Multi-player questions

Hi everyone and thanks in advance for taking the time to reply to this thread!

I guess I just wanted to ask some general questions as a newcomer to DCs. I've been fooling around with the multiplayer functionality of the game, and I think it's really awesome or at least has an amazing potential. I'm flying to new F-18 Hornet and using it with VR Oculus Rift and it's just unbelievable how immersive all of this is. I downloaded the simple radio, and I've spent the last two weeks making some custom missions for myself to play on my own to get used to the mission editor and so far it's all working pretty well.

The part where I'm really getting frustrated and Confused is when I want to go and join a multiplayer game. For example on the Phoenix server or any of them really I join in and I just don't know what to do. After I spool up my airplane and take off I just feel so lost. The mission briefing is very vague and basically just says that there are some targets somewhere and the two forces are fighting. But it's very difficult to figure out who's on what team, and what the point of the mission really is and what I should be doing specifically.

I've read some other General posts when trying to do my own research on Google to try to educate myself on how to use the multiplayer more effectively. And it seems that I'm not alone in this thought. So rather than asking for general advice let me try and be more specific.

When I join a multiplayer server like the 107 Squadron or any of them for that matter and I spawn and start up my airplane and I pick my team then I take off, what's the next thing I should be doing?. I know about requesting for bogey dope and getting vectors to the nearest threat in the sky, but this also is very annoying because they might tell me that it's a hundred miles away and then I have to keep pushing the buttons to get the updates as I get closer and closer and this seems a little counter intuitive. Then I have no idea about how to find the ground targets or how to work with any of the other players in the mission on accomplishing any of that

It's cleared to have the best experience I myself would personally need to know individual people in which I would then go and create my own map and then I would have like a very lockdown server and we would use the voice SRS chat and it would be more like a real life scenario. In this sense I think the game would be amazing. And when I watch videos on YouTube such as the Grim Reapers which by the way is just absolutely unbelievable that's made very clear. But I guess it's very unrealistic to expect any type of consistent experience by just going and joining a public server and thinking that I'm going to know what to do?

Thanks so much for any advice that you have.

Hi there, and Welcome to DCS

DCS Multiplayer is Epic and as you have found also has challenges, your best off joining a group and learning that way.

Not only will the MP experience be better but you can use them as a fountain of knowledge :)

Im the lead admin for a group called the Ravens, Check out our website. Our aim it to help new comers learn the MP part of DCS and make friends along the way.

Come say hi on our Facebook page or site and we will happily help you out

HAPPY FLYING :)

Hi 59th!

I would love too :-) My call sign is SunTiger.

I will take a look now! Thank you so much :-)

Hi Tharr...there are many different types of multiplayer servers out there.

The 104th, for example, is commonly referred to as AirQuake; you take off, fly to bullseye, and shoot anything hostile you find (easier with IFF :lol: ) until you die/run out of ordnance. Rinse/repeat. Strikers typically have a few predefined target areas of stationary units.

Other servers such as Dynamic DCS/Blue Flag/etc. are capture-and-hold type missions where the objective is to secure the different airbases around the map. As a CAP aircraft, you mission is to protect your team's strikers as they attack enemy airbases and prevent the enemy strikers from attacking your own positions. There is usually an official teamspeak/discord/simpleradio server where you can ask what people are working on and get in where you fit in.

There are other multiplayer groups dedicated to more realistic combat operations, with designated time-on-targets and specific, briefed roles for individuals to play. These tend to be private groups that require some sort of training and a time commitment for squadron ops to gain membership. For my .02, this is where things get really fun. The possibilities exist for some pretty legit military simulation. If you're a more casual player, however, the first two options are a great choice.

There are, of course, things in between but I'd say those are the three main types of groups you'll encounter in the world of multiplayer. Your best bet is always to first read the mission screen, then join the comms server (whatever that may be) for wherever you're playing.

Have fun and welcome to the party. :thumbup:

You mentioned that you have Oculus Rift, which is the kit that I also use. I think that this gives a sense of immersion that is unparalleled. The size of the world and the sense of being in a large aircraft is brilliant. I have found there is a ‘but’ about Virtual Reality though and combat...and particularly in PvP....and particularly in PvP where the majority of players are going to be using the Track IR method of playing. Whilst I am absolutely certain that Track IR is not as immersive as VR I am thinking that it is more effective in combat within DCS. I would love to hear the views of others on this, but to give people a starter...these are the advantages Track IR affords a player over someone on A VR headset.

1. Picture definition. See things more easily.

2. Easier to look behind/all over with minimal movement. VR requires more physical movement.

3. Zoom. The amount of zoom I have seen Track IR playersuse in videos equates to early stage zoom on a targeting pod. Great for picking out small vehicles. VR has a little zoom..but Track IR players’ is massive by comparison. (And don’t forget Point 1)

4. You can have other screens up, take notes, read paper instructions, use a second screen etc with Track IR because you can still see your hands and do things. In VR reading or other tasks ‘outside of the cockpit’ is an ergonomic challenge.

None of this is meant to be complaint...I still love VR. But I do wonder at times how much my ability to do well in multiplayer is eroded by what I see as significant advantages of Track IR. For me immersion is the key quality of VR so I will stick with it and if I blow up a little more often that is, generally speaking okay with me....but if I was a very competitive person I think I would have to have a Track IR. What do others think on this? Are there dedicated VR only servers?