Why Campaigns (generally) aren't as fun as they could be

[Slick Twitchy]

Don't get me wrong I keep coming back to campaigns. I don't play multiplayer, and single missions don't satisfy that "I am a real combat pilot" feeling. But here are some of my criticisms-with some solutions that I think are feasible. I know there are a bunch of solutions that really boil down to "put more time and energy into the game" but sheeeesh I have spent more time learning this game than I spent with my kids (who are all in jail and addicted to various drugs due to my parental negligence-kidding they're pretty badass)

1. I don't know what the other pilots/FAC/AWAC are saying-I have figured out the F-18 generally, but when I drop into a campaign, and the FAC, AWACs are telling me stuff I don't get it- I LOVE the succinctness and specificity of military parlance-but many times (I'm talking to you Arctic Thunder) I don't understand what I am being tasked to do-esp if I have to fly off pre-planned flightplan-SOLUTION-put a dumb downed Text message next to the message texts with simple language;

2. I spend A LOT of time getting to the interesting part of the mission, screw it up then die. Then have to reload and (at minimum) watch the whole boring part at 3 x speed -which seems to take longer than just manually flying it. I absolutely want that "boring" part-it adds so much to the game and is fun ONCE (maybe twice) but I'm that terrible of a pilot and it can take 5-6 times to complete. Solution-Quick Save-Once per mission you should be able to do a Quick Save-then after failing the mission the game should give you an option to start at that point.

3. I LOVE DCS-and I love campaigns and will always buy and play them-but the fun is mitigated sometimes by the above.

[Dangerzone]

36 minutes ago, Slick Twitchy said:

Don't get me wrong I keep coming back to campaigns. I don't play multiplayer, and single missions don't satisfy that "I am a real combat pilot" feeling. But here are some of my criticisms-with some solutions that I think are feasible. I know there are a bunch of solutions that really boil down to "put more time and energy into the game" but sheeeesh I have spent more time learning this game than I spent with my kids (who are all in jail and addicted to various drugs due to my parental negligence-kidding they're pretty badass)

1. I don't know what the other pilots/FAC/AWAC are saying-I have figured out the F-18 generally, but when I drop into a campaign, and the FAC, AWACs are telling me stuff I don't get it- I LOVE the succinctness and specificity of military parlance-but many times (I'm talking to you Arctic Thunder) I don't understand what I am being tasked to do-esp if I have to fly off pre-planned flightplan-SOLUTION-put a dumb downed Text message next to the message texts with simple language;

2. I spend A LOT of time getting to the interesting part of the mission, screw it up then die. Then have to reload and (at minimum) watch the whole boring part at 3 x speed -which seems to take longer than just manually flying it. I absolutely want that "boring" part-it adds so much to the game and is fun ONCE (maybe twice) but I'm that terrible of a pilot and it can take 5-6 times to complete. Solution-Quick Save-Once per mission you should be able to do a Quick Save-then after failing the mission the game should give you an option to start at that point.

3. I LOVE DCS-and I love campaigns and will always buy and play them-but the fun is mitigated sometimes by the above.

Fair points you raise. The save game one I don't see happening. ED have made their save game feature, and it seems to have revealed that they're going with the same approach that other community contributors used as a workaround - as opposed to redeveloping from the ground up the ability to save the actual state of the game. I have seen some campaign designers 'cheat' by having a separate mission that is post a certain event. (ie, post-refueling, to allow those who can't air to air refuel the ability to proceed from a certain point). That's the only way I see at present or in the foreseeable future that a campaign creator could possibly get around this particular issue - have a starting position that is closer to the action. It is of course a work-around and adds to the content creators workload, but I can't see another way. 

For me, I find it lacking immersion. I think that really has to do with the 'flow on' effect from one to another. How well you do in one mission doesn't change/affect another. Heatblur may have helped bridge a gap here with the F4 - how you treat it on a previous session impacts how it will be the following one for instance. But overall - I think this is where I suspect a lot of people are hanging out for the dynamic campaign engine instead - so it's unique and more immersive. 

But this conversation does raise a thought. How epic would the dynamic campaign engine be, if it was an engine for campaign designers. ie - instead of just being a 'go and play' - it was like the mission editor where campaign creators could actually use it as a tool to create their campaign, but the end result would be something dynamic and 'living'.