Where do new players go to meet and fly with new players?

[Skwirl865]

I’ve been a member and had an account for a good while but haven’t had a lot of time in the cockpit so I’m still a full on newb. 
Not just a newb to dcs but a newb to all of gaming. This is my first time trying to play anything on pc and only played gta on console and that was years ago. 
All thats also compounded by the fact that I just got a virpil throttle(LOVE IT) and haven’t gotten used to the new mappings. 
I’ve got the basics in fc3 planes and most of the basics in the f-16. I can bvr a little and bmf a little less but if a bvr situation makes it to wvr, I’m better off just ramming the ground because I’m so slow at the transition to acm, I’m automatically dead.  Im starting to get the hang of basic navigation and comms but really wanna use srs and have nobody to test it with. I have the 16 and my son has the 18 so I can fly either one at any time but I know a lot more about the 16. 

I wish there was a newb server somewhere with srs and a few cool ppl to fly badly with. 
anyone know of a place like that?  Most servers are either empty, silent or full of really good pilots.  
 

it’s lonely at the bottom lol

[Johnny Dioxin]

Unfortunately this kind of thing just doesn't happen any more.

 

A long time back, when Black Shark was the only DCS product (excepting Flaming Cliffs of course) there was a "Rookie" group and an open server and it was a lot of fun. I've not seen anything similar since - and that was over 10 years ago.

 

You could always set something up yourself, or ask who is interested, to gauge  how popular such a thing would be.

Edited September 20, 2021 by Johnny Dioxin (Brixmis)

[Skwirl865]

4 hours ago, Desert Fox said:

Sad news is: you won't find a server with noobs that talk on SRS, since this is nothing the average noob does

 

There is things like tactical DCS and similar communities that are quite noob friendly, hook up on their discord. Pretty sure you'll find folks there that pick you up and walk you through SRS. The official DCS discord also has a "looking for wingman" channel to hook up with folks.

 

You can also check for squadrons if you have time for one, having one helps learning quite a lot usually. Some are more demanding, others are less.

 

Wheels up buddy, have fun 07

Ill

definitely try that.  The only problem is that whole “newb to pc gaming in general” thing cuz I’m a dcs newb but I’m even more of a discord newb. Idk why that app is so hard for me to get a good handle on but I have a harder time with it than I do dcs lol

2 hours ago, Johnny Dioxin (Brixmis) said:

Unfortunately this kind of thing just doesn't happen any more.

 

A long time back, when Black Shark was the only DCS product (excepting Flaming Cliffs of course) there was a "Rookie" group and an open server and it was a lot of fun. I've not seen anything similar since - and that was over 10 years ago.

 

You could always set something up yourself, or ask who is interested, to gauge  how popular such a thing would be.

 

That sounds like it would’ve been really cool.  I wonder why it went away. 

[draconus]

I have no more info or opinion on that one.

[Pikey]

This is a sad topic all over. I've been playing DCS since before it was called such and I cant get people or find a new home.

Discord broke the internet. Everyone is a member of 15 groups and plays in none of them, that's whats wrong with the communities, Discord became a disposable tool, groups of 4-5 people sit in their own friendship group talking but not contributing to the other 60 groups that some of them are each members of, but not really focusing on any of them.

For every Discord person online, you get from 0 to 0.01 of their actual presence and attention.

FIgures? I announced a community, put up a server with stats and saw what happened. 30 people joined. only 5 of them ever logged into the server. More people actually randomly joined the DCS server from the MP browser than contributed to the community following reading the forum post and clicking the link. After I switched it off, I joined one of the peoples friendship groups.

I see the same people members of so many other Discords on my own travels. The death of the "traditional squadron" was secured with Discord, everything is join in progress because people can't commit to a time, or anonymous public, because people want to troll people as its their only fun, and so on.

Fragmented is not the word for it, I say Discord has damaged online gaming as a whole.

