How do you enjoy DCS?

From reading all the comments it seems everyone is really loving the new DCS 2.5. I am just curious what you are doing?

I have owned DCS for years but could never stay all that into it because stuff invariably wouldn't work. With all the 2.5 hype and good things on the horizon, I was finally excited to dive in and enjoy it.

I started with the Huey UN Pilot campaign which was great except for one mission where I had to manually edit the waypoints because the AI helicopter kept crashing into trees (obviously not tested in 2.5 as it crashed into the exact same tree every time). After finishing that, I bought the Argo campaign and the frustrations came flooding back. Of the first five missions, I had to manually edit my logbook to skip two of them due to the swinging cargo bug. Then the sixth mission starts you literally inside of another helicopter and you instantly crash.

If I had downloaded this off some website I'd be less annoyed but I paid money for this campaign on the DCS website and it's clear no one had even tested it one time before proclaiming it to be 2.5 compatible.

I really do like the sim. Everything seems really well done except any content whatsoever. What am I missing? I will literally buy any of the add-ons if I knew they work. I love the Huey and the A-10C. I fly in VR so helicopters are particularly fun to me. The Gazelle maybe?

I am really looking forward to all the A-10 training campaigns, I need to brush up on that plane and that sounds like a great way to do it right before I pick up some campaigns and of course the Persian Gulf map when it is ready.

Please help me figure out how to enjoy this. I know it's great and I am desperate to enjoy it but I don't want to buy something else unless I know it will actually function.

Of the non-FC3 modules, I have the L39, KA50, F5, A10C. They all fly wonderfully. I enjoy DCS as both an aircraft combat sim and as a non-combat flight sim.

I haven't done any campaigns, but I did do the SU-25T training missions in 2.5 and for the internal cannon, and I had to go into the Mission Editor and raise two of the gates (the last one and the one at the top of the mountain, just before the descent into the target bowl). I saved the edits and was able to finish that mission.

Should it have been checked prior to release? Sure, but it wasn't probably for the same reason old roads aren't well maintained...the cost of building new roads (or modules) eats up the time and money budget, leaving very little for fixes.

I see trying to self-fix a mission (if it's unusable otherwise) as a minor thing, relative to the enjoyment I get out of playing the now-fixed mission several times.

...paid money for this campaign on the DCS website and it's clear no one had even tested it one time before proclaiming it to be 2.5 compatible...

Great observation! Maybe try to persuade ED to increase the number of Beta testers to check for these types of things?

The Gazelle maybe?

I'd go for the Mi-8, since it's arguably the best virtual chopper ever made for any sim. I fly it daily myself, because it just is so damn good. I don't even do any combat that much anymore with it - just fly in Nevada and Georgia in variable weather because I enjoy it so much.

Lack of content and some long-standing bugs are indeed a problem with DCS, but ironic as it may sound, it kind of forces you to focus on learning the best modules by heart, which in itself is great fun if you're that way inclined. Regardless, what DCS needs in the long run is more content and preferably dynamic at that; we've got the bones, so let's put some flesh on them now. And oh, fix the bugs as well while you're at it ;)

I started playing DCS five years ago. Since I started I’ve put over 1000 hours/year into it and I only play the A-10C. What I do in it is play an open ended SP CAS mission with random elements. Still after all these years and all this time I’m far from getting bored. It is my little slice of heaven.

I might try the F/A-18 when it’s feature complete and well into release, but honestly until then I’m not interested.

With blue cheese on oat biscuits, and a bottle of stout.

Favourite aircraft - Mi-8 & Su-25A

That's all I need to keep myself occupied.

DCS truly becomes alive though multiplayer experience for me. Single player missions and campaigns can be rewarding and engaging, but all of my best DCS experiences are results of when I was flying with actual people behind the jets I was flying with. I got deep into the virtual organization scene, started an A-10 squadron with the help of some great friends a few months ago, and I haven't once flown single player since.

Sitting down, spending an hour with my -2 briefing a mission to the point, going up, flying it, landing, then deconstructing and analyzing the mission to identify lessons learned and view our performance has become such an awesome experience what I hardly do anything other than DCS with my free time now.

DCS is full of rewarding experiences... I think it can be compared to existentialism. You simply have to find the right "reward" for you, whether it be engaging campaigns, your favorite aircraft, a new aircraft, or a virtual squadron or organization.

Multiplayer it is for me.

If you can get into a squadron, even better ! People you can trust and enjoy flying with.

