If you were to recommend just one of your own campaigns to be I don't know, placed in a time capsule or something, which one would it be?

Just interested. Blowing of own trumpets is warmly welcomed, in fact mandatory. Links are also encouraged. FSM's unmodded campaigns.

For PLAYERS of the campaigns, do you agree with their makers choices? This is all subjective so let's hear it.
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For me, I'll probably go with my "RAF Pilot: France" campaign.

It's relatively recent and so all the things I have learned along the way are in there, plus I spent a lot of time on getting the tone of briefings and the feel of the Phoney War as correct as I could. This campaign actually relied on quite a lot of historical material, even if just in the form of inspiration, so I think/hope that people who know the conflict will notice some of the features in the campaign.

In terms of action and just fun I'd vote for "Afrika" but "France" has more layers to it IMO.
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So, who's next? Players? Builders?

Indeed your Afrika campaign is brilliant FlatSpin. Enjoyed that one allot!

My personal best...hrrm....I think a tie between Storm Clouds and Green Hearts: Kurland. Storm Clouds 2.0 is coming soon!

I don't really have a favorite. I made each of my campaigns for a specific reason and I don't compare them against each other.

I recommend my Straight From the Farm campaign more that any other as it is a training campaign. I have received a lot of comments that it has really helped people so I'm glad that I made it. Hoewever, it was the easiest campaign I have made and took me just over a week to do.

I must admit not having flown many campaigns due to a general lack of time (first), then a lack of health and now a lack of Il-2 and a joystick
I have flown IceFire's StormClouds Vol 1 and the Greenheart Campaign (this one as betatester) and I find them impossible to compare as both are so fundamentally different in character. Whereas the Tempest campaign is essentially a good mixture between ground-pounding and low level air combat the Fw 190 campaign forces you to grab any meter of altitude you can get and then work your way through the russian hordes. That's hard to compare IMO. So all I can give here is my opinion on what makes a good static campaign.

First the campaign needs to be short - no longer than 20 missions. I have found that longer campaigns tend to bore me whereas 20 missions or so seems to be the best compromise between player involvement, storytelling and keeping the player's attention.
Secondly the campaign needs to have the historical facts straight or - in case of it being semi-historical or a serious what-if - its creator has to have a believable background story in place which draws the player into the story and provides a solid playground.
Thirdly the missions need to fit the plane's profile - either historically or with certain gameplay modifications. There must be a believable mix between target categories, mission profiles and enemy opposition. Nothing's more boring than a seeming repetition of the same old, same old mission just with different waypoints.
Number 4 on my list are the briefings. They need to tell a story, to weave the net to capture the player's attention and make him fly "just one more mission". Sterile briefings tend to negate the advantages of an excellently crafted mission and I found that a briefing style with "conversations" between different persons creates this immersion best (e.g. the hand-made campaigns which came with 1946 are an excellent example of this style).
The fifth point is the icing on the cake, so to speak. This category contains the right choice of plane and pilot skins (I hate nothing more than the "SA-colored pyjamas" worn by the default german pilots), perhaps using one or two videos as intro or right in the middle and ultimately a good readme, which should also contain a good part of the background story (but this is just a very personal preference).

My 0,02 € ...

Here's how I see it...............

FlatSpinMan – it's a toss up between LWP: Afrika and RAF Pilot: France. I have a difficult time picking one over the other.

IceFire – I agree, Storm Clouds and Green Hearts: Kurland are my favorites from you. The Tempest became a favorite plane thanks to Storm Clouds, and the challenge of flying the Fw190 in Kurland was just right.

Zeus-Cat – I agree with you on Straight from the Farm, but I also have a fondness for Straight Shot. Both are unique, for different reasons.

Thanks for some great campaigns, guys.

quote:

Originally posted by crucislancer:
Zeus-Cat – I agree with you on Straight from the Farm, but I also have a fondness for Straight Shot. Both are unique, for different reasons.

Straight Shot is a good example of finding a way to put to use a plane no one ever really uses. The catapult launches are neat, but they are even better in coops.

I created a 6 player mission where 4 of the people catapult off different cruisers and 2 have to do water takeoffs. I always have people take the catapult launched aircraft if they have never flown the mission before. With coops you get a countdown and it throws people when they spawn in a plane that appears to be in the middle of a ship. When the countdown reaches zero they "catapult" into the sky and they are off. Great effect. If anyone wants the mission let me know or send me an email: zeuscat@sbcglobal.net

Well for my own stuff, I would still say "Hell In The Pacific - Peleliu", mainly because it was such a voyage of discovery making it. I felt a surge of creativity every time I approached a new mission. Nowadays I'm lucky if I have one innovative idea during a whole campaign. Also (entering blowing own trumpet mode) I think it was very original - I think I was the first mission builder who concentrated on sheer immersion, which gave me a signature style that I could evolve over subsequent campaigns.

So the way I see things is that though FSM's campaigns are more intelligent than mine, Zeus-Cat's are more creative, Chris Blair's are more epic, B50's are more historically faithful and IceFire's are more elegant, with mine you're always guaranteed a damn good blast....

