Man, this was a darn good campaign

[davidrbarnette]

Zone 5 is easily the best campaign released in DCS to date. A few high points:

 

- The air combat, for the first time in DCS, feels realistic. Each of the engagements is a quick flurry of action, lasting no more than a couple minutes. One of my big complaints in most DCS campaigns is the "air quake" feel of combat... one player vs. the world in engagements that seem to be 1 vs 8, with the action lasting for 20 minutes. This really isn't how nearly any modern engagement has played out.

 

- The treatment of the built-in comms is awesome. I love the checklists and readbacks, the discussion of sorting the bandit groups, etc. Really well done. It adds an element of aviation that has been really lacking in DCS.

 

- The missions are an appropriate length. I can fly one over the course of about 30 - 45 minutes, which is great when you work a full time job and have a wife and kids.

 

Overall, really great work by Reflected and Bio. Hope to see more like this one, and I'll be buying more of your campaigns!

[Reflected]

Thanks David, appreciate the feedback. I'm very glad you enjoyed it.

[Matthew Flies]

30-45min? How you do that? I end up almost every mission with 1:15 to 1:20.

[davidrbarnette]

Lol, time compression to and from the fence-in / fence-out. I’m a private pilot and airplane owner and I’m trying to free up more time for real world flying this year, less time simming. 

Edited February 12, 2021 by davidrbarnette

[Ducksen]

On 2/11/2021 at 9:54 PM, Matthew Flies said:

30-45min? How you do that? I end up almost every mission with 1:15 to 1:20.

Yeah! Same for me. I had to set aside 2 hours so I can read and understand the briefing and complete the mission. Then I was in a comfortable space of time available.

[Reflected]

2 minutes ago, Ducksen said:

Yeah! Same for me. I had to set aside 2 hours so I can read and understand the briefing and complete the mission. Then I was in a comfortable space of time available.

 

You can save a lot of time with time acceleration. Also, if you use the autostart cheat. But it decreases immersion. It's up to you

 

I always advise to take it slow, and 'savor' it.

[Cornflex]

Best campaign I have played so far! This really is a masterpiece. Thank you, guys!

[ClydeBigBird]

On 3/30/2021 at 6:52 AM, Reflected said:

 

You can save a lot of time with time acceleration. Also, if you use the autostart cheat. But it decreases immersion. It's up to you

 

I always advise to take it slow, and 'savor' it.

 

What is this autostart cheat you speak of?  I usually like going through the whole process, but if I die and retry a mission it would be nice to be able to skip the startup!

[Reflected]

Lwin+home or something like that. Check your control settings.

[Sandman1330]

I concur, I enjoyed this campaign as well. Although I never did manage to spot a wildcard without using labels or peeking at the F10 map, despite having my head on a swivel so much I thought it would twist off! They just appear too quickly for me, but I'll choose to blame it on limited VR resolution 

 

The last "mission" was super cool too, what an imaginative way to end the campaign. And kudos to you guys for using the actual Nellis club as the venue!

 

Now on to Fear the Bones.

Edited July 1, 2021 by Sandman1330

[Gretsch_Man]

Just finished the campaign and I got to say very well done!  Very immersive. I also very much liked the in-flight mission briefings/debriefings by Bio.

 

Yep, the wildcard is pretty tough to spot in VR indeed, at least with lower resolution gear like my Rift-S (I only caught the wildcard once). But I'm not complaining here.

 

I have to say that as far as SA goes, I still find those larger furballs utterly confusing. But this campaign has given me some ideas on how to work on that. I also got more confident with 1 vs 1 encounters and missile evasion.

 

In conclusion, I think Zone 5 is a great campaign for the F14 Tomcat.

[Kuna]

Great campaign! I loved the dynamics in the fights and of course - Area 51 flyover.

 

Anything I could add is some optional chit chat between pilots enroute to IP Point so I wouldn't time zoom every same mission route to Def Point   ( the kind of Baltic Dragon's chatter f.e. from M2000 Red Flag Campaign)

[Reflected]

3 hours ago, Kuna said:

Great campaign! I loved the dynamics in the fights and of course - Area 51 flyover.

 

Anything I could add is some optional chit chat between pilots enroute to IP Point so I wouldn't time zoom every same mission route to Def Point   ( the kind of Baltic Dragon's chatter f.e. from M2000 Red Flag Campaign)

 

Hey, thanks for the feedback. You're NOT supposed to overfly Area 51!

 

As for the chit chat, we talked about this with Bio, and he said it would be unprofessional. Since the purpose of this campaign is to recreate real life training as accurately as possible, and not 'Hollywood' style entertainment (like Fear the Bones) we decided not to have any chit chat.

[Gretsch_Man]

On 9/27/2021 at 8:39 AM, Reflected said:

As for the chit chat, we talked about this with Bio, and he said it would be unprofessional. Since the purpose of this campaign is to recreate real life training as accurately as possible, and not 'Hollywood' style entertainment (like Fear the Bones) we decided not to have any chit chat.

