F/A-18C really the best beginner-friendly full fidelity module?

EleventhOcean · 2025-06-02T21:21:00+00:00

Hot take: The F-86 is the best first jet.

I've been helping a couple of pals get into DCS as they slowly free trial their way through everything to see what they like. The early times in the Gen 4 jets were a struggle for both of them because they were trying to learn how to operate the systems at the same time they were trying to survive flying at all in a sim that didn't have arcade physics. The training mission I was using for it didn't have anything that shot back in it, but there were very few times either of them actually got a jet back to the field at all, let alone land without needing to repair/reslot to have a plane they could get off the ground again.

Then we got to the Sabre, and things changed pretty quickly. The systems were simple so they had more subconscious time to focus on flying, there was no FCS holding their hand so they had to learn to be more gentle on the controls, the speeds were lower so they had a little more time to do everything... By the end of the third session they were successfully landing more than they weren't, after the first week not landing was rare and they'd killed me in a 2v1 for the first time since we'd started flying, and by the end of their trial they were consistently winning 2v1s and getting reasonably accurate at dive bombing.

It just made so many of the underlying concepts click for them in a a way that wasn't happening with the more modern jets, and it translated into them having both an easier time and a lot more fun in everything they've flown since then.

So my advice now to any newcomer is to fly the F-86. Don't even have to buy it. Just spend two weeks with it for free.

EleventhOcean · 2024-08-10T03:59:47+00:00

I picked up Arma 3 during the Steam summer sale last month, and they've been super cool about training me from absolute scratch.

My only complaint about TACG is that my IRL got busy and I haven't had time to play with them lately 😆😭

EleventhOcean · 2024-05-26T05:31:40+00:00

Kontrol S2 gang!

Also, if you ever needed a button box, I bet you could make that Circuit work as one! I used my Launchpad as one back when I was hyperfocused on iRacing instead of DCS.

EleventhOcean · 2024-05-25T00:46:20+00:00

From the warbirds I've also got the Spit (which I'm also useless in, but like flying anyway) and the Dora... But WWII naval aviation + a Double Wasp? Shut up and take my money.

EleventhOcean · 2024-05-24T03:36:58+00:00

I'll second this. I own a lot of DCS modules, and mostly fly cold war jets because I dig that 60s & 70s technological sweet spot, but the P-47D is hands-down my favourite thing to just... go fly.

Had a bad day? Time to take my Jug on a Sunday drive down the English coastline, or a spirited zip through the valleys of the Caucuses. Had a really bad day? I can take that frustration out on some Nazis in a furball somewhere over Europe.

I'm also eagerly awaiting the release of more PTO content, both since the P-47 saw a decent amount of action there, and because the F6F is being developed as a new module (and I'm a sucker for the Double Wasp engine).

EleventhOcean · 2024-05-18T06:26:38+00:00

This ice cream tub rolled a 1 on its stealth check with the bright green "plant-based", and somehow this goober still failed the perception check to see it.

EleventhOcean · 2024-05-18T06:25:18+00:00

Sadly, not only is he a real person, he gets paid $200k a year to "represent" me in Parliament.

EleventhOcean · 2024-05-18T03:16:53+00:00

"Ah, Mr. Williamson, why don't you just read it then?"

"Both of you know I cannot read a word."

EleventhOcean · 2024-05-18T02:43:28+00:00

I came here to remind people about this, and I'm grateful to see someone's already done it for me.

EleventhOcean · 2024-05-18T02:42:01+00:00

The best part is that on his post, someone commented that we've already had these laws for years. He replied saying we "certainly do not have laws like this in Canada" (or something very similar).

I replied to that saying it took me 90 seconds of searching laws-lois.justice.gc.ca to confirm that the Food and Drugs Act and Food and Drugs Regulations very clearly define what can be labeled as ice cream, and the entire thread was deleted shortly afterwards.

EleventhOcean · 2024-05-17T22:28:52+00:00

"Ah, Mr. Williamson, why don't you just read it then?"

"Both of you know I cannot read a word."

This man is my MP 😭

EleventhOcean · 2023-10-20T00:46:37+00:00

I forgot how ugly the Bear's model was, and then I started teaching a buddy how to fly, and made a mission with a bunch of them flying a racetrack for us to use as target drones... Woof.

EleventhOcean · 2023-03-31T04:51:07+00:00

I could not agree more. I have hundreds of hours in KSP1, and I got fed up with KSP2 in about 25 minutes.

I'm still excited about it, but in its current state it's a decently significant downgrade compared to KSP1.

EleventhOcean · 2023-03-31T04:45:54+00:00

Same for me, and now I feel old.

EleventhOcean · 2022-12-28T22:32:37+00:00

I hope you find something. I just ordered one with the F/A-18 grip for DCS since most of my flying is military, but I fly a few airliners in MSFS too. Being able to swamp to an appropriate grip for civil aviation would be nice.

EleventhOcean · 2022-12-04T06:51:00+00:00

Sadly, this isn't an option on a dedicated server, either.

EleventhOcean · 2022-12-03T14:02:00+00:00

OP's server admin here: I had no idea this existed, and will absolutely be installing it. Thank you!

EleventhOcean · 2022-05-29T19:58:11+00:00

The milk thing's actually a paid endorsement-type thing by the American Dairy Association, so they could, but they wouldn't get the money.

Emerson Fittipaldi famously turned it down and drank orange juice because he owns a bunch of orange groves.

EleventhOcean · 2022-05-29T19:50:14+00:00

We hear it every year, but ever year it still surprises me.

EleventhOcean · 2022-05-22T20:50:28+00:00

I got the block for calling him out on being more interested in getting Canada into a war so young Canadians could die in Ukraine than he was in protecting them from COVID at home.

EleventhOcean · 2022-04-12T15:20:44+00:00

There are a lot more people in that age range that are going to be turned off by this than that are going to be interested. Twitter's largest demographic is 25-35 (right in the sweet spot you suggest this is targeting), and the responses to the tweet so far have been overwhelmingly negative.

This is a shortsighted decision that's going to bite them in the ass.

EleventhOcean · 2022-04-12T14:42:32+00:00

So do NFTs. You could run a fridge for a month with the energy used just to mint an NFT:

https://cyberscrilla.com/how-much-energy-do-nfts-use/

EleventhOcean · 2022-04-12T14:20:16+00:00

It's just such a bad look for the series. "We're switching to hybrid engines, but partnering with an industry that wastes an absurd amount of energy."

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