DCS (Digital Combat Simulator) Catch-All

Honestly, I've more than doubled my hours during the pandemic than in the past year combined.

Best way to blow millions of DoD money? Give me four Phoenixs to ripple at four MiG-29s:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/629AHX6.jpg)

They fired on me first, honest. Splashed three of the four; wingman got the fourth before I could turn back in hot. Another group of two Su-27s started closing fast and with just Sparrows and Sidewinders left, I wasn't in the mood to play. We turned and hit full burners. One of the Flankers turned cold and when we turned hot against the last pursuer, he quickly said "Nyet:"

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/TdrPwRO.jpg)

I'm also getting a lot better at pattern landing. Made the turn to final almost on centerline with the runway.

How are the AI opponents in this game? Worthy opponents or fish in a barrel?

Pilot AI's adjustable, but only through the mission editor. I think they default at or near the top of the difficulty level (hard to tell since they're not numerically ranked). My successes above are mainly due to the Phoenix having such a tremendous reach at beyond visual range engagements.

I certainly hope the AI for computer-controlled F-14s gets sorted out before the Supercarrier module launches:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/QOjBoYt.jpg)

As on land, they taxi with their wings out. Of course, I had my own problems today, like jumping straight to burners on takeoff in a Tomcat and losing control in a cross wind. Rolled the plane, lost the right wing and right engine and then for some reason after restarting the mission multiple times, the right engine wouldn't start. Had to quit the program and reload to clear the problem. Then to compound my frustrations I forgot to push the MSL PREP button to warm up the Phoenixs just as I ran right into four MiGs. Didn't catch a single one and spent the most of my time in the engagement defensive or missing them by a country mile as other flights picked them off. Picked off a Hind with guns at near treetop levels just to make the whole session not entirely worthless.

Rat Boy wrote:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/QOjBoYt.jpg)

Neat! That's a VFA-102 "Diamondbacks" bird. I've got a fair amount of Rhino time with the D-backs, although I dearly wish I could have flown with them before they transitioned out of the F-14. I also wish they hadn't got rid of the show-birds overseas. I always loved the pretty jets the best. Now it's all grey.

I knew eventually I'd find one you flew with.

Back into the Murder Hornet today. Clearest advantage she has over the Tomcat is that the fly-by-wire forgives the most extreme moves in trying to avoid enemy missiles in BVR:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/B8ilbBd.jpg)

Four MiG-29s on our two Murder Hornets. I got two; the #2 got two. Because wingmen burn gas like rich people use $100 bills to light cigars, I ordered #2 to RTB first. Then I caught up and flew close formations around them:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/V7l33zx.jpg)

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I'm getting to the point where I can do pattern landings in my sleep in the Hornet. Wonderful sunset on the west coast of Georgia tonight:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/dqVYgcn.jpg)

Ground attacks in the Hornet today, accidentally with the laser guided Maverick rather than the TV guided one because I can never remember which is which just by the letters:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/GwYRXO6.jpg)

Still, managed to give some Russian armor a bad day:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/caB9HCZ.jpg)

With targets still left in the area, I decided to head back to Batumi to load up the Mavericks I intended to use. On the way back, I neglected to re-cage the targeting pod from the last spot I fired upon. Turns out it'll still keep pointing that way, like when entering the pattern to land:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/vJ3CGZL.jpg)

Or when you taxi to the ramp to refuel and rearm:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/vsS8jHR.jpg)

The pod makes aiming the TV Maverick much easier to aim due to the former's wider field of vision. Just wish I was fast enough to target and launch multiple Mavericks in one pass like I used to be able to in Falcon 4.0:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/1Eejncm.jpg)

You... you might want to move:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/fBwQ5pK.jpg)

FYI, if you're like me and playing on Steam, the 50% off sale on everything except the Supercarrier along with Heatblur's Viggen and Tomcat lasts from today until May 17th.

Well, time for some more practice on the Hornet, oh wait, today's Top Gun Day? To heck with that, then. In this corner, two Tomcats:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/n4xP4wS.jpg)

And on the other, four F-5Es MiG-28s:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/gzH0nvu.jpg)

There's supposedly a fan-made all black paint job with red stars, but I didn't have time to figure out how to install them. This is from the third of three tries not to die in the engagement. Trust me, 4 on 2 and close range against F-5Es MiG-28s isn't an easy chore, so let's use the Tomcat's range advantage on the final try:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/qzcQXDZ.jpg)

Think of the Tomcat as a sniper in a shooter game:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/U3kIrtH.jpg)

Splash 1 and 2 somewhere in there:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/DMeESos.jpg)

Splash 3:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/ygfg4D8.jpg)

Splash 4:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/gyLE1oV.jpg)

Of course I just had to at least attempt it:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/Wbuplal.jpg)

I promised myself I'd only purchase one plane a year, if that many at all. Still, after purchasing the Persian Gulf map I still had about $25 in my Steam wallet and temptation got the better of me:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/1A4ONdT.jpg)

Technically it's not an airplane! It's the F-14 of helicopters, the UH-1H Huey. And like the F-14, it's a real temperamental bird to get under control. I can hover... in a wide area. I can fly decently at altitude and full speed. I can land safely on the ground... just never where I'm quite aiming for just yet. And yes, even this little switch that a certain 23rd Century Starfleet officer accidentally hit while in a Huey's modeled:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/MV81uyT.jpg)

And it works:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/zy6TnAT.jpg)

I guess Mr. Sulu was just double checking that the cargo release wasn't armed lest he dropped a sheet of Plexiglas into San Francisco Bay.

