DCS Flight Sim Thread: Five hot tips to start your jet in under 10 minutes

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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Games > DCS Flight Sim Thread: Five hot tips to start your jet in under 10 minutes

MagnumHB: Jan 19, 2003

KelvereseAysen posted:

That's a boring method for boring people and I hate it which is why I hate mavericks. I'd rather pop over a hill and CCIP-drop a bunch of CBU-97's all over someones face.

Enjoy your repeated deaths by SAMs and AAA then I guess.

Syves posted:

Yeah, that shut it up. (Thank you!) But is that normal? None of the startup videos I've seen have this problem. People just flip those first 2 switches and no alarms or anything.

It is normal as of some of the more recent patches. I'm guessing that most of those startup videos were made before those patches were released, so no master cautions in them.

# ? Mar 30, 2012 05:07

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# ? May 19, 2013 04:58

Kiyanis: Sep 25, 2007; Bored now.

MagnumHB posted:

Enjoy your repeated deaths by SAMs and AAA then I guess.

AAA has very low effective ceiling, and I rarely ever die to SAM strikes. Here, maybe this will help to make you a better pilot at avoiding SAMs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak6EgzDwiGs

I never complained that I die to anti-aircraft, I complained that using mavericks the same way I use GBU-12's is boring.

# ? Mar 30, 2012 05:21

Zylen: Mar 25, 2005; The third time, the exception becomes the rule

KelvereseAysen posted:

That's a boring method for boring people and I hate it which is why I hate mavericks. I'd rather pop over a hill and CCIP-drop a bunch of CBU-97's all over someones face.

Select the Maverick weapon profile on the HUD, set the Maverick MFCD to SOI and narrow the FOV. Pop over hill, fly as stable as possible (path hold autopilot helps) and slew the HUD Mav indicator over the target, glance at the MFCD to fine tune/confirm lock, release weapon. Easy as pie.

# ? Mar 30, 2012 05:23

Kiyanis: Sep 25, 2007; Bored now.

Zylen posted:

Select the Maverick weapon profile on the HUD, set the Maverick MFCD to SOI and narrow the FOV. Pop over hill, fly as stable as possible (path hold autopilot helps) and slew the HUD Mav indicator over the target, glance at the MFCD to fine tune/confirm lock, release weapon. Easy as pie.

Why don't you ever fly with us anymore.

We just did a 2 hour flight tonight taking out a bunch of SAM's and AAA and an armor column (and I may have blown up like 300 civilian vehicles too) and Obiomi never even got shot down once!

# ? Mar 30, 2012 05:28

Sankis: Mar 8, 2004; But I remember the fella who told me. Big lad. Arms as thick as oak trees, a stunning collection of scars, nice eye patch. A REAL therapist he was. Er wait. Maybe it was rapist?

I'm so utterly terrible at finding targets in single player missions for A-10C. Also, is there a guide to understand what your AI buddies mean when they give out those numbers and use the jargon? Is it in the flight manual somewhere?

As for targets, should I be looking out of my plane using my hat (and one day, TrackIR) or scanning using the TGP? They both seem so hard when I need to be up at 10k to avoid SAMs

I should probably just do all of the non weapons training again. I can barely remember it. I also can't remember how to do stuff like change view types in the TGP. FLIR and the other thinger. Oh, oh, oh! Anyone know of any good CMS tutorials too? All the training really taught me was automatic which SEEMS like it wastes most of the chaff and flares.

# ? Mar 30, 2012 05:35

MagnumHB: Jan 19, 2003

KelvereseAysen posted:

AAA has very low effective ceiling

Which you are well within if you are constantly flying low in order to pop up over hills.

quote:

Here, maybe this will help to make you a better pilot at avoiding SAMs.

I do just fine already, thanks.

quote:

I never complained that I die to anti-aircraft, I complained that using mavericks the same way I use GBU-12's is boring.

If you really want to limit yourself and cripple your capabilities, be my guest. I will continue to enjoy the standoff capability of Mavericks myself.

# ? Mar 30, 2012 06:34

Kiyanis: Sep 25, 2007; Bored now.

