*** Official DCS World Thread ***

Man of Honour
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It does take real time to genuinely “get it” to learn and understand the plethora of things to know. As mentioned, it’s quite possible to setup a already started aircraft, even starting in the air, and that’s fine for a some sightseeing and just exploring flight controls.

The really satisfying bit is when you are settled in, can start from scratch a complex aircraft, blast off a carrier in poor weather, conduct some air refuelling, hit a defended target and then make it back in one piece and trap on a carrier. Awesome feeling and for me, better than any other game I’ve ever played.
 
Soldato
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Agreed, almost photo realistic.

I gave DCS a brief look in VR and it utterly confused me roflmao, how many hours would you say it takes to learn the basics (dash ,controls, procedures etc) before attempting to pilot a vehicle ?
As others have said it’s quite possible to air start in a plane and enjoy sightseeing. The real enjoyment does come from learning and I’m about 10 hours in in the hornet and have learnt the cold start, taxi, take off and landing but now need to put some time into the systems such as radio and nav and radar functions. It takes time but is very rewarding.
 
Soldato
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And there is the FC3 module with the same top level of physics, but simplified procedures and weapon systems of course. Way more realistic than Ace Combat, but not that much harder to pick up.
 
Soldato
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He setting up the controls is a real pita as a noob as I had no idea what things meant and so many things to learn on a jet as opposed to a ww1/2 plane which I’m more used to but even then il-2 simplifies the controls massively, auto start for example on all planes.
 
Man of Honour
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He setting up the controls is a real pita as a noob as I had no idea what things meant and so many things to learn on a jet as opposed to a ww1/2 plane which I’m more used to but even then il-2 simplifies the controls massively, auto start for example on all planes.

I believe that all DCS aircraft include auto-start. For all that, I've never used it, as I rather like knowing how to cold start aircraft.
 
Soldato
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I believe that all DCS aircraft include auto-start. For all that, I've never used it, as I rather like knowing how to cold start aircraft.
Sorry it wasn’t that the DCS aircraft don’t include it (they do) more so you have the cold start procedure in DCS which I too (now!) enjoy and you don’t get that in Il-2
 
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Soldato
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He setting up the controls is a real pita as a noob as I had no idea what things meant and so many things to learn on a jet as opposed to a ww1/2 plane which I’m more used to but even then il-2 simplifies the controls massively, auto start for example on all planes.
Yeah, the controls page GUI could do with some new user assists. The rule of thumb is to set up your 4 joystick axes (Pitch, roll, throttle, yaw) - you're ready to fly then. The second basic step is to set up throttle and stick buttons to mimic the real plane - now you're ready to fight. For some reason the game does not make that obvious and lists every single button in the cockpit together with the essentials. It is useful for the seasoned vets to have everything there, but not so much for the newcomers.
 
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Soldato
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Well so far I can take off from cold start (blindfolded!) navigate using tacan and ADF and land my Hornet!

Quote a crash course over this last week now need to try INS navigation and of course the weapons systems but one step at a time!

Its probably just me but really surprised how quickly it goes through fuel!
 
Man of Honour
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Ref the fuel use, don't go everywhere flat out.
For one thing, avoid using the afterburners unless you're on take off or just about to enter combat. Note that there is a switch allowing you to deliberately prevent you engaging the ABs by accident. You'll also find a page in one of the MFD screens that gives you optimum speeds for extended flights. As a VERY rough rule of thumb, mach 0.8 seems to be a reasonably economical speed in most of the fast jets.
 
Soldato
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What seems to catch me out a bit is the landings in the Hornet. In a ww1 even 2 bird you can literally fly over the airfield, drop down, side slip and land so easily even making extreme course corrections. Jets on the other hand seem to need a 20 mile low and slow glide in.. at least in my hands!!

On the plus side started to learn INS tonight! So complex these nav systems but cool that there’s like 3-4 different nav systems!
 
Associate
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I'm new to the game, but looking for some help on my system.

I'm replacing my install drive with an SSD as I've been told my old HDD is not helping performance, but my question sits with my RAM. currently running 16gb, will I see a significant performance increase by shifting to say 32gb? Or do I need more than that? A friend has 64gb (which seems massively over kill based on my other gaming experience).
 
Man of Honour
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...depends.
If you're mainly single player, you can just about get by with 16GB.
If you're intending to get involved in multiplayer, then 32GB is very much the order of the day. Having said that, I have 64GB and when running DCS in multiplayer along with the other bits I use (e.g. VR, discord, SRS, etc) the on a complex mission, I'm often seeing over 32GB in use.
 
Associate
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...depends.
If you're mainly single player, you can just about get by with 16GB.
If you're intending to get involved in multiplayer, then 32GB is very much the order of the day. Having said that, I have 64GB and when running DCS in multiplayer along with the other bits I use (e.g. VR, discord, SRS, etc) the on a complex mission, I'm often seeing over 32GB in use.
Thanks, Sukebe for the great response. I think I'm just going to punt for a 64Gb upgrade and remove any problems. Now to decide on a HOTAS...
 
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