Top 10 Mig-21 Tips For Beginners From A Beginner | DCS

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Slowly getting into the swing of the Fishbed, so here's my guide of the 10 things I wish I knew before trying my first MP match in the Mig-21. Plus a bonus tip because I'm nice (and Enigma explained it in much better detail that I could have here • Mig-21 Flat Turn Guide... ). Anything to add? Anything I get wrong? Leave a comment below!
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0:00 Intro
1:02 1 English Cockpit
2:28 2 Counter-Measures Cover
3:56 3 Gear Safety
5:05 4 Flip All Switches (Except Cam)
6:14 5 Missiles To Position 1
7:26 6 Turn On (And Use) IFF
9:32 7 Use Radar
10:57 8 Afterburner After Takeoff
11:49 9 Afterburner Before Merge
12:55 10 Land Fast
13:48 Bonus Tip Watch Enigma's Video
14:27 Outro

[@AlpineGTA]

I would add, don't forget to arm your cannon! I've had a few occasions where I've had a perfect firing opportunity right in my sights, pulled the trigger and nothing's happened because I've forgotten to arm the gun!

[@Dr_Jebus]

Agree to this. It's not a mistake I've made, but just because it was hammered into me by others before I ever got the 21 XD

[@Tsukuyomi28]

I hate doing it in the jf 17 at least in the mig you just push a button.

[@GulliverStrange]

Usually you have some kind of "fence-in" waypoint where you take care off all this things. After that you talk to your flight ", fence-in (A2A/A2G) complete, (fuel-) state ". And everbody knows you're ready to rumble. * For example if your callsign is Rabbit-3-2, you say "Two".

[@SuperEvilMonkee]

I would add 3 things: 1. Bind and use the emergency Afterburners under 4000m, can really help in a dogfight maintaining speed. 2. Bind the engine restart button and the jettison centre line fuel tank buttons. The switches are in awkward positions to click on in the cockpit. Having them bound WILL save your ass. 3. Put the gyro into missile mode, then when locked onto an enemy aircraft the range finder under the HUD glass will be usable which is very useful for knowing when your very short range missiles are in range (sub 5km usually).

[@ltankhsd]

Came here to say this but you already got it.

[@crazygmanssimstuff]

IMO at the merge if you both see each other you should automatically flip the emergency afterburner switch. this works below 4000m, and gives more thrust the closer to the ground you are, and the closer to Mach 1 you are going, though it will still give you more performance then regular afterburner at all speeds and altitudes below 4000m. You can use it continually for 3 minutes (that means throttle full forward for the entire time, coming off the throttle will allow the turbines to cool, and basically you never have to worry about it causing any damage in game). The emergency afterburner was specifically designed to be used for dogfights, so it should be always turned on if you are actively dogfighting an opponent

[@artao5]

You can land a lot slower if you have flaps on full and use your pitch to control speed and throttle to control altitude. This does indeed involve cranking on the AB sometimes, even 2nd stage. It's a bit backwards to think about at first, but once you get the hang of it it works in a LOT of aircraft. You also need to come in at a shallower descent angle. It can get butt-clenching in the last couple hundred meters, but it works.

[@horstweihrauch1]

oouhh yeah. i will watch this when i am tired of the helos and hop back into the mig21:)

[@dcsheinlein]

as of landing, I learned that it is best to fly the final at 330-350 kph, then when you're over the runway threshold at about 50 meters above ground, you throttle back and let it touchdown at 300 kph.

[@madaxe606]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="61">1:1</a> kills is extremely impressive. I'm still getting Fox 2'd in the back about 95% without ever even having seen the other aircraft before or after the 'merged' call. Any tips for spotting aircraft in MP? That seems to be by far the hardest thing.

[@Dr_Jebus]

Spotting is very hard, especially in the 21. Using overlord/textalord/human-GCI helps to get a bearing. I find the radar on this a god-send. I often lock up a target before I see it. Then can use the lock display to point me right at the target. And wingemen really help. Two pairs of eyes are so much better than one.

