Baltic Dragon and Reflected answers feedback on DLC Campaigns
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- Опубліковано 10 сер 2023
- Thank you so much for sharing your feedback, ideas and concerns with us, in this video we'll address the most recurring ones.
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@sedlo 's video about MP/ Coop missions: • OIR F-15E Mission 1 - ... - Ігри
Please keep making great campaigns! I am willing to pay more for your hard work.
Thanks for the support!
no dynamic campiagn no purchases for expensive planes.
That training campaign for the A10c2 was awesome, it really helped unlock a better understanding of the module.. can’t wait till we get one for the f16 similar to that…
Single player campaigns are one of the most important features for me when I'm looking to buy a new module. There's nothing like the satisfaction of successfully landing after a long, immersive campaign mission. Please keep up your amazing work! Thank you for your dedication.
Thank you guys for your continious Effort! SaveGames would be THE gamechanger for singleplayer campaigns tho. Additionally an option to reset the ingame speed to 1.0 when something like a conversation or an event happens. this could be really helpfull when your inroute to ip with an a-10 is around 50-100 miles.
Man, this comment alone made it worthwhile to release this video. This is an absolutely brilliant idea. My friend Sedlo found a way to do this, it's super easy to set up and I agree it can be a game changer! Thank you so much!!!
@@ReflectedSimulations @k1ll0raffe watch for this idea to come to my missions ASAP. Great call!
@@ReflectedSimulations Thank you so much for your kind response - really made my day :) glad my idea was heard by you and is gonna be implemented which feels amazing ^^
wish you the best of luck & success with all your projects ;)
Well, i just want to say to all "campaign designers", the work you all do on your missions is amazing. You really push the mission editor within its limits and personnaly, i have great fun with them.
Many thanks!
75% of my DCS time is spent in Campaigns, 20% learning(usually for the campaigns), 5% in MP.
In my books, Hot Starts are the worst...specially when you know you have a specific way you want your aircraft set up.
@balticdragon3611 the only thing I hate about both Raven One campaigns, is that split in the last mission of the original Raven One....I wish it had a full length version.
I love the work you guys do, My module purchase choices are made based on how many campaigns are available for it, and are they Reflected/Baltic/GroundPounder campaigns.
Keep em as real as you can and Keep em coming!
Thanks a lot! Agreed, I also prefer full length missions :)
Maybe a difficulty rating system might work to tell people how hard a mission is? See international mountain biking and ski runs: Green, blue, black, double black. Even if you two guys just started doing this, other makers might follow.
Great idea, make it clear which campaigns are made for beginners, intermediates and crack-shot pilots
As someone who came to DCS in early summer of 2020 I can't help but think the end of the pandemic has something to do with dropping interest in DLC Campaigns. I have no idea about how many players DCS had pre pandemic. But I do think it gave the playerbase a boost which also helped in sales and interest in DLC Campaigns. With the pandemic now behind us, I can imagine that many took up other hobbies again and either spend less time with DCS an some may even have dropped it outright. For most of those people, that surely was gradual so that there probably was a steady decline this year. Bare in mind, this is all speculation. I have no insight in any numbers to back this up. And obviously if this does have anything to do with it, it's only one more thing along with everything in the video.
Good thoughts, that may also be a factor. Thanks!
The planes ar so expensive there is nothing to do once you learned them. Sure there are canned single and mulitplayer missons but that is old hat. The devlopers are not intrested in making a dynamic campaign while the cash cow of £70 planes continues to sell.
Good to hear you guys are planning some training campaigns for Viper and Hornet, would love to learn procedures, as much as your sources can let us know through your missions, on various stuff from take off and landing to employing weapons, radar use, IFF and data-link etc...Those missions would be interesting indeed. Something we are missing in DCS, In DCS we get the aircraft with very shallow guides or videos from youtubers who usually give us bad info.
You, BD, Groundpounder, and Bunyap are all first day purchases for me for all the reasons you give in this video. As a campaign designer working on his first campaign, I spend more time analyzing your work than flying the missions. Usually, when I look at the documentation in a campaign from one of you, I feel intimidated at the prospect of flying the mission, and I wonder if others feel the same way. If so, that may be part of what's behind the suggestion for "training campaigns." Not that any designer should scale back on the campaign docs, but it's possible that there's a misperception out there that a 90+ page briefing document means that the missions are going to blister your brain. (HINT: If they do, it's not the designer's fault.)
I'm really grateful for all of the helpful videos you put together for your campaigns, as well.
Absolutely love and appreciate your honesty when discussing the issues you face in trying to address community concerns around campaigns. Cheers
Thank you!
what about "mission packs" rather than a campaign? a particular theme, era, conflict and then a collection of nicely detailed and assembled and voiced missions to fit within that?
Play in any order. no over arching story. no reoccurring characters.
I agree with you both on campaign realism and complexity. Campaigns are there to really stretch your abilities once you already know the module. That's the fun of it. Why spend money on a campaign that will immediately become obsolete once you learn the module?
Keep up the great work! I enjoy all of your campaigns and I will continue to purchase them when they come out! I am especially looking forward to your F-16C campaign!