The day finally came. After over a year of me anticipating, the DCS Supercarrier module entered into early access today. Naturally, I jumped into a Tomcat to give it a try:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/7OCokbh.jpg)

Um... I don't think it's supposed to do that. As it turns out, despite what the manual says about each flight in the mission editor gets positioned in different places on the deck, the player controlled aircraft always gets put in Position 1, right behind the #2 catapult. Fine, I'll just get rid of the Hornet flight. Now, let's get the old girl on the cat...

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/LwJXnRT.jpg)

Now salute and we can launch. The shooter gives the signal and... nothing happens. After burning through a crap ton of fuel sitting there at full afterburner, I gave up and tried again with the Hornet. Unfortunately since the F-14 was by a third party developer, I suppose some errors were inevitable in early access.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/tSm1Hlw.jpg)

They just stand around with nothing to do until the next plane's ready for launch. I feel like they need a bottle of water or something.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/lSQvHQM.jpg)

Taxing onto the cat's a lot easier with the plane director guiding you. And everyone's movements is well animated.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/Awvh41O.jpg)

Danger zone! Naturally I didn't just want to do takeoffs and landings over and over again on my first day, so I decided to keep up international relations:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/ThgKG5h.jpg)

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/QX2NZ8a.jpg)

But, obviously regardless of what you do in the air, you gotta land at some point. In Case I recoveries, your flight closes up their formation with you:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/GeCyScG.jpg)

I got waved off on my first attempt, but on my second:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/9CVQuA6.jpg)

Two wire. Obviously I was slightly off, but I did better than I thought I would, as in not crashing.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/LngghOE.jpg)

Yes, the elevators work (not sure how players can use them) and there's a fully modeled hangar below the flight deck. There's obviously some rough edges and features missing, but for me it was worth the wait.

Edit: But of course the way to launch the Tomcat is the old Shift-U command, not the new radio menu command set up for the Supercarrier. I should probably bind that to my HOTAS just like calling the ball.

I know Supercarrier is in Early Access, but I was still a little surprised that there wasn't something to walk players through the various deck crew hand signs. And the default mission options for the F/A-18 are either startup cold and dark, or start ready to launch on the cat. Nothing in between. Cold start shouldn't be a big deal, but for the first time I can remember the Auto-Start command didn't work on the Hornet. Got my first engine started, but the script stalled out somewhere before starting the second engine.

Hopefully this will come out at some point in the future. They need an in-game walkthrough that takes you from parking (engines hot) to the catapult and explains all of the signs as you go. DCS is amazing as a simulation, but really struggles sometimes as a game.

Boudreaux wrote:

I know Supercarrier is in Early Access, but I was still a little surprised that there wasn't something to walk players through the various deck crew hand signs. And the default mission options for the F/A-18 are either startup cold and dark, or start ready to launch on the cat. Nothing in between. Cold start shouldn't be a big deal, but for the first time I can remember the Auto-Start command didn't work on the Hornet. Got my first engine started, but the script stalled out somewhere before starting the second engine.

Hopefully this will come out at some point in the future. They need an in-game walkthrough that takes you from parking (engines hot) to the catapult and explains all of the signs as you go. DCS is amazing as a simulation, but really struggles sometimes as a game.

The learning does seem heavily reliant on Youtube videos, doesn't it? Anyway, here's a couple screenshots of stuff I didn't post before:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/SnaRIMu.jpg)

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/nEfS62Q.jpg)

Hangar deck's only at present accessible by AI aircraft since it requires something to push the aircraft backwards onto the elevator, which is another thing that'll come down the road. And the Tomcat's an even bigger pain for me to get under control for carrier landing. She either floats high or sinks. Haven't gotten a landing yet in Supercarrier. I'll probably stick with the Hornet for the foreseeable future. She's a much easier aircraft to fly.

So apparently in the above pic of me catching the two wire, I must have missed a wave-off call or something went wrong with calling the ball because I didn't receive a grade from the LSO. I have noticed that occasionally the audio for the LSO doesn't work and since the subtitles are in the upper left corner, it's difficult to read them when focusing on landing. So, it was back to more carrier landing practice and this was the final result after a bunch of wave-offs and one bolter:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/QoucMER.jpg)

This is the happiest I was to get a C since I had to repeat business statistics in summer school. My use of the Tomcat still needs a lot of work:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/OyNRk2T.jpg)

Spoiler:

The collision models for static objects on the deck are bigger than they appear.

Another day, another round of carrier landing practice that probably will involve a lot of wave offs and bol...

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/f3guvOI.jpg)

Oh. First try. Might have done more but it was too damned hot and I was already starting to sweat through my shirt. I realized that I accidentally only did half flaps instead of full on landing both yesterday and today which makes handling the Hornet at low speeds way easier for me.

