Campaign Feedback

[ChillNG]

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Note - in response to several requests colored dot labels are now available in the campaign.

[Fauda]

I would also chime in and say that I love the campaign and it's good fun for a mediocre Viper driver.

One thing that I cannot unsee is some radio stuff. The radio calls are not always on the right radio (the radio does not light up on the DED) but that is not really an issue just a nit pick.

What's missing for me is a bit more radio traffic. The custom ATC and the conversations are great but I would love a bit more chatter for immersion. Just some radio calls on the frequency your are on but not directly adderessed to the player. Like the depature and tower frequencies are totally empty besides my calls although the air spaces can be quite busy. Also tatical frequencies could have some little conversation snippets of action that is happening for the other flights. I love to overhear things they are doing in the AO during transit times to make this a little more real by sparking imagination.

I totally understand this a lot of work thoug.

[ChillNG]

4 hours ago, Fauda said:

I would also chime in and say that I love the campaign and it's good fun for a mediocre Viper driver.

One thing that I cannot unsee is some radio stuff. The radio calls are not always on the right radio (the radio does not light up on the DED) but that is not really an issue just a nit pick.

What's missing for me is a bit more radio traffic. The custom ATC and the conversations are great but I would love a bit more chatter for immersion. Just some radio calls on the frequency your are on but not directly adderessed to the player. Like the depature and tower frequencies are totally empty besides my calls although the air spaces can be quite busy. Also tatical frequencies could have some little conversation snippets of action that is happening for the other flights. I love to overhear things they are doing in the AO during transit times to make this a little more real by sparking imagination.

I totally understand this a lot of work thoug.

Thanks for the feedback, glad you enjoyed the campaign!  Yeah the incorrect radio lighting up on the DED is really annoying, seems to happen no matter what the transmitting frequency is set to, one of those small annoyances I can't seem to get round.

[Wiggo]

Have anymore 2 missions to go, and I am sad that it is ending.. Great campaing! I love the way it MADE me use just that stuff that has just been updated to f-16 (HAD/TPOD/HTS/recon/datalink / TDOA /EW stuff), and also markpoints. I am pretty new to f-16, or lets say havent played much SP with it, because there was no DLC campaings for my maps, before this. Anyways, learning curve is high, but just by playing / learning 1-2 missions otherones were more studiying the briefing itself. I loved this campaing, as now I feel MUCH more confident of using f-16, and specially the EW / Had->tpod->markpoints stuff. Thanks you for great campaing! What I would love to see in the future, is more freedom for choosing weapons, OFC that is not so much the thing in this campaing, because the missions are so specific to the need of the weapons that has been chosen. Still it would be nice to have some freedom with using different gbu´s / cbu´s etc. What I have noticed with before while playing with Hornet, is that replaying campaings is very good way to practice the usage of fire (different weapons to known targets-> different settings for weapons=> learn weaponry. 5/5 for this campaing or maby 5+ !  thanks you!

[ChillNG]

4 hours ago, Wiggo said:

Have anymore 2 missions to go, and I am sad that it is ending.. Great campaing! I love the way it MADE me use just that stuff that has just been updated to f-16 (HAD/TPOD/HTS/recon/datalink / TDOA /EW stuff), and also markpoints. I am pretty new to f-16, or lets say havent played much SP with it, because there was no DLC campaings for my maps, before this. Anyways, learning curve is high, but just by playing / learning 1-2 missions otherones were more studiying the briefing itself. I loved this campaing, as now I feel MUCH more confident of using f-16, and specially the EW / Had->tpod->markpoints stuff. Thanks you for great campaing! What I would love to see in the future, is more freedom for choosing weapons, OFC that is not so much the thing in this campaing, because the missions are so specific to the need of the weapons that has been chosen. Still it would be nice to have some freedom with using different gbu´s / cbu´s etc. What I have noticed with before while playing with Hornet, is that replaying campaings is very good way to practice the usage of fire (different weapons to known targets-> different settings for weapons=> learn weaponry. 5/5 for this campaing or maby 5+ !  thanks you!

I'll take a 5+ .  Thanks for the feedback, really appreciate it!  The issue with weapon selection often comes down to the complexity of the missions, what you might not realize is that there can be a lot going on under the hood, such as counting the bombs used, tracking when a bomb has been released and then tracking if it's hit anything.  Unfortunately changing the load-out often breaks the mission, a consequence of designing missions of this complexity.