We need you guys to comtinue your hard work and continue to push the envelope of what DCS can do so it can evolve and get better. You guys push the game to its limits and thats whats needed. I'm excited for what the future holds
Thank you for the explanations, guys!
Thank you for your hard work! Keep doing what you're doing, the campaigns of both of you are my favourites in DCS!
This is why I buy your campaigns - you care about your campaigns and you listen and respond to your purchasers. Mission 11 BNBOB again tonight - hopefully this time I will find the bombers I'm supposed to escort - really need to work on my navigation and timing. I'm a bit rubbish but having a blast😁
I have no issues with higly realistic campaigns. We need them..... but on top of that we would need good quality, enjoyable training campaigns as a stepping stone to be able to enjoy the realiatic ones. For a lot of people there is not much time and energy for DCS and if I spend my time with it I would like to enjoy that little time I have for it. It means that if I want to learn something it really matters if it's a dry document or an unnecessarly long youtube video or a high quality mission where it's explained what is what and I can practice also at the same time and keeps me motivated. Probably the audiance for realistic campaigns would grow too after these campaigns. I don't think that there would be needed a lot of these campaigns. Actually at least one per module would be enough.
So thank you Baltic fir the plan fir the training campaigns!
Good points, thanks!
I prefer to fly co-op with a friend, and I make my own missions in a sort of story-based evolving campaign. As a consequence I spend a lot of time in the mission editor, setting up units, triggers, and testing all this to make sure it works for one or two players.
I would love to see a co-op campaign, but I can see how difficult it is.
On another note, the main reason I haven't gotten into campaigns are the perceived complexity and lack of confidence in all the aspect of the airplane. It is one thing to goof around in your own sandbox, and quite another to dive into a professional campaign.
Good point, but the keyword is 'perceived' - after a few missions you'll figure things out and by the time you finish a complex campaign it will have made you a much better virtual pilot.
Total respect to Reflected Simulations and Baltic Dragon for their dedication and passion for realism ! ❤😊
Thank you!
I think what the training mission question was talking about was a more in depth training campaign, the built in ones are kinda surface level. A structured, multimission, in-depth training campaign is what i think they were asking about, not more surface level missions or quick starts to "get used to the module" or whatever.
This is where the 'you can't please everyone' part comes in. Look at Speed & Angels. So in-depth, such a realistic recreation of the real life Tomcat RAG, that some people struggle and complain, blaming the campaign. But yeah, I see your point, and I'm with you.
@@ReflectedSimulations Oh don't get me wrong, I totally understand the struggle, just wanted to mention that as I felt the question may have not been super clear the first go around. Thanks for all the work y'all do btw
Thank you so much for your hard work. This really helps clear up the division between mission builders and DCS. I am new (4 Months viper driver) to all of this and the "Who is responsible for what" is still a bit of a mystery to me. I now understand that the mission builders and campagin guys are not the same guys that build the Jets and the Jet guys are not the DCS guys... I only want to learn one module and learn it well so i can't wait for your F-16 campaign to come out... Again thanks for helping to clear things up!! You guys are AWESOME!
Thanks! We don't want to push responsibility on anyone, as at the end of the day it's the user experience that counts. But I hope this video helped getting some insight into how far our hands can reach and what our options are.
Training campaigns is interesting. I can't tell you how many times I did the maple flags A-10C Basic Flight Training start up, taxi, and shut down mission. I like the campaigns with briefing documentation.
Great way to connect with your audience. You guys are great, and we (or at least I) really appreciate all your hard work. All of your points are well taken, and certainly (having tried my hand at a couple of small campaigns myself) can say that you both do a magnificent job of creating thoughtful, fun and interesting content with pretty limited tools. I look forward to your next efforts, with credit card in hand...!
Thanks for the support, much appreciated!
I'm not on facebook so I didn't get a chance to give feedback there, but I have to jump in here and say how much I appreciate what the two of you do. The type of product you produce is perfect for my interests. (I haven't done any of Reflected's stuff yet because I don't have/ haven't learned those aircraft, but I just looked at your campaign list and now I want to learn WW2 aircraft)! The type of experience I'm able to get from a well-built BD mission is EXACTLY what I dreamed of being able to do in a sim 30 years ago when I was playing some garbage like Falcon MC. I understand the limitations you're up against and I'll accept and live with them like you do, waiting for ED to give you a better sandbox. I'll support you the best I can moving forward and I hope it continues to be worth your time to create this type of content.
Thank you, appreciated!
Thanks for the clarifications guys. I agree, you're doing something really difficult and are the best at it. I own a number of campaigns from both of you. Unfortunately, I'm pretty time limited for DCS these days. So, as my skills atrophy, I can't just jump back into a campaign and be effective. That said, I think training campaigns for the more popular modules would be great. And I urge you both to keep using your influence and experience with ED to make the "World" better for all of us.
Thank you!
Some campaigns are a bit too frustrating for new devoties. A well thought out training DLC for various modules would be a big help to the new players still wrapping their head around this huge indever. DCS is better than mind puzzels for keeping your mind sharp. Takes me 4-6 months to learn a module.
