I Do Not Understand DCS...Please Help

Before I spend anymore dough on DCS, I need some expert counsel from you veterans. I am on version 2.5. I've had the sim for more than a year and keep upgrading even though I rarely boot it up. My reasons are twofold: I have very little time, and I find it frustrating to play when I do have the time.

I am not new to flight games or flight sims, so let's get that out of the way. I am not a hardcore, survey sim kind of gamer, but I'm not an arcade flight game either. I guess my speed is something in between, but I'd rather try hardcore than the opposite. The opposite is no fun at all. Also, I only do single player.

Here is my experience with DCS up to this point.When I have a couple of hours on a Sunday, I want to boot up a quick dogfight mission with a MIG, let's say, or a US plane equivalent to the era. But I get shot down before I even get to altitude by an A.I. F/A-18 or similar more modern aircraft. The same thing happens if I choose a WWII aircraft to fly. Why can't I fly a simple dogfight mission against only identical aircraft or similar aircraft of the same era? This is so frustrating. Any pointers on setting up single-player only quick missions that include only enemy aircraft of my selection?

you need to use the mission editor -- you'll want to use it not only to set up your own custom scenarios but also to curate the random mission generator: after you generate mission, hit the edit mission button.

dont forget you can open up any mission with a structure that you like and then change around the units to suit your desired scenario.

better iteration of that would be to have userdefined pools for redfor and blufor units.

however even better yet would be to just play multiplayer

the fewer people that play, the harder it is for everyone to find a fight, so do your part and fly online.

Just start with easy target. Set a C-130 at 10km right in front your path way and take practice with your armament. After some practices go to the same level combat

Just start with easy target. Set a C-130 at 10km right in front your path way and take practice with your armament. After some practices go to the same level combat

I agree. the point is to have fun. also set the skill level to the lowest setting, arm them with guns only. the AI can be brutal. set the 130's at 100 miles to practice radar skills etc. if the plane you fly has it.

Setup using the editor a quick one vs one etc, then you can just quickly open and change it around when you want to. Skill set and aircraft etc. Recommend you Install the free tacview.

Growling Sidewinder has some great tutorials with tacview walkthroughs at the end.

I agree with the editing of missions. I just started doing that. Right now I can barely survive 1 Mirage vs 2 AI F-4Es. Flying the 'M-2000C Intercept Phantoms.miz' mission you are going up against 4 F-4Es and 2 F-5s. I don't think I'm anywhere near ready to deal with all that yet, even with my AI wingman. So yeah I just 'Save as' and start changing things in the new copy. Plus they won't get overwritten with updates that way either.

You need to Save As into the MY missions folder. Don't leave the modified mission in the quick mission folder of the aircraft.

Thanks guys. I'll give it a try.

My advice would be:

1-Create your own missions. Although the mission editor can be complex as hell, you will soon realize that setting up simple scenarios involving few planes and maybe some unit is really easy and intuitive, give it a try. Once you have a pair of missions you will have somethibg to do on your free time.

2-Use the forum and ED webpage mission section, lots of mission over there from simple to more complex scenarios.

3-Try MP, there are some servers only for training. You will also find only Korea period or WWII servers with some people in them, could be a good option.

Regards,

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you should be flying the tutorial missions to build your skills and familiarity with the airplanes you're flying

I agree with this, the tutorials usually take about 20 mins, and if you don't want to do the flight focused ones you can always skip to the weapons employment tutorials, and if they get boring that can be an indicator that it's time to move on to bigger and better things.

The instant action missions are worth a look too, they generally start airborne at the target location so you don't have to spend time on startup and transit, useful if it's the dogfight you're there for ;)

I hate to say this but maybe since dcs is a study level sim, even the fc3 aircraft require more than basic flight skills to master imo, it isn’t for you from your op.

In addition to many good points already said: consider using the option to initially practice with invulnerability set to on.

Thus you can practice defensive maneuvering and own weapon employment without having to restart the mission after getting hit first. Getting hit will still be clearly hear-, feel- and visible and can be duly noted mentally.

Don‘t consider it cheating when used in single-player: you don‘t set any other real person at a disadvantage, you can still conciously judge your own performance, and it is thus a valuable training tool.

In addition to many good points already said: consider using the option to initially practice with invulnerability set to on.

Thus you can practice defensive maneuvering and own weapon employment without having to restart the mission after getting hit first. Getting hit will still be clearly hear-, feel- and visible and can be duly noted mentally.

Don‘t consider it cheating when used in single-player: you don‘t set any other real person at a disadvantage, you can still conciously judge your own performance, and it is thus a valuable training tool.

Heck, by all means use the God Mode with invulnerability to get to know the plane in the first few hours of combat and weapon excercise.

I do this whenever I practice a weapon and am not interested in my own survival or Tacview etc... first get to know the buttons and procedures without having to reload every few minutes.

Don't get too frustrated, Plainsman. Some of us have been flying sims for YEARS, and it's still pretty hard. AI can be especially vicious ( AND I STILL SAY THEY CAN SEE THROUGH HILLS! )

Be honest with your flight and combat skills , and take on opponents that you think might be about the same. Set AI skills to low until you gain some skill. And of course, if you really want to learn, learn tactics from air combat books and web pages.

