Ether's DCS essentials

[Etherlight]

Hey guys,

I spent quite a lot of time answering questions about DCS modules lately and since more and more guys I know bought the A-10C recently, I got the idea to designate an A-10C essentials evening and a few people told me they're interested. Since I think it would be fun and educational, I decided to do it. What's gonna happen? We'll meet up in TS and I will explain/stream all the basics of the A-10C that you need to get your butt up in the air, navigate a predefined flight route, find targets, blow the shit out of them with the most common weapon systems, ideally not die to air defenses like a scrub, find and navigate to the nearest/home airstrip and land the bird. I will then save that stream and set up some timestamps, so you can go back and rewatch parts you will forget (very likely scenario).
Like the name suggests this will ONLY cover the barebones of flight and combat, since the A-10C is probably the most complicated module in DCS right now. We might have some time to get a bit deeper into some interesting bits, but don't bet on it. ^^ Chances are you won't be able to take in more information and process it anyway.

To find an appointment that's convenient for the most amount of people, I set up a doodle: http://doodle.com/poll/32dbp2akkhc7pxxt

A few more things:

- Times are in GMT+1 (Berlin) 20-24pm for me, dunno if time conversion works, so double check dem timezones. I'll try to find an appointment that works for both EU and NA guys, but keep in mind: If possible try to pick the earliest time you are available, since that allows me to make it longer/answer more questions/actually get to bed before the sun rises. I know even 24pm for me is pretty early for you guys, but I do not want to make my morning coffee when we're finished. ^^

- You NEED to set up your controls beforehand. If I need to explain to people how the controls work/what to set up and people have to do it, we can probably scratch 30/60 minutes. The A-10C is a bit special, since you do not set up specific functions to keys/switches, but rather transfer the existing HOTAS controls of the A-10 (buttons/switches and throttle and stick) to your own setup (Stick/throttle/keyboard/whatever). This is, because the switches/buttons have different functions, depending on the sensor/system you operate. If you need help with that, ask me before the actual session!
Layout is here: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/upload/iblock/0fc/profile_chart.jpg
And please memorize the names of the switches! I will necessarily refer to buttons and switches on the HOTAS by their proper names so everybody knows what I'm talking about (ideally). So TMS, DMS, CMS, NWS, MMCB should ring a bell when we're doing this.

Any questions/suggestions? I'm not quite sure how exactly we do this, yet. Option one would be that we're doing this simultaneously on TS so you can do the shit I explain yourself. Problem is that you might not always instantly find the buttons in the cockpit I mention and need to check the (delayed) stream, but most of the stuff you need id pretty easy to find.
Option two would be that you watch the stream while I'm showing off all the stuff and you then ask questions and stuff after I've shown you a certain system or function.
The fact of stream delay makes this a bit difficult I think, any ideas/preferences?
Depending on how many TWB guys/people I invite are interested, you could also bring someone you know who's also interested, but I want to keep the amount of people actually participating in TS (if we're doing the simultaneous approach) and asking questions to about 5, more would probably blow this out of proportion.

P.S.: Keep in mind that I am by no means uberpro, there are a few bits here and there that I also don't know yet, but hey.

[Flame]

Good idea man.
Got the A-10C already and should receive the new joystick soon
count me in

[Ec0ke]

I wpuld be in too. But another suggestion would be that you don't make timestamps and instead upload it to youtube. Easier to watch...

[Etherlight]

Dunno, might be a little large for youtube. I bet this is gonna at least take 2 hours, my money is on 3. ^^

[Ec0ke]

just split it. si like 4-6 30min tutorials about something specific

[Nraged]

Also the point is to make it live so everyone can ask questions as we go.
Unless my wife plans something unexpected, I'm free on Sunday most of the day 10am-10pm.

[Etherlight]

Please check your times with the schedule and get it in there for overviews sake and the comparison of timezone.

[classypax]

Would you be interested in making this a LSS thing?  We all host you and have people watch n learn?

[Nraged]

I suggested that to Ether the second he brought this up.
Thats a great idea, we should also advertize it a bit as well. It would be a great learning experience for everyone and make us look good, which will have a positive impact on our recruitment and stuff like that.

If more people were participating in DCS, I would love to pitch to Pand a creation of DCS division.

Speaking of A10C, I got 98 kills in it yesterday while flying half of the mission on one map and half on the next one.
Gawd, I love that plane! So much fun!

[Etherlight]

I'd wanna be careful about advertising this too much, since I have no real experience with streaming, have no second monitor to read twitch chat and I'm not yet sure how well this will actually work. So if you tell your viewers that there's gonna be an informal internal A-10C evening with TWB for beginners of the squad and that this will be streamed to have the footage and stuff, so people can actually watch it live: By all means, go ahead. People just need to be aware that this is an informal, untested and, on the streamers side, absolutely unprofessional thing that they can passively (!!!) participate in if they wish to do so. If this goes well, people are having fun and it actually works, then yeah, maybe I'll make this into a series and I will actually try and make this twitch-presentable so we can tell people about it.

I just don't want to wake up to a twitch-stream full of disappointed people, you know? xD Because there are in fact quality streams out there and people are pampered when it comes to TWB streams, thanks to his paxness, ecock, appo and stuff.

[Nraged]

What if you make it in a way where you'd be explaining things to Pax and other people in the channel, Pax can stream it as well, while learning from you.

Since Pax just bought an A10C last night, I'm sure that he'd be interested in learning the ropes.
In a mean time, I will help him get prepared for it by showing the very very basic stuff, this way he wont be totally clueless when it starts.

[Etherlight]

If people want to stream their participation who actually stream (Ec0ke, pax,etc.) that's absolutely fine, since they can actually engage with their viewers. We'd probably get a lot more exposure by doing that, cause people don't just come for some dude explaining the A-10 but for the people who stream and if they learn something about the A-10 by watching their streamers learning it: awesome. By the way: as of yet, it seems like it's going to be Wednesday 20:00 GMT+1 Berlin time.  Available starting times are 20-24 pm, if there is noone who says he cannot do 20, that will be the meeting time. So if you're interested: Last chance to put yourself into the doodle.

[Nraged]

20:00 Berlin time is 14:00 in USA/East Coast, I dont think many will be able to attend because of jobs, school and stuff.
I personally dont even get home until about 2am your time.

[classypax]

If people want to stream their participation who actually stream (Ec0ke, pax,etc.) that's absolutely fine, since they can actually engage with their viewers. We'd probably get a lot more exposure by doing that, cause people don't just come for some dude explaining the A-10 but for the people who stream and if they learn something about the A-10 by watching their streamers learning it: awesome. By the way: as of yet, it seems like it's going to be Wednesday 20:00 GMT+1 Berlin time.  Available starting times are 20-24 pm, if there is noone who says he cannot do 20, that will be the meeting time. So if you're interested: Last chance to put yourself into the doodle.

OR!!! we can use our second monitors and watch your chat for you

[Hawx004]

Ether would you also explain some Flaming Cliffs 3 planes? I have no idea if they are easy or hard, but if you do tutorials I will learn with them and show to some friends that are buying the pack