Operation Pontus: general information

[baltic_dragon]

 

Dear all,

 

We are super excited about the release of Operation "Pontus" campaign.

 

We would like to thank ED team and everyone that was involved and supported us during its creation. We will soon update the voice actors/ testers credits in the forum. 

 

The campaign is based on a new dynamic gameplay concept that we hope you will all like as much as we did during its creation.

 

It currently offers: 

• Persistence
• Replayability
• Dynamic/ Special Tasks
• Time Progression/ Different Weather conditions/ Dynamic Briefings & SITREP
• Procedures like authentication with the AWACS, Refuel, AFAC, Radio interference plan

 

The progress of the campaign is heavily impacted by various factors including:

• the air superiority that the player and his squadron is achieving
• A-A & A-G results (such as kills and losses)
• Fuel consumption
• special tasks completion and so on

 

It is highly advised to go through the pdf documents first so that you can take full advantage of its features. For ease of reference, we are attaching them to this post (you can also find them in your install directory under Mods/Campaigns/FA-18C Operation Pontus/Doc)

 

As always, please feel free to share your feedback for future improvements and features that you would like to see in upcoming updates/ releases. Use the following links for: BUG REPORTS and CAMPAIGN REVIEW. 

 

373vFS Greg
373vFS Petritis
Baltic Dragon

 

Updated instructions how to play:

 

 

 

Operation_Pontus_FAQ.pdf Operation Pontus Map.pdf Operation_Pontus_Manual.pdf

Edited February 8, 2021 by baltic_dragon

[sirrah]

Very exciting times for SP players! Thanks so much for all your effort.

 

Small question, from someone with not too much free play time, which I hope can be answered without spoiling anything; What's the average duration for these missions?

 

 

Don't get me wrong; I absolutely love the long missions (from for instance Raven One). These long missions are usually the most memorable for me. But I notice that during normal working weeks (so pretty much always...) I don't have enough time for these long missions. Which means I can't commit to one single campaign and totally lost the vibe of the story once I finally do find time.

[petritis]

25 minutes ago, sirrah said:

Very exciting times for SP players! Thanks so much for all your effort.

 

Small question, from someone with not too much free play time, which I hope can be answered without spoiling anything; What's the average duration for these missions?

 

 

Don't get me wrong; I absolutely love the long missions (from for instance Raven One). These long missions are usually the most memorable for me. But I notice that during normal working weeks (so pretty much always...) I don't have enough time for these long missions. Which means I can't commit to one single campaign and totally lost the vibe of the story once I finally do find time.

The duration of every mission is really up to you and your strategy. For example you can make a fast bomb run or a SEAD mission and head back to mother. Once you land the mission will be over and your performance will be recorded and change the campaign's progress. Only the first mission is predefined with standard procedures and WPs like every other campaign. 

So the duration is really up to you, there might be some cases that you may be more effective in small duration mission,  due to better planning, than a long one. 

For more information please read the FAQ that Baltic posted.  Hope i helped! 

 

[sirrah]

4 hours ago, petritis said:

The duration of every mission is really up to you and your strategy. For example you can make a fast bomb run or a SEAD mission and head back to mother. Once you land the mission will be over and your performance will be recorded and change the campaign's progress. Only the first mission is predefined with standard procedures and WPs like every other campaign. 

So the duration is really up to you, there might be some cases that you may be more effective in small duration mission,  due to better planning, than a long one. 

For more information please read the FAQ that Baltic posted.  Hope i helped! 

 

- Convinced me

- Purchased

- Can't wait to try 

[brran]

Just played mission 1, that case 3 approach puts you skimming the foothills west of Batumi no chance the carrier could position a bit more out to sea?

[petritis]

22 minutes ago, brran said:

Just played mission 1, that case 3 approach puts you skimming the foothills west of Batumi no chance the carrier could position a bit more out to sea?

Thanks for your notice. We will check it and let you know. In the next stages it should be ok. Please let us know. if you have the same issues.  

 

[sirrah]

2 hours ago, brran said:

Just played mission 1, that case 3 approach puts you skimming the foothills west of Batumi no chance the carrier could position a bit more out to sea?

I can confirm this. It looked like AI flights where deviating from the marshal stack altitudes to avoid hitting the mountains.

 

In addition, after landing at the end of mission one, when on the deck, one audio message (debriefing started) and half way, a second one started. So at some point I heard two audio voices at the same time.

 

 

Rest of the mission went fine by the way. I didn't have the issue with my wingman constantly calling out ground targets (I read that bug-report somewhere else). He only called out three or four times

[TheHighFlight]

Hi guys, just purchased the Pontus campaign, Mission 1 was fine. In Mission 2 however I cannot see any trigger zones (circles with x) in the mission editor, so that I cannot assign any tasks to the squadron packages... Anyone else who has this problem? Cheers!

[petritis]

51 minutes ago, TheHighFlight said:

Hi guys, just purchased the Pontus campaign, Mission 1 was fine. In Mission 2 however I cannot see any trigger zones (circles with x) in the mission editor, so that I cannot assign any tasks to the squadron packages... Anyone else who has this problem? Cheers!

Hey, thank you for your purchase, here is a post regarding the issue that you are referring to and here are a few tips on how to plan your strategy. 

Hope that helps. 

[TheHighFlight]

Thanks for the reply! I wanted to try the workaround but every package is set to CAS as task in the section “Airplane Group”... in the mission planner...

