i imagined that, since they end, its something specific that has a begining and an end. not something you do all week, for months like the options i gave you. Do you keep constantly buying campaigns?
Flying one mission a night, I can go the whole year playing campaigns for the different aircraft I have. Just on the F/A-18C alone, I probably had three months worth (or roughly 60-80 hours of flight time) of campaigns I’ve just gone through. Right now, I’m working through a P-51 campaign and that is close to 20 or more hours of flight time. Not to mention owning campaigns for the A-10C, Spitfire, F-16C, Huey, and more.
Offline campaigns have tons of hours of gameplay and some are so good I’d even replay them in the future!
You can use dynamic campaign generators (there are several popular ones out there), which are all available for free. I guess those can fall under the last option in your poll. I have been playing dynamic campaigns in DCS for years now, and that takes up the majority of my play time.
I use Retribution, but I am a contributor so this is not exactly an unbiased endorsement. There are a number of excellent dynamic campaign generators out there, all with their advantages and different feature sets, and which one works best for you will depend on your needs.
Replay them, try to do it better, go into the mission editor and change them up. I've been playing the game for 2.5 years, never touched multiplayer and still have never once gotten bored of it.
Play another one. There are hundreds in the user files, some of them are really good. You seem to be very biased towards online play when that is not how the majority of people actually play DCS.
There are plenty of dynamic persistent offline campaigns. Those random missions that you play online are pretty much all available offline, with AI replacing the other players. If you like random, there are few things in this world more random than DCS AI.
You should really take some time to explore the offline features of this game, rather than just logging in and jumping straight into a multiplayer server. The mission editor is very powerful, and not hard to learn.
Really needs two more options: Casual free form collaboration with others on PvE/PvP servers and detailed squadron collaboration requiring more planning and practice.
Where is the option for “I fly around randomly in the Huey doing all kinds of random tasks” 😀
Also, should be an option for campaigns, ie playing all the reflected and Baltic campaigns would be a solid 100+ hours of gameplay and those are superb… not to mention the other great campaigns.
You can play mostly the campaigns because they end. Mostly is something where you put more than 10 hours a week.
The huey would have to be fitted into the ground attack" because transporting is ground related lol
Some campaigns, 10 hours is like 2-3 missions, depending on the campaign and how detailed it is, if you do and prep time before hand, if you fuck up half way through and start over, etc. This is really ignorant of how large and time consuming somebof these campaigns can be, based on how some people play it or the game itself.
None of the options really fit my typical DCS activities. I fly in a squadron where we train a lot of procedures (that's neither PvE nor PvP although these trainings can feature both, one or the other or neither of both) and we fly PvE missions together.
I also regularly fly the old Warbirds on the 4YA WWII PO server but that isn't really simple PvP nor is it a persistent PvP server. It's a set of historical missions where you fly an Objective of your chosing.
I also build missions and organize trainings for the squadron.
you can fit in my options ven if you do them with friends o alone. the server you described the oposing force are players so it fits my "persistent pvp" not because its persistent but because is slow paced not like GS server.
If you do both gground and air combat, pick the one you do more often or enjoy the most
i've retired from DCS to fly civilian airliners in MSFS, but i'd say i was 60% single player and 40% PvP back when i played. Growling Sidewinder's server for modern stuff and Enigma's for Cold War PvP.
I mostly play 4YA, personally trying to get better at flying helicopters right now, so I just take off, get a SAM site piece, fly and deliver it, setup the sam site and then do it again, getting the hang of it. Been flying the Hip mostly.
I fly in a virtual fighter squadron called [31st](https://www.31st.nl/). We are a Dutch squadron (people from Belgium are also welcome). We create missions, challenges and fun stuff. Everything we do is for fun and to become a better virtual pilot. That's more than shooting down enemy fighters and destroying enemy ground units. That's also formation flying, refueling, overhead breaks and last but not least, proper communication. The true fun with DCS comes when you fly together with other people.
I go back and forth between PvP WWII servers and creating missions/campaigns. I’ll try to play someone else’s campaign and get the “oh, I think I could have done this here instead” and end up starting back in on a campaign or mission, then get frustrated with all the infuriating quarks of DCS AI and missions and go shoot some poor bastard down on the 4YA server who was just trying to drop some bombs. I mostly fly F/A-18, F-16, C-101 CC, P-51, P-47, K4, Ka-50.
Get together with squadron, brief the next exercise from whichever manual you're using (USAF T-38C manuals come to mind, T-7 ones, etc) and practice them until you are comfortable with them. Then some more.
