Campaigns updated with navigational aids

Dear virtual pilots,

I'm always looknig for feedback, and thinking about ways to make my campaigns better. Therefore, I updated my 3 WWII campaigns based on user feedback. It has been submitted to ED, and it will hopefully be in OB soon.

The short version of the story: I added markers to the F10 map to serve as navigational aids where needed. I also removed as much of the stock radio callouts as I could.

The long version of the story: I've read many reviews of my campaigns, seen videos of people flying them, and there is some recurring feedback:

- I don't know what to do

- I flew where I was supposed to, and nothing happened

- The missions take too long

- Performance is bad

So I sat and thought about what I can do to address these.

"I don't know what to do"

I realized that many of you just jump in the cockpit and want to take off, go in with guns blazing and go home, preferably within 5-10 minutes. I have disappointing news: then these campaigns are not for you. In order to properly fly the missions you need to read and study the briefing as well as the maps, and follow the instructions. Do you think Clostermann, Preddy, or Galland flew missions with zero preparation? I could have made my missions with no preparation required, but how challeging, exciting or rewarding would those missions be? These are not packs of instant action missions. Yes, it takes around 10 minutes for a big formation to take off and assemble. You have everything you need to know written in the briefing as well as your kneeboard and kneeboard maps (not the stock ones, but the ones that come with the campaign). You have your landmarks, your compass, the wind, magnetic deviation, etc...To make it a little easier, I added navigational markers where needed, e.g. to mark rendez-vous points over water, and so on. You can see these on the F10 map. Then again, the bombers may be late for the RDV, or miss the RDV point by miles. You have the same amount of information the flight leads had back in 1944. There are no markers at, say, WP1 over Lisieux. Look outside of the cockpit, and find it. look at the roads, the shape of the woods, etc...I also thought about adding in-game messages constantly telling you what to do, but that would be very arcadeish, and decided against it. They wouldn't give you any information you don't already have anyway.

"I flew where I was supposed to, but nothing happened"

This can be because a) you did not fly where you were supposed to, you only thought you did, or b) some updates broke a trigger. In the latter case please report, I will test it. Then again, it's very rare to happen.

"The missions take too long".

Well, how about an escort job to Berlin and back with strict radio silence for the 6-7 hour duration of the flight? These missions are still a lot shorter (and chattier) than in reality, and again, it's not for those who want quick combat, but for those who want a more historical experience. I already overstepped the line in terms of accuracy, because there is usually more chatter and instructions than it was allowed back in 1944. I think it's a compromise, and I will probably add even more in future projects, sacrificing accuracy at the altar of keeping the player entertained.

"Performance is bad"

That's why I included the option to remove half the units for better performance. Keep in mind that I managed to play these smoothly in VR on my mediocre PC, as well as on a gaming laptop without using that option. It's a matter of lowering your graphic settings. Compromise. Any fewer units, and the campaigns would lose their charm. Hey, I'd use twice the numer of bombers and fighters if PC performance allowed it. Also, turn off wake turbulence, it doesn't go well with big bomber formations. Game performance can change with each update, sometimes it deteriorates, but on the long run it's always getting better. This is out of my reach though, I only have access to the mission editor.

Anyhow, if you have any ideas how to make my campaigns better, or there is anything that could work better, anything you're missing, please let me know. I'm always thinking about ways to improve, but sometimes it's hard for me to think out of the box and look at it as someone who plays them for the first time.

Happy landings! :thumbup:

Reflected

Thanks for the insight, I’ve only played the P51 campaign (blue bastards) and I’ve really enjoyed it (but I haven’t yet finished it) and I like the realism, this isn't an arcade game after all and I do reserve enough time to play away from real life :)

Best regards

Hi everyone!

I have some important updates to share with you. Having finished my Sabre campaign I learned a lot more about mission making and triggers, and I felt that I definitely raised the bar compared to my WWII campaigns. But that's just not right, having 3 campaigns that could be better, right?

