Practice for beginners

I recently started with DCS and got the P-51 Mustang as my first plane. Mainly because I have been flying propeller planes in P3D and FSX for hundreds of hours.

Also I'm a bit scared by the complexity of the jets...

Anyway, flying the plane is fairly straight forward. Don't have much issue in that respect because of my experience with propeller planes in flight sim.

The issue I'm having now is the combat part...

I started by creating my own mission with some target practice where I put a few stationary vehicles somewhere that I attack using unlimited ammo.

I struggle getting some sort of accuracy in my shooting... It's difficult to see where my bullets will hit the ground.

I did set my gun sight to fixed.

Any tips or is it just a matter of practice, practice and more practice?

Hi,

The P51 is great fun. It's an easy aircraft to get your head around once you get the engine management right so your not cooking the engine lol. You can try Gyro mode for your gunsight. That way it will give you lead info and you won't be trying to use an estimate or kentucky windage as some call it. It does take practice to get right. Stick with it it will get easier. As for not seeing your rounds hit the ground i don't know what's happening there . Are you Using VR or a monitor? Anyway best of luck keep us posted:thumbup:

The engine management is fine after i learned it the hard way... I wasn't used to the fact that half throttle is sufficient....

Once you understand to watch those temp gauges, you're fine, not that difficult. Well... until you get into a heated dog fight that is...

Anyway, I'm using VR so I see where the bullets hit the ground, the issue I have is that I don't have a clue on how to estimate this before I shoot. The trial/error technique is expensive on my bullet count.

I assume you use the fixed gun sight on the gyro for ground targets and the other for A2A fights. I've done the training mission where they explain the gun sight and its mode but even then it's not that straight forward.

For example if you set the wingspan and distance on the gyro, the target isn't static so you will only have a fraction of a second where the target is actually in the matching window where the gyro provides the accuracy. Or do you constantly keep your finger on the distance control and adjust all the time based upon your "estimated" distance to the target?

Try this.

When approaching the target shoot a very short burst and observe where the bullets land.

Then adjust your aim keeping in mind you constantly get closer to the ground.

Also, try steeper approaches. You have less time to shoot but the bullets don't drop as much.

Ok will give it a go.

What's a good approach height?

At the moment I tried a more horizontal approach as it gives me much more time but like you said... it's difficult to for the aim.

I'll do some practice with the steeper approaches. I've seen the AI do this and tried a few time but not much. I felt more like a kamikaze pilot at times :)

Ok will give it a go.

What's a good approach height?

 

At the moment I tried a more horizontal approach as it gives me much more time but like you said... it's difficult to for the aim.

I'll do some practice with the steeper approaches. I've seen the AI do this and tried a few time but not much. I felt more like a kamikaze pilot at times :)

1. The P51D is actually a bit harder than most of the jets, especially in ground attack. Use fixed site for strafing.

2. Zoom while in the gunsight for your strafing pass.

PM for a mission with a scored strafing range you can use for practice that will provide some feedback.

More difficult than in a jet? Who would've thought :)

I've send you a PM for the mission. Would love to give it a go.

I'm using VR so not sure if zooming still applies? I could move my head forward to "zoom" in or I can bind it to my joystick... I'll experiment with it and see which ones I prefer.

More difficult than in a jet? Who would've thought :)

 

I've send you a PM for the mission. Would love to give it a go.

 

I'm using VR so not sure if zooming still applies? I could move my head forward to "zoom" in or I can bind it to my joystick... I'll experiment with it and see which ones I prefer.

Zooming absolutely applies in VR. See this video on how to set it up.

I personally have A thrustmaster warthog and i have the wingspan and target distance mapped to the 4 way switch under the trim hat. I constantly have my thumb on the 4 way switch and i adjust distance to target as needed as i fly (i do the same with the Axis Aircraft like the BF109 And the FW190's ) As for getting the ground attack bullets on target what i did is practice flying a particular height ,speed and dive angle. That way i know when i get to a particular altitude at a particular speed the bullets will hit in the gunsight on a point on the ground reliably. This is easier said than done. But practice makes perfect and it can be done reliably with practice.:thumbup:

Meanwhile I've done a few hours more practice and the VR zoom is a great tip! Accuracy went up, just by doing that.

When it comes to dogfights, I've read that the AI doesn't adhere to the same physics model as we do and therefore dogfight with AI isn't really fair. Does that also apply when we set the enemy skill to average or good?

Just want to understand if it's better to jump into multiplayer for some quick dogfight battles. If I get beaten by AI or a person, it's all the same... So better to train against planes that have the same rules as I have...

Reading up on BFM tactics and playing against other humans will help you out.. but aside from that, finding some wingmates will likely go a long way, especially if they have some experience. AI is susceptable to BFM despite some of the UFO tendencies.

Here's some diagrams to get you started on basic BFM maneuvering as a starting point. From there I'd find some youtube videos demonstrating them so you can apply it in practice and learn to utilize your energy/altitude. While modern aircraft pilots don't typically do yoyo's, most of these maneuvers can still be effective in a dogfight depending on the experience of the opposing pilot whether you're flying a jet or a prop plane. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of what you fly, and what you're up against goes a long way too. Spotting the enemy in a flight sim can be pretty difficult on it's own.. so don't get discouraged when you get bounced.. learn from it.

http://www.combataircraft.com/en/Tactics/Air-To-Air/