RTFM

also is there a plan to print and sell the full FM. I went to staples today and its $416.00 dollars to print, :eek: double sided in color, binded and covered.

Originally Posted by Itkovian

Are there plans to put the finished printed manual up for purchase, as with Black Shark?

Itkovian

That's the plan, but things could change.

 

The available manual is NOT final and still requires many changes.

watch here: http://www.kengray.co.uk/lockonbuy.htm

I tend to read and fly at the same time. Flying hands on helps me remember all of the things I'm reading so I keep the manual handy while I practice.

I'm much more of a hands on learner. So I fly while looking at the manual on my laptop, then when I want to learn a system I can push all the buttons and see what I'm doing without being lost.

Aaaaap! Put that flight stick down and finish reading the manual! You'll thank yourself later! If I hear one person in multi-player ask what key resets trim, I'm going to track you down and beat you with my HOTAS cable.

 

I just pre purchased and I'm reading the manual now. I'm a 39 year old business intelligence consultant with two teenage boys. I'm usually described as 'stoic'. As I realized how complete the A-10C is in this simulation, I jumped up and belted out an excited cackle/giggle/scream that echoed out of my study and through my home. My family came running, probably thinking it was the apocalypse. I haven't been this excited since I got my first Erector Set back in the 70s. Sweet funky Moses!

 

I'm going to finish the manual before I even fire it up. The anticipation is intoxicating. Like that first 'strap' you'd ever tried to undo. It's boggling and clumsy, and you know something better is to come, but you have to stop and revel in the moment... as it is oh so sweet!

 

RTFM boys.. a little technical foreplay will make the flightgasm much more spectacular.

:thumbup:

I did one quick flight without the manual, realised all the key binds were different to FC2 and then set about taking notes from the Short Manual - that got me going. Printed off and binded 500 pages of the A10C manual at work today...now i've got some light reading material for the next couple of weeks!

<facepalm>

Wow it took me 15 Minutes to Start the Plane is there an easy mode ?

If they won't read the manual OR the faq, can't you revoke their software license... for their own safety?

Dude, you are going to go insane hanging around this forum.

Totally agree that people should do some research using the search funtion and the manual, but if you cant handle people asking questions you are in the wrong place!

The manual is sweet reading.

Dude, you are going to go insane hanging around this forum.

 

Totally agree that people should do some research using the search funtion and the manual, but if you cant handle people asking questions you are in the wrong place!

I see your point, but it's like watching someone eat a hot dog in a steak house... you just want to wave a chunk of fillet in their face and scream 'looook'!

You're right though.. they'd probably just put ketchup on it...

I don't mind questions, that's what half of my posts are, but understanding of the aircraft and minimal involvement in the hardware are two very different things.

The manual satisfies.

I have to digress and explain why I'm so passionate about stressing the value of the manual. I've been callus and less than helpful. I apologize.

Up until a few decades ago, digital wizardry wasn't available. PCs were little more than glorified calculators, and phones had cords and radial dials that created sparks to communicate with routers as big as a house. During the emergence of this technological utopia we now comfortably inhabit, we were excited. There was something in the near future that was going to change everything. We couldn't wait to see what was next. Enter the military aircraft! They defied laws of physics and understanding as we knew them. How can that aircraft fly to a target at faster than the speed of sound, engage and destroy an enemy with ruthless efficiency, and return home with a grinning pilot? Black boxes.. intense mathematical calculations.. expensive new alloys.. secret sauce. We all wanted a taste of it. It was our gateway into this future we now know. Digital wizardry!.. and we could have a small peek inside through, what at the time, passed for a flight simulator.

This digital wizardry persists. These aircraft remain the most complex and effective machines ever built. But when you wake up and pay your bills, check the weather, watch the news, and make a significant purchase.. all within five minutes from your smartphone.. it's easy to forget that these steel dragons exist.

Slow down and open your eyes to this wonder. Read the manual, understand the hardware, THEN you can truly take flight and revel in the power you wield. Look closer and be humbled. The Warthog and ED will not disappoint.

