PL_Harpoon

Congratulations! The best way to deal with wake turbulence is to avoid it. Keep below the engines and you'll be fine. As for losing contact with the basket I like to push it about a 1m forward.

There are key bindings that let you adjust your camera position. Can't remember them now but if you look around in the options you'll find them. There's also a combination to save your current position. I think it's called "save camera angles".

I'd second those who say stick to the original planes you've bought. - If those planes are the reason you came to DCS the training will be much more enjoyable - You'll get familiar with the planes you're actually gonna fly later I'd also suggest creating your own training program. I like to start with airfield patterns. They're great for getting familiar with the plane and the cockpit, maintain airspeed/altitude and even basics of navigation (TACAN, setting course, etc). To learn navigation the best way is to just create a mission with a simple route (waypoint navigation). Then create a new one but without setting up waypoints in the editor. You can use it to practice navigation without waypoints (using beacons, setting up your own waypoints or just dead reckoning). To use weapon systems I'd start with A-G and use the combination of YT videos and tutorial missions. Then move to A-A - for modern jets I'd start with understanding how radar works (most if not all modern jets use mainly pulse doppler radar). Then just watch a lot of YT videos (I'd suggest Growling Sidewinder videos and ). Then I'd move to bad weather and more complex tasks (such as AAR or carrier ops). These can be a bit frustrating so doing them at the end means you can still do other stuff in the meantime. Also, here you can find a great set of manuals, not only about aircraft but also how to use DCS in general: https://wiki.hoggitworld.com/view/Hoggit_DCS_World_Wiki#Technique_Guides_.26_Resources

Show us a track or even a video of one of your attempts (with controls overlay). This is the best way as the most critical mistakes are usually those you don't recognize.

@Pikey You bring up a lot of valid points. However... As a user you shouldn't really care why things are the way they are or what's the software history. If a new user downloads DCS and gets immediately confused they'd most likely uninstall and don't look back. Not because of the complexity of the simulation, but because of the unfriendliness of the software itself or lack of available training materials. Imagine you're learning to drive. Would you rather go to a driving school that gives you all the materials, provides you with an instructor and guides you through the process or one where they give you your car's manual and say you can find everything else on the internet? Also, just because this is all known by ED doesn't mean there's no point in discussing it. We can all agree that DCS is constantly improving, also in making it more accessible to new users but why should we stop coming out with our own ideas how to do it? As a software developer I'd love to receive so much feedback, even if it is repetitive (which also means something). Lastly, I think you seem to mistake accessibility with simplification. No one in this thread is asking for DCS to be simplified. I suggest you read HomeFry's post to better understand what we're asking for. https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=4427658&postcount=217

Could be true, but they'd still be much more accessible then keeping them hidden inside multiple folders.

I'm not asking for the removal of manuals. In fact if you read my posts you'll find that I'm actually advocating for them. I'm also not asking for dumbed down options. Again, you either didn't read or misunderstood my posts. How is any of that dumbing down the options?

True. This is much better if you want to learn flying. I was just making a point that (at least in a sim) it can be achieved with a combat jet. After all, I've been flying sims for around 20 years and haven't touched civilian planes until just a few years ago. Which doesn't mean they couldn't. Anyway, I think we can safely drop this topic as I think DCS has a chance to become a great platform to learn flying and you think otherwise. It just becomes a matter of different opinions. I get your point, and I agree that having to die multiple times just so you can finally "get it" will only lead to frustration. Actually I said that for the more advanced things DCS should at least point you to the relevant information. You wouldn't need to try missile evasion 400x times before you figure out what to do. All you had to do is to go to a "manual" section in the game, find "missile evasion" and read/watch the videos on it. As to why I think it's difficult to convey some topics in an interactive form let's take the F-pole as an example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9FVhCYrTFY. You could turn the first 2 minutes of that video into a tutorial mission. That would still leave you clueless as to what actually happened without the next 10 minutes of explanation. That's good to know. After all, as long as we're moving in the right direction we should keep going. And TBH, I thing ED are. Just look at Wag's great tutorial videos. If only there was a way to reach them directly from the game. That'd be another small step in the right direction. Turning them into training missions would be another etc. Ok. I still don't fully agree as sometimes you just need to take in a lot of information and I'd rather take it in written form where it can also be quickly accessed. After all, even when you have an instructor IRL you still need to soak up a lot of information from a manual. I do agree with you, however, that whenever something can be taught interactively, it should (or "it'd be great if it were").

You keep missing the point. No normal modern game requires you to spend this much time in the options menu before you can play. Doesn't matter if it's PC or console. In today's time it is expected of game developers to design their games in that way. That's also why manuals are an obsolete thing nowadays.