Personally, I like flying the Shark. I can sneak around and ambush with it. Hide behind buildings when I'm getting fired at. You can also do this somewhat with the A-10, as it can go low and slow, and keep hills between you and the enemy.

It took me three different times/tries to really get into DCS because of the amount of time I had to invest in it to be any good. After spending about 12 years flying nothing but IL2: 1946 this sim was very intimidating. I focused on Huey and Sabre; I had purchased the Hawg as well but after trying to memorize 30 steps just to start it I gave up as I knew the weaps were going to be beyond me and my tiny warbird brain.

It took me about 2 months of hard flying to become proficient enough in Huey to consider myself "combat capable" with the unit I ran with. I had very little help aside from YouTube at that point and learned tips here and there from "veteran" DCS Huey pilots, SnowTiger and Oghr. All of this got me facing the right direction.

I should add that I also retired from the military before starting down the road towards Huey "pilot", so even with nothing but time off it took me months of flying many hours a day, repeating the same maneuvers over and over and over, to get to where I was happy with my flying. This sim takes a long time to get comfy with, each module takes a very long time to master, and it shows when you happen across people who clearly have invested less time into their chosen module than others you regularly fly with.

This is an incredible sim, very rewarding, but it's the old "garbage in, garbage out" thing.

~Rob

This sim is real hard core and if you could fly the Huey in a day I'd stop using DCS..and I guess many more think so too.

It cannot be easy as it tries to be real and RL like. It will take you YEARS to get good or very good and you should invest a few month dedicated into each module you want to master.

I own many modules, only miss a few, started 2012...and still think..I AM LOST with the few modules I really know by now, maybe 3 of all I own. That is DCS, it aint easy and it's good that way.

..and is beatifull

Nevertheless DCS lacks a quick mission system where you can setup appropriate opponents to your skill level with three mouse clicks.

DCS lacks dynamics campaing like we know what..

DCS lacks dynamics campaing like we know what..

Agree, but that’s another issue.

Nevertheless DCS lacks a quick mission system where you can setup appropriate opponents to your skill level with three mouse clicks.

This one isn't 3 clicks but it's not far off. A2A, A2G, any plane or heli, easy, medium, hard, etc.

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3246885/

I hate to say this but maybe since dcs is a study level sim, even the fc3 aircraft require more than basic flight skills to master imo, it isn’t for you from your op.

I cannot disagree with this more.

DCS aims to be a simulation (i.e. an as-close-as-possible replication of reality), so if something proves to be too difficult, then there are a few things you can do:

- Choose a simpler aircraft. The Yak-52 is much simpler to fly and operate than any FC3 aircraft, yet is a much closer simulation of reality.

- Start with easy tasks and then slowly progress to more complex tasks.

- Spend time learning the aircraft itself rather than wanting to dogfight immediately.

Incidentally, this is the same as any airforce cadet does. Start with a simple trainer, practice take-off and landing, followed by navigation, aerobatics etc. Then go for a more complex jet trainer, practice with simple weapons employment training. Finally convert to a "real" fighter and perform real combat missions. Some people then convert back to jet trainers and become aggressors / instructors.

Personally I don't have a lot of time either, so I usually fly a simple aircraft (Albatros mostly) on simple missions via the mission editor.

It doesn't matter, as long as you have fun!

As a relatively new DCS guy, (unless you count lomac 2 decades ago). I think the best advice is to get 1 module, and just start working with it. And I think making your own missions isn't that hard, its pretty easy to setup a 1 on 1 vs whatever opfor air you want in the editor if A-A is your thing, or you vs some trucks/BTR's for A/G. And just work your way up from that. And start easy, set the AI to dummy mode until it becomes easy enough to kill him, then turn the AI up and try it again. Same thing for the opfor aircraft, start with something clearly inferior and work your way up.

I cannot disagree with this more.

 

DCS aims to be a simulation (i.e. an as-close-as-possible replication of reality), so if something proves to be too difficult, then there are a few things you can do:

- Choose a simpler aircraft. The Yak-52 is much simpler to fly and operate than any FC3 aircraft, yet is a much closer simulation of reality.

- Start with easy tasks and then slowly progress to more complex tasks.

- Spend time learning the aircraft itself rather than wanting to dogfight immediately.

 

Incidentally, this is the same as any airforce cadet does. Start with a simple trainer, practice take-off and landing, followed by navigation, aerobatics etc. Then go for a more complex jet trainer, practice with simple weapons employment training. Finally convert to a "real" fighter and perform real combat missions. Some people then convert back to jet trainers and become aggressors / instructors.

 

Personally I don't have a lot of time either, so I usually fly a simple aircraft (Albatros mostly) on simple missions via the mission editor.

 

It doesn't matter, as long as you have fun!

Well said Zius.

I had lock on and fc3 for 5 years. Would launch it once in a while, jump into f15, have no freaking clue what to do, get shot down.

Then i decided to approach it not as a game but a project. Started with the su27 and tutorials. Started reading manual. 30 mins a day to start with. Made it a habit - and started noticing improvements after a few days.

A simulation is not something you can jump into but the effort just increases the immersion and enjoyment of learning and getting better.

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