Sky Warrior Campaign Review. Worth it?

[CommandT]

I'm glad to hear we have some new content for the AV-8B! Could someone who was brave enough to purchase and try this out let us all know their verdict here before I take the plunge myself.

Cheers! 

[Teeps]

Purchased but not played yet, might get chance tonight.

[CommandT]

1 hour ago, Teeps said:

Purchased but not played yet, might get chance tonight.

Great, looking forward to some feedback  

[Teeps]

OK, so far I've played the first mission twice and been caught out both times.  There's plenty going on in the mission so far, and a time pressure that keeps the pace up.  There's a system of radio handling that works well, and adds one more thing to your task load which I have found positive so far.  You can tell that English is not the author's first language as some of the briefing text is not quite right, and the first mission is not particularly simulating a NATO way of doing things, so if you're looking for deep procedural simulation of air controls that's not what this is.  This first mission places the onus on you to find the assigned targets and take them out, but the target area is a good size for that, e.g. there is armour around an airfield to find and destroy.  So far I am happy with the purchase.

[Teeps]

Also, I should mention there are custom voice overs and incidental music in the missions. There don't appear to be any pdf docs or anything, so all content is within the game. The briefing for the first mission included target images and enough information to help get the job done so I didn't feel like I was missing having a pdf file.

[CommandT]

10 hours ago, Teeps said:

Also, I should mention there are custom voice overs and incidental music in the missions. There don't appear to be any pdf docs or anything, so all content is within the game. The briefing for the first mission included target images and enough information to help get the job done so I didn't feel like I was missing having a pdf file.

 

Interesting. Thanks for the feedback. Could you let us know what it's like a couple of missions in? Does it feel realistic in terms of correct units and what the AI does? And is the immersion factor pretty good with everything that's happening around you/ static units etc? 

 

Cheers! 

[Teeps]

Correct units - So far it feels like a low threat environment for the player, although higher threat for friendly forces.  I haven't worried about my survivability that much, but on occasions you do have to be on the ball to keep the ground forces safe. Edit to add - the units all seem plausible.

 

AI - Hasn't done anything hideous yet, but then there's not a sense of tight coordination with dynamic AI elements.  There are friendly forces to coordinate with, but it feels very much like a set of triggers making things happen rather than a complex organism.

 

Immersion - There are statics on deck on the Tarawa which add to the feel, and there are fires burning in the towns which is plausible.  Missions include other aircraft and ground forces, and the scenarios are at least somewhat plausible. Nobody's asking you to take Moscow with a single harrier or anything.  The player has a voice through the radio traffic, and he doesn't sound like me, or like my imagined fighter pilot version of myself, but that's a personal view obviously!

 

Sometimes I'd like a little more talking onto targets.  It's tough finding infantry with a TPOD under a time limit.

 

I think overall i'd give it 6.5/10 so far.  I think I've just done mission 3.

 

Edit, 6.5 feels harsh, more like 7!

Edited January 29, 2021 by Teeps

[Eagle86]

Hi! A folder with instructions in PDF format will hopefully appear in the next patch. I've already reported it. 
Thank you for paying attention to my campaign. I hope you enjoy her missions.

[MrShooty]

Dreadful. Dreadful dreadful. I'm not talking about the mission structure - I never got that far. I'm talking about the massively cheesy over-macho voiceovers and the infuriating cod-dramatic music. Seriously destroyed any immersion and ruined the experience such that I rage quit after a while. If you like Ace Combat you'll love the ambience but serious simmers should stay away.

 

And in general - why are we now getting this tripe in DCS? It's not exactly on demographic, is it? But at least the blurb for Rising Squall gives you a hint at the infantile nature of the endeavour.

[Teeps]

I think you are being somewhat unfair here. If you don't like the style that's fine, but you can't mandate how the game should be played for all.  I can accept the voiceovers and enjoy the campaign for what it is, even as I recognise it's not the most realistic from a procedural point of view.

 

I do think it's hard to know what were getting with campaigns unless the creator releases YouTube videos previewing one of the actual missions.

[CommandT]

I think they should make it a thing that the first mission can always be played for free to let you see what it's like. I think this would be super easy to do. in general though I think DCS has massive shortcomings in content. Both in terms of quality, quantity and the UI. I've bought a number of campaigns before which I hated after the first mission so that is why I was curious to see what other's think. 

At least with Rising Squall they don't try to show it for what it isn't. I think from all the videos they've shown it's dead obvious what you're buying. It's more annoying when a campaign isn't advertised as such and you end up finding out what it is after paying. 

[Сиваш]

I bought the company and tried the first mission. After completing the first mission of this company, I was disappointed. The feeling that it was made for an arcade simulator like ICE-battalion very restricts you in actions, step to the left, step to the right, and the whole mission is failed. The voice acting is also somehow not natural. In short, I'm not happy! So far, better than a company from Baltic Dragon, I have not met.

