Doing some market research...

Myself and a few buddies are considering formalizing our A-10C squadron, which right now is more of an "agreed weekly get-together" than a squadron.

But of course, a virtual squadron is just a club for imaginary friends without pilots. There's already many virtual squadrons out there, so we wanted to make sure there was some interest from the A-10 drivers before we pay fees for a website and make a big deal here on the forums, to only have one or two guys be interested.

Myself and all my buddies are A-10C guys. After learning the A-10, we got bored of the DCS meta "fly on autopilot for 25 mins, blow up non moving urals and tanks, fly 25 mins home" type of missions. So, we established an objective for the 4 of us. "Make engaging and realistic A-10C missions." So the 4 of us did just that, we drafted some CAS missions in which maybe one of us would sit out and act as a player JTAC, or we'd have some unexpected Troops in Contact call during an air interdiction sortie, just something other than the boring meta of shooting at non-moving stuff. We've been flying these missions for a few months on Friday nights, and we've had a blast. But now we're wondering if any "outsiders" want to get involved...

So, before we jump the gun on a website and other tasks, I simply wanted to poke the DCS community with a stick and see if I get a response.

While reading through some threads here on the forums I came to an observation... there was a disproportionate number of guys who WANTED to fly in a squadron and guys who DID fly in a squadron. It became pretty obvious that nearly everybody wants a squadron to fly with, but a lot of guys don't. Upon asking why, I seemed to get the response, "because I have nobody to fly with."

So in August we explored the possibility of putting together a formal squadron. We wanted to base it on a real life squadron for simplicity and realism factor, so we sat down and thought about which squadron we wanted to emulate. The 303d? Eh... The 25th? No, they're based in Korea. The 45th? The 47th? (We figured all the Moody AFB squadrons had been rightfully claimed by another, unnamed prominent A-10C DCS squadron), etc. Since I'm from Fort Wayne, IN, and see their jets nearly every week, I was screaming "163!" the whole time. We couldn't agree on what squadron to base our group on, So we said "screw it, just find a squadron with the best looking jets." Yeah, well, your nose art might be a generic shark, or the mouth and tusks of an actual warthog, but the 163 has got snakes. So I asked a DCS community contributor atomtomgo who made a fantastic 303d skin pack to produce one for the 163d. And boy did he deliver.

So we decided on the 163d.

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All that aside, my proposal. We are potentially aiming for a hopefully big demographic of DCS guys. A-10C guys looking for semi-realistic operations. Realistic radio calls, formations, basic briefings, missions, the whole gig, but we don't want to be realistic to the point that it's a chore. We're not asking you to dedicate your life here, maybe one or two nights a week of flying some missions with some buddies. Truthfully we're a bit pessimistic with the pending release of the F-18, but one of us thinks that the F-18 release will sweep all the "non-dedicated" hog pilots out of the running ;)

So I'd just like some input from the community. Are you interested? If so, let us know! If you're not interested, don't just skim through the thread and leave, let us know why. And don't be afraid to be rude, if you aren't interested because there's 30 other groups already doing what we want to do, then tell us that we're dumb. That's the whole point of asking.

Looking forward to some input.

Thanks for your time.

I personally don't want to be a part of a squadron, carry someone's tag, have responsibilities towards them.

I am lone wolf by nature.

BUT, I'll be lying if I say that I don't need friends (a wingman) to play with, or just people who are not "slow" and can communicate properly.

Take my input as you wish. Maybe statistically ?

I know a lot of people play only SP, cuz they think people on the Internet bite or have anxiety of some sort.

If you are looking for someone to fill up your flight, feel free to message me and we will see how it works out.

Cheers !

P.S: thinking about it, our time differences are too big :/

Just like the video of the new AV8N. Seems like every two minutes the guy, who must have a limited vocabulary says f--king, f--k and it gets real boring. Now I don't mind hearing someone who has just experienced something that is hard to contain and utter some words of descriptive nature but do not continue on with a barrage of profanity. Seems like whenever I view some flightsim multiplayer combat action on you tube...you hear lot of profanity.

It just gets too the point I do not want to join in on that type of entertainment.

Like I say, some is real funny and in some situations is warranted and highlights the intensity. But seems like some carry it to an extreme.

IMHO.

Come join the CSG-1. We are working on forming a larger group but have a very active F-5 aggressor squadron and a smaller group flying a Hornet mod that follows realistic comms, formation and engagements. As soon as the Harrier lands we will have a squadron up and running for that, I would estimate approximately 5-10 people online Sunday and Tuesday regular participation. We will also be opening a 14 and 18 squad once they are available.

No worries about rank or loosing control of your group, each squadron runs independently but trains and flies missions as a cooperative unit.

Link in my signature. Discord link on the website.

Gladman, I appreciate you reaching out to me. But the four of us looking to kickstart this deal are all Hawg drivers. To make a play on an old phrase.. Every pound for air to ground.

