A-10C Warthog campaign - Operation Persian Freedom

[GauSki]

Fantastic effort ChillNG. Looks like you're going to make a great campaign. I've spent a long time away from the hog... Your missions tempted me back, and I don't regret it! As others said it looks like you're on course to be on par with other top tier hog campaigns like Ranger and BD's. You are doing a good job of designing missions that unfold the story/narrative and are good fun and satisfying to play. Well done ! You're on the right track for sure.

 

Stay energized and keep on truckin'! I know how much work goes into this.

 

Well Job.

[ChillNG]

Fantastic effort ChillNG. Looks like you're going to make a great campaign. I've spent a long time away from the hog... Your missions tempted me back, and I don't regret it! As others said it looks like you're on course to be on par with other top tier hog campaigns like Ranger and BD's. You are doing a good job of designing missions that unfold the story/narrative and are good fun and satisfying to play. Well done ! You're on the right track for sure.

 

Stay energized and keep on truckin'! I know how much work goes into this.

 

Well Job.

 

Many thanks! The feedback helps keep the energy going!

[Biga42]

@ChillNG no #5 yet??

[ChillNG]

@ChillNG no #5 yet??

 

Not yet, I'm not planning on releasing individual missions every few weeks as it takes a bit of extra work to review feedback and retest any problems and I need to plan in that time. I'm either going to drop them in blocks or as a complete campaign at the end. If I decide to drop them in blocks I'll do it in line with the 'phases' the campaign is designed around. Currently working on phase 2 which is the initial invasion of Iran (covers missions 5, 6 and 7). So I MIGHT release part 2 when complete (in about 4 weeks), but I also might not and wait till it's all finished. Sorry to be vague but just trying to figure a few things out to make sure the workload is manageable and the quality stays high.

 

I'll keep you updated but don't expect anything for a while!

 

Thanks

Edited August 1, 2020 by ChillNG

[Biga42]

sure buddy, take your time!

[Hurri Cane]

Hello,

 

thanks for these great Missions.

 

For any reason in either 2 or 3 i cannot fire the gau8. Anyone else experience these problems? In other Missions it works.

[ChillNG]

Hello,

 

thanks for these great Missions.

 

For any reason in either 2 or 3 i cannot fire the gau8. Anyone else experience these problems? In other Missions it works.

 

What controls are you using? Someone else had an issue with getting the gun to fire as they were using mouse/keyboard and space was bound to fire guns. There's quite a bit of use of 'press space' commands in the missions so make sure this isn't causing a conflict.

[Hurri Cane]

What controls are you using? Someone else had an issue with getting the gun to fire as they were using mouse/keyboard and space was bound to fire guns. There's quite a bit of use of 'press space' commands in the missions so make sure this isn't causing a conflict.

 

Yes this has been the problem. Thank you very much

[ChillNG]

Yes this has been the problem. Thank you very much

 

No problem, glad you sorted :thumbup:

[ChillNG]

A quick look at some of mission 6, as well as touching on the subject of the DCS AI and that it does work as long as you create the proper conditions for it to do so and use a little imagination:)

 

[ChillNG]

Just a peak at how I plan on using video throughout the campaign.

 

A link to a short news report will be embedded into every briefing document...hopefully helping to keep the story progressing. As I produce a mission I also create a news video covering the events of the last mission.

 

 

 

Campaign is still progressing nicely, in a couple of weeks I think I'll have hit the 50% completion mark.

[Project Dynamism]

Hi ChillNG,

 

Downloaded all 4 released campaign missions and flew the first one some weeks ago.

 

I really liked it. Very immersive, totally well done. Professional voice overs and procedures. Nice idea with the optional dialogs.

Looking forward to try out the second mission... or refly the first... a third time then :music_whistling:

 

First time I got the coordinates of the shooting range wrong. Typed them right from hearing into the CDU... and ended up in Saudi Arabia...

Destination was believable as an US ally, but was wondering about the radio silence.

 

So you might consider a "strayed away too far" circle beyond which the instructor starts to complain and repeats the current target coordinates/waypoint.

Or have it accessible via F10 menu to ask him any time.

 

Thanks for the outstanding work!

