Guess what! Easy AAR!

On the whole other hand: what is really to gain? I mean, how many missions actually require you to inflight refuel? Most missions that ask you to do it pretty much just do so for the hell of it.

Well it depends)) For example, IMO best Hornet campaigns Operation Exigent Riviera and Operation Integral Resolve really require refueling (and in some missions even two refuelings per flight). These campaigns try to simulate real procedures and situations, not the carrier group just near hostile coast, as default Hornet campaign.

Hold your flightstick with only 2 fingers as soon as you're connected.

The F14 is my go to plane and I will still keep trying. Does any-one know of a recent tutorial that

shows the best way to counteract the probe induced yaw? I think that is part of my problem, the F18 doesn't seem to be affected by it maybe because of FBW.

On the whole other hand: what is really to gain? I mean, how many missions actually require you to inflight refuel? Most missions that ask you to do it pretty much just do so for the hell of it.

On most of our ops this is a necessity. We place our carriers far out to see on on the Georgia map or South or Southwest on the PG map that requires us to take atleast 1-2 tanks to deliver ordnance into say Iran. Thing is though, when you're using mil power or even afterburn, you go through a LOT of fuel quick. We usually then have a tanker stationed about half way home, which we fill up on (just enough to get back with a bit of spare) and and SB3 over the carrier group. Its sort of what they do IRL (well, the SB3 over the group anyway).

No offence, but that's precisely what I said: you built a mission with the specific plan of wanting to include a necessity for in-flight refuelling. You burn a lot of fuel when going full burner all over, absolutely. You could just as well go for the challenge of actually watching your fuel economy. Yes, obviously you made sure that isn't an option in the mission you built. Again, I'm not saying it's impossible to build such a mission, all I said was: for the vast majority of missions in DCS it is entirely optional.

I can connect, but not stay connected.

Not sure which jet you're flying, but if you're in a drogue and chute type jet (i.e. Hornet), try grabbing fuel from anything other than the S-3. I've found that the KC-130 and the KC-135 are so easy to stay connected with in the Hornet, it's almost casual once you're hooked up. The S-3, not so much...and pretty frustrating. It may have to do with it just being an older model (older basket physics?). Anyway, that might be something to try. :thumbup:

For anyone struggling in the Viper I recommend making a custom slider out of his throttle axis instead of the default linear map. The lower throttle range is overly sensitive and makes it very difficult to fly formation at < 90 % rpm. I think I had similar issues with the Hornet and Tomcat too but I haven't flown those in a while so I'm not sure anymore.

As far as stick input goes, unfortunately having a high quality stick like Virpil or VKB is a game changer. I was struggling a lot with AAR with the Warthog, but once I got my Virpil stick it became a breeze. Lower quality sticks tend to have shitty precision around the center, and for instance despite the Warthog being fairly good quality it has so much inertia around the center you basically can never let it go otherwise you will always overreact when you have to do something.

Adjusting between A/C also takes a while. I could do AAR in my sleep with the Eagle for years now and when I switched over to the Viper I was mostly just cursing. The input dampening is something you gotta get used to, but after 5-10 AAR it's gotten fairly comfortable too.

I will rephrase then, we need EASIER AAR.

 

Just to clear some things up.

 

I have practiced, in fact i am practicing 1h almost every day for the past 3 months. I don't know if it's enough, but this is the time i can spend to it. still can't do it. It feels some sort of a health problem to me, i always had this, when i need to do something that requires patience, and small corrections i just snap and wanna brake everything around me.

 

I have many other things to pay attention to in my life, more important than dcs. I just wanna fly around and blow stuff up, aar and turn back to base. And i am not the only one. IF dcs didn't have all the rest cheats i mentioned, then i would have respected it and stfu. BUT they have all sorts of easy options except an option for the hardest part in the sim (as Chuck also says in his guides).

 

I don't get why there is no "drama" about magically auto aligning in the catapult (U key) but people go "crazy" about easy AAR. It could be an on/off option, auto catapult align fx doesn't even have an off option :p

 

For the guys mentioned the F/A-18: i mainly fly the Viper.

 

I have tried some curves, didn't help at all.

 

About hardware: i use the reverb, TM TWCS and the Warthog stick

Here is what you need;

The F14 is my go to plane and I will still keep trying. Does any-one know of a recent tutorial that

shows the best way to counteract the probe induced yaw? I think that is part of my problem, the F18 doesn't seem to be affected by it maybe because of FBW.

Truthfully I just keep my foot on the left pedal to keep the ball centered. You can trim it out with rudder trim too

I know it has been asked before but ED told me to reopen a new thread. I think we REALLY need an easy AAR option. It is easily the hardest part of DCS.

 

It's already there. It's called "unlimited fuel". You will never have to refuel again.

Practice.

Then you can try this.

Be very very careful from what you are whining..... :music_whistling:

 

Haha brilliant - I'd also said about this already oddly enough re the next module would be DCS Super Tanker - great artwork though and good fun lol !

We don't need mocking

This is a legit wish, and I support it.

No one is forced to use this feature.

(I can only AAR Su-33 with my cheap throttle without depth perception because it is superior to other planes in the AAR helper functions:

real time finetuneable autothrottle and ASC refueling mode for fine pitch and roll controls.)

This is called accessibility and it should be in game, being it simulator or not.

If you want DCS to grow and have more sales (more sales = more planes, more maps, more quality) you should support every kind of accessibility.

Do not be a selfish and support those who need it, if people wants to play arcade flight mode, easy AAR, unlimited weapons, it's up to their own choices.

Again, I will ever support this kind of feature, I want everybody to be happy playing what they paid for their way.

You guys who need it have my vote!

As long as its a server and single player option. Fill yer boots. My only concern is a server that wants to fly realistic and can't because your unable to limit single player criteria.

