How is the new Pandemic Campaign?

[LotusDragon]

Has somebody already started with the new Pandemic Campaign for the Black Shark?

I am curious how it is and if it is worth the money. 

[SchneeFee]

i am only at mission 2, and i find it challenging and very well done. For me its worth the money. 

[LotusDragon]

Cool, I think I will buy it too!

[LooseSeal]

I'm onto mission 8 at this point and there have been a few rather challenging missions so far, and it is well made. Haven't encountered a single bug so far, which is an odd experience for a newly released DCS campaign! It's not like 'Raven One-style' dialogue heavy or emphasis on story, but I think it's a very good campaign for testing out your abilities with fairly challenging missions.

 

The last mission was pretty cool... without spoiling anything, sneaking up to a certain advanced SAM through valleys took a few attempts!

Edited April 27, 2021 by LooseSeal

[Wychmaster]

Is this campaign designed for a single helicopter or do you have/need wingmen? I do find the wingmen AI not really helpful and kind of an immersion killer in its current state. So single helicopter missions would be an argument to consider buying this campaign

[LooseSeal]

3 hours ago, Wychmaster said:

Is this campaign designed for a single helicopter or do you have/need wingmen? I do find the wingmen AI not really helpful and kind of an immersion killer in its current state. So single helicopter missions would be an argument to consider buying this campaign

 

After 8 missions I have not had any wingmen thus far. The point of the campaign is that you're deployed as a single Ka-50 in a small group of a few helicopters and fixed-wing, so I can't imagine there will be a wingman in the rest of the missions either.

 

There are other flights, but you have no control over them and so far they've all done exactly what they're meant to do.

 

[Wychmaster]

vor einer Stunde schrieb LooseSeal:

 

After 8 missions I have not had any wingmen thus far. The point of the campaign is that you're deployed as a single Ka-50 in a small group of a few helicopters and fixed-wing, so I can't imagine there will be a wingman in the rest of the missions either.

 

There are other flights, but you have no control over them and so far they've all done exactly what they're meant to do.

 

Thanks for the Info, seems that I have to get this one then

[Jester986]

I've enjoyed the first two missions, but as a bit of constructive criticism if the developers read this, some better voice overs would go a long way towards elevating this campaign.  That shouldn't discourage anyone from getting it though.

[M1Combat]

On my list now :)...  Thanks.  

 

The shark is my favorite

[Wychmaster]

okay, have to wait until it is launched on steam  

[Docsnuggles]

On 4/26/2021 at 12:21 PM, LotusDragon said:

Has somebody already started with the new Pandemic Campaign for the Black Shark?

I am curious how it is and if it is worth the money. 

It's somewhat nice but there are imo some bugs in the programming I see by now; the Airfield  / Farp is not programmed as endpoint as it seems (not in the PVI800), and the music - well, tastes are different, but the village people made harder sound. For a russian Chopper this is imo a little ... different. I played through the Oilfield(the big and the 3soloparts), Medvedev II, Republic etc, whereas Republic was hard but also my favorite in the Shark. Its nice to have a campaign in Syria - the map is fantastic, but the technical around this campaign needs finetuning. For example you start in mission 2 and the WP switches on takeoff to 3 and ends at 4 - in the field 50+km away from your base...

 

[LotusDragon]

I bought the campaign too! I really like the setting and I was surprised about the detailed villages in the persian gulf map. I never before explored this spot on the map from the view of helicopter. Thats really cool.

But as I am not the best Ka-50 pilot I must say already mission two is hard for me. At first it was hard to spot the right targets from the distance and now I got this far, that in the end always the last enemy tank shot me down. As there were two Hind helicopters for support, it is a pity that I can not call them again for help after they finished their attack run. I would have liked that mission to be a bit more flexible designed, but I know how the mission editor works and it worked without any bugs. In one attempt I missed a trigger zone, so its important not to miss an important waypoint.

At least the good thing is that I really have the feeling I get better with every failed mission. So maybe today I can finish the 2nd mission.  

[G1bbeh]

voice acting is terrible.. kneeboard effort is the map with a line in it lol. mission two, I'm clearly missing a trigger. after bad voice acting, it says return. ai doesnt land and if i do and exit its a fail. mission one was as boring a mission i have ever played. take off land 50 miles away in straight line 

[Docsnuggles]

On 5/2/2021 at 1:00 PM, G1bbeh said:

voice acting is terrible.. kneeboard effort is the map with a line in it lol. mission two, I'm clearly missing a trigger. after bad voice acting, it says return. ai doesnt land and if i do and exit its a fail. mission one was as boring a mission i have ever played. take off land 50 miles away in straight line 

...and the fun is that in the 2nd mission the waypoints are crap, and there is no landing defined. The map is beautiful, but the campaign missions 1+2 are crap. after that I stopped now. Whoever did this is not really good at making campaigns. My advise actually is either not buy or wait. But thats just my opinion.

[Docsnuggles]

On 5/1/2021 at 11:34 PM, Wychmaster said:

okay, have to wait until it is launched on steam  

I would wait till someone shows the complete mission 1+2 on yt and shows the designbugs (WP, voice, music)

[Rabies]

I bought the campaign the other day, and this morning I completed mission 1 & 2 without any issues. Albeit, both Hinds couldn’t make their minds up whether to land or not at mission end. 

[LooseSeal]

I haven't a clue what's going on with the complaining about mission 2. I don't think I encountered a single bug throughout this. Waypoints are not a bug. The Ka-50 can only store, what? 5 or 6 waypoints? I'm not sure what else you need in Mission 2 - you have an IP and you have the target location marked on the ABRIS. Any more and it's just babysitting.

 

As for target spotting in mission 2... you're given clear target locations in the briefing images, you're even given the precise locations of the SAMs!! You should never be getting within range of anything lethal in that mission and have more than enough missiles to destroy everything without relying on allied flights.

The voice-acting definitely isn't great, but then this isn't a "story" campaign and is clearly meant for the challenge.

 

I would agree that the price should, probably, be a bit lower as it is a bit odd paying almost the same price for something like Raven One as for this.

[nazradu]

I would at this point recommend to wait for a sale. I would not mind the quality of the voice acting but it's only the bare minimum. And that's not ok, If you compare that to other campaigns and consider the price point. Mission one is only a 15 minute flight through the dessert. There are two Mi-24 with you. Why No radio Chatter? Why no forced formation flight?

Trigger zones are set to small. In my first flight of mission one I landed inside the camp, nothing happened. Did shut down the engine. Nothing. OK. Exit the mission. Fail. WTF? So I had to this boring thing again. Mission two I have done three times now and every time some triggers did not happen. Today killed everything nothing happens. Did fly over the road block and camp. Everything dead. Nothing left on F10 map. OK RTB. In my way back by accident hit a trigger zone, air strike inbound. Fine. RTB, landed nothing happens. Shut down, exit, fail? m(

ATM very disappointed.

Edited May 11, 2021 by nazradu

[nazradu]

Hey guys! I made a YT video of mission 2 of the Pandemic campaign.

The sound is subpar. Still tweaking the mic.

Edited May 12, 2021 by nazradu

[nazradu]

So I tried to record mission 3 but I think I give up and accept, that I have just wasted my money. You have to accompany a convoi that will be attacked by mortar fire. I get the order to kill those. OK. Head over killed everything. No more attack on the convoi, but the convoi does not move and the game gives no feedback at all. Waited some time, reinspected the areas and then left.

 

Finished it now and will upload at the weekend maybe

Edited May 13, 2021 by nazradu

[Erforce]

Deployment = unforgettables missions

Medvedev = ok so so

Republic = meh

Vergeev = I don't really remember past the demo

Pandemic = it's on my bottom list for a reason.

 

I'm not expecting AAA campaign, but for 13$ I don't have fun, I'm at mission 10. Courier single mission is way more exciting, even since 13 years.

Here you engage autopilot, hover, pewpew, and die mainly because of rotor intersection past 320kmh, because you want to end the mission as fast as possible.

Time shifting is your friend tho. Only mission 2-3 were kinda challenging the first time, especially when you havn't fly in years.

[nazradu]

Mission 3 is online and 4 is already recorded. Still have mixed feelings about this campaign.

 

[nazradu]

Mission 4, this time in VR. I don't know If or when I will record more of the campaign. Had some days off where I did this, but now I will be more busy.

 

[Docsnuggles]

On 5/15/2021 at 11:48 AM, nazradu said:

Mission 4, this time in VR. I don't know If or when I will record more of the campaign. Had some days off where I did this, but now I will be more busy.

 

I bought it as I love the Ka-50, but I stopped playing it actually as this campaign seems like a softy lully and designbugged thing. Thats just my opinion, the Republic was tough shit but extremely cool - I hope the guy who made Republic does another one. Medvedev / Deployment were also cool, as also some of the stuff on userfiles campaigns. The advantage there is, when they are old you can fix the problems in the editor yourself.

[DisguisedGerbil]

I’m having an annoying bug in the second mission. First run I got everything ok and got to shoot enemies, but ultimately died. Now, I don’t get any more permission to take off. Comms to start up is fine, I hear 61 getting to their area, but no matter how long I wait, I don’t get to take off. Without permission the mission ends straight away. Tried multiple times, restarted etc. anyone else with the same issue or ideas?