DeltaMike

Not a ton of interest in supporting the 39 at this time, training program is really focused on US procedures, not sure that would translate well to the 39 platform even though I hear it's a fine trainer. That said, I think it would be really cool to have a realistic Eastern bloc track. If you search through this sub, I think someone is already doing that. We do have a helicopter instructor and it's possible to start training with the TF51, although if you're on that track we move people to jets pretty quickly. Mods are pretty much required, can't join the server without them. Google up OVGME, which allows you to manage mods without messing up your core install. Flip side of it is, there aren't that many MP servers where you can fly the MB339 and the A4E. Both are fine mods.

There's a lot to unpack there. Doctrine is not platform specific, in fact it's more the other way around. System design is more likely to be based on doctrine. You see that in the radar user interface, for example. Eastern bloc jets are designed based on the assumption that you're always working from BRAA calls, Western bloc jets are designed so you can be your own mini-AWACs if you want. Tactics follow. F14's will be up high blaring radiation and firing from 30 miles out, Flankers will be sneaking through the mountains only turning their radar on at the last minute (if at all). So, in progression -- 1. Basic skills, like how to take off and land, how to interact with ATC, when present; and with other players, when not. How to get around the map, etc 2. Basic airmanship. BFM, how to fly a bombing pattern, how to get on and off a carrier 3. A/A and A/G doctrine, which varies based on coalition and the peculiarities of the squad you're flying with 4. Quals -- how to handle your particular aircraft (landing, taking off, navigating) 5. Systems -- how to navigate the user interface in your particular aircraft As for #5, I imagine there are very few people who know *everything* about a given platform, and in the case of something like the F-18 or F-16, it's impossible to know everything because we keep getting extra goodies. Which is cool. People gripe sometimes, "when is it going to be complete." I hope it's never complete, myself. Main thing I'm seeing is, people don't like to practice. Eager to get out there and blow stuff up, and often get really good at it, but they can't get their bird on the ground, they terrorize the pattern in MP, you'd rather prefer they not even try to fly formation. That's why I use the term "Quals." Getting proficient to begin with, and maintaining proficiency, are both important.