Zeus cat.
if its not a artist's secret then i would be very pleased to know how you did it?
did you just place the airstard icon at 10 meters and 200kmh over the ship's catapult?
which ship's best?

general_kalle,

That's about right. You have to play with it a little to get the correct position, but you have the idea. I used the US Heavy Cruiser as it has a nice big catapult area.

Both of my Rufe campaigns have lots of missions where this is set up if you need a real example.

I finally figuered out how to make a campaign , so I'm making an afterwar alternate history camp. The ideas come 99% from Enforcer's Red Star White Star camp. So give most of the credit to him. I'll let you know when its done.

quote:

Originally posted by Phil_K:
Well for my own stuff, I would still say "Hell In The Pacific - Peleliu"

+1

I couldn't agree more.

Sorry I have neglected this thread. I couldn't access the site for a couple of days for some reason. Anyway, some interesting comments posted.

csThor - always good to hear what players are looking for in campaigns. I liked PhilK's thread about this at M4T. that made for useful reading for a campaign maker.

I agree that Straight Shot was something quite different. The HellHounds have something of a monopoly on innovative ideas for campaigns.

PhilK - I hear you about the creativity thing. I'm struggling for motivation to make my Defence of the Reich one and soon I won't have much time to spend on it. I have my missions, planned, research done, it's just putting all the flights together that deters me.
Thanks for the kind words, BTW.

crucislancer - your input is always good to read, especially as you are now one of our resident campaign playing experts.

Anyone else got recommendations or comments?

Hi FSM, I am currently doing your Afrika campaign and am really enjoying it I also enjoyed one called Senior Service. I cant remember who did it but it was a very varied Fleet Air Arm campaign. Looking forward to the latest Lufty event.

Ta Crash. I'm pretty sure the Senior Service is by Billy Pryce. he has made some good ones including IIRC an RAF series in North Africa.

quote:

Originally posted by FlatSpinMan:
csThor - always good to hear what players are looking for in campaigns. I liked PhilK's thread about this at M4T. that made for useful reading for a campaign maker.

You don't happen to have a link for said thread? I know I looked and didn't find anything comparable

quote:

Originally posted by csThor:

quote:

Originally posted by FlatSpinMan:
csThor - always good to hear what players are looking for in campaigns. I liked PhilK's thread about this at M4T. that made for useful reading for a campaign maker.

You don't happen to have a link for said thread? I know I looked and didn't find anything comparable

If I may, I looked for it after it was mentioned here: RFI: How do you like to play campaigns?

quote:

Originally posted by FlatSpinMan:
crucislancer - your input is always good to read, especially as you are now one of our resident campaign playing experts.

Thanks, FSM. I appriciate that.

Having tried my hand at mission/campaign building, I know I'm better at playing them then building them.

As far as my campaigns go, there's not that many to choose from. I think the "Legend of Y-29" is the better one.

I am currently re-working murmansk to morocco, because mods opened up so many possibilities for it: 3 subtypes of 110 have become flyable, and new maps offer possibilities to make less map switches. Example: for Bf110 missions set in Yugoslavia, Greece, Crete, Lybia, Tunisia, Sicily, Italy I used 5 different maps in the original version whereas now (upcoming in 10 days, watch the XXcensoredXX forums) I only use one!

I started making campaigns in 2006 so I had limited choice of a/c type as every type had been covered extensively by others.

Storm clouds is my favourite campaign.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bogustogus,

Crucislancer - I have to concur with FSM and say thanks for all the feedback you have given. It's really important for us mission builders to know what we're getting right and getting wrong, so it's always appreciated when someone takes the time out to post a review.

Crucis - I'd be keen to give slow, sporadic help with any project your're working on. You've played a lot so you must have a good idea of what works and what doesn't. What was your idea anyway?
Oh, and thanks for posting the link to that thread.

quote:

Originally posted by Phil_K:
Crucislancer - I have to concur with FSM and say thanks for all the feedback you have given. It's really important for us mission builders to know what we're getting right and getting wrong, so it's always appreciated when someone takes the time out to post a review.

My pleasure. I don't understand why more people don't do it, though. It doesn't take long and it's important, I think.

quote:

Originally posted by FlatSpinMan:
Crucis - I'd be keen to give slow, sporadic help with any project your're working on. You've played a lot so you must have a good idea of what works and what doesn't. What was your idea anyway?
Oh, and thanks for posting the link to that thread.

Thanks, FSM, I appreciate the offer. It's not help that I need, just a bit of focus. I tend to start with an idea and then set it aside for something else, and then I would just rather play then build......but, when I have something going I've love to pass it on to get some opinions and tips, if you are interested.

I've had a lot of ideas, though there are two in particular: RAF Thunderbolts in Burma and a Yakovlev campaign. Both got held up looking for source material (and wanting to fly rather then build!), but I've found a few books that might help. This thread and the one at M4T have reminded me that I really should get get to work on these again.