MagnumHB posted:

If you really want to limit yourself and cripple your capabilities, be my guest. I will continue to enjoy the standoff capability of Mavericks myself.

Shut up already. I never said I don't use mavericks. I never said I die to AAA/SAMs. You keep assuming poo poo and you look like an idiot doing it. I. Find. Mavericks. Boring. That's all I said. They bore me. Why you take that sentence any farther than it needs to go is beyond me.

Sankis posted:

I'm so utterly terrible at finding targets in single player missions for A-10C. Also, is there a guide to understand what your AI buddies mean when they give out those numbers and use the jargon? Is it in the flight manual somewhere?

As for targets, should I be looking out of my plane using my hat (and one day, TrackIR) or scanning using the TGP? They both seem so hard when I need to be up at 10k to avoid SAMs

I should probably just do all of the non weapons training again. I can barely remember it. I also can't remember how to do stuff like change view types in the TGP. FLIR and the other thinger. Oh, oh, oh! Anyone know of any good CMS tutorials too? All the training really taught me was automatic which SEEMS like it wastes most of the chaff and flares.

You shouldn't use automatic mode on the CMS, it's absolutely awful. Most people tend to use Semi-automatic, which acts exactly like Automatic in that it will pick the program best suited for the current detected threat, but you have control over starting / stopping the CMS program.

The TGP is very good at finding targets when set to FLIR mode (I think the default is alt+left and alt+right arrow keys to switch between black-hot and white-hot) and it can see targets out to many many miles. For any target an appreciable distance away, you'll be looking for it through the TGP.

Sometimes during JTAC assignments or other mission triggers, enemies will be marked by some form of marking, usually smoke, which also shows up incredibly well in the TGP, but also makes it way easier to find targets visually.

A large number of missions also usually have a steerpoint somewhere in the vicinity of the enemy, which makes things much easier since you can simply slave your TGP to the steerpoint and then go from there.

Definitely go back and keep flying the training missions as much as you need to in order to memorize some of the basic stuff. I must have used some of those tutorials 10-15 times when I first picked this game up.

# ? Mar 30, 2012 07:02

MagnumHB: Jan 19, 2003

KelvereseAysen posted:

Shut up already. I never said I don't use mavericks. I never said I die to AAA/SAMs. You keep assuming poo poo and you look like an idiot doing it. I. Find. Mavericks. Boring. That's all I said. They bore me. Why you take that sentence any farther than it needs to go is beyond me.

Actually, you originally said "I can't use mavericks for poo poo and I hate them". My originally offered helpful response was met with disdain in favor of some more Rambo-like technique. If I assumed anything, it's because in my experience with this game, people that tend to do that sort of thing die. A lot. In any case, I simply don't understand how the Maverick is any more or less boring than a JDAM, for example.

# ? Mar 30, 2012 12:11

concise: Aug 31, 2004; Ain't much to do
'round here.

spergs bein spergs

KelvereseAysen posted:

I can't use mavericks for poo poo, wah wah wah

Its true bro, you said you sucked.

# ? Mar 30, 2012 14:53

MagnumHB: Jan 19, 2003

Sankis posted:

Also, is there a guide to understand what your AI buddies mean when they give out those numbers and use the jargon? Is it in the flight manual somewhere?

Here's a tutorial that will help you understand bullseye calls.

quote:

As for targets, should I be looking out of my plane using my hat (and one day, TrackIR) or scanning using the TGP? They both seem so hard when I need to be up at 10k to avoid SAMs

Definitely the TGP, once you know roughly where to look. This can be in the form of coordinates provided as a "radio" message by the mission maker, JTAC coordinates, steerpoints designated as target areas, visual markers like smoke, etc. Also, to avoid SAMs, you're better off at 15-18k. Make liberal use of the autopilot when scanning for targets. When approaching at a significant distance (30 mi out or so), use altitude/heading or path hold modes (depending on if you want to continue climbing or not) so you can scan using the TGP without worrying about flying the plane. Once you get closer, you can use the altitude hold while in a shallow bank to establish an orbit.

quote:

I should probably just do all of the non weapons training again. I can barely remember it. I also can't remember how to do stuff like change view types in the TGP. FLIR and the other thinger.

