Missions tutorial

Chimera Missions are scheduled operations: day, time, server, map and seats. Everything happens on the site and on Chimera's Discord — the server only opens for the mission when it's time.

1. 01
   Open Missions

   In the site's menu, click Missions (or go straight to chimeradcs.com/missoes).

2. 02
   Sign in with Discord

   The site only asks for your Discord name, ID and avatar (the "identify" permission). No e-mail, servers or messages.

3. 03
   Link DCS

   Open your menu, in the corner of the site (your name), and click Link DCS. The site shows a code: join any Chimera server and type -link followed by the code in the game chat. The page notices by itself when you have typed it.

The Missions tab shows what's In progress first and then the Upcoming missions, as an agenda: grouped by the day they start (Today, Tomorrow, Saturday 24 October…), one row per mission with the time, server, map, duration, who created it and how many seats are taken. Clicking a mission opens its own page (chimeradcs.com/missoes/…), with everything about it; "All missions", or the browser's Back, returns to the agenda.

• When: the day, the start and end time in your time zone, and how long until it starts.
• Name in DCS: how the server appears in the DCS server list during the mission.
• Briefing on Discord: the channel where the start call happens — Join the channel opens Discord.
• Required modules: ✓ what you've already marked in My modules, ○ what's missing. Each one is a download link.

Taking a seat

1. 01
   Pick the position

   In the flights, click Free on the position you want (e.g. DEVIL-3, pilot). Two-seaters have pilot and backseater seats (RIO, CPG).

2. 02
   You need to own the aircraft

   If the aircraft isn't in My modules, the site asks whether you own it — confirm, and it goes into your modules and the seat is yours. See my modules, in the same window, takes you to the list.

3. 03
   Swapping is confirmed

   If you already have a seat and take another, the site confirms first: your old seat is freed for someone else straight away.

Missions with both sides (PvP)

On a mission with pilots on both sides, each flight shows its side — BLUE or RED — and a band in that colour on top. You take a seat on the side you want to fly for.

On an open mission with both sides, pilots show by side and aircraft, and picking the aircraft asks for the side too (Blue or Red). The + on a card joins that card's side. To switch sides, pick again.

Late? Ask for a seat

Once the mission has started, free seats turn into Ask for seat: the creator gets the request (in the console and on Discord) and accepts or declines it. You get a message with the answer; Withdraw request gives up.

Can't make it?

Use Leave mission at the foot of the card. In the last 24 hours, give the reason (optional): the creator and the admins are told and your seat goes to whoever is on the waitlist. Letting people know frees the seat for another pilot.

The password and the reminders

• The server password shows on the card, for those with a seat, from 24 hours before the start — with Show and Copy. Anyone who hasn't signed up doesn't see it.
• The bot sends you a Discord message: a reminder 24 hours before (with the password) and another 1 hour before.
• The server opens 30 minutes before the start under the name "[Chimera Missions] …". Join through there.

Sharing and private missions

Each mission has its own page, and its address is the link to share (chimeradcs.com/missoes/…): copy it from the browser's address bar, or use Share, at the top of the mission. It opens that mission, with "All missions" to go back to the agenda. A private mission is shared only through Share: the address bar never carries its key.

In the My modules tab, mark every DCS aircraft, map and add-on you own. The list is yours (not the server's) and works on the site and on Discord (/modules), in any server.

• Filter searches by name; the list is split into aircraft, helicopters, maps and add-ons.
• The marked modules also give you the module roles on Chimera's Discord.
• Got a new module? Mark it here before signing up — or confirm it on the spot when you take the seat.

A mission closes once everyone has left the server after its end — or, at the latest, 1h30 after the end. It leaves the board and goes to the Closed tab, marked Completed or Cancelled.

The leaderboard

Open a completed mission to see its leaderboard: each pilot with points, K/D, deaths, kills (A/A, A/G, Helo, SEAD), sorties and time on the server. Click a column title to sort by it; your row is highlighted.