Just like the video of the new AV8N. Seems like every two minutes the guy, who must have a limited vocabulary says f--king, f--k and it gets real boring. Now I don't mind hearing someone who has just experienced something that is hard to contain and utter some words of descriptive nature but do not continue on with a barrage of profanity. Seems like whenever I view some flightsim multiplayer combat action on you tube...you hear lot of profanity.

When I was a Staff Sergeant in the USMC, I was able to cure some of the more intelligent offenders by telling them that "Profanity is a sign of a weak mind attempting to forcibly express itself." When my young son dropped an "f-bomb" at the dinner table one evening, I casually remarked that "There are 25 cent words and 50 cent words and there are words that you will pay me 5 dollars for using, and that's one of them." I've not heard him cuss since then, and he's 26 now.

My seemingly OT point here is that the Squadron Leaders have to police the actions that are distasteful to members of their Squadron, just as they do in the military.

Gladman, I appreciate you reaching out to me. But the four of us looking to kickstart this deal are all Hawg drivers. To make a play on an old phrase.. Every pound for air to ground.

Maybe you misunderstood my statement. You'd still be A-10 guys in your own squadron.

The idea is to have a group of like minded individuals dedicated to given airframes and perform joint operations/training.

All good either way. If you don't want to come into the fold, we of course would still be very interested in flying with your group. Let me know and we can set something up.

I would like to be part of a squadron (along with the two guys I fly with). Problem is we fly at odd hours (midnight until 3 or so AM ET on Sat and Sun night) since I work night shift, one guy is in Japan and the other is west coast USA.

What time do you guys usually fly?

Im finding right now with the way MP is (Different subject) We now only fly on a sunday, As where before we would fly through the week to, This is due to Dysnc's etc.

I am definitely interested in your all Hawg squad. I have spent everyday for the last month (4 hours a day) learning all I can about its systems and operation. As a video editor ( https://www.facebook.com/tom.daigon ) that retired early to enjoy life, DCS and VR take a major role in my day to day fun. My simming and gaming have been spent as an offline / single player. But I am curious about the online / group experience. As a relative noob I would look forward to joining a squad that was not adverse to training folks like me. After checking other groups out, I have decided I want to join a USA based group (for better pings) that is comprised of good hearted, intelligent folks.

Heya folks, first and foremost I'd like to thank you all for the replies. I'll just go right down the list and address a few things.

SHaDoW STeP BG - I totally understand the nature of flying lone wolf. Now, I don't want to convince you to do something you don't want to do, but trust me that when I say that there would be no obligations or responsibilities involved unless you wanted to undertake a few things yourself. At the end of the day, virtual squadrons should be about having fun, not doing chores. Concerning time zones, I personally tend to fly on Saturday and Sunday mornings, which might work for your European time zone. If you're interested in flying with me or with the other guys, shoot me a PM. I'm definitely interested in flying with ya.

Gladman - Thanks for clearing that up, and I apologize for being the dense guy that I am. As for collaboration with other squadrons... I'm 100% on board! It would be great to do some training and ops with like minded pilots from other squadrons. As we potentially look at moving forward with the 163, I will keep in touch with you and establish some links with CSG-1 for sure.

StandingCow - Our scheduled flights are at 8pm EST on Fridays. But we do a lot more flying than is scheduled - usually we all hang out in teamspeak every night and if people are around, we organize a flight. As for wonky hours, we sometimes fly into the wee hours of the morning on weekends as well. Lots of F-5 action in the Fishbed v Tiger server late at night on the weekends for us.. It's a blast! As for Japan, that would be strange to work out, considering they're currently 14 hours ahead of us. It seems like no time would really work best. If we fly at 4pm EST, it's gonna be 6am there... If we fly at 10pm est, it's noon there.. That might work, actually.. We'd have to get in touch with that guy and see what works for him. But other than that, We fly at basically all hours throughout the week. Like I said, we just hang out in Teamspeak, and when we have the guys, we organize a flight and take to the air.

Coxy_99 - Interesting.. who do you fly with?

lasvideo - Awesome! We'd love to have you flying with us. I think you'd fit right in. If you're interested, shoot me a PM. We can set up a flight or two and see if we've got the "right stuff" for you.

And as a side note for anybody interested, feel free to drop into our Teamspeak server at any time for a chat.

IP: 163rd.teamspeak3.com

:)

Just like the video of the new AV8N. Seems like every two minutes the guy, who must have a limited vocabulary says f--king, f--k and it gets real boring. Now I don't mind hearing someone who has just experienced something that is hard to contain and utter some words of descriptive nature but do not continue on with a barrage of profanity. Seems like whenever I view some flightsim multiplayer combat action on you tube...you hear lot of profanity.

 

It just gets too the point I do not want to join in on that type of entertainment.

Like I say, some is real funny and in some situations is warranted and highlights the intensity. But seems like some carry it to an extreme.

IMHO.

just fly with like minded people?