How useful would an offline tutorial be?

[Latrobe]

While having a chat with some squaddies about why potential new members are not sticking with this game, one reason that came up was because they just are not getting as good as they had hoped as quickly as they would like. Let's face it, this game has a massive learning curve.

I know other flight sim games have tutorials on how to start the plane, how to takeoff, how to land, etc. How hard would it be to implament something like that to AHII, and how useful would it actually be? During the two week free trial there could be a pop up window that asks the player if they would like to take the tutorial (as well as having the option listed below the online and offline arena selections if they choose to go back to it later). The tutorial would cover all the basics of Fighters, Attackers, Bombers, and Vehicles.

For Fighters:
How to set up your views
Basic Controls setup (Gears, Flaps, Throttle, Fire the guns, etc) and how to set the up on your stick
What Auto Take off is and how to turn it off and on
How to manually take off
What Stall limiter is and how to turn it off and on
Basic Maneuvers (Rolls, Loops, Immelman, Split-s, Yo-yo's, etc)
Stalls and how to recover from them

For Attack Planes:
How to select the right load out for the right job
How much ord is needed to kill certain targets
How to select between different ordinace in flight
How to dive bomb
How to fire rockets

For Bombers:
How to jump to different guns and different planes
How to accept people to gun for your plane
How to use the bombsight

For Vehicles:
How to use the different tank sights (zoom and ranging)
How vehicle spawns work
What the difference between AP/HE/HVAP is
How to repair your tank/resupply your ammo

And then maybe a section for War related things like: How strats work, what the HQ does, how to resupply bases/strats/HQ, how to take bases, etc.

We have the offline arena and the training arena to practice, but if you don't know what you're doing then you're already at a lose. A tutorial would at least give you an idea of how to get off the ground, get in a fight, and (if you survive) land your plane. Then if you want to start learning some of the more advanced things in the game you can then schedule a session with a trainer and get right into it without having to be taught how to just get your plane in the air first.


The problem I can see is people just out right ignoring the tutorial. We already have many people who don't even make an account on the forums to ask for help in the help section. Maybe they read it as a guest, but we still have people who ignore the TA, jump into the MA, and start asking "How do I fly? How do I shoot?" which isn't bad if there's no one in the TA to help them, but these questions are sometimes met with less than appropriate answers which won't leave a good impression to that person of this game and the people who play it. If the player tries the tutorial then they wouldn't have to ask these questions, but that's only if they actually click the tutorial button and try it out.


Do you think a tutorial would be useful for new players? Do we need one, or is what we've got already good enough?

[Max]

IMHO it would help the newbs get up and running during the two week trial. I don't know the attrician rate for them but something like this would certainly reduce the percentage.

[ozrocker]

I believe what we have is good. Most people jump on the game, forget about reading anything.
Does anyone read the Instructions that come with a game disk? Not many, I'm sure.
I believe it would be better to include within the 2 week Free Trial,
a mandatory "Basic" training time to give the new people an overview of the game & settings.
Maybe a briefing ( on screen or audible, or both) .
But then again, AH will always have some that will try it out,
find it's not like the Xbox Arcade thing they want, then quit. Regardless.
                                                                                                                                                        Oz

[The Fugitive]

I wish there was something.

Todays players NEVER read instructions (I have two sons, I know) They jump right in and give it a go. If they have trouble the first thing they do is "Google" it to see what the chea.... err answer is  Those that like the game stick with it those that it doesn't grab leave. I don't think there is anything that will change that.

For those that stay getting help is a problem. The trainers are great, but they are few and timing is an issue most times. Then when you get one you can't just roll in and say "make me the best fighter jock in the mains!" It just doesn't work that way. If there was a set program like to learn basic maneuvers see so-and-so at such-and-such a time for the class, you might get more people to show. I know that when they hold a "clinic" they seem to get a good crowd.

Maybe an enterprising group of people could get together and run a class, maybe for a small fee per player to cover the time these guys put in. An "Aces Academy" type thing. Make it like a real school with a teaching plan, an out line, practice (home work), maybe even a test secession to check progress and instill some confidence. A good use of a custom arena I would think. I don't think HTC should/could take the time to build/add on a training portion to the game.

