- What are you currently satisfied with in the Missions system?
The variety of aircraft used & the ‘re-creation’ of past Flight Simulator missions.
- What are you currently dissatisfied with in the Missions system?
They can be fairly buggy, most noticeably with certain objectives not triggering when they should, aircraft starting in wrong places or heights & instruments not being set correctly.
Overall, the missions lack on the detail & story side. A lack of voice-over narration/story &/or sub-objectives is apparent in many missions (FSX did it right).
Some of the shorter missions are meant to feel like an event but just feel somewhat dull & rushed, like the Wright Flyer mission for example. There’s no feeling of an amazing event happening, there’s no fanfare or real sense of achievement, even adding some unique adventurous music upon take off or a bit of animation after landing (like with most FSX missions after completion) with some people standing around cheering would vastly improve things.
There doesn’t appear to be much (or anything) in the way of dynamic/evolving weather in missions or in the case of some, the weather engine (whilst brilliant) shows area’s for improvement which would add to both the missions & sim in general. For example, the Monsoon mission just reinforces my feeling that storm clouds & rain (especially windshield effects) still need a fair amount of work to feel realistic & immersive. I’ve personally flown through rain & I’ve seen many videos from the cockpit with rain in various states & MSFS is a long way off unfortunately. It’s almost unnoticeable in MSFS & it certainly isn’t in real life.
Another big drawback on the mission front is the lack of a meaningful crash or damage system. Flight’s that are meant to feel dangerous or perilous just don’t because the only consequence of ‘crashing’ is either a black screen or an aircraft bouncing off the ground like a children’s toy. I understand the child friendly nature but i still think it could be improved to some degree.
A lot of the ‘missions’ are essentially just bush trips & discovery flights which is disappointing as we’ve had plenty of that since release & when missions were announced as coming back in the 40th, most people including myself were thinking about the way FSX handled missions, something more detailed, more engaging & more entertaining. The majority of what has been delivered feels like a big step backwards from FSX. I think that it’s largely down to the mission SDK/creation system probably being pretty undeveloped. The lack of many FSX missions & emphasis on more simple bush-trip, discovery missions points to that also.
- What do you hope to see in the Missions system in the future?
Basically as I’ve said above… more detailed, more engaging, more entertaining & of course less buggy. I was always somewhat into aviation but I strongly believe that playing the FSX missions as a 16yr old played a huge part in vastly growing my love for all things aviation even more & what eventually led me to getting behind the pilot seat in real life & to carry on buying various flight simulators though the years. I’m not talking through rose-tinted glasses, I’ve gone back & played the FSX missions more recently also. The current missions in MSFS feel more like ‘just something to do’. They aren’t really anywhere near as interesting, engaging, immersive & as entertaining as they could be or were in FSX.
As i said i think a lot of improvement could come from developing the mission SDK much more, adding more voice-over, more goals, more entertaining but realistic missions, a better use of the weather engine, a greater feeling of adventure & achievement through music & world animations to bring the world to life.
More variety of missions… I designed mission concepts that have been seen by more then a million people on YouTube, had thousands of upvotes & hundreds of like-minded people commenting on the reddit post i made about them. An example of some of the missions included ‘Island Sightseeing’ with aquatic animal sightings, an ‘Arctic Expedition’ which had you going to collect Arctic researchers in evolving weather & getting back to the ship in time, an ‘Emergency Landing’ with an engine fire (including visual effects) where you land to waiting emergency vehicles, ‘Costa Rican Coffee Run’ in a DC3 running supplies from an airstrip in the jungle to Panama, ‘Oil Rig Rescue’ essentially just a visual improvement on the FSX mission, ‘Wildlife Tracking’ which had you finding & tracking endangered species in Africa which is done to monitor their conservation, ‘Aerobatics Training’ above the gold coast, ‘Tour of the Big Apple’ taking sightseers around NYC in a helicopter… i think i made about 30 missions, some of which could be done now, some that couldn’t yet like helicopter payload/slingload training, putting out a forest fire, F-18 air-to-air refuelling etc.