• Anyone on the server without a linked Discord shows at the end, with their time, marked "not linked": what they did is counted already and joins the board once they link.
• Hover a time to see when each one joined.
• Underneath: how many pilots were on the server and their time in all, and the sign-ups nobody saw on the server.

What each pilot did

Click a pilot's name to open their log: every take-off, kill, loss and hit, with the time and what it was worth.

• Hits: each line is one unit and one weapon — how many times and how much of the unit's health this pilot took. Every gun round on the same tank folds into one line.
• Hits on a friendly show as Friendly fire, marked FF, and take points off.
• At the bottom, the total: kills by column, hits, damage, losses, take-offs and the points — the same as the pilot's row on the leaderboard.

How the points are counted

Points come from what happened on the server (DCS's events), never from the mission's scripts. By default:

The bot's commands work in any Discord server, in direct messages and even in servers without the bot (install it on your account). Your seat, your modules and your DCS link are the same as on the site.

The reminders

• Each mission becomes a Discord event, with the image and the time — mark "interested" so Discord reminds you too.
• 24 hours before, a message arrives with your seat and the server password; 1 hour before, another.
• Can't make it? Use the Não vou participar (I'm not going) button on the message itself: the seat is freed straight away and goes to whoever is on the waitlist. The reason is optional.
• A seat opened up for you on the waitlist, the creator moved you, the mission's password changed or it was cancelled: you get a message.

Mission Creators build and run their own operations on Chimera's mission server. To become one, ask on Discord with /creator (or in the I want to create missions tab) — an admin approves it. After that it becomes the Create mission tab, with the form.

1 · The mission

Title, briefing (what the pilots read: objective, rules, radio) and the event image (PNG, JPG or WebP). Without an image, it uses Chimera's cover.

Picking the image opens the editor: drag to move, use the wheel (or the slider) to zoom, turn it on the ruler. Only what's inside the bright frame stays, at 2.5:1 — that's how it shows on the site and on Discord. The original is kept whole: Adjust reopens the editor whenever you like.

2 · When and where

Date, time (in your time zone), duration, server and map. Only the maps installed on the chosen server show up. Visibility and the mission file (.miz) go here too.

Private hides the mission until the time you choose (always on the hour): until then only you, the admins and whoever has the link see it and sign up. Then it goes public and reaches Discord. The maximum is a share of the time until the start — the site shows how far. A public mission can't go private again.

3 · Pilots

Choose "Seats in flights" (set positions) or "Open" (any aircraft, with a limit). In flights, + Add flight: aircraft, callsign, number, task and the side — Blue or Red. With flights on both sides, the mission is PvP.

On an open mission, pick the side too: Blue or Red (everyone flies for it) or Both — then it's PvP, and each pilot picks a side when signing up.

• Requirements: what the pilots need installed (SRS comes marked). The card shows each one with its download link.
• Briefing channel on Discord: a Discord invite (discord.gg/…) or Chimera's Discord. It shows on the card as the meeting point; left empty, the card doesn't mention Discord.

4 · AWACS (GCI) and ATC

+ AWACS on each side that will have a controller (up to 5 per side, each with its own): the card lights up in the side's colour. Pick the aircraft (the radar's range changes), the SRS frequency and what the controller does with tankers.

• Radar identification — Easy: every contact arrives identified. Simulated (IFF): only those who answer IFF are friendly; the rest arrive unknown and the controller classifies them.
• Tankers — Orders and launch: the controller gives orders to the mission's tankers and launches their own. Orders only: they only give orders to the ones the mission already has. Off: the controller doesn't touch the tankers — you still can, through the console.
• Own tankers: Per AWACS (each AWACS has its own count, the number beside it) or Side total (the AWACS of a side share one number; first come, first served).

+ ATC creates airfield controller slots (up to 5 per side). With the mission window open, each ATC takes an airfield on the map and their radio joins the tower frequencies (see ATC: taking a tower).

