CBStu

I use a VKB Gladiator II and am very happy w/ it. It is one of the few w/ twist for rudder. And it's <$100 so a great deal.

So I have been trying to get this working experimenting w/ lots of different control options for slewing w/ my TM WH throttle button. I know there is an upgrade but out of stock so I am trying different curves, different keyboard buttons for the depress function, etc. But how do you generally fly the plane? Steady altitude? What altitude? What speed? I find it's hard to locate a truck (like in the training mission), then it is hard to slew and lock, and suddenly I am going over it. 6 story buildings are easy. Right now I am more successful in leaving the missile in bore sight mode and flying the plane to aim it but that loses what I think would be one of the main benefits of the maverick. Any techniques you have found work would be much appreciated.

Yep, I am using the S key for nose wheel hi/undesignated. Waiting for VKB to get more handles in stock so I can have more switches on the stick.

To put a number to what I see most often in the provided missions I am at about 135 when on AOA w/ full flaps and gear down. Once in a while I fly something different that didn't really have landing as part of the mission, but I chose to land anyway. Then the plane is usually heavier (since I have unlimited ammo set which includes missiles) and then I will see more like 140-145. As mentioned above, speed is not a goal in landing, it is a result of AOA, weight, etc. But I find that noting it sometimes helps when things don't seem quite right, it may give a clue as to what is going on. The other day I was on an approach and things were not going well. I noted speed was not right so started looking around. Turned out that the day before I had switched my flap control to a different switch which works a little differently, and I was at only half flaps.

I have a dead zone of 7-8 degrees in both directions off center. IE; I have to move my head 7 deg either left or right or 7 deg up or down before the screen moves. About a month ago I added speed/angle to the curves beyond my dead zones so I would get more total screen movement. I can now look almost straight back lacking only maybe 5 degrees each side. I can look maybe 120 deg up and a little over 90 deg down. Works fine for me this way and I don't notice any problem as I get to the end of the dead zone and the screen starts moving. I also like that this gives me kind of a snap movement to straight ahead since it jumps from 7 deg to zero.

Exactly my thought. I use that characteristic because a partial extend seems to help tighten a turn. Also it has saved my dumb a$$ a couple times when I somehow find myself at 500+ heading for the dirt and suddenly realize I am too low.

I have noticed that deploying the FA-18 air brake in certain conditions will add a nose up attitude change.

Not sure on your stick/throttle. On my TM Warthog throttle there is a slide switch w/ 3 positions. Forward it will stay there. Middle it will stay there. Back you need to hold it there or it will go back to middle. Holding it back will raise the brake as long as you hold it and it will stop and stay in whatever position it is in when you let go. Forward will retract the brake and of course there is no need to hold it forward.

Last week I bought a new Alienware monitor when BB had them on sale. AW2720HF. I thought it would be a good upgrade for my 7 yr old system. Just want to say I am very happy w/ the change. I haven't changed anything on the system or DCS settings except I experimented w/ the screen brightness using the buttons on the edge of the monitor. Everything looks a lot better but the most amazing thing is I can now see planes a little before the labels pop up. And on the Stennis I can now see the meatball so am starting to experiment w/ actually looking at it and using it. Before all I ever saw was a bit of a light which helped me ID that the boat I was heading for was a carrier. But there was no way to use the meatball as a landing guide. I am surprised at the improvement even w/ my old PC. And then cyber Monday rolled around and I have an Alienware PC on it's way

Yeah, no kidding it is a Monster. Just yesterday I had a really great trap going (for me) and thought this may be my best pattern approach yet. But then I must have lost attention, throttle was too low and....let's just say I did a really nice explosion against the back of the hull. I hope no one was down there watching.

On my Warthog throttle the slew doesn't work well at all if I try to hold it down. It works just fine if I just rub my finger tip across it. So I have another button set for the tdc depress function but don't remember what it is right now.

On straight in approaches I don't drop flaps til 180 or so. This way all that happens is you get a quick loss of speed and no ballooning. As the speed is dropping, I start bringing in some throttle (off of idle) at 145 or so, because I know my speed, once stabilized on AOA, I will be at about 135, and anything below that will result in rapid altitude loss. In a pattern approach, although it's not the standard technique, one could wait until on the downwind to drop flaps.

I can nail a straight in approach 90% of the time. My pattern approach still sucks but slowly getting better. During the upwind approach I keep it at the recommended 350k and drop the hook early. I have also started setting the flaps to full and gear to down at the same time. They won't actually move until speed drops below 250. So I start the first 180 turn by chopping the throttle to idle at the same time I crank in the bank and start pulling slightly back on the stick. This way the flaps and gear drop down while I am at a 30+ deg bank and so I don't get a balloon effect. Getting my self set at proper altitude, AOA, etc on the downwind takes way too long and I get dinged for that. I generally get dinged more in the final turn for altitude but I have noticed that Bankler often says that when I am on the ICLS glide slope so not sure why. I don't know how many traps I have done but it is certainly in the several hundreds so yeah, it is not easy and takes a long, long time to get it right.