First of all thank you both for this and for all of the amazing work you do. I am also a SP guy and your campaigns are just the best thing in the world to me. I have some questions and comments.
Firstly, on a "save game" function, I have had this thought too. Not just for when you're too busy..etc, but also for very challenging parts of the campaign where you're likely to fail, a little checkpoint before would work so well.
I understand what you're saying about the difficulty of creating multiple mini missions and agree that the solution should come from ED. I think the ability to "save checkpoint" would be a game changer and IMHO should be included with the upcoming dynamic campaign updates as it's a similar concept. In the meantime, to answer BG's question, yes I would very much prefer longer missions to be split into mini mission phases if it's possible (ie. Navigation, combat RTB/plot twist..etc)
Secondly, BG your Iron flag campaign was the best training campaign I'd played for any game at all. You said you're working on a Hornet one, is there any timeline on that at this point? I think I speak for many people when I say I'd be more than happy to prepay if it'll help offset costs.
Finally a question to both of you. How will the upcoming dynamic campaigns for DCS affect single player campaigns in your opinion? And are you preparing anything for that?
Hey, thanks for the feedback. I think if/ when we get a save game function, there will be no need to split longer missions anymore. The save game will be able to do that without the disadvantages of a split mission.
To answer your question about the dynamic campaigns: I'm sure at first it will be a distraction, every player will want to try it and experiment with it - shiny new toy effect, like when a module or map comes out. But eventually I'm sure people will realize that it cannot replace scripted campaigns, it's complements them. The DC will be great for replayability, like an infinite mission generator, and it will be quite epic for its own reasons. But it will never have hundreds of custom voice overs, a storyline, plot twists, characters, realistic procedures, and all those little things that make you feel like 'you're there' when playing a scripted one. If you know what I mean.
This being said, the DC will force ED to improve and develop the AI, and hopefully scripted campaigns will also benefit of that. Maybe we're even getting some new mission editing tools that we can use creatively. We shall wait and see.
I love the campaigns! I buy your campaigns as fast as they come out. They just take me time to get through haha
Thanks a lot for the support!
Looking forward to more companies esp. for the F-16.
Two thumbs up!!
Reflected and Baltic, ya’ll both do a great job with what you have to work with. Keep it up, I’ll buy and use your products when my budget and time permits. I know this is out of your control, but adding new content with the campaign would be great. Just a new a.i. artillery piece, plane, AFV, APC, etc would maybe help incentivize more sales.
Thank you for your great work and effort. Keep it up.
I'm a long time simmer with a lot of multiplayer experience in the past. However, I'm a single player guy now. I have never flown a campaign besides the ones I have created for myself. I bought my first campaign (Reflected's Bluenose P-51) just the other day, and it's sitting there waiting for me. I spend a couple of hours per day in MSFS, so I just need to break the ice and jump into the mustang. Thanks for the excellent videos and for inspiring me to try something new.
Good luck with the Bluenoser campaign! :)
Two giants meet up and the awesomeness is so great the world explodes.
haha, thanks! :)
You guys and Ground Pounder get an instant buy from me on any campaigns. I know I'll always get quality and an immersive experience.
Thanks for the support!
Training campaigns all the way, Iron Flag is the best I’ve flown yet, taught me things about the A-10 that 10 years in DCS didn’t, and is a great gateway to the combat campaigns.
I don't know if I'm in the minority but I am one of those Uber nerds who loves a good checklist and both of your campaigns! I primarily spend my time playing solo and working through campaigns and my knowledge and abilities have improved substantially as a result. Especially speed and angels and Iron Flag. For me personally I hope you don't change a thing that you are doing and if you make it I will buy it. Personally I have found your campaigns as a gateway to a module, for example I am currently learning the hornet so I can play through Raven One having recently finished the book.
Thanks for this. A save option would be helpful ED. Keep doing what you are going guys. Your campaigns are top class already.
The other big issue i'm surprised wasn't mentioned is the fact that almost every update to the core DCS platform also tends to break campaigns, and this is especially true for good older ones like the original Raven One. I hope there's a sort of 'framework' (methodological and/or technical or otherwise) of some sort in the ED-campaign maker partnership that can somehow address this issue because i know for me (and im guessing campaign makers too) it's the biggest annoyance and shame.
Oh this shit. I got increased bug reports. Turned out ED had changed the launch altitude of a specific missile on a AI Plane meaning suddenly I had two broken missions to contend with -..-
yes we have some private channels where we can highlight these problems and they work with us to address them. Sometimes they can fix them, sometimes we need to find a workaround. It's constant work, this is why maintaining a campaign is half the job - making one is the other half.
I will be happy as long as some F-16 campaigns actually get released. There is one maintained DLC campaign for the f-16 currently.
Hi! What campaign are you refering to? I would like to get it!
@@tomgaro1159 red flag 21-1 is the only one on the shop.
