Interested in trying it, but how is it with the AI?

[Nealius]

I'm really itching to try doing more than just cruising around the Caucasus in my lovely Spit, and I already have the WW2 Assets Pack, but as I would also need to buy Normandy for this campaign I want to make sure everything is worth the investment. At the moment I have two concerns:

 

1) Does the campaign run well? I.e., Are there any bugs, broken triggers, etc. that seem to crop up in campaigns and missions every time there's an Open Beta update?

 

2) How is it with the perfect-BFM-never-losing-energy AI that can do loop after loop after loop while you're stalling out and overheating engines left and right? Is it a "winnable" fight?

[Reflected]

Hi Nealius,

 

Thank you for your interest in this campaign. Let me answer your questions:

 

1) Not that I know of. Some people have problems with the mission success criteria (surviving 10 minutes) - I updated the missions, the new versions are coming with the next OB release. I played the campaign on a less then perfect PC in VR and it was playable.

 

2) I made sure fights are winnable. I watched the dogfights unfold with AI only to make sure it's not a slaughterhouse.

 

Other players may have different points of view and can chip in.

 

Happy landings!

[Nealius]

Awesome, thanks! I don't have any experience with DLC campaigns...are the missions updated in the DCS update packages just like modules and terrains are?

[Reflected]

Yes, they are. Make sure you start by reading the pdf documentation in order to get the most out of it. Let me know if you encounter any problems or have any questions. :)

[Reflected]

Also, you can try 2 sample missions for free ;)

 

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3305162/

[swiss_lipo]

Hello,

 

 

After flying the two first missions (I actually have the whole campaign now), I can say I enjoy the atmosphere, back in the old days. I read the book when I was (much) younger so it's quite exciting to take part in the action this time.

 

 

But I still have to regret some AI actions (hence my post in this thread). I really have issues with my wingmen:

- during taxi, they keep bumping into me if I do not SERIOUSLY hurry along the taxiway. It's like they are ignoring the presence of my plane. I suppose this can be solved by not talking with the G/ATC before starting the engine and rolling, not tested yet.

 

- In flight, allied AI tend to group around the same opponent, lining up two or three of them behind the same enemy, sometimes the one I am already chasing, annoying.

 

 

 

These two points can be rather frustrating, especially the first one. I am not sure if there is something that can be done to help that ?

 

 

Appart from those two first observations, I did not find the dogfights to be impossible at all. I'm definitely not an ace and nevertheless I was able to shoot down one or more enemies before flying back to base, so it's working well on that side. Note that I'm lowering the number of AI units at mission start, not sure of the impact on the difficulty level.

 

 

 

I'm looking forward to flying the next missions now.

 

 

Cheers,

Edited December 14, 2019 by swiss_lipo

[Reflected]

Hi Swiss_lipo!

 

Thank you for your reaching out. Some of these problems are easy to tackle:

 

1) Exactly, as you said, the solution is not to radio "request startup" and "request taxi" to the tower. These wouldn't have been done in WWII either.

 

2) Yepp, the AI is an annoying shoulder shooter, I wish something would be done about this. This is, however, not something I can change in the mission editor. AI tends to gang up on a single enemy, if there are only a few left. You said you are using the "remove units" option. Try flying the mission with all the units present. With more planes, it becomes more natural. More targets for the AI, etc...removing the units makes things a bit imbalanced in favor of the Spitfires.

 

I can run these missions with all the units pressent on my travel laptop which is a Dell G3 15, as long as I turn "wake turbulence" off (with it being turned on, even a 2080ti would suffer)

 

Good luck with the campaign, and let me know if you have further questions/ comments/ feedback ;)

[Sceptre]

Just finished mission 12 with a total of 11 ground kills and 17 air for the campaign. I had a great experience and it really helps to bring the spitfire to life. I ran this campaign with 70+ fps in 2k with the specs listed in my sig (just make sure to disable wake turbulence!!)

 

These are a few AI issues I encountered, and despite these it didn't bring down the experience much. Here are a few things I noted while playing:

 

- Friendly spits shoulder shooting from far away and landing all their shots, kill stealing a target you've already downed, or running out of fuel in a 40min flight. I also found that (in some cases) the friendly spits would absolutely wipe the floor with the attacking German planes. In one of the late missions there is a scramble to attack 30+ focke wulfs, and we finished the mission with only 2 spitfires lost and 34/34 german planes lost! I would be interested to know the results of some of these battles in real life and to replay the missions to see what kind of different results I get.

 

- I've found the enemy AI to not behave that unrealistically at all. I felt the performance of the Fw190A8 and 109k4 was believable when I fought them, and I was able to catch up with an energy advantage quite easily. The spit really climbs like a rocket!!! Just be sure not to use emergency power while chasing a hun into the vertical and stall! The lack of airflow will detonate your engine. I usually left my engine at 12lbs boost and 2800 RPM in combat which is pretty safe, and more than enough power for an extended dogfight. You should be fine to use 18lbs and 3000 rpm to chase a baddie who is diving away though.

 

I am looking forward to replaying this once the new damage models are released.

Edited December 17, 2019 by Sceptre

[Reflected]

Thank you for the feedback Sceptre. I'm glad you enjoyed it. 17 kills, that's impressive! :thumbup:

 

- Shoulder shooting: yes, it's really annoying, I hope the AI will get some love to get rid of this.

- German losses: The thing is, DCS AI tends to fight until they are out of ammo, or all enemies are down. It's next to impossible to program the AI in a way that they break off the fight and fly home, especially if you want it to feel natural. Say, if more than 50% dead -> trigger to go home. But what if you are still chasing one of them, shouldn't he keep fighting? So, what I did was I set the AI skill level in a way to make sure the Allies win, but the fight lasts as long as possible. The result does vary a bit each time.

 

Once the new damage model is out, I'll replay these and see how it changes the balance, then make adjustments to the AI's skill accordingly.