Jump to content

DCS – An alternative perspective


Baldrick33

Recommended Posts

I feel somewhat in awe at the pedigree of people who regularly post in these forums. What with military backgrounds, real world pilots and flight sim pilots demonstrating extraordinary (to me at least) knowledge about flying and aircraft systems.

 

I have dabbled with combat flight sims over the years, owning several Microprose titles in the early nineties, Falcon 3.0 and a few others. They were always second fiddle to my primary love of sim racing and I didn’t get further than dabbling.

 

I first was attracted to having a combat flight sim revival after getting VR and acquired DCS in 2015 but it wasn’t until I got a Reverb last year I really started to play it. The extra clarity just bought it to life and I was truly hooked!

 

Although I have never had any aspirations to be a pilot the concept of a study sim where I could learn to understand what people were talking about here had some appeal, although to start with I was content with just getting the basics to be able to start up a Spitfire, taxi it, take off, fly to the nearest airfield, land it and park it. I can do that now though it took me a while.

 

I spent some time and money getting some decent controls inluding a jet seat and in spite of my novice status I get a lot of pleasure out of them. I also spent far more time perfecting my rig setup than reading manuals.

 

So a year has passed (which has involved moving into a dedicated flight and race sim room after my youngest kids moved out!) and I am still a complete novice. An awful lot of what people discuss as missing features and things not working frankly goes over my head. Although I keep planning to learn a single modern aircraft throughout I still flit between aircraft and get enthralled when I finally manage to land a Huey on a moving ship in bad weather, stick the Mi_8 on a helipad, get an F/A-18 safely down on a carrier, shoot down a couple of 109s in my trusty Spit, destroy some tanks in an A-10 and so on.

 

I have no idea how normal that is. My guess is that people don’t typically volunteer how shallow they are when it comes to complex sims! Some might say I would be better off with a less detailed sim and just have some fun but personally I find just flying cool military aircraft in VR which (to my limited knowledge) represent pretty closely to the real thing is the best fun I can have with the genre. I have tried other sims and always come back to DCS.

 

I will get around to learning more, I have the L-39 and plan to complete the training and campaigns but only to open up more options in terms of missions, I am not really bothered about developing a career as a virtual pilot, let alone a real world one. I just enjoy flying cool military combat planes, and for me DCS delivers far more than I can find time for.

 

Again I am not sure how typical this is, my gut feel would be that there is sizeable like-minded group who seldom or never post on the forums but of course we are biased by our own experiences as to how people would use DCS.

AMD 5800X3D · MSI 4080 · Asus ROG Strix B550 Gaming  · HP Reverb Pro · 1Tb M.2 NVMe, 32Gb Corsair Vengence 3600MHz DDR4 · Windows 11 · Thrustmaster TPR Pedals · VIRPIL T-50CM3 Base, Alpha Prime R. VIRPIL VPC Rotor TCS Base. JetSeat

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's probably the majority of people. We're here cause it's as close as we can get, and the complexity and fascination of it all is a big part of the draw because you feel like you REALLY accomplished something. ''I got a ten kill streak in Call of Duty 19 during a ten minute match'' just doesn't have the same feelz as ''I spent dozens of hours learning to operate the complex systems of a modern combat jet and successfully caught a wire (carrier landing) during a ferocious thunderstorm after a 90 minute sortie''.

Де вороги, знайдуться козаки їх перемогти.

5800x3d * 3090 * 64gb * Reverb G2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel somewhat in awe at the pedigree of people who regularly post in these forums. What with military backgrounds, real world pilots and flight sim pilots demonstrating extraordinary (to me at least) knowledge about flying and aircraft systems.

 

I have dabbled with combat flight sims over the years, owning several Microprose titles in the early nineties, Falcon 3.0 and a few others. They were always second fiddle to my primary love of sim racing and I didn’t get further than dabbling.

 

I first was attracted to having a combat flight sim revival after getting VR and acquired DCS in 2015 but it wasn’t until I got a Reverb last year I really started to play it. The extra clarity just bought it to life and I was truly hooked!