[gregzagk]

1 hour ago, TheHighFlight said:

Thanks for the reply! I wanted to try the workaround but every package is set to CAS as task in the section “Airplane Group”... in the mission planner...

Hey, no worries about this. 

We are not using this option to determine the packages task

The packages are going to execute the following tasks by default: 

 

- Fish: CAP ALPHA

- Hooters: CAP BRAVO

- Pickles: CAS

- Trimmer: SEAD

 

You can see here more details and tips about the strategy you can follow:

 

 

There's going to be also an update soon that makes the process easier for task selection.

 

Greg

 

[Orestd]

Hi I completed the first mission and landed on the carrier safely. I received no code for the next mission nor any indication that the mission failed or was a success. It did record that I flew one mission and points where awarded. But when I went to fly the second mission it repeated the first mission again. Also I have no control over hooter pickle's fish and trimmer. When I check the stats they seem to have crash. Also i am not comfortable with air to air refueling. Can these missions be completed without air to air refueling? Thank you.

[gregzagk]

29 minutes ago, Orestd said:

Hi I completed the first mission and landed on the carrier safely. I received no code for the next mission nor any indication that the mission failed or was a success. It did record that I flew one mission and points where awarded. But when I went to fly the second mission it repeated the first mission again. Also I have no control over hooter pickle's fish and trimmer. When I check the stats they seem to have crash. Also i am not comfortable with air to air refueling. Can these missions be completed without air to air refueling? Thank you.

 

Hey thank you for your purchase. It seems that unfortunately you missed a step.

You don't need to control over your squadmates in the first mission. This becomes a feature from the 2nd mission (currently there is an issue there but you can use the default ones as explained in the tips thread).

 

For completing mission 1, could you please let me know if:

- You past over Senaki (low pass) as indicated?

- Did you then select to do or to skip refuel?

- Did you destroy a target in the target zone afterwards?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Greg 

 

 

[Orestd]

Hi Thank you for your reply. Yes I flew over Senaki at about 1000 ft. I had lots of fuel so I skipped refueling. But also I looked and there was no option to skip the fueling. I specifically looked because it said in the manual that you can skip the refueling in the F 10 menu.  But I can't see any F 10 in the menu. Yes all 4 targets were destroyed. 2 by me and 2 by my wingman. And another concern that I have. I love to start my plane from scratch so I am hoping all the missions are cold start. Also is there anyway to change the label. I like using the dot method. Simply because I use VR and the full labels are actually quite annoying and block everything out. Those are minor details i could probably live with but it would be great if every player would be able to set up the game to their preference but the actual campaign sounds pretty awesome.

[gregzagk]

Hey, you should be able to skip the refuel option (F10 Menu) after completing the Senaki task (you will get the radio menu after the message).

If you proceed without refueling or without selecting this option, then the mission won't unfortunately proceed.

 

Yes, all missions after mission 1 are in ramp start status.

About the labels, we left the option free for the users. Could you please check if it works for you?

I understand that if you change your local options, it should work as there is no enforcement in the mission.

 

Thanks again

 

Greg

[Orestd]

Ok maybe I am doing the Senaki task incorrectly I will try it again. Do I have to fly right over runway 27 or just fly over Senaki in general. And is 1000 ft acceptable or should I be lower. Thanks for your help. When I go into mission options to change the labels I don't have to save do I? Thank you for your help.

[gregzagk]

Yes, you should fly with the runway heading and keep this altitude. 

The altitude is fine. About the labels it should be just your local options here and not needed to save the missions. 

 

Please let me know if it won't work so that I will go through the options again.

Thanks  

 

 

[Orestd]

Re did the mission and flew over the runway 27 and it worked nicely. Haven't tried the labels yet. If you don't hear from me they worked as well.. Thank you for all your help. Cheers.

[gregzagk]

1 hour ago, Orestd said:

Re did the mission and flew over the runway 27 and it worked nicely. Haven't tried the labels yet. If you don't hear from me they worked as well.. Thank you for all your help. Cheers.

Nice! 

We added a better description in the mission that will be available in the next update based on your feedback

I hope labels will work as we left the option open on purpose. 

 

I hope you enjoy the rest of the campaign 

 

Greg

[Orestd]

Hi again I hate to be a bother. I am now trying to do mission 2. I checked the video and instructions. In the video and instructions the supporting plane icons in the mission planner (fish, trimmer, pickles and hooter) are x with a circle around it. You click on the X and it takes you to the trigger zone where you can change the individual tasks. In my mission planner the plane icons are the standard sort plane icon with the F in the middle. I click everywhere and cannot get to the trigger zone to change the individual tasks. Any suggestions.? Thanking you in advance.

 

[Orestd]

Ok never mind. I just read the other post so I will use the work around until the update. Thanks.

[gregzagk]

17 hours ago, Orestd said:

Ok never mind. I just read the other post so I will use the work around until the update. Thanks.

It's now fixed Please check the manual for the new process. No renaming of zones needed anymore.

You can add the payloads as until now but you can now select the tasks when in cockpit. 

 

Enjoy!

 

Greg

[baltic_dragon]

Guys, I uploaded the campaign files to the newest version of the files - you might need it, as the Doc campaign folder after update is a bit of a mess with lots of different files there. We're not really sure why they all got added  so focus only on the three from the first post please!

[Orestd]

Where would I download the update? Thank you

[gregzagk]

2 hours ago, Orestd said:

Where would I download the update? Thank you

You can use your "Update DCS World OpenBeta" icon from your start menu to force the update

 

Greg