gotit

"DCS allows me - within the restrictions of the platform - to simulate flying combat aircraft I could never even afford to climb aboard in real life." I agree. I feel the same way. My premise is that the company's devotion to hyperliteralism results a massive and unnecessary barrier of entry into the the fact that we're playing a video game for fun. I guess for me, it's just too much work.

DCS is taking the simulation approach too literally to be fun or practical. There is a lot of discussion about the learning curve, whether it's right or wrong. It appears that there are a lot of devoted people who have gotten really, really drawn into this world. The setups are incredible, with seats, controls, VR gear, all of it. Probably these setups required thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of commitment. With total respect. I bought the P-48 module. I bought a Gladiator NXT stick. I'm down for some technical learning and it's very rewarding for me to gain some deeper appreciation for the challenges that WWII pilots dealt with. Never would I have imagined just how difficult or dangerous these machines were to operate, for those young men. The simulation is so incredibly accurate and detailed. Just the simple act of taxiing to the runway on a taildragger wheel can take hours and days, weeks of practice. If you are dive bombing a practice target, you have to keyboard the correct combination of strokes simply to throw the compression flaps cover switch, before you can throw the switch itself with another complex combination of keyboard strokes, all within seconds of your death. There are training modules. The one for basic flight handling places you in a plane that is completely untrimmed. The voice calmly says, "Keep your wings level," while your plane is wildly spinning out of control because the simulation put you in a plane so poorly trimmed that there is no possible way any pilot could have ever achieved that altitude with such trimming. I have invested countless hours over a period of months, learning how to program the controls of the Gladiator NXT to the available commands. My latest challenge is figuring out a way to tailor the axis curves for the propeller rpm, manifod pressure, and boost throttles, such that they will all synchronize to the appropriate levels while adjusting this dial on the hotas. I think whoever wrote the manual for the hotas did not speak English as a first language. I may need to hire a computer scientist professional consultant to simply get the hotas to operate the plane's throttle in a manner that works. I respect the incredible accuracy with which DCS has built these simulations. If the goal of these simulations was to provide a historical reference document on how these machines were operated, then I think DCS has done a remarkable job. History buffs could enter the simulation, click around with a mouse and gain a truly profound appreciation of how these planes worked. But if the goal is to replicate the actual experience of flying one of these plane for fun and excitement, I think the DCS approach of hyperliteralism is a complete failure. Why? For one, you are not in a plane. The software can't replicate the actual G forces on your body. Think of driving a real car, or riding in a roller coaster, versus watching that experience on a TV. Not the same. The throttle, prop and boost controls in this plane were all designed to physically fit in the pilot's left hand. He could feel it, with his hand. He could feel the plane responding with his body. The trim controls were big knobs, not keyboard strokes. The switches were physical, tactile to the hand. The pilots were not flying these planes with a computer keyboard. If they were, probably none of them would have survived. In other words, I am saying that the entire notion of simulating aircraft flight with this level of hyper-literalsim is a false promise. Yes, I am saying that it's probably harder to control these simulated planes with a hotas and keyobard, than it was to operate the real thing. The stakes are lower, yes. Nobody is going to die while playing DCS. But it's like trying to play a simulated guitar through a keyboard. Playing a guitar is hard, yes. It takes years of practice. But playing a guitar through keyboard strokes would be impossible, not the same thing. "To play a G note at a moment that will provide an expression of bluesy contrast to a song in a major key, hit left alt shift control k, and if the guitar has become slighly warmer in your hands, then the metal of the strings will have less tension as a result of thermal expansion and they will need to be tuned up slightly, so hit right shift left control right windows left alt number pad 7." I play guitar and I don't think like this when playing. The instrument is in my hands and it essentially disappears. The sound makes an instant connection to my mind. There are no keyboard simulation strokes. It would simply not be possible to make a computer simulation of this experience. The very notion would be doomed to failure. It will never, ever be the same thing. You can't make a computer simulation for sex either. "To enter the woman, press right alt left shift left windows num pad 6..." Jesus. I believe DCS seems confused over its fundamental purpose. No matter how technically accurate the simulation, the very notion of simulating the experience of these planes will never be the same as flying the plane. So the question becomes, what is the purpose of this exercise. Is it about historical documentation, or having fun and unwinding after a long workday.

Thanks!!

Hi, I have 42 hours in the P-47 and made "Captain," although I still feel like a complete newbie. I'm wondering if anyone else has been flying the Airfield Raid instant action mission in the Channel? I've flown that mission probably 20 times, and it just blows my mind how *hard* it is. Anyone else have experience with it? The first thing is, about 2/3 of the times I fly this mission, my plane takes flak damage within the first 15 seconds. The windshield becomes so damaged that I can hardly see anything. The next challenge is taking out the 2 enemy aircraft before they finish taking off. The mission puts you in the plane going 300 mph. Due to the high speed, you only have a few seconds before you're already at the airfield. The plane is trimmed terribly, so the first thing you gotta do is trim the thing to make it flyable. Within seconds, you're already on top of the enemy planes taking off. The high speed means you only have a few seconds to target them before zooming past them. I usually try to drop airspeed by climbing quickly, immediately after trimming, so that I have more time to target the enemy planes. The next challenge I have is, how to strafe the airfield when the enemy planes are on your tail. It's incredible how quickly they are able to get behind me. Another issue is, I find it almost impossible to simply *find* the enemy planes in the sky, *unless* they are already shooting at me. Because they appear so tiny in the sky. This has seriously got to be the hardest computer game I've ever played!! lol Just wondering if anyone else has any insights or tips to share.