Before buy question: Which best F- aircraft, best campaign

[squashplayer1]

Hi,

long time X-Plane user (airliners) here, planning to enter the DCS world as well.

Some questions:

1. Which F-.... aircraft is complex *and* finished or at least to a large degree finished? Like F/A 18, F16, F14, ...
I am looking for a complex and deep aircraft that can do air to ground and air to air combat and possibly aircraft carrier.

2. For the aircraft under 1. which are good campaigns? Preferrably I want to fight the typical bad guys like Syria or Russia.

The price is not so important for me, important is "as real as it gets".

Thanks for some suggestions!

[Gunfreak]

F18 is the most complete, has the most campaigns, can do carrier.
F16 IS a bit behind F18 in completeness. Has no official campaign, and can't do carrier.
F14, don't know the completeness, has 1 or 2 campaigns, isn't that good at air to ground, can do carrier.

All 3 er complex, with hundreds/thousands of hours to master.

[Troll Norris]

F-5E is the most complete from the F- family.

[fikmeinshizer]

F-14 is largely complete and consistently voted one of, if not the best module in DCS at present. Carrier ops really come to life with the Super Carrier module. Better with a human RIO but the AI is reasonable at what it's needed to do. Choose this if you want a more analogue old school feel.

F-16 is coming along in development and ED are spending more time on it than on the F/A-18 to bring them closer together in development terms. More of a fighter than a strike craft but can do most roles well. Of the 3 it is the most nimble due to it's lightness but this makes for smaller payloads. No carrier ops here but you will have to deal with stuff like crosswinds making you yaw on take off and learn how to aero-brake on landing since the brakes are crap. Choose this if you want dogfights and SEAD.

F/A-18 is largely complete and perhaps the most learner friendly of the bunch. Easy to fly with a wide selection of weapons to you can fill pretty much every role you can imagine. Again carrier ops really come to life with the Super Carrier module. Choose this if you can't make up your mind or if you want to cover all tasks.

If you choose a Navy plane, get Super Carrier. You won't regret it

[squashplayer1]

Thanks guys, probably I'll go with the F/A 18 as it is versatyle, modern and complete.

And are there missions already included or which missions do you recommend?

[spike2071]

Originally posted by squashplayer1:

Thanks guys, probably I'll go with the F/A 18 as it is versatyle, modern and complete.

And are there missions already included or which missions do you recommend?

There are some missions that are included, and a free campaign as well. You can also check out the user submitted missions[www.digitalcombatsimulator.com] at the DCS website for more free ones, although the quality can vary widely. Be aware when downloading a mission/campaign, some will require specific maps or the Super Carrier.

[SSerponi76]

1) F/A-18 (be sure to buy Supercarrier too!)
2) Raven One

[Severus]

Great tips here. I would only add One thing: F-18 Is very easy to fly but It has more complex avionics, the F-14 on the contrary Is harder to fly but you can have Jester handle lot of systems.

Both are great, complete and fun.

[SSerponi76]

Originally posted by spike2071:

There are some missions that are included, and a free campaign as well. You can also check out the user submitted missions[www.digitalcombatsimulator.com] at the DCS website for more free ones, although the quality can vary widely. Be aware when downloading a mission/campaign, some will require specific maps or the Super Carrier.

/this check the various free, user made campaigns. Many of them are really good made.

Also, if you are interested in a dynamic campaign then check-out Liberation mod: https://github.com/dcs-liberation/dcs_liberation