Therefore, I re-played all 3 of them, and as I went, I updated almost every mission of all 3. I added a number of new voice overs to aid the flow of the missions or simply to make them more interesting. I made some of the triggers smarter and more bullet proof. I added more ambient effects as well as more ambient flights to make sure you feel like there's a war going on and it's not just you out there. That, plus some bug squashing here and there.

Now I'm satisfied with them, and I can sleep well :) Keep an eye on the next couple of update changelogs.

Nice! Love this dedication to quality.

... Having finished my Sabre campaign I learned a lot more about mission making and triggers ..

This happens to me all the time, after each new mission that I edit, I learn new tricks & techniques, so each new mission is better than the previous one .. it is unavoidable :)

So, Im really glad that you have decided to return to your previous Campaigns and improve them even more ... thank you for that and Im anxious to get my hands on your new Campaign.

Yeah, it's crazy, never-ending, isn't it? The same is true for skinning, or basically any activity where one creates something new. Even though many of these improvements are "under the hood" I'm looking forward to the release of my new campaign to see if people enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Nice updates, your campaigns are great, well done.

Re: the performance issues, my specs are certainly not terrible and i run the game maxed out. I suffer terrible frame rates during your The Big Show Campaign at times during large battles. I actually stopped flying it due to this as it just ruined the immersion. Is there a way you can keep the intensity up but keep the unit count lower i.e. through spawing units based on certain triggers etc.? Dont get me wrong i am no mission maker but i really liked the beginning of The Big Show, the story line is amazing, but i should not have to compromise my everyday visual experience of DCS to fly a campaign.

Unless this is just a sad fact of DCS that, in it's present form, it just can't host these kind of air battles adequately?

Re: the performance issues, my specs are certainly not terrible and i run the game maxed out. I suffer terrible frame rates during your The Big Show Campaign at times during large battles. I actually stopped flying it due to this as it just ruined the immersion. Is there a way you can keep the intensity up but keep the unit count lower i.e. through spawing units based on certain triggers etc.? Dont get me wrong i am no mission maker but i really liked the beginning of The Big Show, the story line is amazing, but i should not have to compromise my everyday visual experience of DCS to fly a campaign.

 

Unless this is just a sad fact of DCS that, in it's present form, it just can't host these kind of air battles adequately?

Hi Dougall,

Yes, there is a quick solution for that. Check this thread:

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=4054765#post4054765

All you need to do is to turn off wake turbulence, and maybe tone down visibility range. The new wake turbulence feature is awesome when you are doing a2a refueling with a modern jet, but it doesn't work well with large WWII formations, that's just too many calculations for our PCs.

True, hadn't thought of that but makes sense. May save a good few frames. Will give that a bash and see about getting some screenies :thumbup:

Thank you

I'm sorry folks, I was too late to send the updated campaigns so they didn't make it in this impressive OB update, you'll have to wait until the next one. Good news is, all 3 campaigns have now been submitted from my part. Thank you for your patience!

I'm sorry folks, I was too late to send the updated campaigns so they didn't make it in this impressive OB update, you'll have to wait until the next one. Good news is, all 3 campaigns have now been submitted from my part. Thank you for your patience!

I'm thinking about buying your Blue Nosed campaign.

- Has the mission been upgraded?.

- 2nd question. How much time should i set aside to conduct a single mission?.

two hours?

Hi Chase,

1) It's constantly being updated, fine tuned and improved

2) that depends. These are not you typical quick instant action missions. Starting your plane, taking off, then assembling the formation over the field alone may take 10-15 minutes, plus the flight through the channel, etc...if you fly "hardcore" with no time acceleration, these missions can take around 1-1,5 hours (still not a 8 hour flight to Berlin, huh? :) ) Then again, there's always time acceleration. When used wisely, you can reduce it to around 30-40 minutes.

My recommendation is that you only fly one mission a day, but you fully savor it instead of just running through it. It will give you a much more realistic experience, and that's the whole point of my campaigns.

Thank you. Two to 3 hours is good for me. I don't like to accelerate tine. I can always hit the pause key to take a break. Thank you. I will be picking this up.

Dave