SFC Tako

Tracks are usually corrupt. Or rather, they've been corrupt for more than a year. But I'll give it a watch tonite anyway. Sometimes a track works OK right until the action starts ;)

@FastForward: Sounds like you got the right spirit. I never thought anyone be seeing blue smoke but I put it there just in case. So I was wrong but it turned out right ;) Love your feedback, it's just perfect! Maybe I've created a mission that's almost impossible but in the fun way that people come back for more... Keep blasting them!

rge75, I lied about only putting out one tryout mission, the second is out as well. Reason: I might have gotten carried away (again). I need some sane balanced testers for it ;)

I tried both pickup missions, worked just fine. And the LRP-team spawned some enemies close by that I could fire at. Not too many enemies, just enough for a good training run. Only thing is that I couldn't disembark the teams in the normal fashion, I had to disembark them through emergency disembark. Don't know if it's the mission design or the disembark feature itself that causes this (I don't trust it, I don't use it). But hey, it don't mean nothing - the pickup missions work and that's all that matters. So to conclude: a good balanced playground on the pickup part. A fine training tool for fresh pilots :)

I need to bug you one more time, this time about the level of trickyness in combat. Mission is called Manny in Vietnam (combat tryout) and can be found in user downloads. "Trickyness"?!?! Yes, this will be a fast paced mission with a bit of stress baked into it. I'd say this is not regular combat, hence the trickyness label. All feedback is good feedback.

I'd say I have to agree on that one, can be frustrating for ALL pilots ;) And sling loads? Fuggetaboutit! Not in my missions. Same goes for embarkation, can't be trusted, won't be used. And again, thanks for the feedback! :)

I'm leaning towards shorter missions. MAYBE some recon mission later on where you have to locate a propaganda radio station of sorts...but mostly short and intense. And hey, thanks for the feedback! :thumbup:

Andrew, I'd be dead like a Dodo without TrackIR. It's a MUST! ;)

@Andrew u.k. - Thanks :) And it's a done deal, will order Chickenhawk today! I've read too many zombie survival novels as of late, gotta get some Nam into me again ;) Here's some more porn (very long though)

@FastForward: Hey I've heard about that book! I'll buy it AFTER I'm done with this campaign. And then I'll get cross with myself for missing out on so many cool things ;) About Starways Vietnam Mod: it's pretty damn well made but it's set in the FALL...so I can't amp up the temperature to more than 30 degrees C. I can't have that, this campaign begins in the dry period and I really need them day missions to be hot. So I've tinkered around and made Starways mod into a SUMMER mod! Anyways, I'll keep fixin around on little things like VC-skins and what not. Also, I'd recommend initially to run my mod separately from Starways mod. Just to avoid problems. JSGME is our friend - it's the best damn invention since sliced bread! ;) @TwoLate: I've sort of fooled around with music, gonna make it loop on a certain frequency which you can have on while flying...and hear how it ends playing when Charlie hits your antenna (radio is usually the first system to die). But it'll be pretty dark music as this is the early seventies and morale is down with the Vietnamization, stoners, Nixon and all ;) Will keep you posted.

Just some work in progress. Will release a fully JSGME-compatible mod with everything. But first I'll have to ask herr Starway permission (cause he's done all the hard work really). And furthermore, this campaign will be fully playable without the mod as well. I mean, it's in the central highlands of Vietnam - add some fog/low clouds and it looks pretty much alright without jungle anyway (Vietnam ain't ALL jungle, especially in the highlands). Have taken great care to have most missions as far away from civilization as possible ;) EDIT: Tryout mission updated - ruin moved

No worries, rge75 - it WILL be changed (I've already changed it in the campaign version). And waypoint 1 is just the ingress, waypoint 2 is VERY close to the ruins. But you're right, they ARE hard to find in this version of the mission. That picture idea...it's a keeper! :) Altitude and speed doesn't matter at waypoint 1, altitude and speed DOES matter at the insertion though (it gets triggered when you keep five feet to the ground and cruise at about 5 knots).

Big thanks, DarkCrow! The ruins...I had trouble spotting them myself! Will adjust, most likely put them more in the open or perhaps on the northern treeline of that clearing (much better chances of spotting them.)

No ctrl-k in a Huey?! Well damn! ;) But anyways (and this is my personal take on things), I believe most Huey pilots in Nam never had to bother with map reading. I mean after a couple of weeks in-country I bet they knew their AO pretty well, considering they mainly flew 30 minutes tops in one direction and then back. But this is just me guessing here. Well, sort of guessing - when I was in Macedonia I asked the Huey pilots about GPS and such (that was brand new back then) but they just laughed and told me they knew their AO pretty well (the northern part of Macedonia, all along the border with Kosovo).

If I fly a mission totally new to me and there's no good landmarks, I DO use the ctrl-k and I don't consider it cheating. On missions I've created myself however, what can I say? I've flown them so much I pretty much know every waypoint/turn by heart. So yes and no ;) As for navigation in general, I think it's the co-pilot's job. I'll try to give the co-pilot more input in my upcoming campaign.

Fellow Huey-pilots! I'm workin' on a Vietnam campaign, or rather, I've only just started. So I've put out a sample mission in the user downloads section. Why? Well, with my history I sometimes get a bit "snowed in" when creating missions. The problem is that when I test them I get so used to everything and sort of drift away from reality. What reality? The reality of how OTHERS fly, how THEY react/respond to certain situations. Also, when I know the whole story of a mission...it sure helps when flying. So please, DO give me feedback on this first mission. My aim is to make shorter missions that aren't over-complex BUT I still want them to be a challenge. Aaaand...as mentioned before, I tend to get "snowed in", so don't hesitate in pointing out if this mission is just too damn hard. The questionnaire is all about the difficulty level, please respond to it so I can adjust accordingly. I don't want people to feel like it's mission impossible. But then again - this is Nam, man ;)

LOL, thanks man :) The patience comes with age. Oh, and a serious (borderline) case of...ahem...what shall we call it? A sense of not issuing malfunctioning stuff ;) (I've worked with software packaging earlier...came across a LOT of things that never worked, so many shabby characters that never delivered anything proper...hence my frustration)

GREAT WORK, rge75!!! I'm happy when I see how some people never give up. You pulled through and that's all that matters. Oh and as you said, you might have improved your flying as well :) Thanks for flyin' it and thanks for your feedback.

Me, I got this feelin' you ain't vague at all. But that's just me ;)

I know most of the yank aircraft at Midway had fuel bladders inside their tanks, hence no burning Wildcats. The jap aircraft on the other hand... :) :)

Alright, then you've cleared that away.

@unknown: Sometimes missions get corrupted regarding radio comms. Try a brand new test-mission in the mission editor.

@Fishbreath You do what you have to, main thing is to get things rolling in the right direction. If the mission is a drag, un-drag it. Book release huh? I hope it's good...and that it deals with zombies ;)

This gonna be plain AWESOME, man!

Thanks and I hope you'll manage mission #2. Many people can't hack it ;)