SPOILER ALERT - Request TOONCES to STOP READING HERE - suggest Hardware Forum for fewer spoilers...This will be my last AAR on the excellent
The Ultimate Argument DLC campaign. I think 4 out of 20 missions probably gives a good sense of the campaign in terms of quality and gist of the storyline. If it counts as an endorsement, I originally only planned to do one of these AARs and I ended up getting sucked in and doing four - so that should tell you something. I'd actually like to do AARs on the full 20 missions, but I've got a few other projects I need to be working on, so the rest of the story will have to be told by someone else, or experience it for yourself.
Our fourth mission builds on our march south as our army starts to seize ground past Tskhinvali. This fourth mission is right down my alley - a strike mission! (I hope there are a lot more of these in the campaign..) We are tasked to hit an enemy reservists barracks since all of the other strike assets are busy doing other missions. The briefing is very good, with special slides exactly like those I was wishing for in my first assessment of the campaign. Very well done! (I love intel!)
With bombs slung (FAB500) and only a pair of heat seeking missiles, we head for the AO...
Other planes and helos and vehicles are doing there thing. It does make one wish for an eventual dynamic campaign...
We cross the now familiar mountain range separating us from the conflict zone...
Jamming from the south-west this time - perhaps that is not friendly? I'm not sure of those are double dash lines I'm reading that would indicate friendly...
As we cross over Tskhinvali, we can still see some smoke and fire rising from the site of the last battle...
As we approach the target, I let loose my wingman to make sure we get the job done...
I spot the lake that was shown in the briefing and arm my CCIP delivery mode...
Rolling in. One has to be careful not to put too much negative G on this quirky Su-27 flight model..lest you red out and never recover...!
My CCIP tracks across the compound and I jab my weapon release button many times thinking I am best served by "one pass - haul ass". I'm not sure if I can set a ripple quantity with the Su-27 (salvo mode command??)..
I pull off and pop flares since it was indicated in the briefing that MANPADs could be present in the area...
My bombs track on the eastern barracks compound while my wingman's bomb hit the woods to the south...
Hello you.
Boom boom - out go the lights! (Why would you want to be a fighter pilot when you can drop bombs all day long?? - Ok, bring on the F/A-18C and make us all happy!)
A box pops up indicating we have destroyed 25% of the target area and gives us the option to report our mission accomplished or we can stick around and try to do some additional damage. Now I feel stupid that I released all of my bombs in one pass...
My wingman still has four or five bombs left, so I start to manage him and order him to attack the primary over and over again. While he is doing that, I orbit over the area and clear the airspace to make sure no fighters are sneaking up on us...
My wingman performs conservative level bombing, which keeps him out of trouble, but the wind affects the bomb fall accuracy from such high altitudes. On multiple passes he gets hits in and around the compound, but after four passes he only gets hits on additional targets one time, bringing our damage total up to 50%...
Suddenly, we get a hard spike from the northwest. Without any long distance missiles, we buster out of the area. Interestingly, I never sent the F10 mission accomplished radio command but I received the RTB command anyway...
We exit the area to the north. As we exit, one of our CAP flights that was in the area picks up the challenge and soon a pair of Su-27s gets involved in a dogfight with an F-16. I'm busy flying my own plane, so I don't have much chance to eavesdrop on the battle, but I think in the end the F-16 actually owns the two Su-27s (at least, the Su-27s disappeared from the F2 view - which doesn't bode well for their survival - or, of course, maybe they ran out of gas and ejected knowing the AI). Of note, the campaign designers appear to have limited the external views to allies only since I cannot cycle to enemy external views (probably a good idea for gameplay reasons)...
We land back at base and we get the mission accomplished text...
Of course, I'm not content with 50%, so I shut down the engines, electrics, and order refueling. I have no idea if 50 or 100% mission accomplishment has anything to do with anything with regards to the campaign, but I just enjoy flying the mission so I choose to extend it a bit. And a silly thing, but I love the fact that I can now map the individual left/right engine start and shutdown commands to my
HOTAS Warthog ENG OPER switches!
As I refuel and rearm, I'm heartened to see my wingman taxi in. He did a good job on the mission and I have to give him credit for following my taskings and not running out of gas...(and he did gain another 25% of the mission requirements)..
I taxi out for takeoff...
And there I go...solo this time..
And THIS is what happens when you get distracted by your 4-year old and forget to raise the landing gear. It takes damage at a certain speed (?) and only the nosegear retracted. So now I'm a fixed gear Flanker. Wonderful.. I probably should have returned to base and had it repaired, but what could possibly go wrong?
Approaching the target area once again, I can still see the fire and smoke billowing from our earlier strike. I like that DCS World has evolved to have more persistent smoke. I would like to see vehicle smoke extended for a longer duration too...
Designating the other set of barracks this time...
As my bombs comes off - all hell breaks loose. BOOM! At first I wonder if my bomb has hit my landing gear or something, then I see the missile trail..! Damnit..I've engaged at too low an altitude and a MANPAD has hit at the exact moment my bomb came off..
My panel lights up and the nose pitches over. I red out then black out and then I figure I've lost the airplane since usually a negative G blackout results in loss of control and not even the ability to eject (oddly enough)...
I pull back on the stick and my vision comes back. I try to limp out of the dive when a second explosion rocks my Flanker as a second missile hits. The post flight debrief shows that I live only 21 second after the first missile hit as I struggle to control my aircraft. The second missile seals the deal. To add insult to injury, my bomb misses the second barracks. Not wanting to lose my progress and have to refly the mission - I elect the coward's way out and hit ESC to end the mission. <g>
Wish mode ON: it would be cool to be able to eject and have a % chance of being rescued by a rescue helicopter as you evade on foot. Or, in MP, be able to be picked up by the Huey or Mi-8.. Wish mode OFF.
Anyway, I get the mission success because I actually returned to base that first time and escaped before the crash..
Thoughts on the DLC - it is fantastic. Yeah, they really sold me with this strike mission since I'm all about dropping some bombs. The triggers look pretty good (still can't figure out why I lost the F10 radio command though) and the mission variety thus far is good. The voiceovers and overall feel of the missions is very good, and the briefings have even gotten better as I've progressed. Yes, I'd still like to see a PDF with an overview of the why, who, and where of the conflict. With 4 out of 20 missions flown and having had a blast for probably 5 or 6 hours worth of gameplay thus far, I feel my $10 is going a long way and I have no regrets about purchasing. I'm going to keep flying the campaign and finish it, but this will be my last AAR.
Like I've said before - I have plenty of aircraft to fly between the A-10C, Ka-50, Mig-21, Su-25T, the Huey, Mi-8, and all the FC3 aircraft (not a fan of the Korea/WW2 aircraft personally), so I'm excited that there might be more non-aircraft content coming (theaters, missions, campaigns). I'm all for more modern aircraft and helo modules, and I'm very excited about EDGE, NTTR and the Straits of Hormuz. And of course, once the F/A-18C hits the store, there is going to be an explosion of new players in DCS World. I hope that more third parties get involved with this campaign DLC possibility. For less than the price of a movie ticket - I'm having an awesome time. I give it a thumbs up.
BeachAV8R