Are you interested in learning the principles and physics behind what makes military fighter aircraft able to perform the way they do? Are you looking for a group of knowledgeable people who can answer deeply technical questions about military airborne operations? Are you interested in being one of the best military aviators in the DCS community? Are you willing to put in the required effort to learn this knowledge, train these skills, and acquire these abilities? If you answered "yes" to all of the above, then you're probably ready for DCS Academy! What is DCS Academy? DCS Academy is a small community of DCS players who are interested in learning about fixed-wing military aviation "the right way", starting with aviation first-principles and working up to fighter tactics and concepts of operation for participating in airborne warfare. Aspiring helicopter pilots have their own rotary-wing pathway as well, starting with basic/civilian helicopter coursework by our FAA-certified helicopter instructor and moving to US Army-inspired utility and attack helicopter training. Who teaches at DCS Academy? DCS Academy instructors are members of the DCS community at large who are interested in improving the quality of DCS pilots. Here is a list of some of the qualifications the instructors have: Real-world commercial pilots, FAA CFI or CFIIs, FAA-certified rotary-wing instructor, former military pilots or NFOs/WCOs, retired military crew chiefs, current or retired JTACs, current or former military airborne operations trainers, current or former/retired civilian airspace controllers (ATCs), current or retired military air intercept controllers/air battle managers, Chuck from Chuck's Guides. How much does DCS Academy cost? DCS Academy is free ! We wanted to improve the quality of pilots in the DCS community without locking it behind any type of paywall. The instructors all volunteer their time and expertise to improve the DCS community as a whole. Does DCS Academy have its own server? Yes! We supply our own servers and have a realistic implementation of the NTTR map where most of our training occurs, just like the real-world (in the USA at least). When does DCS Academy offer its classes? Classes are offered by instructors as their availability allows. Just like you, they are busy people with full-time jobs, families, and a life outside of DCS. In general, you can expect classes to be offered around the same times you have availability (USA-based). There isn't necessarily a regularly scheduled time you can find each instructor unless their personal lives lend themselves to such regularity. The DCS Academy Discord typically has instructor availability published a week or two in advance in each instructor's classroom/channel. What does DCS Academy offer that other places do not? DCS Academy is focused on teaching principles first, which makes the advanced concepts easier (or possible!) to understand. As a consequence, it opens up possibilities for advanced, real-world military training in a variety of topics. We have the requisite people with the associated knowledge to teach you real-world military tactics, techniques, and procedures. What we will not be teaching the public at large is anything that is classified or sensitive. Note the difference between the instructors' knowledge, skills, and abilities; versus what they will actually teach you. Is this where the AIC training moved to? Yep! The AWACS/GCI/AIC training that has been offered since March, 2019, has been incorporated into DCS Academy’s advanced (Phase II — A2A) training. Sounds great! I'd like to sign up! Hold up. Let's talk a bit about expectation management and skills, knowledge, and abilities (KSAs): In a community for a technically challenging subject like study-level military flight simulators which are open to the public at large, the KSA vs. population distribution is best modeled by the Power law DCS Academy is decidedly targeting people who want to be at the top, which means that based on a random sampling of DCS players, there is likely a considerable gap in knowledge, skills, and abilities from where each person is and where they want to be. Check yourself before you decide you want to invest your time in this effort and to forestall against the Dunning-Kruger effect. Lots of people like to talk the talk; DCS Academy makes you walk the walk, and we'll quickly find out what you can and cannot do. Everyone who signs up for DCS Academy needs to either take classes in basic aviation (Phase I) or test out of them to be graduated to Phase II where you get to fly your fancy F/A-18C or F-16C. Phase I training takes place mostly in trainer aircraft (the C-101 or MB-339). You are expected to be active to prevent skill and knowledge atrophy, and so the instructors can monitor your progress. Phase II training is where all the "cool" stuff happens, but you must have the requisite basic aviator skills or you'll embarrass yourself and hold up everyone else's training. There are several pipelines in Phase II like: A2A, A2G - Strike, A2G - CAS, and SEAD. We've already had a few students progressing through the beginning levels. The quality of their flying and airborne operations is considerably higher than when they started, and considerably higher than most people who have not gone through the program and who have joined in on AIC training. This has opened up interesting advanced AIC training simply because the class isn't bogged down by people who didn't learn the basics of aviating enabling the class to focus entirely on employing advanced concepts. This is at least some evidence that DCS Academy is serving its purpose and allowing for interesting, advanced, real-world training you can't get anywhere else (short of signing up for the US military). We’re eager to introduce more advanced concepts to the DCS community! Okay, I’ve checked myself and I won’t act the fool. Where do I sign up? Start with this Discord link, read the channel topic, pinned messages, and check the #announcements channel: https://discord.gg/MM9UyN5 I want to help out as an instructor. How do I sign up? Follow the same Discord link and post that you’d like to be an instructor. We’ll give you a brief interview then ask you to make a course on any topic of your choosing to demonstrate that you’re able to plan at least one course. When you’re ready, the other instructors will take your course, provide feedback, and then you’re free to offer that course or any others you desire.

For training materials, guides etc id recommend Chuck's Guides. Chuck participates in our discord, totally cool guy. We write procedures. Recovery and departure procedures at nellis, procedures and comms for the various ranges, etc. But we don't have a textbook. Can't beat dcs tutorials or Chuck's for aircraft familiarization, and there are plenty of resources on the internet for basic flight training. As you get into advanced topics like AIC we are developing our own materials I'll ask about the L39, I'm not familiar with it although I hear it's a great trainer.

There's an amazing amount of depth in DCS. Lots of different pathways to take. Check out DCS Academy https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=254647 I'm kind of a junior instructor there, it's pretty cool. Designed to simulate the training experience, starting off with what it would be like to take flying lessons through instrument certification, and then moving on to what it would be like to take military training in NTTR. The senior instructors have a lot of experience either in DCS, real world aviation or both. It's not so much a matter of pretending to be military aviators, we have people who have been there and done that. Main focus is building skills helpful in cooperative multiplayer. But it is cool getting a little tiny glimpse into the sort of challenges military aviators face; it's an opportunity to build an appreciation for the level of skill and professionalism those men and women bring to the table. Eye opening and humbling.

