Stupid noob (me) silly questions thread

Ok, so. First off, I'm new. Just started flying a week or so ago and I have lots of questions that I'll ask here so I don't clutter up other threads.

 

I flew the FC3 Flankers and BVR combat was pretty simple. Select long range missile, move the square over the contact, press, and lock.

 

I see the target on my left MFD in the F-16, I move my cursor over the target, but I can't seem to lock the target with the AIM-120 selected.

Master arm is on, I'm in A-A mode, what am I missing, (warthog hotas)

 

More questions to follow....

 

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After you place the cursor over the target, you need to press TMS Up once to lock the target in SAM mode (Situational Awareness Mode - sub-mode of RWS that displays trackfile information about the bugged target and centers the scan pattern around the target, allowing you to get more frequent updates, while also being able to scan around its position) and then another press of TMS Up will lock it up in STT mode (Single Target Track - your radar will only focus on that one target, in order to receive continuous updates and enable weapons guidance).

 

 

You don't need to have Master Arm to ON or even be in AA mode in order to just lock up a target; only to actually fire. Since the AIM-120 has an active radar seeker, you can even fire it without a radar lock (and pray its radar picks up the correct target and not a friendly).

Not to sound mean, but I believe you should go watch YouTube tutorial videos before asking questions here. You are going to have a lot of questions and asking them one at a time here in the forum is going to be a waste of yours and everybody else's time.

First of all, Welcome to DCS. The only stupid question on these forums are "is there going to be an update today?". :) Are you pressing up on the TMS button when the TDC is over your target? I believe this locks up a target on the radar.

First of all, Welcome to DCS. The only stupid question on these forums are "is there going to be an update today?". :) Are you pressing up on the TMS button when the TDC is over your target? I believe this locks up a target on the radar.

Nope. I wasn't. I didn't know which button it was. On the FC3 planes it's a press of the hat that finds the target but not in the Viper. Now that I know what it's called, I can look up which it is lol.

 

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Not to sound mean, but I believe you should go watch YouTube tutorial videos before asking questions here. You are going to have a lot of questions and asking them one at a time here in the forum is going to be a waste of yours and everybody else's time.

I've watched a bunch. Didn't catch anyone saying which button they're pushing to designate.

I made this single thread for my single questions. Anyone not wanting to waste their time can then easily scroll past without answering.

 

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After you place the cursor over the target, you need to press TMS Up once to lock the target in SAM mode (Situational Awareness Mode - sub-mode of RWS that displays trackfile information about the bugged target and centers the scan pattern around the target, allowing you to get more frequent updates, while also being able to scan around its position) and then another press of TMS Up will lock it up in STT mode (Single Target Track - your radar will only focus on that one target, in order to receive continuous updates and enable weapons guidance).

 

 

You don't need to have Master Arm to ON or even be in AA mode in order to just lock up a target; only to actually fire. Since the AIM-120 has an active radar seeker, you can even fire it without a radar lock (and pray its radar picks up the correct target and not a friendly).

Thank you

 

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Always a good idea to study the manual too. ;)

Always a good idea to study the manual too. ;)

Yup! Literally just found it. I'm very new to this. Didn't even know there was one

 

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First of all, Welcome to DCS. The only stupid question on these forums are "is there going to be an update today?". :) Are you pressing up on the TMS button when the TDC is over your target? I believe this locks up a target on the radar.

Found the button, managed to lock on and bag a couple Su-27's

I've got a lot to learn though. But, very excited to do so. Thank you for your help.

 

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^This! All those people that say there are no silly questions are full of 'it'.

 

If you have absolutely exhausted all sources of information such as the aircraft manual etc and still can't find the elusive information you are after - by all means ask. If it is not covered anywhere chances are it is a non-standard situation.

 

DCS is striving for 'realism' - here is some. IRL You sure as anything better not go to your IP on the squadron and ask a question that is clearly covered in the flight manual etc!- spend 10 minutes searching for the answer yourself. Because if you do it to many times, generally questions will start being asked as to why you are even qualified as aircrew at all...and you may not be for much longer!

 

Granted in DCS there is nothing to lose so people take the easy route - and generally people on the forums here are more than happy to help.

But seriously, in the end you will get much more personal satisfaction locating and absorbing the required information yourself.

Unsurprisingly the information you are after is clearly documented in the included DCS F-16C EA Guide - APG-68 Fire Control Radar section.

 

I hope you can take this post in the constructive way it is intended :thumbup:

 

Edit: Ah yea - also saw you didn't even know there was a manual - so sorta explains it lol

 

Sounds like you got it sorted thou, good stuff.

Edited November 6, 2019 by VampireNZ

^This! All those people that say there are no silly questions are full of 'it'.

 

If you have absolutely exhausted all sources of information such as the aircraft manual etc and still can't find the elusive information you are after - by all means ask. If it is not covered anywhere chances are it is a non-standard situation.

 

DCS is striving for 'realism' - here is some. IRL You sure as anything better not go to your IP on the squadron and ask a question that is clearly covered in the flight manual etc!- spend 10 minutes searching for the answer yourself. Because if you do it to many times, generally questions will start being asked as to why you are even qualified as aircrew at all...and you may not be for much longer!

 

Granted in DCS there is nothing to lose so people take the easy route - and generally people on the forums here are more than happy to help.