 

Although I have never had any aspirations to be a pilot the concept of a study sim where I could learn to understand what people were talking about here had some appeal, although to start with I was content with just getting the basics to be able to start up a Spitfire, taxi it, take off, fly to the nearest airfield, land it and park it. I can do that now though it took me a while.

 

I spent some time and money getting some decent controls inluding a jet seat and in spite of my novice status I get a lot of pleasure out of them. I also spent far more time perfecting my rig setup than reading manuals.

 

So a year has passed (which has involved moving into a dedicated flight and race sim room after my youngest kids moved out!) and I am still a complete novice. An awful lot of what people discuss as missing features and things not working frankly goes over my head. Although I keep planning to learn a single modern aircraft throughout I still flit between aircraft and get enthralled when I finally manage to land a Huey on a moving ship in bad weather, stick the Mi_8 on a helipad, get an F/A-18 safely down on a carrier, shoot down a couple of 109s in my trusty Spit, destroy some tanks in an A-10 and so on.

 

I have no idea how normal that is. My guess is that people don’t typically volunteer how shallow they are when it comes to complex sims! Some might say I would be better off with a less detailed sim and just have some fun but personally I find just flying cool military aircraft in VR which (to my limited knowledge) represent pretty closely to the real thing is the best fun I can have with the genre. I have tried other sims and always come back to DCS.

 

I will get around to learning more, I have the L-39 and plan to complete the training and campaigns but only to open up more options in terms of missions, I am not really bothered about developing a career as a virtual pilot, let alone a real world one. I just enjoy flying cool military combat planes, and for me DCS delivers far more than I can find time for.

 

Again I am not sure how typical this is, my gut feel would be that there is sizeable like-minded group who seldom or never post on the forums but of course we are biased by our own experiences as to how people would use DCS.

I'm pretty much where you are!

 

Sent from my ANE-LX1 using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

now this here is a man who is genuinely interested in the topic, who feels fulfillment from simply learning about airplanes

its far less shallow than all our community politicians for whom airplanes are only vanities and excuses for wrangling out some personal concession from their god-devs


Edited by probad
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think it's all that alternative. I *enjoy* the hell out of DCS. But i don't *live* for DCS. Sometimes, I take an A10 out just to do touch and go's. Never did that until VR became a thing.

 

 

 

I'm pretty sure there are many like us! :)

hsb

HW Spec in Spoiler

---

 

i7-10700K Direct-To-Die/OC'ed to 5.1GHz, MSI Z490 MB, 32GB DDR4 3200MHz, EVGA 2080 Ti FTW3, NVMe+SSD, Win 10 x64 Pro, MFG, Warthog, TM MFDs, Komodo Huey set, Rverbe G1

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm one :) Nav exercises , pattern work , nap-of-the-earth and bad-weather flying etc are just as much fun as blowing stuff up in VR .

9700k @ stock , Aorus Pro Z390 wifi , 32gb 3200 mhz CL16 , 1tb EVO 970 , MSI RX 6800XT Gaming X TRIO , Seasonic Prime 850w Gold , Coolermaster H500m , Noctua NH-D15S , CH Pro throttle and T50CM2/WarBrD base on Foxxmounts , CH pedals , Reverb G2v2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think there's "normal", "typical" or whatever behaviour in this, you can use the sim to whatever you feel like. I'm in touch with my sim people all of the time, but from time to time I may get a bit carried away and many times I pic any plane, also many times a prop one, and just take a stroll out there, a bit engine and fuel management, a bit dead reckoning, maybe some crosswind take offs and landings, a bit sightseeing, anything just for the sake of fun and remembering my time flying in RL (a short time it was). IMO nothing else compares to the feeling you get in DCS with regards to pure flying and I just enjoy it those times I do that.

 

 

There's of course time either for academies, learning, studying, teaching fellow members, ME flying and of course combat, but those just for fun times are freaking awesome and I don't give up them. Nobody can tell you how to enjoy the thing, it's only up to you.

 

 

 

S!

"I went into the British Army believing that if you want peace you must prepare for war. I believe now that if you prepare for war, you get war."

-- Major-General Frederick B. Maurice

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...