Having said that, you need to work this out first. Flying an F-16 is way simpler than understanding how social media provides any useful benefit.

 

[draconus]

First, you need SRS for MP - that will basically set you up for public servers.
https://forums.eagle.ru/topic/142491-dcs-simpleradio-standalone/

Discord? Don't like it, don't use it but it seems a lot do. Joining any squad will probably require it.

[Skwirl865]

1 hour ago, Pikey said:

This is a sad topic all over. I've been playing DCS since before it was called such and I cant get people or find a new home.

Discord broke the internet. Everyone is a member of 15 groups and plays in none of them, that's whats wrong with the communities, Discord became a disposable tool, groups of 4-5 people sit in their own friendship group talking but not contributing to the other 60 groups that some of them are each members of, but not really focusing on any of them.

For every Discord person online, you get from 0 to 0.01 of their actual presence and attention.

FIgures? I announced a community, put up a server with stats and saw what happened. 30 people joined. only 5 of them ever logged into the server. More people actually randomly joined the DCS server from the MP browser than contributed to the community following reading the forum post and clicking the link. After I switched it off, I joined one of the peoples friendship groups.

I see the same people members of so many other Discords on my own travels. The death of the "traditional squadron" was secured with Discord, everything is join in progress because people can't commit to a time, or anonymous public, because people want to troll people as its their only fun, and so on.

Fragmented is not the word for it, I say Discord has damaged online gaming as a whole.

Having said that, you need to work this out first. Flying an F-16 is way simpler than understanding how social media provides any useful benefit.

 

I’ve got srs installed and configured(I think) but I can’t be sure it’s configured because I’ve never had a chance to use it.  I’ve only used discord a couple of times and that was when I was on a server when I first got the fc3 pack. 
I can’t say I disagree about social media. I often ponder that myself yet I still participate in it fairly regularly.  
couldn’t tell u why tho lol

1 hour ago, draconus said:

First, you need SRS for MP - that will basically set you up for public servers.
https://forums.eagle.ru/topic/142491-dcs-simpleradio-standalone/

Discord? Don't like it, don't use it but it seems a lot do. Joining any squad will probably require it.

I have srs, I just haven’t used it yet. 

[Hoirtel]

3 minutes ago, Skwirl865 said:

I’ve got srs installed and configured(I think) but I can’t be sure it’s configured because I’ve never had a chance to use it.  I’ve only used discord a couple of times and that was when I was on a server when I first got the fc3 pack. 
I can’t say I disagree about social media. I often ponder that myself yet I still participate in it fairly regularly.  
couldn’t tell u why tho lol

I have srs, I just haven’t used it yet. 

There are servers that have no password with SRS auto join. Choose one that has  other players on join, and do a comm check. That would at least test it. I can recommend tactical DCS training server but... you need discord to get password. I went through a similar thing, as I didn't have discord but as a means to get into a main community like TDC its fine.

[Magnum]

On 9/21/2021 at 5:11 AM, Pikey said:

This is a sad topic all over. I've been playing DCS since before it was called such and I cant get people or find a new home.

Discord broke the internet. Everyone is a member of 15 groups and plays in none of them, that's whats wrong with the communities, Discord became a disposable tool, groups of 4-5 people sit in their own friendship group talking but not contributing to the other 60 groups that some of them are each members of, but not really focusing on any of them.

For every Discord person online, you get from 0 to 0.01 of their actual presence and attention.

FIgures? I announced a community, put up a server with stats and saw what happened. 30 people joined. only 5 of them ever logged into the server. More people actually randomly joined the DCS server from the MP browser than contributed to the community following reading the forum post and clicking the link. After I switched it off, I joined one of the peoples friendship groups.

I see the same people members of so many other Discords on my own travels. The death of the "traditional squadron" was secured with Discord, everything is join in progress because people can't commit to a time, or anonymous public, because people want to troll people as its their only fun, and so on.

Fragmented is not the word for it, I say Discord has damaged online gaming as a whole.

