Doc3908

Title says it all. The Bf-109 is AI controlled with the AI set to excellent. Enjoy.

That's true. And yes, it's frustrating...

Congrats, Diesel! I've been flying the F-18 for a couple of months now and still can't trap the 3-wire consistently. My real problem is pitching deck in rough seas. When the sea is calm, trapping the 3rd or 2nd wire is usually not that hard. But when the seas are rough, I always end up overcompensating and either bolter or catch the 1-wire. Practice, practice, practice... :) Happy flying!

Hi everyone, Just wanted to share some first impressions of flying the Ka-50. I'm fairly new to DCS - started back in January, but since then I've picked up multiple modules including the Huey and the Mi-8. The UH-1 had a bit of a learning curve, but I quickly got comfortable with it. I hated the Mi-8 until I realized it has two throttles - I'd been trying to fly it on a single engine... :P. Now, it's my favorite heli! The Ka-50 wasn't on my radar at all until now, but with the free trial period, I decided to give it a shot. And I'm glad I did. First, it's a very different creature compared the Huey or the Mi-8. It feels less like a heli and more like a fixed wing airplane. It is certainly a lot more aerobatic and maneuverable than the Mi-8. It's also a lot more forgiving and, when I'm not horsing around, the Ka-50 feels a lot more stable. Perhaps it's my prior experience with the other heli mods, but I quickly felt very comfortable in the Ka-50. Had to go through the manual to figure out how to use the weapon systems, but with a bit of practice, it's easy to lock and destroy targets. By comparison, I still find the Mi-8 very challenging in combat - not only because it's difficult for me to employ its weapon systems accurately but also because a couple of hits from some guy with an AK47, and the Mi-8 is ready to go down. So, overall, the Ka-50 is growing on me. It's an interesting mod, worth purchasing and learning. In fact, I'd probably recommend the Ka-50 as a first step to someone with no heli experience over the Mi-8 or even the Huey (though both are a ton of fun!).

The MiG-15 was one of the first mods I got a few months ago, and I've flown it on and off. I found it hard to fly and particularly had to aim and shoot. So, I put it away ... until now. Having picked up the Sabre in the recent sale, I got my fill of it (for now) and decided to give the Mig another try. There's an instant action dogfight mission in the Nevada batch - two Mig-15s against two Sabres. Merged with the Sabres, pulled up and over, and came down on one of the Sabres and blew it out of the sky. Up again, down.... and the second Sabre was gone. All this time, I had been trying to turn with the F86s, playing their game in the horizontal plane instead of using the vertical. So, I just re-tried the Recon mission in the Black Sea missions set - two MiG-15s vs. three AI-controlled F-86s. This mission had been giving me such a hard time - could never get it completed. The default mission has the F86 AI set to random. This time I edited it set and set all three AI F86s to excellent. My stupid wingman got shot down in the first 30 seconds. So, now I'm up against three Sabres by my lonesome. Guess what - got all three of them. Yes, they are AI, not people, but for me this was an accomplishment - first time I got all three Sabres by myself (excellent AI at that). I need to get some more practice before I'm ready to go up against human opponents, but now that I'm learning how to fly the MiG correctly, it's quickly becoming one of my favorite DCS mods.

Just a quick comment: The I-16 is not a WWI airplane: It's a 1930s-40s bird and was widely used by the Russians in the opening years of WWII. It is also very different from all the other modules and very much fun to fly. You will be surprised how well it holds its own against the other WWII mods. It's slower than most, but if the other guy tries to turn with you, he's in for a nasty surprise. And, at close range, the firepower of the I-16 is stupendous. If you like a challenge and enjoy WWII dogfights, the I-16 is definitely worth considering. Cheers! Doc

Sunset flight over Batumi bay.

That was it! Thank you so much!!!

Hi, I'm new to the F86 - just picked it up a couple of days ago. I've been very frustrated by the following problem: In any air start (i.e. if I don't take off from a runway) the landing gear drops down automatically and then I can't bring it back up. At first I though it had something to do with the LG key binding on the HOTAS, but I disabled it - the gear handle now has to be clicked on from inside the cockpit. Even then, the problem persists - every time I start a new mission already in the air (e.g. instant action), the LG deploys before I can react and then it doesn't wanna come back up. Any suggestions for how to solve this problem? Thank you very much in advance! Doc

In the spirit of the "Can I stick my Harrier on this" videos, I decided that it's much faster to land the Harrier onto the lower deck of the carrier.

