If any of you have played games like CS:GO, you'll notice they have a tutorial level where you can try out guns and see what each does differently on a firing range setup.
Proposal is simple. Instead of a tutorial level on an airship, we have one in a firing range. Could even theme it to a particular nation if you like. But give it a voice over from an instructor. Maybe like Gunney:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwjHhJdhY0IEach space on the range has a different gun mounted. Now you could make it more interesting and say have the range set on the docks of one of the world's ports. With target panels or balloons set up depending on the mount.
On initial stepping into the area, the instructor briefly goes over the different types of damage weapons do. Then when you go up to a weapon and mount it, the instructor's voice chimes in, tells you what it is and what it does. Then it allows you to shoot and see the results. If you target the wrong part of the target, the instructor berates you a little. If you hit your mark and kill the target, he praises you.
Could mix it up and have ships passing in the background, then if you hit one you get some different vocals as the instructor loses his marbles. Maybe end quote can vary but one could be like..."Alright fine, keep shooting the ships. I'll admit when I go golfing I like the try to hit the little kid in the cage picking up the balls on the range."
Sure not everyone will do it, some will ignore it. But if you give them some goofy gag vocals where you can make an instructor lose their marbles then people will want to run it just to see that.
