Foothold - Persian Gulf DEBRIEF

BeachAV8R · February 23, 2026, 10:20pm

I thought this would be a useful thread for post campaign analysis of our Foothold Persian Gulf campaign. Just posting some thoughts and working on what we should try to tweak for our next gather (still to be determined..but leaning heavily towards Cold War Syria).

First off - I was impressed by the cooperation and friendly attitude of everyone on the server. Very often I heard questions that were answered without ridicule and always with a positive delivery. That really is the essence of Mudspike and always has been..and it made me smile each time we got together.

For a first-run at this type of campaign, I thought that it went pretty well. The server seemed stable and available even when left unattended for long periods of time (24+ hours at one point). The server was set to pause the mission when unattended..the reason for this is obvious..if nobody is there to defend against OPFOR counter-attacks..you could go to sleep one night and wake up to a totally BLUE or RED map the next day. Leka has also included gameplay balancing features that seemed to work remarkably well..the mission knows what types of units are client flown and scales the difficulty level based on the type (helo vs fighter/attack) and the number of units active. We could see this often when five or six of us were on at the same time and it definitely required someone to be running CAP if we wanted to get anything done.

Which leads to another observation - we have masters of each role out there and it was really nice to see. Fighter CAPs, strike aircraft, SAR, logistics…we really do have guys willing to hop into any role to help out the overall goals. It was remarkable to see and I really enjoyed watching everyone work together.

Mission parameters - this is probably the one that will be talked about the most and the one I’d like the most input on.

Do we like flying at night? My answer is yes..but not for days on end. It would be really cool if there were an accelerated night cycle of like 1 hour for each 4 or something..although setting SUMMER conditions obviously makes the daylight hours longer. The workaround for that, of course, was occasionally resetting the server. Resetting the server is recommended by the author anyway to keep performance up (I assume it purges certain destroyed units and loose ends). There are scripts that do this automatically every X number of hours..I’m not sure how easy those are to include in Foothold missions. I know very little about .lua stuff and am only tweaking a few things that I see are available in the mission settings .luas.

Weather - obviously the thunderstorm day made helicopter ops pretty terrible with those winds..and the storms didn’t even spawn. It is possible I think to make the weather dynamic by putting that setting in the .miz..so that is a consideration..that we we would get some variations instead of hand curating it. I’d be interested to try that.

Mods - I guess eventually the MH-60 showed up in game. There may be some issues with inventories or other things..I just read today when installing the mod to my gameplay machine that maybe a required portion of the mod wasn’t installed “and v1.3 of the ANDR0ID weapon pack.” I think I may have overlooked so I’m not sure if it was on the server and not sure if it would load or prevented loading certain things. Also..there may be some warehouse funkiness that goes on with mods if they are not included in the initial .miz file from Leka that may require some knowledge of editing the .lua for the mission. Still trying to figure that stuff out.

Server side - Any issues with the server stability or performance? I don’t know much about these things. I bought this box a few years ago to specifically run more locally hosted stuff when I lived with my kids..it seems to be doing the job.

Intel i7-10700 @ 2.90Ghz
32 GB RAM
Integrated graphics (DCS server does not need graphics)
1TB storage (not sure if this will be a factor..right now I have Caucasus and PG installed) with about 429GB still free
Internet is Spectrum Home type - looks like I’m getting about 835Mbps down / 40Mbps up

Gameplay considerations - Overall I think the mission was pretty balanced. We ended with TONS of credits so I appreciated the restraint in using credits not from a stinginess point of view..but rather a “keeping it sporting” point of view. Generally we didn’t use smoke markers until we were down to the last few well hidden units in each zone. We didn’t use much artillery. I very much enjoyed getting in a Bradley and using the Combined Arms aspects of the mission to go on convoy hunts. There is an almost Arma-like dynamic to the ability to CTLD crates into a helicopter or C-130..move them to set up an asset somewhere..then jump into it and take control of a tank or an AA unit. Very interesting possibilities there. But getting back to finding a good balance..I felt the occasionally use of TALDs and CAPs was very well balanced. Let’s face it..if two people are on a server together…realistically a pair of fighters isn’t likely to be tasked to take out an SA-10 site..and it certainly was interesting to watch the TALDs in flight.