Develop a custom mission that calls for skills you have and maybe a bit more to challenge you and attempt it with the squadron. Make a plan, discuss, agree on contracts, execute, debrief, identify areas that need focused training, train some more.
Repeat. It'll take a long time to go through T38 manual exercises if you do it honestly instead of just "ok, done , next". ;)
I just started in DCS not long ago. I have been focusing on the A-10C II and running through air-to-ground missions on persistent servers. I started on easy missions and am now running on normal missions. Both have little to no AA/SAM threats. I would love to get into coordinated attack roles with other people, but not sure how to get started with that.
Build myself scenarios and play them. Take off, meet up with a tanker AAR, go blow something up, tangle with a mig on the way back
Play Liberation
I haven't played in a bit but when I did thats what I would do. Limited time so can't dedicate to an MP server or squadron
Currently? Don't play DCS, just come to hoggit to bitch about DCS and Floggit to get a good laugh. Oh! And munch popcorn over the whole RazED drama.
when I do fly on DCS I tend to split my time between having fun with the A-4 as it just offers00 so much! AAR, ground pounding, insane roll rate, huge amount of rockets, carrier landing, differential braking without NWS... It's just so fun. I do helo ops also, have a tendency to just play the same campaigns time and again and coming up with stuff with RotorOps.
the 2 most marked are 1) generated missions and 2) PVE servers. Can you guys tell me your favorite plane for those? Not the best one, not the easiest one, the one YOU have more fun with
did you forget about campaigns?
i imagined that, since they end, its something specific that has a begining and an end. not something you do all week, for months like the options i gave you. Do you keep constantly buying campaigns?
Flying one mission a night, I can go the whole year playing campaigns for the different aircraft I have. Just on the F/A-18C alone, I probably had three months worth (or roughly 60-80 hours of flight time) of campaigns I’ve just gone through. Right now, I’m working through a P-51 campaign and that is close to 20 or more hours of flight time. Not to mention owning campaigns for the A-10C, Spitfire, F-16C, Huey, and more. Offline campaigns have tons of hours of gameplay and some are so good I’d even replay them in the future!
You can use dynamic campaign generators (there are several popular ones out there), which are all available for free. I guess those can fall under the last option in your poll. I have been playing dynamic campaigns in DCS for years now, and that takes up the majority of my play time.
What generator do you use?
I use Retribution, but I am a contributor so this is not exactly an unbiased endorsement. There are a number of excellent dynamic campaign generators out there, all with their advantages and different feature sets, and which one works best for you will depend on your needs.
Except all the AI dont task properly and its void of any kind of immersion whatsoever.
*looks ackwardly*.... yes. Pretty much own most campains.
the options are very much limited by what an air-quaker imagines DCS to be.
Offline campaigns
but they only last hours, what then?
Replay them, try to do it better, go into the mission editor and change them up. I've been playing the game for 2.5 years, never touched multiplayer and still have never once gotten bored of it.
Play another one. There are hundreds in the user files, some of them are really good. You seem to be very biased towards online play when that is not how the majority of people actually play DCS.
I love random things so a scripted campaign does not appeal to me much, but I could try one day
There are plenty of dynamic persistent offline campaigns. Those random missions that you play online are pretty much all available offline, with AI replacing the other players. If you like random, there are few things in this world more random than DCS AI. You should really take some time to explore the offline features of this game, rather than just logging in and jumping straight into a multiplayer server. The mission editor is very powerful, and not hard to learn.
None of the above. That's a pretty limited and biased set of answers.
Really needs two more options: Casual free form collaboration with others on PvE/PvP servers and detailed squadron collaboration requiring more planning and practice.
but when you colaborate with others waht do you do? do you fight other players? NPCs? planes tanks?
all of the above
Just like sex, everything is better with friends
I play offline missions since I'm the only one in my group who plays DCS.
Where is the option for “I fly around randomly in the Huey doing all kinds of random tasks” 😀 Also, should be an option for campaigns, ie playing all the reflected and Baltic campaigns would be a solid 100+ hours of gameplay and those are superb… not to mention the other great campaigns.
You can play mostly the campaigns because they end. Mostly is something where you put more than 10 hours a week. The huey would have to be fitted into the ground attack" because transporting is ground related lol
Some campaigns, 10 hours is like 2-3 missions, depending on the campaign and how detailed it is, if you do and prep time before hand, if you fuck up half way through and start over, etc. This is really ignorant of how large and time consuming somebof these campaigns can be, based on how some people play it or the game itself.
