Turnless Campaign — DCS Liberation 11.1.1 documentation (2024)

We can’t simulate combat

We can’t feasibly simulate the details of combat, nor can we generate a missionmid-engagement. The mission editor does not support generating aircraftmid-maneuver, or with any SA.

To avoid that problem, instead of simulating the combat we put the group in a“freeze” at the moment the engagement begins. Any frozen groups are spawnedwherever they were frozen so simulation can be deferred to DCS. Each freeze willhave a deadline for completion, at which point a simple strength-basedautoresolve will take place.

After a frozen engagement is resolved (whether in sim or automatically), if themission objective has not been achieved a mission abort will be evaluated.

We don’t know where the roads are

We don’t know where the in-game roads are, so we can’t precisely simulate thelocation of convoys as they move, nor the amount of time they will take to movebetween bases.

Time can be solved by just having the campaign designer encode the travel timein the campaign. The ME will estimate it for them so it’s simple to do. Spawnlocations cannot be made precise, but we can have campaign designers defineseveral waypoints along the route and spawn the convoy at the most appropriateone.

SAM engagement zones are huge

The large threat zone of many SAMs would cause most of the map to be a frozenengagement.

To avoid that, SAMs will not cause frozen engagements, but will be simulated ata basic level. Each SAM will track a group, and when in range will periodically“shoot”, and those shots will have a chance to kill an aircraft in the targetedgroup.

AI Commander

Theater state tracking for the HTN becomes much more complicated since it needsto always be able to replan based on pending plans. This shouldn’t be too badsince RndName’s PR did similar and the plan to continue that should work here.The commander needs to learn to abort missions that are no longer viable.

Transports

With turns gone, transports can longer move one link per turn. See the entry in“hard problems” above. To begin with we can pick an arbitrary time per link andjust always spawn the transport at the origin regardless of where they ought tobe.

Turn based systems

A number of systems that act in a number of turns become time based:

• Runway repair

• Unit delivery

• Weather changes

• Pilot replenishment

• Income

Procurement could be made simpler if we do away with cash in favor of fixedreplenishment rates.

Front line advancement

Front line combat is happening continuously so we need to simulate its movementand losses on the front line.

Mission generation

The mission generator needs to be able to generate aircraft in specificlocations, with partial fuel, and possibly with some weapons expended.

Mission result processing

Last known positions need to be recorded, as do weapon inventory and fuelstates.

UI

Frozen combats need to be immutable to the player.

Missions in progress need to be made cancelable.

The map needs to show the locations of in-progress missions, including frozenengagements.

There needs to be a UI to examine frozen engagements.

Front-line progress rework

Add auto-resolve for the front line, adjust progress estimates based on stancesand not just kills (an enemy in retreat is less likely to be killed, but stillgives up ground).

Add play from first-contact option

Add simulation of the mission from the start of the turn up to the firstengagement. Generate the mission from that point.

Add fuel expenditure estimation for travel to start location

Adjust fuel quantities at the start of the mission to account for travel.

Add UI to display simulation to first contact

Before removing turns, add play/pause buttons to the game that will simulate themission up to the first engagement. Once play is pressed no changes may be madeto the ATO.

When the turn ends it behaves like the normal end of turn. The ATO is reset andthe new turn is planned.

Add mission abort option for players

Add the option to abort flight and packages for players. The AI won’t use thisyet but it will be needed once engagement simulation is added.

Add simulation for frozen combats

Allows play to proceed through engagements. The AI will abort missions that areunlikely to succeed after each combat is resolved.

Estimate fuel/weapon use simulation for frozen combats

Improve behavior for groups that have completed an auto-resolved combat byestimating their fuel and ammo use. This could be used to check if the missionshould be aborted.

Add player options to create new packages after pressing play

Allow players to create new flights as the mission simulates. This would be themost effective way to add intercept missions.

Make planning real-time

Make the AI planner periodically reevaluate missions to add to the ATO. It willstill plan as many missions as possible up front so that the DCS side of themission can run as long as possible, but it could make use of aircraft that hadaborted or returned.

Time-based systems instead of turn based

Move the systems that are currently based on turns to be based on duration. Eachturn is assumed to be six hours since there are four turns in a day.

Time between turns based on mission duration

Change the turn duration to be based on the length of the mission played.

Track end positions of aircraft, remove turns

If we can track the status of missions after the simulation ends we can continuewhere we left off. Do that, and remove the concept of turns.

Track ammo/fuel status of aircraft at the end of the mission

Improve post-simulation realism by tracking the ammunition and fuel spent.

Add turnaround times for landed aircraft

Once aircraft returning from a mission land, a timer starts to track theturnaround time before they’ll be ready to redeploy as opposed to being instant.