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]

2 hours 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 with already mostly existing functionality - 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'. 

Edited 9 hours ago by Dangerzone