Having said that, you need to work this out first. Flying an F-16 is way simpler than understanding how social media provides any useful benefit.

 

I couldn't agree more. I recall before discord when Hoggit was the go to community for all things DCS. Every week there was Tuesday Night Noobs(TNN) which was a great event where people could join a MP server and there was always someone available to assist other members. Discord broke this concept and now the community is devided into smaller groups and clicks. I'd argue that there are more people that contribute to DCS today than there has ever been, but it's goes unnoticed as these contributions are siloed within these smaller communities. 

[Mars Exulte]

On 9/21/2021 at 6:11 AM, Pikey said:

Fragmented is not the word for it, I say Discord has damaged online gaming as a whole.

  Discord, in this context, is ultimately just a voice comm utility. It's no different than TeamSpeak or Ventrilo or any of the others that came before it, other than it largely dispenses with the need for a separate website (since it's got integrated chat/forums more or less allowing announcements and so forth). You're complaining about casuals, not the "voice comm utility of choice". We're playing a niche, high demand game with a low population and even lower online population. The "dedicated" players with time to kill usually end up in closed squadrons, the kind with mandatory play times or you get booted. That's for a reason, it helps sort the chaff from the wheat.

  Having run a clan myself for a number of years (and this in a considerably larger population than DCS), I ran the full spectrum. I started out widely advertising and taking all interested parties. This resulted in high turnover, low quality, inconsistency, wasted time, and lots of frustration. As time passed our standards gradually raised until we no longer advertised, no longer accepted applications, and instead invited people on a case by case basis when we happened to see somebody that wasn't a complete idiot. Our retention level sky rocketed, our quality did, too, and our frustration level greatly decreased, especially when we began actively policing people for activity level and asshattery (spazing/screaming in comms was an immediate permaban, for example). You get what you pay for, as it were. If you take anybody with a pulse, you get what you'd expect : the majority of people are casual players , and you get a large number of idiots.

   In DCS, the problem is x100, because of the high entry barrier of study/education/equipment turnover is much higher across the game in general even BEFORE you factor in normal "gamer" drama. The more determined players with time to invest in the game properly are relatively few and far between, and quickly end up in some group or other. Point is, this doesn't have anything to do with Discord. DCS would be in the same boat whether "social media" had ever been devised or not.

[UPKEEP]

Id be interested in a rooky group. ( Im in the UK )  Im all set up but I dont know my next move ?? Its quite confusing. 

Can one just hop on a server or do you have to be invited ?  Do I need the same aircraft as the servers AC ? 

I basically just want to hop on and have fun dog fighting in old warbirds. Surely there must be a place for noobs to go. 

[peachmonkey]

15 hours ago, Mars Exulte said:

  Discord, in this context, is ultimately just a voice comm utility. It's no different than TeamSpeak or Ventrilo or any of the others that came before it, other than it largely dispenses with the need for a separate website (since it's got integrated chat/forums more or less allowing announcements and so forth). You're complaining about casuals, not the "voice comm utility of choice". We're playing a niche, high demand game with a low population and even lower online population. The "dedicated" players with time to kill usually end up in closed squadrons, the kind with mandatory play times or you get booted. That's for a reason, it helps sort the chaff from the wheat.

  Having run a clan myself for a number of years (and this in a considerably larger population than DCS), I ran the full spectrum. I started out widely advertising and taking all interested parties. This resulted in high turnover, low quality, inconsistency, wasted time, and lots of frustration. As time passed our standards gradually raised until we no longer advertised, no longer accepted applications, and instead invited people on a case by case basis when we happened to see somebody that wasn't a complete idiot. Our retention level sky rocketed, our quality did, too, and our frustration level greatly decreased, especially when we began actively policing people for activity level and asshattery (spazing/screaming in comms was an immediate permaban, for example). You get what you pay for, as it were. If you take anybody with a pulse, you get what you'd expect : the majority of people are casual players , and you get a large number of idiots.