[Go-Go]

The comms options are annoying in VR.  One f18 campaign they binded the f10 comms option to the anti ice/ rain input so you can bind it to the hotas.  I know most use the f10 comms menu, but half a dozen times before you get to wp 1 is not very immersive.  After the first mission my forehead was raw from lifting the hmd up and down.  I try to Stevie Wonder the keyboard but it's slow and usually hit the wrong button.  I do like you can switch the uhf and vhf channels, when the rest of the flight is jaw jacking war stories, I can turn the channel...save it for the "O"club and stop talking about Jody on air!

[ChillNG]

16 minutes ago, Go-Go said:

The comms options are annoying in VR.  One f18 campaign they binded the f10 comms option to the anti ice/ rain input so you can bind it to the hotas.  I know most use the f10 comms menu, but half a dozen times before you get to wp 1 is not very immersive.  After the first mission my forehead was raw from lifting the hmd up and down.  I try to Stevie Wonder the keyboard but it's slow and usually hit the wrong button.  I do like you can switch the uhf and vhf channels, when the rest of the flight is jaw jacking war stories, I can turn the channel...save it for the "O"club and stop talking about Jody on air!

Thanks for your thoughts and I respect your opinion but I do disagree, I only fly in VR myself and have never had to lift the headset to use the F10 menu, a little bit of muscle memory goes a long way here.  If you're not aware though the F10 menu can now be bound to your HOTAS, this key bind is only active when the radio menu is open so you don't even need loads of spare buttons, it allows you to navigate the menu totally hands off keyboard.  Can't remember off the top of my head the name of the keybind but let me know if you want me to look it up for you.

[unlikely_spider]

Without too many spoilers, what is the range of tasking that one can expect during this campaign? Is it overwhelmingly SEAD? (Unfortunately one of my least favorite type of task )

Even if so, I am interested nonetheless due to the amazing quality of your past campaigns that I've played through. And also the lack of other content for the F-16

Edited December 24, 2023 by unlikely_spider

[ChillNG]

49 minutes ago, unlikely_spider said:

Without too many spoilers, what is the range of tasking that one can expect during this campaign? Is it overwhelmingly SEAD? (Unfortunately one of my least favorite type of task )

Even if so, I am interested nonetheless due to the amazing quality of your past campaigns that I've played through. And also the lack of other content for the F-16

 

Thanks!  And hopefully you can enjoy this one just as much .

It's more DEAD focused than SEAD, if only for the reason that I think this is more engaging for the player, as just flying to point A and firing a HARM at a number on a screen is in itself not terribly exciting.

At it's core, the campaign is about using the Vipers systems and weapons to locate and kill air defence unit's, this is enhanced using the Weasel System built into the campaign, so is a lot more dynamic and better executed than you would get in core DCS usually. There are missions purely based around SEAD/DEAD (can at times be your choice to choose which you go for with risk/reward for decisions), but there are missions where you'll also carry out deliberate strikes and support operations on the ground.

The campaign will also hopefully help teach you some weasel tactics and approaches so maybe helps you enjoy the role more as you become more confident in baiting SAMs to fire at you.  Personally I've really enjoyed going from being afraid of SA6s to now understanding when I know can defeat the missile and how to use that information to find and kill the SAM.

And you'll still get all the ground pounder Sims stuff you'll know from my other campaigns, extensive briefings, storyline, ATC etc.

Whatever you decide, thanks for your ongoing support!

[Icebeat]

For some reason, I don't have the option to contact arrives/tower when RTB.

[ChillNG]

4 minutes ago, Icebeat said:

For some reason, I don't have the option to contact arrives/tower when RTB.

Most likely missed a step or have the radio set incorrectly.  Can you describe the steps you took during return to base?

[hitman_usmc]

Did the invincible option get taken away on mission 8?  Lame I know, but I use it when I can't get it figured out.  

[ChillNG]

3 hours ago, hitman_usmc said:

Did the invincible option get taken away on mission 8?  Lame I know, but I use it when I can't get it figured out.  

No it's still there, but you can only activate it at mission start, it disappears once you start taxiing IIRC

[bushido]

Just finish the campaign. I played your F18 campaign and like it very much and I was looking for a campaign to learn the F16 so I jump on it.

Well it's probably a bit too tough to learn the aircraft. Maybe it is because I did not really know the F16 before or because of the nature of the mission, geting shoot at basically, or it's just me but I find it way more difficult than the F18 campaign. My main issue is that you need to be fast to spot the SAM, acquire it and deliver the proper amunition. I can't see sh*t with the pod so I vulture for hours before finding the  SAM and then if I have Maverick (which is unfortunatly our go ammunition in most of the case) it's like they swear to never ever lock on my target. And having to kill a SA10 protected by SA 8 and SA 15 with Maverick is a bit of a challenge.

I use the invulnerable option twice, for mission 10 and 12 (not sure how you can survive mission 12 otherwise) and I had to abort some other mission because I was winchester or did not manage to destroy the target on time to protect the main mission.

Because of that I'm less enthusiastic that for cerberus north but overall a very nice campaign, I did not encounter any bug, it's just not for beginner on the F16 or SEAD mission.

[Qiou87]

I feel like I should give my 2 cents at the risk of being seen as an inferior pilot. I've been called worse things anyway so it's fine.

Let me say upfront that the work you did for this campaign is nothing short of excellent. Definitely up there with the best campaign makers, the immersion, the briefings, kneeboards, variety of missions, you did a fantastic job. It just made me realize something.

I love the simplicity of the F-16C usually, it's an aircraft I know quite well and have almost 200h in. Most of those hours in multiplayer, either A-A or A-G. However, and this is important, I almost exclusively use Harms, AGMs, CBUs and GBUs with this aircraft. I just never got bothered by the Mavericks and this has clearly let me down in your campaign. In our large multiplayer engagements, I will perform SEAD/DEAD happily, but exclusively with the weapons I mentioned.

I play at the end of a long workday and once kids are asleep, therefore having to sit and wait 5min for those damn missiles to warm up so I can boresight them is tedious. Then if I don't do it perfectly, once at 10,000ft and 8nm away from a target it won't line up perfectly and the maverick won't lock, needing some fiddling about manually... and there goes the "Missile! Missile!" warning. It's just a very tedious weapon to use compared to any of the other ones where you find the target (with HAD, TPOD or Radar), lock the target with a simple TMS up and shoot. The extra hand-off and alignment step makes it especially annoying, and I'd love to just be able to lob a GBU-38 at the damn SA-8 instead.

I understand that by training I could eventually learn to master those damn missiles. They are not really "casual player friendly" though, even though almost everything else in this aircraft is. As a result I found myself failing a couple of missions (shot down) and a bit annoyed. I went as far as mission 9.

There is nothing wrong with this campaign, and as the first one for the F-16C, I am happy that I bought it. It is of excellent quality and brought me quite some hours of fun. I am just too poor of a pilot and especially I just hate those Mavs just too damn much to finish it. I have no regret buying this campaign and can only recommend it - but make sure you are comfortable using Mavericks in the F-16C beforehand to avoid the frustration I had.

[Talvid]

@ChillNG I have a question before I start mission 6.  Page 7 in the briefing document starts with saying that Popeye is giving details, but then it reads like Forrest is writing a note saying he (PLAYER) will target the Tin Shield. Do I have that right? 

Edited April 6, 2024 by Talvid

[ChillNG]

2 hours ago, Talvid said:

@ChillNG I have a question before I start mission 6.  Page 7 in the briefing document starts with saying that Popeye is giving details, but then it reads like Forrest is writing a note saying he (PLAYER) will target the Tin Shield. Do I have that right? 

 

Yes that's right, your target is the Tin Shield radar.

[ChillNG]

 

[Fuggzy]

Me -- so picky, ADD, and easily bored that I rarely, if ever, "finish" a game, campaign, or accomplish stated goals before I find some excuse to move on to the next shiny object.

This campaign --  today at lunch I finished the campaign for the second time, and I intend to do it all again. This is not like me, but the campaign is that enjoyable. 

@ChillNG I am 100% in for FIWOS 2.  If I were to request anything, maybe a bit more A2A action to spice it up. My final score this last playthrough was 41 ground kills, 1 Air.  I get it, the literal name of the campaign is Weaseling, and on this it delivers, but also having the opportunity to make Ace during the next campaign would be perfect

 

Edited April 19, 2024 by Fuggzy

[ChillNG]

5 hours ago, Fuggzy said:

Me -- so picky, ADD, and easily bored that I rarely, if ever, "finish" a game, campaign, or accomplish stated goals before I find some excuse to move on to the next shiny object.

This campaign --  today at lunch I finished the campaign for the second time, and I intend to do it all again. This is not like me, but the campaign is that enjoyable. 

@ChillNG I am 100% in for FIWOS 2.  If I were to request anything, maybe a bit more A2A action to spice it up. My final score this last playthrough was 41 ground kills, 1 Air.  I get it, the literal name of the campaign is Weaseling, and on this it delivers, but also having the opportunity to make Ace during the next campaign would be perfect

 

 

Thanks very much!  Happy to oblige with the sequel, there isn't a lot of air to air but there is absolutely the chance to make ace!

[sith1144]

Finished the campaign last night and it was fantastic! Highlights for me were that time on target popup strike against the sa-15 and being dragged out of my comfort zone on the mission where I have to take out an sa-3 with CBU-87s. Ended up level bombing from 25k feet because the HARMs kept them down, nailed the radar. 

