ATTENTION: SPOILERS! - F-14B CAMPAIGN REFORGER PART I+II FEEDBACK THREAD - Read at your own discretion.

[Eagle7907]

Success. Thanks all.


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[dorianR666]

well i have now finished the campaign

 

i was very pleasantly surprised. the inclusion of jester voice was a great idea.

 

four small problems i noticed with the campaign though:

1) you forgot to disable contact reporting for wingman. this means that the player is unable to give commands to wingman, because he keeps spamming contact reports and due to an ancient DCS bug, wingmen ignore orders while they have things to say. especially in the last mission this is extremely frustrating because youll only be able to give him orders when the battle is almost over. pls disable.

2) the dialog text often doesnt match whats in the voiceover. should be trivial to correct the text.

3) its perhaps too easy. im a noob and i only died once. maybe the future ones could be harder.

4) it would be nice if we actually had to switch radio channels. at least for the carrier atc and tankers.

 

i hope my feedback is at least somewhat useful.

Edited September 27, 2021 by dorianR666

[tsgucci]

I'm struggling a littlebit with Mission 3.

First, when the tomcat is started from the catapult directly, the heading is off by 30 degrees. The message says we should vector to 060, but then it says direct to WPT1, which is actually at 030 hdg (with the disaligned hdg) this is a littlebit confusing.

Somehow the messages overlaps each other. When the helis reporting emergency the message that one of them is shot down and the mig29 pops up. Actually we are still far away from the helis, so when the pilot says it is shot down actaully we cannot see that.

We are supposed to "dance" with the MiG29 but is relatively difficult because you cant see shit

I do not know whether the thick and very low cloud layer is intentional but the visibility is almost zero...

 

[Spartan111sqn]

Your campaign is awesome, very realistic. Thanks a lot!

 

When is coming the next one for the Tomcat?, maybe also Hornet or Viper?

 

Thanks again!

[draconus]

11 hours ago, tsgucci said:

We are supposed to "dance" with the MiG29 but is relatively difficult because you cant see shit

I do not know whether the thick and very low cloud layer is intentional but the visibility is almost zero.

It's part of the fun. Use your radar - a lot.

30 degrees off is normal around the carrier as it affects the magnetic field.

[IronMike]

20 hours ago, dorianR666 said:

well i have now finished the campaign

 

i was very pleasantly surprised. the inclusion of jester voice was a great idea.

 

four small problems i noticed with the campaign though:

1) you forgot to disable contact reporting for wingman. this means that the player is unable to give commands to wingman, because he keeps spamming contact reports and due to an ancient DCS bug, wingmen ignore orders while they have things to say. especially in the last mission this is extremely frustrating because youll only be able to give him orders when the battle is almost over. pls disable.

2) the dialog text often doesnt match whats in the voiceover. should be trivial to correct the text.

3) its perhaps too easy. im a noob and i only died once. maybe the future ones could be harder.

4) it would be nice if we actually had to switch radio channels. at least for the carrier atc and tankers.

 

i hope my feedback is at least somewhat useful.

 

 

Thank you for the feedback. Point 1) is odd, since I put all AI on silent. I will check again. The dialog text not matching the voice overs - apart from acting interpretation, which is intended - can't really be the case, since the voice acting was recorded from the in mission text messages. That said, it is not 100% one to one, because actors need freedom to make things feel alive, but the content should always be 100% identical.

3) and 4) are intentional, as it is the default starter campaign, means it should provide something for all skill levels. The PG campaign will be harder.

Thanks again for the great input!

[tsgucci]

2 hours ago, draconus said:

30 degrees off is normal around the carrier as it affects the magnetic field.

If you come from cold start than there is no offset. And the 30 degree offset is also present after you leave the ship, all the time. I think it is more likely a DCS bug.

[draconus]

25 minutes ago, tsgucci said:

If you come from cold start than there is no offset. And the 30 degree offset is also present after you leave the ship, all the time. I think it is more likely a DCS bug.

That's all we know for now - will be checked eventually.