Singleplayer has never been my thing in DCS. Awkward AI (hard to cooperate with them), buggy missions (which require a lot of man hours and testing to get fixed) and static battleground.

You can always try and create the missions yourself, see how that works.

But playing online and cooperating is the best thing ever when it works out

A-10C and VR all the way. DCS is incredible but I just wouldn't bother without VR support.

Still learning the modules that I've bought over the the last couple of years. More recently that's been walking through what I'd call basic training on the A10C, Ka50, Harrier, Viggen etc. For that, it's my ability to cold start, navigate and use weapons.

Post that, I've built a variety of fairly simple missions that take my fancy to practice putting what I've learnt into practice.

My goal is to get to the point where I can join a squadron and actually add value. Just joined one, so let's see how that pans out.

So far it's been the F-15 and single player campaigns, mainly The Georgian War, which is really good. I ordered a Mantiz Venus eGPU, 1080ti, TrackIR 5 and TM Warthog on my 2.5 beta excitement and I just can't get enough of the beauty of this plane and the game in general. Pre-ordered the F-18 and looking forward to jump into multiplayer soon. Happy flying everyone, and thanks ED for this awesome product!

I've mostly been enjoying playing the Viggen lately, showing my friend the ropes in 2 player co-op. Low level striking at dusk and dawn, through the (snowy at times) mountains of the caucasus. Eagerly awaiting the Hornet and The Persian Gulf map :D

A lot thanks,.. :D :P

I started with the Huey UN Pilot campaign which was great except for one mission where I had to manually edit the waypoints because the AI helicopter kept crashing into trees (obviously not tested in 2.5 as it crashed into the exact same tree every time). After finishing that, I bought the Argo campaign and the frustrations came flooding back. Of the first five missions, I had to manually edit my logbook to skip two of them due to the swinging cargo bug. Then the sixth mission starts you literally inside of another helicopter and you instantly crash.

 

If I had downloaded this off some website I'd be less annoyed but I paid money for this campaign on the DCS website and it's clear no one had even tested it one time before proclaiming it to be 2.5 compatible.

This is why I will probably stop buying their campaigns. I understand some bugs are difficult to correct but all they had to do here was change a few waypoints. It's stuff like this that I find unacceptable. Multiplayer is indeed the best way to enjoy DCS, I guess. Try to find good people to fly with.

Well, No FC3 after i got use to A-10C and Huey. They are both serious machines so don't need anything else.I have other modules but they are not as enjoyable as these two are.(bought F-18c, keeping most of my brains empty lobes to study it)

Only single player here! i fly now for over 10 years never tried multiplayer,never interested.

If i had an online buddy or two co-op could be great fun i guess, but with the performance issues i've heard not sure if i want that.Piercing Fury Campaign for A-10C, And Argo campaign for Uh-1.Free flying with either of them time to time, and some bombing/gun run/ JTAC practice on Nevada with A-10C.Looking also forward to Nevada Training Campaign so i can really enjoy Nevada with the Hog.

I found good balance between performance and eye candy for the first time in 2.5.Of course there is big help of my wallet,it helped me to get rid of stutters (SSD :D)

Cheers

There is also the self esteem boost when you learn to operate an aircraft the correct way and are capable to complete the tasks which it is designed to do

With blue cheese on oat biscuits, and a bottle of stout.

 

Favourite aircraft - Mi-8 & Su-25A

That's all I need to keep myself occupied.

i like your style

For me its multiplayer large group formations on free flight servers. Nothing like flying with a dozen other folks in a tight group across the caucus map.

For me its multiplayer large group formations on free flight servers. Nothing like flying with a dozen other folks in a tight group across the caucus map.

Never done it, but the idea gives me a hard on. :megalol:

In singleplayer i really enjoy campaigns where a lot of work was put into the scenario of the campaign. Lots of text and background information, i don't need voice overs they're just a really huge bonus but i really enjoy the stories through the campaigns like the F86/MiG15 Relic campaign, great stuff. I really would love to see the Luftwaffe Pilot campaigns from il2, those were really nice atmospheric missions if somebody knows them.

Since a couple of weeks i am enjoying multiplayer and just flying in sp if the servers with the settings i like doesn't have any players.

I am really enjoying the historic content on dcs, ww2 warbirds, early jet fighters up to the late 80s mid 90s birds. I don't know how to say it properly but i like stuff where the skill of the user is more important than its technology.

