MIG Killers F-4 Campaign info

[Reflected]

The Campaign intro pdf is available here:

 MIG Killers - Campaign introduction.pdf

By 1969 the US Navy found themselves losing the battle for the skies over North Vietnam. Their kill ratio fell to a dismal 2 to 1. Based on the results of the famous Ault report a handful of expert aviators put together a graduate level training program to turn things around. They were being challenged to revive their heritage as naval aviators - to learn how to dogfight again.

Join the very first class of the Topgun course on March 3 1969 and learn how to push your F-4 Phantom to the edge of the envelope and beyond. Practice advanced, real life tactics as you go through this well researched, realistic syllabus.

Welcome aboard, and welcome to the best five weeks of your flying career. Welcome to Topgun.

Key Features:

• 12 hops based on the real life syllabus
• A total of 45 mission mission files
• Heavily randomized and replayable scenarios
• Advanced AI tactical behavior
• Study level simulation of real life procedures
• Thousands of custom voice overs
• Detailed briefings with chalkboard diagrams
• Extensive documentation
• Historically accurate custom skins
• True to life kneeboard and briefing images
• Custom DCS UI backgrounds

Requirements:

• DCS: F-4E Phantom II
• DCS: Nevada Test and Training Range Map

 

 

 

Edited August 14, 2024 by Reflected

[Oesau]

Congrats on the release @Reflected - can't wait to start it this later on today!

[Grundar]

Woot! finally. Looking forward to this very much.

Edit: Flew the intro, looks beautiful, the radio is great, nice and immersive for the time period.

Edited August 15, 2024 by Grundar

[Alpiinoo]

Just tried it. And this is awesome! Thanks Reflected good work as always.

[Spirale]

i instant bought it too: Reflected quality is here

Edited August 15, 2024 by Spirale

[Lt_Jaeger]

Not even at home for the time being, but the campaign is bought. Was looking (and still am) very much forward to finally start another epic campaign by Reflected. 

[bpremus]

Bought the campaign yesterday as soon as i heard it was out, and so far it feels great. 

[Lime_Acid]

Unfortunately, there are some problems with the campaign functionality: scripts do not work before landing in the familiarization flight, there are no lines in the second mission after takeoff before the start of the exercises, when repeating the third exercise in the second mission, it throws you at the end of the mission. I hope this will be fixed soon. Otherwise, everything is cool and very atmospheric.

[fjacobsen]

31 minutes ago, Lime_Acid said:

Unfortunately, there are some problems with the campaign functionality: scripts do not work before landing in the familiarization flight, there are no lines in the second mission after takeoff before the start of the exercises, when repeating the third exercise in the second mission, it throws you at the end of the mission. I hope this will be fixed soon. Otherwise, everything is cool and very atmospheric.

Yeah when returning from the exercise I got no instructions when reaching waypoint PIUTE.

Last altitude I was aksed to maintain was 14.000 ft and wasked if I was aware of Indiana Springs noise abandment procedures.

I also ended up running out of fuel right over the Airbase,(and thus altitude and speed), but I probably shouldn´t have done 3 x 360° substained  turns and 3 Eggs in full burner.

So a small tip - look after Your fuel gauge !

 

Otherwise is it a very great Campaign so far - very immersive - so THX 

Edited August 15, 2024 by fjacobsen

[RedFang]

Thanks Reflected ! Amazing job

[royalwin]

5 hours ago, fjacobsen said:

Yeah when returning from the exercise I got no instructions when reaching waypoint PIUTE.

Last altitude I was aksed to maintain was 14.000 ft and wasked if I was aware of Indiana Springs noise abandment procedures.

I also ended up running out of fuel right over the Airbase,(and thus altitude and speed), but I probably shouldn´t have done 3 x 360° substained  turns and 3 Eggs in full burner.

So a small tip - look after Your fuel gauge !

 

Otherwise is it a very great Campaign so far - very immersive - so THX 

 

I am seeing the exact same thing, no instructions at PIUTE, last altitude 14,000 and then asked about noise abatement.  I landed but couldn't complete mission, I assume, because I didn't complete recovery correctly.  Look forward to a fix or how I can move past this because this looks like an awesome campaign.

[Reflected]

Those who don't hear anything at PIUTE, it's not a bug. You probably also didn't check out at CESAR, and that's because you probably didn't press SPACEBAR here:

***Do a few more eggs then press SPACEBAR when you are ready to RTB***

Or you missed those WPs by more than 5 miles which would be surprising. It's a complex campaign, you need to follow procedures and instructions. Each mission has 500+ triggers, I can't introduce another 1000 to make it work just in case something important was ignored. I need to assume the player follows at least the most important instructions.

If you post a screenshot of your MESSAGE HISTORY menu, I can check the last voice lines triggered and pinpoint exactly what you missed.

[Beirut]

This looks very well done, but is it hardcore only, or can a "casual flyer" find enough to do with it to make it enjoyable?

 

Also, do you have to complete Mission 1 to try Mission 2 and so on, or can you pick and choose?

 

Thank you. 

[Reflected]

11 minutes ago, Beirut said:

This looks very well done, but is it hardcore only, or can a "casual flyer" find enough to do with it to make it enjoyable?

Even if you're a casual player you can play it, but you mustn't be casual when it comes to following instructions. These are not free flight 'do whatever you like' missions. Always follow the instructions on screen.

11 minutes ago, Beirut said:

 

Also, do you have to complete Mission 1 to try Mission 2 and so on, or can you pick and choose?

 

Thank you. 

If you play from the campaign menu you have to go in order, but you can open the missions separately one by one too, and play whichever you like.

[Beirut]

30 minutes ago, Reflected said:

Even if you're a casual player you can play it, but you mustn't be casual when it comes to following instructions. These are not free flight 'do whatever you like' missions. Always follow the instructions on screen.

If you play from the campaign menu you have to go in order, but you can open the missions separately one by one too, and play whichever you like.

 

Thanks for the response. I haven't bought any DCS campaigns yet, but this does look interesting. Always curious what the pros can do with the ME.  

[N0XID]

Bought it on first day release and have now flown the first two missions. My head is spinning, but positively^^

 

Thx & O7

[fjacobsen]

8 hours ago, Reflected said:

Those who don't hear anything at PIUTE, it's not a bug. You probably also didn't check out at CESAR, and that's because you probably didn't press SPACEBAR here:

***Do a few more eggs then press SPACEBAR when you are ready to RTB***

Or you missed those WPs by more than 5 miles which would be surprising. It's a complex campaign, you need to follow procedures and instructions. Each mission has 500+ triggers, I can't introduce another 1000 to make it work just in case something important was ignored. I need to assume the player follows at least the most important instructions.

If you post a screenshot of your MESSAGE HISTORY menu, I can check the last voice lines triggered and pinpoint exactly what you missed.

@Reflected I did check out after doing those Eggs, and then was told to descend to 14.000 ft. I´m 90% sure that I reached CESAR, but maybe i missed PIUTE.

With: "Those who don't hear anything at PIUTE, it's not a bug." do You mean that we shouldn´t expect to get further instructions, but has to execute the rest of the approach ti Indian Springs on our own ?  - Just to know how to proceed, cause some backround knowledge about procedures must be known.

[Reflected]

20 minutes ago, fjacobsen said:

@Reflected I did check out after doing those Eggs, and then was told to descend to 14.000 ft. I´m 90% sure that I reached CESAR, but maybe i missed PIUTE.

With: "Those who don't hear anything at PIUTE, it's not a bug." do You mean that we shouldn´t expect to get further instructions, but has to execute the rest of the approach ti Indian Springs on our own ?  - Just to know how to proceed, cause some backround knowledge about procedures must be known.

No I mean there ARE further comms, but you don't hear them because you missed something and not because the mission is bugged. As I said if you post a screenshot of the MESSAGE HISTORY menu, then I can pinpoint what you missed exactly.

 

Also if you have problems with the campaign or suspect there is a bug, please open a separate thread in the BUGS AND PROBLEMS section, so other people who may face the same issues can find it more easily. This thread is about general info on the campaign and these posts will be buried fast.

Edited August 16, 2024 by Reflected

[Lime_Acid]

16 часов назад, fjacobsen сказал:

Yeah when returning from the exercise I got no instructions when reaching waypoint PIUTE.

Last altitude I was aksed to maintain was 14.000 ft and wasked if I was aware of Indiana Springs noise abandment procedures.

I also ended up running out of fuel right over the Airbase,(and thus altitude and speed), but I probably shouldn´t have done 3 x 360° substained  turns and 3 Eggs in full burner.

So a small tip - look after Your fuel gauge !

 

Otherwise is it a very great Campaign so far - very immersive - so THX 

 

after replaying everything worked fine, you need to follow the instructions clearly and not press anything unnecessary

[Darkline]

Is there a way to access the Campaign docs online? essentially im at work and although i thought i had put them in my onedrive at home so i could print them for some reason i dont see them so im trying to access them some other way so i can print them out while im here.  This campaign is awesome btw! If you liked speed and angels then you will love this!

[Mnemonic]

11 hours ago, Lime_Acid said:

after replaying everything worked fine, you need to follow the instructions clearly and not press anything unnecessary

I love the campaign, my favorite one so far, setup an voicelines and supplementary materials made very well, highest quality!

Please don’t get it as a critique, but it feels a bit fragile, one wrong move sometimes and illusion of realism falls apart, no way to finish, just have to start over. Maybe some features have to be implemented in base game to provide instruments to campaign devs to make campaigns more resilient without creating extra 3000 triggers. Fail state should be clear to the player, and user shouldn’t guess if it’s a bug or something went wrong.

Edited August 16, 2024 by Mnemonic

[Reflected]

I’m sorry but I need to push back on this. I had the same with Speed n Angels. Those who paid attention never had any issues and loved it. But many couldn’t progress because they failed to obey very clear and explicit instructions and they blamed the triggers of course.
 

The missions have PLENTY of fail safes, but not for the explicit instructions. If they tell you to go straight up, go straight up. If they tell you to hold it there you hold it there. If they tell you to set up at 15k, 450 knots, you do that. Like in real life. If you decide not to, it’s not my responsibility, nor is the mission bugged. I had many people test the campaign before release and none of them got stuck. Ever. 
 

the only way to make this campaign more flexible would be to fly with a human RIO who is a real life Topgun instructor. 
 

as the briefing says, open the briefing pdfs, read and understand what you need to do before doing it. And my offer still stands  anyone who gets ‘stuck’ send me a screenshot of the message history menu’s last lines and I’ll help pinpoint the problem  

One more thing for those who are missing wps: the Phantom’s ins is terrible. It drifts. After an hour it’s totally insccurate. That’s why you have tacans and radials with distances next to each wp on your kneeboard. Tacan never drifts

Edited August 16, 2024 by Reflected

[Grundar]

Yes INS drift is quite apparent in the F4, makes the F14 INS look like a laser in comparison lol.  Part of the charm of it all, the F4 is very hands on to get what you need out of it, especially in comparison from later generation jets.  It makes you appreciate the changes the made and how they improved workflow enough that you can do it pilot only.

The only problem I have with the campaign isn't even a campaign problem, it's that I don't have headtracking and I really need to invest in it.  Otherwise everything you need is in your kneeboard cards and you have to follow the leaders instructions to complete the mission.  Like Speed and Angels (or speed and angles which is how I look at it lol) it can seem a little jarring with the missions "split", as it were.  But damn, it is so effective at allowing you to focus and practice specific weaknesses.  I also think in the context of a training campaign it works absolutely fine.   For example, I was terrible at lag pursuits against the Mig-17, having the option to go over that easily and readily is so damn helpful and cuts out the fluff of having to restart a mission, do the setup again etc.

I also love the aspect of having to start up and shut down, it teaches you more about the jet and gets you more involved in it.  So many of Reflected's campaigns I use to 'learn' the aircraft (looking at you Mosquito campaign), because of the detail it goes in to.

[Reflected]

To be fair I noticed the INS drift got MUCH worse with the latest update, but that's not for us to figure out, and certainly not here.

[HotTom]

There is reference to mission briefings but I don't know where to find them. What folder were they (and other docs) installed in?