Essential add ons

Het guys, I wonder if any experienced DCS simmer could help me out here. I am a long time Flight simmer and considering switching to DCS now, can you give me an idea which modules or add-ons I will have to buy besides the F-18 to be able to play ground missions and air to air combat?

My scope as said is to play ground missions including sam and AAA sites engagements as well as air to air combat including carriers (the usual stuff!)

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

Start with the F-18 and the free map - should give you plenty to be getting on with.

Are you saying you would like to play AS the AAA/SAM site? If so you'll need combined arms but it's a bit "not quite done" it seems to me. It's a good effort to start I think, and I haven't played with it in a while... but it's a bit rough around the edges.

If you're just looking for the regular combat flight sim experience... Just DCS with whatever module you like.

F/A-18 is excellent... as is the Harrier and my personal favorite the KA-50 Blackshark.

Hi Kotb-MO,

Not so many hoops to jump through to get going here. Just the maps are not as big as that other sim, lots of detail tho all the way to ground combat.

Just setup a store account when purchasing the F/A-18, this name and password is the same you use when launching DCS.

You then just go to the module manager and it will ask to download anything you have purchased.

Think your good at the F/A-18 and or like to get better at it when under a little real pressure? Don't want to fly alone?

All you need is the Free install and F/A-18, DDCS also uses the Free Su-25t and TF-51. So you can get started with DCS and or online play for zero cost.

Dynamic war including PVP ground war using the CA module. Optional for ground war and GCI.

Dynamic DCS

Live real time web map

Het guys, I wonder if any experienced DCS simmer could help me out here. I am a long time VRS user and considering switching to DCS now, can you give me an idea which modules or add-ons I will have to buy besides the F-18 to be able to play ground missions and air to air combat? I am sick of flying alone in VRS but I just don’t want to repeat the P3d and VRS story when I had to buy tons to stuff to get a decent experience!

 

My scope as said is to play ground missions including sam and AAA sites engagements as well as air to air combat including carriers (the usual stuff!)

 

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

 

Thanks.

I would also say to check the module prices on Steam vs. ED direct, while Steam is more convenient in most cases (like auto updates) the cost can be higher (substantially) for some modules.. Grab the F-18 and go!

Thanks all, really appreciate your help. I think I have a good idea now where to start.

Thanks all, really appreciate your help. I think I have a good idea now where to start.

If you want to "try it out for yourself" you can always download (for free) the base DCS World, which includes a full fidelity TF-51 Mustang (basically an unarmed training variant for the P-51D) and a more "softly implemented" SU-25T (no clickable pit but all the basic functions are there via keyboard shortcuts), plus the base map. This is a good start if you want a taste of what DCS has to offer. Then you can buy whatever module you want.

My suggested modules are: A10C, F/A18, F16 (when it will release!) and the UH1 for the rotaries

If you want to play a lot online I recommend using SRS for realistic communication with other pilots. It's free.

For improving the overall experience you should take a look at voice attack with the VAICOM pro plugin. So you can communicate and command with AI via voice.

Persian Gulf and Nevada Map is all you would need at this point.

Most multiplayer is happening on the open beta release.

Buy now:

- Agree F18 is a great module, entry barrier is not high (it's easy to get it flying) but hard to master (you'll never get tired of it) and it can pretty much do everything

- Agree SRS is way at the top of the list. Adds to the fun of MP a great deal, especially with a full fidelity module like the F18. That said, both Discord and TeamSpeak are used frequently and while I prefer SRS I'll admit I get more use out of Discord. Discord is also helpful for hooking up with people to fly with.

Consider:

- FC3 package. You might be surprised how often those modules are used in MP, very competitive and the simplified systems makes air-to-air a lot of fun. Lots of jets for very little money. Nice for when the F18 starts driving you bonkers (which it does, sometimes)

- Tacview, if you're working on your technique this is invaluable, I use it all the time. Answers the "what just happened there" question

Watch for sales

- Persian Gulf. A small minority of MP servers use this map but it's an extremely cool map and worth having

- Combined Arms. Gives you a helpful "birds eye view" even if you aren't interested in shoving ground units around. Pick it up when the price is right

Note MP will flog your system. You need lots of CPU overhead and a really fast drive.

- Get your latest motherboard drivers

- You want 16GB of fast RAM, 3200MHz is fine but you kinda want that. (Some people say you should have 32Gb of RAM but there's less general agreement about that)

- Get an SSD and migrate DCS to that. 240GB is enough for your needs but note, once you are maintaining two releases, you have all the maps and umpteen modules 500Gb is better

- Check your settings. Vis range, trees, shadows affect CPU, might need to turn those down, especially if you're running an older CPU or anything that runs less about 4.4GHz. Turn civ traffic and grass off. (On the other hand, if your GPU is working now, it'll work in MP)

Georgia-At-War is the easiest way to ease into MP, they maintain a noobie server where you can practice flying around with other people while you are blowing stuff up, and their regular MP server has a lot of stuff to do, a neat dynamic campaign and believe it or not they are really really nice there and you can come in as a total rank newbie and have a lot of fun. That's mostly "Player vs Environment," there are a lot of "Player vs Player" servers too, Just Guns is a good place to visit, you can also check out our Air Combat Dojo to see how a section works together in both BVR and WVR scenarios (note it *really* helps to be on comms, right?)

It's easy to look at all the griping around here and hard to really grasp how deep, and how cool DCS is until you get into it. You'll never look back. And yeah, all you really need is what you're shopping for and some way to communicate

M-2000C is the module I usually recommend people start out with.

F/A-18C for fixed wing, UH-1H for rotary.

F/A-18C for fixed wing, UH-1H for rotary.

+1

Mi-8 for rotary!