Is the game still worth trying out?

[MetaliCator]

Hello everyone.

So I was watching this YouTuber yesterday play this very realistic game and after some research I found out it was the DCS game.

Now I have noticed this game is Free, but not entirely free. 2 Free planes to play with and one is WW2 Plane which is not even worth my time, the other one is a Russian Jet, and after doing some research through videos and web, I saw that all the controls in the Jet are in Russian which makes me wonder, how am I a European that speaks an entirely different language going to read Russian controls? But don't answer that, that's me being sarcastic.

I'm not a big enthusiast about flying sim's, but I do play them, and I do love a good air to air dog fight from time to time. I've played a few Ace Combat games back on PlayStation 2 when I was younger, and I've played a few games like "War Thunder" & "Arma 3" to name some.

I like flying sim's but I will take a brake from them and play something else before returning back to them. But if the game manages to capture my interest I can seriously sink in hundreds if not thousands of hours.

My real question is, is the game alive, do people play it, is it worth investing into it?

The game just happens to have my dream Jet, the F-16 Falcon, A.K.A Viper. Which is the only thing REALLY pulling me towards playing the game, if the game had the F-22 Raptor I wouldn't even be asking this question, I'd be buying both the F-16 & F-22 even if the game was dead.

Thank you for you time, and gods speed! o7

[Mercy]

There are several populated/capped servers throughout the day. PvE and PvP. Just know that the game is not as easy as War Thunder or Arma jets, it takes a lot of practice/reading manuals/etc. I do have the F-16 and I love it, and there is also an F-22 mod that is pretty well made, but you can't just hop into multiplayer servers with it.

I think the game is worth investing into if you really enjoy jets, just know it's very hard without a HOTAS and head tracking.

[RadarLuv]

Well I'm Canadian and all I fly is the Su-33, Su-27 and once in awhile the F-15. These are the Cheapest in price, once I upgrade my computer I will be buying more aircraft. But you can learn a lot flying these aircraft plus you can make your own Missions with the Editor. It's not a Game it's a Simulator.

[MetaliCator]

Originally posted by Mercy:

There are several populated/capped servers throughout the day. PvE and PvP. Just know that the game is not as easy as War Thunder or Arma jets, it takes a lot of practice/reading manuals/etc. I do have the F-16 and I love it, and there is also an F-22 mod that is pretty well made, but you can't just hop into multiplayer servers with it.

I think the game is worth investing into if you really enjoy jets, just know it's very hard without a HOTAS and head tracking.

I do own the Logitech g X52 HOTAS, but I didn't know I would need a 'head tracker'. I only own one monitor, and I don't plan to buy an extra monitor just for a game. Can't you play it without the 'head tracker' ?

[MetaliCator]

Originally posted by RadarLuv>XI<:

Well I'm Canadian and all I fly is the Su-33, Su-27 and once in awhile the F-15. These are the Cheapest in price, once I upgrade my computer I will be buying more aircraft. But you can learn a lot flying these aircraft plus you can make your own Missions with the Editor. It's not a Game it's a Simulator.

If I were to start playing this 'Simulator' I would start off with the F-16, learn to fly it, become good with it, and if the 'Simulator' manages to grab me then I might invest into more jet models.

The f-15 if I'm correct, correct me if I'm wrong does not have a data link and it doesn't have a helmet mounted sight. So I'm assuming, since you fly that beauty, you have a 20/20 eye sight and you are able to spot enemy aircraft's from far distances. If not... well I just wonder, how in gods name are you able to fly that beauty? :D

[Mercy]

Originally posted by MetaliCator:

Originally posted by Mercy:

There are several populated/capped servers throughout the day. PvE and PvP. Just know that the game is not as easy as War Thunder or Arma jets, it takes a lot of practice/reading manuals/etc. I do have the F-16 and I love it, and there is also an F-22 mod that is pretty well made, but you can't just hop into multiplayer servers with it.

I think the game is worth investing into if you really enjoy jets, just know it's very hard without a HOTAS and head tracking.

I do own the Logitech g X52 HOTAS, but I didn't know I would need a 'head tracker'. I only own one monitor, and I don't plan to buy an extra monitor just for a game. Can't you play it without the 'head tracker' ?

You don't need to buy another monitor for your headtracker. Many players use a type of tracking called trackIR, but I went on the cheaper route and simply bought a $10 app on my iPhone called Smoothtrack connected to a free program on my computer called Opentrack.

I do think it's almost necessary to use headtracking for pretty much all parts of the game, especially dogfighting. You CAN use snap views (like using the 8 way button on your stick to move the camera) but it forces you to give up other binds and isn't as smooth.

[gekco]

You don't need head tracking at all, VR is also far better if your PC can run it. I have pov bound to the hat on my TWCS with a modifier. It all comes down to personal preference. IMO you will get a better experience with some sort of head tracking as it's more natural, but still this isn't required to play.

Depending on the module this game does require plenty of 4/8 way hats, this is where a good hotas comes in handy. From the top of my head the A10 requires 5 hats, 6 if you're using pov.

Be prepared for a lot of reading / watching videos. I have about 18 hours so far and I'm still learning the A10. This is also dependant on the module you decide to purchase, some have more depth than others.

[Compdiff]

If you go standalone, you can try the F16 out for 2 weeks free. Maybe worth a shot.

[Noobiecanoobie]

The game is most certainly worth trying out. You can use the stand alone (non Steam) version to try premium aircraft for two weeks to avoid the risk of costly disappointment.