Looking forward to these training campaigns for Hornet, Strike Eagle and Viper....and pleeease also don't forget the rotorheads - a training campaign for the Apache in Nevada would be great
Yes to immersive training campaigns. Thanks for the vid guys.
My biggest complaint is that their are very few "Training Campaigns" to actually get you competant in an Aircraft (which is entirely on the Studios putting out DLC Planes); and that there are No Campaigns for the F-16C
And a lot of trainingsmissions are somewhat old or they don't cover all systems and yes i know there are the manuals for but not everyone has the time to read it over and over again
Good news regarding the F-16: One campaign for the Viper has already been sent to ED and it's now in their hands to release it. And judging by the creator's (Ground Pounder Sims) previous work, it's going to be amazing! Baltic has another one in the pipeline (The Gamblers with "Rain" Waters from the Afterburn Podcast), and Reflected is doing the Viper part for "Arctic Thunder" for the upcoming Kola Peninsula map, with BD doing the Hornet part.
Completely agree with this. How long has the F16 been available and no campaigns available! Yet the F18 Hornet seems to have a new campaign released every few months!
@@lordloverockettF-16 is still in early access and lots of features not yet in-game.
We did get a lot of functionality in the last 12 months, and as those were introduced, 3rd party devs started work.
It ain’t easy. But it’s happening.
The F-16C isn't out of Early Access, yet, IIRC... It's pretty common to wait until at least the core systems of the aircraft are implemented, before undertaking the effort to create something like a campaign.
Yes, it is in Early Access for quite some time, but that's the nature of complex modern jets in DCS. 😇
Great video with good answers. I know for example that replaying missions is part of my frustration since I usually want to create videos of me flying the mission. At some point, I just step away and I do not always step back. Likewise, the special behavior of the ME is detrimental to making my own content despite the stuff I have released being well received since there is frustration involved. So as a person with more then average insight in what these guys are saying; Listen to them. What they are saying is true.
Thanks!
Personally, I love yours and Baltic's campaigns, they're fantastic, it's mainly how I play DCS. I don't play multiplayer much. So the campaigns are, in my opinion, much needed.
Thank you!
THANK YOU! Create content and this better helps me understand your wishes / desires for building a campaign or maybe better put what genre you are within the mission building community
Thanks, appreciated!
I have bough all of your modern planes campaigns, just love them all guys, and I will keep buying them
Thank you!
I can honestly say that both of your works in Fear the Bones and Raven One got me absolutely hooked on DCS. Fantastic work from the both of you!
I think another problem is that to be able to play a campaign you need to like also the plane and the map, to example I love the f-14 and I bought day one Fear the bones, but I couldn't play Zone 5 and Speed and angels becouse I don't have NTRR map. So I think the big broblem is that with the increasing number of module it will become more difficult to have the right comnination of airplane and terrain to be able to play campaigns
Yes that's true as well.
Eagerly waiting for your Arctic Thunder campaings (yes BOTH of them).
Thanks :)
Keep up the good work fellas!
Thanks!
I agree with a previous commenter, but I want to discuss my thoughts here.
The campaigns done by Baltic Dragon, Reflected, etc are of an extremely high quality. But there are also some borderline scam campaigns also being sold, which is a disappointment. So I only buy a couple campaigns, because I've previously been disappointed by campaigns, but also very impressed. I wish we had more "training" style campaigns - where we're able to better learn the systems and how to fight in an aircraft. I know it's not "realistic" per se, but I think they would be immensely helpful to learning how to fight the right way in an aircraft. For example, the Eagle Dynamics F-16/F-18 tutorials aren't.. exactly right to how the Navy/Air Force fights and flies those jets - and often, with the way updates are coming out, these tutorials are pretty inaccurate.
I call them scampaigns and well they are bringing down the amazing work done by Reflected and Baltic, the main issue i have is that the training materiel for alot of aircraft is.. lackluster, only giving you surface level knowledge. A dedicated training campaign would be absolutly amazing for aircraft like the f15, 16 and 18. Especially for the a10 as well. But i know there are also alot of people who don't want to spend an additional 10 dollars on a module that already cost them upwards of 60-70, So maybe ED can work with campaign guys to bundle these with the aircraft at purchase?
Exactly! I go through all the training modules for an aircraft and still don't know how to really fight with it. I hate watching videos for explanations - I'd rather have a voice talking me through it and then giving me the opportunity to demonstrate it in a training environment.@@Cessna152ful
Please don't change your campaigns (either of you)! I enjoy the study sim aspect and realism you two strive for.
For those who want shorter/easier missions/campaigns, Multi Player is an EXCELLENT way to scratch that itch.
The issues to me are, and have been for years:
- Limited AI
- Missing scripting engine (API) features
Expand the API and mission designers will build it. What might happen? See the cottage industry behind X-Plane/MS Flight Sim. And yes this has implications concerning the biz model...
As for DLC Campaigns: I really - REALLY - appreciate the work that goes into these things. The complaints that amount to "it's too hard" (too long; too difficult to execute; etc) are selling points for me. There needs to be a 'realism/difficulty' rating in place perhaps? I have only a few because they are too deterministic for my taste. Not a bad thing, just not my preference.