5 · Server in DCS

The server's name in the DCS list (after "[Chimera Missions]"), the password and the player limit. The server opens with them when the window opens (if it's already open, it restarts with them). Anyone with a seat gets the password by message.

6 · Server options

• Real air traffic: real flights in the region (ADS-B) show up as neutral traffic.
• Splash Damage: bigger, more realistic explosions, without it having to be in the .miz.
• Pilots' Tacview: "Own aircraft only" or "All units". It's about the Tacview each pilot runs on their own computer — Chimera records nothing. "All units" shows them every unit's position in real time, enemies included — you could cheat with Tacview open as an external map.

Finally, Preview shows the card as the pilots will see it. Publish it: the bot creates the event and the announcement on Discord (a private mission only reaches Discord once it goes public).

Changing it after publishing

The Edit button on the card opens the same form. Flights already published change straight away (add, edit, reorder), without taking anyone out of their seat; the rest applies on save. A new password goes by message to everyone with a seat. Cancel mission, at the foot of the card, notifies everyone signed up.

On your mission's card, each person has a ⋯ beside their name — in the flights, the AWACS and the ATC. It opens what you can do with them, before and during the mission.

• Move to another seat: a red banner says who you're moving and every free seat becomes Move here — free AWACS and ATC slots included. Esc or Cancel gives up.
• To the waitlist: takes the person out of the seat and onto that flight's waitlist.
• Remove from the mission (or from the AWACS, or the ATC): with an optional reason. The seat goes to whoever is on the waitlist.
• In every case the person gets a message on Discord.

Seat requests

Once the mission has started, latecomers ask for a free seat. The requests show on the card (Seat requests) and in the console, in the Players tab, and reach you as a Discord message: Accept puts the person in the seat, Decline tells them no.

Upload the .miz in the form or later, with the .miz file button at the foot of the card (and, with the window open, below the map in the console). Each upload becomes a version.

1. 01
   Checks

   Each version goes through VirusTotal (the progress shows live), the file's contents, the map (it must be installed on the server) and the scripts.

2. 02
   Approved

   It goes to the mission server. When the window opens (30 minutes before the start), the newest approved one is loaded, paused — no need to choose. When the mission ends, the server goes back to its own mission.

3. 03
   Once it's open

   With the mission open and a version already loaded, a new version only goes in when you choose it in the console: the mission restarts, paused. With none loaded yet, the first approved one goes in by itself.

The Open console button shows on your mission's card 30 minutes before the start and works until the mission closes (once everyone leaves after the end, or 1h30 after the end).

The bar and the server state

• The mission opens paused. When everyone is ready, click Resume (green); Pause (yellow) holds the mission at any time. The state shows a spinning radar while it runs, and for how long.
• Restart mission reloads the mission from the start (paused) and asks what to do with the drawings and the weather.
• Ends in and Control closes in: how long until the mission ends and until the console closes.
• Configure ↓ scrolls down to the settings, below the map (it's highlighted before the start — that's when you need it). ⤢ (or Alt+F) puts the console in full screen.
• PT | EN switches the screen's language, like the site's: the page reloads on the same screen, in English or Portuguese. The console, the AWACS and the ATC all have it.

Talking on the radio (SRS)

The radio in the strip puts you on the mission's SRS, like a controller, without opening SRS: up to 9 radios at once, each on its own frequency and side (blue, red or both). On SRS you show as "[Controle] your name" (your DCS name if linked).

• The radio goes on the air by itself and reconnects if it drops. You hear every radio; whoever is talking shows beside the frequency.
• Each radio has its own TX (the talk button transmits on those ticked), its RX (heard or muted) and Here only (hold to talk on that one alone). Drag by the handle to reorder; changing a frequency or side reconnects for a moment.
• The mark in the strip (● blue, ◆ red) is everyone's side: one click moves them all to the next side.
• Hold Hold to talk (or the push-to-talk key — Space, unless you changed it) to transmit. The microphone icon sets your voice's volume.
• Only one tab stays on the air: the last one you used. Opened the console (or an AWACS, or an ATC) in another tab? The first shows "in another tab" — click it to bring the radio back.