[hasole]

Really enjoying this campaign @IronMike, the missions are about twice as long as Cage the bear so I just need to make sure I dedicate a suitable block of time to do it.

I'm up to Mission 7 and couldn't find the hind, but as people have said it gives the cpu a good work out.  I'll try the mission again with @draconustip of turning wake turbulence off.  At first I thought it was tacview, but that is already off.

Thank you HB & Kaba for the Campaigns, and the multiplayer miz are fun to fly with a friend.

Can't wait for the PG/SC and Part 2 Syria when they come out.

As a lot of the community say to people.... Best module in DCS hands down.

[hasole]

So I finally found the hind and finished Mission 7.  Wake turbulence helped a lot to make the map playable.

Mission 8 was probably my favourite and Mission 9 ended really well, great story line.  I can't wait.

Thanks again for this fantastic campaign.  Now onto the Reflected ones

[IronMike]

Thank you for the great feedback, happy that you enjoyed it!

[termi_te]

I just finished the campaign, has its ups and downs:

• Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. I get that the intention is to protray the long F-14 CAPs, but I value my time. I really can't hear the word "MigCAP" anymore.
• First 4 missions are really boring, almost no action except for the Mig encounter. I get that you need to "get the atmosphere right", but half the campaign seems a bit too much
• Mission 7, looking for the Hind without proper ground\air directions was a pain. Same goes for the Mig.
• Biggest offender though for me was the last mission. I really didn't like that Ace Combat style last sortie. Had to do it multiple times, and in the end I decided to let Colt do the job for me and only then take down the remaining unarmed planes with my wingman. I don't really get why people are so much into huge random battles like that.
• General problem with the missions is the timing of the voice messages. I get this is not specifically a campaign design issue, but having Radio Calls, Jester and the campaign voiceovers go on at the same time almost drove me crazy at times.

I think some parts are more to DCS limitations than bad ideas, but since the AI and the scripting is what it is, I think this campaign tries to achieve more than it's possible with DCS, and at times fails spectacularly.

Wouldn't go through it again, set aside maybe for the runway bombing mission, that was fun.

[IronMike]

18 hours ago, termi_te said:

I just finished the campaign, has its ups and downs:

• Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. I get that the intention is to protray the long F-14 CAPs, but I value my time. I really can't hear the word "MigCAP" anymore.
• First 4 missions are really boring, almost no action except for the Mig encounter. I get that you need to "get the atmosphere right", but half the campaign seems a bit too much
• Mission 7, looking for the Hind without proper ground\air directions was a pain. Same goes for the Mig.
• Biggest offender though for me was the last mission. I really didn't like that Ace Combat style last sortie. Had to do it multiple times, and in the end I decided to let Colt do the job for me and only then take down the remaining unarmed planes with my wingman. I don't really get why people are so much into huge random battles like that.
• General problem with the missions is the timing of the voice messages. I get this is not specifically a campaign design issue, but having Radio Calls, Jester and the campaign voiceovers go on at the same time almost drove me crazy at times.

I think some parts are more to DCS limitations than bad ideas, but since the AI and the scripting is what it is, I think this campaign tries to achieve more than it's possible with DCS, and at times fails spectacularly.

Wouldn't go through it again, set aside maybe for the runway bombing mission, that was fun.

Thank you for your honest feedback. Sorry it was not within your preferences.

[JackHammer89]

mission 3 there's a yellow "tug" parked infront of my wingman so he does not launch. Don't know if that's intentional?

[IronMike]

On 7/23/2022 at 6:18 PM, JackHammer89 said:

mission 3 there's a yellow "tug" parked infront of my wingman so he does not launch. Don't know if that's intentional?

I don't think it is, hehe, I will take a look. Thank you!

[PD919]

This is a great campaign.  Can we get a cold start version?

[hasole]

17 hours ago, PD919 said:

This is a great campaign.  Can we get a cold start version?