Thanks for the replies. Gonna be on the road some and I'll be danged if I'm gonna live without dcs for a month. Might be better off upgrading the GPU in my mini-itx build and lug that around

I'm kind of a mid level guy, I'm out there pounding the pattern with Level 0 cadets most of the time, rest of the time I'm learning. Currently learning how to do ATC. We've started operation Saturday Yoga, which is our Saturday morning (for North American pilots) ATC sessions. I'm handling Laughlin, and typically a very experienced (IRL) controller is working out of Nellis. Cadets submit VFR flight plans, after studying sectional charts. They make all the radio calls appropriate for controlled and uncontrolled air spaces. Some are practicing formation flying en route. Approach and departure procedures are realistic. So far it's been lovely weather, although it does occasionally rain (or snow) in the desert, so the cadets are going to be learning ILS and TACAN approaches. C-101 has been a superb training platform for all these activities. Good preparation for some of the more advanced operations you might encounter in DCS, and if you're at all interested in real life aviation, it gives you a general idea of what real flight training is like. So far it has been great fun.

^ Your website looks great! I know it's a work in process but it's clear you have an exciting project. I'm just a humble instructor. I feel it would be fair to say, the guys who are spearheading these projects are dedicated DCSers who are providing a very valuable service. Flying with other players is extremely rewarding but hard to break into, projects like this can be a great opportunity for experienced and new players alike.

I wouldn't mind having a desktop with 2070 for rift S I guess, just wondering if the laptop version would be equal or close

Let the guys at Ghost Nation know, they should be interested

Probably not much. CPU is still the bottleneck even in VR. All the GPU does for you (after a point) is anti-aliasing. I don't know that anybody gets consistent 90fps in VR.

aha! That did it. Thanks!

Client hangs on startup. Sounds similar to what people were reporting with AMD drivers in the past. Which, I am using AMD GPU. Tried updating video driver, and modifying graphicsEngine entry in registry to no avail. Any suggestions?

If you're thinking about joining a squadron, and worry you don't have the basic skills, check out DCS Academy https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=254647 We focus on the basics. How to handle yourself in the pattern. Navigation using visual references, dead reckoning and navaids. Formation flying. Carrier ops. Interacting with ATC and AWACS. Bullseye calls. We don't teach weapons and tactics, your squadron leaders will train you up according to their doctrine. We just prepare you to come to the table tight and professional. Squadron leaders -- while many of our instructors belong to squads, this is not a recruiting venue, we are just having fun. We are happy to help you out with some of the low level stuff if you like. Also, we are always on the lookout for instructors! It's really cool to watch the cadets go from having no idea how to even set up their flaps lever to doing a tight formation landing with all the right radio calls. We have NTTR set up as realistically as we can for the general public, with dynamic weather. We even parked a carrier out on the Colorado River lol! For the really serious cadets we do most of our training in the C-101 EB, but there's a way to do it using community mods like the MB-339 and the A-4 for cadets that are saving up their money for a sleek F-16 or an awesome F-14 (and they will have the stick skills to keep that Tomcat in the air when we are done with them)

One of my students went subterranean briefly in an MB-339 although it was a HARD landing. I've seen that on other servers too. I occasionally go underground in an F18, especially when I'm playing submarine. Are we sure that's not just a DCS thing?

gyah the bean-counter mission! GAW models logistical shortages basically, some airfields have missiles and some dont, and whether they do or not depends on how the battle is going. To be clear, I think the main purpose is to prevent team kills via spamram -- while I'm sure it helps, it doesn't solve the problem -- but it does sort of comport with what I've read about availability of AAMRAMs at the beginning. Personally I think GAW is extremely cool, might be worth your time to check out how they have it set up

The A-4 is playing a key role over at DCS Academy https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=254647 It's our primary trainer for people on the Navy track and I expect it'll get a lot of use in air-to-ground training. Fantastic module, you can do so much cool stuff with it. Among other things, we are based on the NTTR map. We parked the Stennis out in the middle of the Colorado river and I'll be danged, the A4 can land on, and take off from the sucker just sitting there. For a while there we were wondering how to set up field practice but, it's kinda funny flying up on this giant carrier parked out in the middle of the desert. Something you don't see every day. At any rate I've always loved this module, it's my favorite aircraft to fly in DCS, and I thought yall would like to know how it's playing such a central role on our server. I know it's been a labor of love, and believe me, we are so thankful.