SIDEBAR | Due to real world issues I've had no 'play time' available for a couple of months. Yesterday I had the entire day to play fighter pilot. Over the last 2+ years I've written (WIP) my own semi-dynamic campaign (still fighting the system to finish this) that allows me to jump into an active 'world', one that feels more alive. But I couldn't because a section of lua code is being refactored - so I didn't play at all because the game, as is, leaves me wanting. I spend more time trying to get the "World" part of DCS World up to snuff than actually playing it.
If ED would open up the system they could save time building, say, a Dynamic Campaign - because others (likely many others) would do this work themselves - for fun!
Example: Add to the API the ability to save the current state (without having to do work-arounds requiring a backdoor in the security system). Bingo, you now have persistence, a fundamental requirement for a dynamic campaign.
Example: Allow me to visually designate a specific target for my AI wingman, at least one on the ground (tank for instance). The 'math' is in there already behind the scenes (visible in other systems). This one thing would expand air-to-ground single player greatly (yes, there is a way to visually ID something but the ID of that thing isn't available in the API).
PS: Yes I and many others have made these (and many other) requests over the years.
I enjoy campaigns. I've never played multi player and ebullient the stories and action
I always use Unl Ammo, Fuel, and Invincibility when I play Missions or Campaigns. It has not affected my performance on MP servers AT ALL. I can still take off, get to the target location, engage in A/A or A/G, and make it back to land just fine. If people think that using those "cheats" will make you a worse Virtual Pilot , they're wrong.
careful, unlimited ammo can mess with some triggers that count how many bombs you dropped for example.
I think Eagle Dynamics needs to completely overhaul the campaign system as it is still processor heavy - they should look at how Falcon BMS do their campaign system and replicate on DCS - Far from being RTS lite, Falcon's dynamic campaign system is the most immersive combat flight sim experience ever. While many elements are duplicated in DCS (e.g. pilot comms, coordinated strikes, etc.), the fact that the Falcon engine does the entire war makes the sheer scale of the battlefield and quantity/diversity of units more intense than even the most dedicated DCS mission builder is going to be able to create.
Absolutely this!!! BMS campaigns are so much more engaging with a wider more meaningful impact from your actions!
Your campaign are a real thrill to play. Please don't change a thing.
The more realistic they are (hard, long, with no save option, etc), the more enjoyable they are.
We are playing dcs to be as close as possible to the real thing. Real pilot don't have save game option? So we don't need it.
As I'm not a multiplayer gamer (only on enigma from time to time), I just want to thank you, Reflected, Baltic, and all the creator, from the more knowned, to the new one, for givin us content to play with and to enjoy our beloved planes.
I hope you will continue to imagine/create content in the future. We will be there to support your hard and time consuming work. He's highly appreciated.
Thanks you.
Thanks man, I appreciate it. Sent you an email about a new project ;)
@@ReflectedSimulations awesome news! I just came back from holiday one hour ago. I just need some hour of sleep, and I will take a look very shortly 😉
In terms of safe games, if you just want to stop playing and continue later you can use Windows hibernate function to put the pc to sleep and then boot back in later. Obv you can't use it during, but if you have to spontaneously go somewhere this saves you having to either run the pc the whole time or loosing all your progress
Good idea! Provided you have the time to continue right away once you get back and you don’t need to do anything else
I only play singleplayer. Yours and baltic‘s campaigns are my favorites. I would also be ready to pay more for campaigns!
That’s kind of you, I appreciate it. But I don’t think we’re ready to ask for more :)
I mostly play the Campaigns. I did not try multiplayer until about a year and half into DCS.
You guys make some of the best DLCs, DCS has ; )
Thank you!
Keep doing what you do. I’m a big campaign fan. Breaking wingmen off before landing is a good idea. Those guys bob around a lot these days.
I would really be interested in some straightforward, well-made training campaigns. I pretty much own all the aircraft modules, but mainly fly Warbirds since those are the aircraft I love and because the more complex, modern aircraft just seem like too big and investment of time and effort to become proficient enough that the campaigns created for them tempt me to play them (I own most of the campaigns too). I've found many of the training missions in DCS are either not very good, or so basic that that they don't provide much in the way of instruction on how to actually complete missions in the aircraft. I'd purchase and play any "training" type campaign that will give me some entertainment and experience with operating the aircrafts system so that I have something interesting to do before I get to the point where I could hope to complete a complex mission in the modern aircraft. And, of course, I'll by and play any campaign for Warbirds.
Thanks to all the creators in and out of Eagle Dynamics who bring us DCS and all the modules, missions and campaigns and the UA-camrs who make instructional or artistic DCS videos for us to learn from and enjoy.
It’s not that the DLC campaigns are bad … the interest is dropping due to EDs lack of updates to the core game atm
Here's something you both might want (or not) to answer, but I am curious - Do you do this full time, or do you have day jobs? also great feedback , it's very informative.
I'm doing this full time, which is an absolute dream come true. Best job ever - behind flying in the Navy or Air Force of course. I'm really lucky to have this opportunity.
