F/A-18C Multiplayer Cooperate Campaign - Operation Hormuz [Finished]

[Jenson]

Mission 23 requires a lot of teamwork, and it's the second last chapter in this campaign. 

Operation Hormuz Mission 23 (digitalcombatsimulator.com)

 

[Jenson]

This is the final mission of this multiplayer campaign. 

Operation Hormuz Mission 24 (Final Mission) (digitalcombatsimulator.com) 

 

In the future, I might go through the campaign and redo the briefing and kneeboard with a better style, also improve some early missions such as. 

(1) add an extra hot-on-ramp flight with 4 more aircraft, just in case. 
(2) AI Hawk flight activation will be built into F10 radio menu with same procedure/standard. 
(3) recovery tankers will be called out via F10 radio menu

Thank you all again for playing and please comment to let me know where and which could be improved, I will try to build your ideas into this campaign when I go through it for the second time. Also if you enjoy this campaign, share it with more people, cheers! 

[Mistermann]

On 10/1/2023 at 3:01 AM, Jenson said:

This is the final mission of this multiplayer campaign. 

What an accomplishment!  Congratulations on reaching your goal of 24 missions.  My guys and I are onto Mission 16.  We have absolutely enjoyed your creation and will undoubtedly replay at some point in the future.  You have a real knack for mission creating, Jenson.  The amount of activity going on in this campaign is something that really brings it to life.  Looking at the download counts, it appears that about 500 people/groups have made it midway through the campaign.  At first glance, I find that unfortunate.  Not sure what that tells me other than there's a whole bunch of hornet pilots missing out.  A HUGE thanks from me and my group!!  I can only imagine the amount of time/effort you spent creating this incredible experience.  Its bittersweet thinking we only have 9 more missions left before we're done.

On 10/1/2023 at 3:01 AM, Jenson said:

In the future, I might go through the campaign and redo the briefing and kneeboard with a better style, also improve some early missions such as. 

(1) add an extra hot-on-ramp flight with 4 more aircraft, just in case. 
(2) AI Hawk flight activation will be built into F10 radio menu with same procedure/standard. 
(3) recovery tankers will be called out via F10 radio menu

Thank you all again for playing and please comment to let me know where and which could be improved, I will try to build your ideas into this campaign when I go through it for the second time. Also if you enjoy this campaign, share it with more people, cheers! 

I have a list of things I've captured over the first 15 missions.  This list is simply a bunch of observations/notes that I captured so I could possibly create content like this for my guys in the future.  Much like you've done for your group.  I am happy to get additional feedback from my group and post.  I suspect you'll want it before we complete 9 more missions as we tend to average one mission per week.  FWIW all three of your observations are on my list as well.

Are you revisiting the campaign because your squadron wants to replay it?  Just wondering out loud ... would they prefer a brand new setting (maybe Syria ) where you create a new campaign with the general feedback from Hormuz?  I know, that's a REAL commitment to mission creation and I'm just one random internet jet jockey out here suggesting what you do with your free time!  Just know there are others out here that enjoy your creation.  Heck, maybe some new story on the PG map that allows you to leverage existing assets could also be an option.

Regardless, I hope this comes across positively and as encouragement from strangers that there's an appetite for what you create.  

Thanks again!

[Jenson]

On 10/2/2023 at 11:41 PM, Mistermann said:

Are you revisiting the campaign because your squadron wants to replay it?  Just wondering out loud ... would they prefer a brand new setting (maybe Syria ) where you create a new campaign with the general feedback from Hormuz?  I know, that's a REAL commitment to mission creation and I'm just one random internet jet jockey out here suggesting what you do with your free time!  Just know there are others out here that enjoy your creation.  Heck, maybe some new story on the PG map that allows you to leverage existing assets could also be an option.

Hi, Mistermann, thanks for this feedback. Some aviators in my squadron want to replay the whole campaign; also because I know some early missions have flaws, and I want to improve them. I do get requests to make brand new settings such as Syria or Sinai, however, I'm not planning to start any new campaign in the near future, because it takes too much time! But anything is possible, let's never say no. 

Thanks again for your appreciation! Hope you enjoy the remaining 8 missions, and find more players to play together! Cheers! 

[Mistermann]

11 hours ago, Jenson said:

Some aviators in my squadron want to replay the whole campaign; also because I know some early missions have flaws, and I want to improve them.

That's what I was expecting you to say.  I can tell you as much as we've enjoyed it, we'll do the same.

11 hours ago, Jenson said:

I do get requests to make brand new settings such as Syria or Sinai, however, I'm not planning to start any new campaign in the near future, because it takes too much time! But anything is possible, let's never say no.

Well, that's because you're good at it!    As a part-time mission creator myself, I completely understand the time investments required for this type of endeavor.  

11 hours ago, Jenson said:

Thanks again for your appreciation! Hope you enjoy the remaining 8 missions, and find more players to play together! Cheers! 

