Wasn't sure at first, but "The Last Show" is a blast!

[Screenchecker]

I have to admit that I wasn't sure what to expect from this campaign at first. I couldn't find many reviews online, and the first mission started with slinging loads, which I find frustrating—probably because I manage to crash the loads more often than successfully delivering them.

Additionally, there was an unlucky bug in mission 2 with the explosion at the FARP . However, the creator is not really to blame; it was just unlucky timing (the update that caused the problem came from DCS), and he promptly provided the fixed mission to download. 

But the missions that followed turned out to be really fun! Especially mission 6 ("The hidden FARP") which I just finished a couple of minutes ago, motivated me to recommend this campaign. I don't want to spoil anything, but like most missions, it's well-balanced with a good mixture of requiring some skill without being unfair. 

The voiceovers in this campaign sound highly professional. I once downloaded a different campaign, priced similarly, where the voices sounded like 15-year-old Germans attempting to deliver lines with a forced imitation of 40-year-old American pilots. It completely killed the immersion. In contrast, this campaign does an excellent job with its voice work

Certainly, there are some bugs here and there, but most of them are DCS-related. For example, when I commanded the flight to attack ground targets, they just returned home on the first try. I'm also not a huge fan of the missions being split into separate parts instead of being standalone missions because when you die, you have to replay all parts. However, it also raises the stakes somewhat because if you mess up, you'll have to start over again. But if you make it back and finish the mission in a shot-up Huey, you'll feel ever so proud, even though you'll have to wipe the sweat off your stick now

So, in short: If you don't own this campaign yet, give it a try and be prepared to relearn the Huey if, like me, you haven't flown it in a while. Your skills will be tested! This campaign assumes you already know the aircraft, as there is no tutorial for basic handling. Also, do yourself a favor and navigate using the F10 mission map instead of relying solely on the documents. In some cases, you can also use the radio (VOR or VHF-FM) for navigation.

Thanks a lot to @SorelRo for this great campaign and all the hard work that went into it! For me personally, this module is up there with "Paradise Lost" and "Argo." He is also very quick to respond if you run into any trouble or if you find any bugs.

Edited December 20, 2023 by Screenchecker

[SorelRo]

Thanks a lot. These words are much appreciated. Bugs happen, and AI is like AI, but I'm always trying to work in the best way to make these as enjoyable as possible. I don't know if you finished the campaign yet, but there are some other intense moments, one of my favorite missions is the FAC one. Let me know what you think about that one. 

[Screenchecker]

You're very welcome! I will keep you posted on what I think about the missions I have yet to finish.  I'm taking my sweet time playing through this campaign, never finishing more than one mission per session in the evening. However, I will certainly find more time to enjoy it in the upcoming holidays. 

[Screenchecker]

Played the FAC mission today, really great fun and while most likely being the easiest mission yet it's very satisfying. How could it not be when the map looks like this

 

I have an ethical question about the ending:

Spoiler

I'm sure the campaign is not attempting to depict events that happen in active war zones, but wouldn't killing the crew that is fleeing from a burning armored column be considered a war crime? I almost never compare DCS to reality when it comes to ethics because it would make it hard for me to enjoy the game at all, but this scene made me think about what the ROE would be in a real-life scenario like this.

 

Edited January 7, 2024 by Screenchecker

[SorelRo]

You are right, they shot first, and they are taking shots at you, as you progress through the campaign, you may notice that the main character goes through a series of emotions. I believe that is similar with how helicopter pilots felt during Vietnam, at least that's how it shows in the majority of the books I read trying to build this campaign, and yes, the mission is quite simple, but I think it is very fun to mix it up there with the F-4's

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Screenchecker]

Great to hear that some critical thinking is required to understand that underlying emotions of the storyline
From a technical standpoint the scripting worked very well in this mission, all triggers where executed on first try and the AI worked very well after I gave the orders for the attack. 

Whish I had half that much air support in other missions, I think I took out that many units a few missions ago by myself when my whole flight just chickend out and flew home when we had first enemy contact

Edited January 7, 2024 by Screenchecker

[Screenchecker]

I'm a bit stuck at the hot LZ in mission 11. So I wanted to pick up the wounded guys but as soon as I'm loaded up the russian tanks will fire some sort of missile or rocket at my Huey destroying it instantly. Is it about timing? I don't believe that flaring will do much. Did the tanks have the ability back when you playtested this mission?

[SorelRo]

Hmmm, that never happened to me, do you know what unit got you? That's probably some APC, but if you would get the unit name I could see what happened, tanks could fire at you if you linger too much there, your approach should be really quick, I'll test later today, I wonder if something happened and maybe AI moved to quick there. it supposed to be tight but still doable. 

 

[SorelRo]

Yeah, there's no way you could survive that, AI once again got smarter. I'll come with a fix. 

Cheers, 

[Screenchecker]

@SorelRoRetried it with your fix for the mission and was able to finish it in one sitting! Excellent job  Guess removing the nasty APCs so close to the LC did the trick? I was still being shot at, so there is still a good challenge. For example yesterday an AA round sniped me straight out of the cockpit. 
Also the greatest challenge for me in this mission is the heavy ship, takes me like 2000 ft close to the ground until i have enough speed to climb 

Edited January 8, 2024 by Screenchecker

[SorelRo]

That's actually a bit of magic that happens behind the scene with a few seconds of invisibility and invincibility, it's actually something that I hate doing but with how accurate the AI these days i feel like I have to use tricks like this more and more, I don't like it, but it is what it is. I'm glad the mission worked for you. I'll put it here and send it for a new update. 

 

Cheers, 

[SorelRo]

17 minutes ago, Screenchecker said:

Also the greatest challenge for me in this mission is the heavy ship, takes me like 2000 ft close to the ground until i have enough speed to climb 

If you ever read Chickenhawk, that's pretty much the bible of helicopter pilots, you will find a lot of passages talking about flights like this, how you can get an overloaded Huey to move from hovering in ground effect to transitional flight, a few cases like this one in this mission, a few cases with moving in circles around a clearing to get enough speed to be able to get up, although i have been tempted to simulate something like this, I believe it would have been hard for a lot of players, also, in that book there's one passage describing how the pilots dealt with an overloaded Huey that caught some barbed wire in the skids and how they managed to get out of it, by knowing how much they can push their helicopter. Once again, it's an amazing book and a very good read if you like helicopters and the Huey. 

[Screenchecker]

22 hours ago, SorelRo said:

That's actually a bit of magic that happens behind the scene with a few seconds of invisibility and invincibility, it's actually something that I hate doing but with how accurate the AI these days i feel like I have to use tricks like this more and more, I don't like it, but it is what it is. I'm glad the mission worked for you. I'll put it here and send it for a new update. 

 

Cheers, 

Ah, I think I saw that before when taking off while artillery was hitting left and right at the beginning of one mission (or at least part 3 or something). Never seen that done before in DCS, but it was quite cinematic. 

 

22 hours ago, SorelRo said:

If you ever read Chickenhawk, that's pretty much the bible of helicopter pilots, you will find a lot of passages talking about flights like this, how you can get an overloaded Huey to move from hovering in ground effect to transitional flight, a few cases like this one in this mission, a few cases with moving in circles around a clearing to get enough speed to be able to get up, although i have been tempted to simulate something like this, I believe it would have been hard for a lot of players, also, in that book there's one passage describing how the pilots dealt with an overloaded Huey that caught some barbed wire in the skids and how they managed to get out of it, by knowing how much they can push their helicopter. Once again, it's an amazing book and a very good read if you like helicopters and the Huey. 

Thanks for the book tip; I've put it on my 'to-read' list. It sounds very interesting! I could never wrap my head around how it must have been to fly these helicopters in real active warzones, landing in super small clearings, basically chopping down branches, also in bad weather, all while being shot at...

Currently, I'm still going through 'Stick and Rudder' to gain an overall improved understanding of flight in general. 

 

 

 

[Screenchecker]

I finished the campaign today, and everything I wrote above still stands: This campaign is fantatstic! The missions even got better, and the characters reflect a lot more about what they are going through than in most other campaigns. I hope to see more Huey campaigns in the future!

The mission difficulty is not linear, with a mix of easier and harder missions, which I suppose adds to the realism. Additionally, the terms 'hard' and 'easy' are subjectiv

Also, great support! Whenever there was a problem, a response or the fix was available shortly after (sometimes just hours later, which is mind-blowing).

[JanHe]

After finishing the campaign today, I would also like to give some feedback. 

What I liked:

• Very atmospheric use of fog and rain in the snowy landscape
• A pleasant level of difficulty that might be too much for absolute beginners but offers the right level of challenge for advanced players
• The missions are very enjoyable to play as they are not too long (well under an hour each)
• The variety of tasks in the missions

What could be improved (outside of the bugs to fixed):

• More mission context via voiceovers: in many places, the specific task only emerges from the briefing documents. Instead of a generic call to start the helicopter, further information from the co-pilot or ATC regarding take-off authorisation and rough direction to head after take-off would be useful. It would also be useful if more voiceovers were also available in text form and could be read via the message history. This would make it clearer which specific task needs to be completed next. 
• In general, more communication with people outside the helicopter would be helpful: in addition to the often sparse ATC, better voice over communication with accompanying assets, for example, would also be useful in order to understand that more bombruns are being flown before it´s safe to approach the bombed air defence location.
• In general, the FARPs, bases (friendly and hostile) etc could be designed in more detail. Perhaps making use of the Massun92 asset pack, which is integrated into core DCS would be an idea to show more life on the ground in addition to the rudimentary objects provided by the base game.
• Also the presence of more persistent ground units in the form of checkpoints, FOBs even outside the absolutely necessary mission scope would breathe more life into the world

I hope that the bugs described in other threads will get fixed (mostly depending on fixes provided by ED). There are still some details to be added to make the campaign a more enjoyable experience placed in a vivid environment.

[SorelRo]

2 hours ago, JanHe said:

After finishing the campaign today, I would also like to give some feedback. 

What I liked:

• Very atmospheric use of fog and rain in the snowy landscape
• A pleasant level of difficulty that might be too much for absolute beginners but offers the right level of challenge for advanced players
• The missions are very enjoyable to play as they are not too long (well under an hour each)
• The variety of tasks in the missions

What could be improved (outside of the bugs to fixed):

• More mission context via voiceovers: in many places, the specific task only emerges from the briefing documents. Instead of a generic call to start the helicopter, further information from the co-pilot or ATC regarding take-off authorisation and rough direction to head after take-off would be useful. It would also be useful if more voiceovers were also available in text form and could be read via the message history. This would make it clearer which specific task needs to be completed next. 
• In general, more communication with people outside the helicopter would be helpful: in addition to the often sparse ATC, better voice over communication with accompanying assets, for example, would also be useful in order to understand that more bombruns are being flown before it´s safe to approach the bombed air defence location.
• In general, the FARPs, bases (friendly and hostile) etc could be designed in more detail. Perhaps making use of the Massun92 asset pack, which is integrated into core DCS would be an idea to show more life on the ground in addition to the rudimentary objects provided by the base game.
• Also the presence of more persistent ground units in the form of checkpoints, FOBs even outside the absolutely necessary mission scope would breathe more life into the world

I hope that the bugs described in other threads will get fixed (mostly depending on fixes provided by ED). There are still some details to be added to make the campaign a more enjoyable experience placed in a vivid environment.

Thanks a lot for the kind words, you are right, the campaign will get an overhaul with more assets from the Massun92 asset pack, also, I'm working on having the ability to turn on or off the subtitles. It's always a balance between how much you can add into a mission before it takes a performance hit, as for the tower transmissions, from reading Chickenhawk and a few other books from pilots in the era, the interaction with the tower was minimal, or it wasn't documented properly, most of the traffic was with various controls, LZ's and FAC's, and i think that's represented quite well in the campaign. 

But rest assured that this campaign is still supported and updated. I wish that the ED guys would have a look at why the progress is not recorded properly. 

[vracan]

SorelRio I am just starting your campaign. Any idea when what you mention above will be available?

 

Edited October 14, 2024 by vracan

[SorelRo]

The next update will get the subtitles and change the old F-4s with the new HB ones for the AI. Later on the asset pack will be added because it requires some testing on my end, so they don't clash with anything existing.