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I Do Not Understand DCS...Please Help


Plainsman

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Reading manual is not exactly required if you have the training missions available and somebody on Discord or Team speak to fill in the missing parts. But without any attempt to try to learn at least the basics, you are destined to fail.

 

I was reading manuals on my way to work for example and it helped a lot. Doing one training mission a week which takes max. 30 minutes helps a ton too.

Do, or do not, there is no try.

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I am a new guy too although I did a lot of flying through most of the microsoft sims 15 yrs ago. I started w/ the two free planes that come w/ the sim. Tried the SUxx and as soon as I saw all the instruments etc were in another language I got out and tried the P51. Liked that so bought the Spitfire. Took 20 attempts to get the dang thing off the ground and then crashed every landing. I love watching A10s on youtube so bought that. Easy to takeoff, fly around and land. Cool so I tried to use some weapons. Did the tutorial and quickly realized it was WAY over my head. So I bought the fully armed P51. That is fun but I just do the quick action missions and will often just fly from field to field. I have tried the dogfight against the 190 or 109 and have been shot down every time. I bought the FA18 because I had flown it on XPlane and enjoyed it except for the way overdone automatic flying assist and the idiot LSO in my ears. I have probably 3-400 DCS straight in carrier approaches now and can usually get it on the deck even if I maybe would have broken the plane in RL. Some day I may be able to do a pattern carrier landing but I think that will be a long way off. What I have found is that I try to practice one skill like the carrier approaches. They involve using the ICLS so I am also learning the UFC and the HSI screen. At some point I guess I get tired and start crashing more instead of less. At that point I switch to the P51 and shoot the crap out of that transport plane. Or I take the FA18 to land and do the airport to airport thing while practicing using the TACAN. I enjoy the learning but for me this is fun. When something gets too frustrating and isn't fun, I switch to something else.

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I think the F-15C is the most rewarding for least investment of $, fewest systems to learn (in this DCS version, that is...it's a bit simplified, not so hard core), has great performance, lots of missiles, lots of fuel, and the all important HUD with a displayed velocity vector that tells you where the aircraft is flying to...makes landings so much easier...if you understand how fighter jets fly. Plus it's in English, the only language I know. :) Only thing...it does not have a clickable cockpit. So you have to take a little time and set up some buttons on your joystick and throttle to quickly change radar modes and weapon selected (but you want to do that with any of them). The F-15C is Air-to-air-only, no bombs. The A-10A is the easiest of all to fly because it's slower and has the HUD, but not good for dogfighting because of its lack of speed and power. It's a ground pounder plane. You get them both with Flaming Cliffs 3. You also get Su-27 & 33 and MiG-29's and more. I have never flown them, amazingly. :) ...someday. But don't get too cocky in that F-15C, because, yes, an AI MiG-15 can and will shoot you down if you get too close in front of them...and not so close as you'd think. :) That was my first ride on the nylon elevator. Others will probably swear by the Mirage 2000. I don't have that one, so can't say. A lot of real dogfights have been flown (or avoided) with "the wrong plane".

 

 

I started with the F-5E-3 a couple years back. Because I've always been fascinated with that plane for decades. But I had a hell of a time trying to fly it. Crashed on takeoff so many times. And then I realized you have to extend the nose strut for takeoff!! Read the manual. :) Also, pay attention to the proper airspeed for takeoff...don't try to get airborne too soon or too late on the takeoff run. I also thought, "I'll fly against an easy AI MiG-15. Easy victory." Wrong. I set up my own simple mission in the Mission Editor...no complications, just two planes. I found myself in afterburner trying to keep the MiG in front of me...and my airspeed was below 200 kts. The MiG was flying circles around me and shooting me as I inevitably descended to low altitude and ran out of fuel. "What the heck!?" Each model airplane does its best stuff at its own particular speeds, and altitudes. It takes a while to even get minimally proficient at any of these planes...I'm not there yet. Not just anyone can be a real life fighter pilot...for very good reason. Unfortunately, there's no easy, quick answer. DCS is realistic enough, it takes some real study to get good at any plane. But I think it's rewarding to do so. Several times I could have sworn the programmers at DCS got it wrong...but it was just me needing to learn how to fly THAT plane. I still need to learn the MiG-21...I hate crashing and burning. :) It just takes time! I only have 217 flight hours in DCS 2.5 and 470 takeoffs and landings amongst 9 different aircraft, including the Huey. I'm a master of none.

 

 

There is game mode for DCS, too. I've never tried it. I want as real as I can get without risking my real neck. :) Game mode might make it easier and more fun for you. You can also set up a MiG-21 "target drone", I call it...where you have it fly a straight course at 500 Kts ground speed and no weapons. And set its "Reaction to Threat" to "No Action". That way you can practice intercepts and use of radar and missiles...intercepts are not as easy as you'd think. It's easy to wind up in a tail pursuit and having to use a lot of afterburner to close the distance for a AIM-7F or AIM-9 shot. I like the old stuff. The problem with dogfights is "lose sight, lose the fight"...it's so hard to maintain sight when the world is only in a 42" monitor, even at 4K resolution (I gave up HD over a year ago).

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Actually you sound just like me. I flew Falcon and Jane's and a few years back I decided to jump into DCS, I bought the A-10c and wow, I was frustrated, I didn't know how to set up the controls and it had so many systems. I plugged away at it but because I didn't have that much free time, I couldn't really get into it and I would end up relearning things and it was frustrating. I dropped out for a few years and decided to get back into it. I watched a lot of You Tube video's and discovered how to set up my controls much better and I really enjoyed it. I have since retired and while I'm not very good, I thoroughly enjoy flying and with all the improvements, It is getting more and more fun! The only thing I suggest apart form what others have said is to create a simple mission in the mission editor and make sure the enemy skill level is set to what you're comfortable with, and as you get better you can fiddle with the skill level and also with the mission itself. It is nice to create a particular mission to work on different skill sets and as a lot of people have said, read the manuals, they are in PDF format which makes it easy to put on your phone or tablet to read away from the computer. And one last thing is enjoy it, keep it fun and you won't burn out and get frustrated. I hope you don't give up because it can really be enjoyable.


Edited by Mouse_99
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Instant action or default missions are awesome. When you get a plane figure out what you wanna do in it and do those training missions. Then, go through the missions and find some you like. If you got lots of time on weekends, multiplayer.

 

On hornet, I like caucasus instant action 8v8. Is about 15 minute battle. The strike fighter instant action mission is also very good. For a mission, hornet Fighter Sweep mission is a real nice playground. Never managed to kill that A-50 yet, cant shoot down that second mig 29.. Also, persian gulf map is underrated. Seeing a missile coming out of between the buildings is like... you feel like you are there!

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Wrong, it can do A/G :music_whistling:

 

Not according to Boeing. and they should know. No A-G ordnance is listed for the F-15C.

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Eagle vs Strike Eagle ;)

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The Eagle (A/B/C/D) can use bombs and has dedicated avionic functions for that purpose. It's just that the USAF never made use of that, unlike the Israeli Air Force which used Eagles (not Strike Eagles) to conduct bombing operations in the past (including the use of PGMs).

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DCS Panavia Tornado (IDS) really needs to be a thing!

 

Tornado3 small.jpg

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