Digitalvole

So I just thought I’d give a little progress update on my exploits with the aim 54 Having tried to follow the advice in this thread (thanks guys!) I’m definitely seeing an improvement. I still suck, but a little bit less now. I’m enjoying having to think a bit harder about when/where to launch. But, there’s always a but, in my last Liberation mission I noticed something that made me wonder if I’m trying to fit a square peg through a round hole. 6x SU 33 vs 6x F14B (aim 54 mk60) all computer controlled. Both groups of planes were travelling towards each other at 30k feet. The Tomcats launched first (by some margin) then the 33s. Long story short, every Tomcat was shot down for about 60% of the redfor planes going down. The Tomcats were set to Veteran and the 33s to Good. My conclusion was that maybe the F14 isn’t the best plane to be flying in a single player Liberation campaign. I’m sure this thing is an absolute killer when flown by a human crew, even just human pilots and jester, in a squadron. But when completely reliant on ai for all things it seems almost impossible. Seems like good comms between flights is a must (not going to happen in sp) and I’m just not sure the ai is up to the task at all. In order to support there missiles (I’m assuming) they flew straight at the 33s and all died. Meanwhile the 33s managed to dodge most of the incoming 54s. What do you guys think? Am I barking up the wrong tree trying what I’m trying? This module blows my mind on almost every level (I love the music at the menu screen even) but I can’t shake the feeling it’s not really suitable for what I’m trying to do, ie single player Liberation campaign.

This sub forum is the best, thank you guys! Another reason why the F14 is the best module in DCS. I’ll take all this in latter, have had a couple of pints so info retention rate is reduced. Thanks @Prez @GGTharos @Callsign JoNay @DD_Fenririts help like this that makes this a community rather than just a bunch of ppl who play the same video game.

@Callsign JoNay Brilliant, thank you! This is exactly what I’m after. It’s very good of you. This kind of info is gold dust to me, I take my hat off to you sir. Luckily I’m in a pub right now As a result I will probably have to re read your excellent post tomorrow. Couple of questions, what is MLC? (Edit is it Missile Launch Cue?) What would you advise for supporting the missile till active? I keep finding myself far to close for comfort at the moment even with cranking.

Thanks @Callsign JoNay for taking the time to help me They are at between 25k & 30k feet (little 3). Now you mention it, I am seeing a little x (in vr so I have to zoom in to see it). What can cause this? I’d assume them going defensive but if the missile hasn’t gone active, how do they know it’s coming? What advice could you give me on how to act given a targets altitude? (Edit, I assume it’s: lower target means get closer? Are there some good rules of thumb for altitude/launch distance?) I will switch to the mk 60 like you suggest. Thanks again

First off, I’ve totally fallen for the Tomcat. I’m a mud mover at heart but there is no other plane I’ve flown in DCS that feels as great as the Tomcat. But I’m stuck! I’d greatly appreciate some advice. (Again) As such I’m determined to learn how to use this plane properly. I’m getting there with case 1 and aar (can do both reasonably well in the Hornet) but the mighty Aim 54 has has had me scratching my head. I’ve been searching the internets for help but I’m still bamboozled. The scenario I’m doing (it’s the first mission of a Liberation campaign) has me in a two flight of Tomcats facing 4-6 SU-33s/MiG 29s. At this point (after many many retries) I must have fired at least 30 aim 54s (the C variant and in TWS) and had only one hit! I’m firing from 35k-45k feet, Mach 1 and a little bit, and from various distances ranging from 60 miles to 40 miles, even 20 miles once. I’ll list the things that have me most confused/could use help understanding. I’m aware that this missiles was designed to shoot down bombers at long range and in order to hit a fighter size target, the advice I’ve been given here and seen online was that 40miles is about the limit. My problem is in order to support the missile till active at these ranges I’m well within range of there missiles before it goes active. I’ve tried cranking but I suspect this may lead to my next problem.. More often than not they Don’t go active at all, the number counts down then goes into minus numbers. No flashing number (means it’s active right?). Also the amount of time on the counter seems high, or is it just me? I shot at a target 43 miles away and the countdown timer was something like 90. I cranked (gently) never seemed to lose the lock but by the time the number has reached negative numbers the enemy 2 ship was about 10 miles away. How do you support these missiles without ending up in a dogfight? Another thing I don’t understand is why they like to head to the moon no matter how far away the target is. I feel like this leads to the length of time I have to support the missile. Leading, in turn, to having to support the bloody thing till you’ve merged with the enemy. (Saw a thread on this just now, but I didn’t want to hijack it with all my other queries and conundrums ). Do they work better if you have a moustache? I don’t want one and neither does my wife (thank god!) but if it’ll help.. Edit. this needs a tldr: 1) best tactics against (multiple) fighters? 2) How best to support the missile? 3)can I stop it lofting like a loony? 4) My missiles don’t seem to go active. I really need some help, I know it’s me doing things wrong, I’m at a total loss at this point. Thanks in advance.