As long as its a server and single player option. Fill yer boots. My only concern is a server that wants to fly realistic and can't because your unable to limit single player criteria.

This, pretty much. I'm not opposed to this whole idea at all, I was just curious as to why people feel a need for it. As I said, most missions can be flown entirely without it, given the maximum ranges DCS maps allow for, so in most cases it is included as an option entirely to be included. An implicit achievement, if you will. No point in doing it at all, if it's automatic. But enough of that, my opinion isn't of that much value around here anyway.

This is called accessibility and it should be in game, being it simulator or not.

If you want DCS to grow and have more sales (more sales = more planes, more maps, more quality) you should support every kind of accessibility.

 

Do not be a selfish and support those who need it, if people wants to play arcade flight mode, easy AAR, unlimited weapons, it's up to their own choices.

 

Again, I will ever support this kind of feature, I want everybody to be happy playing what they paid for their way.

 

You guys who need it have my vote!

As I said, I am not opposed to the whole idea, but quite frankly, I find that argument a little bizarre. Accessibility is great. We need more of it, I agree. But is this the place for it? Someone who buys a first module, takes to in-flight refuelling, doesn't immediately succeed and then leaves forever is a possible scenario, but I'd say a rather unlikely one. We need much more accessibility around the basics, not hand-hold people while they are involving themselves with advanced tasks! You don't make your first ever landing on an aircraft carrier in bad weather and rolling waves.

On the other hand DCS would become a great deal more accessible for new players if a lot of 'basic' things were actually properly explained within DCS. Just to take a random example: radar notching. It isn't perfectly simple, but there are quite a few people who have written very good explanations of it, explaining why it is a thing to begin with, how it works and giving plenty of examples on how to use it.

DCS could benefit from a 'general' tab in 'Training' that has tracks (if they work) or videos of concepts like these, shown in situ in the sim, so people can see what they do.

Haha brilliant - I'd also said about this already oddly enough re the next module would be DCS Super Tanker - great artwork though and good fun lol !

Well, if ED didn't have already too many modules to finish, that wouldn't be the worst idea, IMHO. Not worse than a LSO station... A very big and slow aircraft. That would be a change. But no, not now.

Same for easy AAR. There's already too much unfinished business. I undesrstand it's frustrating but then, indeed, how would easy or automatic AAR be more enjoyable than unlimited fuel ?

Not sure what the downside to a server is in having the requested OPTION. More of a problem on a server having players struggling to get on/stay on while others que up. And I've seen that.

The day that any form of zoom outside of the cockpit is removed, will be the day the self proclaimed realism at any cost crowd should get a say on such requests.

I can connect, but not stay connected. And yes i get that it needs practice, but i don't have the time for it. Prefer to spend it on flying missions. And it would/could be an on-off option like all the others i mentioned. Someone who is better than me can just not enable it

You're not gonna get far in this sort of thing without practice/reading/etc just a fact. AAR is a lot less complicated and faster to learn than the avionics and weapon systems in most this stuff. You can't be bothered to learn how to do something that takes literally five minutes to accomplish? All AAR is is formation flying. That's literally it. Follow another aircraft while maintaining your position. It's flight 101.

You're not gonna get far in this sort of thing without practice/reading/etc just a fact. AAR is a lot less complicated and faster to learn than the avionics and weapon systems in most this stuff. You can't be bothered to learn how to do something that takes literally five minutes to accomplish? All AAR is is formation flying. That's literally it. Follow another aircraft while maintaining your position. It's flight 101.

Ability to peform AAR is also very dependent on your joystick/HOTAS. I remember attempting this with my X-55 and then switch to my TM Warthog setup. The difference was night and day. Its impossible to know the curves/dead zones/etc of each and every setup.

Yes it does require patience and time, however the reality of hardware is certainly a huge factor.

I get along just fine with my Logitech Extreme 3D Pro.. in all the modules (that I own) which it's possible to AAR.

I think some people might be placing too much emphasis on their joystick choices.

Having been in the same situation as the OP I feel your pain and sympathize completely. I was flying the A10 6+ years ago and one of the things I couldn't do was AAR. I got so frustrated it was a big reason of me quitting.

Last year I decided to get back in to DCS as I really wanted to fly the Hornet. After getting the basics learnt I was determined that I would master AAR. This time it wouldnt beat me! It took weeks of doing nothing else. I would get really frustrated and not understand why I couldn't do it, but I reasoned that if other people can do it then so can I. I stopped getting frustrated and blowing the tanker out of the sky (because that just doesn't help!) and practiced daily the tiny little stick and throttle movements required to hook up and then stay in the basket. Finally it began to come together and I could hit the basket, and then with more practice stay in the basket to fully refuel. These days i'm actually quite proficient at it, and look forward to missions which require it.

The feeling of elation at finally being able to successfully AAR was amazing, and although when I struggled to learn it, I too wished for an easier way, I'm glad now I learnt the hard way and can do it properly on my own (as close to real world as we can in the sim).

Please just practice and persevere. I promise you the reward is worth it.

For me personally what did help was setting some curves on my joystick. I also had terrible trouble when first learning at hooking up to an S3 in the built in mission, so I found it easier to create my own mission and use a KC-130 instead (basket seemed more stable?). Once I was proficient in this I practiced on the S3.

Just my 2 pence, but please stick with it.

I agree with @paraxuk, the C-130 is an easier platform to refuel against than the default refueling mission @104th_Maverick has an excellent video on how to do just that:

I have just transitioned to refueling against the s3 and it is much harder, there is less tolerance because of the hose length (much shorter on the s3)

Yes.

i sure do hope this gets added into the game because i cannot wait to haze the everliving fig out of anyone i discover using it lmfao!