At the Academy (see https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=254647) the progression looks like this 1. Straight and level, turns, slow flight, flying the pattern, stall practice 2. Navigating by visual reference and dead reckoning, basic formation flying 3. IFR techniques (pretty basic, boils down to TACAN approaches and communicating with ATC. The weather in DCS is sometimes pretty gross so this is helpful) 4. Carrier quals for Navy types 5. BFM training for Air Force types. We are still working on the BFM curriculum but we figure the first step is to learn very basic maneuvers. Flying in a circle. Split S. Out of plane maneuvers. Then bring another jet into the equation, learn tactical formation maneuvering. Run some offensive and defensive perches. Then start talking about the merge. We want to get that stuff down first before we start doing intercept training. Only then do we start deploying weapons, and even then it's a small part of the picture. There's a lot to it with jets capable of BVR engagements. Jousting pretty much never works out. We just brought in an expert on attack, we'll integrate low level flying in there somewhere, most likely once we have BFM and formation flying down. Keep the ground out of it at first.

We weren't quite ready to announce a project we've been working on, but now we are. Check out DCS Academy. https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=254647 Group of experienced people have set up a flight school that basically models a training program starting with introductory flight lessons all the way up to Top Gun style air-to-ground and air-to-air training. There's a Navy track for people interested in carrier quals. We start you out in a trainer. C-101 is ideal and helps you get the most out of the program, although if you don't want to make that investment, you can get through Phase 1 with community mods, starting with the MB-339 and moving on to the A-4 when the time is right. You can get the basics nailed down at a level of detail few virtual pilots attain, and you'll be well prepared to move on to a full fidelity module, taking the progression one bite at a time. Advantage is, you learn it right the first time. Plus, by the time you're done, you'll be well qualified to join a squad and participate in cooperative multiplayer if that's your interest. The program is noob friendly, long as you're self motivated and willing to practice.