I think the beer made me come across more confrontational than I would like to be, so my apologies. Much better explanation than I could manage. It’s the man in the box etc. Interestingly isn’t the reverse true in DCS WWII? The reds have more modern planes than the blues. In the article one of the pilots did say that the Russian AWACS (can’t remember the proper name) was giving them real headaches, and they don’t have the equivalent. Very low level flying seems to be the order of the day. So I’d imagine a bunch of data linked nato jets with all there fancy bells and whistles plus awacs support would have pretty huge advantage over an opposition without that stuff. But then again I’ve no idea what the redfor planes in DCS have in that regard which could explain my terrible performance in MP, know your enemy and all that

You asked the same thing about the F16s performance in that sub forum with the same reasoning. Maybe, just maybe NATO jets are just better? I mean you only have to watch the news to see what we thought about the “opposition” wasn’t necessarily accurate. I was just reading an article in The Times about the air war in Ukraine and an SU 25 pilot managing to give an SU 30 the slip over many miles until his mate took off (in a Flanker) and shot it down almost at their airbase. If I tried that in DCS I doubt I’d have the same result, those damn SU 30s shoot me down from miles away when I’m in a Hornet, let alone a Frogfoot. Just drunk some beer so maybe this post is I’ll advised on my part, I just get a feeling there is some motivation here that isn’t based on facts. On the plus side for redfor players, DCS 20 years from now, if it still maintains its current level of accuracy, will be 4 F-35s for blue for and that’s it. It’s all we could afford!

Straight over my head, but the “banana for scale” deserves a 10/10

Thank you @DD_Fenrir! I need all the help I can get and this was very much appreciated. Just for a start I was trying to use Aim 54s from too far way. Thanks

Lots of food for thought, nice one gents. It’s got me wondering how the F18C/E would have fared. All that refuelling is not a problem if your not being chased down by a fox 3 wielding foe. Would have to disagree that things are going to carry on as they once did though, be great to be wrong on that mind. Dick Cheney, haha, has that guy got any friends? I think he had one once but he shot him by mistake(?) on a hunting trip, what a guy! I clearly need to get better in the Tomcat. It truly is a masterpiece and my favourite jet to jump in and fly but I really struggle in combat. From SA to getting my missiles to hit things, I find it a real challenge (aka I feel pretty useless.)

Another day, another “new pc”question Oh and for reference I use a Reverb G2. My particular conundrum, that I’d be most grateful for some advice on, is as follow. Last year I bought an Alienware R10 with a 5900x and a 3090. Now as I’m sure you all know the thermals in these things aren’t great and my cpu temps are pretty regularly heading into the mid to high 80s, occasionally 90. Also this thing sounds like a Chinook in a hover. So my plan is (was) to buy a new PC minus the cpu and gpu. But of course as soon as you start researching these things you discover there’s new hardware just round the corner and now is a bad time to upgrade, ever was it so. Basically if I go with my original plan I may well have enough money left over to buy a 40 series card when they come out. Where as if I wait I’m guessing the new cpus, motherboards and ddr5 RAM will cost a fair bit more and not leave me enough to get a 40 series card. So what do you think would be the better bet? I’m inclined to think a 5900x with ddr4 ram and a 4090 is going to do better in DCS than the new cpus, ddr5 and a 3090. But I’m no expert, and some help would be hugely appreciated. Also, whilst I’m at it, the chap I spoke to at Overclockers UK told me an 850w power supply is more than enough for a 3090 & 5900x. The R10 has a 1000w. But will 850w be enough if I get a 4090 in the future? Thanks in advance for any advice.

Oh no dude, starting one in Liberation. Have to choose who’s on each side and what time frame there units will be. Check out Liberation if you haven’t already, it’s free @near_blind & @DD_Fenrir thanks for the detailed replies! I shall digest them after I’ve made the kiddy winks there dinner

The last 30 years have been a bit of a military anomaly, good while it lasted but now sadly over, where the west didn’t really have much to worry about when it came to air to air. Do you guys think the F14B (and A for that matter) would have been kept around for as long as it was if there was a peer/near-peer air threat to contend with rather than just strike missions? If not, at what point do you think it would have been getting outclassed by the Russian/Chinese competition and therefore retired? Basically I’m trying to choose a timeframe for my next Liberation campaign

If I was to ask you about this, as I’m about to build a new PC but I already have a cpu & gpu, would that be considered hijacking the thread?