Just had an absolute blast with Mission 16 (Operation Highway Pullover) - absolute blast.  So much so that I almost ran out of fuel!  I was down to 190lbs when I caught the basket on the way back to the boat!  So much fun!!

 

[Brodey54]

Just wanted to thank you for a great mission/campaign. My buddies and I are just starting out but ran into a small issue at mission 2. Running this on a dedicated server and we cant start from the carrier anymore. The first run was ok but now its always starting in air. Do you know how I can fix that? Also the RWR doesnt seem to work as does the decoys being shot at.

 

 

Edited October 14, 2023 by Brodey54

[Jenson]

On 10/15/2023 at 3:39 AM, Brodey54 said:

Just wanted to thank you for a great mission/campaign. My buddies and I are just starting out but ran into a small issue at mission 2. Running this on a dedicated server and we cant start from the carrier anymore. The first run was ok but now its always starting in air. Do you know how I can fix that? Also the RWR doesnt seem to work as does the decoys being shot at.

 

 

 

Was this "starting in air bug" due to the 2.9 update? guess this bug is fixed. 

[Mistermann]

Hey @Jenson - Happy New Year!

My buddies and I are picking back up after a few months hiatus from Operation Hormuz.  We're on Mission 17.  We are experiencing some trigger issues when jumping in Hawk1 jet.  As soon as I occupy that jet (and do nothing else), the mission thinks I have fenced in and starts issuing radio messages as if we're into that zone.  Not sure if the latest 2.9 changes have messed with the triggers, but it appears the mission thinks one of these three groups is "in" zone "FENCE IN".  

This is on a non-modified version of your mission.  I even re-downloaded it just before posting to make sure it hadn't been updated/fixed.

I made a video of the experience in case this helps diagnose.

Thanks for taking a look.

Edited January 3 by Mistermann

[rob10]

6 hours ago, Mistermann said:

Hey @Jenson - Happy New Year!

My buddies and I are picking back up after a few months hiatus from Operation Hormuz.  We're on Mission 17.  We are experiencing some trigger issues when jumping in Hawk1 jet.  As soon as I occupy that jet (and do nothing else), the mission thinks I have fenced in and starts issuing radio messages as if we're into that zone.  Not sure if the latest 2.9 changes have messed with the triggers, but it appears the mission thinks one of these three groups is "in" zone "FENCE IN". 

The "part of group in zone" trigger was broken with the big December update.  No ETA on a fix yet.

[Mistermann]

9 hours ago, rob10 said:

The "part of group in zone" trigger was broken with the big December update.  No ETA on a fix yet.

Oh wow, that's a big miss on their part as a lot of missions/campaigns use that trigger.  Must not be a priority (or more difficult to squash) as it wasn't in the 2.9 hotfix.  Bummer.  Thanks for the info, @rob10.

[Jenson]

20 hours ago, Mistermann said:

Oh wow, that's a big miss on their part as a lot of missions/campaigns use that trigger.  Must not be a priority (or more difficult to squash) as it wasn't in the 2.9 hotfix.  Bummer.  Thanks for the info, @rob10.

ED said it will be fixed in the next patch, details check below post. 

[diamond26]

Hi @Jenson thanks for this nice work.
I have a small comment regarding the remastered Mission 02. We flew it in my Squadron with 4 guys flying the Hawk 1 and we let Hawk 2 on AI. We received the updated F10 for the AI and I ordered them to launch TALDS. We got the response in the menu about launching phantom planes but the AI fired HARMs instead. 
Additional tasking worked nicely. 

[Jenson]

4 hours ago, diamond26 said:

Hi @Jenson thanks for this nice work.
I have a small comment regarding the remastered Mission 02. We flew it in my Squadron with 4 guys flying the Hawk 1 and we let Hawk 2 on AI. We received the updated F10 for the AI and I ordered them to launch TALDS. We got the response in the menu about launching phantom planes but the AI fired HARMs instead. 
Additional tasking worked nicely. 

Thanks for the feedback, I will investigate and update later. 

FYI, AI doesn't always follow the orders properly in game, so it's highly recommended to play with more human players, cheers! 

[diamond26]

Hi @Jenson we are enjoying your missions and we plan to complete the full campaign. Tonight we flew M03 which was really good fun. 
One comment in the remastered version is that despite ILS was mentioned in the briefing, that wasn’t available in the mission which made our CASE III recovery challenging.

[Jenson]

3 hours ago, diamond26 said:

Hi @Jenson we are enjoying your missions and we plan to complete the full campaign. Tonight we flew M03 which was really good fun. 
One comment in the remastered version is that despite ILS was mentioned in the briefing, that wasn’t available in the mission which made our CASE III recovery challenging.

Thanks for the feedback again, me and my squadron guys had played this mission about 1 month ago and ILS was working, channel is 11, but I will double check later. 

BTW, I assume the DCS game is still bugged with the trigger zone entry detection, just wondering how did you make this mission work? 

[diamond26]

5 hours ago, Jenson said:

Thanks for the feedback again, me and my squadron guys had played this mission about 1 month ago and ILS was working, channel is 11, but I will double check later. 

