2.3 Campaign Design

In DCS Liberation 2.3 campaign modding has been redesigned so that the campaign is designed in the mission editor, as a single miz file per campaign.

Descriptor file

As before, the campaign uses a JSON file to describe some metadata. To create a new campaign, add a JSON file (such as mycampaign.json) to resources\campaigns.

This json file should contain a json object, with the following parameters :

• name: The name of the campaign that will be shown in the New Game wizard.
• theater: The map for the campaign (either: Caucasus, Persian Gulf, Nevada, Normandy, Syria or The Channel).
• authors: The authors of the campaign that will be shown in the New Game wizard.
• description: A description of the campaign that will be shown in the New Game wizard.
• miz: The name of the miz file (in the same resources\campaigns directory) that describes the campaign.

Designing campaigns in the mission editor

When creating a campaign it may be easiest to start with an existing campaign in the same theater and modify it to suit your needs. If starting from scratch, ensure that Combined Joint Task Forces Blue and Combined Joint Task Forces Red are assigned to the blue and red coalitions respectively, as these will be used to define many of the campaigns properties.

Unit Type Quick Reference

Control points

Control points are the spawn locations and (in most cases) the capturable positions in the campaign.

Airbase control

To make an airbase that starts controlled by blue, assign the airbase to the blue coalition in the mission editor. To make an airbase that starts controlled by red, assign the airbase to red.

Carriers and LHAs

To create a carrier, place a CVN-74 where you want it to be in the campaign. The carrier will be red if it belongs to CJTF Red and blue if it belongs to CJTF Blue.

To create an LHA, follow the same process but place an LHA-1.

Note that the presence of the carrier or LHA in the game will depend on the player's options and the faction's navy.

Off-map spawns

To create a point where aircraft from other theaters can be spawned into the mission in-air, place an F-15C. As with carriers and LHAs, use CJTF Red or Blue to assign the point to either faction.

The altitude of the unit is not currently relevant, as the spawn altitude of units in Liberation depends on the faction's doctrine and the unit type.

Importance

Control points can be assigned an "importance", which determines the proportion of their forces that the AI commander will assign to the control point. This value is set using the Periodicity property of the control point's warehouse. This applies to airbases only.

30 is the default in the editor and leaving it at 30 will cause it to have its default priority in the campaign (1.2).

Custom priorities may be set by changing the periodicity to a value between 10 and 14 (inclusive), with 14 being the most important and 10 being the least important. This value will be divided by 10 to fit the game's importance range of 1.0 to 1.4, so a value of 12 will also set the default importance of 1.2.

Campaign inversion

Inverting the campaign allows the player to play the campaign in reverse (starting from the North instead of the South, for example). This doesn't simply swap all of the control points, but swaps a number of control points as defined by the mission designer so that the player doesn't begin the campaign with most of the control points already captured.

To specify that an airbase should be owned by the player when the campaign is inverted, set the "unlimited aircraft" property of the warehouse. To specify the same for a carrier, LHA, or off-map spawn, set the "late activation" property of the group.

Front lines

Front lines are defined by placing a CJTF Blue M-113 at an airfield and defining a route to the connected control point. The front line will follow the waypoints of the vehicle group (not the path, so using on-road waypoints will not cause the front line to follow roads automatically), so waypoints should be placed at each location that the front line should turn to avoid terrain. The route should end near the airfield that the front line connects to. The beginning and ending waypoints will automatically snap to the nearest airfields when the campaign is generated.

Base defenses

Airbases will randomly generate a set of base defenses at the beginning of the campaign. The campaign generator currently uses the following algorithm when deciding what base defenses to spawn:

• Spawn 1 EWR
• Spawn 1 garrison

Then the generator will create between 2 and 5 (evenly weighted) additional defenses with the following probabilities:

• The first has a 1/2 chance of being a SAM, 1/6 chance of being a SHORAD, and 2/6 chance of being a garrison.
• The second through fifth groups habe a 1/3 chance of being a SHORAD and a 2/3 chance of being a garrison.

This means that if the campaign designer wishes to avoid randomly positioned base defenses, they must define at least:

• 1 EWR location
• 7 air defense locations (SAMs and SHORADs differ by unit type but share placement locations)
• 6 garrison locations

More can be placed to allow more variety in each campaign. When generating base defenses, locations will be selected from the presets at random. If no more preset locations remain for the given type, the generator will fall back to random positioning. Random positioning can result in units being placed under water, on buildings, on steep mountain slopes, etc, so it should not be relied upon.

Base defense locations will automatically be associated with the closest control point to them.

EWR

To define a potential EWR location, place a CJTF Blue EWR 55G6.

One EWR will always be placed at each control point.

Air defenses

To define a potential air defense location, place a CJTF Blue S-300PS SR 64H6E within a 2 NM radius of the control point. Units placed outside that radius will be regular objective locations rather than base defenses.

The campaign generator will use these locations to spawn all ranges of air defenses, from an SA-10 to AAA. Precisely what is spawned depends on whether the generator uses the location for a SAM or SHROAD, the faction's available equipment, and random selection of that equipment during campaign generation.

Garrisons

Garrisons are ground units placed at the airbase that defend against the encroaching enemy front line. To define potential locations for garrison groups, place a CJTF Blue SA-19 Tunguska 2S6.

Objective locations

The campaign generator will automatically generate a number of objective locations attached to each control point. The quantities and types of objectives depends on the faction, the player's options, and random chance.

