Should I be proud?

[MadDridder]

Hi all!

So I have around 15 hours of playtime with the A10. I spent them doing the tutorials (not all of them) and practicing the first instant mission, the easy one in Georgia. Over and over.

And I finally completed it for the second time! With the help of my wingman who took out a triple A, all the targets went down. So, I can use the mavericks, the GBU 12 and GBU 38, and of course the GAU8 with relative efficiency.

I don't know much about ILS landing, but managed a touch down by flying by the seat of my pants, my only problem being running out of runway to slow down...

So I have to work on my landing, but for 15 hours would you say that I learn slow or fast? Not that it is relevant in the grand scheme of things, but I'd like to know if I really should feel so proud. It certainly feels that I'm making progress in this huge sim :)

[Khamul]

Sure!! You have to be proud! Just a hint for landing, watch your speed. The right speed in the approach, means stop before plowing the veg garden of the airfield.

[Dejjvid]

Life lesson incoming:

 

If you are feeling proud of yourself, and haven't hurt anyone else in the process. Profit.

[Sabre-TLA]

When you are ready (and it sounds like you are) you can try our qualification missions.

 

Links are in my sig. Good luck!

[Yurgon]

I agree with the others. There's no right or wrong here.

 

I'd say accomplishing all that in just 15 hours is pretty fast. On the other hand, other players might be more interested in basic flight (including landings :smartass:) before they begin to use weapons, so there's not much use comparing this anyway.

 

In any case, if you achieved your goals and are starting to feel comfortable as a Hog driver, I'd say that's definitely something to be proud of. :thumbup:

 

I've lost several logbooks when reinstalling DCS over the years so I don't know how many hours I've got in the Hog. But even with hundreds of hours it's still an amazing aircraft to fly and I still learn new stuff and figure out nuances all the time. If your progress is like mine, you'll have hundreds of hours of fun and enjoyment ahead of you. :smilewink:

[Slayer_42]

I've currently achieved just above 40 hours so im still a newbie and to be honest I'm proud simply of the amount of hours i've put in. But theres always specific moments that have made me prouder still, such as getting all six mavericks off in one pass and taking out multiple targets at once from 17k feet with a well placed GBU but I think overall, anybody who is capable at all of learning the Hog's systems and abilities even at a beginner level should be proud, we are a special breed us simmers so good on you mate!

[marluk]

For me the whole point of this sim is that you learn something new and feel good because of that. Therefore, if you feel good, the mission is accomplished.

[tintifaxl]

Be proud - and use the speedbrakes and wheelbrakes to slow down the bird.

[Addewang]

In my opinion it's extremely hard to track how much time you've spent witch each aircraft since the tracking doesn't work properly. Time spent in training or reading manuals also doesn't count. Ultimately, I don't believe time matters at all.

What matters is what you can do you may want to grade your understanding as capable of 1) ground operation (op), 2) a basic flight, 3) navigation systems op, 4) weapons systems op, 5) other systems op, 6) ground attack missions (interdiction etcetera) and 7) coordinated missions (CAS, CSAR etcetera).

[StrongHarm]

Yes! That's a lot learned in a short period of time.

 

If you don't mind a suggestion for philosophical shift (not criticism); if you want to get the most from DCS, consider looking at it from a different angle than other games. It's called a 'Study Sim' because the intended audience are those who are interested in the fine details of the bird (although, there is a 'game mode' for others). There's a reason there aren't Steam Achievements in DCS A-10C. The competition isn't with other people to become proficient on a certain timeline with milestones, the task isn't 'how quick', but rather 'how well' you understand the bird. Click learning this product is an option, but you're looking at about a 6 month learning curve to learn 50% of the bird. The better option, in my opinion, provides 80% in 3months:

 

• 
  
• Read the Manual (find the self discipline to do this.. you'll be SO glad you did)
  
• Go through the training tasks to make the manual 'click'
  
  • 
    
  • Familiarization
    
  • Operation
    
  • Combat
    

   

  [*]Use manual as reference as you perform repeated practical training to close the gaps in your understanding of each subsystem

  [*]View training videos from the community

  • 
    
  • My favorites are from Gerry Abbott, but that might be because I dig his accent :)
    

   

  [*]Search the forums (or ask questions) to close the gaps in advanced understanding

  [*]Join a squadron

  [*]Make your own missions tailored to your ongoing training and proficiency.

Here are my personal missions for ongoing training:

Live Fire Exercise

Tank Busting 101

 

I believe that the philosophical shift from 'leveling' to 'learning' will increase your enjoyment of this product exponentially. However, at the end of the day you get out of it what you put into it.. and it's a matter of personal preference. Perhaps your level of interest and commitment are different than mine. Enjoy the bird, and welcome to the community!

Edited April 20, 2015 by StrongHarm
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[PFunk1606688187]

Thats a pretty good pace for learning. Landings don't worry about ILS. Real pilots mostly land visually and save the ILS for bad weather. Learn to use the AOA indexers and roll out speed shouldn't be an issue.

[Dejjvid]

Also RL procedures state you should touchdown 500 ft after the threshold. Follow the indexer, extend speedbrakes to 100% after weight on main gear. Don't stand on the brakes, let the speedbrakes take you down to 50 IAS, apply gentle wheel brakes and take last exit. This is usually a faster way to vacate the runway then trying to set it down at the first few feet of runway and ninja-brake. Your wingman won't be too impressed as he rolls past you either.

[MadDridder]

Thank you for the feedback guys! It's true that I still have to shift from "leveling" to "learning", as it is my very first simulator (study or not^^), and I am very pleased and excited to be a part of what seems to be an awesome community! I didn't expect so many answers!

I have a lot to work on, but the learning curve doesn't seem so steep with so many people ready to give you a hand ;)

As for my landing, I think I know what went wrong: I was way too high during my aproach of the runway, so I dived, hence picking up velocity that my speebrakes couldn't counteract. Next time, I will make another pass instead of rushing for the touchdown :)

[StrongHarm]

Check out the training ingame @ Training > A-10C > Aircraft Operation > Landing. Reading the manual (or atleast parts of it) concerning instrumentation and HUD symbology. It's a good pre-req for the training. Have fun!

[Sierra99]

So I have to work on my landing, but for 15 hours would you say that I learn slow or fast? Not that it is relevant in the grand scheme of things, but I'd like to know if I really should feel so proud. It certainly feels that I'm making progress in this huge sim :)

 

When ya really feel good is when you're playing sometime and you realize you turned on the TGP during taxi or started warming up your MAVs enroute to the target or any number of other things...without having to > Think < about what you are doing...or stumble for the procedure.

 

Have a ball!