But seriously, in the end you will get much more personal satisfaction locating and absorbing the required information yourself.

Unsurprisingly the information you are after is clearly documented in the included DCS F-16C EA Guide - APG-68 Fire Control Radar section.

 

I hope you can take this post in the constructive way it is intended

 

Edit: Ah yea - also saw you didn't even know there was a manual - so sorta explains it lol

 

Sounds like you got it sorted thou, good stuff.

Yes sir! I clicked on the training tab and saw there's one for cold start and one for take off and I did my best Paul Rudd - Antman "oh boy" impression, as I got to Googling. I'm reading through the guides as we speak. This is my first full fledged military simulator. Previously played things like Ace Combat and such and it's quite a big leap from that, to this.

 

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Yes sir! I clicked on the training tab and saw there's one for cold start and one for take off and I did my best Paul Rudd - Antman "oh boy" impression, as I got to Googling. I'm reading through the guides as we speak. This is my first full fledged military simulator. Previously played things like Ace Combat and such and it's quite a big leap from that, to this.

 

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Awesome man - nice work.

You are in for a treat then as DCS really does a good job of bringing military realism to the home sim as best they can. The Viper is a pretty good place to start as it is very early access and many of the systems are either simplified or not modelled at the moment, so the hill isn't that steep currently to start flying it competently and using the limited systems available.

As the mod develops and more complexity is introduced, you can just slowly add it to your current knowledge. :book:

 

I know it is hard to resist - but just start with the basics as you do learning a real aircraft and get comfortable with flying the aircraft, so core systems, take-off, basic handling, landing etc, and slowly introduce weapons employment later...but we all just wanna blow stuff up right ha

 

Wags from DCS has made a series of basics vids on YT to help get you started -

Edited November 6, 2019 by VampireNZ

Awesome man - nice work.

You are in for a treat then as DCS really does a good job of bringing military realism to the home sim as best they can. The Viper is a pretty good place to start as it is very early access and many of the systems are either simplified or not modelled at the moment, so the hill isn't that steep currently to start flying it competently and using the limited systems available.

As the mod develops and more complexity is introduced, you can just slowly add it to your current knowledge. :book:

 

I know it is hard to resist - but just start with the basics as you do learning a real aircraft and get comfortable with flying the aircraft, so core systems, take-off, basic handling, landing etc, and slowly introduce weapons employment later...but we all just wanna blow stuff up right ha

 

Wags from DCS has made a series of basics vids on YT to help get you started -

Yeah I've been watching his videos, and Grim Reapers, and Spudknocker, and so on lol! Take off and landing the Viper went pretty smoothly. Tried refueling.... let's just say the KC became gun practice holy crap that's hard. Working on navigating steer points and unguided bombing at the moment. The MFD's can be quite intimidating with all their sub menu's. That's why I initially came here, I figured I forgot to arm something, set a switch, who knows. I spent 2 hours flying around trying to just drop a bomb off the pylon, only to figure out I needed profile 2 in the MFD rather than profile 1

 

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Yeah I've been watching his videos, and Grim Reapers, and Spudknocker, and so on lol! Take off and landing the Viper went pretty smoothly. Tried refueling.... let's just say the KC became gun practice holy crap that's hard. Working on navigating steer points and unguided bombing at the moment. The MFD's can be quite intimidating with all their sub menu's. That's why I initially came here, I figured I forgot to arm something, set a switch, who knows. I spent 2 hours flying around trying to just drop a bomb off the pylon, only to figure out I needed profile 2 in the MFD rather than profile 1

 

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I'm just going to say that you should attempt refueling a little later down the line, unless you have the patience for it. It's a difficult skill to master, even for experienced DCS players. You have to become comfortable with fine control and your aircraft's response. But hey, if you manage to master it anytime soon, kudos to you.

Since this is your first full fidelity aircraft, a lot of concepts, terminology etc (both general and specific to the F-16) will be new. Crack the manual open and just familiarize yourself with the aircraft. When you feel like you know it, you can go on and look up stuff on air-to-air combat, techniques etc.

Also, it's more likely than not that the answer to a question already exists in the forums here. Use the search function, it'll save you a lot of time and you'll likely learn about more stuff as well in the process. Good luck!

The MFD's can be quite intimidating with all their sub menu's. That's why I initially came here, I figured I forgot to arm something, set a switch, who knows. I spent 2 hours flying around trying to just drop a bomb off the pylon, only to figure out I needed profile 2 in the MFD rather than profile 1

 

I was also just going to mention you shouldn't have any need to muck around with profiles at this stage just doing basic bombing.

They are intended for more complex A-G attacks where you can engage using different parameters during one engagement without having to program the variations mid-attack, you just quickly swap profiles.

Along those lines you won't really need to muck around with MFD pages too much either at this stage. A lot of them are actually not currently modelled anyway. You only need the HSD and SMS for the RH MFD, and the Radar for the left, plus the TGP once you move onto precision munitions.

 

I would have a look into CCIP vs CCRP and become familiar with delayed release cues etc - as your problems were probably more related to that :thumbup:

TMS up once = soft lock, radar goes in to SAM or Situational Awareness Mode

TMS up twice = hard lock, radar goes in to STT or single target track