I've been dipping my toes in flight sims for a while now. Played the very first Il-2 Sturmovik. Played DCS's predecessor "Lock On". Played DCS Black Shark from back before it was a platform. But I always tended to just bum about in it and eventually switch on all the "easy" modifiers.
Over the years I've gotten more into planes and done a fair bit of piloting and recently took to watching Youtube vids of multiplayer missions (check out ralfidude's channel), after YT recommended them due to me watching Dyslexi ArmA 3 videos. I've also been watching the Area 88 jet fighter anime.
What drew me to DCS, aside from the graphics and focus on 70s/80s dog-fighting, is that it uses fully clickable cockpits. Rather than using long keyboard-combos I've resolved to use mouselook and manually clicking buttons and switches as much as possible, just like the real thing.
First things first, knowing what to buy is a mission in itself. Like FSX, DCS is a platform where you have to purchase planes. Some are made by 3rd parties and vary in quality. Some don't come with missions and you have to buy campaigns separately. Others are "legacy planes" remastered from Lock On and don't have clickable cockpits. There are currently two versions of DCS: v1.5 and v2.0 that are in beta and alpha respectively. They've been in those statuses for years now and I even found a 2015 thread where people were saying that surely v1.5 would leave beta in a few months and that v2.0 would get a bit more stable. v2.0 doesn't come with any free terrain and you have to buy a map before you can fly any of your planes in it. There are also Steam and non-Steam versions. Expansions bought for one version aren't compatible with the other. The only real difference between the two is that the Steam version lags behind in updates, and given the developer's erratic relationship with the platform I decided to use the non-Steam version.
There is a crude "game mode" in the options menu that makes it 3rd person action, but it's not very good and I'm someone who enjoys the vehicle levels in FPSs.
Assuming you want to try before you buy, you'll download DCS v1.5 which comes with two free planes, the Su-25 and the TF-51.
Each comes with a qualifier: the Su-25 is a "legacy" plane and therefore doesn't come with a clickable cockpit. The TF-51 is the civilian version of the P-51 so doesn't have any weapons.
The tutorials however are great, with a Samuel L. Jackson sound-a-like narrator and each necessary switch highlighted or keyboard command displayed as it progresses. Because I wanted the simplest plane and have a dislike of radar management (like Falcon 4.0 the game even models the OSs of the onboard computers), and because I've mainly flown single prop planes IRL I focused on the TF-51. I can now switch on the engine by heart and it definitely feels like the planes I've flown.
I've been umming and ahhing over buying it due to the steep price and the fact that fun is definitely not guaranteed when it comes to a serious study sim. Yesterday I saw that all the prices on their site were 50% off so I jumped in.
I bought:
The Nevada Test and Training Range Map. This is the map where all the training in Top Gun took place. It's also built with v2.0 in mind.
The Combined Arms expansion. This is a mode that lets you take direct control over tanks and APCs on the ground. Like most combat sims, DCS has an almost over-developed ground combat component. And coming off ArmA 3, the chance to control vehicles from 20 different countries was too good the pass up. It's very arcadey so it'd be a good fall-back if I flunked on the planes.
The P-51. It's the plane I've spent the most time with and not having to worry about lock-ons or BVR splashes makes it a good starting point. Most the of the past WW2 games I've played focus on British and German planes, with US ones always limited to naval planes like the Corsair so it's only recently I've come to appreciate the P-51.
The F-5E Tiger II. My joint favourite plane with the Rafale. A stripped-down fighter the US made to send to proxy nations in the Cold War. A simple radar system to serve as an introduction into that whole area.
There are plenty of other expansions I would love to try, but aside from expense you need to focus on one plane at a time so that you can learn it properly.
I've been looking at
The Mig-21. Another simple, elegant, classic design that was the USSR's equivalent of the F-5.
The Viggen. I love European designs. I love canards and delta wing combos. I love older planes like the Thunderchief, Crusader, and Starfighter and think it's a shame how Ace Combat now has to cover and balance so many modern planes that they usually only have 1 or 2 from that era. This is like someone built a science-fiction version of those planes.
The Gazelle. Choppers are a massive component of DCS and if I ever progressed to them I'd start with this one. Being a light attack chopper instead of something like an Apache or Havoc that are designed to do a million different things amazingly again gives it a nice simplicity.
I've enjoyed myself so far with the P-51 and Combined Arms. Every encounter with an enemy plane is an "event" in itself rather than one of a million enemy AIs you swat without thinking.
DCS is fully VR compatible and is supposed to be amazing combined with the fully-clickable cockpits. One day I'll get to try it. Are there any other simmers out there?