Yes I am talking about my AI wingman calling out. Missile launches are the most important.

So running the provided missions launch from the carrier or in the air start, most planes are flying the same direction. So, is someone calls out missile launch at 11 oclock I know exactly where to look. But say 30 seconds after the fight starts, planes from both sides are going crazy in all directions, where is 11 oclock then?

Does the FA-18 fly by wire impose max elevator up movement under any circumstances? I see there are limits on Gs but this seems different. I ask because I get two different reactions and I can't figure the reason. I am new at this so not understanding it. Consider I have a Mig behind me and try to do a tight turn, nose on or near the horizon for the entire turn. I generally go to full throttle and pull the stick back. Some times I see the speed dropping so I let up on the pull if I go under 300. Other times I see the speed slowly increasing. Some times I start greying out so release some pressure. Some times no grey out occurs. The initial speed has an effect I think but not sure. And yeah, I agree the 18 doesn't have much power. I can't out run any of the planes I go against in the provided missions and if speed drops below 300 it takes a LONG time for it to build back.

I use a VKB Gladiator stick. It works very well, has twist for rudder, and is about $100. I also got a Warthog throttle mainly because I needed the long travel for fine control for carrier traps. I would try a Warthog stick but the $s for it, + rudder pedals, + the FA-18 grip, is just WAY too much for me.

Agreed. I like the way he explains the why of something rather than just what to do. between Lex and Chuck I feel pretty good but will look at some of the others recommended here also.

Darseth, thankyou so much. Yep right click does it. I haven't run into that before but now I will know if I have it again.

I am a little under a year in the DCS FA-18 and have been working my way through the Mission Qualification and the Weapons Qualifications missions. All has been fine using chaff and flares til today I thought to try some of the Caucasus Combat Missions. So I go to the DDI and click EW and the next screen has ALE-47 X'd out. Go to Chucks guide and read about Master Arm on and Dispense switch ON. I click MA to ON but Dispense is OFF and will not move. So I go back to one of the other missions and find Dispense is preset to ON and, BTW, if I click it, it will only move to OFF and will not move back to ON. I check the other Combat missions ( 5 or6) and they are all the same. Dispense switch is OFF and will not move. Pretty much makes these Combat Missions worthless. What am I missing?

A few thoughts. There is a key combination to get from DCS to the web but I forget what it is. I run DCS in a window so the bar across the bottom of the screen is visible. I can pause DCS, use an icon in that bar to go to the web, or look at Chuck's guide which I have saved on my PC. Then un-pause and try whatever I just learned. I agree w/ not worrying too much about Nav. I am good w/ Tacan which most of the Caucuses airfields have so I use that. But then most of the Persian Gulf airfields do not have Tacan. In both though I use the F10 map. The airfields are fairly close together so it's not like you are trying to figure how to fly from Boston to Atlanta. When you pause DCS and hit F10 you get the map w/ an icon for your plane. The map is oriented w/ north at the top. I just mentally superimpose a compass rose centered on my plane. If the airfield I'd like to go to is exactly to my right I will need to fly at a 90 degrees heading. If it is just a bit to the left of straight below me I will need to fly at maybe 190-200 degrees. This will get you in sight of the airfield. I am a little different than some of the guys here. I have almost no interest in a cold and dark start. I spending a lot of time learning flying, bombing, missiles, etc so just don't feel like spending the time to learn cold dark starts. I fly only in my PC using the provided missions and two simple ones that I created. If I get lucky enough to survive the mission, I do like to land at a nearby field. I agree w/ others who say don't forget to have fun. I can get frustrated learning something new. At that point I escape out and pick a mission that I know I can do fairly well. Have fun!

I keep seeing references to the second detent but I don't have it on my VKB Gladiator.

Yep that is probably the reason. Could have saved me 30-40 minutes a week or two ago when I first tried to get the slew working if all functions of one control were in one place.

Funny where some of the bindings are isn't it. Although it doesn't work properly anyway, the slew button on the TM throttle has left,right,up,down and a 'push' function. The left,right,up,down is in the Axis section and the 'push' is in another section. I think there is some logic to it but it does make it hard sometimes.

Welcome to DCS from a guy w/ < than a year experience. You are going to love the FA-18. It is about all I fly any more. I have maybe a bit better machine than you but not by much. The one thing that has been absolutely amazing to me is I got TrackIR5. I can't state strongly enough how much better this is. To me it's like going to another world compared to changing views messing around w/ arrow keys etc. A technique that has helped me tremendously is I run DCS in a window. It's just a little smaller than full screen so it lets me see the bottom row of icons just like in any other program. I downloaded Chucks guide and I often pause the sim, open his guide to get info on how something works, then un-pause the sim. My internet browser button is also visible so I can go to youtube for help also while sim is paused.