And here are some socialization tips:
A. Your callsign.
Many of you will come from AW with a callsign (or CPID or SWID or whatever) that includes your squad affiliation. You may use that callsign in AH -- many squads from AW do (witness the AKs, for example), and their members are fully integrated into AH society. But you should know that in AH, this practice is (almost) unique to recent AW veterans. So while you will proudly carry your squad affiliation in your callsign, you will also be telling the world that yes, you come from Air Warrior. The rest of us use the squad affiliation on the roster (which can be sorted by squad).
There's nothing wrong with the practice. It's kind of like living in France, wearing white socks and eating at 5 pm. Nobody will criticize you for it; chances are they won't say anything. But by doing so, you're telling everyone about your American heritage.
B. Getting used to AH
Much will be familiar to you. Some stuff will be strange. DOn't be afraid to seek out help, but please do us the courtesy of consulting the online manuals first. You've done this before, and know the drill.
Two things that might help:
in game, go to setup-flight and disable Auto-Takeoff.
Combat Trim sets the Aircraft trim (roughly) according to airspeed. Some of you might find this helpful. Many of you experienced in FR will not. Odds are, if you're lawndarting a lot, it's CT that's helping you out.
C. Wait one month before whining. It makes you sound more sincere.
D. Bailing out is enter-enter-enter. You might want to remap this, as fumbling with the radio has been known to cause embarassing situations (I remember one campaign frame where I was frantically passing info on flight channel, country channel and to my wingman when all of a sudden I found myself without a plane). Opening the chute is O.
The game to play with newbies is when they ask "how do you bail out?" Tell them "Enter-enter-enter". Wait for them to ask how to open the chute.
DOn't open your chute too soon, and once you hit the ground, exit (shortcut for exiting is .ef). Chute-shooting is not a cowardly activity in AH, but a sport in which skill is paramount. If you open too high, you give the chute-shooting dweebs too much of a chance. If you free fall as much as possible and open low, you should be okay, unless you run into a chute-shooting ace (some guys are capable of hitting a falling target with a single 20mm round).
