NEW OVERALL USER GUIDANCE

[INREISEMPERFI]

HELLO ALL AND THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR ANSWERS, ILL TRY TO KEEP IT SHORT AS POSSIBLE. I AM TOTALLY NEW TO FLIGHT SIMS. I WILL AVOID POSTING MY SET UP AS THIS IS NOT A TECHNICAL QUESTION. I AM CURRENTLY STARTING OUT ON THE FREE TF-51D AND LEARNING BASIC CONTROLS, HANDLING, ENGINE OUT PUT ECT. BUT MY QUESTION IS THIS. ONCE I FEEL THAT I HAVE MASTERED THE FREE PLANES AND DECIDE ON TAKING ON A FULL BLOWN INTERACTIVE COCKPIT FIGHTER. WHAT THEN, I DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT AND IFF DOES, HOW TO DETERMINE PROPER HEADINGS FOR NAVIGATION, NAVI PANELS ECT. I UNDER STAND THE LEARNING CURVE FOR THIS GAME IS QUITE EXTREME TO NEW COMERS BUT I SUPPOSE MY QUESTION IS HOW DOES ONE WITH OUT ANY KNOWLEDGE OF FIGHTER PLANES GO ABOUT UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENT SYSTEM AND UNDERSTAND FULLY HOW TO INTERACT IN ORDER TO BE A COMPETENT WING MAN OR EVEN A LEAD IN THE FUTURE WITH EXPERIENCED GENTLEMAN LIKE YOURSELVES. IS DOWNLOADING THE MANUALS OF 600 PAGES ECT. THE ONLY WAY TO TOTALLY UNDER STAND THE PLANE AND BECOME COMPETENT TO TAKE THE SKIES IN MULTIPLAYER AND BECOME A PROPER WING MAN OR JUST VIDEO OR BOTH? ANY RECOMMENDATIONS? I KNOW THIS KIND OF SKILL TAKES YEARS DEPENDING MON ONES ABILITY TO ABSORB NEW INFORMATION. BUT I WOULD HATE TO START ON A HORRIBLE FOUNDATION OF PROPER TRAINING AND RUIN A FELLOW VETERAN PILOTS IMMERSION DEALING WITH A WINGMAN OR FELLOW PILOT LACKING PROPER KNOWLEDGE AND PREPARATION TO ACCOMPLISH THE MISSION. SORRY FOR THE LONG POST BUT I THINK Y'ALLS EXPERIENCES AS THE CORRECT AND PROPER DIRECTION WILL GREATLY INCREASE THE IMMERSION DCS HAS TO OFFER.

[Lange_666]

Start with removing the CAPS-LOCK and add some returns in your text to make it more readable...;)

Then, to get the info you need for learning things, you can go through the manuel of the particular plane, go to the dedicated subforum on ED' Forum, use Youtube or use Chuck's Guides as a start. There's plenty more but this will get you going...:book:

[randomTOTEN]

The Manuals are already downloaded when you install your chosen module.

If you have DCS already installed, then it already has the manual for the free Su-25T and TF-51 aircraft. The TF-51's manual is 186 pages long, and the Su-25T's is 68 pages long.

 

 

A 600 (actually it's 671) page manual is going to have A LOT OF STUFF like what you want to know. You can fly the airplane while reading the manual, I find it an engaging experience.

 

 

Don't worry about screwing up in the skies, nobody is perfect here... we all make mistakes and some people have no desire to fly realistically.. that's a perfectly fine way to play too!

[Junker]

There's a ton of awesome YouTube tutorials. If you're interested in a particular plane, search YouTube to see if you think there's enough content out there to help you.

 

The manuals help.

 

You can look on this site or Google search "Checklists" and there are plenty of those out there too.

 

And... I'm with Lange... easy with the caps lock. We don't come here to get yelled at.

[Art-J]

For a start I would go to "Doc" location in root DCS folder and take a look at the 2020 User's Manual for the DCS itself to know how to set it up and use properly (reading maybe not all the chapters, but at least the basics). Only then I would start reading about the aircraft.

[Burt]

Yup great info. here ...youtube...Chuck's manuals and DCS doc. folder.

[notproplayer3]

Play the training mission DCS is already providing with each aircraft, they are interactive and in my opinion, no doubt the best way to start learning an aircraft, it may seem cringy to some other players but I've never ever even read the manuals, just the training missions and maybe some youtube tutorials.

[INREISEMPERFI]

I am so sorry for the caps locks I work at dealership and use a system called ADP and I was in caps and just typed it like that, in no way was I trying to yell at people my sincerest apologies. Thanks guys for your replies I was able to find the manuals for the planes and am learning alot about the p51-d for starts. And I will start reading the 2020 dcs manual for operation. Also I was not trying to put anyone down for not reading manuals, in fact I think it's cool people are learning as they go. One last question, does the online servers for regular DCS matchmaker with steam players or are they separated?

[randomTOTEN]

It's all one big happy family between Steam and Standalone players. There is no "matchmaking" system if you're asking about that, just regular old school hosted servers and a browser.