BTW, I assume the DCS game is still bugged with the trigger zone entry detection, just wondering how did you make this mission work? 

Yes we were on CH 11, but nothing seems to work for all 4 of us. I noticed that the usual yellow kneeboard page didn't have ILS noted.

we had the same question regarding triggers but it seems that the system sorts itself out after passing a trigger or two.

For example both in M02 and M03 while on carrier we were receiving information not relevant to our stage but for M02 as soon as we were out of 10nm (the trigger for AI launch) and after Rock in M03 things became normal and we had all he info that usually provided in the different stages like the tasking or the shot down of Colt 1-2 etc. In M03 we were not given Other options until return to WP5, 6 for enabling tanker. (I don't know if you had more earlier) 

Edited January 16 by diamond26

[Mistermann]

There's a nasty "in zone" trigger bug ED introduced in the last 2.9 patch.  Supposed to fixed in next update.  

Many missions are unplayable at the moment.  What you described is likely caused by this bug.

[diamond26]

@Jenson in the last two missions that had Case III recovery (M03 and M04) we didn't have ILS available. When you join the mission you can see in the kneeboard for a moment the ILS 11 but then it dissapears. Is there something I can do to make sure ILS is working or it's part of the trigger issue? We are planning M06 tonight which is also CASE III recovery. 

[Jenson]

On 1/30/2024 at 12:21 AM, diamond26 said:

@Jenson in the last two missions that had Case III recovery (M03 and M04) we didn't have ILS available. When you join the mission you can see in the kneeboard for a moment the ILS 11 but then it dissapears. Is there something I can do to make sure ILS is working or it's part of the trigger issue? We are planning M06 tonight which is also CASE III recovery. 

I have checked the mission editor and the setting is okay, CVN-71 carrier will activate ICSL on channel 11 at the start of the game. I don't think it's the trigger zone bug because this activation is not linked with any zone. Just a kind reminder, make sure you are communicating with CVN-71 rather than CVN-73, and make sure you have boxed the ILS on HSI. 

[diamond26]

15 minutes ago, Jenson said:

I have checked the mission editor and the setting is okay, CVN-71 carrier will activate ICSL on channel 11 at the start of the game. I don't think it's the trigger zone bug because this activation is not linked with any zone. Just a kind reminder, make sure you are communicating with CVN-71 rather than CVN-73, and make sure you have boxed the ILS on HSI. 

In M06 everything worked as designed. ILS was present from start to finish (also in the  yellow kneeboard page unlike the previous times) . And indeed we were talking in all three missions to CVN-71. Not sure where the problem was.

[Jenson]

42 minutes ago, diamond26 said:

In M06 everything worked as designed. ILS was present from start to finish (also in the  yellow kneeboard page unlike the previous times) . And indeed we were talking in all three missions to CVN-71. Not sure where the problem was.

It's very weird because I didn't set any triggered action to deactivate ILS. Now I see you are refering to the yellow-page kneeboard generated by the game automatically, so yes, if you didn't see ILS on the yellow-page kneeboard, it means the carrier turned it off. Very strange, I don't think it's the mission issue, maybe need to report as a bug to ED. 

[Dunska]

Really enjoying these missions with a friend.  Thanks so much for all the work!

[diamond26]

@Jenson last night we flew the remastered M10 (thanks again for keeping this campaign updated). We noticed an issue with AI DCA. They followed us in our return till the carrier and actually we had to enable one of them as he got too close. Carrier group then took care of them while we were performing our CASE III recovery.

Note: Texaco 1-1 seems to be too close to enemy forces ( there was a point that the tanker was 45 nm from the enemy)

[Jenson]

13 minutes ago, diamond26 said:

@Jenson last night we flew the remastered M10 (thanks again for keeping this campaign updated). We noticed an issue with AI DCA. They followed us in our return till the carrier and actually we had to enable one of them as he got too close. Carrier group then took care of them while we were performing our CASE III recovery.

Note: Texaco 1-1 seems to be too close to enemy forces ( there was a point that the tanker was 45 nm from the enemy)

Thanks for these feedbacks, i will investigate and updated later. 

[Jenson]

5 hours ago, diamond26 said:

@Jenson last night we flew the remastered M10 (thanks again for keeping this campaign updated). We noticed an issue with AI DCA. They followed us in our return till the carrier and actually we had to enable one of them as he got too close. Carrier group then took care of them while we were performing our CASE III recovery.

Note: Texaco 1-1 seems to be too close to enemy forces ( there was a point that the tanker was 45 nm from the enemy)

The AI keeps chasing issue should be solved now, just revised trigger rules to let them return when all Players fall back into a safe zone. 

You are right on the Tanker as well, it's too close to the enemy forces, however, I also received feedbacks from other players that they thought the tankers are too far (for some other missions) and it takes too long for a refueling job. I agree that this is not practical to place the tankers so close to the frontline, but I still decide to keep them there just to make the missions easier to play.