Training doc: suggest to clarify instructions of the very first mission

[Elegantly]

Hi there.

I am a new player and ran into an issue with selecting the correct plane and, which was were I stumbled, also the correct seat in the TE GroundOps #1 mission (cold start). More background in this thread.

In a nutshell, the text instructions on how to select your plane and your seat are not super clear for a total beginner. The dated UI of the original Falcon 4 doesn’t help either.

This is the text I am talking about, emphasis mine. Training doc for 4.36.2, p. 10.

Please note: you need to select the F-16 flight in the left window of the UI (last flight in the list).
By default, the system will put you in the first seat available when you commit to 3D. Since F-5s are taking off earlier than this training flight you will end up sat in an F-5. Ensure you take a seat in the F-16 “Training” flight instead.

Here’s what happened in my case. Note that I already came across discussion threads were beginners picked the wrong plane, so I came into my first mission fully aware of the issue and was paying extra attention not to make the same mistake. Still didn’t work.

Here’s why I thought I was doing the right thing, particularly because I already came across threads on my first read-ups about Falcon BMS (before I even jumped into a cockpit) that mentioned that very same mistake of beginners, “Did you select the correct plane?”:

• I did RTFM.
• In the first mission, I did click on the last flight labeled TRAINING. The green highlighting confirmed, to me, that I selected the correct one. To me, this meant I did all I had to do. I interpreted “ensure you select a seat” figuratively, no literally. The UI also didn’t make it clear to me that the plane icon (to select a seat) was clickable or even supposed to be clicked.
• I afterwards clicked on ATO button to confirm my selection, and it did show an F-16 to me. Whenever I selected one of the other flights, I was shown an F-4. Looked good to me.
• Once in the cockpit, it looked like an F-16. So, to me, this was a final (but ultimately incorrect) confirmation that I selected everything correctly in the mission. As it turns out, even if you screw things up and actually have been assigned to an F-4, “your” cockpit looks like an F-16.

So, while I was indeed not in the correct flight and seat, everything to me as a beginner said “Yep, there’s only a single F-16 in this mission, and I have multiple confirmations that I am in the right one!”.

How to improve:

• I’d suggest to clarify the intro text of the first mission. Notably, I would highlight that (a) you need to select the correct plane in the list by clicking on the “training” entry AS WELL AS (b) you must additionally select “your seat” by clicking on the respective plane icon in the UI. Also, since I was told this is apparently a common beginner mistake, I would add a screenshot with two highlights (to select the right plane + to click on the plane for seat selection) to make this extra clear.
• Relatedly, I’d suggest to also explain more clearly in the training document how to get into the first training mission in the first place. You know, click on TE, then select the first mission etc. Also with 1-2 screenshots. There are so many helpful cockpit screenshots in this document, yet there’s little help navigating the dated Falcon 4 UI as a beginner. (I’m sure veterans know all this inside-out, and it might be difficult to realize how this could be quite different for someone new to the game.)

I am happy to draft these docs improvements if one could give me pointers on how to do that.

[Elegantly]

FYI: I was told to also report this at https://forum.falcon-bms.com/topic/23033/falcon-bms-4-36-2-documentation-bug-reports/30, which I did.

[Micro_440th]

@Elegantly said in Training doc: suggest to clarify instructions of the very first mission:

Hi there.

I am a new player and ran into an issue with selecting the correct plane and, which was were I stumbled, also the correct seat in the TE GroundOps #1 mission (cold start). More background in this thread.

In a nutshell, the text instructions on how to select your plane and your seat are not super clear for a total beginner. The dated UI of the original Falcon 4 doesn’t help either.

This is the text I am talking about, emphasis mine. Training doc for 4.36.2, p. 10.

Please note: you need to select the F-16 flight in the left window of the UI (last flight in the list).
By default, the system will put you in the first seat available when you commit to 3D. Since F-5s are taking off earlier than this training flight you will end up sat in an F-5. Ensure you take a seat in the F-16 “Training” flight instead.

Here’s what happened in my case. Note that I already came across discussion threads were beginners picked the wrong plane, so I came into my first mission fully aware of the issue and was paying extra attention not to make the same mistake. Still didn’t work.

Here’s why I thought I was doing the right thing, particularly because I already came across threads on my first read-ups about Falcon BMS (before I even jumped into a cockpit) that mentioned that very same mistake of beginners, “Did you select the correct plane?”:

• I did RTFM.
• In the first mission, I did click on the last flight labeled TRAINING. The green highlighting confirmed, to me, that I selected the correct one. To me, this meant I did all I had to do. I interpreted “ensure you select a seat” figuratively, no literally. The UI also didn’t make it clear to me that the plane icon (to select a seat) was clickable or even supposed to be clicked.
• I afterwards clicked on ATO button to confirm my selection, and it did show an F-16 to me. Whenever I selected one of the other flights, I was shown an F-4. Looked good to me.
• Once in the cockpit, it looked like an F-16. So, to me, this was a final (but ultimately incorrect) confirmation that I selected everything correctly in the mission. As it turns out, even if you screw things up and actually have been assigned to an F-4, “your” cockpit looks like an F-16.

So, while I was indeed not in the correct flight and seat, everything to me as a beginner said “Yep, there’s only a single F-16 in this mission, and I have multiple confirmations that I am in the right one!”.

How to improve:

• I’d suggest to clarify the intro text of the first mission. Notably, I would highlight that (a) you need to select the correct plane in the list by clicking on the “training” entry AS WELL AS (b) you must additionally select “your seat” by clicking on the respective plane icon in the UI. Also, since I was told this is apparently a common beginner mistake, I would add a screenshot with two highlights (to select the right plane + to click on the plane for seat selection) to make this extra clear.
• Relatedly, I’d suggest to also explain more clearly in the training document how to get into the first training mission in the first place. You know, click on TE, then select the first mission etc. Also with 1-2 screenshots. There are so many helpful cockpit screenshots in this document, yet there’s little help navigating the dated Falcon 4 UI as a beginner. (I’m sure veterans know all this inside-out, and it might be difficult to realize how this could be quite different for someone new to the game.)

I am happy to draft these docs improvements if one could give me pointers on how to do that.

Thanks for reporting. I will see what I can do.

[Elegantly]

@Micro_440th Thank you!

As I said, I am happy to contribute a PR for review by the devs if that is acceptable policy for this project. Equally happy if I don‘t have to do anything.

[Micro_440th]

@Elegantly said in Training doc: suggest to clarify instructions of the very first mission:

@Micro_440th Thank you!

As I said, I am happy to contribute a PR for review by the devs if that is acceptable policy for this project. Equally happy if I don‘t have to do anything.

Thanks for the ofter. I already fixed it.

[sfabriece]

@Micro_440th Awesome , does that mean the changes are available on the wiki or a future release )

[Micro_440th]

@sfabriece said in Training doc: suggest to clarify instructions of the very first mission:

@Micro_440th Awesome , does that mean the changes are available on the wiki or a future release )

For the training manual: U3

The wiki entry I have to check what the current state is.

[sfabriece]

@Micro_440th thanks