Newish To DCS

[eyeball]

Hi all, I've been playing DCS on and off for years, more off than on if I'm being honest. I'm looking for a group of folks to fly with. Between family life and my career I don't get to play games much, however I'd really like to get into DCS more. I'm generally free week nights after 9 EST and some weekends during the day. I have the f-16 (bought it last night) and the F-18. I've only managed to take them up for a few circuits and touch and goes. I'm a long time simmer from way back in the Jane's Combat simulation days and falcon 4.0. I also fly airliners in MSFS and occasionally X-plane 11. I still have the basic systems and weapons systems knowledge. However I have no experience with BFM and things like formation flying since I've never flown with a group. I also tried out ARMA iii and Squad but I'm pretty lost with both of those.

[Bones]

Hi Eyeball!

First of all, welcome to RLG and it is great to have you here!

I think that you have come to the right place. I'm not being biased (OK maybe a little bit) but you may find that the RLG community is set apart from others in that it is a smaller group and because of that, we are more close together both on the sim level and on personal levels than most other groups.

But best of all, for the kind of simming you are doing and want to do, RLG is exactly that. For the flying part, we are very laid back and casual while at the same time we strive for realism. We really try to focus on the RL in RLG. That said, when we fly, we try as much as possible to stick with proper tactics and comms, while at the same time it's common to just kinda chit chat and joke around here and there when it's not going to get in the way of say, someone trying to dodge a SAM.

Don't have alot of DCS flying experience and want to get up to speed? No problem. At the moment we usually have Monday nights for training/mess around nights where you can practice a skill or see if something works or receive instruction from other pilots. Wednesday nights are usually designated for actual missions, this is where it gets REAL though not strictly so. but we usually have a flight/battle plan set for that night with debriefs and video afterwards for discussion. Both will also be perfect for you because you said you are free after 9 EST and that is when we start.

Several of us are "qualified" not just in a particular aircraft but also in a particular discipline such as proper carrier ops, tactics, and weapons systems, etc. So we can help you out there too. Many of us have been simming for 20-30 years, some of us are real pilots.

I will also add that we do other sims as well. Tuesday nights at the same time 9 EST lately we have been doing Ready or Not, the SWAT FPS sim but we also do Arma 3 and can do others. We like to mix things up a bit so we don;t get bored doing the same thing so much.

So hopefully you can join us sometime. Feel free to go to the DCS part of the forum and look at the videos under "sorties" or "screenshots/videos" to get an idea as to how we fly with each other or get shot dead during a room raid haha. In any case, welcome to RLG and I think I can speak for the rest of the guys that we look forward to simming with you sometime soon!

v6,
boNes

PS. We are by no means restrained to Mon and Wed nights only. Many of us fly on other days when available or set something up to do so, so basically anytime you want to fly/sim, we can do so with you!

[PanzerMeyer]

Welcome aboard eyeball! How did you learn about RLG?

I won't repeat the stuff mentioned in the excellent post by bones since it pretty much explains how DCS is done on RLG.

[eyeball]

Thanks for the welcome! I'm excited to get started. What are the next steps?
I currently have the X56 HOTAS and the Thrustmaster pedals ( used to have the T16.000 kit before i got the x56 for the holidays.) I have TrackIR, but I don't like it much, hoping to instead use my quest 2.

[Bones]

Eyeball,

First off I think familiarize yourself with RLG by perusing the forums but initially at first, look up the credentials for joining the server and the RLG TeamSpeak channel so that you know how to join us the next time we fly as a group. It's on the forum somewhere, just can't recall where.

If you want to jump in before Monday which is our next group session, I'm sure one of us can fly/sim with you either on the server or by setting either your or our machine up as server for some quick and dirty MP.

Other than that, kick back, explore around the forum, and have fun!

v6,
boNes

[Cr33p3r]

Welcome Eyeball! That Bones guy will have you in an F14 before you know it if you're not careful!

Helos are the way to go! The Mighty 24 is calling you.....

[Bones]

Yay Creeper is no longer the FNG!

haha

v6,
boNes

[PanzerMeyer]

Yay Creeper is no longer the FNG!

haha

v6,
boNes

On a related note, I still find it a bit surreal that I joined RLG 19 years ago. Time flies.

[Trichome]

Hey Eyball...

Welcome to RLG! Bones pretty much said it all. Hope you can come out and join us for some flights (or other games on Tuesdays)

I currently have the F18 and Apache and picked up the F16 for Christmas. Most of us are pretty comfortable with the Hornet so just ask away if you have any questions. Im still on square 1 for the Viper so we can learn together if anything. A few people in RLG have the Viper so we can always pic someone's brain if needed.

Im admittedly a bit more lazy when it comes to actually flight ops like marshal stacking but its always a good time flying with these guys.

I also wanted to mention its pretty much all PvE here which I think is the way most of us prefer.

Cheers....

[Grifter]

Welcome aboard, Eyeball!

Yep, Bones' summary is spot on. I fly the F/A-18, F-14, a bit in the Mirage. I replied to your PM with a link to the server info. Let me know if the link doesn't work.

Take care and looking forward to flying with you!
Grif

[Hammer]

"its pretty much all PvE here which I think is the way most of us prefer"

ahem, *some* of us prefer. there is nothing like actual PvP to shake out and expose your foibles. that said, we do not fly PvP oftent and it is usually a spur of the moment "let's practice A2A" or a planned training activity for WVR or BVR.

Eyeball,
please let us know how you found RLG. also, if you plan to join tonight it is completely up to you on flying or not. Even if you do not yet want to fly, you can listen in and go through the server connect procedure to make sure you are ready.

[PanzerMeyer]

I wouldn't mind doing PVP missions as long as AI aircraft are also thrown into the mix for both sides. Oh, and also no labels so we can't tell which plane is human flown or AI flown.

[Bones]

I think we pretty much have all our labels set to just the dot.

v6,
boNes

[Trichome]

"its pretty much all PvE here which I think is the way most of us prefer"

ahem, *some* of us prefer. there is nothing like actual PvP to shake out and expose your foibles. that said, we do not fly PvP oftent and it is usually a spur of the moment "let's practice A2A" or a planned training activity for WVR or BVR.

I didn't say all...I said "most"... I was only basing it on my experience at RLG. it "seems" most of us prefer PvE but maybe its only "some" of us. I figured the larger number was those that prefer PvE.

I only have dot labels on also. Just enough to help without me feeling like im cheating...

[Trichome]

Eyeball,
please let us know how you found RLG.

Eyeball are you wlfman2k1 on REDDIT by chance?

[eyeball]

Eyeball,
please let us know how you found RLG.

Eyeball are you wlfman2k1 on REDDIT by chance?

Yup that’s me

[Trichome]

[/quote]

Yup that’s me
[/quote]

Awesome.... glad you found us. Cheers!

[PanzerMeyer]

A HA! So Grifter drafted you for RLG! ;-)

[Grifter]

Perhaps our standing advertisement on wingmanfinder, a Reddit subgroup did. I did not.

[PanzerMeyer]

Perhaps our standing advertisement on wingmanfinder, a Reddit subgroup did. I did not.

Ok that makes sense. I've never used Reddit so I didn't know about the advertisement.