Is it wise to fly oilfield campaign before the spring tension one?

[jozeff]

Ok, couldt resist it anymore. I bought the Mi8 for full price but oh my god this thing is fun.

 

I thought it would be much harder to handle than the Huey but i'm happily surprised.

 

Now I'm learning this thing I have a question. I read somewhere that the oilfield campaign is very suitable for beginners. Would it be wise to start in that one or should I try the default campaign first?

 

thanks for advice!

 

jozeff

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

Story-wise the default Spring Tension campaign comes first, but I did the Oilfield campaign first as well.

As for "suitable for beginners", well that depends on how you define that. There are quite a few slingloading missions in the Oilfield campaign, and how "beginner friendly" that is, is open for debate

It is true that there are no combat missions in the Oilfield campaign, while there are in the Spring Tension one, but they are not that difficult. Though I constistently replaced gun pods on those missions by door gunners, since they are so effective

[rge75]

I fully agree on that. Since you don't have to handle rockets/weapon system, Oilfield might be more "user friendly". If you know how to use Doppler and if you can do sling load, then I'd probably go with Oilfield first. If you have difficulties with sling load, then Spring Tension might be your first choice.

 

Oilfield simply is a lot more about "routine" and IMO it's the "more relaxing" campaign.

 

You could also simply start mission 1 on both campaigns and you then decide which one to continue first. It's not like you have to finish one campaign to start another one.

 

@Raven (Elysian Angel) Interesting idea with the door gunner I never tried that.

[ZeroReady]

Yeah oil field is a great intro to the Hip, no harm in doing it first. They're both great campaigns.

[Dantagonistic]

I'd make sure your confident with take-offs and landings before either campaign first, to the point where you can consistently recognise and avoid VRS. You'll want to learn the navigation tools (doppler and radio) as well, although there are the in-game tutorials that do a good job of explaining these. Make sure you're used to take-offs/landing and flight with various loads in the cargo bay and how it impacts flight performance.

 

Once you're happy with the above, Oilfield just requires you to be competent at sling loading. Spring Tension is a lot more varied and will require you to be familiar with engine performance at higher altitudes, anti-icing system and its effect on engine performance, weapon deployment (in-game tutorial should be sufficient), night flight & combat.

 

Spring tension is a good campaign that demonstrates a lot of what the Hip can do with a diverse set of missions. The triggers are also pretty decent and rarely break, unlike most other free campaigns. One downside is that the AI isn't very good and will float up and down a lot, making it difficult to stay in formation. Oilfield campaign is very robust with few bugs and doesn't rely on dodgy AI anywhere. 

[lmp]

The first campaign I did was the default one (back in the days when it was the only one available). As long as you're comfortable with flying in the mountains, visual/doppler navigation and you can shoot straight (in that order), you'll be fine. There's no sling loading in the default campaign and that makes things a lot easier.

Edited February 5, 2021 by lmp

[Quadg]

spring tension goes well with the borders campaign. they are like two tours in the same area.

the locations of the bases change but you know the area by then.

the moved bases also feels like time passing, between tours.