I decided to turn off all the labels. Now the problem is, I have no clue where anything/anyone is. If I do manage to find something I don't know if it is friendly or enemy. Do you play with labels? If not, how do you know where to look and at what to shoot?

F10 map and/or the briefing often lets you know what's on each side simply by where it's located.

If you're looking the TGP IR (WHOT) is my fav for finding vehicles. If there's a JTAC available he'll often know about anything and everything.

I found it really helpful to watch/listen to Bunyap's various mission playthroughs to get a sense of good target acquisition (at least in DCS mission terms). He's pretty good about not just flying the mission, but giving a breakdown of what he's doing and why, as he goes along.

The Smerch Hunt playthrough focuses on hitting a series of mostly stationary targets using different (and increasingly complex) acquisition methods for each, so it might be pretty relevant.

- Most missions have a waypoint set up near the target area. Set yourself in an Autopilot ALT Hold circle, set the suspected waypoint as the current steerpoint, then China-Aft-Long to scoot the TGP to that point, then zoom out and look around a bit. In DCS, most missions seem pretty forgiving about letting you take your sweet time, so you can drift around in circles at high altitude like a hawk, looking for a target pretty much as long as you've got fuel.

- If you found yourself a juicy looking target with the TGP, at the very least make a quick check on the TAD to make sure that the TGP diamond indicator isn't over a bunch of green X's (friendlies). If you're not sure, there's usually plenty of time to make another orbit and doublecheck where everyone is before engaging.

- If there's a JTAC around, give them a call and let them pick a target for you. Dealing with the JTAC has its own set of challenges, but at least in the sim you can always pause to write things down / get your bearings.

Its a game. The goal is to have fun. Put the labels on and don't look back.

What Mikado said is excellent advise.

I would also like to ad something about dealing with threats. If you're flying over friendlies they're obviously not going to give you warnings on your RWR. You need to get used to the different types of threats and their respective ranges that you will see flying into a target area as they appear on your RWR. So study up on the different SAM and AAA units and how they appear on your RWR and the detection and threat ranges.

A shilka has a very limited active detection range, somewhere around 3-5 miles and it will usually show up on your inner ring on your RWR when it starts tracking you. You can use this information to guide yourself into and out of the target area and as a search tool. For instance if you are traveling at a heading of 300 on your flight route and the shilka appears on your RWR at about 60 degrees to the right, you can rightly assume that he's to the North of your position. Turn South and fly a few miles and then turn back North and he should appear on your RWR directly ahead of you or due North. Now you know that as you fly into that target area you can look with your TGP in that direction scanning around about 7 or 8 miles in front of you and you should be able to pick him up. You may have to triangulate a couple times to get a better idea but with a little practice and patience you can determine where they are hiding.

A SA15 Tor has a longer detection range, closer to 15 miles and will appear at first on the outer ring of your RWR. They're easier to triangulate on and get a good idea where they're at as long as you stay out of their firing range. If it starts to appear on your inner ring of your RWR you're in serious trouble so work on finding them first and staying out of their range. Once you realize that he's in a certain direction by using your compass and RWR to triangulate and then point your nose towards him, you can set your TGP at about 15 miles and scan around to see if you can spot him.

I use this method a lot and try to stay outside the threats until I know where they're located and can deal with them. Prioritize your threats and deal with them first before you attempt to enter the AO and take out any other ground units. If you get overwhelmed and start losing SA, fly back towards your previous waypoint and regain your SA.

Also, it helps if you increase your brightness and contrast on your TGP so the heat signatures stand out a little better. You also get better detail if you adjust the focus. It's mapped on mine but I think it's DMS Left Short.

The main thing is, flying with labels off is hard and exciting like it's supposed to be. You have to use your eyes and tools that you have available to find and deal with everything in your environment. It's also very gratifying when you are able to successfully carry out your mission without having to use labels. JTAC can also help you out but they're not always available just like in real life. But if they are, you need to know how to enter L/L or UTM coordinates into the CDU. Youtube has a lot of videos available on the subject.

Dude, I fly with easy avionics on.

I never use labels what I do use is map view and also the mission will give an idea as to where the tgt is. If you find the tgt visually which does happen then you can make it an SPI by TMS forward long. And this will give a markpoint over the tgt for you to use and steer towards. When using a JTAC they will give you a grid coordinate and you can enter this in the CDU, from there when you select that steerpoint, make it an SPI just v long and it will slew the tgtpod to the SPI. Another trick external view on ground vehicles gives its grid coordination. (cheating I know but if you run into problems like where on earth are they?)

It sort of defeats the purpose to fly on easy avionics with the A-10C because IMO it is a freckin easy and awesome jet to fly the setup is very much like the F-16s so RTFM and have fun with it. You miss out on a lot by not finding out more about the HOG and its capabilities.

When flying FAC I find that tgts can be found a number of ways over the terrain one way is movement and dust being thown up. Another way is vehicles can appear as black dots that flicker from a distance sometimes.

