø og Vadsø manglet… var bare noen veier og noen strømlinjer der hvor de skulle vært. Skal fly over Kirkenes, Honningsvåg og Alta senere i dag. Banak flyplass var neste prikk lik, spesielt terminalen.

[@torgers10603]

Narvik mangler også helt. Spent på hvor lang tid det tar før de begynner å fylle ut byene

[@chaosbuilder1531]

Im from Finland and they cut off the map at the bottom right before my home town so im just in pure pain

[@rpersen]

@@chaosbuilder1531Ouch that suck m8. Well at least Finland is there.

[@lisa-azrabroad4137]

Are the buildings destructible? What are low flying textures like, does it look good in my KA-50

[@fh4635]

To support Orbx I bought... GB North for XP12 :-).

[@CueDriver]

You don’t like long flights. You like long stories before the flight. Plus they are great stories. I just sat down to start creating a template for Kola. I about fell out of my chair when I saw all the submarine’s already in place. Now just got to take screenshots from google earth and start placing static planes at some of the airbases.

[@gwalker3092]

It’s not finished, I’m not bothering with DCS early access anymore until I see proper reviews. I was stupid and assumed that winter would be included as default due to the location, but what do I know 😢…

[@wunderlicheralter2961]

updated Caucasus map, without roads that ends in the middle of nowhere. Added dirt roads both in forests and in mountains. Su 25UB and Mi28 modules. Caucasus is a region where live tens of nations and each of them has its own culture and language........

[@albertopajuelomontes2066]

I never buy in early access after the Razbam debacle but when its finish i will look at it

[@William3000x]

How is it running, performance-wise? Is it a heavy, cpu demanding map, like the Marianas or Syria? Or is it a more optimised (as best as possible) and not so much of an fps killer, like the Persian Gulf?

[@daviddavids8218]

Thanks for the preview, excellent and honest as usual. I'm on the fence with this. Been to Norway for winter exercises, Bardufos and then up into the artic circle...C O L D... The coldest 3 months possible, but many incidents that I'll never be able to do again. SO, is this a map that is going to expand and be the scene of WW2, (Sink the Tirpitz) , Convoy PQ-17, are we all joining the RNoAF and finally getting the Viggen experience of a lifetime. £43 is chunk out of the pension, and Afghanistan is coming....not off the coast of Norway, but it is coming. Might wait until a Sale later and enjoy more aircraft modules in between....must see what the pension rise is at the end of the month and of course will it be finished in my lifetime.....I don't actually worry about that, can't afford to. lol

[@yak2073]

i´m so happy there is a soviet map in DCS and i´ll buy it thats for shure. but not now because i wait for the F4 Phantom. The Phantom has higher Priorety for me.

[@johnchristian664]

01:44 They need to update the Caucasus map at some point too.

[@Marcin79W]

I love it.

[@marcquintin7855]

Reminds me of EF 2000 V2.0

[@dronepilot918]

where did you get the 80s music?

[@wootle]

Amazing video and nice commentary, learnt some history! I am a MSFS simmer and dont know much about DCS, it looks fantastic. I am not into online multiplayer and wanted to ask - can this game be played solo? Me vs. the AI enemy? Thanks!

[@Spudknocker]

Hey there! Yes it sure can! There are many single player campaigns and missions!

[@wootle]

@@SpudknockerThanks for your reply! The other stumbling block (lol) for me is that well...I'm a bit of a causal and I hear you need to go to Ground School to learn DCS planes with their immense level of detail and realism. Is there a n00b-friendly relatively simple airplane to start off with?

[@jep1103]

Falklands with a different name...but no assets, I know it's early access but I feel a bit disappointed tbh, but time will tell I guess, probably still be in ea in 5 years.

