Dynamic Campaign

[SUBS17]

Just thought I'd bounce a couple of ideas regarding a Dynamic Campaign.

 

Advance to contact

 

For such a Campaign we'd need some new units to allow the ground forces to flow through the obstacles on the terrain. eg. water, armored combat engineers(bridges, boats)etc. This will prevent a feature on Falcon 4 where tanks are crossing lakes. So the use of the appropriate equipment to cross the obstacle. As well as this is the support and logistics as well as the artillery following at the appropriate distance and stopping to provide cover. As the missions are completed there is a reaction on the battlefield to the friendly success and failure. So the units that are destroyed are no longer there and the ones that have succeeded and advanced, have moved the appropriate distance for the time taken for the pilot to start the second mission.

 

Reaction to Enemy Fire

 

So the next phase of the war, both sides are contacting and engaging each other. We also have the effect of supply lines and reinforcements, knocking out bridges and convoys will effect the next mission with more or less enemy units. Some armoured units gain points for enemy kills and their rating may increase.(lockon already features skill ratings) There is also the effect of the air war on the map. eg B1s escorted by F-15s on deep strike missions against factories and airfields. So as our player succeeds then on the ground the enemy forces are begining to react. If the player fails then likewise friendly losses will also be effected if you're doing CAS or doing CAP in an area.

 

So this is just the few ideas on the possibility of a Dynamic Campaign and what factors are needed to be taken into account.

cheers

Subs

[SUBS17]

Player Input

 

In a dynamic campaign the player can control from a single squadron upto almost all of the air assets. The most common way is a single squadron including the players aircraft. If we were using a multirole aircraft then the range of missions is quite vast and the player can do alot to influence the war. For Lockon it maybe a matter of controlling a number of aircraft types rather than just the one squadron. eg A-10 would require F-15 CAP. For aircraft such as AWACs and Tankers they might have fixed flight paths that adjust to the Battlefield.

So the player sets up his Squadron to attack specific targets while also setting up escorts. Or he flys cover for the A-10s depending on what hes flying.

 

Executing the Mission

 

The Campaign clock sets the weather and the time between missions which is either random or follows a fixed pattern for the senario.

[SwingKid]

If you have a good translator, you might be interested in this Russian forum discussion:

 

http://forum.lockon.ru/viewtopic.php?t=2394

 

Some English-language discussion occurs on page 3.

 

-SK

[SUBS17]

Man you have some good ideas there, a turn based strategy game based on Lockon. You could add that to Lockon, but it would be mission. Its a good idea to use the previous Georgian conflict as a base for this campaign. I would vote for an expansion of the map rather than a whole new map( and yes adding in those extra objects on the current map would be cool too). Its quite different to a dynamic campaign in that the player in a dynamic campaign mainly is focused on the Aircraft. Adding resources to the Campaign adds depth to the mission goals but remember in a war the resource goals are different to peace time. eg rather than capturing the electricity plant I'd more likely destroy it and therefore deny it to the enemy! Same for coal, I'd be mainly focused on taking the oil in that situation. As for civilians, they tend to bug out in RL causing heavy traffic in areas of conflict.