[@SuperEvilMonkee]

On the Enigma Cold War server merge is called at 9km out, its not instant. Realizing that really helps you focus on the correct bit of sky

[@madaxe606]

@@SuperEvilMonkee I know how to use Overlord, its actually seeing the bandits that I struggle with. Weirdly I can see them well on Single player. Its only on MP that they seem to disappear. Tacview shows they're in the sky I was looking at, never saw a thing. Frustrating.

[@kittipatkeetist3575]

@@madaxe606 make sure your graphic setting, rendering range set to extreme. in MP server there's so much object and game might reduce render range if performance suffered you can reduce other setting but not range.

[@sebywest3736]

YOU EXPLAINED THIS WELL, THANK YOU 👌👌

[@elysia5379]

Lots of good tips, thanks

[@elysia5379]

Just the tip!

[@snow1-2pinkkush46]

Was of great use thanks you

[@Variety_Pack]

During my approach I maintain a landing speed of around 380kph because it's so much easier to see the runway. Just after crossing over the threshold of the runway, I aim to be at 30m or so and still going 380kph with a descent rate of less than 10m/s. This is easy enough to achieve, just focus on maintaining that speed with full flaps and gear out, and just work the throttle depending on your desired descent angle. Right before touch down, you can cut throttle to about 40% rpm (I like to keep rpm in the bank in case I get a bad bounce - the landing gear is VERY bouncy). When you're settled onto the ground, cut throttle to idle, brakes on and chute out (at >270kph). Avoid using steering inputs until less that 150kph, even if you are off-center. You'll get better at landing straight later, it's just too easy to flip yourself right before you are safe and slow. If you have to do a deadstick landing, turn off non-essential functions like aileron booster, missile heat, radio, and _do not_ deploy flaps or use the normal gear lever (emergency gear deployment I believe uses gravity instead of hydraulics). Save that battery power because it drives the hydraulics that let you control the aircraft. Maintain speed above 550kph as long as possible and avoid deploying the airbrake. TDCS Discord has an excellent PDF on many different emergency procedures.

[@Dr_Jebus]

Cheers for the tips!

[@ianboys1000]

Useful!

[@FighterOperationsGroupFOG]

I learned the hard way about the gear lever protecting switch.

[@void1n]

i've never played dcs in my life and i dont intend to, but i still watch these videos

[@Jerkzilla]

I think the manual/tutorial gives a higher touchdown speed, 330-350kph maybe, haven't checked in a while, but it really works pretty well depending on landing weight. Also AFAIK you're not really supposed to idle the engine until just before touchdown, you need the bleed air flaps and they only work above 80% RPM.

[@conan670431]

its more like 400kph with mid flaps and try to settle over the runway , than back to idle and airbrakes :)

[@LupinYonderboy]

excellent tips! Lots of stuff here that's not immediately obvious. Just a note, you can't enter AB when using the flaps in the landing position. This is because it interferes with the boundary layer control system. I might have covered use of the emergency AB and engine restart but those have been covered in other videos.

[@Dr_Jebus]

Cheers! And yeah, I might do an intermediate tips video at some point with it start, more about after burners and such. The stuff I've learned since doing this video

[@LupinYonderboy]

@@Dr_Jebus my personal tip for A2G : The S24s are probably the migs best A2G weapons but they only fire in pairs and it's often overkill. To fire them one at a time, make an asymmetrical load and pair each S24 with a different type of weapon the opposite wing pylon. Hope that makes sense.

[@Dr_Jebus]

@@LupinYonderboy that does! I need to try ground strike in the 21 at some point. I tend to just go hind if I want to blow up ground targets and red

[@LupinYonderboy]

@@Dr_Jebus I agree but that can be a painful experiance in Enigma Cold war ;-)

[@n4d3m4n]

Sometimes I like taking off without afterburner and keeping low/NOE as the plane slowly gets to speed to save a ton of fuel if I'm light and trying to squeeze out some range.

[@nath-hh2ff]

Been thinking of getting in to the 21 personally, but I'm new to flight sims so I've been trying to become proficient at the f5 before moving around. Also, the gun cam looks like an ashtray.

[@Dr_Jebus]

Haha, yeah. At least you can hide the ugly thing

[@SuperEvilMonkee]

The silver Type 81 IS the IFF, that first switch is for ATC traffic and isn't needed. You MUST turn the silver switch on.

