Campaign FAQ

[Reflected]

“Paradise Lost”, my new DCS UH-1H Huey campaign has been out there for 2 weeks now, and I was really excited to see the initial feedback from the community. Based on what I’ve read I’d like to give you some tips and hints that will help you complete the missions.
 

 

[Tinman]

Sadly, I'm still at mission 1 to be honest (3 failed attempts so far, attempt number 4 maybe later today ). I haven't played DCS in a while before, though. I'm usually doing alright if there is a little wiggle-room and I can fly and land on pads with some accuracy. But with the tight Landing Zone, uneven terrain and bad weather I screwed up at least one landing each time by toppling the huey (which incidentally did not stop the ground crew from unloading cargo crates...that's how professional they are) or playing lumberjack with my main rotor (followed by a line from casmo to "watch out for those trees", which gave me a good chuckle, I have to say).

It's doable, but two tricky landings in one mission (uneven terrain with heavy load on the artillery-base and *very* tight LZ for the Bravo6 team) in bad weather is a certainly not the most beginner-friendly way to start a campaign. I was hoping for a less steep difficulty-curve, I guess.

The little I have seen so far has been superb, though. The 'mood' and atmosphere are fantastic. I hope I'll progress soon to enjoy the rest (I'm not even close to being frustrated enough to skip the mission altogether).

I have to disagree with you slightly on one point though:

I do agree that the comms management is part of the fun, and it so far has not been a point of failure for me. But with suboptimal headtracking and depending on one's individual setup it can be a royal pain to change frequencies. The thing is, while you could easily do it in real life at a glance or without even looking (like changing your car stereo), with headtracking and without any haptic feedback you have to continuously look directly at it AND aim the mouse at a relatively small space AND sometimes find the correct mouse button or scroll direction. And if your head moves a little you might end up changing the switch next to it. All while not trying to crash.

It sometimes is a struggle, so I tend to change the radios only on the ground, if possible. I'm usually fine with tuning the radios myself, but having the option to tell the copilot to change frequencies would be (at least sometimes) preferable. Maybe a F10-Menu option?

 

I hope that does not read too critical, as I certainly have enjoyed my attempts so far and will try to improve my skills to complete both the mission and the entire campaign.

[wowbagger]

Quick tip for changing radio frequencies:  I have a (shifted) button on my joystick for setting the time acceleration to 1/3 or 1/4 which I use when having to go head's down to change frequencies. I also look down and then temporarily disable head tracking (for me, one of my mouse buttons) while monkeying about with the radio knobs. Lastly, in the huey you can flip on auto pilot to fly straight and level while messing with the radios.

Mission 1 spoiler:

Spoiler

I was a bit rusty with the Huey when I started the campaign, and my very first landing at the FSB I felt a bump on the way in. When I touched down, things were definitely skewed. A quick check from the outside that my skid had been knocked off by the helmet of a careless soldier . I had to make three more landings with only one skid (including the 'infamous' one in the clearing). Added to the challenge and fun!

I'm at Mission 6 now and have loved every minute of this campaign. The atmosphere is excellent; which is what I buy DLC campaigns for, to make me feel like I'm in another time and place.  So many little touches add up to an extremely immersive experience. The dialogue is hilarious and very well done - even if it sounds like every DCS youtuber is on the island with me (Wags is truly great, incidentally).

My sole criticism is that labels and external views of other aircraft are turned off. I personally wouldn't use labels in this particular campaign, though I do in many other missions and campaigns, but since no one can take into account every one else's hardware and physical situations, I don't think these should ever be forced off. Likewise for external views (linked to map settings I believe), I think they should always be allowed. DCS can be a beautiful cinematic experience, and being unable to watch the F-4s do their run in over the jungle canopy takes away from the experience. I wish DCS would allow you to limit F10 map icons without affecting F2 views of other aircraft.

I'm not much into TGPs and stand off munitions - this kind of fly by sight and seat of your pants experience is what I enjoy in DCS and PL nailed it. Can't wait to dive back in to the next mission. This is a campaign I will definitely be revisiting again, likely multiple times. It's what the Huey has been waiting for for so many years.

Excellent work!

 

(and highly recommend firing up a 60's playlist, makes everything even better! )

 

Spoiler

A few more moments.

 

 

Edited January 13, 2022 by wowbagger

[Reflected]

Thanks a lot @wowbagger ! I turned off the labels because in this campaign you don't have to spot other aircraft. And if you had labels on, looking for enemy and friendly ground troops would be way too easy and take all the fun away. Think about the sniffer mission for example...

[wowbagger]

I completely understand why labels are off for this campaign, and it's almost certainly the correct decision. Agree 100% that playing with labels on would destroy all of the fun and excitement of these missions.

It would be nice if the game allowed one to have the labels off by default, regardless of the user's setting, but still allow the user to turn them on if really desired - so you don't have to constantly say "I really recommend you play with labels off" kind of thing. It's just a personal niggle with me that any mission might prevent me from playing the game the way I might want to, and has been in issue with some other missions from other designers.  But as I said, I totally understand it in this campaign and there is no need of them here with decent hardware / eyesight.