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Is the F-18 module a good start for a complete newbie?


eydlehoms49

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Never played DCS before and am really considering taking a crack it. Problem is where is the best place to start? Is the new F-18 module noob friendly or should I start a bit back like the A-10 and use Chuck's guides to get may eye in first?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

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As soon as you can handle flaps and gear switch you can fly the Hornet. It is very user friendly. Systems and weapons can be complicated though. But it is not too hard to learn them one by one. And to start with the A-10C is not "a bit back" it is advanced system wise and after the Hornet it still provides some challenges. Certainly just my opinion.

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The hornet flies itself; you're just the weapons system actuator.  That's the upside

 

The downside is you won't really learn how to fly.  Get used to landing the F-18, then try to land the F-5E  😬

 

On the other hand there's nothing you might want to do that the hornet won't do competently.  The only reason I started with .somethingElse is the F-18 hadn't been released yet.

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22 minutes ago, eydlehoms49 said:

Never played DCS before and am really considering taking a crack it. Problem is where is the best place to start? Is the new F-18 module noob friendly or should I start a bit back like the A-10 and use Chuck's guides to get may eye in first?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

The hornet is a great jet to start with, because it's very easy to fly, and is very simple and straight forward from a procedure standpoint. It has pretty much every capability you can think of, giving you a great platform to work your way up from basic flight to complex weapon employment and or things like carrier ops. 

 

Many of the skills are also very transferable as you move on to more specialist aircraft with more unique quarks and characteristics.

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DCS F/A-18C :sorcerer:

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I am loving the Hornet, especially with carrier ops with the Super Carrier. Still learning but having a blast with some single player campaigns.

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1 hour ago, Raisuli said:

The hornet flies itself; you're just the weapons system actuator.  That's the upside

 

The downside is you won't really learn how to fly.  Get used to landing the F-18, then try to land the F-5E  😬

 

On the other hand there's nothing you might want to do that the hornet won't do competently.  The only reason I started with .somethingElse is the F-18 hadn't been released yet.

If you haven’t flown sim planes before, start with one of the jet trainers.  That’s what they are for…training.  Then, try something more difficult and complicated.

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Given that the Hornet self-trims to 1G level flight and has a FBW FCS to keep you out of trouble, it's a breeze to fly.  For comparison try flying the A10C.

 

AWESOME platform to fight in.

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Depends. It's multirole so very complex and a lot of weapon systems as well as employment methods to leard. If you take it step by step though I don't see why not. It should be fairly polished and out of EA relatively soon as well which is nice. 

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1 hour ago, Raisuli said:

The hornet flies itself; you're just the weapons system actuator.  That's the upside

 

The downside is you won't really learn how to fly.  Get used to landing the F-18, then try to land the F-5E  😬

Meh... to a certain extent, a jet is a jet and they're all pretty brainless to fly.  If you want to learn to *fly*, start with the Christen Eagle.  😉

 

But yeah, the Hornet FCS holding AoA for you makes it a bit easier to land. 

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Imho the best module to start with is the one you're interested in. If you would like to fly the Hornet, grab it. The Hornet is easy to learn, but hard to master. It is pretty easy to get into it, start-up, take-off, flying, landing and all that stuff is pretty easy with the Hornet, but once you dig deeper into it's avionics and weapon systems you'll learn that this bird is one of the most complex jets in DCS system-wise and comes with tons of stuff to learn. In other terms, it is newbie-friendly and veteran challenging at the same time, provides massive fun and countless hours of entertainment.

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7 hours ago, VpR81 said:

Imho the best module to start with is the one you're interested in.

Absolutely this. Never underestimate the emotional connection to a module.

 

Since you asked about the FA-18 I guess there is already some special interest.

 

All that's said above should be enough to grab it an start a time of your life that you will never forget.

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The hornet flies itself; you're just the weapons system actuator.  That's the upside

 

The downside is you won't really learn how to fly.  
 

I guess there are flight simmers who don’t see the need to learn how to FLY.  Learning how to drop a bomb or fire a gun is sufficient.  There are several other flight sims around to scratch that itch.

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1 hour ago, TWC_SLAG said:

The downside is you won't really learn how to fly.  

 

I guess there are flight simmers who don’t see the need to learn how to FLY.  Learning how to drop a bomb or fire a gun is sufficient.  There are several other flight sims around to scratch that itch.

This is a bit dramatic, if you can take off, fly the mission and then land confidently with the hornet, you'll be able to do that with any other fixed wing aircraft within a couple of tries. 

Transitioning off fly by wire into old school controls didn't impact the normal flying experience for me much at all except in the edge of envelop cases that you simply need to keep in mind to avoid (stalls, high alpha and high g loads). 