There you go. In every normal game, even more complex ones (with lots of controls), you can just install it, fire it up and start playing. Not the case with DCS.

That's the biggest concern for me. "Would it pay off to spend so much time creating all those training material?" It's a really difficult question to answer because as you've said, all we have is anecdotal evidence and no real data. Anyway, I believe it would and frankly, as a user, not a developer, it's not my problem to solve cause it's not my decision to make. All I (or all of us, really) can do is to say what I think.

I'm not sure. There are many people who learned to fly with Falcon 4.0 or other sims from that era. That's because those sims included (either in the manual, training videos or missions) materials for those without any prior knowledge. Just look at this sim from 1997: I don't know where you've got that number from but doesn't matter, even it it were true, have you thought about why people choose other sims to learn flying instead of DCS? Also, why would ED develop a training jet if they weren't interested in teaching new players how to fly? All we need now is to make it available to everyone with detailed training missions (and a manual) and DCS could become a go-to place for people interested in learning virtual flying. As for the arguments that we already have a TF-51 - I think it's a great plane but IMHO it could be too difficult for new players where L-39 or F5 are much more forgiving and easier to learn. Because when it comes to tactics, for example, there are no golden rules, where if you obey them you'll be fine and if you don't you're screwed. I think it's much better to give users access to the most relevant information and let them apply this knowledge in the actual missions. A "virtual instructor" could be helpful here, but creating such a system would eat up all the resources ED has and it's not even sure it would be good enough to not be more of a nuisance then help. In my opinion if we're to suggest improvements to ED, that they can actually implement, we should stick with the ones that are feasible. Well, it is "basic" stuff for a combat pilot and this is a combat sim after all. Agreed. If you understand the concepts it is quite easy to apply it to any aircraft. That is when I don't agree. There's a lot of information in the manuals that you don't need in an interactive form, for ex. how does the hydraulic system work or what does the ASYM LIMITER does in the F-14. Obviously, theoretically you could do that in a tutorial mission but it just wouldn't be feasible. The idea itself is not that bad. How to implement it without spending months on development is another thing. I think a small text explaining the function of a specific switch would be a step in the right direction (not to mention that it would save you a lot of time from going back and forth between the game and a manual).

No, it's not. In what other game you spend the first 20 minutes in the options menu? That'd drive anyone away. Again, no. Neither of the two has any tutorials on the principles of flight for example. Also, it's not even in the manuals. There's absolutely no way you can learn to fly the aircraft in DCS without using external materials. I'm proposing a simple solution to make the learning experience easier. If you can't say why it wouldn't there's no point for you in saying anything. If you're trying to say that there's no need for improvements then 1st. You've already said that. Multiple times. 2nd. The fact that other people are specifically saying they have problems getting into DCS is the proof you're wrong. That's also a good idea. If you combine the two you'd have controls already set up from the start if you just want to start flying and a list of the most important bindings in a separate tab if you want to change them. Another good solution would be to have those 10-20 controls explained in simple 1-2 sentence descriptions so you know why they're important. I'm still standing by the necessity for a printable layout cause returning to options every time you forgot what button X does is a chore. That's why it's point no. 2, not 1 :) And there's lots of benefits of doing it. I know that I wouldn't even touch DCS if I didn't learn to fly in other sims and I'm sure there's plenty of other people who go (and stay) elsewhere because of that. By "more advanced" I meant things like tactics missile evasion techniques, advanced BVR, proper comms etc. Things that are by definition too dynamic to teach through a training mission. Things that apply to every aircraft, like turn radius vs turn rate, energy management, AOA, the turn rate vs speed etc. should be (IMHO) part of training missions mentioned in pt. 2. Also, one more thing. Let's make it pt. 4. The manuals should be available from the game menu. I'm not saying that the game should have a built-in pdf reader (although that would be awesome) but even simple links to those files would be a huge step up.

