¶ Important Discord Channels
| Channel Name | Purpose |
|---|---|
#attendance |
This channel has all event RSVP messages and is where you’ll mark your attendance each week. |
#air-tasking-orders |
This channel contains all briefing information for the current week’s operations. ATOs are usually posted within 24 hours of an operation |
#documentation |
This channel contains commonly accessed information such as server information / passwords |
#announcements |
This channel contains important group wide announcements from squadron leadership and admins |
 Ready Room |
This voice channel is where all of the ops’ briefings happen, only approved speakers can speak while the rest can only listen. More on that in the Operations- Briefing section |
🗪operations-room |
This is a group of channels for our operations, each op will have its own channel within that group |
If you need help with anything in DCS, whether it be mod installation, how to do something in aircraft, or what to practice for a checkride, feel free to ask in #csg8, #dcs, or #general, whatever feels most appropriate to you.
¶ Roster
The CSG8 roster can be found at https://roster.vcsg8.com and contains all personnel information, such as promotion tracking, attendance, and squadron rosters.
¶ DCS Open Beta
We use the latest version of DCS World Open Beta. If you are currently on stable, you will need to switch to open beta by following the instructions in this DCS Forums Post
¶ Mission Mods and Squadron Liveries
CSG-8 uses OvGME to distribute mods and liveries to its members. Instructions to setup OvGME can be found here.
Currently any mod marked **REQUIRED** should be downloaded as it is necessary for all server missions, and **RECOMMENDED** mods are mods that are likely to show up in campaign missions. If you have the space, we recommend installing all mods.
¶ SRS
SRS is a free opensource VoIP program – similar to TeamSpeak and Discord that allows you to easily communicate in the DCS MP environment using the inbuilt aircraft radios. SRS is the primary way we communicate during missions, checkrides and quals.
Install SRS via the SRS Getting Started page.
¶ Getting Started with Checkrides
During your first month or so in CSG8 you will be expected to pass a CASE I qualification if you are in a naval squadron, and a combat checkride in all aircraft.
Don’t worry though!
We are not expecting you to know everything, especially radio communications.
Our standard for the CASE I qualification is can you get the aircraft on the boat without hitting someone else, semi-consistently? We don’t care about anything else. We know that expertise and competency comes after this check ride for newer players. Likewise, we are not expecting you to be experts at employing your chosen aircraft’s weapons, we just want to see a basic understanding of how switchology in your aircraft works, and that you know how to get the weapon to come off of the pylon.
Please, don’t put this off because you’re worried about failing. We don’t want to fail anyone and want you to participate in operations. Your proctor will help you during the qualifications and we are all here to answer your questions. Everone here started out not knowing anything about how to fly a fighter jet in DCS.
Also note that these quals only need to be done once.
¶ Scheduling
To schedule a qual, in your squad channels ping/tag @LT and ask to schedule one. If you would like to first practice for one, feel free to schedule a practice round instead first.
¶ Checkride Links
¶ Carrier Air Wing
- Case I Recovery Qual Rubric, this is what the proctor will be using for the qual, the procedure can be found here. This is more for you to know what to expect, we’re not looking for a perfect execution - just make sure you are able to trap at least 3 out of 5 times (wave offs don’t count against you) and semi familiar with the procedure
- (Optional) Case III Recovery Qual Rubric and procedure. Some of the ops have a Case III or II recovery, and in order to participate in these a Case III qual is required
- VF-11 Checkrides (F-14)
- VFA-81 Checkrides (F/A-18C)
- VFA-45 Getting Started (F/A-18C)
¶ Air Wing 13
¶ Connecting to Our Servers
The server names passwords, and other info can be found in this #documentation channel message. Once Open Beta, SRS, and OvGME have all been set up you should be able to connect to server #3. If you’re unable to do so, please send a message ih #csg8 and someone will help you.
¶ Operations
This is the fun part, where you get to fly, bomb some runways, shoot down Migs, or potentially earn a callsign. Saturdays for the Carrier Air Wing (F-14 + F/A-18C) and Fridays for Air Wing 13 (F-16 + F-15E).
¶ Signups
Review Attendance section in the SOP, to sign up click on your squadrons icon under the event message, or the 
button to mark as Not Attending.
Example of a signup message in Discord:
The time shown under Time is in your Local time.
In this example Ginz clicked on the VFA-81 icon button shown in the picture and his name was added to the VFA-81 list. This is how you mark attendance (make sure to click on your squadron’s icon).
