Zius

First of all, I'm not a professional and have not made any in-depth analysis comparing the flight characteristics of the real aircraft with the DCS version. Secondly, I don't have the F-86. But I do have the MiG-15 and I understand what your saying. I just happen to have a completely different perspective. Personally I love flying the MiG-15. For much of the reasons why you dislike it so much. ;) Like you I'm also struggling a bit with the controls. For free flying, I think it's perfectly fine. Yes, you need to hold on to the stick, but it's ok in my opinion. I have to admit that I don't trim at all... :huh: It's nothing like taking off or landing in a taildragger where you have apply maximum rudder and still feel that it's not enough. I'm also struggling with dogfighting, although I blame that mostly on the muzzle velocity of the cannons. Some historical accounts that I read confirm that dogfighting in the MiG-15 is difficult. Overall, yes, the MiG-15 is a struggle. To me that means character. Again, I didn't compare it to the real aircraft, but to me it feels incredibly authentic. If I want to fly straight as an arrow without touching anything I'll take the M2K or the Hornet. But I rarely fly those planes to be honest...

Interesting video! My understanding is that practicing threatening situations (while being safe) to perfection will create an intimate familiarity with the correct procedures. So if something were to go wrong while flying an actual aircraft in a combat zone, get shot at and have (say) your hydraulic system fail on you, you will not panic but know the emergency procedure in that case. Similarly it will also teach the correct maneouvres etc. However while being in a stressful situation often may increase your stress tolerance somewhat, I do think there is something very different between "combat stress" (i.e. the need to respond to an immediate threat) and the type of stress you'll find in an office job (i.e. the need to deal with deadlines and targets).

I just had my first flight. I started the mission editor and placed myself a couple of km's behind a Bear, over Groom Lake. Without reading anything at all before or during this "mission", I managed to kill the Bear with guns and land safely on Groom Lake. The only issue I had was that I could find neither the brake button nor the wheelbrake so I ran out of runway while landing. But I didn't crash so no problem... :music_whistling: Anyway, this is such an easy to fly and operate aircraft, it's great! :pilotfly:

I hope it will be, because then we know that it meets a certain standard. It certainly looks like it could be! :thumbup: If it were, it would be a day one purchase for me! :joystick:

Excellent post!! :thumbup:

He was very lucky and I have to say I really admire the way he responded to what happened. :thumbup: Many people would simply have blamed the pilot and possibly even sued him. :( But anyway, I think hanggliders are really awesome. Too bad there are no mountains where I live... Maybe in the future we could have DCS: Hanggliders! :pilotfly:

You know that MiG just copied everything from the USA, right? The slight differences in lines and scale between the F-111 and the MiG-23 is just because of technical limitations of spy camera's and fax machines at that time. :lol: :lol: :lol: Seriously and back to topic: I think the MiG-19 might be the ultimate gunfighter. That in itself is enough reason to buy it immediately! :thumbup:

I'm not sure about the actual response to your question. For the older modules, you get a key code in the DCS user profile as well as per email which you can use to activate the module at any time, without time limit. For newer modules there is another system which doesn't use the keys anymore. I'm not sure how that works in this respect but I assume it won't be an issue. But another solution for your problem would be to just install DCS. Even though you can't run the actual simulation (get in the aircraft), you can probably install it and activate the modules. When your new computer is ready you can deactivate the modules on the old computer and activate them again on the new computer. This procedure should not cost you an activation. But even if it does cost you an activation, you have 10 of them and the replenish themselves, so it's not a problem.

Thanks! But what's the correct procedure for the real aircraft? Use the primer handle or not?

Funny, I thought it would be nice to have a DCS patch, or even DCS wings. I don't like to wear actual military stuff to which I have no "rights", e.g. squadron or operation patches. Aircraft specific patches a probably a bit borderline, but if I didn't fly it in real life, it's kind of stupid to put it on a jacket, and they too are likely military patches. On the other hand, I am proud to be DCS "pilot" and I think that becoming proficient in DCS is something of an achievement in itself.

My problem was also fixed by ED support, for which many thanks! :thumbup: I didn't purchase PG (have it already) but I did get the F-5. I didn't share this feeling with ED support because it's pure speculation, but I do think the problem arose by buying something while in offline mode.

In dcs.log I find the following: ERROR NET: Login failed becase server returned invalid reply. I have created a support ticket, will keep you updated.

I have exactly the same. The error message says: Authorization failed Multiplayer will not be available. The following DLCs are not authorized and will be disabled: (list of all modules etc) The DCS proceeds to start normally and the module manager show all my modules with serial no's. etc. like normal. But I can't access any of them.

I'd buy any Saab that would be offered. The Gripen would be awesome, but unlikely. The Jaktviggen or the Draken, who knows... Even though I already have the Viggen, I would buy the Jaktviggen as well.

