For every hour of Doom, there is an hour of X-Plane. For every moment in Deus-Ex, there is a moment in Kerbal Space Program. For the time in Space Hulk: Deathwing, there is some DCS World aircraft. Then there is American Truck Simulator.. It’s learning aspect is it helps teach me how to drive backwards with a trailer. One day I might have a boat, and it’ll be good to know that.
I’m a bit worn down from certain people saying how games are evil, and how they are murder simulators. So, I’m going to chat about a few games that teach you the basics on real world situations.
Kerbal Space Program shouldn’t really require an explanation. I have learned so much about orbital mechanics in that game it isn’t funny. Getting to where you want to go in our solar system is quite an unintuitive journey. Delta V and burn time must be calculated. The moment to start the burn must be exact. You have a journey of millions of miles ahead of you. Fucking up the escape angle in the beginning will only cost more fuel and Delta-v as the journey progresses. It’s a very intelligent game. It will frustrate the hell of you at first. However, it’ll just ‘click’ after a week or two. You will never feel smarter then when you have a successfully rendezvous in space. For anyone having trouble in that game, I highly recommend Scott Manley’s Kerbal tutorials btw.
X-Plane shouldn’t really need an explanation either. It teaches you a bit about flying real aircraft. Now, none of these planes are quite on a DCS level of simulation, but it’s close. If anything, X-Plane is a much better tool to learn cross country or even global navigation. It’s not just learning how the GPS works, that’s pretty easy. Learning about how to use VOR beacons to navigate, ILS settings, and most importantly fuel conservation are the things real pilots have to learn. While most jet turbine aircraft don’t really require much engine tweaking, you can bet your Cessna that a piston engine does. Throttle, prop pitch, fuel mixture, and watching the dials all plays a part when flying long distance. A careful eye on the exhaust gas temperature can give you an extra 10 knots of speed, or you can maximize your fuel economy to get the max range for you plane. Oddly enough it isn’t the throttle determining that, it’s the fuel mixture. It’s pretty fascinating stuff. An extra 10 knots from lowering the fuel mixture seems like the opposite of how it should work, but it do.
Outside of air & space simulations, there are some pretty decent hacking simulations you can learn things from. The Hacker Evolution games will kinda give you the feeling of being a sneaky hacker, but the Hacknet game will actually teach you some useful things. If only because that game forces you to use actual linux command line functions to do anything. Although, I haven’t farted around in those games much.. I mean if you have a Kali install sitting around, it is a bit more fun then a simulation.
Alright, that’s about enough for now. I try to post at least once a month, and I was a bit behind. If I don’t crank out anything before the end of the year, I hope you all have a nice and peaceful holiday.