@@ReflectedSimulations. well, keep up he good work! It must be tough as the more work you put out there and as frequently as ED updates their sand box, you have to go through and check to see if things got broken and try to fix them.
Love all of your campaigns. Can also live with the problems we have with the core game at the moment. Only Thing I would appreciate is a little bit more of information, what I have to do in the mission. Especially when something unexpected happens. IE: I play "Fear the Bones" at the moment. Startup, TO, flown 80nm, then section 2 spots the Russian submarine. At this moment I did not understand, that I have to circle around the submarines position, too. Thought that only section two will stay there and I continue my CAP. Unfortunately it turned out, I was mistaken and have to take out the Russian boats afterwards. But at that moment I have been 60nm away from the position. Very frustrating, that you have to start the whole mission because of this simple misunderstanding. And that is only one example.
Hey thanks for the feedback. On that mission you are not leading the division so you’re supposed to follow the lead unless you’re told otherwise. When you’re lead, I include on acreen messages to make sure the player knows what is expected.
"we've been under the impression that the interest in DLC campaigns is dropping"
_Me, literally sacrificing animals to the ED gods so we have good campaigns._
What animals? A Viper? A Hornet? Don't try to kill a Warthog, they're dangerous :)
@@ReflectedSimulationsA Mosquito is a good place to start! :D
@@pyr0duck676 hahaha, Brave Sir Robin :D
hype
There's as usual, several layers to the issue.
- Multiplayer and Coop missions aren't the same for me necessarily. I mainly wince inwardly that campaigns built for Multicrew aircraft like the F-14 or Mosquito as well as possible future campaigns for the F-15E aren't possible to be flown with multicrew
- Multiplayer missions for big servers or groups is a completely different ballgame
As for why the demand for single-player campaigns decreases, I have no idea, but I can give you feedback on why some of my friends and I don't buy more of them.
- I only bought 3 campaigns. One for the Huey, the Red Flag for the F-16 and V for Victory for the Mossie
- I played 1-3 missions in each campaign and somehow just lost interest, can't even exactly explain why.. I like flying the Mossie and the missions in the campaign sounded really interesting - but somehow it doesn't trigger me to start up DCS and fly those missions. And ofc that leads to me not buying more/other campaigns, combined with the multicrew issue I explained.
Now ofc I'm not your average joe DCS player. I'm part of a milsim group in DCS, flying very realistically and enjoying having a multi-crew aircraft and an equally skilled wingman. So my main drive is Multiplayer. But in the Mosquito, I couldn't find too many people interested in the same things so I bought V for Victory to fill that gap. As written above, it didn't work that way for some reason.
Your single player campaigns are great and maybe interest in campaigns is dropping because I already own all of them 😊
honestly, i'm still a potato noob in dcs... but i'll say primarily once i actually get competent, i fully intend to play a lot of campaigns personally...
Hey Reflected! Noooo! Do not listen to the neysayers! You are the best person we have along with the Baltic Dragon, althou he is too much focused on the F18 to my taste... Do not change anything, we do not mind long missions! Please continue with what you are doing and what you love, we can feel it in every mission and also in your responses! Thank you!
Thanks for the support!
Hmm I know that voice....
Ahh from Speed and Angels.
In my case, the answer is mods. Reflected stated unequivocally that mods can and do bugger his campaigns. I use mods as targets, eye candy, immersion etc.
Other than that, they look amazing... intimidating AF, but amazing.
Mods don't bugger my campaigns specifically. They bugger DCS. E.g. they bugger the P-51, and when you fly my P-51 campaign, you'll fly a buggered plane. Not playing the campaign won't 'unbugger' your Mustang :)
One of the reasons I don't really buy campaigns is the missing transparency in the ED shop. It's very difficult for me to figure out what the "difficulty" of the campaign would be. Since there's no rating or commenting feature in the ED shop, it's difficult to gauge if the mission is any good at all.
Some campaigns are supposed to be very realistic but also great at teaching newer pilots standard procedures.
Others basically require you to know all the military procedures by heart that are never mentioned in any of the official trainings for a given module. Some campaigns put you into the shoes of the squadron leader and expect you to also manage your wingmen. I have no idea what half the orders in the comm menu actually mean so I don't give any orders and just hope the the artificial stupid has a good day at doing whatever needs doing.
So maybe one thing you could do to drive the "informed" sales of your campaigns would be to give some insight in the official shop description telling players what stuff they should know before jumping into the cockpit. A bonus feature would of course be a link to some external reference where players can actually learn the stuff they need (one can dream).
Thanks for the input. I usually include all this info in the campaign documentation and also links to external content such as my youtube tutorials. Also, difficulty is pretty subjective, but I see how a rating system could be helpful
Ive flown some great campaigns, but it just feels too much like both I when playing it, and the campaign developer when making it are fighting the game and its systems. Attempting to "Game the game", both with DCS AI behavior and how you interact with them, bugs, and the lack of save points or checkpoints sucks. Its just simply not fun. After enough campaigns I just got sick of putting up with it. Nothing against the campaigns themselves, but rather what theyre having to work with. I don think autostart / timewarp / immortal is an acceptable way to have to go about things. You shouldnt have to take away from any sense of immersion or challenge to get around the issues system.