The map and the tools

The tools sit on the left of the map, each with its key: Select (S), Unit (U), Smoke (F), Flare (L), Illumination (I), Explosion (E), Draw (D) and Ruler (R). With a tool picked, click the map: the form opens beside the point. At the bottom, a hint reminds you what each mouse button does.

Right-clicking any point opens the same menu on the spot: create units, smoke, flare, illumination bomb, explosion, clear the area, text or drawing on F10, measure from there, copy the coordinates and centre the map. On a unit, the menu starts with its own actions.

• Layers, in the top corner: Units, Drawings and Shots (missiles, bombs and rounds in flight).
• Effects show on the map once the server runs them: the explosion, the smoke drifting with the wind, the flare, the illumination.

Aircraft and helicopters come out armed for the chosen task and at the skill you set. Air defence creates a complete SAM site (radars, launchers and command post). Ground units have an alert level and rules of engagement.

The tabs

• Players: who is on the server and the seat requests. Click a player to send a message to their screen, move them to spectator, kick or block them from this mission. Map follows the player on the map.
• Units: every unit in the mission, by side — click one to control it (see Controlling units).
• Tankers: each side's tankers (see Tankers through the console).
• Chat: the game chat, live. What you write goes out with your name in front.
• Notice: a text on everyone's screen (or one side's) for 15 seconds.
• Radio: a voice speaks your text on SRS, on the frequencies you choose. The text also shows on screen, with the frequencies in front — e.g. [251.000 MHz AM] Cleared for takeoff.
• Drawing: the drawings on the F10 map (see Drawing on the F10 map).
• Log: what happened on the server through the console — pauses, units created, notices, the AWACS and tankers airborne.

It works for the mission's units and the ones you created: click it on the map or in the Units tab. The order goes to the unit's whole group and replaces what it was doing. You pick points and targets on the map: a dashed line joins the unit to what you picked.

Order

• Pick on the map: the cursor turns into a crosshair and a banner on the map says what to click. Esc or Cancel gives up.
• Attack: click the target unit on the map.
• Land: the mission's airfields, nearest first.

Behaviour

Rules of engagement, threat reaction and radar (aircraft), alert (ground), RTB at bingo, AI on (ground and ships), immortal and invisible to AI. DCS doesn't report the current behaviour, so everything starts on Keep — only what you change is sent.

More: smoke, explode, remove

• Smoke: a coloured smoke on top of the unit.
• Explode: a charge goes off where the unit is; if it survives, it's removed from the game.
• Remove from game: the unit vanishes, with no explosion.

The tools

• Text, Line, Arrow, Polygon, Rectangle, Circle, CAP and Corridor — the shapes the DCS F10 map draws.
• Colour (amber, cyan, red, green or white), solid, dashed or dotted line, and Fill for areas.
• Name: shows beside the drawing. With Name on F10 unticked, the name stays on the site only; the drawing is still on F10.
• Who sees it: Everyone, Red, Blue or Just me (only on your console). On F10 unticked: the drawing doesn't go into the game, only onto that side's AWACS radar.

Drawing and placing

Pick the shape and click the map. The drawing follows the mouse before each click, and a banner on the map says the next step.

• Arrow, Rectangle and Circle: two clicks (the circle: centre and edge).
• CAP: three clicks — start, end of the leg and the width (how far the other leg is). Leg up to 600 nm and width up to 100 nm.
• Polygon: click the corners; to close it, click the first point again (the white ring). Line and Corridor: click the last point again.
• Once done, the drawing doesn't go onto the map yet: it stays a draft, with its size in nautical miles. Drag the points and the square to adjust it, change the colour, the line and the name.
• The ✓ beside the drawing (or Place) puts it on the F10 map; the ✕ (or Discard, or Esc) gives up.

