Newbies view of tower 3d

[Russellfire]

Hi, I would just like to say that I'm a newbie to feelthere software products. I downloaded tower 3D on Monday at midnight UK time. The few days after I was working shifts , so was gutted that I could not get to grips with my new downloaded sim. Ive got to say after reading all the problems , I'm actually impressed with this simulator and my hat goes  off to feelthere and all the hard work they have done to provide us with a realistic tower atc simulator. Ok so im working my way through the tutorial at st Thomas , but I love this sim. Im sure the problems will be ironed out in the near future but I for one will be purchasing any add ons/ airports to enhance my new found simulator experience. Just one little criticism though, would love to have a quick reference control guide, so that I know all the commands and short cut key    functions , and what they do. Keep up the good work feelthere.

russellfire

[Avwriter]

Welcome to the forum, and glad to hear you like the sim.  Though many of us have been here for years as users of Tower2011, we are all also in the same boat with the new sim.  You are sure to find lots of good help here as we get to know the game together.  As far as short cut keys, it appears that there really are not any (unlike the previous version)  pretty much everything at this point is done by clicking on the flight strips and radar screens and then selecting from the menu choices that pop up.  True, this does meant that we are slightly more limited in terms of some of the more advanced commands that were available in tower2011 (which is a 2D top down version of this one), on the other hand the initial learning curve on the 3D version is not bad at all.  It is all pretty intuitive, and a minimal bit of trial and error clears up most confusion that may happen.  By comparison Tower 2011 involved several dozen short cuts and commands, which really did did take awhile to learn well enough to play the game seriously.  While I think we all agree that a true manual would be nice, it probably makes since to wait a while, at least until the first SP, in case something major changes.  Also keep in mind there is much talk (and very little detail) about a Pro version of Tower 3d that hopefully will be out later this year, and which may well develop in part from the feedback they receive from us here.  Again Welcome!

[Russellfire]

6 hours ago, Avwriter said:

Welcome to the forum, and glad to hear you like the sim.  Though many of us have been here for years as users of Tower2011, we are all also in the same boat with the new sim.  You are sure to find lots of good help here as we get to know the game together.  As far as short cut keys, it appears that there really are not any (unlike the previous version)  pretty much everything at this point is done by clicking on the flight strips and radar screens and then selecting from the menu choices that pop up.  True, this does meant that we are slightly more limited in terms of some of the more advanced commands that were available in tower2011 (which is a 2D top down version of this one), on the other hand the initial learning curve on the 3D version is not bad at all.  It is all pretty intuitive, and a minimal bit of trial and error clears up most confusion that may happen.  By comparison Tower 2011 involved several dozen short cuts and commands, which really did did take awhile to learn well enough to play the game seriously.  While I think we all agree that a true manual would be nice, it probably makes since to wait a while, at least until the first SP, in case something major changes.  Also keep in mind there is much talk (and very little detail) about a Pro version of Tower 3d that hopefully will be out later this year, and which may well develop in part from the feedback they receive from us here.  Again Welcome!

Thank you. Does the tutorial cover alternative taxi assignments that I've read about from other users. For example : clicking mouse on a certain taxiway to change taxi route, or is this something that was found out by accident and maybe introduced in the future.

russellfire

[Avwriter]

I do not believe the tutorial gets into this ins much detail, if for no other reason than St. Thomas has a very simple taxiway system, and there are not so many choices.  Alternative taxi routes are assigned by right-clicking on the desired taxiways along your planned route.  You will see them highlighted in yellow.  If the route is complex, you may right click on every taxiway from beginning to end, or if you just want to make sure that most of a plane's route goes along a single taxiway, you can just right click on that taxiway, and leave the other turns to the pilot's discretion.  For the most part, this system works well, but there are occasionally certain areas that are difficult to get the sim to recognize clicks in, especially if other aircraft are taxiing along the are that you desire to click on.

[Russellfire]

1 hour ago, Avwriter said:

I do not believe the tutorial gets into this ins much detail, if for no other reason than St. Thomas has a very simple taxiway system, and there are not so many choices.  Alternative taxi routes are assigned by right-clicking on the desired taxiways along your planned route.  You will see them highlighted in yellow.  If the route is complex, you may right click on every taxiway from beginning to end, or if you just want to make sure that most of a plane's route goes along a single taxiway, you can just right click on that taxiway, and leave the other turns to the pilot's discretion.  For the most part, this system works well, but there are occasionally certain areas that are difficult to get the sim to recognize clicks in, especially if other aircraft are taxiing along the are that you desire to click on.

Thanks for your help appreciate it