I would like to see a bit more impact of logistics. We were at one base at one point and I think we ran out of something (I can’t remember what..) but it definitely was nice to go..oh..wow..I guess I will need to take something else. In a way it feels a bit TOO easy to just have all of the airframes available at all of the bases and FARPs. Probably beyond the scope of Foothold..but it would be an interesting game dynamic if airframes were tracked and needed to be ferried in to each FARP or airbase. Why do I think this would add something to the mission - well..let’s be honest..as long as you know there are infinite airframes..you are going to do things like ram an Mi-8 to prevent it from seizing a FARP (cough).. Two gameplay mechanics that I think would help in making players play a bit more for self preservation would be stricter inventories and perhaps something like a 10 minute cooldown upon ejection or death. Yeah..yeah..I know..I don’t want to kill the fun factor, so these are my opinions only..but I think the penalty of having to sit out for 10 or 15 minutes would sort of make us all fly a bit more realistically. I don’t even know if it is within the scope of the mission file or luas though..so could be more fantasy than reality.

Anyway, those are some of my initial thoughts. I’ll do some testing with the instructions for the server viewer that @fearlessfrog kindly typed up. I wanted to get this campaign wrapped up first and now we can look towards making the next campaign even better after learning things from this one.

Comments? Suggestions? Criticisms? Let’s hear them…

BeachAV8R · February 23, 2026, 10:39pm

And once more..mention to the mission curator that is keeping the multiple theater missions alive and always expanding on them:

BeachAV8R · February 23, 2026, 10:54pm

Worth reading for the UH-60L pilots..this may have been the issue you were running into:

schurem · February 23, 2026, 11:53pm

It was a grand old time. I don’t regret ramming that Hip one single bit and would do it again! unlike destroying the last remaining ground forces on the blue base in a hasty and stupid rocket run

I like a more limited availability of toys. Make us bring them in or otherwise earn them. I also very much would like a restriction on tech level. No more double digit SAMs please, and maybe do away with the Fox-3s too.

As for a death penalty, 15 minutes is too harsh. Even at 5 I might very well check out and go do something else with my precious spare time. But some sort of penalty certainly would be good. Perhaps limited availability of airframes? Or have them cost? Have a viper be more expensive than a Mirage F1.

BeachAV8R · February 23, 2026, 11:54pm

Oh..I did it twice.. LOL…

BeachAV8R · February 23, 2026, 11:55pm

There is definitely an adjustable variable for death. I think it is -100 right now..but we could (and probably should) make that significantly more. Hard for me to swallow my life is worth 5 smoke artillery shots..

BeachAV8R · February 23, 2026, 11:56pm

I believe those will be removed in the Cold War switch for the next mission (Syria)…but I’ll have to do some peering under-the-hood…

I’m heading to Cleveland at 10PM..so I won’t be able to work on it tonight..hopefully by tomorrow afternoon we can get the War 2.0 server going again.

fearlessfrog · February 23, 2026, 11:58pm

Some quick thoughts, as even if not good ones, to get the ball rolling:

The most fun was when a few of us was needed to achieve an objective. It was good that it wasn’t like this all the time, but it was enjoyable to come up with a choice of plans and see it executed. So I guess we could try for more of that?
On the first flight on the server I didn’t even have a HOTAS binding to raise the landing gear, as it had been a number of years since using DCS. On the last flight last night I was counting down getting a R-27R launch cue at me based on it’s datalink range, while waiting for my LTD/R to stop flashing so I could laser a ground unit and then switch to A-A to swat it back. It felt easier at the end mainly because I could work stuff a bit better. So maybe whatever we do we make it harder? It felt a bit ‘HARMs, CAP, Ground Units mash, Supply, Repeat’.
Server worked great for me on west coast. 100 ping, stable. The not being able to browse for the in DCS list at the end was weird. The map online would be nice but the written reports would be better, so will it might be possible I am happy for us not to bother with it as well. Basically don’t want to take away any motivation to ‘jump on to check out map’ or write up an AAR with screenies.
Fighting at night was ok but not a huge fan, mainly because it feels pretty heads down unless something with a FLIR set. Now and again was ok. Sunsets looked amazing.
The career stuff with points and being able to buy stuff was ok, I only really noticed it when one person could buy something useful and another one couldn’t. Not sure it’s essential like that but no strong feelings.
Having to relearn a module e.g. a Tomcat load out 1978 etc, plus generally being a lot harder would be interesting for me personally. So something where we get less points to spend and have to make a hard decision on what to do. I don’t want it frustrating but don’t want to just make it something where it’s just a gameplay loop to repeat for relaxation.
Being able to drop in was cool, and just seeing one person online was encouraging as I don’t want to play alone in MP. Discord worked fine. I can see us using SRS for more complex things as even two flights a few times made it hard to speak all at once. So maybe for ‘events’ we do on the map or something.

schurem · February 23, 2026, 11:59pm

Sir, take your time. No hurry at all. Best to set it up right for 2.0 and have a good go, perhaps kick it off with a planned event too, at the start of a weekend?

TeTeT · February 24, 2026, 2:18am

On customization of the mission, page 32 of the manual v1.2 has a few items listed. For example, the cost of shop items (red smoke et al) can be adjusted.

The general adjustments for the Cold War setting are the very start of the manual. You can further restrict the airframes and weapons that are available.

On top of those codified rules, we can always agree on “house-rules” and shape the experience to our liking.

jenrick · February 24, 2026, 2:40am

TL/DR version - great fun, would absolutely do it again.

General thoughts
Solo Play - I probably racked up more solo time than most due to my schedule. With the mission scaling, it was doable, but you ended up needing to use the AI to accomplish certain things sometimes. If you’re 20 minutes out from your FARP and red is launching a bombing raid across the map, calling in a CAP flight is really the only option. If you didn’t shoot at red, they tended to provide a reasonably quite time, which where the CSAR and logistics hauling came in. So, lets talk logistics then.

Logistics - I think that having a tighter logistics trail would be good. The player created FARP’s did not auto-supply, and if you packed a CH-47 to the gills (and a hair overweight) you had access to 50 of a particular munition. A base line FARP was 30. If I was the only one flying out of there that meant I had at most 3 full loads of hellfires. When we had 2-3 of us cycling through the FARPs on occasions it really did require taking alternate loadouts, or using a completely different bird to have weapons. With the AI resupplying the airbases I doubt anyone ran into a shortage of HARMS? The initial logistics run to plus up a base to level 3, would get you to 100 or so of each munition, and we got pretty good at accomplishing that in a matter of minutes after capture.

I have no idea if this is implementable, but really tightening down the logistics would create the scarcity that made it interesting as well as give solo pilots or those who want to handle cargo more to do. If we can change the logistics code, I’m thinking ideally the zone crates would be “10 of everything” crates rather than “30 of everything” so a fully leveled base only stocks 30 of a given munition. We would have unlimited zone crates only come from logistics warehouses of the carries and our starter base at Al Dhafra. Maybe have 1 more designated zone we convert to a warehouse like Qeshm or Bandar Abbas that’s a major milestone location. It would work so that if we grab a logistics crate from somewhere local it deprecates the current location by the number of crates we grab (as an aside the CTLD FARPS did work like this so you couldn’t load up missiles you didn’t have). Lastly if we can remove the AI supply runs (leave them as a paid support option) we again will tighten down the supply lines. All of this would require a bit more preplanning for taking a location, and give folks who wanted to do some hauling work to do pretty much all the time. Taking a C-130 and airdropping crates hither and yon, and doing tac landings would be a very important support roll.

