Pajeezy

A little limited with my budget, can't really afford a TM at the moment (using a Thrustmaster Extreme 3D Pro for now). All I have is that stick, TrackIR 5, a basic mouse and keyboard and that's it. I've done the tutorial for startup, taxi and takeoff without much trouble. But as far as advanced techniques (rudder/trim, throttle/manifold pressure/RPM management etc) how do you think this setup will fare? Doable but very difficult? I'm not sure if I should just tough it out with what I have or simply wait until I have a better setup for it all. Thanks for any input.

I've been an aviation buff since I was a wee lad, as was my father. He married very early, and never really "got around to it" as far as military aviation, but he'd always wanted to. The most he'd done is fly privately with Cessnas and the like. While it was and really still is the only thing I wanted to pursue in my life, I never really had the drive or motivation to do so. Call me lazy, but the "stuff" required to become a fighter pilot seems beyond my capabilities. I'm a bit of a pessimist most of the time, and tend to go with the "easier" route. I was the guy who just didn't care when I got to high school and did the bare minimum to pass most classes (slept a lot there also). I play a lot of PC games (including DCS, of course) and just like to relax. It's weird, the pilots that I admire and envy and the jobs that they have are/require the exact opposite of what kind of person I am it seems...I'm approaching the age of 26, and while I try not to think about it much, I see F-18s fly over semi-often from the NAS nearby and get that sharp pain in my heart...And I wonder to myself why I couldn't push myself then or now to become the person required. Also, my vision is horrid and the eustachian tubes in my ears are smaller than normal, so ascending and descending in an aircraft hurts like a *****. Those factors also kind of deterred me haha. So what's your sob stories, folks?

I guess this really goes for any aircraft after BVR, but I'm just currently attempting the MiG-29. I'm on the second mission of the campaign, "Over the Hump," and it seems simple enough, and with easy opposition. What seems to be a few groups of 2 F-5s at a time over the mountains armed with only AIM-9s. I manage a lock against one, fire off an R-77 at BVR and manage a splash against one. Now starts the problem. By this point I'm within range for the other F-5(s) to start coming after me with their short range IR onslaught. While they seem to know where I am at all times, it's near impossible to find them (especially in the mountains). What tactics can I possibly use here to track all of these guys AND not get shot down from a missile that I get no tone from? I've tried using IRST and flying in circles, while looking around the cockpit (I have TrackIR). I've tried my radar and I've tried going into burners and flying away from the fight to make another pass at another BVR R-77, but they seem to always sneak up somewhere and shove an AIM-9 up my tailpipe...So what tactics do you employ against the AI dogfighting in the mountains like this? (Also, my wingman seems to be able to get a kill or two off before he too goes down).

Thanks fellas! I will look into that.

I learned first how to start the aircraft via a youtube lesson. Since then I've decided to give the tutorials within DCS a go. Upon finishing the startup, I noticed a couple of things weren't done that were in the other video I watched. For instance, there was no alignment for the navigation system via CDU (LSKR4 followed by LSKL1), the g-meter wasn't calibrated, we simply turned the radios on and didn't do anything else with them etc. Now the aircraft started up still obviously and everything seemed good to go, but I want to make sure I do/have done everything necessary before taxiing out. What should one know that the tutorial doesn't cover?

So I've been an aircraft buff for pretty much my whole life. Now I don't claim to know everything, by any means, but I do have a good grasp on a lot of basic things regarding a lot of them. I've known of the strike eagle since forever ago, and always known it to be a 2-seater ATG variation of the F-15. I was talking to my co-worker today, and she was telling me how she has a niece who is a fighter pilot. This intrigued me, so I asked her, "Oh, what does she fly??" I was expecting either the 16 or 15. She texts her niece to find out and later that night she responds telling her that she flies the F-15. I thought this was pretty awesome, so I asked her what model. She found out that she flies the E model, which I thought was also pretty intriguing/awesome. So I was like "Oh, so she flies in a two-seater. Is she actually the pilot or is she the RIO?" Her niece responds that she is the pilot, and that it is only a single seat aircraft...Huh? So I implore her to respond to her niece asking if she's correct, since I've only ever known the E to be a 2-seater. Her niece responds back saying that it is, and that I should keep up to date with my research...lol So anyway, I looked it up everywhere I could and found NO mention of there being such a thing. What do you guys think? Is there maybe some super secret single seat version that the general public doesn't know about? Or am I missing something? I can't imagine that the pilot of the "F-15E" doesn't know their own aircraft...

Besides simply, "watched youtube videos and read the manual," in what order did you learn the mechanics and how did you do so? So far I've learned via youtube how to get the aircraft up and running, but I'm not sure where/how to go about it next. Any suggestions or firsthand experience?

F-15, MiG-29, Su-27, whatever. How do you approach general combat? Say you're on a multiplayer server. You are flying solo. You just took off from your airbase. How do you go about your next step when approaching the enemy? Stay very low throughout the flight? Fly high? Is mid-level flight the most dangerous? This is all considering there is no AWACS assistance, btw. And any other pointers when you're out and about and don't know what to expect, when flying solo and with wingmen. Thanks for any help

Any news from IRIS or updates on a possible Tomcat? In fact, what are confirmed to be still active third parties and projects?

As far as your clarifications, we tried it with both Public Server checked and unchecked, we are not playing over LAN (Hence I'm guessing we use our external/static ip to connect) and we have separate license keys :/ Just performed your suggested action and we will see how that goes momentarily

Lol why does everyone keep pointing me to port forwarding when I already stated in my OP that we've tried it? I've even enabled DMZ to no avail :(

Well, as I stated in my OP, on both of our computers, we opened up port 10308 on our routers. Also, I gave him my external IP, not the one beginning with 192.168

-Created a mission with two flyable F-15Cs. -Port 10308 is open on both computers -Created server with password -Gave friend password and my static IP (as I'm sure he doesn't need my local) -All he gets is message "Cannot connect" Am I missing something? We can join public servers just fine :(

I've been doing a lot of multiplayer, but there doesn't seem to be many people on at all, like ever. It also doesn't help that 85% of all servers are private...or their ping is 150+. These forums seem to be very active, while the multiplayer servers don't. What is my best bet for finding other people to fly with? Or better yet how does one meet people to gain access to private servers? I've a lot to learn and I figure other players would be my best bet. Are there servers designed to teach others? Maybe take someone under their wing? (bad pun)

Thanks for the excellent reply. I'll try and remember this next time I get into that situation. I do have a question though. What exactly is the "notch"?