   In DCS, the problem is x100, because of the high entry barrier of study/education/equipment turnover is much higher across the game in general even BEFORE you factor in normal "gamer" drama. The more determined players with time to invest in the game properly are relatively few and far between, and quickly end up in some group or other. Point is, this doesn't have anything to do with Discord. DCS would be in the same boat whether "social media" had ever been devised or not.

 

you're correct for your own specific use case, which is to create and lead a 'by the book' squadron, and your commentary about a large number of players being idiots is simply a resentment that I don't agree with. There are plenty of players who aren't loud PTT idiots, however they have no desire to participate in a boot camp type of squadrons, myself included. I fly in the evenings after I put my kids to bed, and after that the last thing I want is more "work".

In my opinion the main reason behind the subject is the lack of built-in VOIP and simple GUI for its operation, it's really as simple as that.

The First Person Shooter market figured this out eons ago. All of the infantry simulators have in-game VOIP where it allows for a spontaneous creation of squads with leaders and common goals. I realize that the flight sims don't have an immense budget to support the development of such technology but denying its success is short sighted.

Discord/SRS/TS - is nothing but a gap fill.

- SRS tries to achieve the in-game VOIP but falls short due to lack of squad support

- Discord requires 'invites' and is completely detached from the game. To me it feels like a club membership. I don't want/need a club membership, I just want to fly with a wingman for 2 hours.

- TS same as discord

[Lange_666]

8 hours ago, UPKEEP said:

Im all set up but I dont know my next move ?? Its quite confusing. 

Can one just hop on a server or do you have to be invited ?  Do I need the same aircraft as the servers AC ? 

I basically just want to hop on and have fun dog fighting in old warbirds. Surely there must be a place for noobs to go. 

Can't help you with a group but...

You can hop on any server without password restriction.

- The star icon means the server is in your fav list (they will appear on top of the list when the serverlist is build).
- The lock icon means you need a password (you need an invitation or join the group who runs the server).
- The shield icon tells you integrity check is enabled which means in general you can't have any mods installed (some stuff passes, most doesn't).
- The green dot icon says: Trial-only clients are allowed. it's something new, I have no clue what that means.

If you select a server, on the bottom part you get info on what game setting the server is running (right side), in the middle the available aircraft which can hop on with a number behind it telling you how many slots there are for that type of aircraft. If you want to fly the Spit and the server has 4 slots for the Spit and these are all taken by other players you can't select a Spit in game until some other Spit flyer hops off, that Spit then becomes available again. The left part of the info is server info (together with SRS and/or Discord info) and connection info. As example i take the BlueFlag servers (who have a WWII server running). Once you hop on you need to decide if you want to fly either RED or BLUE side (mostly depending on the aircraft) by typing RED or BLUE in ingame chat. Once that is done you always play for your chosen side until the game (the battle can run for days on end) is finished. Then you can switch to the other side if you want (you can ask via Discord to change side while the game is running but this needs to be done by someone who controls the server data). 
Other servers may vary.

Severs always have one player on board which means nobody is playing, the server is also counted as a player. Once the player count reaches 2 it means somebody is on board.

Clicking on the map name colom will sort the servers according the map (other coloms will sort differently).

 

 

[UPKEEP]

That is extremely helpful, thank you ! 

Getting there  

[HC_Official]

to to r/wingmanfinder on rediit

[draconus]

5 hours ago, Lange_666 said:

The green dot icon says: Trial-only clients are allowed. it's something new, I have no clue what that means.

It is self explanatory and trial clients are the ones who applied for a 2 week trial period for a given module. They did not buy the module but can already fly (try) it for 2 weeks. You can do that with any of the modules every 6 months.

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/personal/licensing/trial/

[Mars Exulte]

11 hours ago, peachmonkey said:

you're correct for your own specific use case, which is to create and lead a 'by the book' squadron

  Pikey was talking about the low investment of casual drop in drop out players in DCS. The ''use case'' is DCS : a small community with very high entry barrier. There's not a large pool of casual players, of those even fewer are casual with lots of free time. That's just a fact of this particular environment.

