Loved the campaign! In essence, a very chill Hornet showcase with a lot of care for details, rich content, accurate comms, and some surprises (some things I totally didn't expect from a DCS campaign). The level of attention and details is excellent. Probably not too action-packed or difficult, but it does its' thing very well. Would recommend for anyone wanting to test-drive the Hornet at intermediate-level (frankly, such a showcase should come packed with the module, not to disparage Baltic Dragon, they did a great job).
RANDOM PRAISES
Loved the attention to detail with COMM I and COMM II, seeing who transmits on what.
Impressed with BFM training in the first missions, very immersive! (Blowing OPFOR up always bugged me in 'training' Red Flag campaigns. Were they all drones? Who exactly was I shooting at? Hopefully not some rounded-up anti-war hippies from CIA black sites... then again, it is Area 51, maybe aliens in F-5s.)
Loved the cold war-ish things - intercepts, warning shots, etc - we do in the first third. Simultaneously provides training and story. Almost like a tutorial section in less-exotic gaming?
A very nice choice of missions overall in the second half of the campaign, showcasing mostly everything the Hornet can. Used waypoints, offsets, TGP, ground radar, BVR, WVR, JDAMs, LGBs, bullseye references, rockets, Mavs... pretty much everything but Walleyes and SLAM-ERs. Something new to do every mission, doesn't get repetitive or dull!
Very fun talk-ons when working with JTACs (and a very memorable JTAC in M3).
Excellent work with wingmans-as-separate-flights, much less thinking about 'Why won't this idiot attack/RTB/stay away from SAMs'?, much more enjoyment.
Nice to have hints of personalities behind the callsigns, adds immersion.
Also, very nice voice acting, actual quality work. Actually remembered who's who and doing what!
Personal tastes, but I liked everything being 'from cold and dark', and the dreaded AAR actually made me appreciate the FPAS page a lot (and git gud at AAR).
In general, briefings, images, kneeboards - excellent work. Even custom paint jobs for the Hornet with everyone's names, loved it. Gives insight into how such things happen IRL.
A lot of sunrises and sunsets, which, beside looking beautiful, adds variety and makes the player fiddle with lighting.
WISHLIST (Spoilers ahead!)
More chatter like the soyfield airstrike, Brits in UAE M2Ks, war things happening etc on long flights between waypoints. Makes one appreciate the cold starts and long hauls much more. Seems to get much less of that in later missions.
More difficulty! In general, the campaign isn't that challenging - I fought with bugs more than with the enemy. Juust a bit more action.
E. g. in M13 a Grisha class or a scrambled F-5 covering the Kilo boat would've added some instant difficulty.
In M9 we're - shooting almost-helpless Hips and Shilkas from angels 25. Give us a HARM, make an SA-15 suddenly become active on the island, have a Fishbed pop up from the nearby Iranian airstrips, instant fun!
In M11, send a Fulcrum or somebody to defend the poor Hawk!
We're in a multirole jet, let's do something with it (within reason). I understand it might conflict with the book and/or Real World US Military Tactics somewhat, but IMO it won't take anything away, quite the opposite, if kept reasonable. So Flip and friends'll have to be a bit more badass and shoot down an extra F-5, so what?
Failure modes! Being yelled at if I fail the mission would've been fantastic instead of nothing happening (and an indicator that I probably should restart and not wait for 10 minutes of nothing).
During 9-lines, keep the target coordinates on-screen in 'Press SPACE to read back" messages. Sometimes it does show them, sometimes it doesn't. Really helps in VR. Granted, I did get good enough with the UFC to punch in the digits as JTAC voices them...
Less of 'cinematic' SAMs. AAA barrages are fun and look cool, but SAMs, especially when they're actually tracking and shooting, mess with my need to go defensive a lot. I understand it simulates EW, but it's a bit of a meh topic in DCS, probably better without them.
BUGS
Wouldn't be a DCS campaign without 'em.
M01-02 OK
M03
After takeoff I joined up with the tanker while it was on 1/2 northbound leg. AAR being AAR, I fumbled with the basket for a while and finally made contact at about 2/3 southbound leg. My wingman radio'ed he's full and at this moment the tanker decided to leave without letting me refuel, made a hard left turn, started descending, and didn't answer the radio.
On another playthrough I ordered the wingman to blow up the bad guy jeep, the one escaping, and nothing happened for 20 minutes and I restarted (wasn't able to find this jeep myself - blew up everything on SURF GMT and looked with ATFLIR, no joy).
M04-07 OK
M8
Iranian speedboats are completely invisible in NVGs in VR (HP Reverb G2 at 70% PD). I threw the NVGs overboard, tracked the boats with SEA radar and sent rockets flying at the target diamond, sank two in this manner before going after the Grisha-class. Hornet, being mutli-role, seems to offer unconventional solutions!
M9-10 OK
M11
After JSOWing the Hawk radars I still had fuel to CAP for the AV-8B flight and told them so. Orbited the Hawk site looking down with ATFLIR. However, instead of blowing up whatever was left of Hawks, AV-8Bs overflew the site, did nothing useful, and left southeast-ish along the Iranian coast. No radio comms, nothing. I've waited a bit more and RTBd.
Also seems that keyword 'Sunflower' is missing from kneeboard.
M12 On one of the playthroughs the UAE M2K flight reported no casualties, but right when IRIAF F-14 spikes show up, the dialogue intended for both M2Ks crashing played out.
M13 After blowing up TOPAZ I as fragged comms broke, everything and everyone was speaking at the same time, up until Flip requested permission to sink the Kilo sub.
M14 & M15 Wasn't able to progress, actually! At this point, it's a 13-mission campaign for me After the wing approaches the Scud factory, Iran SAMs open up. The radio chatter seems to indicate it's for 'cinematic' effect so I push on. SAMs are locking and missiles are tracking me, exploding mid-air, some very close. Bombs away, and I immediately get splashed by a missile, no chance at even lasing the target. Also, debug trigger messages ('FLAK on' etc) are visible.