[@Dr_Jebus]

Thank you! I shall continue to flip funny silver switch of make-me-not-teamkill

[@klofisch]

maybe it is woth mention that the 3rd AB-Stage needs to be activated seperatly

[@ruffyfarmracer9498]

That is a sexy little bird. I’ve not yet played as I’m gonna wait till I have Hotas setup, but will definitely learn this one. And while I’m a proud American military retiree, I don’t care about the whole red/blue crap. 😂

[@beaterbagcar]

I like to pretend my squad commandeered some of al-assad's fighters Syria.

[@Ezio_Auditore_Assassin]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="293">4:53</a> is really a fishbed- a fish lies on the bed.

[@Vireca]

Hi Jebus, do you recommend the Mig 21 for a new player? Looking to play it in ECW and it's a very cool aircraft that appeal a lot to me but idk it is very difficult to learn

[@Dr_Jebus]

Absolutely. I'd say the F5 for Bluefor and the Mig21 for red for are the easiest to get to grips with. The 21 is probably a bit more complicated than the F5, mostly because of the radar, but then you have the advantage of having a really good radar to help you spot targets

[@julianmorrisco]

Thanks for this. I’m not exactly a beginner but I learned a couple of things. I do think people make their lives hard, supposedly in the service of ‘immersion’. The Ruzzian language cockpit is a good example. If you were flying a ‘21 IRL, there’s a really good chance you’d be able to speak at least a little Ruzzian. I’m not prepared to learn the language just for my sim-ing activities so I consider using the English language cockpit just fine. Someone who could read a little Ruzzian would be viewing the dials and gauges native, so to speak, so their experience would be similar to someone who spoke English viewing the English language cockpit. Mind you, these people who insist on immersion to the point of making their lives harder would probably be scandalised as I often use ‘dots’, when flying single player anyway. My eyesight is poor, IRL I’d never be allowed to fly a plane, let alone a military one :D.

[@Dr_Jebus]

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Fine if people want to play like that, but for me it's the same as say having a film set in ancient Rome, but having the actors speak English. I feel more immersed when not having to constantly translate, because, as you said, a real Fishbed pilot would not have to be translating in his head.

[@dook_men8240]

The mig-21 needs Fast landing because of its delta wing

[@EuropaTelesBTR]

Useful tips for RED players comrade o7

[@KillerKev1961]

Sir-how can I adjust the roll trim?? The plane rolls left no matter what I do and its a pain in the arse!

[@Dr_Jebus]

There should be aileron trim in the key binds which does it. Search for 'trim' and you should see the list of all available trim buttons

[@KillerKev1961]

@@Dr_Jebus I looked thoroughly, nothing there. Even Grim Reapers stated in his MiG-21bis keybind video that none exists. However, something is causing the left roll, that nobody elses MiG does. Thankd for your input-cheers. Weird.

[@Dr_Jebus]

@@KillerKev1961 Ahh, sorry, I was confusing my modules. You're right that the 21 has no roll trim, only pitch. But yes, it shouldn't roll to the side without an unbalanced load. My only thought is to check the roll and yaw axis bindings and make sure they are correctly centred.

[@Dr_Jebus]

@@KillerKev1961 Only other thing I can think of is airspeed. The 21 is hideously unstable at low airspeeds and so will roll to whichever side it's currently on. This smooths out a lot as soon as you get your speed up.

[@KillerKev1961]

@@Dr_Jebus That may very well be the case. I know that the mods are modeled as the real aircraft is designed and exists. I just found out that the P-47 has a click rudder trim of a notch per adjustment. While trimming the roll, it wont ever be correctly trimmed without using the rudder feature. American jets almost all have 3 axis trim. Im spoiled by that lol. The MiG 21 has so much to adjust, monitor and worry about-the engine easily shuts down due to intake airflow interruption. Thats always fun! Its rapidly becoming my least fav. no wonder its a hit and run interceptor. Its not a dogfighter-and the visibility behind is horrendous.

[@rathlingthelittleone4329]

im sorry but your voice hurts my throat... somehow...

[@AbsolutelyFishman]

I turned the volume way down because the whistle he makes when he pronounces an S was legit hurting my ears lol. Feel bad because the video is very good otherwise, its just that one thing and its probably not something he can help