The list of drawings

In the Drawing tab, Edit gives the drawing its points and square back — drag to change its shape or move it. Colour, line, name and who sees it change in the panel. Save updates the F10 map.

When restarting the mission

Restart mission (or switching the file) asks what to do with the drawings — keep all, remove all or choose which — and with the weather and time you customised: keep them, use the file's, or Choose another to change them before reloading.

• Pick the side (Blue or Red): its tankers in the air show up, with their position relative to the bullseye, the radio and the TACAN. On the map, each one's racetrack.
• Give orders: racetrack (Pick on the map, altitude, speed, leg and heading), radio and TACAN — tick only what you want to change.
• Launch tanker: pick the aircraft, the orbit on the map, the radio and the TACAN (after the mission has started). Retire removes from the mission a tanker launched from the site — including the ones the AWACS launched.

What the AWACS may do with tankers (Orders and launch, Orders only or Off) changes in the server settings, below the map. The console always can, whatever the choice.

Changes straight away

• Real air traffic and Splash Damage: one click, they take effect in seconds.
• AWACS: each side's aircraft and frequency, identification (Easy/Simulated) and what the controllers do with tankers. Click Save. A new frequency retunes the controllers' radio; a new aircraft applies when the AWACS next takes off.

Restarts the server

Name, password, player limit and Tacview only change by restarting DCS: everyone drops and the server takes a few minutes to come back. Anyone with a seat gets the new password by message. Use Apply and restart.

Weather and time

• Date and time, and the weather (clouds, wind at three altitudes, temperature, QNH, fog and dust): From the file uses what the mission has; Customise picks them here.
• Apply and reload writes to a copy of the mission on the server and reloads — paused, as at the start. DCS doesn't change the weather while the mission runs.
• Fog now changes the fog without reloading — all at once or gradually, over as many minutes as you like.

On a mission with AWACS, the card shows each side and Free · control on each free AWACS (one controller per AWACS). Open AWACS shows 30 minutes before the start — you can choose the orbit and prepare the drawings before takeoff. The AWACS takes off near your side's players when the mission is resumed.

Reading the radar

• The symbols are LotATC's (APP-6): the shape and colour say the class (friend, hostile, unknown, neutral…) and the letter the role (fighter, attack, tanker…). Legend, in the radar's corner, shows them all.
• Each contact has a number (TN) and its altitude in hundreds of feet (220 = 22,000 ft). The arrow shows whether it climbs or descends.
• Follow AWACS centres on the AWACS; dragging lets go. The mouse wheel (or − and +) changes the scale. Labels: all, hostile only or none; Background puts a dark plate behind them.
• Ground shows ground units and ships; Rings, the defences' range (dashed: detection; solid: weapon range).
• Airfields show on the map (their runways, from 60 nm in); hover one to see its runways and navaids: TACAN, VOR and ILS.

Contact and Picture

The Picture, in the Tactical tab, lists the contacts with number, position relative to the bullseye (BULL), altitude, distance and aspect — filtered by Threats, Pending, Hostile or All, and sorted by any column. Click one to see the Contact.

• In the Contact: BRAA from the AWACS, bullseye, altitude, speed and heading — and the radio call ready. Declare sends the call to your coalition in the game chat; Copy call copies it; Measure puts the ruler from the AWACS to it.
• Classify with the buttons or the keys: F2 hostile, F3 unknown, F4 friend, F5 neutral (Shift+F2 suspect, Shift+F4 assumed friend). Role changes the symbol's letter. The other controllers on your side see the same classification.
• On a friendly, Use as reference makes the BRAA come from it instead of the AWACS.

Several contacts at once

• Shift + drag: a box on the radar selects every contact inside it.
• Ctrl + click on a contact: adds it to the group (or takes it out, if it's already in). Ctrl + click away from a contact centres the radar there.
• With the group selected, the classification keys, the panel's buttons and the right-click menu (on a contact in the group) classify them all at once. Friendlies on your side are left out.
• Esc or Release undoes the group; a plain click goes back to selecting a single contact.

