So I'll just quickly add that I flew F-18s and F-14s in the Navy back in the early 2000's and have tanked off the S-3, F-18F, KC-130, KC-135, and KC-10 in day, night, marginal IMC, and turbulent air conditions, and IFR in DCS is substantially harder than doing this in the actual airplane. The basket is much more forgiving in real life, and not having actual depth perception makes flying stable formation very tricky in DCS, even with VR (which is how I enjoy the game). Moreover, there's no joystick in the world that accurately models a flight control stick with all of the feedback it provides the pilot. It took me (and most pilots) a total of about 3 attempts and 5 minutes to make my first successful plug, and after that it was a zero stress event for the rest of my career, even after long periods of not doing it. Tanking was essentially treated as "down time" during a long mission when you could relax and let your mind wander as you came off of your CAP or were on your way back to the boat. By comparison, I've already spent a couple of hours trying to in flight refuel the F-18 in DCS for a total of perhaps 5 seconds in the basket. For those of us who perhaps don't have the ideal joystick or can't figure out the best curves/dead zone combination, I really recommend an "easy IFR" selection in the options menu, where we already have unlimited fuel available anyway. I'd like to propose implementing a successful contact by the following criteria: probe extended, airspeed no more than 10 kts faster than the tanker, probe within 3 feet of the basket. This would make up for the additional difficulty associated with what should be a zero stress administrative aspect of operating combat aircraft. Just my 2 cents.