 

Only note is that in the mission with the migs, you are told to try to outrun them. I did, made it to the border and they broke off, which means I couldn't get a perfect score haha. Luckily I don't care about score

edit: also what a finale! ended up getting shot at by:

2x SA-10
4x SA-6
4x SA-11
2x SA-8
6x SA-11
2x SA-6
2x S-60 gun bursts
6x ZSU-57 gun bursts

on the playthrough I actually survived. the scariest part is I didnt even know an SA-8 had shot at me

Edited April 20, 2024 by sith1144

[ChillNG]

1 hour ago, sith1144 said:

Finished the campaign last night and it was fantastic! Highlights for me were that time on target popup strike against the sa-15 and being dragged out of my comfort zone on the mission where I have to take out an sa-3 with CBU-87s. Ended up level bombing from 25k feet because the HARMs kept them down, nailed the radar. 

 

Only note is that in the mission with the migs, you are told to try to outrun them. I did, made it to the border and they broke off, which means I couldn't get a perfect score haha. Luckily I don't care about score

edit: also what a finale! ended up getting shot at by:

2x SA-10
4x SA-6
4x SA-11
2x SA-8
6x SA-11
2x SA-6
2x S-60 gun bursts
6x ZSU-57 gun bursts

on the playthrough I actually survived. the scariest part is I didnt even know an SA-8 had shot at me

 

Awesome!  Thanks for the feedback, certainly a lively last mission!

[gachatar]

Great campaign as usual. I played all four of your campaigns and each of them are some of my favorites. The interaction with your wingman is particularly well done, with him suppressing radars with his HARMs to give you a window of opportunity to go in and bomb it.

Unfortunately it follows the same trend as some of your other campaigns like the one for the F-18 where the first 8-10 missions are 10 out of 10 and truly amazing, and then you drop the ball and make some completely pants on head retarded and unrealistic suicide mission finales that sour the experience. I really had to force myself to finish the campaign and ended up using invulnerability for the last mission, which leaves a bad taste in the mouth, especially with the rest of the campaign being excellent. The last 2 missions have SAMs popping up and firing so fast that even with instantly sending the wingman with F10 to HARM them you still get shot down or they shoot down the flight you need to escort. Apparently I was supposed to find an SA-3 and SA-11 and take it out, in less than a minute after they turn on, before they just shoot down the strike package. That's not even enough for the HTS to narrow it down to a 10 nm zone.

Well, with the rambling out of the way, looking forward to part 2 of the campaign and whatever else you make next.

[ChillNG]

11 hours ago, gachatar said:

Great campaign as usual. I played all four of your campaigns and each of them are some of my favorites. The interaction with your wingman is particularly well done, with him suppressing radars with his HARMs to give you a window of opportunity to go in and bomb it.

Unfortunately it follows the same trend as some of your other campaigns like the one for the F-18 where the first 8-10 missions are 10 out of 10 and truly amazing, and then you drop the ball and make some completely pants on head retarded and unrealistic suicide mission finales that sour the experience. I really had to force myself to finish the campaign and ended up using invulnerability for the last mission, which leaves a bad taste in the mouth, especially with the rest of the campaign being excellent. The last 2 missions have SAMs popping up and firing so fast that even with instantly sending the wingman with F10 to HARM them you still get shot down or they shoot down the flight you need to escort. Apparently I was supposed to find an SA-3 and SA-11 and take it out, in less than a minute after they turn on, before they just shoot down the strike package. That's not even enough for the HTS to narrow it down to a 10 nm zone.

Well, with the rambling out of the way, looking forward to part 2 of the campaign and whatever else you make next.

Lol well thanks...I think .  Difficulty level is always a hard one to judge when it has to meet the abilities/wants of every player, that's why I put the immortal option in for FIWOS, no shame in using it IMO.  Missions were thoroughly tested of course, difficulty was judged as appropriate by the testers who played it but I'm always happy to reflect on any additional feedback given.

Just a pointer on the last mission, the SAMs that threaten the strikers can be found and taken out before they arrive so the mission can be less pressured if you have managed to do this.  What you've described is the worst case scenario in a quite dynamic mission where things change depending on your choices/performance earlier on.

But thanks for the continued support and I hope you enjoy LOWOS when it is complete.

 

[PluckyUnderdog]

Brilliant campaign. Just brilliant. Well designed, well scripted, superb voice acting, challenging without being frustrating. Just the right balance and a good advert for not having to AAR in the Viper, as I can't AAR full stop haha.

 

But once again, brilliant work. Looking forward to the next weasels camapign.