On 31.01.2021 at 01:18, MrShooty said:

Ужасный. Ужасно ужасно. Я не говорю о структуре миссии - я никогда не заходил так далеко. Я говорю о очень дрянной озвучке излишне мачо и бешеной тресковой музыке. Серьезно разрушило любое погружение и испортило впечатление, так что через некоторое время я ухожу от ярости. Если вам нравится Ace Combat, вам понравится атмосфера, но серьезные симуляторы должны держаться подальше.

 

И вообще - почему мы сейчас получаем эту чушь в DCS? Это не совсем по демографии, не так ли? Но, по крайней мере, аннотация для Rising Squall дает намек на инфантильную природу этого начинания.

I completely agree! There is no place for such companies in DCS

[CommandT]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll avoid and hold out till somone makes a decent realistic Harrier campaign  There is such a huge lack of good content for the Harrier and for DCS in general  

[pieroboy99]

After the batic dragons ottoman prologue, that's hard to find a campaign of this quality/standard !

[pieroboy99]

After the batic dragons ottoman prologue, that's hard to find a campaign of this quality/standard !

 

But the comment of Mr Shooty are pretty unfair : 

- first the missions are complex and it's a lot of good/excellent programming

- the overhaul is rather immersive, but it's true that the voice like "rising squalls" are completly loosy

- And finally it's REALLY worth it ! 

At least you don't buy a campaign where repetition are constant and where it's 15 time the same one NTTR mission with tiny chages: How boring !

[Shrike88]

Just downloaded on sale and just the first 20 min I will say is worth every penny.  Having made missions in the past I can appreciate the amount of time and effort going into making these.  Standards and complexity around the community vary based on the designer, however thusfar I am pleasntly surised and enjoying it.  More difficult than I had anticipated and that's a welcome item.  30 min in, and its more than worth the cost of a couple beers.  
Cheers Eagle86

[Eagle86]

Thank you for your feedback on Strike88. 

Edited February 10, 2022 by Eagle86

[Istari6]

Just completed Mission 4.  Let me offer a few thoughts at the ~1/3rd point through the campaign.

 

First, thanks to Eagle86 for the amount of work that must have gone into the planning of these missions.  In particular, there's a huge amount of scripting for the mission and control over wingman.  As a bonus, nice use of the F10 menu to offer the player options like checking status of tasks and controlling Music ON/OFF.  

 

Having only flown campaigns from Reflected Simulations, Bunyap and BalticDragon, my first few missions in Sky Warrior were quite a transition.  While the other three campaign creators all focus on realism with varying areas of emphasis, this campaign feels far more like an adventure story or an action movie.  My individual Harrier flight is expected to destroy multiple buildings, air defenses, armored vehicles and often air vehicles, at different waypoints, all in the same mission.  We're always "loaded for bear" with 6 x GBU-12, 2 x AIM-9M, 2 x AGM-65F, TPOD and GAU-12 so we can deal with whatever comes up.  The missions are often under tight time schedules and push you right to the edge of fuel endurance.  

 

It took me a few missions to "get my head" around this very different style of campaign, but I'm really beginning to enjoy myself.  Sky Warrior really tests your knowledge of the Harrier's systems - you have to know how to make quick decisions and be able to switch rapidly among different kinds of aerial tasks.  As an example (minor spoiler) - in one mission, an enemy helicopter appears right near your ground troops and their helicopter.  I was orbiting overhead monitoring via TPOD, and swooped in quickly, selecting Boresight Sidewinder mode so I coul precisely target the enemy helo and not my friendly helo right nearby.

 

So if you're looking for a tense, entertaining test of your Harrier skills, wrapped in a fast-paced techno-thriller style of story, Sky Warrior is for you.  Just don't expect a highly realistic simulation of NATO doctrine and standard tactics, techniques and procedures, and you can have a good time.  Thanks again to Eagle86 for offering us additional content for one of my favorite aircraft.  

[Eagle86]

Thank you for this  review. I am glad that you enjoyed the campaign. 

[WipeUout]

After playing the campaign twice, I think this is a very entertaining and fun campaign.  It offers various opportunity to use different weapons in day and night environment.  Liked very much the "movie" experience with dramatic music kicking in at crucial moments, very entertaining and different.

Only suggestion would be to offer cold or hot start, just to shorthen a bit the mission time.

Looking forward to another campaign!

[Eagle86]

Thank you for your feedback!

[xfirf]

Can the music be disabled / lowered in volume?

[Eagle86]

Yes. <Game folder>\Mods\campaigns\AV-8B Sky Warrior\Doc"  Readme_en.pdf

[xfirf]

Cool.

[xfirf]

Just completed the first mission.

I really enjoyed it even with my average skillset on the Harrier