I think the ball is entirely in EDs court when it comes to improving things, but I think theres a pretty low chance that theyll actually do anything. They have shown little care for the people who make things for the community.
@reflected single player. You are that guy 😂
After flying the dynamic campaign in BMS, scripted campaigns dont really interest me. I appreciate the effort that goes into them, and that they're hand crafted to include stories and characters, but to me they feel like the mission is built around the player. It's the 'Trueman show' effect. With BMS I always felt like I was flying a mission in part of a wider conflict, rather than the conflict being artificially constucted for immersion.
DCS really needs a dynamic campaign. The problem with scripted campaigns is that you can really only play it once and then you know the “script”. I’ve been enjoying the liberation campaign despite its many limitations. Something like the campaign in falcon bms is what ED desperately needs to focus on if they want to grow the popularity of DCS.
agreed, the DC will be great for replayability. But you can't expect them to be the same depth as scripted ones. Not in terms of voice overs or storyline. The DC will be awesome for different reasons.
Campaigns are the only reason i play DCS, MP is just punching in cordinates and pressing the pickle button, very boring imo, but then again i always play solo, i see the value if playing with friends etc. As far as breaking them up goes, i much prefer the ability to play right through, and if you cant tank etc, then those people should have to sacrifice immersion, like Baltic did with RODF or F&B. Although it was good with very difficult sections like in OCN, when you fly 100miles and taking on 10 SAMS obviously a save point there is good. My biggest problem is there isnt enough campaigns to buy!! I do prefer mission style campaigns, with characters and story as opposed to training ones though. Good ones like yours should cost more, than some others, with little to no voicing or ai voices and basic go here bomb this... Sorry for novel... its because i care haha ❤
Funny how every answer to the question is basically “it’s not our problem so we’re not going to change anything” this is just how it is, deal with it…
If that's all you got from the video then I'm sorry. Yes there are things that we simply cannot change, and are out of our control no matter how much you - or we - would like to. We won't lie, and it's important to get this info out there to manage expectations.
So basically the conclusion of this video is, that half of the communities wishes are not possible due to DCS limitations and the other half is not compatible with the way you want your campaigns to be?
Which is completely fine with me, I love your and BDs campaigns to bits.
It just seems that we are simply stuck with the declining interest, because nothing can done for the people who don‘t buy the campaigns, because of the AI, no checkpoint, no MC/MP and so on.
It‘s really a shame in my opinion, because I want campaigns to be played by as much people as possible and that you don‘t loose motivation to make them, when interest keeps declining.
No that’s not the conclusion. Improvements are coming, and bugs get fixed, and even until then there are workarounds for things that people consider an insurmountable issue.
@@ReflectedSimulations ok then I got the wrong impression from the video, my bad. Thanks for the quick answer.
@@Sinni64in terms of the ability for the player to save the game during a mission, that has to come from ED. The more people who call on them to implement it, the more likely it is to happen. ;)
Sorry but in my book if I know somethings broken. And I make a product knowing it's broken. Would make me part of the problem. Especially if I'm trying to profit off of it lol.
1: you can't expect a software (DCS) that's under constant development to be 100% bug free. It's not realistic.
2: Our campaigns are seldom 'broken'. Yes they're affected by bugs, but very rarely do they become unplayable, because we are also constantly updating them, finding workarounds.
Bottom line: if my campaigns were completely broken and unplayable, no matter who's fault it would be, I would stop selling them.
I love the DLC campaigns, but haven't bought many recently for one reason. The voice acting. I have no idea who the main guy is in the trailers for about the past four or five jet campaigns, but the effect on the voice is jarring, and it's like nails on a chalkboard. Watch the release trailer for Operation Persian Freedom for the A-10C. At 1:00 the voice actor says, "Good kill... good kill." That voice is just too jarring. I'm not sure why they don't do a more realistic effect like on older campaigns with different voice actors. Different equipment, maybe? But regardless, it's turned me off of so many really good ones recently.
We're constantly looking for realistic-sounding good voice actors ;)
The most frustrating thing about single player campaigns is that time and again ED will break the campaigns with their bug fixes and patches.
No dynamic campiagn no purchases for expensive planes.
You're mistaking me for Eagle Dynamics. And also probably mixing up Dynamic campaigns with Scripted ones.
"can't afford to get shot down in a mission"
The way I see campaigns in DCS if you die then that's a skill issue, literally
It's like a dark souls game where a mistake punishes you severely and I like it that way. Pushes you to be better, so I'm perfectly content with starting the entire hour long mission all over again if I somehow messed up my carrier approach and did a ramp strike and died.
And on the note of severely punishing mistakes, being a flight sim being shot down IRL or crashing is obviously less than ideal and you'd preferably RTB. Campaigns emulate that by forcing the player to start the mission from scratch.
Now imagine when crashing or being shot down in 1 mission forced you to restart the whole campaign! I don't see much point in ED implementing such a system but to people interested in doing it the hardcore way then nothing is stopping them.
