What parts of A10C can I skip over and learn later?

[Dudester22]

I am reading the manual and have just come to page 174 which is about the Control Display Unit. I did a quick scroll forward on the ipad just to see how many pages were written about this and nearly died at the thought of taken all this in. I am not sure if I will ever get my head around all that anytime soon, so I'm asking what are the most vital things to learn first and then maybe learn afterwards? Cheers!!

[IonicRipper]

I think you can skip the CDU and still be able to use the Warthog pretty efficiently.

 

I skipped the CDU part for the same reason as you. You eventually get to know some of it by fooling around the cockpit and watching videos on youtube.

[ApoNOOB]

First go for the tutorial and only use the manual to read stuff up, its pretty good structured for that. After you get the most basic stuff like landing, mavericks, guns etc. go on multiplayer servers and join the respective TS3 channels.

 

You can best learn playing with other people and the in depth knowledge will follow in time. I would suggest you only learn about stuff that really interests you right now. For example, you don't really need to know how the ILS works if you don't want to do ILS landings anytime soon. But when you watch a tutorial about a low visual ILS landing you might want to look the relevant pages up and make sure you know which button does what. :)

Edited June 6, 2013 by ApoNOOB

[cichlidfan]

Refer to the CDU section as needed to sort out a specific subject. A significant portion of what the CDU does, and detailed in the manual, are really only eye candy. There are pages covering self tests, for example, and such which you will never use in the course of a mission.

[Dudester22]

Thanks for the info so far. Skipping the CDU is music to my ears because I was dumb struck when I saw how many pages it covered. Can you tell me if there is any other major parts of the manual I can skip for now and look at later? I do want to learn the game, but I don't want to get the same feeling I got when I saw the CDU pages.

[IonicRipper]

Off the top of my head, anything that has to do with IFF is just eye candy and can be skipped.

[Evil.Bonsai]

I would say, learn how to use the divert page to find the closest base, in case of the need for an emergency landing. It will provide frequency for ATC, ILS, and runway direction.

 

Learn how to enter jtac coordinates in both MGRS an Latitude/Longitude (LL).

 

If you always start in the air, you don't need much more than that.

 

I HIGHLY recommend learning ramp start, which includes turning on the CDU and letting it align properly. If you make it to a multi-player server, you will need to know how to ramp start, contact ATC, taxi and takeoff.

[Dudester22]

Off the top of my head, anything that has to do with IFF is just eye candy and can be skipped.

 

Sorry to sound such a noob, but IFF stands for what?

[Dudester22]

I HIGHLY recommend learning ramp start, which includes turning on the CDU and letting it align properly. If you make it to a multi-player server, you will need to know how to ramp start, contact ATC, taxi and takeoff.

 

I am pleased to say I have learnt this part from memory now. I Think I will try landing and weapons next, I got a few of the weapons sorted already..

Edited June 6, 2013 by Dudester22

[cichlidfan]

The rest of the manual's usefulness is really determined by the types of missions you fly. I would at least skim through the various system sections just so you have an idea what is in there. Then when you encounter something new, or decide you need to know something in a little more depth, it won't be totally unfamiliar and then you can refer to the pertinent section of the manual.

[IonicRipper]

Sorry to sound such a noob, but IFF stands for what?

 

IFF is Identification Friend or Foe. It is not implemented in the game.

[slowhand]

You can use your right MFCD in CDU mode and do most of the stuff from there.:thumbup:

[IonicRipper]

^ With the UFC, yes. But I find the CDU keyboard much easier to use.

[311Gryphon]

I am reading the manual and have just come to page 174 which is about the Control Display Unit. I did a quick scroll forward on the ipad just to see how many pages were written about this and nearly died at the thought of taken all this in. I am not sure if I will ever get my head around all that anytime soon, so I'm asking what are the most vital things to learn first and then maybe learn afterwards? Cheers!!

 

I skipped it for the same reason. I am finding now that I want to know more about it to be more effective, but at first I had no desire to learn about it. You can employ weapons and fly just fine without it and I think you'll come to a natural point where you feel confident in what you've learned and you'll be both able and willing to learn about the CDU. I'm finding that this game is quite natural like that. When you are ready to learn the next intricately modeled thing you'll also be at the point where you WANT to learn it. It's beautiful!

[schkorpio]

my recommendation would be to disregard the manual, and learn in the following order. Either by youtube or the in game training.

 

hot started:

1.take off

2.basic flight (if you dont know already what the stick/rudder/throttle does)

3.landing

 

and I wouldnt worry if any of these are really rough, as long as you understand the concept of it all e.g. take-off = go fast and stay in a straight line, pull up at the right time. Edit: you will learn the hand dexterity and technique over time, no need to be a landing professional early on.

 

 

4. TGP - since this basically makes using every weapon really easy. I'd actually recommend the in game training for the TGP its pretty good - otherwise youtube of course :)

 

Then choose whatever weapon you'd like to learn first - Mavericks and Bombs go really well with the TGP because you don't need to be a flying ace to use them accurately unlike the gun and rockets which take a little bit of target practice to get the dexterity and technique to an effective level.

