Advice/Help New User

[nefolex]

Greetings from the UK, & thank you for allowing me to be part of the DCS community, looking forward to the learning process of DCS.

So I am looking for advice/help it’s been a lot of years since I did anything flight sim related FSX/X-PLANE 10/11, now I have some free time to dedicate to DCS.

I am purchasing the thrustmaster warthog combo & some other goodies flight sim related.

Need help on where to start should I purchase the FC3 module & maybe the F-5 Tiger module which gives me more of an hands on & from what I read the F-5 is not too difficult to learn? Advice please & what missions do you recommend for a beginner has part of the learning process.

I am a wear of the manuals that come with the plane & Chuck’s Guides which I will make full use of is there any other sources that could aid me in my learning process.

I am searching the forums now for any information related to my questions, if anyone could give advice it just speeds up the processes.

Thank you

[Andy1966]

Hello, and Welcome to the asylum! I won't recommend any purchase to you, as your tastes are surely different than mine. The free trial period is a wonderful way to test fly modules and find a module you like. Other than that, the free aircraft are a good place to start. The SU-25T is represenitive of the flaming cliffs aircraft. the TF-51 has a clickable cockpit and has all systems modeled, but has no weapons. other than that, pick one you like and dive in. the 50% off your first purchase is another thing. don't waste the discount on FC3

[Exorcet]

DCS standalone (aka not steam) has a free trial. The best first step is to try the planes for free and see which ones you like. Then you can use your first time buyer discount to its fullest.

FC3 may be simplified compared to other planes but I don't think it's a better starting point. You can emulate their simplicity by learning a FF plane system by system, which is better than trying to learn all at once anyway. Also the lack of clickable cockpit is a negative in my opinion as if you forget what keybind does what you can't just look around for the switch in the cockpit.

[SharpeXB]

4 hours ago, nefolex said:

what missions do you recommend for a beginner has part of the learning process.

Most (all?) the aircraft come with interactive training missions. They’ll guide and narrate you through various things and highlight controls, show you path markers in the air for landing etc. There are also practice missions for different weapons and such.