[ChillNG]

Hi ChillNG,

 

Downloaded all 4 released campaign missions and flew the first one some weeks ago.

 

I really liked it. Very immersive, totally well done. Professional voice overs and procedures. Nice idea with the optional dialogs.

Looking forward to try out the second mission... or refly the first... a third time then :music_whistling:

 

First time I got the coordinates of the shooting range wrong. Typed them right from hearing into the CDU... and ended up in Saudi Arabia...

Destination was believable as an US ally, but was wondering about the radio silence.

 

So you might consider a "strayed away too far" circle beyond which the instructor starts to complain and repeats the current target coordinates/waypoint.

Or have it accessible via F10 menu to ask him any time.

 

Thanks for the outstanding work!

 

Hey, thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. I wondered if this might ever cause anyone an issue, funnily enough I did the exact same thing on my first test of the mission, just never got round to implementing a fix as it never came up again.

 

Good suggestion though and should be a quick fix to add, I'll look to add into a future version.

 

Thanks again.

[snodipous]

I have played the four published missions and I came here to say that they are really, really good. Probably the best user missions I have played, and as good or better than any of the paid DLC campaigns.

 

I had some trouble figuring out what I was supposed to do for the secondary objectives in mission 4.

I couldn't figure out what the target looked like for the antiship missile storage, and I bombed a bunch of different buildings in the area to no effect. Maybe some recon photography in the briefing docs would be helpful in identifying the targets. Also, keeping track of the moving speedboats is really tough (for me). I found them several times but lost them again when setting up for an attack run. If they are being tracked by a UAV, more frequent updates on their position would be hugely helpful.

This may be down to my badness as an A-10C pilot, but I felt like if I was communicating with real controllers, I would have been able to get a bit more support than the scripted AI was offering.

[ChillNG]

Thanks for the kind feedback, most appreciated and really helpful.

 

The secondary target has a number of trucks and missile launchers in it's compound so should be obvious if you see it, but sounds like you had trouble zeroing in on it so I'll have a look at the WP placement, a pic in the briefing doc is easily done as well so that's a good idea I may have missed so will take another look.

 

The additional tasking is deliberately very difficult, wanted to add an optional really challenging task (one I've never managed to complete, but I'm not that skilled either). Think I set up 3 or 4 location updates but got a feeling they are quite spread out so I'll double check this as well.

[Project Dynamism]

Nice! Just finished mission two after 4 attempts over the last days.

 

1st I was too impatient

2nd I was shot down by SAM

3rd some trigger / script failure

4th everything went smooth and enjoyable

 

During 3rd somehow my F10 radio menu got messed up. Being handed over from Whiplash to Condor instead of an entry of "F9 - Contact Condor" I had my wingman commands a second time (the various formations) in the list... no way to contact Condor... switched all radios and frequencies but to no avial... I could not reproduce it today...

 

Thanks for the immersive mission.

Looking forward to play the next.

[ChillNG]

During 3rd somehow my F10 radio menu got messed up. Being handed over from Whiplash to Condor instead of an entry of "F9 - Contact Condor" I had my wingman commands a second time (the various formations) in the list... no way to contact Condor... switched all radios and frequencies but to no avial... I could not reproduce it today...

 

Thanks for flagging this up it was something I had never considered might happen. I have managed to reproduce, the issue with the F10 menu is that it only allows 9 (I think) options on the menu, the 10th onwards will never appear if 9 options already exist, this is why you couldn't contact Condor. The wingman commands activate into the menu if the radio is set and when the player climbs to over 300 feet (meant for takeoff), this is a switched condition trigger which means that it can turn on and off, the idea being that if you change the radio the options disappear and reappear when you set it back again. What I think happened to you is that you went below 300 feet and when you climbed again the options were inadvertently added a second time.

 

Obviously this is not meant to happen, thanks for highlighting it and I'll build a fix into the final version. The short term fix if anyone else has this issue should be just to change the radio channel to remove the options and then set it back again.

[scoobie]

Dear Sir,

I hearby demand that payware DLC campaigns be of no lesser quality than Operation Persian Freedom.

Or at least not far lesser.

