Hey Guys,
So I am ashamed to say that I buy the campaigns but never fly them. The usual excuses, I’m to tired, takes too long, blah, blah, blah. As you know, I have had a bit of time off due to my appendix deciding to put life on hold. So with a week left before I went back to work I shuffled through my campaigns and decided on Hunters. Typical of me, I sat in the Sabre and realized I did not remember how to start it, fly it, communicate or shoot anything. So it was back to basics. In an hour of Youtube and Chuck Owl instruction I was back in the pit.
Reflected did an outstanding job. I am no expert in campaigns but his approach works for me. The first few missions are basic ground attacks. NO SPOILERS. It just gets better. The campaign is written in a way that allows you to grow in the areas of leading, flying, navigating and combat. I have done 9 missions and I am having a GREAT TIME. I did not get shot down yet… but I have come home with my tail securely tucked. Once it was so bad, I nearly did not make it. I choose to fly that one over again…LOL. 2.7 clouds make this a beautiful experience in VR. Climbing to 30k through layers of dark, ominous clouds while holding your breath is thrilling. Flying on instruments to keep yourself from getting lost… Eyes on fuel, oxygen, speed… Its really a great adventure. I think I am converted to campaigns.
If you have flown HOY, what do you think? If you have not, have a go. It is a lot of fun.
I might just have to refly this now you mentioned flying a sabre with 2.7 clouds! I like Reflected his work as well. I did HOY straight after Blue-Nosed Bastards. It continues from there, with the same player pilot and some other returning characters. Coming from the mustang, it made me realise how much a marvel for its time the Sabre was.
I haven’t flown Hunters over Yalu yet. Currently flying Pandemic, with the Ka-50 in Iran. Before that I flew Museum Relic with the Sabre. I remember it being slightly easier and more fun with the MiG-15, but the Sabre sure is a joyful ride!
Pandemic is… Well the missions are fun, well written if fragile. The scripts easily break if you don’t adhere to the plan. There’s also a rather low standard of radio traffic. I came off Museum Relic, and that has some truly inspired mission design and radio storytelling.
After Pandemic I intend to give Raven One another shot. I made it up to mission 8 I believe, maybe 9? Then lost progress due to my logbook gotten wiped. I’m not a good navy pilot, both tanking and trapping present challenges to me that I don’t really relish tbh. Perhaps with exercise I’ll become good enough at them to enjoy the experience.
Raven One is an awesome experience. Playing through it was a defining moment in my life as a simmer/gamer, and it forced me to grow as a hornet driver in ways I would not have expected. I won’t lay claim to being competent in the hornet now, but I’m worlds better than I ever would have been without that campaign as motivation. Good luck, and enjoy!
How is the sound in the Sabre? I tried it a year-ish ago and there were odd sounds glitches (I can’t recall the exact issue but others had it too). I wanted that thing too.
I just ran into a big Show Stopper. The NDBs or Outer markers in Caucasus map are all wrong. In the campaign they give you the right ones and they work. But building a mission, I cant figure out for the life of me how to get from point a to b using the radio compass. I have no problem finding the right NDB in the campaign. Every source I look at this morning has a different marker for the Russian/Georgian bases. Where can I find this information. Yes, its driving me nuts.