Find the HOTAS command table in the manual. It covers what the HOTAS commands do depending on the current SOI. Knowing these is 99% of what you need to effectively operate the various systems.

quote:

Oh, oh, oh! Anyone know of any good CMS tutorials too? All the training really taught me was automatic which SEEMS like it wastes most of the chaff and flares.

Definitely don't use automatic. For a start, try putting it on manual with program D. This is a fairly aggressive flare/chaff program that should be good against pretty much any threat. In particular, it's more effective than the default M program against IR SAMs in my experience. Be sure to use it sparingly though, and develop your situational awareness so you can figure out if a missile warning is probably coming from a Maverick or BMP ATGM which are not threats, or a SAM, which is.

# ? Mar 30, 2012 15:18

radintorov: Feb 18, 2011

MagnumHB posted:

Definitely don't use automatic. For a start, try putting it on manual with program D. This is a fairly aggressive flare/chaff program that should be good against pretty much any threat. In particular, it's more effective than the default M program against IR SAMs in my experience. Be sure to use it sparingly though, and develop your situational awareness so you can figure out if a missile warning is probably coming from a Maverick or BMP ATGM which are not threats, or a SAM, which is.

Program M should only be used prior to an IR missile launch, since it drops 1 flare bundle every second for 20 cycles: use it whenever you are running in an area with MANPADS and it will keep you safe, since Strelas will more than likely fly toward the flares that have already been dropped.
I've flown in MANPADS-heavy areas where I was getting shot at multiple times without taking a hit because I was dropping flares before they could lock onto me.

# ? Mar 30, 2012 18:16

Obfuscation: Jan 1, 2008; Good luck to you, I know you believe in hell

Why does this keep happening to me after I've landed? I start taxiing and my nose lifts up on its own. I usually notice this when I lose steering control and the A-10 swerves off the taxiway. And no, I'm not going too fast either.

# ? Apr 4, 2012 14:14

Pharnakes: Aug 14, 2009

Obviously your pilot isn't fat enough.

# ? Apr 4, 2012 14:17

MagnumHB: Jan 19, 2003

They altered the weight and balance in the most recent patch in a way that seemed to make it more tail-heavy, but I've never seen that happen just from normal taxiing (it did make it easier to tailstrike on the landing roll-out though). It's hard to say why it's happening without seeing it in action, but if you notice it start to do that, push the stick forward and apply the brakes, and it should pitch the nose back down.

# ? Apr 4, 2012 14:35

Jiblet: Jan 5, 2004; Limey Bastard

Does anyone have any instructions on interacting with JTAC? Particularly when its a FAC lasing the target.
My core question is what do "SPOT", "TERMINATE" and "SHIFT" mean?

I assumes "SPOT" was confirmation from me that I had acquired the laser spot, but the JTAC just about soiled his trousers when I went for "IN" next, so any clarification of those and or other related procedures and messages would be great.

# ? Apr 8, 2012 22:28

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004; Welcome to the Jungle

Obfuscation posted:

Why does this keep happening to me after I've landed? I start taxiing and my nose lifts up on its own. I usually notice this when I lose steering control and the A-10 swerves off the taxiway. And no, I'm not going too fast either.

Are you sure your landing gear is locked in place? From the picture provided, it looks like your starboard landing gear is canted forward about 15 degrees; it should be perpendicular with your rockets.

# ? Apr 9, 2012 11:57

radintorov: Feb 18, 2011

Jiblet posted:

I assumes "SPOT" was confirmation from me that I had acquired the laser spot, but the JTAC just about soiled his trousers when I went for "IN" next, so any clarification of those and or other related procedures and messages would be great.

Yes, SPOT means that you've located the laser from the JTAC and the target he was designating. TERMINATE tells the JTAC to stop lasing because you are aborting the attack and SHIFT means "lase another target in that area".

When executing the attack, did you follow proper procedure? As in, are you flying in from the given IP, called that you are IP Inbound and finally set your SPI on the SPOT after you've located it and told the JTAC before calling that you are IN? If any of the steps isn't followed, the JTAC will usually freak out. If the steps have been followed, then there's something wrong with the JTAC.