First major choice is East vs. West and metric vs. imperial. If you don't really care about that, the Albatros is a great trainer and will LEARN you a lot, especially because you can't rely on electronics to help you out. It's very satisfying to take out targets with this aircraft. A lot of people seem to focus purely on raw capability but to me that's one of the things that DCS is NOT about, because it's a sandbox, so you can create missions that you like to fly. As for which aircraft is better: the L-39 was exported to over 30 countries and approx. 2,900 were built. The A-10 was never exported and "only" 716 were built (acc. Wikipedia). :smilewink:

It's the same for wanting to buy a new aircraft and the accompanying campaign at the same time. I also find it slightly annoying.

TL;DR: Since most of the time I spend in DCS, I'm just flying around, doing basic navigation, sightseeing, aerobatics etc., I'm much in favour of civilian planes which I may hope to fly IRL someday, as long as they are fun to fly. Therefore I'd immediately buy a Cessna 172 but probably not a 747 (except maybe to support the devs and probably not at $70). Accurate ATC etc, while important for replacing FSX as a kind of "real-world" trainer, is not at all important for just flying around. The Yak was a day-one purchase for me and not one that I regret, on the contrary! As for military vs. civil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_172#Military_operators :music_whistling:

+1 :thumbup:

I don't have a basis to compare, but here's my thought, for whatever it's worth: Bf109 performance: 4 dogfight: 4 air to ground: 2 I would say that the biggest differences between those are: 1) guns vs. cannon 2) cockpit units, language and general layout Gunnery with the MiG can be difficult due to low velocity rounds. But at least one hit from that 37mm cannon can down a B-17! :thumbup:

Best WW2 plane? MiG-15! :D Just kidding. Still it's a lot of fun to use the MiG-15 for WW2 missions. You could somehow consider it a very advanced Ta-183 version, I guess... :huh: I prefer German planes due to metric gauges. I have the Bf-109, which is good. But it gets less air time than the MiG-15. When I got the 109 I was doubting between that one and the Fw190D9. The Fw has a more ergonomic cockpit, but I decided on the Bf-109 because that, together with the Spit, is THE embodiment of WW2 planes for me. But it's not easy to fly / taxi / land (especially compared to the MiG-15) and rudder pedals are almost mandatory. For WW2 missions, the WW2 asset pack would be good because it gives you more period targets, especially the B-17 bombers. The Normandy map is not absolutely necessary although it has of course a WW2 atmosphere that's lacking in the Caucasus map. But neither is absolutely necessary. It depends on your wishes and budget. :thumbup:

I was referring to FBW. But (in retrospect) I realise that not all FC3 aircraft are FBW and I probably worded this wrongly. My apologies for that.

If you like learning how the aircraft actually works, I'd stay away from FC3 aircraft, including the F-15C. Instead you have to ask yourself a couple of questions: - Eastern or Western aircraft? - Metric or Imperial gauges? - Modern or Older? How old? - FBW or not? Personally I much prefer non-FBW aircraft in DCS. - A2A, A2G or both? Which is most important to you? Especially older aircraft can do both A2A (MiG-21) or A2G (Viggen) in some way but are quite specialised. - Full fidelity or not? Personally I actually believe that full fidelity REDUCES the learning curve, because you can just look around in the cockpit for the right switch rather than remember if it is alt-ctrl-F or shift-ctrl-F to do what you want it to do. - Early access or not? Like already said, early access can take a LONG time to complete and some modules may never even reach completion because DCS itself keeps changing and 3rd party devs do have to keep up with this. Keep in mind that it's a sandbox sim, mostly. So you can create mission which you feel comfortable with, with opponents that you feel comfortable against. So if you decide to buy the MiG-21 for example, you don't have to worry about hordes of F-15's shooting at you. You can choose to go against B-52's, F-4's, etc. Or F-86's etc. Or even create a hypothetical scenario where you have can use the MiG-21 in a WW2 setting. It's all up to you. :thumbup:

For me the two great things about DCS are: 1) Feeling of flight, especially in non-FBW aircraft 2) Full system modelling, which means that you will learn about the actual aircraft systems rather than "press R to switch on radar". Both of these disqualify FC3, although the MiG-29 (and Su-27) is one of my favourite aircraft IRL. I suggest the L-39. It's a lot of fun to fly and the ZA is pretty capable in it's own way (within limitations obviously). For ground attack I suggest the Viggen. For old-school dogfighting, the MiG-15.

It would be really cool! It would be great in a number of scenarios:

I didn't watch the whole video yet but I did look up that part. What I found most noticable was the amount of machines cramped into a fairly small room. On most commercial ships (which I'm very familiar with) in roughly the same size class as the Nimitz, the workshop has similar tools but less of them (e.g. 1 lathe instead of 3/4). The purpose of a workshop is that you have to be able to do basic repairs (and a bit above basic ;)) while at sea. On a large commercial vessel this could include changing a cylinder head or liner, but also repairing leakages etc.