This is speaking from someone who started out with the hornet and then flew the mig21.

Full fidelity su27/mig29 ?

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1 hour ago, notproplayer3 said:

This is a bit dramatic, if you can take off, fly the mission and then land confidently with the hornet, you'll be able to do that with any other fixed wing aircraft within a couple of tries. 

Transitioning off fly by wire into old school controls didn't impact the normal flying experience for me much at all except in the edge of envelop cases that you simply need to keep in mind to avoid (stalls, high alpha and high g loads). 

This is speaking from someone who started out with the hornet and then flew the mig21.

You make it sound so easy.  Why was my heart pounding when I did my first solo?  This is speaking as someone who started out in a Cessna 150 and has flown pretty much all the Cessnas , with the exception of the jets and crop dusters.

 

I sold my last glider to a retired Marine Hornet pilot. He told me it took some getting used to seeing the control surfaces moving all the time, without any input from him.  That is what FBW does.  I have never seen that in the DCS version of the Hornet.  So, I have to wonder if DCS models FBW correctly.  Does anyone know more about that?

 

One other thing.  “within a couple of tries”??  LMAO.  You obviously aren’t talking about real flying, or know nothing about it.  Or both.

TWC_SLAG

 

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Depends what you mean by newbie. Never played any flight sims before? If so, try DCS Flaming Cliffs first (simpler with non clickable cockpits). If you’ve played other flight sims before, get the flagship FA-18C. You might have issues with the ‘finicky’ radar but it’s a good module.

One thing you must be aware of when getting into DCS is that many modules are Early Access with varying levels of incompleteness at launch and with no clear deadline for completion. It can take years before your fully paid product is completed as advertised.

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7 hours ago, TWC_SLAG said:

You make it sound so easy.  Why was my heart pounding when I did my first solo?  This is speaking as someone who started out in a Cessna 150 and has flown pretty much all the Cessnas , with the exception of the jets and crop dusters.

 

I sold my last glider to a retired Marine Hornet pilot. He told me it took some getting used to seeing the control surfaces moving all the time, without any input from him.  That is what FBW does.  I have never seen that in the DCS version of the Hornet.  So, I have to wonder if DCS models FBW correctly.  Does anyone know more about that?

 

One other thing.  “within a couple of tries”??  LMAO.  You obviously aren’t talking about real flying, or know nothing about it.  Or both.

When did I talk about real flying? I thought the context was always DCS ? 

 

I think we had a misunderstanding on that aspect. 


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Full fidelity su27/mig29 ?

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11 hours ago, notproplayer3 said:

When did I talk about real flying? I thought the context was always DCS ? 

 

I think we had a misunderstanding on that aspect. 

 

You are the one who said “The downside is you won't really learn how to fly.”

TWC_SLAG

 

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36 minutes ago, notproplayer3 said:

You are the one who said that.

You are correct. It was actually Stearmasdriver.

 

You said “if you can take off, fly the mission and then land confidently with the hornet, you'll be able to do thatwith any other fixed wing aircraft within a couple of tries.”   There, you were confusing sim life with real life.  In real life,  you don’t get a couple of tries, and even in sim life, it doesn’t mean you can fly just any other fixed wing aircraft.  There is a lot of difference in flying a plane, and being able to fight with that plane.

 

In real life, overconfidence kills.  In sim life it leads to delusions of grandeur.

TWC_SLAG

 

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6 minutes ago, TWC_SLAG said:

You are correct. It was actually Stearmasdriver.

 

You said “if you can take off, fly the mission and then land confidently with the hornet, you'll be able to do thatwith any other fixed wing aircraft within a couple of tries.”   There, you were confusing sim life with real life.  In real life,  you don’t get a couple of tries, and even in sim life, it doesn’t mean you can fly just any other fixed wing aircraft.  There is a lot of difference in flying a plane, and being able to fight with that plane.

 

In real life, overconfidence kills.  In sim life it leads to delusions of grandeur.

Confusing sim life with real life you say? This is a DCS forum and you brought the real life airplane talk from out of nowhere. You are the one who is confusing sim with real life. 

 

If you want things to be clear, I'll say it once again: I never talked about real flying and I talked only of my experience with DCS modules. 

 

For the rest, flying the *DCS* fa18 and then how fast and if you are able to immediately start flying another *DCS* non FBW plane is subjective so I apologize if it looked like I attacked your view of the matter in my first post. 

In any case I've got no illusions of grandeur, I fly DCS to have fun and that's it. 

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Full fidelity su27/mig29 ?

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