you played FA 18 Hornet in 2004 , which was completely different sim than DCS is . IMO , you should try the Su 25 T , which is free and see where it gets you . Do you even like this type of study sim ? Should you be investing money and time in it ? Su 25 T is dumbed down by DCS standards , it ' s FC 3 fidelity type of plane , the simulation is nowhere near as complex as , say , MiG 21 . DCS is a few magnitudes more complex than older flight sims , to the point of ridiculousness I still can ' t wrap my mind around the amount of work that went into the Ka 50 module , it ' s ridiculously complex , you learn basic skills to fly it quite well in about a month or two , but to master all of it ' s systems , that takes years . I , personally , have this bingetype of DCS simming . I play extensively for about a month , to the point , where I am no longer entertained . Then I take a 2 month break and start anew . Or , some days , I am too tired from work to even bother with simming . I just can ' t be that much focused to handle all the complexity , focus on flying , altitude , speed , ABRIS computer , navigation , targets , enemy planes , watch for overtorque , search for potential threats , fight with the autopilot , all at once , it can be quite demanding . So yeah , try the Su 25 and you will see .