Thank you, Sir.

Yours sincerely

(signature illegible)

:D

 

Actually I was looking for some single missions as a next step in familiarizing myself with A-10C (I'm new to DCS). I've been learning and training through systems, weapons employment and all that computer science in A-10C, but wanted an intermediate step before finally plunging into a big serious campaign such as The Enemy Within 3.0.

I stumbled upon your missions, played throught 3 of them so far and my jaw dropped... I didn't expect such a treat from free missions! They are way better than some paid campaigns, at least chopper campaigns (so far I've only been flying choppers in DCS). Technically sophisticated and innovative (for example, radio chit-chat options to choose from... never heard of anything like that before), interesting, immersive, logical, with lucid, coherent tasking, truly informative briefings, well laid out and helpful kneeboard pages and very good voiceovers.

I couldn't ask for more.

 

My English is very limited, so the only good word here that I know of is "WOW!". Wow, indeed! (They won't hire me in BBC, I know).

If we're talking about immersion... mission 3 - the truck that approached the base (form NW, IIRC) and stopped next to the fence. I reported it through the radio, they actually sent a car to examine what was going on, then reported back something like "It's nothing, just some locals fooling around, we told them to shove it" and then I saw the truck actually turning back and driving away. You just see it and belive it. It's credible, as IRL. Everything just makes sense.

 

This is exquisite work, Sir. Hats off!

Thank you!

 

PS1.

No big deal, nothing bad happened, but there was a moment of hesitation in Mission 2. I was told I was to be number 8 on the taxiway. On the other hand, the briefing claimed I was a two ship flight lead. Maths told me I should be number 7 in such case. Long story short, my wingman drove onto the taxiway before me, so I was wondering whether I did something wrong, or the briefing was wrong and I'm the wingman, not the flight lead. My impression is that the flight lead drives first (though I must admit I know nothing about Air Force procedures). Still, once we got airborne, it became clear I'm the lead, so no worries.

[ChillNG]

Dear Sir,

I hearby demand that payware DLC campaigns be of no lesser quality than Operation Persian Freedom.

Or at least not far lesser.

Thank you, Sir.

Yours sincerely

(signature illegible)

:D

 

Actually I was looking for some single missions as a next step in familiarizing myself with A-10C (I'm new to DCS). I've been learning and training through systems, weapons employment and all that computer science in A-10C, but wanted an intermediate step before finally plunging into a big serious campaign such as The Enemy Within 3.0.

I stumbled upon your missions, played throught 3 of them so far and my jaw dropped... I didn't expect such a treat from free missions! They are way better than some paid campaigns, at least chopper campaigns (so far I've only been flying choppers in DCS). Technically sophisticated and innovative (for example, radio chit-chat options to choose from... never heard of anything like that before), interesting, immersive, logical, with lucid, coherent tasking, truly informative briefings, well laid out and helpful kneeboard pages and very good voiceovers.

I couldn't ask for more.

 

My English is very limited, so the only good word here that I know of is "WOW!". Wow, indeed! (They won't hire me in BBC, I know).

If we're talking about immersion... mission 3 - the truck that approached the base (form NW, IIRC) and stopped next to the fence. I reported it through the radio, they actually sent a car to examine what was going on, then reported back something like "It's nothing, just some locals fooling around, we told them to shove it" and then I saw the truck actually turning back and driving away. You just see it and belive it. It's credible, as IRL. Everything just makes sense.

 

This is exquisite work, Sir. Hats off!

Thank you!

 

 

Thanks for the kind words, it's great to hear you enjoyed the missions, feedback like that makes all the work worthwhile!

 

PS1.

No big deal, nothing bad happened, but there was a moment of hesitation in Mission 2. I was told I was to be number 8 on the taxiway. On the other hand, the briefing claimed I was a two ship flight lead. Maths told me I should be number 7 in such case. Long story short, my wingman drove onto the taxiway before me, so I was wondering whether I did something wrong, or the briefing was wrong and I'm the wingman, not the flight lead. My impression is that the flight lead drives first (though I must admit I know nothing about Air Force procedures). Still, once we got airborne, it became clear I'm the lead, so no worries.

