Combat-Helo is dead. Long live Combat-Helo.

Cheers

Please don't get me wrong but it really puzzles me when you say that EECH campaign while LB2 campaign is semi-dynamic! To me it seems clear that LB2 campaign is definitly dynamic (and not semi-dynamic), since for example:
-> The more enemy ground units (tanks for example) that you destroy the more attrition you will inflict in that particular or in those enemy formations even if you fail the mission's main objective (just like EECH for example) - A thing that doesn't happen in a semi-dynamic campaign!
-> When one friendly or enemy army formation (battalion for example) decides to launch an offensive that's not due to mission specification but this happens when that army formation is ready for it - The army formation is reinforced and with a high level of supplies.
-> Yes, it's true that sometimes you get scripted missions (the rescue POWs mission for example) but for the rest of missions aren't dependent of any branch tree (like happens in a semi-dynamic campaign) but instead they spawn randomly accordingly to factors such as your actions on previous missions, the past and present actions of other units (friendly and enemy) and of course a random factor (anyway, just like happens in EECH).

The only diferent in how the campaigns work in LB2 and EECH is the following:
-> In LB2 one mission equals one day. While the EECH campaign happens in real time. So the diference is that LB2 campaign is a "turn based" dynamic campaign while the EECH is "real time".


I do agree that just because a campaign is dynamic it doesn't mean that it will be good, but an "average" dynamic campaign is IMO much better than a "very good" static campaign (and even semi-dynamic) even if it's only due to the fact that a dynamic campaign which is always random gives the player a much higher replayability value to the player (everytime you play a dynamic campaign it's not always the same due to it random mission generating nature).
Also a semi-dynamic campaign is not random in nature since you always know that if you win a mission you get the "X mission" as the following mission while if you fail that same mission you get the "Y mission" instead so this will definitly limit a semi-dynamic campaign replayability value!

This sim is as dead as Fighter Ops.

Combat-Helo is dead.

Cheers

Well it's obvious we have totally different definitions of what semi-dynamic is. Your definition is what I call "static branching". F4 was fully dynamic because you never had a predefined mission, and LB2 was a perfect example of semi-dynamic. The scripted missions will likely happen, you just don't know when exactly. The nonscripted missions are indeed dynamic, but the scripted ones form "chapter breaks" in the overall experience. They also have a semi-dynamic nature themselves, as certain aspects of those missions will always be the same while others will change each time you hit it.

FYI I have the LB2 strategy guide still from 1997, and it states there are 15 scripted missions for the campaign. Conditions are generally "75% chance if armor in sectors 1 and 2 advances to PL Pear" or along those lines. Some are 90%, some are 75%, but 2 of the first 3 are only 20%, so you may not ever see them.



The Jedi Master

if this isn't being dynamic I sincerely don't know what more it (the LB2 campaign) needs to be "trully dynamic" (in your eyes of course)??

While the team was working on the missions, the issue of the campaign structure came up. Because they were supposed to be based on the Longbow 2 code, the campaigns would be structured in the same way. This meant that they would have the "apparently dynamic" structure that Andy Hollis referred to repeatedly in the newsgroups as "smoke and mirrors." Pavloff explains: "The campaigns in Longbow 2, while seeming dynamic to the user, in fact, really weren't. The Longbow 2 campaign editor basically involved the designers creating multiple locations for the enemy troops on each phase line, and creating multiple paths and targets, and letting a random number generator create the missions.