I am really not interested in doing a 35km kill with a rocket where the biggest hurdle was to get the bird up into the air. And i am not a good pilot i die a lot because of really stupid mistakes or stress related mistakes ;) But that's the enjoyable part for me. Being able to fly those machines without a proper education for it. Learning by doing since it doesn't cost me money or health when i crash ;)

And for the bugs which are still there for me its not a big deal because dcs is a huge sandbox and if you create something really huge there will be bugs and errors but as long as its not crashing 8 times a day i can live with a lot because for me there is still a lot to explore. Ka50 was my first module around 8 years ago and its the one i played the most, right now i am enjoying the mig21 and the sabre and getting to grips with huey, but i have so much to choose from it just doesn't get boring. :)

And for the bugs which are still there for me its not a big deal because dcs is a huge sandbox and if you create something really huge there will be bugs and errors but as long as its not crashing 8 times a day i can live with a lot because for me there is still a lot to explore.

Agreed! I like how I can know a plane well enough to think of workarounds or to fall back on secondary tools when my primary tool stops working, be it because of battle damage or because of a bug. I'll just view it as a challenge/inflight problem :D

I started playing what was Lock On: Modern Air Combat back in 2005. It has since evolved in to DCS World.

Honestly, if I was reviewing DCS World as it stands now, even with the 2.5 update I would give it a 6 out of 10.

I am an experienced simmer but also an avid gamer. I work as a software developer so I do a good insight into the software development lifecycle.

DCS World seems to never get out of it's own rut. Every iteration has something wrong and more bugs are introduced with every patch. ED are not doing enough to reign in developers who are not delivering QA assured products, in particular with module patches (I'm looking at you MiG-21).

There seems to be a disconnect between third party developers and the ED development team, some kind of communication issue, or just plain laziness on part of either team. I say this because every time theres a new update there are more issues reported by players.

So why do I play it then? The potential. DCS World has SO much potential it's worth persevering with. However waiting for that potential to be realized in terms of growth, system stability, play ability and general flexibility for simmers is like waiting for the second coming. It's too damn slow.

It is improving. I play DCS World for the the simple pleasure of pretending I'm a pilot, something I wish I had realised when I was younger. DCS is what it is, a clunky bug ridden simulator, thats also fantastic and annoying in equal measure.

Thanks everyone for the great advice!

I agree that the best time I ever had in DCS was doing a mission multiplayer but I have no friends that are into this kind of thing. A squadron would be nice but I have sort of a weird schedule and am not available evenings until about 9 eastern time.

I am also an avid simmer and have tens of thousands of hours logged in FSX/P3D. I am a pilot in real life (for fun, not professional) and really really love the potential that DCS offers. That's why I don't want to give up on it (again).

I have made a few missions and actually like doing that (I am a programmer in RL) but it's not fun to fly your own missions, lol. You know how to cheat!

I also fly exclusively in VR and love the A-10. Last time I was really into this I got really good at the A-10. I still remember most of it but need to get fast and fluid again.

Thanks for the Advice on the Mi8 - can anyone confirm that it is functional (or more specifically the missions/campaign) in 2.5 though? I see the oilfield campaign and border conflict campaign, do they work?

Also can anyone recommend any functional single player missions? Especially if they are different almost every time.

Thanks again for the feedback, I'm a little less frustrated now!

Then the sixth mission starts you literally inside of another helicopter and you instantly crash.

Just to reference this one specific issue...while I totally understand why it would appear on the surface that issues like this indicate a particular mission or campaign was never tested, there is often a reason.

During the beta testing portion for payware campaigns, we were given access to a continually evolving developer's build of DCS. In this particular case, some changes came well into the testing process such as the re-ordering and re-numbering of all parking spaces in all airfields.

As a result, there were instances where we had run through a particular mission and everything was fine, we put our stamp of approval on it, and moved on to the next. Only after the bug reports start rolling in on something we had personally verified as working do we discover we need to manually re-park every single aircraft at every single airport in the entire campaign.

It's frustrating for everyone, but at the end of the day was the result of a very nice quality-of-life feature being added; easily identifiable parking spaces at all airfields in the Caucasus map.

I hope you'll forgive the mistakes along the way. :)

I will forgive them if they get fixed :)

From what I saw of the campaign, I do actually like it (if I assume it functions, of course). I like the back story and it seemed really well done in regards to plot and depth. I will look forward to it being functional in 2.5 and start it over. I suppose I just have no way of knowing when it's actually functional aside from checking the forums every few weeks or months?

I enjoy reading the forums. And learning the modules. I would like to fly more campaigns but they are too buggy at the moment.