DCS. Anybody play?

Is there a secret to firing your weapons? I just installed the game, selected Easy and can't even get the damn plane to fire it's weapons. Key assignments are good. Are there 12 million steps I need to finish before shooting?
I was hoping Easy meant retard easy. lol

What planes do you own? I wouldn't bother with anything but Flaming Cliffs 3 as the avionics are much more simple. Plus you get a bunch of planes bundled together for the price of 1 highly detailed plane.

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/shop/modules/dcs_flaming_cliffs_3/

I suggest trying the F-15C first because it is without a doubt the easiest plane to fly. If spawn in the air, just hit 2 and then C on the keyboard to fire your gun. C toggles between your cannon sight mode in the F-15.

2 is BVR and you can increase or decrease the scan range by hitting the - and + keys. I believe the arrow keys move the cursor. Move over a box, press enter, get within range and a sensible angle and press space (or shift) to shoot an AIM-120/7.

Keys 3-4 offers some short range modes which are useful for dog fighting. These tend to auto lock onto whatever is in front of you. The AIM-9 doesn't need the radar to work, so you can get behind something and you'll hear a tone change. Cycle between weapons by pressing D.

7 tends to bring up the air to ground mode in FC3 planes, so that is where you will find the air to ground weapons. C will still toggle between the cannon.

For FC3 planes there are only around 20-30 essential functions if you want to play casually like myself. You'll want to map it to your HOTAS or joystick to your liking. I'm using an X52Pro and can cover just about every common function.

Omg yes, I love DCS, have spent more money on external hardware for it than anything else. DCS is VERY REAL. I mainly fly the A10-C, and it comes with a 400-500 page manual that just gives you the basics. It is fun to fly in game mode for beginners, as you can push a button to get your mavericks to lock on, and view your targets in your MFDS.

Try Flaming cliffs. It's the first generation of DCS, and has more of an arcade/forgiving feel to it. Also, in addition to all the current planes, maps, and helicopters, the F-14 from Top Gun is in development, and should be available by the holidays. Lana.... Lana... Danger Zone..

Yes indeed DCS is an awesome fighter sim. I just got it back in Dec, so I'm still a beginner with everything and learning. I really like the multiplayer, but the minimap and other things are disabled, so learning how to identify enemy aircraft is difficult.

I'm really looking forward to the F-14 Tomcat. Should be really fun.

I have it installed. I have yet to fire it up. I need to know the secret of firing the game up.

I have it but haven't dorked with it in quite some time and that was just to try out the compatibility with the Vive....which was awesome!

And yes, straight out of the box in instant action, you will be overwhelmed by the procedures needed to simple launch ordinance. You'll most definitely want to go through the tutorials covering sensors and weapons.

Russian planes have to be within certain parameters before weapon will release, angle of attack, etc. A-10C is not too hard to learn but DCS does have a very steep learning curve in general.