Are you interested in learning the principles and physics behind what makes military fighter aircraft able to perform the way they do? Are you looking for a group of knowledgeable people who can answer deeply technical questions about military airborne operations? Are you interested in being one of the best military aviators in the DCS community? Are you willing to put in the required effort to learn this knowledge, train these skills, and acquire these abilities? If you answered "yes" to all of the above, then you're probably ready for DCS Academy! What is DCS Academy? DCS Academy is a small community of DCS players who are interested in learning about fixed-wing military aviation "the right way", starting with aviation first-principles and working up to fighter tactics and concepts of operation for participating in airborne warfare. Aspiring helicopter pilots have their own rotary-wing pathway as well, starting with basic/civilian helicopter coursework by our FAA-certified helicopter instructor and moving to US Army-inspired utility and attack helicopter training. Who teaches at DCS Academy? DCS Academy instructors are members of the DCS community at large who are interested in improving the quality of DCS pilots. Here is a list of some of the qualifications the instructors have: Real-world commercial pilots, FAA CFI or CFIIs, FAA-certified rotary-wing instructor, former military pilots or NFOs/WCOs, retired military crew chiefs, current or retired JTACs, current or former military airborne operations trainers, current or former/retired civilian airspace controllers (ATCs), current or retired military air intercept controllers/air battle managers, Chuck from Chuck's Guides. How much does DCS Academy cost? DCS Academy is free ! We wanted to improve the quality of pilots in the DCS community without locking it behind any type of paywall. The instructors all volunteer their time and expertise to improve the DCS community as a whole. Does DCS Academy have its own server? Yes! We supply our own servers and have a realistic implementation of the NTTR map where most of our training occurs, just like the real-world (in the USA at least). When does DCS Academy offer its classes? Classes are offered by instructors as their availability allows. Just like you, they are busy people with full-time jobs, families, and a life outside of DCS. In general, you can expect classes to be offered around the same times you have availability (USA-based). There isn't necessarily a regularly scheduled time you can find each instructor unless their personal lives lend themselves to such regularity. The DCS Academy Discord typically has instructor availability published a week or two in advance in each instructor's classroom/channel. What does DCS Academy offer that other places do not? DCS Academy is focused on teaching principles first, which makes the advanced concepts easier (or possible!) to understand. As a consequence, it opens up possibilities for advanced, real-world military training in a variety of topics. We have the requisite people with the associated knowledge to teach you real-world military tactics, techniques, and procedures. What we will not be teaching the public at large is anything that is classified or sensitive. Note the difference between the instructors' knowledge, skills, and abilities; versus what they will actually teach you. Is this where the AIC training moved to? Yep! The AWACS/GCI/AIC training that has been offered since March, 2019, has been incorporated into DCS Academy’s advanced (Phase II — A2A) training. Sounds great! I'd like to sign up! Hold up. Let's talk a bit about expectation management and skills, knowledge, and abilities (KSAs): In a community for a technically challenging subject like study-level military flight simulators which are open to the public at large, the KSA vs. population distribution is best modeled by the Power law DCS Academy is decidedly targeting people who want to be at the top, which means that based on a random sampling of DCS players, there is likely a considerable gap in knowledge, skills, and abilities from where each person is and where they want to be. Check yourself before you decide you want to invest your time in this effort and to forestall against the Dunning-Kruger effect. Lots of people like to talk the talk; DCS Academy makes you walk the walk, and we'll quickly find out what you can and cannot do. Everyone who signs up for DCS Academy needs to either take classes in basic aviation (Phase I) or test out of them to be graduated to Phase II where you get to fly your fancy F/A-18C or F-16C. Phase I training takes place mostly in trainer aircraft (the C-101 or MB-339). You are expected to be active to prevent skill and knowledge atrophy, and so the instructors can monitor your progress. Phase II training is where all the "cool" stuff happens, but you must have the requisite basic aviator skills or you'll embarrass yourself and hold up everyone else's training. There are several pipelines in Phase II like: A2A, A2G - Strike, A2G - CAS, and SEAD. We've already had a few students progressing through the beginning levels. The quality of their flying and airborne operations is considerably higher than when they started, and considerably higher than most people who have not gone through the program and who have joined in on AIC training. This has opened up interesting advanced AIC training simply because the class isn't bogged down by people who didn't learn the basics of aviating enabling the class to focus entirely on employing advanced concepts. This is at least some evidence that DCS Academy is serving its purpose and allowing for interesting, advanced, real-world training you can't get anywhere else (short of signing up for the US military). We’re eager to introduce more advanced concepts to the DCS community! Okay, I’ve checked myself and I won’t act the fool. Where do I sign up? Start with this Discord link, read the channel topic, pinned messages, and check the #announcements channel: https://discord.gg/MM9UyN5 I want to help out as an instructor. How do I sign up? Follow the same Discord link and post that you’d like to be an instructor. We’ll give you a brief interview then ask you to make a course on any topic of your choosing to demonstrate that you’re able to plan at least one course. When you’re ready, the other instructors will take your course, provide feedback, and then you’re free to offer that course or any others you desire.

Problem is, we need somebody to drill with. I don't find the AI to be very helpful in that regard. After I got some one-on-one from a friend of mine, I went back to the AI. I really only found it helpful for one thing, namely, what to do when the bandit goes into the vertical. Once you figure that out, it's just not fun anymore. You kind of have to get behind him right away because he never runs out of energy, and you will eventually, but once you figure out how to do that it gets real repetitive. I've noticed recently, sometimes the bandit will keep it in the horizontal, and if he does you can sucker him into a 1C fight, which is fun for about five minutes, because he doesn't try very hard. So basically, no. If there's a way to make the AI a useful learning experience, I haven't figured it out yet

^I really like the concept of a target FPS. In other words, there's a time budget where both the CPU and the GPU have to get their work done, and you adjust your settings to hit that target. FPS is almost meaningless, and % utilization is almost precisely meaningless. CPU plays a big role, in areas that surprise people sometimes. Shadows and trees for example suck up as much CPU power as GPU. Draw range has (or at least had, haven't tested it lately) a huge effect on CPU. I think it's wise to max out the CPU side of things first, although I swear I don't see how one flies a CV1 on a 1070 without clawing your eyes out. I see a new GPU in your future, obiwan. (It never ends, does it?)