Interesting thoughts, that system would surely make people fear for their virtual life even more!
My main issue with DLC campaigns is that they are SP only. I'm just not interested in SP content as I love playing DCS with my buddies. I would absolutely LOVE to play those immersive scripted DLC campaigns in coop with my buddies, but unfortunately that's not a thing in DCS :(
We kind of answer that in the video
@@ReflectedSimulations Yeah, I've seen it :)
Still, I wanted to express that there really is demand for it and provide an answer to your initial question of why the demand for DLC campaigns is apparently decreasing.
@@realQuiGon I see, thanks. Someone will eventually make one I'm sure :)
Everyone needs to spend a bit of time with ai in the editor to realise what magicians you are. I'd say 99% of my undoing is my own fault and not ai, so def not a deal breaker. I prefer just to have a bit of laugh with them.
As for sales, speaking personally I buy them to support creators but know it might be a year or more before actually flying them. Real life is your enemy my friends. Money & time rule this world & its ratcheting up every year. At the moment I've been thrown another curveball & will likely not be behind joystick too much up to chrissy. Depresses me because nothing I love more than jumping in to showcase the work you guys do & flying. Wish it was a full rime job! So I don't think there's a solution sadly to the issue. Also general DCS burnout & gaming in general. People always go through phases with games & id imagine sales could fluctuate accordingly. You just have to look at content creators to see burnout on dcs, very common of late. I can imagine even yourselves the frustration level with the time & effort put in vs reward will one day eventuate in retiring misson making sadly. So I think its less about what you guys need to fix & rarher just being a victim to the real world.
Thanks for the efforts as always tho, the experiences you both & others provide is something worth more than you get.
Thanks man, I've been missing your videos, wondering where you were. Hope things will smoothen out for your soon.
@@ReflectedSimulations appreciated mate. Hopefully will still get to finally climb into the Mosquito at some stage next few months for Victory
Hyper realism isn't fun to me. I have a job and I have a family. I am not a pilot in training. I am a person that wants to enjoy casual flight sims. Games are supposed to entertain me, and they used to back in the Jane's F-15/F-18/Longbow2 era but now, they are just frustrating messes. That is why I do not buy your campaigns. And I guess, if you are asking these questions, then a lot of others feel the same way I do. If you can't make fun and easy campaigns then you won't be getting my money.
That’s fair enough, I know a lot of people have different playing styles
I would prefer good coop content. That is one way to cut out the bad AI wingman. Multiplayer content is poor in DCS. Many want realistic missions not lone wolf quake servers
tbh, campaign devs, need to make MP Campaigns. Their are large community groups (Squadrons) that hold large MP Campaigns and one off missions. SP campaigns fall short and most DCS pilots gravitate to these immersive semi dynamic campaigns over SP Campaigns that are on rails.
The workload for a SP Campaign is different but in terms of immersion, the SP Campaign usually wins out. I think its unfair to ask people who want to make good SP DLC Campaigns to make MP Campaigns when the latter are usually are tailored to who you fly with; not to mention lacking in triggers and voice lines because the ambience is created by those who fly the scenario.
Many squadrons make their own Campaigns, not a whole lot people making decent SP Content.
I just wanna say lately i've been seeing alot of flame against SP campaigns in DCS groups and such. I have no idea why but the multiplayer crowd has been getting super toxic about anything SP lately and so people are less likely to talk about it, I know a few times i've been called "no skill loser" for not wanting to subject myself to MP. This might contribute to the falling interest in campaigns since alot of people probably don't want to deal with the fallout of daring to bring up anything but MP superskill meta gameplay with the most optomized f18 spaamraaam loadouts.
Been about 3 to 4 years since i've even touched MP and im gunna keep it that way
Yeah, some people can be toxic...
Keep up the great work and videos.
I think most DCS Users want 'real' sim-experience missions and Campaigns. I know the group I fly with do.
There are plenty of arcade type shooters if a gamer wants a 15 minute play!
I write fictitious missions and know its hard to please all the players, all of the time.
Safe flying. 🫡
Thanks!
Maybe a difficulty rating system might work to tell people how hard a mission is? See international mountain biking and ski runs: Green, blue, black, double black. Even if you two guys just started doing this, other makers might follow.
Good idea but brings up a few questions. Difficult for who? And define difficult: following realistic procedures? Requires an intimate knowledge of the aircraft? Or a mission where you need to defeat 10 ace Flankers on your own?
@@ReflectedSimulationsthat’s actually a great idea. Green is for someone new to the jet, blue for players who have become competent (can navigate, use the systems etc) black for the one v 4 elite level flankers lol.
@@ReflectedSimulations the same issue exists in MTB ratings (Google for IMBA ratings). But an e.g is that Black diamond runs contain jumps or drops that may not be rollable. So maybe a black diamond mission would have cold starts, no labels, tanking optional, no f10 map. A double black diamond mission might have no external views, AI on expert, cold starts and tanking mandatory. Here’s your chance to put yours and BD’s name to the system 😉.