11 hours ago, peachmonkey said:

and your commentary about a large number of players being idiots is simply a resentment that I don't agree with

  It's not a criticism against any particular person or group. This is the internet, and these are gamers, it being a hardcore flightsim has no real relevance to the usual ''rules of the internet''. One of the first things I learned playing online here was that DCS is no better or worse than any other game, and their playerbase gas the same ratio of competent to asshat as every other game. It's just... gaming in general. DCS is no exception.

11 hours ago, peachmonkey said:

There are plenty of players who aren't loud PTT idiots, however they have no desire to participate in a boot camp type of squadrons, myself included.

  If that statement was as true as you think, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Including singleplayer, DCS is a small community, the multiplayer portion is a small part of that small community, and the ''casuals with lots of free time'' is a small part of the small part of that small community. This isn't some sort of grand mystery : servers are competing for a small number of users and there are literally not enough to go around.

 

  And I'm not talking about ''boot camp'' squadrons. I'm talking about IN GENERAL, the ''open ended drop in drop out'' model only ''works'' if you've got the numbers to support it, and DCS does not. So, the ''successful groups'' are by nature the ones that have set designated times where everybody can plan ahead of time to meet together. It's no different than D&D players meeting every Sunday at 8pm. It's not about ''hardcore'' it's about being consistent and reliable with the small number of people you have to work with.

 

As I said, I ran a clan for years already, I know the pros and cons of the various methods. These ''casual groups'' don't work very well on average because the people who join them are the same ones unlikely to be consistent, which means empty servers and a population that can't sustain itself.

11 hours ago, peachmonkey said:

In my opinion the main reason behind the subject is the lack of built-in VOIP and simple GUI for its operation, it's really as simple as that.

  If there's nobody on your server, the method of comms is irrelevant. Having an ingame solution doesn't help if nobody is on your server because the few hundred people playing online are on somebody ELSE'S server.

11 hours ago, peachmonkey said:

- SRS tries to achieve the in-game VOIP but falls short due to lack of squad support

  SRS uses radio freqs. Creating a ''squad'' channel is as simple as everyone agreeing to switch to 252.5 in other games this is called ''creating a squad or channel''. End result is identical.

11 hours ago, peachmonkey said:

- Discord requires 'invites' and is completely detached from the game.

  Every voice comm server in the last thirty years of gaming required either an invite or at least knowing the address. Whether it's ''open to randoms'' or not is a server choice more than anything. They CAN freely advertise their channel. Most don't because they DON'T want randos.

11 hours ago, peachmonkey said:

To me it feels like a club membership.

  It is, more or less.

11 hours ago, peachmonkey said:

I don't want/need a club membership, I just want to fly with a wingman for 2 hours.

  You can't have your cake and eat it, too. Hordes of people won't magically appear to populate a server that doesn't offer something appealing to the bulk of the player base, and you can't expect to be completely random and unreliable yourself, but magically find OTHER random unreliable people to consistently play with. The DCS community is not large enough to support THAT level of casual. It's NOT CoD, Battlefield or these other ''FPS shooters'', those represent a genre with multiple orders of magnitude the player base of DCS with a MUCH lower entry barrier (so low anybody with a pulse can usually participate).

11 hours ago, peachmonkey said:

- TS same as discord

  With ths criteria you've described, you would have issues in just about anything but the most mainstream high population games or any community that does not hyper concentrate its playerbase through company matchmaking.

[peachmonkey]

19 minutes ago, Mars Exulte said:

  Pikey was talking about the low investment of casual drop in drop out players in DCS. The ''use case'' is DCS : a small community with very high entry barrier. There's not a large pool of casual players, of those even fewer are casual with lots of free time. That's just a fact of this particular environment.