Teaching people how to play use to be the squads duty. Unfortunately todays squads are more about getting as many people together as they can to roll base after base.

[ren]

Great idea! I would have loved something like that. 

[captain1ma]

instructions? tutorial? ive been playing 6 years and never seen that! i just jumped in and started the engine and said everyone sucked for face shooting me!! 

[LCADolby]

Training Arena and the Training Corps

 

[bozon]

People can't read instructions and guides anymore. What AH needs is a hands-on, (off-line?) interactive tutorial like many other games have. This is what a new player expect, because this is what he gets in nearly every other game. This means short "missions" with text+voice instructions that advance stage by stage when the players successfully performs as required.

AH already has some of the required tools, but I suppose a lot more work will be required by HTC to make this happen. Apart from the voice acting it will also require some method of indicating things in the cockpit or outside in the world, like a bright/flashing arrow that points to the instrument or object being talked about.

When a player finishes each of the "courses" throw him a bone and a pat on the back to make him feel good - like some perks and an "achievement" awarded.

And now the kicker:
If HTC provides the tools to do it, they do not even need to create the content. I am sure plenty of players will create fully detailed courses for new players, just like they create skins, maps and youtube vids.

[Vudu15]

idk some videos on youtube when they google would help....oh wait.

[Max]

Vudu you have some of the best stuff out there. Trouble is, most noobs don't know it's there so they wouldn't even think to Google it. Just sayen'

[Zacherof]

Back when I started flying in 2006(was like 14) I was scorned by you old farts. Not many wanted to help so I spent hours reading the help and training page. And I your competent one shod be able to use said tips.

Just takes practice. Guess I'm different from this new generation of players

on a side not I even printed out all the aircraft and GV pages

[BaldEagl]

I've recently been sorting through everything I own preparing to move and I ran across several three ring binders.  One of them had the entire instuction manual for AW and the another had the entire instruction manual for AH, all neatly categorized and tabbed with pages printed in color.  Each also contained all the relevant information on each plane in the game.

Since going to the wiki and trainers sites I don't think the capability to do something like that even exists anymore.  Without doing that I doubt I'd have stuck around.  In the beginning those binders were always readily available to me and I clearly remember reading them on climbout.

BTW, the AW manual even had a section on BCM.

[WW1965]

as an old fart coming back after 10yrs, I knew what I was in for.. a very steep learning curve.. & a lot of frustration.. just tryin to get up to speed with everyone else to @ least be able to put up a fight & not be food for the vets scores..

sadly I'm not there yet.. ('Yet' being the keyword..)

would a tutorial decreased the 'learning curve' ??
Maybe.. but only to a point.. How detailed is this thing gonna be ??
you could have a 5 part tutorial takeoff, landing, CV Ops, Buffs, GV's ... or 172 parts on the corner speeds of the various planes as well as best climb speeds, yadda yadda..
would I have watched them or flown them ??
Yeah..

would it have helped in the long run ??
Who's to say.. it depends on the info in the tutorial..

IMHO, something offline would've been helpful.. maybe like sink a CV, or deack a field, or 5 drones in one flight..
I wouldn't make these mandatory though.. but it would've been nice to have..

it also be a good way to introduce noobs to the other arenas like AVA or DA or WWI..

just my $.02..

W-W

[pembquist]

I think there are two different things lumped under learning curve. The most challenging learning curve is the SA,ACM,Gunnery learning curve. The other is the unnecessarily hard to locate minutia absorption curve. I think a permalink to some SHORT tutorials from YouTube would be worth a thousand words in text but what I would really like to see is an indexed manual so you could look uo at a glance things like .commands, bombs to destroy hangar, where the map room is. Etc. some printer friendly info like maps, down time and ord required etc.

[Traveler]

Do you think a tutorial would be useful for new players? Do we need one, or is what we've got already good enough?

Yes, however, after 12 years here I doubt HTC will invest in such an idea.