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New clouds with missions


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I'm playing the campaign for the first time, and with v2.7 clouds.

I wonder how it compares to the earlier versions and clouds.

 

Wingman: "Look at the dam down there"

Me: "Nope, just clouds"

 

Mission: Keep above 16k feet to avoid MANPADs

Me: Circle at 9k feet to be below clouds to see the ground and target anything.

 

Up to mission 7 now, and enjoying it, but I sometimes wonder how compatible the clouds are and will be with the mission designs.

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Well... I tried to keep the general cloud settings and altitude (so scattered at 12K etc), however I had no option to check all the missions and all the instances / dialogues having to work on 6 different campaigns. So if you feel some parts are completely off, let me know! Some missions will be much more difficult and require different approach from the player, which I don't mind and it is realistic. MANPADS won't reach you above the clouds now I think anyway, but yeah, I see the point...

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@baltic_dragonThanks for commenting. I've now completed to mission 10, and so far there have been no serious issues relating to the clouds.  The clouds have fairly well matched the mission description and expectations.

 

At worst some minor tweaks to cloud density or elevation could help some target areas.

As for dialog, twice the dam / reservoir was mentioned as scenic view, but with 100% or near cloud cover at that flight leg altitude, was completely occluded. Wingman has called out spotting targets covered by cloud, but he may just have super binoculars!

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@baltic_dragon Great timing on this post since I just completed mission 3 today (only owned it for two years, so behind the power curve a little).  My only recommendation would be for the more 'touring' familiarization mission to either have a higher cloud cap or make it a light scatter maybe since part of the voice acting is to enjoy the views.  I am not sure if that only encompasses the first and third since that is as far as I am, if so disregard.

 

The only real part I ran into difficulty came to the attack in mission 3 where you had to respond after identifying the trouble (avoiding spoiler for others who may read).  The cloud cover made a little difficult since you never know if there is a timer that may expire, causing failure of the mission.  Also, not sure if it is just AI limitations, but all three of my AI pilots crashed into the mountains as I rolled in for attack...kinda bummer since they don't get to fly home.

 

I must say that combined with the new clouds, it has been a great campaign thus far!  Great job to you and your team...unless it is just you, then EXTRA hats off!  Very enjoyable and great learning curve to ease into it.

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Started the Enemy Within 3.0 campaign recently and also having issues with this.  I just played mission 6, and a lot of them so far have pretty thick cloud that covers most of the ground below your waypoint altitudes.  Mission 3 comes to mind where you're cruising between waypoints and are supposed to spot burning buildings but the entire area is totally masked by cloud for miles.  Mission 6 has the "look at that dam" moment yet again it's just a solid layer of clouds for miles in every direction.

 

Kinda seems like the cloud density settings end up being a lot ticker in 2.7?  Definitely adds to the difficulty as you have to get below the cloud layer to engage the enemy which makes it easier to get hit by AA.

 

Great campaign so far otherwise.

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Not sure if this is a DCS 2.7 issue, but mission 20 is very foggy. On the ground it just looks weird too (my settings have everything maxed out, so I'm assuming that my settings are not the culprit):

 

TEW3 20.png

Getting to the target, without getting shot down was very hard, the terrain is hard to spot because of the fog. Nevertheless I did manage to get ordnance on target after the third try, but the turn around after that ended 'not so well'. 🙃

 

Since I didn't do the mission before the 2.7 update I can't really tell if the fog is supposed to be this thick. The mission is not impossible, but it is a suicide mission all right 🙂.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just finished Mission 18.

I enjoyed it a lot, but it was much harder than it should have been...

 

My wingman crashed into a mountain early on, offering me no fire support.

The F16s were on F10 call but didn't hit anything thought they did respond in the affirmative.

The relieving A-10 flight on RTB did not attack anything (likely by design). So it was all up to me. A very target rich environment.

 

However, There was >50% cloud cover over the AO, so I had to make many passes overhead to try and spot things and laser bomb.

There were a number of time limited events which I could not keep up with.

 

The TGP has changed over time and is much more difficult now to locate vehicles near trees and buildings due to lower contrast.

 

The mission takes place in the dark of night. However night vision has changed over the years and is much much more difficult to use.

I could not confidently fly low except briefly along lit roads or I'd crash into a mountain.

I'm attaching two images, one from a YouTube of someone playing in 2019, one from me in roughly the same place, but actually from Mission 19 since I didn't take a shot during 18. Mission 19 Is actually clearer and has less cloud.

 

Source of 2019 screen shot:

 

2019 screenshot.

a10_nvg_ew_m18_old.jpg

My screenshot (May 2021) With cockpit lights dimmed below what I'd normally use and NVG brightness adjusted for max contrast:

a10_nvg_new.jpg

 

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Hay BD,

 

don't wanna be a whiner, but just want to second DimSim: with the new clouds Mission 18 seems to be pretty close to impossible for me too...

 

Is there a generic cloud setting option in DCS maybe I don't know of, that could be toned down?

 

How the F-16 choose their target of opportunities? In other words, how will I know, what they destroyed maybe from "my" target list?

 

Thanks

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/17/2021 at 7:50 PM, Razor18 said:

Thanks... and what about my "clouds" question?

Sorry for late reply, Razor, was away from DCS for almost a week. There is only the cloud quality setting, which I don't think would solve the problems here. 

On M18, if there are too many people complaining about the clouds, I'll change them - after all, the campaign should be fun to play. 

ce535d_9d347b62819c4372b3c485a4f95d2004~mv2.png
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  • 3 months later...
On 4/22/2021 at 11:05 AM, DimSim said:

Wingman: "Look at the dam down there"

Me: "Nope, just clouds"

Also had this jarring moment. This would be easy to fix by selecting the "Nothing" clouds preset in the Mission Editor. The Dam deserves being seen! 🙂

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