Nab Djell

As a returning F-18 player, I feel you. I've spend tons of hours studying this plane, then dropped the game for two years. I just needed a refresh on its procedures, and I didn't want to spend my time reading manuals. Boy I was wrong. I think a lot of players, me included, forgot what it can be like to learn to use the F18. The F-18 can be a pain in the a**. Behind the relatively modern UI, there are a lot of small intricaties, details that'll b***thurt you if you miss a step or try something a bit different. You have to be thorough. That's the plane for you. That's the price you'll pay to fly a plane that relies on 1970/80's IT (... which is modern for DCS), which has tons or radars/sensors and can give you a decisive edge when it comes to having a good situational awareness (but might be complicated to manipulate). Producing good tutorials aside, there's nothing that can be done. I think the F-18 is kind of a false friend. It can be quickly learnt, easily flown, but you need documentation that won't let you spend dozen of hours watch the same videos to learn the same things, and you need to be well informed on the procedures at the same time. Even though the UI is really appealing for a DCS player, the UX isn't on par (which can be expected since the plane was produced for professional army pilots, and not for simmers). I also think that nobody who's teaching how to fly an F18 has ever gave an overview of the plane's systems. For instance, explain that you'll fly a modern jet that heavily relies on its in-board computer, that you'll it control through 3 screens (+ HUD/HMD), each of those can be selected as the main screen with the SCS... Just a simple overview like that, before spending the next 5 hours explaining which DDI button should be pushed. Never saw that, and I think it could really help a lot of beginners, instead of throwing them straight into procedures. PS: People have also forgot the F18's documentation wildly varies in quality. Some videos are simply too long or imprecise. Then you have tutorials that are based on an outdated version of the plane (most of them are as old as ED's training missions), people who've simply deleted their channel which contained important information, subjects who're treated as a small update for people who've already flown the plane 10 hours last week, and even subjects that most if not all tutorials pass on (how to manage a DEAD mission, and not just shoot HARMS? That's something that you'll usually do, since nobody is dumb enough to let a strategic area uncovered by SAs). - I don't see any training mission with the mavericks. It may have been removed? - Same for HARM in TOO. May have been removed? - And Laser pointing. - Or using somebody else's laser. - The plane can use a wide variety of missiles and ordinance. Maybe spend 2-3 minutes to give an overview of which ammo can be used for what. - Half of the training missions (the older ones usually) ask you to listen to your instructor, then push space, then input something/push a button. It's boring and buggy, sometimes the input doesn't register, and you have to press twice on a button (which will usually lead you to another screen, which is obviously confusing for beginners). You should be able to skip a dialogue by pushing the highlighted button, like all the newer training missions. - The manual isn't available anymore in french on ED's website. I think last version was published in 2019.