[@Spudknocker]

Well the cool thing for this map is we already have the assets! Haha

[@norwegianwiking]

​@@Spudknockermostly the wrong ones though. Not Starfighter, F5A, F16A, F86K, F84G etc. I want my Cold War Gone Hot/Red Storm Rising scenarios

[@slammerf16]

This map is cheap for such a huge terrain. Also, it will improve over time. The possibilities for WW3 scenarios are huge and it's much more fun to fly over than just another desert.

[@Dasspapirfly]

If I didn't know what he was talking about I wouldn't have had the slightest chance of recognising that pronunciation of Bodø xD Jokes aside, really hyped for this map although the south-west of Norway is way better looking than the north (though the north obviously makes more sense in a combat sim).

[@deangonsalves2221]

@Spudknocker. Ok, I'm curious. Being from the Caribbean myself, what desert island are you talking about?

[@Spudknocker]

Cayman Islands and BVI’s 😊

[@deangonsalves2221]

@@Spudknocker Well, I can't speak for the Caymans, but growing up in the USVI, I would hardly call any Island in the BVI a desert, even Anegada.

[@Spudknocker]

@@deangonsalves2221 the Caymans are very much a desert that’s for sure haha 🤣 and the plant life in the BVI are much more like SoCal than a true jungle.

[@deangonsalves2221]

@@Spudknocker LOL, fair enough.

[@6tuf85dyfu]

Looks like the map I've been waiting for, but I'm going to wait even longer for this to be finalized before I purchase. Not going to pay for a beta

[@simtaylor61]

I'd have it now if I could use my miles to get it

[@Benom8]

* Sinai is by OnReTech

[@therocinante3443]

I really like it.. But will there be any servers with any sort of population on them? I doubt it unfortunately.

[@UsernameWitheld]

Early Access is always a gamble for any developer. 1, they get very useful feedback but 2, it can be at the cost of early bad reviews that might stick around even for the finished version, damaging future sales. Let's hope Orbx use the feedback (positive ans negative) to prioritise resources for an awesome final version.

Finally the Viggen got a decent map to shine. By the way, has anyone tried it on Combined Arms ?

[@Guy777man]

CA is amazing with Olympus. Especially with an m777 mod.

[@suecobandito8954]

Thanks for doing the Red Cross work here. Caucasus, PG, Sinai and Syria have the expanse necessary for large operations. KOLA, meh.

[@DrRumsmuggler]

How about performance?

[@stepstv4466]

According to some dude on discord you cant even put the Kuznetzov in its own IRL mooring cause they modeled it too shallow. That is not an EA lets fix it later, thats a general geometry issue that shouldnt be there from the start. Ppl pay a AAA game price for this ? No thank you.

[@KrustentierBarbier]

We're going to see more of such i guess, thinking of ground pathfinding and similar. They should have interacted with the community from the start and learn what the customer loves. hates, wishes, misses with the other maps. People tried to get in touch early on their Discord, but they just ghosted everyone and posted tumbleweed memes. Their forums: dead. DCS forums: dead. They shut-in and did their thing "being MSFS pros" and probably made a load of DCS mistakes that could have been avoided by just asking. I reconsider buying this in 3 or 4 years depending on how the map developed and how after-sale customer communication is handled. But on the other hand, BMS kind of soon receives a graphics update that looks very promising.

[@aztec0112]

I was wondering if that was going to be a problem.

[@Spudknocker]

Easy way around this would be to use a static object Kuznetsov instead of a ship model with attached AI

[@marcosechi8820]

​@@Spudknocker can you rearm in that?

[@stepstv4466]

This is likely something that is not really required by MSFS so they forgot but its still a problem for a 70-80€ DCS Map. I wont buy a map and then start to work around it.

[@jochengauer633]

I Like the Green map ❤

[@sloppy4553]

Does this map run performance wise like Syria?

[@tommywang9441]

Really a beautiful map but I can’t decide to buy Kola map or a new aircraft (chinook or kiowa)I can only pick one😢

[@tenkayruanaya2554]

would love to see latin america map yes Cuba jamaica dom rep puerto rico .. venezuela cura cao and so on

[@Spudknocker]

Haha man that would be cool! Bay Of Pigs here we come! Sea Furies and B-26’s all around!