It's fine. I don't know how much of a budget option it is. Main place to save money I think is on the motherboard, assuming this is for DCS only there's no point in overclocking so you can get away with a cheap-ish mobo and stock cooler. I like MSI's gaming plus series, I might go with their X470 if building today but B450 is fine. I like that you can flash BIOS without a chip on the board, also there are plenty of USB channels. You can still run into conflicts but at least you can move stuff around to make it work. Plenty of fan headers. Decent cheap board I'm assuming you want to cannibalize parts from your current build. Check the mobo's manufacturer website to make sure your RAM will run at rated speed. Even better, budget for decent ram 3200mhz minimum, 3600mhz ideal. Don't hamstring that beautiful CPU. But, you should notice a *substantial* improvement from the CPU upgrade, you will definitely notice a difference. Busy MP servers like growling sidewinder smooth right on out, insanely busy servers like GAW will become playable. Even in VR this is a CPU game

Doubt it. Open question whether 32gb of RAM is worth having. I spend a fair amount of time on busy MP servers, and moreover have a lot of stuff open while flying. Discord, SRS, browsers. I upgraded, unclear if it's doing much yet. I don't know that VRAM directly affects DCS performance, TMU count probably more important for AMD at least. NVIDIA strikes me as way more efficient for flight sims in general, dollar for dollar. If you love or need AMD, Vega is worth a look, punches above its class here, keeps up with 1080 which is enough I guess. 56 runs cooler than 64 and they are surprisingly close in performance, still more than a 570 and may be overkill for pancake mode. If I didn't already have a vega I would have gone with nvidia, 2070 super looks good for VR, maybe 1060 in your price range?

I dunno about the F14, there's gonna be a really steep learning curve. I'd think about a trainer first, learn how to fly before you start getting fancy. I have a fair number of hours recently in the A4, MB339, C101 and F5. - A4 is free, has a more or less simplified flight model like FC3 aircraft, easy to fly and way way fun. Pretty decent suite of nav equipment, great platform to learn basics of bomb and rocket delivery. Deviously diverse ways of making up-close-personal explosions. Not brutally hard to get on the deck if you want to practice carrier ops. In general, the jet doesn't get away from you, forces you to learn good habits without punishing you too much. And it's free. - MB339 is another free module, here the flight model is a bit more realistic, also really fun to fly. Deficient in comms and navs, just a well-mannered, good little trainer - F5 is a complete module where everything works. A lot more complicated to operate, difficult to fly, very difficult to fly well. It's not well mannered at all! Realistic flight model, it'll force you into good habits. Primitive but period correct navs and comms, simple weapons delivery, another good platform to learn attack role, also a good place to start learning ACM. And it is really fun to fly once you get the hang of it. - C101. Wow, this has gotta be the most professionally rendered, least buggy, most realistic module in the DCS universe. Complete suite of navs and comms, if you want to learn the way real pilots learn, this is your module. Realistic flight model, by design the jet is forgiving but you have to fly the thing. Plenty of weapons if you want to blow stuff up. Back seat for your instructor. The C101 is or at least was on sale, it's worth full price but on sale it's an absolute steal. I would really highly recommend it before you start wrestling with the F14. If you don't want to spend the money, check out the MB339 first for basic airmanship (startup, taxi, pattern work, navigation using visual reference), move up to the A4 for attack and carrier ops, THEN go for an advanced module like the F14 (which is VERY tricky to fly) or the F18 (which is like flying an iPhone, with a ton of apps you gotta learn) or the F16 (which will probably have more stuff by then) C101 trainee: "Wonder how come it is my engine is on fire." Instructor: "Cuz you weren't paying attention to your TIT. Cut it to idle, pitch for 200KIAS, set ignition to constant, give it some gas." F14 trainee: "How come it is my wings keep falling off." Jester: "I'm outa here." Snarky comment on ED forums: "Cuz you're flying like a monkey. Pay attention to corner speed." F14 trainee: "What's corner speed?"