Supercarrier version does it

[PD919]

6 hours ago, hasole said:

Supercarrier version does it

I went through the first two missions on Supercarrier.  Both are hot starts.  This is Operation Reforger, not Cage the Bear.

Edited August 22, 2022 by PD919

[hasole]

21 hours ago, PD919 said:

I went through the first two missions on Supercarrier.  Both are hot starts.  This is Operation Reforger, not Cage the Bear.

 

Sorry you are right, I've been playing Fear the Bones and Zone 5 again so got confused.  They are definately Cold starts and worth the money from Reflected.

[PD919]

Played through Fear the Bones.  It's the best campaign in DCS.  Reforger exceeds my expectations for a campaign included with a module, but I would say my two nitpicks with it is not really using the radio and no cold starts.

[turkeydriver]

On 9/22/2021 at 1:51 PM, willkinton247 said:

Well, I just finished the campaign, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I loved the Late-Cold War gone hot scenario, and there were a lot of missions where you felt like you were part of a bigger action. I actually was putting together an F-14 campaign for the Caucasus that had a lot of similarities (but in a 1998 timeframe) but I never got around to finishing it. Maybe I will someday. 

 

The one piece of constructive feedback that I have though is inaccurate weapon loadouts sorta pulled me out of the time period you're aiming for. Considering that it took place in 1990, the AIM-54C should have been the primary Phoenix equipping F-14s. From what I've heard, the A variants were largely consigned to missile exercises at that point, while the Cs were the frontline missile. Additionally, supporting Hornets are sent up with JSOWs, AMRAAMS, laser guided bombs and targeting pods throughout the campaign, while at that time, the Hornet was pretty much just carrying GP bombs, Rockeyes, HARMs, and maybe Mavericks. Hornets didn't get a targeting pod until 1992 at least. The precision strike role at that time in the Navy was obviously with the A-6, so I can kind of get why you'd pass it over to the Hornet, but including stores like the AMRAAM and JSOW are really silly. 

100 percent this.  Also there are two LHDa with 6 AV-8Bs a piece.   Put 8 of them in the air supporting the Marines.   Use the FC3 A-10A, the A-10C did not exist yet.  I change the missions to be more historically accurate every patch.  
 

in spite of this- triggers, immersion, story, flight areas are excellent and top notch

[IronMike]

On 10/17/2022 at 2:02 AM, turkeydriver said:

100 percent this.  Also there are two LHDa with 6 AV-8Bs a piece.   Put 8 of them in the air supporting the Marines.   Use the FC3 A-10A, the A-10C did not exist yet.  I change the missions to be more historically accurate every patch.  
 

in spite of this- triggers, immersion, story, flight areas are excellent and top notch

Please think of it as an alternative history, which it is (no desert storm etc). AMRAAM, F18C, A10C, the Viper block 50 (which will be featured in reforger part 2) all got introduced between 1987 and 1989 in this reality. This is not accurate, but allows to circumvent some of the gaps the AI, dated AI models etc else provide (or shall I say not provide) for the missions.

Once we have the A6 AI and early A we can lean more on historic accuracy in the PG campaign, which will be much more true to life.

[algherghezghez]

Is the mission 5 bug back again? I tried it today but I just cap between wp 2 and 3 indefinetely and nothing happens. From tacview I could see the F-14s didn't release any of the TALDs

[IronMike]

1 hour ago, algherghezghez said:

Is the mission 5 bug back again? I tried it today but I just cap between wp 2 and 3 indefinetely and nothing happens. From tacview I could see the F-14s didn't release any of the TALDs

The TALD fix for the F18 changed the task logic, unfortunately, I will upload a fix later today, and it will then also be included in the next patch. Our apologies.

[IronMike]

2 hours ago, algherghezghez said:

Is the mission 5 bug back again? I tried it today but I just cap between wp 2 and 3 indefinetely and nothing happens. From tacview I could see the F-14s didn't release any of the TALDs

Here is a fix, simply drop into the campaign folder and override existing missions:

 

F-14B_Campaign_Mission5_SC.miz F-14B_Campaign_Mission5.miz