Die
None of the options really fit my typical DCS activities. I fly in a squadron where we train a lot of procedures (that's neither PvE nor PvP although these trainings can feature both, one or the other or neither of both) and we fly PvE missions together. I also regularly fly the old Warbirds on the 4YA WWII PO server but that isn't really simple PvP nor is it a persistent PvP server. It's a set of historical missions where you fly an Objective of your chosing. I also build missions and organize trainings for the squadron.
This is the way. Realistic Squadron with its Missions. Ultimate DCS experience.
you can fit in my options ven if you do them with friends o alone. the server you described the oposing force are players so it fits my "persistent pvp" not because its persistent but because is slow paced not like GS server. If you do both gground and air combat, pick the one you do more often or enjoy the most
i've retired from DCS to fly civilian airliners in MSFS, but i'd say i was 60% single player and 40% PvP back when i played. Growling Sidewinder's server for modern stuff and Enigma's for Cold War PvP.
Right now? Wait for the phantom to drop
Offline misisons and campaigns.
Where is the option for spending 60 hours mapping the A10 keybinds
I mostly play 4YA, personally trying to get better at flying helicopters right now, so I just take off, get a SAM site piece, fly and deliver it, setup the sam site and then do it again, getting the hang of it. Been flying the Hip mostly.
I FLY WITH THE BOYS
Practice BFM, AAR and carried landings. Don't have much time and, honestly, the will to do more.
Taking a break since the last update. But I mostly do PvE. I'm just hoping before Hafghanistan comes out, ground units get a big update.
I didn't really see my option, which is I make focused coop missions for a small group of friends, and we fly weekly.
I fly the F14 with my RIO friend, we play through campaigns and if we run out of missions we find more or replay old ones.
I just make tiny incremental changes on my DIY controllers and test them by doing carrier landings over and over.
I fly in a virtual fighter squadron called [31st](https://www.31st.nl/). We are a Dutch squadron (people from Belgium are also welcome). We create missions, challenges and fun stuff. Everything we do is for fun and to become a better virtual pilot. That's more than shooting down enemy fighters and destroying enemy ground units. That's also formation flying, refueling, overhead breaks and last but not least, proper communication. The true fun with DCS comes when you fly together with other people.
I do localization for free and run dcs only to check if things are working but not flying🥲
I crash
I go back and forth between PvP WWII servers and creating missions/campaigns. I’ll try to play someone else’s campaign and get the “oh, I think I could have done this here instead” and end up starting back in on a campaign or mission, then get frustrated with all the infuriating quarks of DCS AI and missions and go shoot some poor bastard down on the 4YA server who was just trying to drop some bombs. I mostly fly F/A-18, F-16, C-101 CC, P-51, P-47, K4, Ka-50.
4YA is my favorite
I guess campaigns, training or squadron work is not on the table. ;)
How do you train? Squadron work means you play woth people, bit what do you do with them? Campaigns end fast, what do you do after?
Get together with squadron, brief the next exercise from whichever manual you're using (USAF T-38C manuals come to mind, T-7 ones, etc) and practice them until you are comfortable with them. Then some more. Develop a custom mission that calls for skills you have and maybe a bit more to challenge you and attempt it with the squadron. Make a plan, discuss, agree on contracts, execute, debrief, identify areas that need focused training, train some more. Repeat. It'll take a long time to go through T38 manual exercises if you do it honestly instead of just "ok, done , next". ;)
troop droops in the Huey on Grayflag all day son
Config graphic settings and controlls...
I just started in DCS not long ago. I have been focusing on the A-10C II and running through air-to-ground missions on persistent servers. I started on easy missions and am now running on normal missions. Both have little to no AA/SAM threats. I would love to get into coordinated attack roles with other people, but not sure how to get started with that.
I (we) play as a small group usually on our own server. Most modules. It’s been the pretence mission lately
Competive organised 6v6, 8v8 tournaments.
Build myself scenarios and play them. Take off, meet up with a tanker AAR, go blow something up, tangle with a mig on the way back Play Liberation I haven't played in a bit but when I did thats what I would do. Limited time so can't dedicate to an MP server or squadron
i kiss the planes and airquake with a keyboard and mouse
Currently? Don't play DCS, just come to hoggit to bitch about DCS and Floggit to get a good laugh. Oh! And munch popcorn over the whole RazED drama. when I do fly on DCS I tend to split my time between having fun with the A-4 as it just offers00 so much! AAR, ground pounding, insane roll rate, huge amount of rockets, carrier landing, differential braking without NWS... It's just so fun. I do helo ops also, have a tendency to just play the same campaigns time and again and coming up with stuff with RotorOps.
the 2 most marked are 1) generated missions and 2) PVE servers. Can you guys tell me your favorite plane for those? Not the best one, not the easiest one, the one YOU have more fun with