Great game but very hard for beginners...

[Slazi]

(Perspective)

 

There are actually a lot of good points in that post. DCS is very hard for beginners. Anything that makes it easier is a good thing.

 

The game requires a time investmant. It gets better the more you play.

[Slazi]

Ughh, i should have never made that post.:doh:

 

Yup!

 

But I imagine you only did it because you don't like thinking of your hobby as a 'game'. It's definitely not in the same category as Farmville.

[marluk]

Hi dburne,

 

Try with Chuck's tutorials/guids. They are excellent for first steps before reading manuals.

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=135765&highlight=chuck%27s

 

Good luck!

[OnlyforDCS]

Picking the right module is also very important IMO. You need to pick something which will have you coming back to it over and over again. It's all about setting goals and having the motivation to methodically push towards them. This is where the fun in DCS is. Flying 10 sorties and getting shot down by AI the all seeing, all killing AI 10/10 times is not fun. However learning something from each of those failures is, and destroying that AI on the 11th sortie and making it back to base in one piece will make you feel truly amazing. (This is just one example: Another could be simply starting up, taxiing, taking off and landing in one piece. It's all about what you want from the sim).

[dburne]

Hi dburne,

 

Try with Chuck's tutorials/guids. They are excellent for first steps before reading manuals.

 

Yes I forgot to mention they are part of my reading material as well, I have his Ka-50 guide on my second monitor to reference also.

 

Thanks,

[nap0leonic]

basically they need basic information about aerial combat to be included into the game manual, I'm talking about description about the basic principle of flights, then simplified explanation about how to fly, then explanation about flight avionics and then take off, navigation and landing, then move to ACM and stuffs etc and so on...

 

you know back then I became a pc gamer because of an arcade dogfight game named evasive action, but since I was below 10 years old, not a native english speaker and from a 3rd world country, safe to say I had no idea how to fly properly, I simply max the throttle and shot :D then I moved ot Jane's games from usnf atf and others, those games have manuals like I described above, with surprisingly quite easy to be understood for a kid, I became addicted to those combat flight sim games... long story short, somehow I skipped past the falcon 4 and the more hardcore sims era for some reasons, it wasn't until lomac that I returned to the genre and it took me by surprise, because it was much harder than the sims I played before... but it couldn't helped that lomac/ed games have terrible manuals... so I was overwhelmed and confused and gave up the game because at that time internet is still in infancy in where I live...

 

it wasn't until 2010s that I came back to the hardcore sims again, and this time I decided to try something I didn't played before, that was Jane's f-18... surprise again, jane's games have great manuals, so somehow it was easier to me to understand the game, soon I was able to try vrs f-18 and falcon bms... I have to say jane's manuals were great helper.

 

tldr comprehensible manuals and tutorials are a must have for this kind of game to attract people in, sure not many people are enthusiastic with the learning curve but manuals and tutorials can help a lot.

 

also I want to add that if possible, manual should also explain the technical reason behind procedures, to help people understand why they have to do that, and also become immersed in the procedure and better remember why must they do that procedure... just patronizing people with do A -> B -> C isn't really a good manual, sure it can work but it's also easier to forget because of the lack of understanding.

[311Gryphon]

I think Chuckles made some great points. The OP appears to me to be well informed and well written. DCS is actually a bit hard to research when a person is trying to determine if they want to get it or not. The beauty is that it starts at free and a new pilot can learn quickly that that mouse and keyboard just aren't going to cut it. Additionally, once a player knows a bit there are a lot of resources that can help. It just takes a large amount of time to sort through helpful resources and unhelpful ones, information that is needed versus information that is just handy, etc.

[tecumseh]

I am pleased to report finally, after all these years, I can fly a combat mission in the KA-50 and actually shoot some stuff.

 

I had the same thing. For me it was finally understanding the relationship between the AP channels and the FC and the trimmer and the auto-hover and the route following mode. Then it was like a light bulb turned on. Took me 2 years though...:huh:

 

 

Also OP, I have a track-ir but I actually choose to fly without it most of the time. If you set up good snap views it's fine. Except for the A10-C where you need all your stick buttons & hats.

 

I also don't have pedals, and the helicopters are my favorite.

 

Good luck, it's worth sticking with.

[dburne]

Also OP, I have a track-ir but I actually choose to fly without it most of the time.

 

Blasphemy!

 

I also don't have pedals,

 

Double blasphemy!!

 

:lol:

Edited December 4, 2015 by dburne

[tecumseh]

Blasphemy!

 

With two kids under 5 running around a small apartment, it's usually easier to keep the track IR in the cupboard :)

[Tone71]

Interesting discussion. There's no denying that DCS is both a great game and very hard for beginners. I'm no stranger to flight sims, and I consider myself relatively competent in the Ka-50, but as life only hands me a few hours a week in which to play, I find it difficult to maintain that level of competence.

I do often wish that you could set the difficulty level for a mission or campaign, and by that I don't mean infinite missiles or invulnerability for me, I mean set the ability of the enemy and their missile effectiveness. I understand that this can be set for units in the mission editor but it's a shame it can't be set globally, at mission start. I think this would go a long way in helping out those that are struggling but enjoy the fidelity.

[Deathbane]

As much as I love the KA-50, it was a complete bastard to learn, and it took me 2 years of on and off play myself to finally understand how to fly the thing to a competent level as well as its systems.

 

This would have been much speeded up if I had someone to learn off rather than relying on youtube videos, and blind luck. At that point in time there were no embedded tutorials for the shark. They also helped alot, especially the one with the datalink, when it came along.

 

I can definetly relate to it being difficult to get into, but thankfully its depth kept drawing me back and now there is solid VR support I cant see myself leaving any time soon as it is now the definitive sim for me.

 

I would however, not recommend the KA 50 for beginners! Flaming Cliffs 3 is a much better start, a variety of aircraft, and you can get used to basic principles, gauges etc much quicker and concepts do transfer over between airframes.

 

I hope module makers, and Eagle Dynamics, continue to refine, build and provide FREE campaigns, and tutorials that always ease new players into their chosen aircraft. Refining some of how these are laid out, and presented is important for player retention. As is increasing their quality.

 

Most people WANT to keep playing, and enjoy learning. It is avoiding that 'frustration' wall where you find something that just isnt documented or explained well that is important for module designers as well as EDs.

 

A short, introductory campaign would be great with some modules for sure, where emphasis is on flight, recon etc. I think on a whole, Blacksharks campaign eased you in relatively well.

 

A good start and fix would be moving the FC3 missions into the tutorials section proper.. as that confused the hell out of me the first time I played that module.

Edited December 5, 2015 by Deathbane