HOTAS commands

For some reason I just don't click with the HOTAS in the A10 which everyone seems to say is really intuitive. I love the F18 and Harrier HOTAS and have no issues with remember those, and even the Mirage seemed to just work for me. The A10 though, for the life of me I just can't seem to get it and it is part of the reason I am avoiding the F16 for now too as I believe they are similar with the long and short commands etc?

Does anyone have any good tips for how to get on with the A10 please as other than the HOTAS I quite enjoy this jet and want to fly her more!

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What do you find difficult? I do not have 18, m2000 or harrier, but I find a-10c quite straightforward. Yes It has a lot of functions, but if you have a hotas warthog it's exactly as in the real plane, you do not even have to think how to assign the buttons.

With the coolie hat on the throttle you switch between hud and mfcd and set soi; with DMS you change steerpoint, set scale on the map and such; then there are few important functions to remember: TMS up long set spi, TMS down long reset spi to steerpoint; china hat fwd long slaves all to spi, china hat aft long unslaves back to default position. There are also other functions you can do with the hotas (broadcast spi, set markpoints, etc) but they are more advanced and you can start operating even if you do not remember; maybe you could print the two pages of the manual with the scheme and check during mission; put them in a kneeboard page if you play VR, and after a few times It Will be easier.

I found the layout of the table in the manual a bit hard to read. I made this kneeboard-ready one that's laid out nicer:

Might find it helpful. It does omit a couple of the more obvious controls to make some room. I'd try and focus on one thing at a time. For example, learn all the HUD related binds first. Then move on to TGP, and so on. Basically learn a column in the table. That's how I went about it.

I find this a bit more easy on the eye

For some reason I just don't click with the HOTAS in the A10 which everyone seems to say is really intuitive.

I wouldn't actually call it intuitive. After using it exclusively for a year or two, it should be. Until then, it takes a lot of training and muscle memory to cope with it. ;)

The big difference between Hornet and Hog HOTAS, IMO, is that the A-10C is almost built around the HOTAS concept. The pilot sets up all the profiles during the mission planning phase or during startup. After that, selecting weapon profiles and working the sensors is purely hands on throttle and stick. Plus, the gun is always just a trigger squeeze away. In the Hornet, pilots can't take a fart without punching data into the UFC first.

Does anyone have any good tips for how to get on with the A10 please as other than the HOTAS I quite enjoy this jet and want to fly her more!

I really liked the in-game tutorial mission for the A-10C HOTAS. It gives a good overview for beginners.

Then there are tons of Youtube tutorials of varying degrees of accuracy and usefulness. When it comes to the ins and outs, the Hog's HOTAS is definitely complex, and is deeply tied into many of the other systems. It's easy to get things wrong. But once a pilot has a good understanding, I think the concept is very mighty, very well thought-out and allows pilots to achieve tasks quickly and efficiently.

But like so many things in life, it really just takes practice, practice, and practice.

Learning the tables for all the HOTAS buttons is a must. Some people prefer the version where functions are written next to the button, others prefer the tables like they are in the manual, but ultimately most major button presses do different things depending on SOI and depending on short or long press, and you'll just have to dig in to it until it all starts to make sense. A bit like learning to ride a bike, or hover a helicopter, come to think of it. ;)

Thanks for the replies, I guess I will have to stick at it till it goes in, the addition of both the tabular and graphical images above into the knee board will help as well.

I was thinking more about ehybi clicked with the other aircraft more so and it may well be that I have been flying those from initial release and so have learn as each new feature is added where as the A10 it's all there from day one which has caused some learning curve issues.

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I never found it easy to learn the Hog. I never liked using the kneeboard. I taped notes all around the edge of my monitor when learning. That seemed easier than bringing up the kneeboard which I might need for something else.

If you use VR this won't work but i'm still a Tr5 user.

Thanks for the replies, I guess I will have to stick at it till it goes in, the addition of both the tabular and graphical images above into the knee board will help as well.

 

I was thinking more about ehybi clicked with the other aircraft more so and it may well be that I have been flying those from initial release and so have learn as each new feature is added where as the A10 it's all there from day one which has caused some learning curve issues.

 

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Stick with it for sure. Once learned, the muscle memory doesn't really fade. Flew it exclusively to start with DCS, picked up the Hornet when it first became available in early access. Literally flew the Hornet exclusively, since release - until two days ago, when I jumped back into the A10C in a multiplayer server. Racked up 36 A/G kills and 3 A/A kills, in one flight from wheels up to wheels down. It was nearly like I had never left. It's worth it, shes a well sorted and very capable bird.

Cheers,

Don

Eventually you’ll reach a point where everything is so second nature that you won’t be able to actually explain how to do something because it’s become so ingrained.

Eventually you’ll reach a point where everything is so second nature that you won’t be able to actually explain how to do something because it’s become so ingrained.

+1

Cheers,

Don

I finally got a decent HOTAS and so I am revisting the Hog.... I feel ya. SPI SOI MARK points and the functionality of each sensor does something a little different. What I did was created several of my own little training missions focusing on various aspects of the sensors. Missions for the mavrics and chaining them to fire 6 mavs in 10 seconds causes some serious mental gymnastics.