A common refrain from new pilots to most flight sim series is that there aren’t any official manuals to connect with. Other resources like Chuck’s Guide, Utopioneer’s Flight School campaigns and the Air Combat Tutorial Library provide extensive coverage but having something “in the box” is not a bad thing to have either and 1C Game Studios has just released two manuals that cover some of the core fundamentals of the series.

For new pilots

The two manuals are titled Purchase and Install Manual and Operators Manual. The first focuses on the purchasing process as well as installation. It’s a step by step guide that incorporates information such as how to create a user account, what products are available, how to accept a gift, how to install from Steam or from the official webstore, and many more subjects.

Then the Operators Manual takes over once you’re in the sim. From how to setup a quick mission, scripted campaign or career, to configuring cameras and what the default bindings are for different controls, this really does cover the nuts and bolts to getting started with the sim.

The Purchase and Install Manual comes in at 48 pages while the Operators Manual is 140 pages in length. Both are very much aimed at people who are new to the series. If you’re an expert pilot with years of experience with the series, these are probably not going to be as useful to you. That’s ok, we all want to see more pilots join us in those virtual skies.

The announcement also mentions some key contributors to the manual with a thanks to Luke “LukeFF” Wallace, Adam “Mikoyan74” Beeby and Luke “Requiem” Campbell. Nicely done folks!

The manuals are freely available via the announcement thread.