[@korgen-rock]

I like it 🎉🎉

[@chikokishi7030]

It makes me so sad that the south Atlantic map is getting rolled over between this and all the drama. I love the sa map and i think it's very interesting.

[@rross7041]

I thought their would be more impressive ground texures for a new scenery even for Early Access. I would have thought it would have been on par or better than Caucasus map which is pretty old now. I wish someone would explain why we even need Early Access. I look at what happen last month with Razbam, KSP 2 and Heatblur F-4 and I think it's time to stop with Early Access, and Pre Orders because the risk is two great for the customer and timelines are way to long to complete.

[@MrBlancodan]

They should make one world map like microsoft simulator

[@anhangli7972]

early access is good enough

[@unklezam7873]

Once Baltic Dragon and Requiem release their F16 and F/A18 campaigns I will get it. Not before that.

[@NoFear1979]

Welcome to Sweden ✌️😎

[@yellacat]

Thanks Spunkknocker...............................

[@aztec0112]

Everybody wants a "Vietnam" map. Kola is slowly getting there. Huge map, very long distances, sparse air bases, and trees....

[@kularace7351]

ED rushed OrbX. That's what happened. Then you get a very early release like this. But I know they are working hard on it.

[@daCHuNKY1]

Was lucky enough to spend over a month in Bodø. We called it Bodo too at first, the name is pronounced kinda like "Bouda". It's going to be fun to take off from there, the base layout is pretty cool!!

[@hattlis80]

It's nice to finally do some flying in my own country. Just wish they included the whole map of Norway 😞

[@Spudknocker]

Ah bummer I gonna ask if you can find your house! haha

[@dancingcow8640]

I don’t wanna buy a map that has issues now, and hope it will get better. This isn’t an investing simulator, it’s dcs. I want to buy a finished product, or at least something that doesn’t have glaring issues.

[@JoernR]

0:15 - "and farts"???? :D Serious: Second video I saw without any use for helping helicopter pilots decide whether to buy or skip.

[@user_16309]

VR performance compared to other maps?

[@showsesol1792]

когда на сервере открываешь ф10 фпс падает и играть не возможно, но до окрытия ф10 все равно фпс низкий...

[@richardhill6985]

Bought it, spent a few hours flying around. Textures are disappointing but the worst thing is the performance in VR. Its worse than Syria, more akin to the Marianas. But... it's EA so I hope it improves and its a fantastic location brining memories of F19 by Micropose!

[@whammo11224]

I wish I could sell all my DCS stuff!

[@vikingo3001]

Seriously! This is far from par with what we should expect from a 2024 map. Falcon BMS 4.38 will set the standard…so wait for it! 💪🏼

[@deniskataev3667]

I guess HypOps woluld have to redo his entire future video.

[@nickwanrooy6130]

i bought the sinai map when it released, it looks great but no server ever really runs it. And I have the feeling it will be the same with this one. so I don't really see the point in spending so much money, if we are fairly gonna see it used. i would rather wait for Afghanistan. Sure its an other desert map but it actually saw combat and there is a bunch of history there. Wich is something that draws people in. Kinda missing that on this map

[@Guy777man]

Let's make it historical then

[@Wilko601st]

it has potential but i was a little disappointed with the "flat" map style.I have not flied over the east side as yet so could be better If you can look past the low detail but this will be a great dogfighting playground as you say. I dont think its my just better than ok pc specs as other maps currently POP but i will play with some settings

[@alexsp7086]

every map i fly on looks the same to me one has trees the other has sand.

[@Sailor_91]

Loved it, been flying my Viper around northern Norway/ Bodo aeria wich i know so well for a few hours. well worth every dollar. cost rugly the same as 2 and a half 6 packs of beer here in Norway

[@rpersen]

Jeg skal se om jeg kan finne Lakselv. 😎 Edit: fant det, Banak terminal ser meget bra ut.