And I absolutely love this sim: yesterday I flew in a mission made by a buddy of mine with a few others and almost 3 hours later we were out of fuel, ammo and just hanging on trying to get the bird back home safely so that we could log off and go to sleep. The combination of the right mission with the right people can make you feel like you are almost a real pilot, sometimes.

Especially when I finally learned how to kill something with FFARs without expending all of them on the same target.

# ? Apr 9, 2012 13:10

Jiblet: Jan 5, 2004; Limey Bastard

radintorov posted:

Especially when I finally learned how to kill something with FFARs without expending all of them on the same target.

Impossible.

And yeah I think I was doing everything correctly. I started from scratch and the second time it wall went smoothly. Ho hum, more practice I guess.
One further point on JTAC lasing; I assume I should be letting the JTAC guide the bomb as well as showing me where the target is right? Or should I use LSS mode to spot the laser, then use my own laser to control munitions? Which seems counter intuitive...

# ? Apr 9, 2012 16:22

radintorov: Feb 18, 2011

Jiblet posted:

One further point on JTAC lasing; I assume I should be letting the JTAC guide the bomb as well as showing me where the target is right? Or should I use LSS mode to spot the laser, then use my own laser to control munitions? Which seems counter intuitive...

I think you can do both, really, as long as the JTAC laser code is the same as the one programmed into your GBU's seeker. Of course if the JTAC's laser code is different, you'll have to self-designate after you located the designator with LSS.
The reason the laser designator is used to mark a target, by the way, is because unlike the IR Pointer you don't need to visually acquire it (since you have onboard system for that) and that it works also during daytime.

# ? Apr 9, 2012 16:29

invision: Mar 2, 2009; Here's a cool idea for your show:
TRY NOT BEING THE BIGGEST SHITHEAD ON EARTH YOU USELESS MORON

Just a heads up, buy it from digitalcombatsimulator.com as opposed to buying it from steam. BS 1 is 9.99 there, and the upgrade is 20.

Steam charges 20 for BS1, then you'll have to pay another 20 for the update.

# ? Apr 25, 2012 06:07

MagnumHB: Jan 19, 2003

The DCS P-51 has been released for pre-order with beta access. The installer package also includes the new DCS World core module. The FC2 Su-25T has also been ported over to DCS World as a free flyable aircraft.

# ? Apr 30, 2012 17:59

Xerxes17: Feb 17, 2011; sure why not?

MagnumHB posted:

The FC2 Su-25T has also been ported over to DCS World as a free flyable aircraft.

# ? Apr 30, 2012 23:31

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004; Welcome to the Jungle

Any word on if this will be released on steam? I presume yes, but I see no word of it on their preorder page. All that comes up right now on Steam is ms flight's cockpit-less P-51.

How long did it take for A-10C to show up on Steam? I know there was some problem with BS2 not going on Steam.

# ? May 1, 2012 01:54

MagnumHB: Jan 19, 2003

P-51 and World are still technically in beta, so I wouldn't expect them until the "final" versions are released at the very earliest, and there hasn't been any word on when that will be that I've seen. I wouldn't be surprised if they're not available on Steam for several months, assuming they are at all.

# ? May 1, 2012 02:14

Nostratic: Apr 5, 2003; I need you to be focused.

I suck at Black Shark. Like really hard. I've been drooling over A-10 Warthog too, but drat. I really suck

# ? May 1, 2012 03:07

Switched.on: Apr 25, 2008

Does anyone have a good gamepad setup they can share? I don't have a joystick, or money for one, for a couple months.

# ? May 1, 2012 03:43

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004; Welcome to the Jungle

Nostratic posted:

I suck at Black Shark. Like really hard. I've been drooling over A-10 Warthog too, but drat. I really suck

What in particular are you running in to?

MagnumHB posted:

I wouldn't be surprised if they're not available on Steam for several months, assuming they are at all.

What did you read that gives you this opinion? I read somewhere that BS2 was submitted for Steam, but was rejected due to politics or similar.