The base game is free and the two bundled aircraft were what turned me off the game for many years until I finally bought another aircraft after reading many reviews.

The F-16 in this game is the best F-16 ever available in a commercial simulator. If that's your bird, I think you will enjoy it. Realize it is still early access, but at this stage I'd say it is playable. I would not have recommended it 12 months ago (or whenever it first came to early access) as it was missing many features.

You ask if people are playing, sure there is a active online community. I stick to single player but if you enjoy dog fighting humans, or joint operations, you will get to do that.

[Troll Norris]

Originally posted by MetaliCator:

My real question is, is the game alive, do people play it, is it worth investing into it?

Right now ther are 1755 multiplayer game servers with total currently 2625 active players

I want to tell something. Will write later.

[__THE_INVINCIBLE_VULPE__]

The difficulty of getting into the game means that it won't have many players, but the community of this game is still very active.

Many aircraft cannot be simulated due to confidentiality, policy, and other reasons. This is the case with F22, although there are community mods for F22, its simulation will be relatively simple. But F16 is a model that is officially being perfected (not fully finished)

In terms of simulation performance, this is the best modern fighter simulator out there, but because of this, DCS lacks competitors. For now, I really hate the official untimely behavior, many features are shelved, and no specific launch time is given, and even if they are, they are often delayed. I don't want to complain too much in this regard, because only DCS can simulate such fine avionics after all, and let me fly F18C, A10C, AH64D.

Back to topic. I've played a lot of games, but none of them let me play it every day for more than a week, I usually play multiple games in rotation. But I haven't stopped playing DCS since last September. I have been flying F18 for half a year and I can learn something new every day, which is really a joy. In addition to learning by myself, I often participate in organized PVE missions with others, and use a standardized process to perform tasks, which is very cool. When more than a dozen trajectory clouds cross the sky, you will sigh the charm of this game.

At last, be sure to find some people who can communicate with you when playing this game, loneliness is the biggest enemy of flight simulation

[Undead Rufus]

Keep in mind that Ace Combat titles are action/arcade games—meaning no particular concern for avionics, systems, or even basic physics. It's Doom with airplanes. War Thunder isn't realistic, either. Arma 3 halfway pretends to be, but there's virtually no system simulation or direct interaction with controls, and the aircraft are fictional.

DCS, while flawed in some ways, tries to be as realistic as possible, with deep simulations of systems, weapons and flight characteristics for individual aircraft. Unless you've played other sims like MSFS, IL-2 or X-Plane, the various DCS flight models might be frustrating until you get used to them.

All that said, it's great, and the small DCS community is active and [mostly] helpful. It's worth the investment if you love military aircraft. With possible exception to IL-2 (which is limited to WW2 and simplified systems), AFAIK there's nothing else on the civilian market that compares.

[-OrLoK- Слава Україн]

it's "free". try it out.

I own around 20 modules but I rarely fly anything other than the su33/ka50, they just suit me.

it cak be demanding on hardware though be advised.

[ddc196]

If you're not a big fan of detailed, time consuming to learn flight simulators, this might not be for you. With that said, if you are interested in aviation, particularly military aviation, you might want to give this a try. If you get the stand-alone version, you can try everything for free. I suggest giving it a go.

[Tobacjoe]

"I'm not a big enthusiast about flying sim's, but I do play them." I think this game would be more than you bargained for.

[MetaliCator]

Originally posted by -OrLoK- Слава Україн:

I own around 20 modules but I rarely fly anything other than the su33/ka50, they just suit me.

From what I'm seeing here, it's rare to see a person fly a Russian aircraft in DCS. My knowledge on the Russian aircraft's is limited, I will do some research on the aircraft's you have mentioned, but could you give me some more details on these aircraft's, like how they feel when it comes to flying one, maneuverability, radar range e.t.c, from your own personal experience?

Originally posted by CHOCTAW:

"I'm not a big enthusiast about flying sim's, but I do play them." I think this game would be more than you bargained for.

So, I'm guessing you are telling me to not bother trying it out? I'll give the F-16c a try with the 2 week free trial period that I see here you can get, if the game is not for me, then it's not for me, but thank you for your honest opinion.

Originally posted by Troll Norris:

Right now ther are 1755 multiplayer game servers with total currently 2625 active players

That's not a lot of players, I'm guessing this 'Simulator' game does not appeal to the majority of 'Gamers', and the fact that you need to spend a lot of money just to play it, like owning a HOTAS, Head tracker, buying aircraft's e.t.c

The game is "Free" but all in all it costs you 500-600$ at least to be able to play it. This is easily one of the most expensive games you can play. (I'm not saying it's the most expensive, just saying it's one of them)

So I can completely understand why the number of users 'active' is so low.

Originally posted by __HARDCORE_VULPE_LOKI__:

Back to topic. I've played a lot of games, but none of them let me play it every day for more than a week, I usually play multiple games in rotation. But I haven't stopped playing DCS since last September. I have been flying F18 for half a year and I can learn something new every day, which is really a joy. In addition to learning by myself, I often participate in organized PVE missions with others, and use a standardized process to perform tasks, which is very cool. When more than a dozen trajectory clouds cross the sky, you will sigh the charm of this game.

That is my issue currently, going back and forth from game to game, the more I read about DCS the more tempted I am to sit down, read and watch guides to learn and eventually be able to fly an aircraft.

Is the F-18 a single seat or a twin seat? If it's the twin seat, do you have a second user acting like your wizzo?