Check out the CDU tutorials here:

http://en.wiki.eagle.ru/wiki/DCS_A-10C_Guides,_Tutorials_and_Reference_Documents

Following this you can enter the cords to follow JTACs instructions for hitting tgts.

Some mission builders and servers run with the enemy assets hidden so the F10 map view is pretty much useless. You will need detailed briefings (if they are), waypoint names/actions, JTAC (if available), RWR and good use of the TGP.

Yes, this.

Warning: after writing the post and rereading it- it May sound like I'm speaking from atop my little mountain of m4d skillz.
Please noes- I'm pretty average.

It took me a long time to be proficient with the A10 and I've still quite a road to go. All I'm writing comes from simple experience.

-------------
I think the issue here is more tied to the atavic need to see/know all.
Whether this is caused by the typical all-seeing-eye of past games or a more common of fear of the unknown- I can't tell.
I know I had the same issue, for a bit of both this causes.

My suggestion here is very very simple- take it easy.
Consider this, many pilots have little to no clue about most of the forces on the ground. It's quite unnecessary- really.

What you (and we all, I can add) DO need is a thorough briefing and a realistic mission.
All you need is to know what you have to do in the mission, therefore you must have a target with a location, the areas with active threats, and quite possibly the direction and distance to closest friendly forces.

Usually the mission target is close or under a specific waypoint.
Use that a starting point and use the best sensor you have for the task you need.

At night pick IR, during daylight... too. I jest, I jest... beside the IR representation in DCS is pretty lacking...

Take the time you need to enrout to the target to do some housekeeping, check the sensors range and azimuth, sort out in your mind possible approaches, think forward to an egress versus- etc. etc.

I know these suggestions don't look like much, but give it a try and load the first Instant Action of the A10C (Summer Georgia? If memory serves me right). It gives you very simple and increasingly difficult tasks.

All with the aid of very well structured waypoints and voiceovers.

Do that over and over again, until you build your proficiency. Which must be twofold, if you allow me to write a little longer.
Don't forget that you're not simply learning to use a vehicle, but that same vehicle must be used to best other ones.

So you need to build your proficiency INSIDE the office (building muscle memory, learning to set and employ given pieces of electronics without thinking singles steps) AND flying the thing within useful flight envelopes!

Since I don't know anything about your skill level I'll be very basic.
My suggestion is to actually learn these two things separately.
Not necessarily mutually exclusively (you master the plane and only them master the electronics), you can easily alternate flight-mission with combat-missions...

But to do both at once can really prove frustrating.
To help me with this I made a couple missions where I simply take off with a full fuel load and the Sniper pod and simply try to fly at my best to a randomized enemy group at a semi-random position. Then I try to find the fokkers.
Start with ships of different size in the water and when you feel good, move to smaller ones on the ground.

Then I can fly back and practice circuits for landing.

Second mission includes some mix of un/guided weaponry and then landing.
This landing thing is very important. If you value immersion in flight sims, I find that bringing back your bird to home plate is a multi-sided interesting business.

Firstly it helps you realizing that cycling takes time and pushes you (well it does for me) to use wisely every minute you spend over the target.
Secondly, it makes you fly a bird with different dynamics in the same mission. You start with an heavier load (fuel and payload) and come back with little of both.
It's funny how funny procedures do quite change...
And lastly makes you actually practice with something you really need to. For every landing you make in good condition, makes you a little better for when you'll be (eventually) back with a wounded 'Hawg or maybe in caustic weather...
You may even want to try and learn the ILS system (:P Guilty here, never even powered once, sorry!)

Third part has shooting guys and eventually bad or low light weather.
I'll stop now- sorry for the lengthy post.

Cheers!

PS: Let me know if you want to read a bit more, if you need any more info or suggestion about missions, or even if you want to fly the Hawg together. I know some guys who would love to have a new Brother in Hawgs (The Professionals of course!).

I never use labels.

Most important for finding targets is a decent briefing. You should know beforehand where to expect possible targets. Then it's just a matter of observation. Engage altitude autopilot and fly wide circles. Use the TGP with thermal imaging. Take your time. If you find something, use mark points for further reference.

And practice, practice, practice...

Hear, hear! (Or is it, "here, here!"?)


Hear, hear, hear, hear!! (Or is it, "here, here, here, here!!"?)

[edit: mystery googled - http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6690/hear-hear-or-here-here ]

Although...I still get frustrated with the difference in resolution between my computer screen and what my eye can really see. For ground targets, once I find them, I use larger references in the area (notch in a field, triangulation between buildings and a tree, etc.) to relocate them, if I have to look away. I have not found a method that works the same with aerial targets - once I break padlock it's very difficult for me to find them again. I don't fly IRL regularly anymore, but being able to see moving aircraft at distance is much easier in real life than in most sims - no fault of the sims, it's just a limitation of the technology.

They are right down there -->




WC