And this is how it looks like when marking Not Attending:
To sum up, click on the icon of your squadron on the specific event you want to attend or the button. Make sure your name shows up in the correct list.
¶ Operation Planning
Before the operation, flight planning will take place in the 🗪operations-room forum. You simply need to locate the forums post that matches the operation title.
Please ask all questions you have specific to that operation in that forum post, and don’t be afraid to ask questions, as you’re probably not the only person with a particular question. You will also see flight leads talking about plans and the mission planner handing out briefing products as they are available in that channel if you want to get a head start on the briefing.
¶ Flight Composition
Before every op a Flight Comp will be filled out, you can find it at https://roster.vcsg8.com/ in the CVW1 Flight Comp tab for Carrier Wing ops or AWS13 Flight Comp for Air Wing ops. Once filled (usually someone pings the squadron once it is) find your name in there to see which flight you’re in. The name at the top of your flight is your Flight Lead, and the number to the left of your name is what you’ll use your multiplayer player name, explained below in Joining The Server.
¶ Schedule
Ops usually take about 2h, and occassionally 2-3h. Almost every op follows the following schedule:
- ~15m At event start time - Briefing
- ~15m Interflight briefing (there’s a voice channel for each flight). This is where brief the flight plan and objectives, and review/ask any questions you might have.
- Server unfreeze - the mission is now live (on server #3 unless announced otherwise). Flights begin to spawn in
Some ops have two events, separated by an hour, where the second event joins the server while the first event is live. These are sometimes referred to as Cyclic Ops.
¶ Briefing
At the beginning of each event there’s a ~15m briefing. The briefing itself happens in the Ready Room voice chat room, only approved speakers can speak there and the rest can only listen. Usually there’s a 2-3m wait for members to trickle in, so don’t worry if you don’t hear anything for the first few minutes!
The mission briefer will have a question and answer session for flight leads and the AIC at the end of the briefing, please direct all your questions to your flight lead in DM during the briefing.
You can figure out who your flight lead is by checking the flight composition.
¶ Joining The Server / Set Multiplayer Callsign
Our ops are almost always on Server #3 (find more info on how to join here).
If you don’t see our server, and don’t fly that often, ensure that DCS is up to date. We always run the latest version of DCS Open Beta. If you use the DCS Multithreaded client (
bin-mt\dcs.exe) please keep in mind that that executable DOES NOT check for updates on launch.
Before you join the server please set your name using the following format:
| Department | Format | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Navy | {Modex} | {Flight Name}{Position in Flight} | {Your Name (Optional)} |
403 | SOL13 | Casio |
| Air Force | {Flight Name}{Position in Flight} | {Your Name(Optional)} } |
PLASMA41 | Shepard |
In this example, for the Navy you are the 3rd member of SOL1, with modex 403. For the Air Force, you are the first member of PLASMA4. The formats Sol13,Sol 3-1, Sol 13 are equally acceptable as long as they convey the critical information of what your tactical callsign is.
Names are optional as they might not fit, but this information is critical for our AICs to be able to identify you on scope.
You can find all of that info Flight Comp, explained in the Flight Composition section.
¶ (Optional) Livery
Once you spawn, in the DCS Loadout menu (Radio Button -> F8 -> F1 Load Supplies) choose your squadron’s livery if you’ve installed it through OvGME
¶ New Members Frequently Asked Questions
¶ Can I bring friends onto CSG8 servers?
Generally speaking yes, as long as they are not going to be disruptive to training that might be going on. Guests of normal members are not permitted during operations, they must join the group to participate in operations.
¶ When will I know what flight I’m in for an operation?
Probably the day of, the night before at the earliest. Each squadron does their own flight comps once they have solid attendance figures.
¶ When is the briefing released?
Again, probably the day of, or the night before. The mission making team/mission maker will likely have a text ATO or other briefing products available in an 🗪operations-room thread before the mass briefing is available.
¶ If I’m not sure I can attend, should I sign up?
The RSVP process is to ensure that mission makers have accurate head counts so the difficulty of missions can be tuned appropriately.
If you’re more sure than not you can attend, and you want to attend, feel free to sign up, and don’t hesitate to let the mission maker or your squadron leadership know that there is a chance you might not be able to make it.
If you’re more sure than not that you cannot attend, we would ask that you not sign up, and if you happen to be able to fly on that day, check to see if there is a free slot available (not guaranteed).
¶ What happens if I fail a checkride?
Basically nothing. Your proctor will tell you what you need to improve on, and you can retake it after a day or so once you feel ready again.