I prefer to learn by reading parts then flying with the manual on my lap, although i'll probably read a fair bit of the 'hog manual before i'm in a situation where i can play it

I love the manual! but if i read it all the way through at once, i would have forgotten half the content bye the time i finished LOL (mainly what joystick and throttle button do what, since i set up my controls as close as i could to the real thing... using the manual :P ) Sooooo i like to do the training missions, then reinforce learning with the sections of the manual pertaining to what the mission covered.... but everyone learns differently, and plays differently. It amazes me on how many times i'll be flying along then i cant freakin remember what dang joystick button does a certian thing which i need in that very moment LOL drives me nuts. CRAP was it the Boat switch or China hat that did that thing i needed. or was it on the coolie hat, AUUUGH lol :D

Make the taking notes process easier ;)

Taking notes from DCS manuals, bookmarking places...

Agree RTFM before asking questions, however, only one key needed for first flight 'G', throttle forwards, stick back and find me a canyon, flying over the power lines is not an option...

Agree RTM. However if you have someone to learn with it may make things a tad easier. But pick somone as studious as you are so you dont feel like your teaching both...

I would encourage you to read the manual at least until "Flight School" on page 474. Run through those exercises, then move on to "Combat Employment" page 500 and run through those. Reading the manual up to that point will prevent confusion and backtracking during the in-flight phase of training.

Yea know some folks like myself read a chapter then get in the bird to practice, read more do the same, In my small mind it helps me get the muscle memory down at the same time keep my add mind busy.I think it just comes down to how a person learns.

I know there are some folks who do not read then come asking for folks to take their hand and walk them thru it. Frustrating yea it sure can be and it does make you want to say RTFM,lol.

Bullet

Bah... I say RTMAN (Read The Manual As Needed). Even when you're learning to fly in the real world, you don't try to learn everything before your first flight! There are some things that will only make sense, or that you'll be able to do, when you're in the air. Also, some people learn better by doing, so the only way some will learn this beast is to read, reread, fly, pause, read, unpause, fly, pause.... etc. :D

If you can read this manual, absorb it, then jump in the hog and know what everything does and how to use it, then you need to sign up and fly the real thing! :smartass:

^^^^

Good luck with getting into any form of air force with that kind of attitude ... or commercial heavy aircraft pilotage, at least AFAIK. ;)

Yes, YOU LEARN EVERYTHING about your first flight BEFORE your first flight :) You are EXPECTED to know everything. Then you are actually more likey to do 'everything' :D

I simply *DO NOT* understand folks who want to fly a hardcore sim like this but have no interest in reading the manual. It defies logic.

This manual is put together very well. Similiar to RL training, it focuses on nomenclature and subsystem familiarization, then standard flight procedures, then combat procedures, then emergency procedures. The manual takes you through the right steps in the right order... ground training, then in-air review.

To the person who said you can't learn everything on the ground, I would agree with that but not in the context of RTFM. When you get in the air you go beyond nomenclature and into instict... this teaches you a lot of practical things, but every pilot has to train for years and pass a seriously difficult written test before ever getting behind the stick. I took the NATOPS test in the Navy just to qualify to start up the APU and that manual was more than 12" thick and the test took four hours.

I simply *DO NOT* understand folks who want to fly a hardcore sim like this but have no interest in reading the manual. It defies logic.

Quite So.

You only have to look at the Open-Beta forum for the instances that could have been explained sufficiently if one had regard to at least a cursory search of the manual. Then again, the counter-argument stands too: I want to crank her up, take-off and Blow $hite up, all else be damned - hence the scalability options inherent to the SIM.

All needs are catered for and rightly so - just remember to structure your questions to fit your preferred virtual lifestyle. Hardcore questions for hardcore Simmers and so on :D

In any event, if you're not going to RTFM at least use the 'Magic 'Block' and STFM - works wonders :thumbup: