Feedback after 1. (real) Mission, Small Bug and possible Spoilers

[DCS.Fighter.Masi]

First off, I'm really happy there's finally a story driven campaign for the Phantom. I've just completed the first proper mission and wanted to share some feedback, along with a small bug report.

The briefings before each mission are very well done. However, it's worth noting that they mostly just reiterate—in spoken form—what is already written in the mission briefing. The included PDF doesn’t offer any new information either; it simply contains the same briefings in text format.

The first mission itself isn’t really beginner-friendly—it's actually quite difficult. Sure, a MiG-23 and a Su-25 aren’t exactly hard opponents for a Phantom, but you’re given exactly four missiles for four targets. If even one Sidewinder is thrown off by flares, you're left relying on your gun skills or your wingman. That’s not ideal in my opinion—having a couple of extra Sparrows available would’ve made it more forgiving and beginner friendly. Fuel was also very tight for me; I had to be quite economical to make it back to base. Aerial refueling in the Phantom isn't exactly beginner material either.

On the outbound flight, when the two pilots are chatting about meatballs and pasta, a wrong audio file seems to be triggered—it suddenly talks about getting four kills and not calling yourself an ace just yet. The same file plays again on the way back in the right place.

The radio-station  is a nice touch, offering some insights into the broader war situation. Synth-wave music might fit the 80s vibe, but to me it doesn't really suit the Phantom. Still, it adds to the atmosphere in a good way.

One thing I’m struggling with is telling the characters apart—the voice actors sound very similar to me. My co-pilot “Jester” sounds quite a lot like Chris, for example. It's also odd that Jester has a callsign, while Chris doesn’t. The additional radio chatter during the mission adds some life, but it can be confusing. You really have to pay close attention to know whether a call is directed at you. The contrast between the DCS default voices and the custom ones is also quite stark.

Two more things I found a bit disappointing: the campaign uses default liveries, and it’s set on the Kola map. I understand that at the time of development, there probably wasn’t another suitable map for the setting—but Kola really doesn’t compare to Ugra Media’s Germany Cold War map. The trees and ground textures on Kola are frankly quite poor. I really hope there will be a follow-up campaign using the Germany Cold War map, and that some of these small issues can be addressed.

I don’t want to come across as overly critical—this is meant as constructive feedback. I’m looking forward to the next missions, future updates or even campaigns!

[Zone5]

Just to be clear, in the campaign you are flying a German F-4, which in real life would have been an F-4F, which was not equipped for Sparrows (although they could be retrofitted... as you will see later), so the "'Winder only" condition of the first mission is realistic. Having said that, it IS a really hard mission (which it likely would be in real life...). You need to be very tactical about how you approach the -23s. Jester actually points this out. Think long and hard about an F-Pole, and pulling them out of position (and where you want to pull them to...). Your missile evasion needs to be top notch. Don't try to fire on them until they have expended their shots (which means between you and your wingman, you need to account for 4 Apexes before you go offensive). 

The patch that brought the campaign into the game also seems to have added some bugs from the DCS Core into the campaign, and my understanding is that ED knows about them and a fix is in work for the next update. Not sure if your audio issue is due to that, I haven't seen it (and I have flown that mission MANY times... ;-).

I actually liked having the campaign on the Kola map. Based on what we know about the OpsPlan that existed at that time, I suspect it is a very plausible situation to have the remnants of the Luftwaffe up there defending the peninsula. I am hoping to see either a prequel or sequel on the Germany map in the future, but I actually really like the design of the scenario. It seems very much what I remember being afraid of in the mid-80s.

I can't speak to the livery question, but my understanding is this was done by one person (with some volunteer voice actors), so custom liveries and completely re-making the Jester voice files is likely a big ask. I think he did an excellent job with this. In any case, good luck, and good hunting!

[JohnW71]

I played this mission today and also experienced the audio bug mentioned above on the outbound flight. I also discovered I'm not even good enough to be a "beginner" in the Phantom, but enjoyed the mission 

[Cyking]

Hi @DCS.Fighter.Masi, 

Thanks a lot for your feedback. I truly appreciate constructive criticism like this. It's incredibly valuable to help me improve this campaign and future ones. Let me address some of the points you brought up:

Briefings:
You're absolutely right — the spoken briefing is nearly identical to the written one. That was intentional. The idea was to minimize the need for additional reading or using a second screen/PDF, so players can jump straight into the cockpit. Think of it as a more immersive alternative to reading walls of text.

First Sortie – Tasking & Difficulty:
Yes, it's definitely not a beginner mission. As @Zone5 mentioned earlier, it's designed to reflect the kind of challenges the Luftwaffe faced back in the day. Jester gives you some hints en route to the target area, and it’s worth noting: you don’t have to shoot down all four aircraft yourself to complete the mission. The mission outcome remains the same — only Jester’s debriefing changes depending on how many you downed. Still, I’ll take your point about making it a bit more forgiving under consideration for future updates or follow-ups.

Voiceover Bug:
Thanks for spotting the misplaced voice line — I’ll check and fix that!

Radio Chatter & Voice Distinction:
Yes, radio chatter can be a bit demanding, just like in real ops — you really need to pay attention to figure out what’s meant for you. Mixing default AI radio calls with custom voiceovers is a bit of a tradeoff — it adds atmosphere and situational awareness, but I agree it’s not perfect. I'm genuinely curious what others think about this approach because till the end of development I still was not sure to leave the AI calls in or not. 

Liveries & Map Choice:
I totally get the wish for custom liveries. I’d love to include them too! At the current state of my mission builder skillset i am not able to create them by myself, but I would love to do that in future. But to be honest, creating a DCS campaign is mostly a solo, low-budget effort, and for things like liveries and voice acting I rely on volunteers. Sadly, I couldn't find someone to help with liveries without significant costs. If anyone wants to contribute in this area — I’d be thrilled to collaborate!

As for the Kola map: It’s not perfect visually, especially compared to newer maps like Germany Cold War but it is getting better and better in my opinion. And sometimes people forget, this area is not that populated like germany e.g. so of course you have way more bare land, forrest and seas without anything else. At the time of development, Kola was the only one that fit the setting and I’d definitely love to explore the Germany Cold War map in future campaigns.

Thanks again — it’s feedback like yours that helps this campaign grow and improve. I hope you continue to enjoy the upcoming missions, and I’ll do my best to keep improving every aspect: from better voiceovers and briefings to visuals and gameplay balance.

[DCS.Fighter.Masi]

vor 20 Stunden schrieb Zone5:

Just to be clear, in the campaign you are flying a German F-4, which in real life would have been an F-4F, which was not equipped for Sparrows (although they could be retrofitted... as you will see later), so the "'Winder only" condition of the first mission is realistic. Having said that, it IS a really hard mission (which it likely would be in real life...). You need to be very tactical about how you approach the -23s. Jester actually points this out. Think long and hard about an F-Pole, and pulling them out of position (and where you want to pull them to...). Your missile evasion needs to be top notch. Don't try to fire on them until they have expended their shots (which means between you and your wingman, you need to account for 4 Apexes before you go offensive). 

The patch that brought the campaign into the game also seems to have added some bugs from the DCS Core into the campaign, and my understanding is that ED knows about them and a fix is in work for the next update. Not sure if your audio issue is due to that, I haven't seen it (and I have flown that mission MANY times... ;-).

I actually liked having the campaign on the Kola map. Based on what we know about the OpsPlan that existed at that time, I suspect it is a very plausible situation to have the remnants of the Luftwaffe up there defending the peninsula. I am hoping to see either a prequel or sequel on the Germany map in the future, but I actually really like the design of the scenario. It seems very much what I remember being afraid of in the mid-80s.

I can't speak to the livery question, but my understanding is this was done by one person (with some volunteer voice actors), so custom liveries and completely re-making the Jester voice files is likely a big ask. I think he did an excellent job with this. In any case, good luck, and good hunting!

Thanks for the info, I didn’t know that the German Phantoms didn’t have Sparrows. I didn’t let the MiG-23s fire their missiles. I didn’t fly directly at them, but slightly diagonally. That way, they never got the chance to fire a missile — we merged pretty quickly, and then it wasn’t too hard to get into a firing position. What I meant, though, is that Sidewinders are very likely to get distracted by flares on the first shot. That already makes things a bit tricky. You also don’t know in advance that there will be four targets — well, now I do, but not the first time. For example, I had a situation where both me and my wingman were winchester, but there was still a Su-25 in the air. I did some damage with the guns, but it was still flying and not smoking. It took quite a while before it finally crashed. Although I’m not sure whether the AI flew it into the ground or if the aircraft just couldn’t stay in the air anymore. Is there a trigger built in that ends my CAP and sends me home if my wingman and I are winchester, or would I get stuck at that point?

 

vor 7 Stunden schrieb Cyking:

Hi @DCS.Fighter.Masi, 

Thanks a lot for your feedback. I truly appreciate constructive criticism like this. It's incredibly valuable to help me improve this campaign and future ones. Let me address some of the points you brought up:

Briefings:
You're absolutely right — the spoken briefing is nearly identical to the written one. That was intentional. The idea was to minimize the need for additional reading or using a second screen/PDF, so players can jump straight into the cockpit. Think of it as a more immersive alternative to reading walls of text.