  It's not a criticism against any particular person or group. This is the internet, and these are gamers, it being a hardcore flightsim has no real relevance to the usual ''rules of the internet''. One of the first things I learned playing online here was that DCS is no better or worse than any other game, and their playerbase gas the same ratio of competent to asshat as every other game. It's just... gaming in general. DCS is no exception.

  If that statement was as true as you think, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Including singleplayer, DCS is a small community, the multiplayer portion is a small part of that small community, and the ''casuals with lots of free time'' is a small part of the small part of that small community. This isn't some sort of grand mystery : servers are competing for a small number of users and there are literally not enough to go around.

 

  And I'm not talking about ''boot camp'' squadrons. I'm talking about IN GENERAL, the ''open ended drop in drop out'' model only ''works'' if you've got the numbers to support it, and DCS does not. So, the ''successful groups'' are by nature the ones that have set designated times where everybody can plan ahead of time to meet together. It's no different than D&D players meeting every Sunday at 8pm. It's not about ''hardcore'' it's about being consistent and reliable with the small number of people you have to work with.

 

As I said, I ran a clan for years already, I know the pros and cons of the various methods. These ''casual groups'' don't work very well on average because the people who join them are the same ones unlikely to be consistent, which means empty servers and a population that can't sustain itself.

  If there's nobody on your server, the method of comms is irrelevant. Having an ingame solution doesn't help if nobody is on your server because the few hundred people playing online are on somebody ELSE'S server.

  SRS uses radio freqs. Creating a ''squad'' channel is as simple as everyone agreeing to switch to 252.5 in other games this is called ''creating a squad or channel''. End result is identical.

  Every voice comm server in the last thirty years of gaming required either an invite or at least knowing the address. Whether it's ''open to randoms'' or not is a server choice more than anything. They CAN freely advertise their channel. Most don't because they DON'T want randos.

  It is, more or less.

  You can't have your cake and eat it, too. Hordes of people won't magically appear to populate a server that doesn't offer something appealing to the bulk of the player base, and you can't expect to be completely random and unreliable yourself, but magically find OTHER random unreliable people to consistently play with. The DCS community is not large enough to support THAT level of casual. It's NOT CoD, Battlefield or these other ''FPS shooters'', those represent a genre with multiple orders of magnitude the player base of DCS with a MUCH lower entry barrier (so low anybody with a pulse can usually participate).

  With ths criteria you've described, you would have issues in just about anything but the most mainstream high population games or any community that does not hyper concentrate its playerbase through company matchmaking.

 

thank you for your opinion. I'll just leave it at that.

[Lange_666]

@UPKEEP: Don't let the derailed discussion above keep you from doing multiplayer. Just do your thing. It's fun.

[LoftinAmraam]

I’m looking for the same thing I have the 14 16 18 and a10c. I would say I’m a noob I don’t really care for the mil sim stuff I like auto start and the other noob crutches I can do some AA and AG and downloaded srs and joined some discord servers but I haven’t talked to anyone or got to play with anyone kinda seems like everyone is already got there group of buddies and I feel awkward just butting in on someone I only do self made missions and it’s fun but I wanna fly with other people and the open servers I never hear anyone and it doesn’t seem like it’s the place to look for new friends 

[Beirut]

1 hour ago, LoftinAmraam said:

I’m looking for the same thing I have the 14 16 18 and a10c. I would say I’m a noob I don’t really care for the mil sim stuff I like auto start and the other noob crutches I can do some AA and AG and downloaded srs and joined some discord servers but I haven’t talked to anyone or got to play with anyone kinda seems like everyone is already got there group of buddies and I feel awkward just butting in on someone I only do self made missions and it’s fun but I wanna fly with other people and the open servers I never hear anyone and it doesn’t seem like it’s the place to look for new friends 

 

I hear ya. I'm looking to try MP but it does seem there are a few hurdles to jump; get SRS working, learn the code words, be proficient enough in the plane so as not to cause mass casualties or at least mass annoyance amongst friendlies, those sorts of things. On the plus side, there have been some very friendly people here on the site offering to help if you join up with them. The problem, I guess, is getting past the idea that you'll be ten steps behind everyone all the time. It's not that they're not patient and good guys, but you maybe worry about being a PITA noob and taking away from their fun. I admit that holds me back a bit.