Measuring: BRA and BRAA

The Ruler measures from one point to another: click each end (or use the middle button any time). It shows the BRA (bearing and range) and the bullseye; Pin as BRAA keeps the measurement on screen. Ctrl + right-drag, from a friendly to a contact, creates a fixed BRAA that updates itself. If the friendly is a player, the Chat button on the BRAA sends that call to them in the game chat, repeating (every 10 to 60 s).

What the radar sees

The radar has real limits: range, the curvature of the Earth and flying sideways (notch). It's all explained below the radar, with the horizon worked out for your AWACS's altitude, and the controls right after.

Simulated identification (IFF)

If the mission uses simulated identification, only those who answer IFF are friendly. Enemies, neutrals and friendlies with IFF off arrive as unknown (yellow, counted under Pending) — you classify them by behaviour. The IFF is the aircraft's own, read through SRS: whoever has the transponder on and Mode 4 on answers (in the cockpit, or in SRS's transponder panel for modules SRS can't read).

Mission paused

While the mission is paused there's no radar picture — it's the time to choose the AWACS's orbit.

No need to open SRS: the site joins the mission's SRS on the AWACS frequency, under your name — "[Blue AWACS] Your name" (your DCS name if linked, otherwise your Discord one). Use Chrome or Edge.

• Hold Hold to talk (or the key — Space, unless you changed it) to transmit. TX lights up while you talk.
• RX lights up when someone talks, and their name shows beside it.
• The first time, the browser asks for the microphone: allow it.
• Only one tab stays on the air: the last one you used. Opened the radar in another tab (or the console)? The first shows "in another tab" — click it to bring the radio back.

Microphone

• Input: which microphone to use; the bar shows the level while you talk.
• Test records 5 seconds and plays it back, so you hear how you sound.
• Transmission: Hold to talk or Press and release (press once to open the radio and again to close it).
• The site remembers your choices — on the radar, the ATC and the console.

Volume and second frequency

You can listen to a second frequency — a flight's, or the 243.000 AM emergency one (UHF; Russian aircraft usually use 121.500 VHF). Listening only: you always talk on the AWACS frequency.

Shortcuts (joystick too)

Shortcuts, in the radio bar, opens the shortcuts. Click a shortcut and press the key, the side mouse button (4 or 5) or a joystick button. Each action has two shortcuts.

Chat

The Chat tab shows your side's game chat. To write, choose who to: All, Coalition (each pilot on your side gets it) or one Pilot. The Picture, Bogey dope, Declare and Vector tanker shortcuts fill the message with what the radar sees. It goes out signed: "[Blue AWACS] Your name: …".

TTS: a spoken message on SRS

In the TTS tab, a voice reads your text on SRS, on the ticked frequencies (the AWACS one comes ticked; you can tick the 2nd, a tanker's or add another). The Picture, Contact BRAA, Tanker available and Bingo/RTB shortcuts write the text for you. Pick the voice, the speed and the volume. The text also shows on your side's pilots' screens, with the frequency in front.

Voice: who is talking

The AWACS's orbit

Click Reposition the AWACS. The orbit follows the mouse on the radar (the cross is the centre), so you see where it goes before clicking. Click to fix it, adjust altitude, speed, leg and heading — the dashed track adjusts, with the turns as DCS flies them — and Send the order.

Tankers

Under Refuelling are your side's tankers, each with its orbit drawn in cyan exactly where it flies. Give orders changes the orbit, the frequency and the TACAN — tick only what you want to change. When you pick the new orbit on the map, it also follows the mouse before the click.

If the mission allows it (Orders and launch), Launch tanker creates a tanker of your own (up to the limit the mission gave, after the start): pick the aircraft (boom or basket), the callsign, the orbit, the radio and the TACAN. It has unlimited fuel and obeys you — and the mission's creator, through the console. With Orders only you can't launch; with tankers Off, the panel doesn't show.