First Sortie – Tasking & Difficulty:
Yes, it's definitely not a beginner mission. As @Zone5 mentioned earlier, it's designed to reflect the kind of challenges the Luftwaffe faced back in the day. Jester gives you some hints en route to the target area, and it’s worth noting: you don’t have to shoot down all four aircraft yourself to complete the mission. The mission outcome remains the same — only Jester’s debriefing changes depending on how many you downed. Still, I’ll take your point about making it a bit more forgiving under consideration for future updates or follow-ups.

Voiceover Bug:
Thanks for spotting the misplaced voice line — I’ll check and fix that!

Radio Chatter & Voice Distinction:
Yes, radio chatter can be a bit demanding, just like in real ops — you really need to pay attention to figure out what’s meant for you. Mixing default AI radio calls with custom voiceovers is a bit of a tradeoff — it adds atmosphere and situational awareness, but I agree it’s not perfect. I'm genuinely curious what others think about this approach because till the end of development I still was not sure to leave the AI calls in or not. 

Liveries & Map Choice:
I totally get the wish for custom liveries. I’d love to include them too! At the current state of my mission builder skillset i am not able to create them by myself, but I would love to do that in future. But to be honest, creating a DCS campaign is mostly a solo, low-budget effort, and for things like liveries and voice acting I rely on volunteers. Sadly, I couldn't find someone to help with liveries without significant costs. If anyone wants to contribute in this area — I’d be thrilled to collaborate!

As for the Kola map: It’s not perfect visually, especially compared to newer maps like Germany Cold War but it is getting better and better in my opinion. And sometimes people forget, this area is not that populated like germany e.g. so of course you have way more bare land, forrest and seas without anything else. At the time of development, Kola was the only one that fit the setting and I’d definitely love to explore the Germany Cold War map in future campaigns.

Thanks again — it’s feedback like yours that helps this campaign grow and improve. I hope you continue to enjoy the upcoming missions, and I’ll do my best to keep improving every aspect: from better voiceovers and briefings to visuals and gameplay balance.

Thanks for your response. I even got the Kola map specifically (even though I had already read reports about what to expect) just so I could fly this campaign. I really wanted to fly the F-4 — and even better, a German one. Now that I know about the briefings, I can just skip the WOT at the beginning . Other campaigns put more emphasis on reading them thoroughly, including the accompanying manual. Here we just dive right in — which is also totally fine. Actually, it’s great, once you know that in advance.

I believe you about the liveries, it’s definitely not a dealbreaker — so no worries there. Like I said, for a story-driven campaign aimed at beginners, I don’t necessarily need the additional radio chatter from teammates. At least not the generic DCS ones. But that’s really just nitpicking.

I hope you didn’t take my criticism the wrong way. Like I said, I specifically got the Kola map for your campaign, and I haven’t regretted it so far. I can tell there’s effort behind it, and I genuinely appreciate that. I also hope it’s paying off for you enough that we’ll eventually get to see something on the Cold War Germany map.

I’m not asking for an Ace Combat-style campaign, but I also don’t want to be chased by 4 aircraft and 10 SAM sites while having to hit a precise target with air-to-ground missiles. I want missions that are challenging but still manageable for beginners. Doesn’t need to be hyper-realistic either — just needs to fit the setting.

I’m looking forward to the upcoming missions, and if anything else comes up or once I finish the campaign, I’ll check in again.

[Cyking]

16 hours ago, DCS.Fighter.Masi said:

I’m not asking for an Ace Combat-style campaign, but I also don’t want to be chased by 4 aircraft and 10 SAM sites while having to hit a precise target with air-to-ground missiles. I want missions that are challenging but still manageable for beginners. Doesn’t need to be hyper-realistic either — just needs to fit the setting.

Thanks again for your feedback, only this helps to make it better. In the end, that’s exactly my goal: a mix between Ace Combat-style gameplay and hardcore mil-sim. Something with a bit more focus on action and story, and a bit less on study-level systems — because let’s face it, just getting a DCS aircraft airborne and some weapons deployed can be a challange especially for more casual players.

I want to give players a space where they can have fun with their new module, wrapped in a compelling scenario with a strong narrative. It’s all garnished with just enough realism to keep the experience immersive without becoming overwhelming. At least this is what I am aiming for. 

Last but not least, getting the difficulty level right — especially in terms of being beginner-friendly — is always a challenge. I've been into DCS and various modules for several years now, playing single player, PvE, and loving PvP. So I'd consider myself a fairly experienced DCS pilot.

What feels manageable or even easy to me can be quite tough for someone new to the sim. I’m still working on finding the right balance, and feedback like yours is extremely helpful in that process. So please keep it coming!

Edited July 1 by Cyking