So I made my drop ship dedicated alt today. I found and devoured judge Rhadamanthus' DS flight guide and in it he shows how to practice away from the battle, in the flight only zone. He warned me about the losses, about how my first enemy would not be a forge gun, but a mountain side. But bejesus, I was not prepared for the rail guns and weird inertia that your militia DS likes to give you. I crashed and burned under the pressure of rail fire and soggy handling. A lot.

In short, I just blew 2mil isk on skill books and basic fits for about 2 minutes worth of flight practice,whereby I learned how hard the ground is and not a lot else. Really frustrating. How are new players, not used the driving philosophy of the EvE universe (it's hard work until you make it easy so HTFU, specifically) supposed to be encouraged by this experience? DS's are hard to learn and expensive to lose, even the militia ones, and newberries will be put off very quickly if they're isn't a viable way to learn with no risk to your isk flow.

So, I'm proposing...no I'm *pleading* for a VR flight simulator that any player can access, where a vehicle of their choice can be spawned onto a pre-made map and allow them to fly(crash) happy until they have the hang of zipping around the battlefield in their new toy. Add it into the New Player experience and have it permanently installed into your private quarters (perhaps the unit itself could resemble a PS3 hmm?).

The current alternate is to grind in a militia suit for low isk (because after two games you're out of the academy and into proto pubs ville yaaaaaay) for the privilege of running to the edge of a skirmish map, dropping a vehicle whilst praying that a rail gun won't trash it and then spending the rest of the match not being a team player. It's a lose-lose situation for everyone.

If you'll excuse me, I need to jump into an ambush match so I can die for cash. Thanks.

Im all for a training area

I would like to mention to Kierk there is a chat called "Condor Squad" (without quotes) that you can join. You can find Judge, Bojo and myself in there among other vetern dropship pilots who can take you out on the field and train you in person (only if you ask nicelly) and some of us if you're really polite and open to direction might even call in one of our own logi or ADS's for you to practice on.

Good flying!