Ok, if this thread is to be of any help we need to backtrack a bit (20 pages or so perhaps :P ). From what I've read here there are three main problems with DCS. 1. The sim itself (as a program) is difficult to understand. 2. The sim does not teach new players how to fly the aircraft. 3. The sim does not teach enough advanced techniques. Now, no. 1 could be the result of the complexity of the program itself or a bad UX (user experience) design. Probably a bit of both. The most commonly stated problem is control bindings. How could this be improved? Hard to say but in my opinion the best solution would be if every aircraft had default bindings for every major joystick/hotas system available with a layout in a printable form (like a PDF file). That way, you could just start the game and immediately jump into the cockpit. Then, when you're already hooked up, you can still change/adjust the controls however you like. no. 2 is a bit more tricky. In my opinion the best thing for DCS would be to make one of the trainers (probably L-39 as it's a ED module) a free module with a fully comprehensive tutorial missions and manual focused purely on teaching the player to fly. Only further tutorials should include systems like navigation, weapons or even manual startup. Another thing is that every aircraft needs to have every implemented system explained in an interactive tutorial - see Razbam's Harrier totorials - in my opinion they should be held as a gold standard for every other module in DCS. no. 3 is in my opinion the most difficult to address. The good thing is that most players seeking that information are already beyond points 1 and 2 and generally should be willing to spend more time reading/watching videos. On the other hand I agree that there's simply too much information (and it's too complex) to include it in some form of interactive training. Also I agree that it would be too much work for ED to write/record all that stuff by themselves. However, they should be able to at least gather the most important information available in video form and create a page within the game containing links to those videos. The good thing about this community is that we are willing to help others and I'm sure that creators of those videos would be delighted if their work could be included in the game. At least these would be a step in the right direction.

That's because DCS is a game. It is a software developed for entertainment purposes. Just as Scat have said, it's not a training tool for real pilots. Doesn't mean it's not a simulator though. These are not mutually exclusive terms. Now, going back on topic... Regardless of what exactly Vertigo says, or how negative he is about ED and DCS, it is true that the sim would benefit from being more approachable to new users, including those who don't even know the basics.

I guess he meant the burst warhead one.

Let's not turn another potentially helpful topic into a pointless argument. Let's start again by finding things we can agree upon. a. Are currently available materials sufficient to learn everything in DCS? Yes. b. Can you teach yourself to fly an aircraft just by reading a manual, watching videos and using current tutorial missions? Of course. c. Does DCS have a steep learning curve? Absolutely. d. Can the learning process be improved? Sure. How about a discussion on how best to improve the learning experience for new players so they don't leave after just a few attempts?

As BIGNEWY it's still WIP. Still, it's miles ahead of what we had before.

Ok, I found the willpower to read through the entire OP and I agree with you, this "virtual buddy" is not feasible. Also, the fact that some aircraft are still in EA is a valid argument. My point is that with few exceptions the current tutorials are not good enough. In my opinion every aspect of an aircraft should be included in an interactive tutorial. Even passive things like cockpit familiarization is much more enjoyable and easier to learn in the form of a tutorial mission. I think it is. So what if Vertigo's initial idea isn't feasible. Threads like this allows us to discuss other solutions.

I think that's where we disagree. A properly made interactive tutorial is just like an AI instructor. It's not as good as the real one, and it may not teach you everything but it's way better than not having anything at all. Another thing, with interactive tutorials you memorize things by doing them. With manuals and even videos you need to memorize first and repeat in practice later. It's been proven a long time ago that the first method is generally much more effective than the second one.

"custom made mission" - if you're new to the sim, the Mission Editor is even more intimidating than flying the planes ;) As for why a tutorial is better that a video, I can compare my learning experience of the Tomcat vs the Harrier. The former took me months to get where I'm now, and even then there's a lot of things I haven't even tried. The only thing that keeps me back to it is the aircraft itself which is amazing. The Harrier on the other hand has excellent tutorials covering everything, from cockpit familiarization, basic procedures, aerobatics to various weapon employments. Not only I felt competent in it after less than month it was all a much more pleasurable experience. Of course it can be done "the old way" but it reminds me of old man saying "There's no need for a car. In my age we used to walk 2hr every day to work and we could make it!".

I agree. Perhaps one day we'll get a rework of radio commands and this will be a part of it.

First of all, who said you need to master all of those things before starting with BVR? Let's be honest, a lot of ppl play combat sims because they want to drop bombs and shoot missiles at stuff. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that approach. Secondly, it's not just a matter of finding the information on the right stuff. If you're new to flight sims you might not even know that there's such a thing as notching, f-pole mnvr, 1 vs 2 circle fights, etc. How are you supposed to look for information for stuff that you don't know exist? What I mean is, currently it takes years to get to the point that most of us (especially the RTFM guys) are. That can easily be cut in half or even more with proper tutorials within the game.

It's not that there isn't enough material to learn DCS. The whole point is that the learning curve for DCS wouldn't be as steep for new players if it was all available in the game, preferably in the form of interactive tutorials. It might be easy for ppl like me to learn from YT videos or manuals but I've been playing sims for 20+ years (starting as a kid with lots of free time to spend). I can only imagine how difficult it can be for someone who doesn't have that experience.

I doubt they'll be improved anytime soon. Mirrors use additional cameras to render their images and it would be a performance nightmare if they were to use higher resolutions.