Well, Baltic Dragon and Reflected campaigns are the two most complex ones out there. I’m with you on the F-16 start up…but if you hit space bar after the first prompt, you can cold start it yourself. Didn’t matter for me b/c his missions are over 2 hours long and I only get about 1.5 hours.
The F-16 campaigns are all pretty tough (meaning lots of realism and requirements that you know your stuff)
If you are willing to put some work into the F/A-18, there are plenty of “mid level” campaigns for you to learn on. Persian Lion is good but I’d grab Sedlo’s “Bold Cheerah” off of the user files. It’s one of the best campaigns I’ve played and it’s free. Air to air refueling is optional (you really should learn to do it) and it uses enough of the Hornets capabilities to be fun without pretending like you’re actually a trained aviator.
But I’ll be honest with you…to enjoy any campaign, you are going to have to learn the aircraft. The whole POINT of DCs and high fidelity aircraft is so you can experience the aircraft itself. If you just want to blow stuff up, play war thunder or try and FC3 modules. In DCS, the combat is just the background…it’s the canvas on which the art is placed. It’s what provides the context for you to be operating the aircraft; but it’s leaning how the aircraft operates and experiencing what it’s like to operate it in a combat environment that makes DCS stand out.
Learn the jet. Learn how to operate the weapons systems of course…but learn how to enter waypoints, use the SA page, air to air refuel and all the rest. As for the terminology…most you can figure out but if not, just ask
