Excellent Job

[g5flyer]

I just wanted to pass that your team did a great job with this campaign. First, I'd like to say that I know a lot of work went into this to make it flow fluidly. This style of campaign makes the engagement more realistic. In other campaigns I've flown, sometimes there is too much going on with the basic AI wingmen that you have in DCS. It's full chaos and a true fur ball. With your style, there is a method to the madness and you follow realistic procedures and tactics when dealing with threats/targets. I've flown into real world combat operations where planes are all over the place, but it's organized chaos. You have your AOR procedures, Spins and ATOs that you use to deconflict with other aircraft and operations. During Enduring Freedom, there was so much metal in the air that we kept TCAS on because we all had the danger of running into each other. I had someone following the wrong procedures on ingress at night and it was the TCAS resolution that prevented a nose to nose collision. I was even in the AR track closing in to pre contact and a F-18 flew over me between us and the tanker. When I reported it, I was told he had us visual. Umm, nooo, you don't buzz through the AR track, especially when tanking is in progress.

Other campaigns have you stuck with the basic AI and if you cut them loose, it's hard to tell who is who. If you keep them on a leash, they get shot down. I loved that you stuck to the procedures, assigned targets and utilize proper doctrine. You don't get this level of operation unless you are flying multiplayer missions.

I challenge you to create another F14 campaign that is all combat. Speed and Angels was perfect and taught you how to operate the the F14, but a full on combat campaign with your style would be a lot a work, but I feel the juice is worth the squeeze. Congrats again and keep up the great work!

[Reflected]

@g5flyerthank you so much for the kind feedback, I'm really happy you liked it. The credit goes to Paco, without him I could never have set up such realistic procedures - and I learned a lot in the process.

[g5flyer]

On 5/1/2023 at 1:42 AM, Reflected said:

@g5flyerthank you so much for the kind feedback, I'm really happy you liked it. The credit goes to Paco, without him I could never have set up such realistic procedures - and I learned a lot in the process.

Anytime! Looking forward to your future campaigns!

[jmarso]

Finished this today and wanted to say Bravo Zulu on an excellent DCS experience- maybe the best one yet. To say this made me a better DCS Tomcat pilot would be a massive understatement. Great work. Onwards and upwards to Fear the Bones and Zone 5!!

[Reflected]

8 hours ago, jmarso said:

Finished this today and wanted to say Bravo Zulu on an excellent DCS experience- maybe the best one yet. To say this made me a better DCS Tomcat pilot would be a massive understatement. Great work. Onwards and upwards to Fear the Bones and Zone 5!!

Congratulations! I’m glad it helped. If you like you can share your grade sheet in the other thread

[Endline]

Didn't want to start a new thread so here goes: Speed and Angels is both excellent and to some extent frustating.

The Good:

It's exceptionally researched and its scripts are nothing less than masterful. They are making the AI do stuff that should be for all intents and purposes impossible. Its realism and immersion factor are through the roof. The story, the briefings, the voice-acting, the attention to detail and the overall atmosphere are simply stupendous. Also, it really does work as a training aid, it will make a player far more proficient with the Tomcat.

The Bad:

Its realism is also its downfall. MIssion 13's night AAR mission for instance. By the end of it, my eyes were sore. Seeing the tanker shouldn't be that difficult. I get that such missions take place all the time, but real life pilots have better lightning conditions that players have in their screens or VRs. Same goes for the restrictions during the training missions. They are realistic, but again real Tomcat pilots had a much better feel of their speed, Gs and what the plane was doing than flight simmers. Especially those like myself who only have a T1600m joystick and a mediocre webcam for somewhat laggy head tracking. You get the hang of it eventually, but it can become really frustrating, real fast. I think that a bit more latitude would help, especially those who are new to the Tomcat. At the end of the day, flying the numbers and following procedures was more difficult than fighting the Chinese; by some distance too.

Also, I don't see the point of flying a holding pattern for 10-15 minutes waiting for the Prowler to join up in mission 15. Delays and waiting takes place in real life missions all the time, does it need to happen in a virtual one as well?

I did find some weird AI behaviour, but I'm pretty sure thatit has to do with DCS and not the campaign itself. Paco in almost all the training missions flew erratically when he returned to Nellis. I've seen him fly all the way with his speed brake out or "tapping the brakes" like in Top Gun. He slowed down and then went up vertically. He seemed alright once the setting moved to Marianas though.

In conclusion:

I don't regret buying Speed and Angels for a second. It can become taxing and too much at times, but it's utterly addictive. I can't recommend it enough.

 

Edited June 14, 2024 by Endline