ROFLMAO!!! This is fantastic! That last one on Hoover Dam - how the heck???? Very cool!

I never had much interest in the Harrier, but decided to pick it up during the sale just to try something different. Boy, am I happy I did. Different she is, and wonderful - lots of fun to fly. Of course, as any "seasoned" pilot would do on his second flight in a brand new airplane that he knows nothing about, I decided that landing on a runway is too easy, so I went straight for the challenge - landing on the Oliver Hazard Perry. LoL! :) Here's the video. Enjoy!

Getting to know her a little better: Practicing spins, slow rolls, KE, etc. Surprisingly, the hardest maneuver for me to do properly is... the hammerhead. Still can't do torque rolls (any tips on how to do them are very much appreciated.

Fun video! Are you landing them in outside view or from inside the cockpit? For many of them, particularly the I-16, the cockpit view is so obstructed I will find it difficult to estimate the edge of the carrier deck.

With the 50% sale on DCS mods going on, I couldn't pass up getting the little Christen Eagle. This thing is TONS of FUN!!! Here's a compilation from my second flight - a pylon race and then some free-style aerobatics. Don't look for precision or professionalism here - this is just me having fun. Hope you like it! :) Doc

I had no interest in the Harrier, but downloaded it today during the free trial. OMG, it is SO MUCH fun!! Just pulled the trigger and added it to my collection. So far I'm just having fun doing VTOLs. Just landed on the Oliver Perry that was trailing the Tarawa in the practice landing mission. In many ways this thing is similar to a heli, but somewhat easier to fly/land. My (very limited) Mi-8 experience is certainly paying off when it comes to landing the AV-8B. Thanks RAZBAM for an outstanding module !!!

Couldn't resist the sale price on the Viper a couple of days ago. What a fun plane! Here's my attempt at guns-only dogfight against a MiG-29S (expert AI).

Mi-8: Night Landing on Ships Finally got around to trying landing on the Oliver Perry and the Ticonderoga at night. Fairly easy now that I have a bit of experience with the Mi-8.

Thanks for the kind words, but I'm just a newb - started a couple of months ago, but the bug really bit me. :) So much to learn... And yes, I agree, it seems like the AI is programmed to always pull into the vertical. And, boy, I mean VERTICAL - almost like there's no gravity. LoL! :)

Thank you for your service! As for the F-8, I'd love to try that mod, too. I hope it's made available soon.

Here's a video of my first MiG-29S engagement from last night. The actual dogfight is only about 1.5min - my mistakes notwithstanding. :)

Oh, of that I have no doubt. :) I was just commenting on my initial impressions of flying the F-15 against an AI controlled Russian jet. Flying against an experienced human pilot is a whole different game...

You're right, of course: Yes, the DCS aircraft do not necessarily represent the behavior of the real aircraft. And the AI is definitely different. Just tried flying the F-15 against the MiG-29S: Slightly more challenging to bring down, though still easier than flying an Su-27 (or a Mig-29) against the AI-controlled F-15.

With so many DCS modules, I hadn't tried the F-15 until now. I just set up a quick guns-only mission against an excellent-AI Su-27 and killed him in 30 seconds flat. Then I changed the mission to two excellent-AI Su-27s. Same result - one Su-27 went down almost immediately, the other one a minute later and only because I was playing with him, trying to get firmly on his tail. Tried one more time - same thing. It's almost relaxing flying against AI Su-27s. And, until now, I've had zero time in the F-15, so I'm not quite used to the way it flies yet... Now, I've been flying the Su-27 against an excellent-AI F-15 in guns-only scenarios for a while now, and every time it's a challenge. I have no idea how the real aircraft stack up against each other in ACM, but in DCS at least it seems to me that the F-15 is programmed to be superior to the Su-27. Any thoughts? (I did record a video and can post it if anyone is interested...)

I hadn't tried going up in an F-14 against a Viper. Turned out to be easier than I thought - at least against a "good" AI. This is one of three engagements I flew today - all fairly quick. I'm sure going up against a human opponent is a whole different ballgame, but I thought a "good" AI will be more challenging...