Of interest to Coldstream perhaps is what I found on Youtube today:

While fan made, they say it requires the DCS: F/A-18C module to work. Not sure if the differences from the Hornet go beyond cosmetic for the Rhinos and the Growler and they certainly wouldn't be accurate to the real world aircraft if there are any.

Rat Boy wrote:

Of interest to Coldstream perhaps is what I found on Youtube today:

I don't comment on everything you post here, but I'm following all of it with interest, and I've really been enjoying watching your growth! Thanks for posting that video too! It was awesome. I really loved the landing break over the carrier, and it was generally really well put together. Once I get back to the USA and get something resembling a decent internet connection, I'm super tempted to download this and get into it. Looks like a laugh, although it also brings back a rush of both pleasant and unpleasant memories!

The first time I flew in a Growler was sort of amusing. I went up with the squadron XO and he was happily throwing the jet around the sky while he let me play with all of the systems in the back (which is where the fun is in a Growler). After I had been doing...stuff...for a bit, there was a sudden pause on ICS. Then he says "say, Frenchie, what's your security clearance?" I let him sweat for a minute before I rogered up that I was appropriately cleared, but I teased him about sucking at national security for the rest of the flight.

You're probably the only person around here who can claim DCS is a work-replacement simulator.

Man, I miss DCS. Just don't have the time and energy to play.

"It's a Mig-28!"

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/HxLwZoq.jpg)

Yes, there is an F-5 skin from Top Gun usable by US and the USAF Aggressor faction. When you go against a plane painted like that with the F-14, its radar symbol in the RWR turns into a 28 and Jester will call it a Mig-28, though not with the same level astonishment as Goose. They blow up just as well, too:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/iUtSeto.jpg)

Tomcat and Viggen free trial from June 19th to the 25th:

Finally got a passing grade in a carrier landing:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/Et2PLJ4.jpg)

And since I enjoy getting criticized by Paddles so much, I tried again with the Tomcat:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/yz2bZq2.jpg)

Jester flipping out every time the RWR picks up the rescue helo's radar is getting a tad annoying. I bet RIOs like him made some pilots choose the F/A-18E just to avoid him after the changeover.

DCS World had a big beta patch in which the notes said the tower structure on carriers had been moved to be more accurate. I guess I should have checked static object placement before I launched a mission:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/JJGNCxl.jpg)

The lighting around sunrise looks pretty:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/ZKVASBa.jpg)

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/ciwsXP8.jpg)

Thankfully, only one of us got it "in the face:"

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/4z1NCas.jpg)

I've been watching youtube videos on this for a couple of days. I'm excited for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (having not played any flight sims in almost 20 years), and I was looking for something to hold me over. *browses steam* Ooooh... this is free?? Except the DLC is ludicrously expensive. Are the aircraft in the base game accessible for beginners? Even if I only have an Xbox controller (for now)?

The free aircraft that are included are the TF-51 (trainer, non-combat version of a P-51 Mustang) and the Su-25 (Russian ground-attack aircraft). Both are full-fidelity simulations, so they're reasonably complex. Overall, DCS can be an amazing simulation but is not what I would call "accessible to beginners". That said, you should be able to try those out in a simpler situation (ready for takeoff, in flight, etc.) and be able to get a taste of DCS. I mean, it's free.

There is a collection of DLC aircraft called Flaming Cliffs 3 (FC3) that contains a bunch of aircraft that are modeled more simply, more in line with what you would have seen in the heyday of flight sims in the 80s and 90s. Those are where beginners would have more fun but they're a paid add-on ($50). At least you get multiple aircraft for that price instead of just one.

Also, DCS is available directly from the developer (Eagle Dynamics) instead of Steam, and they regularly put everything on sale for about 50% off. Their entire business model is to give you the game engine for free, but then charge for each individual aircraft that is modeled. Considering how much work goes into each one, it's not unreasonable especially when you can get many of them for $20-$30 during a sale.

Finally, I would say that while DCS is probably one of the best flight sims out there, it's arguably less impressive as a game. Tutorials can be sparse, missions and campaigns can be rough, and it's not always very user-friendly.

If you do consider buying an aircraft, watch out carefully for the fidelity distinction that Boudreaux mentioned. The low-fi modules can be be bought individually, as well as in the "Flaming Cliffs" package. I think that the free Su-25T is actually one of the low-fi planes, which means that there is, sadly, no full-fidelity jet that is flyable for free. The other way to identify the low-fi ones is that they will be named "Something something: For DCS World", to indicate that they are ports from an earlier engine.

As the owner of many full-fidelity DCS modules (aka. a sucker), I've never felt ripped off by the cost. You can easily spend as much time with a complex module as you would with a whole game in the traditional sense (they also regularly sell at 50% discount). I absolutely love the sense of flight from the flight models. The free TF-51 is a joy to fly, if your interest extends to warbirds.

So excited was I about landing on a carrier at night that I forgot to take a picture of the moment until after I was parked:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/iaUAhDR.jpg)

Don't think I attempted a night landing on a carrier since Jane's F/A-18 back in the early 2000s.