Drawing on the F10 map

Draw has the same tools as the F10 map: text, line, arrow, polygon, rectangle, circle, CAP and corridor, with colour, line type and fill. With "On the coalition F10 map" ticked, your coalition's pilots see the drawing on the game's F10 map; unticked, it stays on your screen only and disappears when you reload the page.

• The drawing stays a draft until the ✓ (or Place); the ✕ (or Discard) gives up.
• To finish a polygon, click the first point (the ring); a line or corridor, the last point again — or use Finish in the radar's bar.
• Edit (on your drawings): drag the square to move it and the points to change its shape; colour, line and name in the panel. Save updates the F10.
• From the mission creator: the drawings the creator made for your coalition (or for everyone) show on the radar and in the list — to look at, not to edit.

NAV GRID

The NAV GRID splits an area into coded cells (sector and ring, e.g. 03B) to call positions over the radio. Choose the threat axis, the coverage, the sectors and the rings and click Place on the map; the cursor shows the cell it is in.

On a mission with ATC, the card shows ATC · towers with a row per ATC slot. Free · take grabs the slot — until the server closes, even after the start. With the window open (30 minutes before the start), Open ATC opens the tower page.

Taking an airfield

Click an airfield on the map (or in the Airfields tab): the balloon shows its side, runways, navaids (TACAN, VOR, ILS), the tower radio and whether another ATC already looks after it. Take makes it your tower — one ATC per airfield, and only airfields of your side or neutral ones.

Once taken, the map centres on the airfield with 5, 10 and 25 nm rings, the runway in use lit and the final marked, the traffic around with what each one is doing, and your side's AWACS and tanker orbits and drawings. The radio goes on the air on every tower frequency.

The Tower tab

• Runways: each runway end shows the head and crosswind. Without your pick, the site suggests the best one by the wind; click to choose the runways in use (one or more). With calm wind, you choose.
• The wind indicator, in the map's corner, shows where it blows from (magnetic, as the tower says it), the head and crosswind on the runway in use, and the wind at 2,000 and 8,000 ft.
• Release gives the airfield back: the radio leaves its frequencies.

Traffic

The Traffic tab lists the aircraft near your tower — All, Inbound, Outbound or Ground — with the phase worked out from position, height, speed and heading: Apron, Taxi, Ready, Taking off, Departing, Arriving, Pattern or Final.

• Each aircraft has the right clearance for its phase — Clear to taxi, Clear for takeoff, Join instructions, Number 2 to land, Clear to land. One click and the voice (TTS) speaks the clearance on the frequencies ticked TX, with the runway and wind.
• Show on map highlights the aircraft; it is the one the handoff (ATC tab) uses.

The other controllers

The ATC tab shows every ATC on the mission, with each one's airfield and frequency. Under Hand off, with an aircraft picked in Traffic, one click tells it (by voice) to call your side's other tower, on its frequency.

• On SRS you show under your tower's name. You hear every frequency; Hold to talk (or the key) transmits on the ones ticked TX.
• Click TX to only listen on a frequency, RX to mute it. The site remembers the choice.
• In Shortcuts, each frequency can have its own key to talk on it alone.
• Volume, Mic and Shortcuts work as on the AWACS (see AWACS: radio, voice and chat).

The Radio tab and the ATIS

• Recent transmissions: who talked, on which frequency and for how long — you included.
• ATIS: Generate from weather writes the ATIS with its letter (which moves on with each new one), the time, the runway in use, the wind, the temperature and the QNH. Adjust the text if you like, and Transmit ATIS speaks it on the frequencies ticked TX.
• Own frequencies: up to 4 more beyond the tower's (e.g. the 121.500 emergency one). Useful when DCS doesn't report the airfield's frequencies.

TTS: spoken messages

As on the AWACS, a voice reads your text on SRS, on the ticked frequencies. The Current ATIS, Runway in use, Tower closing and Traffic advisory shortcuts write the text for you.

Map settings