Objective locations are automatically associated with their closest control point.

• A random number of naval groups will be generated based on the faction and player options.
• A random number of missile sites will be generated at airbases based on the faction.
• Between 2 and 7 other objectives will be generated at airbases. These other objectives have a 1 in 4 chance of being SAMs. 3 in 4 will be strike targets (either land based or offshore).

In each case, if not enough preset locations are available for the given type, the generator will fall back to random positioning. This can result in ships being placed on land, SAMs being placed underwater, or factories being placed on top of other buildings.

Strike targets

Strike targets make up the bulk of the objective locations and will be spawned connected to airbases. These come in a variety of types depending on the faction:

• SAMs
• Power plants
• Ammo depots
• Fuel depots
• Warehouses
• FARPs
• FOBs
• Factories
• Communications towers
• Offshore oil platforms
• Oil derricks
• Bunkers
• Villages
• Army camps

Note that it is possible to require that certain SAM locations are generated, and each required SAM will cause a random SAM to be skipped (though it will not skip other objective locations). This is described further in the IADS section.

Between 2 and 7 strike targets will be generated at each airbase, so to avoid random locations place at least 7 each of ground and offshore strike locations. Offshore locations will not be possible at every airbase. If no preset locations are defined the generator will fall back to random positioning, which will also fail, causing no offshore locations to be created. This is expected.

To define a ground based strike location, place a CJTF Blue S-300PS SR 64H6E at least 2 NM from the associated air base. Locations within 2 NM will be base defense locations rather than strike locations.

To define an offshore strike target, place a CJTF Blue Oil Platform.

Ships

Ships can be generated at airbases, carriers, and LHAs (but not off-map spawns). Ships will not be spawned if the player has disabled either player or enemy navies in the campaign generation options, or if the faction does not have naval units defined. The number of naval groups spawned is determined randomly between 0 and the limit defined by the faction, uniformly. There is no limit on how many can be spawned as is it is up to the faction designer, so place as can sensibly be placed (a dozen should be more than enough, and five should be plenty).

To define a potential ship location place a CJTF Blue Arleigh Burke IIa.

Missile sites

Missile sites (scuds, V-2s, etc) can be generated at airbases. Missile sites will only be spawned if the faction has them defined, and the amount is randomly selected between 0 and the limit defined by the faction. There is no limit on how many can be spawned as is it is up to the faction designer, so place as can sensibly be placed (a dozen should be more than enough, and five should be plenty).

To define a potential missile site place a CJTF Blue SRBM SS-1C Scud-B 9K72 LN 9P117M.

IADS

To guarantee that each faction begins with a strong IADS, SAMs can be forced to spawn at specific locations. These will take the place of the randomly generated SAM objectives when they exist, but are not required. They are strongly recommended as random SAM placement will lead to more easily defeated air defenses.

Required SAM locations are automatically associated with the control point closest to them.

Required SAM locations are split into two types: long and medium range. Long range positions will only be filled by long range SAMs, and medium range positions will only be filled by medium range SAMs.

Note that the exact type of SAM that will be placed depends on the faction data. However, when designing a campaign with specific factions in mind (such as Syria defending on the Syria map), this allows the designer to see the coverage of the SAMs used by the intended faction. This way the designer can be sure that sufficient coverage will be present in the campaign when a faction using a specific type of SAM is used.

Long range SAMs

Currently the only two long range SAM systems are the Patriot and the SA-10 (S-300). If the faction does not have either of those systems available those positions will not be generated.

To define a required long range SAM location, place a CJTF Red unit of any of the following types:

• SAM Patriot LN M901
• SAM SA-10 S-300PS LN 5P85C
• SAM SA-10 S-300PS LN 5P85D

Medium range SAMs

Medium range SAMs include any SAMs that do not qualify as long range SAMs. If the faction has no medium range SAMs available those positions will not be generated, but note that because it is defined so broadly factions that include flak guns as their "SAMs" may generate flak guns a these locations.

To define a required medium range SAM location, place a CJTF Red unit of any of the following types:

• SAM Hawk LN M192
• SAM SA-2 LN SM-90
• SAM SA-3 S-125 LN 5P73

Forward Operating Bases

A FOB is defined by placing a CJTF Blue CP_SKP_11_ATC_Mobile_Command_Post.

The group name of the unit is used to name the FOB.

Note: FOBs are a control point just like an airbase, and can have frontlines drawn to them as well as locations for garrisons and air defenses.

Unit Type Quick Reference:

• Required Long Range SAMs (CJTF Red):

  • SAM Patriot LN M901
  • SAM SA-10 S-300PS LN 5P85C
  • SAM SA-10 S-300PS LN 5P85D

• Required Medium Range SAMs (CJTF Red):

  • SAM Hawk LN M192
  • SAM SA-2 LN SM-90
  • SAM SA-3 S-125 LN 5P73

• Missile Sites (CJTF Blue):

  • SRBM SS-1C Scud-B 9K72 LN 9P117M

• Ship (CJTF Blue):

  • Arleigh Burke IIa

• Offshore Strike Target (CJTF Blue):

  • Oil Platform

• Garrison (CJTF Blue):

  • SA-19 Tunguska 2S6

• Air Defenses (CJTF Blue):

  • S-300PS SR 64H6E

• EWR (CJTF Blue):

  • EWR 55G6

• FOB (CJTF Blue):

  • CP_SKP_11_ATC_Mobile_Command_Post