Would NOT recommend the F-5e ACM campaign

[djacd]

On third mission, WINGMAN always gets shot down first merge. Refuses to engage - replying "Negative" or "Unable" - REFUSES to even defend the merge - in ALL the encounters my AI wingman has NEVER even dropped a flare. Verified as I replay on TacView. SEVERAL attempts.

 

So mission always ends up 2 F-14's vs you at 24,000 ft or if I get one of the F14's the other is 5000 feet or so above and already turning on me.

 

F-14 merge - climb out of reach, (F-5 cannot climb with a F-14 let alone in this game where the physics that apply to you are exempt from the AI), and all I can do is unload, dive to try and recover some energy and defend. At least they aren't using 9M's :)

 

 

 

The issues, I believe, are not with the creator of the module but with the AI of ED.

 

Tried searching for examples of this campaign and all are from 2017 or earlier.

 

I played the F/A-18c BFM and thoroughly enjoyed it so thought I'd give this one a shot. All I get from this one is wanting my money back. - Sorry Red Flag not blaming you - love the premise and the work you put into it but you can only work with the tools you are provided.

 

Going to keep plugging away because I'm cursed with obsessive tenacity maybe will preemptively climb well above the 24,000 ft engagement parameter.

 

But ED FIX the AI!

[Sabre-TLA]

We have some updates to the campaign so we will retest and see if we can balance the play better.

 

Have you tried using the cover me order or any of the pincer left or right commands?

 

I agree the AI is a work in progress but just wondering if they behaved the same way under other conditions.

 

We will report again once we retest it as well.

[djacd]

I will try that - currently all I've done is "Engage Bandits"

 

I will test and let you know.

 

My apologies as well - I should have said MapleFlag and not Red Flag.

Edited April 24, 2020 by djacd

[Reflected]

I would NOT recommend such topic titles ;) As you can see most, if not all 3rd party campaign makers keep a close eye on these forums, so if you report any anomalies they will come back to you ASAP, re-test and fix the mission if needed.

 

A simple bug report would have sufficed rather than turning away potential players by dismissing the entire campaign in the topic title. Sometimes things get changed under the hood that us, campaign makers are not aware of. We can't always re-test every mission after every update, so such reports are much appreciated. :thumbup:

 

I don't have the Nevada map, but now that we have a free month, I always wanted to try this one. Which one do you recommend starting with: the ACM or the BFM campaign?

[baltic_dragon]

If I may chime in and support what Reflected said - trust me, we struggle with AI much more often than players do ;) for one AI unit that doesn’t do what you as mission builder want them to do are dozens of others that follow their given tasks, and achieving that is hours upon hours of repetition, trial and error.. and those AI bugs and glitches will happen every now and then.

[Sabre-TLA]

@Reflected and @Baltic, thanks guys. Appreciate the support.

 

All mission makers struggle with the AI at times as it is a work in progress so it's like trying to hit a moving target.

 

The feedback from users is always appreciated as it helps us find the issues so we can try and make things better.

 

Every update can be a blessing or a curse but we are hoping for more blessings than curses.

 

Stay safe everyone.

[djacd]

Thanks for the replies, yes I would agree the I titled it wrong as my frustrations lie with the AI not with the developer. (My original message points that out but I would hope people would read the body) but I stand by my sentiment that the AI ruins the experience and not the mission content.

 

I have no way of editing it the title however and at this point would edit or delete the thread if I knew how. It's not obvious to me

 

It's more than a 'bug' - it's by design.

 

Further Feedback

Changing the command to "Complete Mission and Rejoin" worked. In retrospect is a better/ proper command as the Wingman should not just fly off and do it's own thing. That's on me.

 

But even engaging the wingman gets shot down and does not defend an easily beat 9L. not a single flare. That and AI aircraft performance is on ED.

 

My aircraft performance is on me.

 

I know exactly what your talking about when you struggle with AI as I make up my own missions as well and shake my head and ask WTF are you doing often.

[Sydy]

Well...

 

I finished that campaign already.

 

I’d recommend a bug report next time. AI has a lot of limitations and we have to live with that and adapt.

 

I flew most of the Sabre-TLA, Baltic Dragon and Reflected campaigns. I had a lot of fun. Sometimes we bounce on a ED or Ai limitation and you have two options: 1- Insist a bit and try to overcome the mission (you always get a chance to get frustrated) or give it a try and if you think its an AI problem, ED design that needs to mature or even your own skill, just skip the mission. Learn to edit the logbook.lua and that will save a lot of frustration (and time).

 

Life it is what it is. Is it buggy? Report it and move along!

 

Take care,

 

Sydy

[audiodistortion]

I would recommend this campaign, it's quite challenging - just passed the 2 x F-14 mission... use programmed flares and the "cover me" command worked well.

 

You have to be aggressive. 

[JuJu]

I would also recommend this campaign.  The AI has it's issues but I still loved the Maple Flag campaigns (F5 and F18) because there is a lot more to practice in the missions than just the engagement with AI.  I'm new/terrible BFM fighter so even AI is helpful to me which might not be the same for everyone.  I just worked on improving what I do in the engagements.  I also used the campaigns to improve navigation (Had to learn a lot in F5 especially re nav), situational awareness, communications, fuel management etc. so for me they were great.  I liked the ambiance Maple Flag created and the briefings and procedural information were nice for me as well.  Was good fun.