Passero

Alright I made the plunge :D Just bought the Huey and flew with it for half an hour. Did a hot start from the ground. Basic flight is fairly straight forward but the nuances... that's something else. Tried to hover a few time but got a warning and crashed into the ground... When I try to land, I also seem to crash more often than not. But boy, the first time I took the Huey to the air... It brought a smile on my face and that's been a long time for something in a game. The sound, the feeling, the cockpit. I think I'll be spending a lot of time in this cockpit. The VR immersion is so great... Next up... doing all the training missions and the campaign...

Oh man, where did I get myself into :) Wasn't expecting such a deep discussion around hardware but then again... Who else plays DCS besides people who want to get as close to possible to the real deal... I'll stick with the X56 for now and see how I enjoy the helicopters before upgrading my hardware. I'm not good with electronics and soldering so I'll have to do with what is on the market ...

oh... Don't have Normandy... just the default map... I do have the WW2 pack but can't buy all at once :) I also find it very difficult to beat the AAA units as they shoot back... when I go in with a high AoA, I usually get shot because it's rather easy for them to hit me...

From what height do you need to start because even if I start at 7000 foot I am unable to kill it in one pass... It will have 20% damage or so if I'm lucky but usually less...

ok thx for the confirmation. Good to know it's not me :) I'll put some other units in my mission that are more suitable.

I was just wondering... I build a mission where I put a few APC Sd. Kfz 251but my bullets don't seem to be able to go through... It requires a few passes before it is destroyed while it looks a lot of bullets do hit... I'm just wondering if it's me who is crap at shooting this plane or if the bullets are really not effective against these units?

And the MSFFB is really the only one who can do this at the moment?

What makes the MSFFB so good for helis? It's just a joystick, right? So why would that be better than the joystick from my X56... I don't get.. Plus, I can't seem to find the joystick anywere... not on ebay, shops,... :P

Great stuff! Very valuable document, thanks.

Just wondering... How long do these missions last that you can't play them in a single sitting? I'm also looking into mission and campaign building myself. If you build a campaign, you can have several missions with the same setup but split into missions. This could act as save points and keep the missions within limits of a single sitting... But then, single sitting might be subjective... For one that could 4 hours, for another that could be 30min...

I've got the X56 so that has dual throttle that I can split up so that's good. I use that split setup in the P51 where I use one for the throttle and one for the RPM. I also have the saitek rudder pedals so I'm good for the hardware I guess. Will probably need to spend a lot of time to setup the controls but that's a one time job... Are the training missions good for the Huey? I used those for other modules and liked them as they are interactive and I can follow along. It's better with VR as you can't easily follow a YT tutorial while in VR... I've got little to none experience with ADF navigation. I've got hundreds of hours in the Cessna in FSX and P3D but never used ADF and was always using omnidirectional beacons for navigation or simple VFR navigation. I read up on it, but just never used it. Think I'll go for the huey :)

cool, awesome to hear :) I am looking to get into the mission editor more detailed so I don't mind scripting. I'm a software engineer by trade so that's no issue. Glad to see that everything I was hoping for, is possible.

I am contemplating getting into helicopters in DCS but have a few questions before... 1) Can you properly operate a helicopter with a HOTAS? It doesn't really resemble a cyclic stick so we can we properly simulate this using a HOTAS or is dedicated hardware for helis required? 2) I'd love to do some search and rescue missions with a heli. Is this possible in DCS or are they more focussed on search and destroy? If it's possible, what heli in DCS is more tailored towards SAR operations? 3) Aren't a lot of the helis in DCS crew operated? Where you have a pilot and perhaps someone in the back firing some guns? How does that work in DCS? Are these operated by AI? Can these be operated by people in multiplayer as well? And finally... Some good recommendations on what heli to start with?

Awesome! Thanks for that tip. That makes it a lot easier to get the WWII units.

Is there an easy way to filter assets (aircraft, ship, armor, artillery,...) based on an era or even DLC? For example I'm building a WWII mission but I find it very difficult to find the correct assets. I also have the WWII pack but as my historical knowledge is limited, I don't know what types of assets it is by name alone... It's also not helped with country differences as some countries have certain types of assets while others don't. The encyclopedia also doesn't mention what country a model is linked with... Perhaps there is a guide out there with pictures so it's easier for me to learn and pick the correct one?

Awesome! Might be a while as I'm familiarizing myself with the P51 first...

In general I like to do a cold start. Adds to the realism. However when I'm practicing specific things, I want to optimize my time and I often create a mission with the conditions set right, with the plane already at altitude so I can focus on practicing what I want instead of spending 10 min starting up the plane, taxiing, taking off and flying to the zone, only to be killed a minute later...

More often than not, when I close DCS, it starts up again... So I'm in this loop where if I close, it keeps starting itself. I have both the Steam edition as the standalone installed and I notice this on both... I always end up going to task manager and shut it from there. That seems to workaround the issue.

Meanwhile I've done a few hours more practice and the VR zoom is a great tip! Accuracy went up, just by doing that. When it comes to dogfights, I've read that the AI doesn't adhere to the same physics model as we do and therefore dogfight with AI isn't really fair. Does that also apply when we set the enemy skill to average or good? Just want to understand if it's better to jump into multiplayer for some quick dogfight battles. If I get beaten by AI or a person, it's all the same... So better to train against planes that have the same rules as I have...

ok great thx! I'll put the F5 on my wishlist.

I always seem to struggle trimming the plane. When I do a cold start, and put the P51 in the air I always have to trim the ailerons. It's always dropping one side of the wing... If I take off with full tanks, I don't assume this is due to imbalance between the left and right fuel tank? Or is that 3 min taxi + takeoff so fuel heavy that it causes this imbalance so I have to trim it lot?

More difficult than in a jet? Who would've thought :) I've send you a PM for the mission. Would love to give it a go. I'm using VR so not sure if zooming still applies? I could move my head forward to "zoom" in or I can bind it to my joystick... I'll experiment with it and see which ones I prefer.

oh ok thanks. I do notice that DCS comes with some option when it comes to modern ships but from around the WWII era, there isn't much choice... There are a few carriers and some options for when you want ships with weapons but they don't suit for a WWII type mission. Oh well... Good thing is that at least I know it's lacking so I won't get into navel missions that deep and focus on land troop missions instead.

I am wondering how I can get more ships that I can use in the mission editor? I'm new to DCS and only bought the P51 so I'm flying on the default map and have nothing else... If I buy the Channel map, will that come with additional ships I can use? For example I want to create a mission where I need to destroy/escort a ship but at the moment I only have a speedboat which isn't that compelling :)

Ok will give it a go. What's a good approach height? At the moment I tried a more horizontal approach as it gives me much more time but like you said... it's difficult to for the aim. I'll do some practice with the steeper approaches. I've seen the AI do this and tried a few time but not much. I felt more like a kamikaze pilot at times :)