Book Chapters and Mission Alignment

[LumberJack]

I got the book on Audible and was thinking of going through the book and the missions simultaneously as to limit spoilers, do you have anything that identifies what chapters match up to missions? That way I know where to stop the book and fly the mission.

 

Thanks for all your great campaigns, I've enjoyed every one.

[squid509]

all i found was a note in the mission briefing in game that said mission 2 happens after chapter 5 i now dear not look ahead in the briefings

[Hog_No32]

It‘s a difficult topic. You can see it from many sides:

 

Reading the entire book before playing the camapign certainly builds the characters much better. You know Flip, Olive, Weed and all the others just so much better and it makes you understand the storyline and dialogues, both in the briefings as as well as in the missions much better.

 

On the other hand, sure, there will be some spoilers and you might have an expectation here and there on what will happen. Yet, there are 15 missions in this but only like 3-4 missions described in detail in the book. So there should sufficient surprises left :thumbup:

 

It‘s been 1.5 years (and a few other books) since I read Raven One for the first time. I actually now read it again just to have all the characters back up before starting the campaign:)

 

Everybody has his or her preferences. Jell-O, Kevin and BD discussed exactly this in the Air Combat Simulation Podcast episode about this camapign as well:

[Adam]

I agree, it would be helpful.

 

I can see the 'problem' with people wanting different experiences, but I think this could be easilly fixed by having 2 different categories. (Even if it was posted here on the forum for people to refer to):

 

 

Cat 1 - Experience in-game first before reading in the book.

 

(This way the mission brief tells you what chapter you can safely read up to before and where you need to stop before playing this mission.

 

For me - this is what I like...

 

ie -in mission 5

I had no idea what to expect as we were crossing into Iran. How was this going to play out? What was I supposed to do? Leave? Stick with prince? The suspense of seeing the fuel go down, flying in close formation to prince's plane, and having income escorts. This started off as a routine training mission, no thought of having enemy encounters!

 

How was this going to play out? Would prince start waking up and we would have to get out of dodge fast? Would the escorts come in and provide a solution? It's going to be interesting to see an enemy plane come in formation with us I thought. And then what? And while I'm thinking of what's going to happen - out of the blue - *BANG* - having prince's plane explode next to me when I wasn't more than 30 feet away in close formation suddenly was a surprise and adrenalin rush. No time to think! Straight into defense! "I have no weapons! What am I supposed to do? Jettison my fuel tank on his aircraft?!?" the thought that were coming through as I was in a single circled with the Mig, with AB's running and what little left of the fuel I had going down fast! I had no idea what to expect before hand - the anticipation of waiting for radio calls for help (which never came, and Saint being ever so not helpful), the sudden change in circumstances. Hours of boredom with a few minutes of terror inbetween - yeah - I could see that now! What the outcome and what full drama! Hollywood movies had nothing on what I experienced as I played out that mission! What an experience!

 

 

I was then able to immediately go back and read the chapter and as I was - I had all the visuals in my mind of what I did. I had a greater appreciation of what I was reading in the book, and I also got enjoyment out of seeing how many of my decisions/actions lined up with what was in the novel as well.

 

But I understand that this isn't for everyone.

 

 

 

Cat 2 - Read the book first and then experience ingame

 

With this option - have "read chapter x before playing mission y", or "don't play mission y until you're up to chapter x in the book".

 

For people who want to read first - nothing is given away in the game, and they get to read it first in the book, and then re-live again by playing that chapter out in the mission.

 

 

What I've been doing so far is reading the book up until a briefing that sounds unfamiliar to me - and then I go and play the next mission. This has mostly worked so far for me as per #1 above, but it would be great to have a list. I'm not through the missions yet so couldn't do this myself.

 

Once I finish the missions and the book and know what to expect, I plan on going back and playing the missions over from scratch. I figure this will give me the best of both worlds - first - playing the mission and experience first the surprises before reading the book, but then having a greater 'feel' for the characters as I replay and experience it from a different perspective the second time around. Thus getting 2 experiences for the price of one. :D

Edited August 29, 2020 by Adam

[Qnnrad]

I know its 3 years due, but I am now playing this campaign and reading the book.
And since this comes up on google when you search for the answer, I'll just post the answer.

Based on the mission briefings, there are only few missions that suggest to read up the book to some point, and in one case it's suggested NOT TO READ beyond a point.

Raven One
# - chapter in book to read before playing M - Campaign mission

#4 (and stop reading) - M2
#22.5 (half of the #22) - M3
#47 - M9
#62 - M14

Have fun! And yeah, the book is fun, recommended to all combat flight sim enthusiasts

[baltic_dragon]

Thanks, appreciate it! Also, if I am not mistaken, there is a sale of Raven One series on Kindle so those of you who have not tried them can get them really cheap - and it's totally worth it.