dutch_bullet Posted February 20, 2020 Posted February 20, 2020 (edited) Hi all! I wanted to share my opinions as a new player who started DCS without any serious experience with flight simulators or knowledge about planes to maybe point out some things that can make DCS more beginner friendly in the future. I played around 150 hours in 3 months and went all in with several modules, from the warbirds to modern day, I spend way to much money but I have no regrets! Years back I tried DCS with the free Su-25 and did not like it, everything was to sensitive and had a hard time understanding the training missions so I uninstalled the game. But when I got my Oculus Rift S I started looking for a flight sim again to fly in VR and I gave DCS another go and bought the Flaming Cliffs 3 module, and I was disappointed to find out there where no trainings missions for the F15. So I started watching the Grim Reapers on Youtube and after finishing the F15 tutorials I got hooked on DCS. After this I bought the Hornet/Persian Gulf map bundle and got more serious with it. But I think its really important to get the trainings mission right, as a new player I had no clue about what to do. I did not even know what the process of firing a missile was or how bombs are dropped form a plane, most of you guys where properly into planes before starting DCS so you knew a lot already. But seeing terms as IFF, CCIP, TACAN, IFF, RWS, STT is really intimidating in the beginning, and with the beginner plane having a Russian cockpit did not help either. I think this part is really crucial to get new players to keep playing, don’t only explain how to do it but explain what it does and how it works and maybe add (or replace) a plane with a English cockpit. I am now at a point where I can use (almost) all of the weapons on several planes and now I have my second “problem” with the sim and that is the lack of structured content. The Flaming Cliffs module has several campaigns and missions but most high fidelity planes have a simple campaign with a few missions on the free map, and is more of a create your own sandbox style game. Which makes it hard for me as a noob because I don’t know how missions are structured or how several mission types work, yes I can place a tank and drop bombs on it but that is not fun when you do it for the 100 times, I'm not asking for a Ace Combat style campaign but something to keep it fresh. I would also like some better filter options on the user files section to find the missions I want to play, for example filter A2A and A2G mission types and difficulty for example, this will be a relatively easy change to develop. And my last point is the performance, I know you are working on improving it but this is something what most game devs overlook. Adding new and better graphic options are great for marketing and trailers but 90% of the player base cant run the game at those settings. So increasing performance isn’t the sexiest update but more players will benefit from it I think. I don’t want to make this post longer than it already is so I will stop here, but I want to say that DCS is really impressive and the community is really friendly here! Especially when coming from the toxic community of several racing simulators. And I want to thank the Grim Reapers Youtube channel because without there video’s I still did not know what I was doing! Edited February 20, 2020 by dutch_bullet Typo
draconus Posted February 20, 2020 Posted February 20, 2020 Welcome! First thing is you're not supposed to be combat ready after a few training missions and videos. You need to read a lot to understand the tactics and systems and train even more. Practice takes hundreds of flight hours IRL and same applies here. To achieve mastery you have to invest the time to practice and read. There's no other way. Otoh DCS being sandbox can work for any type of gameplay you want. So it's not like you have to fly 100 hours just to put a bomb precisely or launch a rocket up the bandits pipe. You don't even have to ever shoot or land if you don't feel like it. Aerobatics, mission making, Combined Arms, Human ATC, JTAC... just to name a few... it's all your choices. There are great manuals for the modules though. I suggest dipping into it if you want to go deep down the rabbit hole. It'll still leave you with lots of questions so head back to forum - you'll get help. For more missions: https://forums.eagle.ru/forumdisplay.php?f=165 You can buy DLC campaigns for SP or go into another world of DCS in MP and join some squad. Performance is still WIP just like the game demands go higher with more things added. Just keep your hardware up to date and over the minimums: Minimum system requirements (LOW graphics settings): OS 64-bit Windows 7/8/10; DirectX11; CPU: Intel Core i3 at 2.8 GHz or AMD FX; RAM: 8 GB (16 GB for heavy missions); Free hard disk space: 60 GB; Discrete video card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 / AMD R9 280X or better; requires internet activation. Win10 i7-10700KF 32GB RTX4070S Quest 3 T16000M VPC CDT-VMAX TFRP FC3 F-14A/B F-15E CA SC NTTR PG Syria
dutch_bullet Posted February 20, 2020 Author Posted February 20, 2020 Welcome! First thing is you're not supposed to be combat ready after a few training missions and videos. You need to read a lot to understand the tactics and systems and train even more. Practice takes hundreds of flight hours IRL and same applies here. To achieve mastery you have to invest the time to practice and read. There's no other way. Otoh DCS being sandbox can work for any type of gameplay you want. So it's not like you have to fly 100 hours just to put a bomb precisely or launch a rocket up the bandits pipe. You don't even have to ever shoot or land if you don't feel like it. Aerobatics, mission making, Combined Arms, Human ATC, JTAC... just to name a few... it's all your choices. There are great manuals for the modules though. I suggest dipping into it if you want to go deep down the rabbit hole. It'll still leave you with lots of questions so head back to forum - you'll get help. For more missions: https://forums.eagle.ru/forumdisplay.php?f=165 You can buy DLC campaigns for SP or go into another world of DCS in MP and join some squad. Performance is still WIP just like the game demands go higher with more things added. Just keep your hardware up to date and over the minimums: Minimum system requirements (LOW graphics settings): OS 64-bit Windows 7/8/10; DirectX11; CPU: Intel Core i3 at 2.8 GHz or AMD FX; RAM: 8 GB (16 GB for heavy missions); Free hard disk space: 60 GB; Discrete video card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 / AMD R9 280X or better; requires internet activation. That’s definitely true and learning the planes and tactics is a large part of the fun! :book: But I think that some small quality of life improvements and a better in game training will help new players a lot when getting started, which should result in a larger player base and more sales of high fidelity modules. But I don’t want to be negative I’m really in love with DCS, I thought I would spend a few hours in Flaming Cliffs before I got bored of it, but it ended up taking all my free time and I don't even care. :D
metzger Posted February 20, 2020 Posted February 20, 2020 I believe DCS lacks campaigns which are aimed for training a.k.a L-39 Kursant or Maple flag ones. Speaking of which, I suggest you get one of the few training campaigns and fly trough it while simultaneously learn about airplane aerodynamics, a good source of information about basic flying: https://www.flightliteracy.com If you like the A-10C I suggest you start with the following: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/shop/campaigns/a-10c_bft_campaign/ Another one is for L-39: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/shop/campaigns/l-39_albatros_kursant/ Surely for those you will need the respective modules. Always carefully read aircraft manuals provided with DCS and learn them properly. And last but not least, If you want to learn and get more serious, I very strongly suggest you finish DCS Academy: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=255633 Very nice group of entusiasts running it just for people like you. [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
dutch_bullet Posted February 20, 2020 Author Posted February 20, 2020 I believe DCS lacks campaigns which are aimed for training a.k.a L-39 Kursant or Maple flag ones. Speaking of which, I suggest you get one of the few training campaigns and fly trough it while simultaneously learn about airplane aerodynamics, a good source of information about basic flying: https://www.flightliteracy.com If you like the A-10C I suggest you start with the following: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/shop/campaigns/a-10c_bft_campaign/ Another one is for L-39: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/shop/campaigns/l-39_albatros_kursant/ Surely for those you will need the respective modules. Always carefully read aircraft manuals provided with DCS and learn them properly. And last but not least, If you want to learn and get more serious, I very strongly suggest you finish DCS Academy: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=255633 Very nice group of entusiasts running it just for people like you. Thanks for the links I will have a look at it!
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