 

 

Once you can fly and blow stuff up, you'll have a pretty good understand of how the systems works on a basic level, and from there it is very easy to dig into the manual to get more detailed information or again look up specific youtube videos.

 

I honestly think the manual is a waste of time for a beginner, for me there was way too much information, and because I have never really flown anything before, I could not understand why I was doing things because there was no context for me to imagine it in. But once I started flying I was able to look up and learn the bits I needed when I needed as I then had a good context to understand them in.

(otherwise it is bit like trying to teach someone how to drive car when they don't even know what a car is, and is capable of).

 

 

EDIT: the reason I'm mention youtube is that a lot of the tutorials don't get bogged down the acronymns and military/avionics terms, which made my brain hurt to begin with, SET THE TGP TO SOI THEN MARK AN SPI - *brain melts* sure it makes perfect sense now, but when you are starting off you really just want someone to say, click the targetting pod button and then hold the K button to take control of it, then move it to your target and hold leftCtrl+UP to make it a point of interest.

Edited June 7, 2013 by schkorpio

[311Gryphon]

my recommendation would be to disregard the manual, and learn in the following order. Either by youtube or the in game training.

 

...

I honestly think the manual is a waste of time for a beginner, for me there was way too much information, and because I have never really flown anything before, I could not understand why I was doing things because there was no context for me to imagine it in. But once I started flying I was able to look up and learn the bits I needed when I needed as I then had a good context to understand them in.

 

 

I think this is sound advice. I don't think the manual is a total waste of time but it can be. For me, I just had the manual on a thumb drive and I pulled it up on my lunch break at work when I couldn't be doing much else anyway and I'd scroll to the pages I wanted to learn about. It's great for "filling in the blanks" in some ways although it can cause you to spend a lot of time with no immediate gain. But watching YouTube videos is great advice and just taking your time to learn what you need to learn is the way to go.

[badger66]

Stay away from refueling for awhile ..... as you very rarely need it for a start .

[Pikey]

A lot of things to list on the ignore front.

Once you can deliver some weapons, joins a multiplayer server and take a paper and pencil.

Every time you die write down what you needed to know to live.

This will form your to-do list. Mostly it turns into a keybinding list...like oh noes I dont know how to turn my jammer on and dispense chaff.

 

Everything you learn takes a different priority on the battlefield, virtual or otherwise.

[Darkwolf187]

You can ignore the CDU pretty well straight up, and just drive steerpoints from the HUD. You can also ignore the radio system and just use Easy Radio. Refueling systems can be ignored as well. The IFF panel and HARS is mostly there just for looks, so ignore it.

 

I'd also advise early on ignoring wind correction on the LASTE, and just focus on dropping LGBs and other guided weapons until you get a handle on how to actually fly the jet in anger.

 

Don't worry too much about learning to use TACAN and the HSI. You can rely on steerpoints for doing that, and you get steerpoints to nearby airfields by just learning how to use the DIVERT function of the CDU.

 

Don't read the manual cover to cover. Just get in there, and then pause regularly and hit the manual when you need more info on something.

[kk0425]

The manual makes a very good resource for locating information about a system in the A-10C and shouldn't be considered a waste of time for any skill level, but it's not meant to be read front to back. A healthy mix of training tutorials, reading up on the manual, and reading user guides or watching videos would be my best recommendation.

 

Stick to one thing at a time until you have a basic grasp on it and then move on to the next. You'll gradually learn over time and it becomes second nature.

[Night]

I started with the Instant Action on easy for the A-10c. I fooled around with it a lot, and it is very intuitive so I taught myself how to use most of the weapons. But you can never learn the A-10C all by yourself. Especially when it comes to stuff like startup procedures, you will need some outside help. I have found that the single best resource for DCS A-10C is not the manual, it's this forum. I've learned more from this forum than any other source.

 

Don't get frustrated when stuff doesn't work, just play around with it enough and write down your questions on a pad of paper while you're flying and answer them and fly again and write down more questions...

 

Also, things became a LOT easier after I bought a HOTAS (saitek X52 Pro).

Edited July 15, 2013 by Night

[tintifaxl]

I am reading the manual and have just come to page 174 which is about the Control Display Unit. I did a quick scroll forward on the ipad just to see how many pages were written about this and nearly died at the thought of taken all this in. I am not sure if I will ever get my head around all that anytime soon, so I'm asking what are the most vital things to learn first and then maybe learn afterwards? Cheers!!

 

Grab the quick start guide and fly the easy instant action mission. Everything you need to win that mission is in this guide.

[InAUGral]

I found that learning flying was an absolute basic then once perfected moved on to other systems and then weapons.

You cant just jump in unless you follow the quick start guide and just start already airbourne in Easy mode.

[Tracer2k]

How i learned the hog (well.. im still learning)

 

1. Startup - good for knowing where everything is

2. Learn what is SOI, SPI, TMS, CMS and DMS

3. WEAPONS/TGP! - yes im that impatient

4. Landing

 

after that i watched few videos from youtube where people fly missions and i tried to replicate stuff i learned there.

 

worked for me pretty well this far.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Tracer2k