The ability to force project with FARPS via CTLD was excellent, as the island campaign had a few 30 minute transits to the fight that I didn’t care for. It also created some activity for the logistics guys to fly it in and set it up. Maybe have a house rule about not carrying in extra munitions with the FARP crates? That would increase the scarcity a bit. Though unless you’re flying the CH-47 that’s not an issue.

Night time - Absolutely love it! Now I say this as someone predominately flying something with at least decent NVG’s. Bobbing and weaving through the cliffs and dodging power lines in the Kiowa or Blackhawk is always a blast, and of course the Apache with the PNVS is just a beast. With that said, I can absolutely agree with most people feeling that fighting at night is an exercise in looking inside their pit. Also if we go to a cold war’ish tech level we’re not going to have FLIR tpods etc to work with for the majority of systems. Then again having a multiship package with flare birds (finally a reason to load illum rockets!), etc would be pretty cool. If we’re fighting somewhere with better cultural night lighting, I think that would help too.

Weather - I think if we can get some variation that would be good. When we started to get more clouds I think it started to get a lot more interesting for everyone. I’d personally like to see some poor weather days, as that really does require everyone to adapt and overcome.

Death - I am in the “no death timer” crowd, and not just as the guy who bent the most airframes. In general as the event progressed everyone got a lot more comfortable and dare I say “competent” in operating in the environment of a MP mission. There was a lot more coordination, people calling in hot, and working together. As this is a recreational event for all of us, I think anything that takes away from peoples ability to hop on, enjoy some flight time and help out should be avoided. I can see if we’re doing a planned op, like the anti-ship strike, maybe having a holding zone as we re-cock for the next phase would be good just from a coordination standpoint.

On that point, I’d love to see more preplanned group missions. It’s really an awesome feeling to be part of a group of us working together. I think with a lower tech level, we may need to do that by necessity anyway.

Next mission - I’m game for everything from a modern day peer fight, to low and slow cold war COIN. Once we know the theater and scenario I have a few thoughts on some house rules, but I’ll wait till we know where we’re going.

Yep, what NMflyer is describing about munitions availability is exactly what we ran into except off the carriers.

komemiute · February 24, 2026, 7:00am

My feelings mirror what has been said so far. Loved it to no end- I finally feel like I am appreciating DCS in the way it should.

THe cooperation among menbers is amazing and as Beach said it’s great to know you can count on the knowledge of other people without any judgement.

I have very rarely felt as safe and as happy despite playing so POORLY in any simulation/game ever. Thank you all guys. I mean it.

Regarding LOGISTICS: Yes! More scarcity would be amazing- I know I know it’s counterintuitive, but I always felt that working around limitations makes things spicier.

Rising the costs, or lowering available numbers might be the way to go, but not both, not at once.

Let’s have a scientific approach and only change one variable at a time- it’s not like we are going to run out of game anytime soon

Regarding DEATH: Now here I do feel like I might have a controversial opinion, especially considered how many times I died truly pointlessly… (goshdarned Mi-28s! )

No timer to respawn, that’s a bit too punishing giving how little playtime we might get with our real lives… BUT if it was possible to put a small timer on airframes -now- that I feel it could be something we might consider? Maybe?

Like, let’s say I get shot down (AGAIN) by an Mi-28 while trying to popping it with my Warhog Avenger, in my mind I would have a 5 minute cooldown before I can climb into another A-10, but I could get immediately in a Hornet, or Viper, or Huey- you get my point, I guess.

Admittedly it can be hell (or even impossible) to code, so in my case I will just do it “on my own” - that is, if I get shot down in a specific airframe I will choose on my own to pick another one unless certain conditions happens…

A self imposed kinda-Iron Man mode.

Regarding WEATHER: OMFG I loved having clouds, and different hours of the day- or night. My only gripe is please let’s avoid wind situations that make flying un-enjoyable. Tricky, yes- nearly suicidal, not.

Once more thank you so much all for creating this- Can’t wait to try the next map.

Clutch · February 24, 2026, 8:07am

On the weather front, have you checked out this plugin?

DCS Real Weather

I use it for almost all of my missions. There’s a way to have it auto-inject periodically on servers though I’ve never looked into that.