Noob with a question

Hi all. I'm pretty new to DCS. Been doing civilian flight sims since the SubLogic flight sim days, and still sim in P3d using mostly stuff like PMDG tubeliners, so I know my way around flying and airplane systems, but am new to the combat side of things. Having fun so far!

One question: Why are the tracks inaccurate when I play them back? I'll do a mission, shoot down a plane, then play back the track and it'll have me shooting when I'm pointing completely away from the bandit, and then half the time the playback shows me doing something really dumb, like flying into the ground when that didn't happen. It's almost like it's playing back some other session. Any insight on what's going on?

It's happening on the Nevada map in an F-18 if that matters.

Have you used time acceleration?

DCS tracks are a recreation of your simulation session. Inputs are applied and the simulation calculates the reaction.

If you make long tracks, or you advance time too quickly you risk introducing errors which can compound and give the results you experience.

These are of course the downsides of this system of replay, but it has benefits as well.

I don't even know how to use time acceleration in DCS. When you're used to flying a 747 across the ocean at around Mach 0.84, getting from one end of the map to the other in DCS at Mach 1+ doesn't really seem like it takes all that long. ;)

It's all 1:1 speed. Things seem to start normally - this last time, the first time I shoot at him is accurate (I fired on the lead pass to verify that the track I was watching was, in fact, the track I just recorded). Then there's half a minute or so of turning and by the time I shoot the second time, I'm not pointing anywhere near him. Just firing at nothing. Then a little later I slam into the ground. What really happened was that I shot at him in the lead pass, got into a turning fight, ended up behind him, and shot him down, then ended the mission and hit replay.

I can understand why I might not be aiming at him in the replay because maybe it calculated inputs differently enough that we're in different positions, but I'm kinda surprised that it would get off on the altitude by several thousand feet to have me hit the ground.

Tracks are FU since the beginning of time. It's not only time acceleration that destros the replay. The more updates there are the more your track will become obsolete. If you want to analyze what you (or the adversary) are doing during a dogfight, Tacview is a great add-on.

Makes sense. Thanks! Is there a compelling reason to spend the extra money for Advanced over standard if I have no plans to lead an online squadron or be an instructor?

I'm using standard, more then enough.

Do your trial time first and get familiar with it, then decide if it suits your needs.

Little story: Back in the LockOn days, i was flying some online missions which kept pilot/squadron score for an entire month. During one of those missions flying the A-10A i saw a Su-27 pop-up on the RWR. Dived into the valley's for some cover and do my mission bombing run. Went good, took out some target and after all weapons were used, i headed back to base, again making use of the valley's through the mountains to prevent detection. Then, a few miles from base all of a sudden i saw tracers pass by the canopy, got hit and shot down. Forgot to save the track but then i took a look at the TacView recording and saw that the Su-27 had sneaked in behind me, following my approach to target, followed me through the various attack runs and then also followed me home through the mountain valley's. When a few miles from base... he pulled the trigger...

If it wasn't for TacView, i never would have known that i got shot by that Su-27.

Thanks for the tips. TacView's a useful tool - good enough that I've already bought the standard edition. Appreciate the help!