Everything I’ve spoken about to now has related purely to the 40th missions. I will say that i think the Top Gun DLC did things pretty much spot on for what it was & i have thought lately, why not add to it in some way.
- A carrier, park to take-off tutorial with crew animations.
- A mission where you take-off from the carrier, fly to & through a valley in a set time before returning to land on the carrier.
- Formation flying with AI thanks to a better developed mission SDK.
- Target practice in the desert (like in the film) using dummy weapons/laser confirmation.
- Another Darkstar mission, maybe recreating the part from the film using the same or similar dialogue, pushing it past Mach 10. Though a black crash screen wouldn’t really be a satisfying mission completion.
Personally i think it’s best to have wide range of diverse missions like those suggested & mirroring FSX but i do also think it’d be cool to choose certain aircraft or categories to bundle like how the Top Gun DLC was. For example a NASA DLC (i know Jorg is keen on the Space Shuttle idea & he’s certainly far from alone). You could have missions consisting of;
- Learning the shuttle controls, perhaps going through a particular scenario (whilst on the ground, in a hanger/warehouse & in a simulator. Like a simulator Inception).
- A Space Shuttle launch from ground to space with everything that involves.
- Controlling the shuttle to dock with the ISS
- Re-entry to landing.
- Everything all in one.
- Hell, why not even stick it on top of the 747 & fly it around California to re-create it’s final Piggyback flight.
Other bundles could be;
- Red Bull Air Racing & Stunts DLC with both plane & helicopter Aerobatics Training, Air Races in various locations, a selection of stunts like Racing a Formula 1 Car while inverted, Landing on a Moving Vehicle, Flying Through a Tunnel etc.
- (Dare i say it) a Military Aviation DLC consisting of a few new military aircraft & various missions based on (non-harmful) one’s they take part in. Surveillance Training, Search & Rescue, Transporting, Helicopter Payload/Slingload Work, Air-to-Air Refuelling, Airshow Performances & General Training etc.
- Helicopter Bundle DLC including a few new helicopters chosen for the variety of missions & uses they’re capable with. A military transport/slingload & SAR helicopter like an AW101 Merlin, a HEMS & private luxury helicopter like an AgustaWestland AW169 or Airbus H145 & either a stunt helicopter or vintage helicopter. Could also add new variants to the current 407 like a police/film & tv version with lighting/camera rigs & a water bucket for a firefighting version. You could also a variety of new liveries, helipads & heliports. Missions could range from Carrier & Counter Pirate Training, Slingload Aid & SAR, HEMS, Coastguard Patrol & Rescue, Private Royal & Celebrity Charters, Wind Farm Maintenance, Sightseeing Tours, Airshow, Police Monitoring, Firefighting, TV Broadcasting Motorsports etc.
Another small note, the inclusion of a replay system for missions (& landing challenges) would also be a great addition. Perhaps not very interesting on some longer more basic missions but definitely on more interesting & somewhat entertaining ones like suggested above.
Lastly (& there is a point to this paragraph at the end), I’ll say that i think Reno didn’t do as well as probably hoped for as it was charging people for a very focused & niche area. Personally, i got it on sale about a year late just for the extra planes (though most people, myself included only really cared about the Mustang & Texan). I think the majority of Flight Simulator players don’t care about multiplayer racing in MSFS, i think multiplayer is great as a choice in the open-world & in various leaderboards but not in a racing aspect. Certainly not enough to pay for it anyway. I think people had the foresight to know that the lobbies would soon go quiet (which they did) & with it only being set around Reno it felt like a waste just to use this new category in one location. I think if it was some sort of Reno/Red Bull Air Racing bundle it would’ve done better. My point is, free things are great but don’t be afraid to charge for something if it’s needed to actually get it developed. People would be much more inclined to spend money on something like the Acceleration DLC for FSX. With a wide range of missions, some new aircraft, airports & world assets etc.
The possibilities for missions & scenario’s in MSFS are endless & it’s barely been scratched. It would be such a shame to waste this great opportunity & missions have the capability to simulate, educate & entertain in every aspect of aviation.
- If you have a question in regards to Missions for the devs, please post it below: