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Quick Review:

This training campaign goes very deep into the A-10C's systems. I had about 100 hours between both A-10C modules going into Iron Flag so I had some basic proficiency already but I still learned something new in every single mission. I've taken things away from this campaign that will improve the way I fly the A-10 immensely. There was very little weapons employment but the flying itself was fun and immersive. I know Baltic Dragon is a 3rd party developer but ED should include a campaign like this with every module, the value would be immense.

 

 

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Ryzen 5 3600, Radeon RX 5600 XT

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  • 3 weeks later...

Rather than start another thread I thought I'd add my first impression here.  (For context, relatively experienced virtual A10 driver, real life lapsed private pilot - played up to and including Mission 5).

I wanted to provide a quick bit of feedback, as I know that (generally) people are much more likely to complain than praise on the internet and I, for one, really, really (really!) want more.

I cannot imagine the amount of time and hard work that has gone into this polished product, and I can only say that the result is magnificent - I have not had so much fun in the A10 in literally years.  Every aircraft should come with one of these as standard for pilots to move on to once they have got the basics under their belts.

For me this is a thing that DCS has really been missing.  Normally you download DCS, fire up your first aircraft, fly about a bit in an empty world and think to yourself "is this it?  Where is everyone?"  This campaign gives DCS what (multiplayer excepted) it currently so desperately needs - life!  The feeling that there are other "people" in the game world - all of the moving objects, the recorded ATIS, the fantastic Kermit/Biff interactions, all the ATC, (the fireworks!), the unexpected plot twists, the fact that both the instructor and "you" make mistakes (you know, like real people do).  Suddenly the DCS world goes from pretty and beautifully modelled but cold and empty, to feeling like you are flying in a living, breathing space.

This was a Day 1 full price purchase for me, and the second part will also be the same.  And the third if there is one.

More than anything I wanted to say to baltic_dragon and everyone (hi Biff and Lotus!) involved in this project, "You. Guys. Rock.  You have produced a first class product that I have loved using and is worth every penny I paid."  More please!

 

A couple of quick feedback thoughts:

1 - As some others have mentioned, having a clearer instruction at the end of the mission "ie park at Thunder, in slot X and shutdown - you can then quit the mission" would be helpful.  Having worked so hard to follow detailed instructions very carefully during the mission, a "just go back to Thunder" felt...incomplete?

2 - Stupid but perhaps a note to advise making sure the user has not bound the Space Bar to any aircraft function, as this is used to advance all actions and conversations in the missions.  (I had bound mine originally to the wheel brakes - took a while to work out why at 100% power my Hog would not taxi....)


Edited by chiefsheep
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Thank you @chiefsheepfor this feedback! If you are OK with it, I would like to feature this review on my Facebook page. We'll make sure that we use all the feedback we get to make part two even better. Then as part three... well, that will be a surprise. 

You can expect some updates and changes (like radio presets for all missions) with the Wednesday patch!

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4 hours ago, baltic_dragon said:

Thank you @chiefsheepfor this feedback! If you are OK with it, I would like to feature this review on my Facebook page. We'll make sure that we use all the feedback we get to make part two even better. Then as part three... well, that will be a surprise. 

You can expect some updates and changes (like radio presets for all missions) with the Wednesday patch!

Awesome to hear about the presets. 😊 

If not already included. Could we have Nellis/(other airfields) as a prestet too. Incase the AI bug with where Biff doesn't taxi/takeoff etc. Haven't encountered myself, but I read about before I bought the campaign, so I prog the frequency in the radio anyway. 

Loving this campaign! Can't wait for part II, and hopefully one for the Viper at some poibt too. 

Cheers! 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

My turn 🙂
TL;DR: Just go and get it. It's THAT simple.

It was pretty obvious the campaign would have the "BD Quality" badge glued on top of the box. A note to new people: this badge DOES mean a lot, it's not yet another hollow marketing w**king marketing hype.
What wasn't so obvious to me was why make another tranining campaign for the Hawg while we have 3 such campaigns already? Seems to make no sense.
Boy was I wrong, terribly wrong!

What you get in the package:
1. EXCELLENT voiceovers! Firstly, you can easily hear these people put their heart into it. They sound professional where that's expected (e.g. ATC folks), sometimes amused, relaxed, or focused - depending on the situation. I guess that's what people call "acting", right? They really ARE actors, they sound so authentic. Secondly, BD must have hired FSB or CIA to catch for him the whole bus full of these actors, there's A LOT of them, each ATC guy/gal are different people, sometimes they're different from mission to mission (when one is on duty, the other has a day off etc.) - or if they weren't different, I was mislead to believe they were, it's just hard to memorize all these voices at once.
They did absolutely fantastic job, big thanks to all of them!

2. 10 long missions that just work (Note: at this early stage there are 2 or 3 quirks across all missions, but I'm sure they'll get ironed out).
Now, if you think it's normal for missions to "just work" and this shouldn't be praised, then... well, it can't be taken for granted in DCS, I don't know about it, but I think it must be some kind of arcane magic. If you're not a sorcerer by trade, you may easily char you face casting those trigger spells. So I heard.

3. 10 missions where you WILL learn new things about your Hawg (vel Hog). I've taken a (metric) tonne of notes in my notebook, so that I don't forget any of the little pearls I learnt. Now I'll rewrite them "clean" and attach to my flying notes for the Hawg. While Iron Flag Part 1 is not for total beginners in the Hawg, this particular aircraft has a funny trait - no matter how many hours you've flown the thing, you get this feeling creeping on you that she still keeps some secrets, there are still some features that you don't know how they work or why you'd want to use them, or you don't even realise they are there in the cockpit.
An example? Here you are:

Spoiler

Why are there 4 gun pipper/reticle types in the Hawg? 2 are obvious, but 2 are somewhat mysterious.
Let's go and see the manual:

"It is primarily used when inaccurate target elevation information prevents an accurate CCIP solution."

Uhm... OK... does this mean anything? Why would I have "inaccurate target elevation information"? Is my Hawg broken or what?
Secondly, if this is "primary" use case, what is the "secondary" or maybe even "tertiary" use case for it?
While I appreciate the crazy amount of work that was put in the DCS:Hawg manual, I really do, the sentence above is an example how the effort may get easily squandered, how to obscure an easy (as is turns out) topic.
OK, we don't understand, so let's consult the Chuck's Guide:

"(...) useful in case you can’t get CCIP solution computed due to inaccurate elevation data (CCIP INVALID HUD message. Which indicates that the target is at an elevation higher than the aircraft)."

Alright! The last sentence gives a clue!

Now imagine you're as dumb as I am. In this case you want to ask an "intelligent" question:

"But Sir, I'm doing air to ground job, and you tell me the... ground target... is... above me??? Does this mean I'm flying under ground? How's that possible!"

Great question. Dumb, but great.
Here's the answer: of course it's about you flying low and your target - for example - sitting on the side of the hill in front of you. So you'll be climbing when shooting. "Normal" gun reticles will give you "CCIP INVALID" in this case and (IIRC) you won't be able to shoot at all.

How's Iron Flag campaign helpful here? You will simply make an exercise shooting a practice target "uphills". You will immediately understand it and remember the lesson. Like... forever.

 

4. You will be learning using the most fun, hands-on method. Reading the manual is OK, I think it's a must in the beginning, especially in the Hawg, but how can you read 700 pages and memorize everything? (And not fall asleep in the process?) None can do. Want to supplement your knowledge with the invaluable Chuck's guide? Great, go for it, but still... it's another 500+ pages.
Now the Iron Flag - you'll be flying, getting instructions from your wingman, you'll immediately follow them one by one and immediately see how things work in practice. The most fruitful learning method - learning by practising.

5. As always in BD's campaigns, you get top-notch "papers" for the missions. I'd risk a gallows to say no one gets close... or at least not very close to the quality BD provides in the papers, they're just... nothing short of smashing! (Sorry, for the record: Mr. ChillNG with the new company "Ground Pounder Sims", he made my jaw drop, too). The papers are error free (at worst you get a single error for every 300 pages BD writes), packed with all the information you need or you will soon learn you need. It shows how much thought and consideration was put to lay out the information - both in terms of logic, as in readability. One thing should be noted, though: in this particular campaign PDFs are less important as they are in a typical "combat campaign" (where you study recon photos, possible threats locations etc.). Here you are constantly instructed over the radio, so maybe mission preparation is less important, but I wanted to emphasise how good the papers are in BD's campaigns. Excellence is the word - I'm not exaggerating.
Oh, the kneeboard pages - they are also "papers" - they're equally great, even more important once you're in the air and these you'll need a lot in this campaign.

6. Thanks to the new "GUI system" in DCS for campaigns, once you finish Iron Flag, you'll have access to every single mission in it, so if you forget something, you can first browse through the PDFs to see which mission teaches which systems/features, then you can refly it. Perfect for refresher training!

7. If you're... not overly young person and you easily get task saturated in those dramatic, action-packed combat missions (like myself, sometimes), rest assured - this campaign lets you take your time. The instructor will peacefully wait for you, regardless if on ground or in the air - you'll be, for example, orbiting trying to achieve what you were asked for, the instructor will be orbiting with you without nagging. On the other hand... every stick has two ends (well, a slingshot has three, but nevermind), so be prepared for another BD's trademark (maybe not trademark, but typical feature): these missions are LONG. Some take 2.5 hours, perhaps a little more. For some of us it means we can only fly such missions on Sundays. I don't mind too much when I discovered that every week has a Sunday in it 🙂

 

************

A few notes:

Voice audio levels - some uneven maybe too much, with the following caveat: I may be a) plain wrong and/or b) I don't speak English so understanding a foreign language requires relatively clear voice (clearer than necessary for a native speaker to understand) - that might have been my problem. Well, also the wife says I'm going deaf, but she might be going dumb as well, who knows.
I think it was Biff in some early missions - he was loud and overdriven sometimes, while some... that must have been a feminine voice - she was way quieter, to the point where I had to pause and read subtitles as I couldn't hear the lady (or understand, not hear) through the engine whine. I wonder if this is actually a technical thing or my hearing, but anyway - if it really is the thing, then maybe those audio programs have some normalization function, or first normalization and then a bit of sound compression (dynamics "tightening"). I know recording sound with a mic is not "easy peasy lemon squeezy" at all, as some people might think, so I understand you may get all sorts of levels, noise and reverb, though the level (loudness) seems important in a loud aircraft. Well, I don't know, I guess I just wanted to shamelessly expose my apparent hearing problem 😉

The campaign made it evident there are some idiosyncrasies in AI taxi logic at Nellis AFB. Maybe, if I live long enough, someone will look into it. Not BD of course. I saw Biff twice and I think Lotus once taxiing over dirt. For some reason they landed on 21R (not L, and I was clear of 21L way ahead of them), then they slowed down and drove off the RWY diagonally to get to the point where Bravo meets 21L. That looked funny. Immersion +1 🙂 Also, I don't know which way is "front" when parking at... Thunder (was it?). You placed static Hawgs and player's Hawg in one direction, while AI Biff/Lotus often (or always) parked facing in the opposite direction. Anarchists in the army, go figure! 😉

I deleted the damned "page" thing, but it's immortal 😕

Edited by scoobie
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i7-8700K 32GB 2060(6GB) 27"@1080p TM Hawg HOTAS TPR TIR5 SD-XL 2xSD+ HC Bravo button/pot box

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  • 1 month later...

Just finished the campaign and thoroughly enjoyed it!  I usually stay away from training campaigns because I find them repetitive, but this one was a great experience. 

You only get to employ weapons on two of the ten missions, yet almost every element of the campaign is so well done that the whole thing feels super engaging in quite a unique way.  Stepping through the operational sequence of various aircraft systems was highly rewarding, and I (half-jokingly) mean that in a physiological way.  "Perform task on complex system and press space bar to receive dopamine" is a surprisingly potent video game hook that keeps the player engaged.

The voice acting is just superb!  Especially so for the player and Biff.  It's not just the acting however, the writing is genuinely excellent too.  Dialog is not only interesting but feels very realistic.  Conversations are believable, and the dialog has realistic imperfections that makes it feel more human, like needing to ask ATC to repeat a piece of information.  The writing and voice acting probably set a new bar in the world of DCS, and it's clear that a lot of effort was put into these elements.

The level of immersion fantastic.  Having the full ATC stack and needing to manage the radios almost makes you feel like you're flying on VATSIM, and is something I'd like to see more in other campaigns.  Some of the dialog from Biff that includes trivia about various places on the map also adds to the immersion and makes you feel grounded in your Nevada surroundings, almost like you're actually operating out of Nellis AFB.

The only real downside is some of the sketchy AI behavior, particularly at the end of missions.  It's a bit tedious to have to wait for the AI to attempt a landing, do a go around, actually touch down, cut across the dirt, and then finally rock up near the parking area before you can end the mission successfully (even with time acceleration).  My main critique would be to add a mechanic that allows the player to succeed after quitting any time after touching down at Nellis (was it EW 3.0 that had something like this?).

Overall I highly recommend this campaign. Even if a training campaign with limited weapon usage sounds boring to you, it's still worth checking out.  This experience is likely to be one of the more memorable ones among the various campaigns I've played.  Not just because it was a unique experience, but because the campaign creator executes what they set out to do to such a high level.

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On 4/5/2022 at 5:27 AM, ClydeBigBird said:

My main critique would be to add a mechanic that allows the player to succeed after quitting any time after touching down at Nellis (was it EW 3.0 that had something like this?).

DCS should now allow this from the campaign menu, where you can always just hit "Skip mission". Personally, I always feel a little bad when a mission reads "Skipped" instead of "Completed". But behind the scenes, it's the same mechanic that advances the campaign to the next mission, so there's no need to feel dirty about it. 😇

That is especially true when the AI caused to mission to fail. There's no need to go through another 2 hour long flight just to get the "Mission Complete" message at the end. 😉


Edited by Yurgon
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