Fortunately, there are places to turn outside the game itself, but more on that later. Ultimately, there's simply nowhere to go to within the game or within its associated materials for straightforward, common English, ground floor advice. Yes, there is a 44-page "Quickstart" guide and yes, there are tutorials – a bevy of lengthy, highly instructive tutorials, actually – but precious little of this is designed for the neophyte or even the marginally experienced jet jock. While I praise ED for having the skill, the access to information, and the painstaking care – not to mention the patience – to put something like this together, and while I certainly appreciate that the gaming community in general needs more intelligent, mature games and less fluff, I can't help but fault the developer for seemingly making A10C so inaccessible to the general population. Ultimately, it'll take newbies weeks just to feel moderately less moronic and, quite literally, months to learn to play the game wide open. And they'll continue to be there for some time afterward simply because there are no easy answers. Where, for example, is a thorough, printable, resource list of the game's bazillion single- and multiple-stroke keyboard commands? What's the best way to set up the graphics? Where are the difficulty settings? Where is the nurturing and the handholding and the "dumbed down" tutorials? Why won't the game speak to newcomers who want to learn but need a little plain English assistance to help get them off the ground? These questions and more will surely be on the minds of those unfamiliar with the concept. If not, prepare thyself for brain cramps. If you can, you've likely found your game. #Dcs a10 warthog simulator manualTake for example, this random manual selection, lifted from page 290: "For CBU weapons, OSB 17 and 18 allow setting of spin RPM and Height of Function (HOF)." Ask yourself if you can understand that. Said manual – all 669 pages of it – and indeed almost all of the included instruction, treats you as if you're a real pilot who's already familiar with the drill…and the jargon. And that disregard starts with the game manual. Of equal responsibility is the developer's seeming disregard for those who may be taking their first taste of the flight sim world, and even those who've treaded light there before. But it's not just ED's admirable attention to detail and lust for realism that makes the game as difficult as it is. A wonderfully exhilarating, enormously satisfying job when you finally get the hang of it, but a job nonetheless. ED's latest goes beyond the standard definition of "simulation," and instead, in many ways, feels like a job. Truth is that anyone not already indoctrinated to the world of the hardcore flight sim – and even many that are – will find it nothing short of "work." That's right – work. To say that A10C makes old school flight sims such as the rightfully esteemed Falcon 4.0 seem, in many ways, like a "game," is not overstating the realties. #Dcs a10 warthog simulator seriesThe "DCS" stands for " Digital Combat Simulator," and like the one and only prior game in the DCS series (2009's helicopter junket DCS: Black Shark) and indeed all earlier ED titles, "simulator" means just that – a rivet by rivet, blow by blow, second by second hyper-authentic journey into the incredible minutiae normally reserved only for real life pilots. But if it's intricacy you want, if painstaking attention to detail is your nirvana, and if you fancy yourself able to digest and execute, in perfect symmetry, each and every operation involved in starting, launching, flying, taking into battle, and eventually landing what is arguably the most comprehensive virtual portrayal ever devised of a modern warplane, look no further than Eagle Dynamics' exhaustive DCS: A10C Warthog, one of precious few serious flight sims in the modern gaming landscape. Fortunately for all of us, pancake-making has not been sim-ified. Of course, it would also force you to fend off marauding chefs, each wanting nothing more than to shoot you down with a well-aimed barrage of eggs. And make no mistake – this kitchen would be the most complex kitchen one could possibly dream up. In addition to all of the above, it would also ask you to mill your own flour, forge your own frying pan, and then micro-analyze every single facet of your virtual kitchen before and while you're cooking to ensure something does not go awry along the way. If DCS: A10C Warthog were a simulation of, say, pancake making, it would not merely ask that you combine the proper ingredients, place the resulting batter in a correctly pre-heated frying pan, and cook for the desired time limit.
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