@Phantom711 Thanks for the advice, but I think I prefer svr at the moment. Keeping an eye on oxr though. I don’t want to go into details and derail the thread. On topic, My finger was hovering over the Buy button for a TrackIR yesterday morning, I’m glad I didn’t press it. I had a quick dogfight in the Tomcat last night (vr) and quickly realised there’s no other way I want to play DCS than in VR. Even with its slight annoyances it is the best “gaming” experience I’ve ever had. Yeah it seems likely, I just hope we get more options for disabling stuff if this happens. I think multithreading is going to make the biggest difference to us, especially after the 40 series comes out. Im the opposite, probably because I’m so time poor at the moment (two young children plus it’s the school holidays). I love it when you find some new tweak that improves your experience, but if it has an undesired effect I get bummed out as it’s wasted an evening where I could have just flown a mission, my previous post was a product of this. The best thing for me right now is being able to just turn it on and play.

Exactly, I’ve hunted for 90fps in the past and decided it’s not going to happen with todays hardware. If you can get the gfx to a point where you can keep GPU frame times below 10ms not only does the game no longer look “acceptable” if it’s cloudy or your flying low, as soon as you get in a busy mission your cpu will be above 10ms and render the whole exercise pointless. I’ll be keeping a close eye on OpenXR as it seems very close to being the best. But in the mean time I’m going back to my old setup, which to be fair I was pretty happy with.

I’m reporting back after trying these things. Basically It’s painfully close to being great but just not quite there. Im getting between 70-80fps once airborne and it’s all good till I look to the side, as you said, which is a pity but oh well. Also tried 60hz and good god no! Haha. I reckon with a 4090 all may be well, but as always seems the way with DCS VR, perfection is still just out of reach. Thank you again for all your help and advice

Edmuss you win the Monday Medal of helpfulness, thank you!

Sorry to be that guy, but could some one please tell me how to go back to using SVR?

I’ll give it a shot tonight, I had no idea SVR turns off reprojection if you go below 50fps. That seems daft to me (daft of them to make it like that) considering every frame counts in VR.

Edmuss you must have a big brain! Thanks for the thorough explanation, I think I understood most of it. My brain isn’t so big. I just don’t think no motion smoothing is an option if playing mp or Liberation, not yet at least. It’s fine though, I was happy with how I had things with SVR (I wasn’t at first but they must have released an update that really helped). I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes when I first tried OpenXR, then I turned on motion smoothing… So there is hope. If they can sort that and we can have the best of both worlds they can help themselves to one of my kidneys! In the mean time I’ll stick with SVR, which isn’t something I thought I’d have ever said when I first tried it.

I’m currently doing about $400m each on “The Scenic Route” (apparently one of the least taxing campaigns). I’m hopping OpenXR is the main problem, the motion smoothing is like being on shrooms. Hoping to try it out with SVR tonight. I used to run it on a dedicated server on a 2nd machine, but that proved to be a bit too much faffing about given the time I have. Does anyone else feel like DCS VR greatness is always just over the horizon? I mean with OpenXR and no motion smoothing it looks utterly fantastic! Multithreading can’t come soon enough haha. But seriously ED, it can’t come soon enough… Ps. I’ve been doing this for 6 years now, I know it’s “pros and cons”. I suppose Im feeling the cons more than the pros at the moment. That’ll probably change soon enough. I still believe eventually things will be amazing. How much older we will all be then I dread to think.

Bit of a moan about OpenXR incoming, so please forgive me, it won’t happen again. Im going to try going back to SVR as I find OpenXR is blurry and the motion smoothing isn’t great even at 45fps. Probably great for those struggling to maintain 45fps, but I seem to be pretty solidly at 45fps so due to the (imo) substandard motion smoothing solution it’s a downgrade in visual clarity for no real upside that I can see. I would be very interested to hear from those with 3090s why they choose to use OpenXR as perhaps I’m missing something?

I’ve woken up this morning after playing some DCS last night, feeling a bit dissatisfied with VR too. I suppose I’m letting off a bit of steam, but the constant trade offs and compromises do get frustrating. You think you have things where you want them, then try to play a mission with more going on than usual such as Liberation, and it’s back to the old drawing board. Not to mention how much this all costs! On this grey Monday morning the urge to get TrackIR is strong. I’m off to moan about OpenXR in that thread now, aren’t Mondays great!

Oh those dastardly invisible sky cats! My issue would have been dastardly invisible sky children, so I spent a ludicrous some of money for an outside office at the end of the garden. Worth every penny! DCS VR really is the only thing that clears my mind of everything but what I’m doing. I mean that does happen if I spend long enough in the pub, but that’s expensive and makes the next day very difficult and is bad for ones health.