Hadlock fucked around with this message at May 1, 2012 around 04:16

# ? May 1, 2012 03:59

invision: Mar 2, 2009; Here's a cool idea for your show:
TRY NOT BEING THE BIGGEST SHITHEAD ON EARTH YOU USELESS MORON

# ? May 1, 2012 04:54

Sankis: Mar 8, 2004; But I remember the fella who told me. Big lad. Arms as thick as oak trees, a stunning collection of scars, nice eye patch. A REAL therapist he was. Er wait. Maybe it was rapist?

How indepth is the SU-25? Is the detail on par with what's currently in DCS (aside from having a game to itself, that is) or is it 'lighter'?

# ? May 1, 2012 07:12

invision: Mar 2, 2009; Here's a cool idea for your show:
TRY NOT BEING THE BIGGEST SHITHEAD ON EARTH YOU USELESS MORON

Sankis posted:

How indepth is the SU-25? Is the detail on par with what's currently in DCS (aside from having a game to itself, that is) or is it 'lighter'?

Nothing clickable in the cockpit. Weapons system is pretty easy, o to turn the crt on, rshift+o to turn on the laser,enter to lock,,./; to slew, 7 D to fire VIKHARS

It's a fun plane to fly though.

# ? May 1, 2012 08:22

MagnumHB: Jan 19, 2003

Sankis posted:

How indepth is the SU-25? Is the detail on par with what's currently in DCS (aside from having a game to itself, that is) or is it 'lighter'?

Lighter. It's taken straight out of FC2, so no clickable cockpit or true 6DoF. Its flight and systems modeling are also not as complex.

# ? May 1, 2012 11:39

Nostratic: Apr 5, 2003; I need you to be focused.

Hadlock posted:

What in particular are you running in to?

Sometimes terrain, but usually projectiles

I just need to sink some more time into it, TBH. I've got 2-3 hours total in the game, and I'm just hilariously bad. Full game mode was too... gamey, full sim mode is like playing deathmatch with myself. I'm slowly finding a happy medium, so who knows. I may actually get a kill without unlimited everything/immortality soon!

# ? May 2, 2012 03:25

MagnumHB: Jan 19, 2003

Hadlock posted:

What did you read that gives you this opinion? I read somewhere that BS2 was submitted for Steam, but was rejected due to politics or similar.

The several months is my own estimate based purely on how long it took A-10C to go from pre-order beta to final release, then be put on Steam. Whether it will or will not be on Steam in the first place due to legal/commercial reasons, I couldn't say.

# ? May 2, 2012 12:02

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004; Welcome to the Jungle

invision posted:

I see your Frogfoot and Raise you a MiG-21

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=87621

Also A-10C is getting a DCS World compatibility patch on Monday (maybe)

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=87632

# ? May 2, 2012 13:06

Jiblet: Jan 5, 2004; Limey Bastard

Hadlock posted:

Also A-10C is getting a DCS World compatibility patch on Monday (maybe)
http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=87632

Abort! Abort! Abort!
Wave off!

# ? May 2, 2012 14:35

holocaust bloopers: Dec 30, 2010; How yah like me now?!!?

Alright. I am loving ecstatic for that Mig-21. What a cool and non-standard plane to model.

# ? May 3, 2012 03:40

El Hefe: Oct 31, 2006; my boys

I bet that Mig-21 mod sells more than the Mustang.

# ? May 3, 2012 04:22

holocaust bloopers: Dec 30, 2010; How yah like me now?!!?

That Mustang will be worth a poo poo once somebody mods it with datalink capability. It'll make a fun harassment and light CAS platform.

# ? May 3, 2012 04:25

General Specific: Jun 22, 2007; I had one of those, but the front wheel fell off and I had to get rid of it.

How exactly will the missions and enemies work for the Mustang? Is it just going to be thrown into the same conflict as the A-10 and Ka-50? Or will there be WW2-period ground and air enemies added?

# ? May 3, 2012 04:42

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# ? May 19, 2013 04:58

El Hefe: Oct 31, 2006; my boys

General Specific posted:

How exactly will the missions and enemies work for the Mustang? Is it just going to be thrown into the same conflict as the A-10 and Ka-50? Or will there be WW2-period ground and air enemies added?

Thats the funny thing, they aren't adding anything, just the P-51. I don't know what they were thinking really.

# ? May 3, 2012 04:45

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