Starting problems, Autopilot tech demo

I don't doubt it. In fact, that's the issue I'm wondering about with the current docs. That's why my suggestion was to try something easier first. I think the docs might be a little too advanced for a newbie FREDder precisely because they try to create a mission with the kind of polish the WCS team's missions had.

Autopilot is a pretty advanced feature. If I had to create a mission involving autopiloting I'd probably cheat and crack open your missions to see how you did it rather than attempt to come up with the entire chain of events myself. I don't doubt I could make it work if I had to do it all from scratch, but it would take me quite a long time to do so. And I'm a highly experienced FREDder. I'd expect a newbie FREDder would find one of those missions fairly intimidating when they first look at it.

So for that reason, if I had been the one in Tolwyn's position, I would have included the tutorial you have, but I would have it as an advanced tutorial for more experienced FREDders. For people like me who already know how to FRED. I would also have had a simpler one which doesn't require autopiloting or anything else too difficult for the newbies. Much like the FS2 extended walkthrough.

The reason I'm interested is that I'm currently in the process of writing the documentation for Diaspora so I'm very interested in seeing what level of documentation your FREDders need. Cause it's likely to be the same level that my FREDders will need too. Basically I am in the same position writing those docs as Tolwyn was writing yours.

Maybe Tolwyn's correct and I'd be babying my FREDders too much. Maybe it's better to throw them in the deep end with a tutorial like the one you have and let them figure out how to swim for themselves. That's why I want to see the feedback you get from your FREDders. I really do want to know if the documentation is enough to start a complete newbie off. Cause unlike WCS, Diaspora doesn't have a 50+ mission campaign to keep the fans interested. We really need the fans to keep themselves entertained with mods and campaigns between our releases.

Yeah. I know what you mean. That sort of thing is a problem for me too.

The FS2 docs are definitely a good start. Probably more than you'd get in some communities but you can't do the FS2 Walkthrough on WCS and they are rather out of date now.

Thing is that TBP also did much the same thing you did and only released an edited version of the FS2 Docs. The result is that since release, they've only had 3-4 FREDders release campaigns. Part of me does wonder how much of that was due to starting FREDding simply being too much of a barrier.

But I'll be hanging out here for a while just to see how the new FREDders do and I figure that having me around to help them has to be worth at least 3-4 more pages of documentation.

Well, I am completely new to FRED. Yet I first tried to get started on own. I read the FREDdocs to have a clue how the basics work and then started to create some missions.

First one was a duel (as described in the FREDdocs), second a corvette retreating when their weapons are destroyed and third, as described before a shuttle that needs to be salvaged on an asteroid. All without autopilots or carrier start/land.

I tried to go more complex every time, which worked perfektly. And now that I found the tutorial-mission (I still feel stupid 'bout that), I think Tolwyn's docs will suffice

Best way to understand them is to get a solid foundation in linear algebra and familiarize yourself with what exactly each SEXP operator does. Without that knowledge it is next to impossible to reproduce our missions.