Thinking of getting into DCS World? It’s a big complicated experience getting yourself into a combat flight simulator, however, this guide is here to help you sort through your choices and get into some aerial combat.

This guide is a work in progress and may be edited frequently.

Free to play?

The core of the DCS World experience, the initial game install, a couple of airplanes, a couple of maps, multiplayer and the mission builder are freely available. That means that you can download and try out DCS World and see if the sim works on your home PC before getting invested into it with paid aircraft, scenarios and scenery packages.

The freely available content is limited in several ways that we’ll get into so while it’s a good way to get going with the sim, you will likely have to purchase additional pieces of content to satisfy most needs with the simulator.

How DCS works

While DCS is free to play, you’ll probably be looking at buying some additional content for the sim. Each addition to the sim is called a module and they tend to break down into a couple of different categories.

Aircraft in the Flaming Cliffs series, currently at Flaming Cliffs 2024, are detailed in their flight models, cockpits, and exterior models, however, they have simplified systems and no clickable cockpits (i.e. you can’t interact with them using your mouse – only key commands on your keyboard or HOTAS joystick setup). Flaming Cliffs aircraft are offered in a bundle as well making them relatively cheap to purchase as well.

This simplifies the experience somewhat and offers a good way to get into DCS World without reading through a complicated manual or watching YouTube tutorials – more on that in a bit.

The vast majority of content in the sim these days are considered DCS World level modules. These are signified with their “DCS:” brand infront of the aircraft or content in question. These are highly complex and detailed simulations of combat aircraft and helicopters with clickable cockpits, detailed systems, start-up procedures, and system capabilities. If you ever wanted to know how an F/A-18 Hornet or an AH-64 Apache works, these will give you a detailed experience with a few limitations on capabilities for secrecy – these are after all reasonably modern airplanes often being simulated.

The prices are high, however, the experience and learning process will require in-depth learning to get the most out of each of them and that means that your dollar is often well spent.

In addition to aircraft, there are also purchaseable campaigns and scenery packages that extend the experience. A few unique options such as Combined Arms give you control of ground units and DCS: Supercarrier adds a very detailed and interactive aircraft carrier to the sim. It works best with the DCS: F/A-18C and DCS: F-14.

Learning a module

DCS World modules, due to their real-world modeled complexity and simulation, will often require extensive learning before getting going. Unless you’re already trained on an F-16C, you’ll probably want to spend some time learning the jet before you take it into a combat situation.

Various sources of information are available including official and unofficial YouTube based tutorials that will take you through the basics of the module and provide in-depth information on how to use each piece of it. It can take many hours to master but you can start having fun pretty quickly with these.

Tutorial missions are sometimes, though not always offered, and printed help guides typically available on websites can help with the experience as well.

Set yourself up with small goals, don’t try and do too much at once, and give yourself time to learn and cement each task before moving on to the next. You’ll grow into a competent and capable combat pilot capable of handling single and multiplayer scenarios.

Which module should I buy?

DCS World offers a variety of modules spread out across several time periods and types of aircraft. It has helicopters and fixed wing aircraft with some of those aircraft coming from the World War II era, some coming from the Korean war, some from the intervening Cold War era, and yet others offering a more modern experience typically covering the 1990s through 2010 era depending on the aircraft or helicopter in question.

Choosing a module is highly specific to the individual. Do you want a modern combat jet with complex guided weapons or are you more interested in the rough and tumble of a Cold War era interceptor? Maybe you want to fly something from the WWII era? Or maybe you want to avoid all of that and fly helicopters! Some, like the UH-1H Huey and CH-47F Chinook are less focused on combat and more logistics based aircraft as well with more limited combat abilities. The range of options available is significant!

Many people choose an aircraft like the DCS: F/A-18C Hornet or DCS: F-16C Viper. These are popular choices in single and multiplayer. Both are high performance jets with significant multi-role capabilities – they can perform almost any mission.