 

Fair point! Just an issue here with DCS AI and it's unnaturally fast startup ability and the difficulty of controlling the AI on the ground. It was easier to just allow the AI to get on with it and have you tag on the back.

[lesrae]

ChillNG - many thanks from deepest Somerset for some truly outstanding work mate!

 

 

Thanks for flagging this up it was something I had never considered might happen. I have managed to reproduce, the issue with the F10 menu is that it only allows 9 (I think) options on the menu, the 10th onwards will never appear if 9 options already exist, this is why you couldn't contact Condor. The wingman commands activate into the menu if the radio is set and when the player climbs to over 300 feet (meant for takeoff), this is a switched condition trigger which means that it can turn on and off, the idea being that if you change the radio the options disappear and reappear when you set it back again. What I think happened to you is that you went below 300 feet and when you climbed again the options were inadvertently added a second time.

 

Obviously this is not meant to happen, thanks for highlighting it and I'll build a fix into the final version. The short term fix if anyone else has this issue should be just to change the radio channel to remove the options and then set it back again.

 

 

I had the same issue yesterday on about try #8 of Mission #2 (I'm not the best at avoiding SAMs :)) so thanks for the temp fix, about to try it again now.

 

 

 

The only problem with playing it so many times is that I'm now convinced that the US use the B1 in a casserole :doh:

[ChillNG]

ChillNG - many thanks from deepest Somerset for some truly outstanding work mate!

 

I had the same issue yesterday on about try #8 of Mission #2 (I'm not the best at avoiding SAMs :)) so thanks for the temp fix, about to try it again now.

 

The only problem with playing it so many times is that I'm now convinced that the US use the B1 in a casserole :doh:

 

You're most welcome, gotta say 8 times is some commitment! Hope you get through it ok, I won't post it here in case of spoilers but if you want any advice on the easiest way to complete then send me a PM, happy to help.

 

I do love the BONE, did anyone notice?:lol:

[Project Dynamism]

Hi ChillNG,

 

My first attempt to mission 3 ... really nice twist !

Would have never guessed. You are very creative.

 

I really enjoy flying that mission as well. Pretty hard to spot stuff... and I broke it again :pilotfly:

 

 

When the suicide truck approached the South gate I kept the F10 radio menu open. I made no call... with fatal consequences.

However, the F1 entry for calling truck hostile remained.. so I thought lets see what happens if I now click on it... nothing, F1 option simply disappeared... but I think there it broke (the order/offset of entries in the F10 menu)

 

Soon after the mortar appeared. I visually spotted it so called out for that but instead got target talk on (the other option that I did NOT select from the F10 menu). After talk on target I could still not confirm visual and from there the mission was basically over for me.

 

BTW, really nice placing of the insurgents in that line of trees and bushes. Only saw them on second pass after being target fixated on the trucks / mortars.

 

 

Not sure you can do anything about it. I will try tomorrow again and I'm sure to perform better.

 

Thanks for the outstanding work and effort put in this.

So many small details that make the scenario believable and immersive. Nice!

[ChillNG]

I've had a look at the triggers, I can't see anything obvious that would have caused this, it's a pretty simple trigger covering what you described, asides from a random error only one thing trigger wise that could have happened although I don't think it's all that likely. See below...

 

 

 

The 'call hostile' radio option will be removed when the truck enters the 'south gate zone', which is also when the truck is triggered to explode. However the truck also has a trigger that will cause it to explode if damaged (so if you choose to call it as hostile it goes up with a bang). It is possible that truck got damaged just before it hit the south gate zone and so blew without triggering the radio removal...not sure how likely this is but would be great to hear your thoughts on this.

 

 

 

Also just to check, were you keeping the F10 menu open the whole time? So would it have been open when options were added or removed? I have noticed that DCS doesn't update the menu until you close it and reopen, so it is possible that you selected an option that was still showing but was actually now something else.

[Project Dynamism]

Definitely the last option ChillNG,

 

I kept the F10 menu open so I would guess thats exactly it:

"[...] it is possible that you selected an option that was still showing but was actually now something else"

[ChillNG]

:thumbup:

 

Good to know, thanks!