[Skwirl865]

8 hours ago, LoftinAmraam said:

I’m looking for the same thing I have the 14 16 18 and a10c. I would say I’m a noob I don’t really care for the mil sim stuff I like auto start and the other noob crutches I can do some AA and AG and downloaded srs and joined some discord servers but I haven’t talked to anyone or got to play with anyone kinda seems like everyone is already got there group of buddies and I feel awkward just butting in on someone I only do self made missions and it’s fun but I wanna fly with other people and the open servers I never hear anyone and it doesn’t seem like it’s the place to look for new friends 

Hey man. Don’t be discouraged.  It only feels like that in the beginning. Once u get used to going in there, that anxiety goes away. 
give me a holler tho. I’ll jump on with you. Hell maybe u can teach me something in the 14. I have it but I really only know the 16.  

7 hours ago, Beirut said:

 

I hear ya. I'm looking to try MP but it does seem there are a few hurdles to jump; get SRS working, learn the code words, be proficient enough in the plane so as not to cause mass casualties or at least mass annoyance amongst friendlies, those sorts of things. On the plus side, there have been some very friendly people here on the site offering to help if you join up with them. The problem, I guess, is getting past the idea that you'll be ten steps behind everyone all the time. It's not that they're not patient and good guys, but you maybe worry about being a PITA noob and taking away from their fun. I admit that holds me back a bit.

That was exactly my position. Still is in some cases.  What do u fly?

[Beirut]

4 hours ago, Skwirl865 said:

That was exactly my position. Still is in some cases.  What do u fly?

 

All of them. 

 

I'm a very unstructured flyer, I like trying out a scenario in one plane and then in another, and then another. Literally like a five-year old with a box of LEGO. I just love the planes and love flying around. But if I was to MP, I might start with my Harrier. I can manage it reasonably well, and could probably avoid destroying the server.

[Gizzy]

Lads, a MP open to all to come and go as you please, combat PVP or PVE is not the place to go and find friends or team mates to fly regularly with.  A group of like minded folks who meet reasonably regularly, help each other and fly aircraft in the style that suits you is the place to go.

Sure, some groups are full on and often OTT with military procedures and tactics, real or made up.... but most are not.  You only get what you put in.  You will not be spoon fed but most will give you as much help and advice as you need.  Some require certain standards to join, some certain standards to fly missions, it just depends.

My advice is to join a likeminded group and fly regularly, put the time in and learn the groups way of doing things.  Some groups you will like others you will not.... that's life.

If EU time zoned pop into http://www.rafairuk-dcs.co.uk/ and go to the forum and ask about.  Lots of airframes are catered for and most SQNS are laid back with lots of people to help. 4x 24/7 servers, phpbb and discord coexist.   If interested in the Carrier side when there give me a shout I look after the Carrier Air Wing primarily equipped with F18Cs AND F14Bs (&T45 dual seat trainer) with 8AVBNA, Mi-17, AH64, UH1H as tertiary airframes.  We fly formerly TUE and THU evenings with WW" on Sundays and many other days - Anyone will be made most welcome.

 

[LoftinAmraam]

15 hours ago, Skwirl865 said:

Hey man. Don’t be discouraged.  It only feels like that in the beginning. Once u get used to going in there, that anxiety goes away. 
give me a holler tho. I’ll jump on with you. Hell maybe u can teach me something in the 14. I have it but I really only know the 16.  

Yeah i got on last night to a training server and got some HARM kills got srs to work Im down I need to fly the 14 more I find myself always flying the 16 even though im a Navy guy. What server do you normally play on?