I suppose that's fair enough.

 

Besides, the Tomcat has one all important feature that the Mirage lacks - the tape player.  

[Jayhawk1971]

Am 27.9.2021 um 01:39 schrieb Reflected:

As for the chit chat, we talked about this with Bio, and he said it would be unprofessional. Since the purpose of this campaign is to recreate real life training as accurately as possible, and not 'Hollywood' style entertainment (like Fear the Bones) we decided not to have any chit chat.

Suppose the hypothetical scenario that ED does have a change of heart and actually does add Fallon to the NTTR map, and suppose you would adapt Zone 5 to that, or, even better, create Zone 5 II  (Zone 10?   ), then maybe there could be some additional voice overs with Jester giving a short tactical suggestion for each event (between G-warm and fence in, for example): maybe something like, "ok, Bozo, we're facing a mixed group of bandits of unknown type. I suggest we offset to the left and sort them out, and prioritize the biggest threat." This could also be combined with a F10 option for giving the wingman a pincer left/right command (1. stay in formation 2. go pincer right 3. go pincer left).

 

Hypothetically. 

[Reflected]

11 hours ago, Jayhawk1971 said:

Suppose the hypothetical scenario that ED does have a change of heart and actually does add Fallon to the NTTR map, and suppose you would adapt Zone 5 to that, or, even better, create Zone 5 II  (Zone 10?   ), then maybe there could be some additional voice overs with Jester giving a short tactical suggestion for each event (between G-warm and fence in, for example): maybe something like, "ok, Bozo, we're facing a mixed group of bandits of unknown type. I suggest we offset to the left and sort them out, and prioritize the biggest threat." This could also be combined with a F10 option for giving the wingman a pincer left/right command (1. stay in formation 2. go pincer right 3. go pincer left).

 

Hypothetically. 

 

Well, during these engagements you weren't exactly told what to do. You did what you thought was best then it was analyzed and evaluated, so it wouldn't be realistic. Jester is not your instructor anyway

 

BUT: I am working on a RAG campaign that will teach you the basics of intercepts and tactics to be used, so it will also be a good prequel to Zone 5.

 

And even if they give us Fallon, I will not redesign the missions, I'd have to rebuild them almost from scratch, re-record hundreds of voice overs, redo all documentation...just not worth it. We have a background story explaining why Nellis, and we're gonna stick to it

[Steel Jaw]

On 3/30/2021 at 6:52 AM, Reflected said:

 

You can save a lot of time with time acceleration. Also, if you use the autostart cheat. But it decreases immersion. It's up to you

 

I always advise to take it slow, and 'savor' it.

 

FACT.

[Jayhawk1971]

vor 39 Minuten schrieb Reflected:

 

Well, during these engagements you weren't exactly told what to do. You did what you thought was best then it was analyzed and evaluated, so it wouldn't be realistic. Jester is not your instructor anyway

 

BUT: I am working on a RAG campaign that will teach you the basics of intercepts and tactics to be used, so it will also be a good prequel to Zone 5.

 

And even if they give us Fallon, I will not redesign the missions, I'd have to rebuild them almost from scratch, re-record hundreds of voice overs, redo all documentation...just not worth it. We have a background story explaining why Nellis, and we're gonna stick to it

I didn't mean it in an "instructory" kind of way, but more like simulating crew coordination that Bio mentions in his briefings (maybe more experienced RIO teamed up with slightly less experienced pilot), to add some "atmospheric" but professional dialogue that is not "chit chat" as a previous poster mentioned. The player then maybe could decide (via F10 menu) whether to follow the suggestion or not. 

 

And I didn't mean a (free) "redesign", but a separate, paid campaign, ideally a sequel or prequel. Designing these things must be a heck of a lot of work for sure, and you deserve every penny for that.

 

But this was just me spitballing an idea that came to mind when I read the post mentioning additional dialogue during the silent phases of the ingress/ egress part of the missions.

Really looking forward to your next Tomcat campaign.

[badwookie]

On 10/9/2021 at 10:07 AM, Reflected said:

 

Well, during these engagements you weren't exactly told what to do. You did what you thought was best then it was analyzed and evaluated, so it wouldn't be realistic. Jester is not your instructor anyway

 

BUT: I am working on a RAG campaign that will teach you the basics of intercepts and tactics to be used, so it will also be a good prequel to Zone 5.

 

And even if they give us Fallon, I will not redesign the missions, I'd have to rebuild them almost from scratch, re-record hundreds of voice overs, redo all documentation...just not worth it. We have a background story explaining why Nellis, and we're gonna stick to it

Cannot wait for the RAG campaign! Of course I'll most likely place in the position that makes 2nd last possible, but it'll be my idea fun!