Operation Scarlet Dawn - Syria PvE Persistent Campaign

[Surrexen]

35 minutes ago, BRAVO_16 said:

I appreciate your detailed reply.

On one of the airfield zones there was a Red Comms Tower, is that also seen as an enemy unit/structure?

Can/Should it be destroyed for the airfield to be captured?

 

To be on the safe side yes you should blow it up. There is some kind of magic ED algorithm that comes into play when opposing units are in the zone, I'm not entirely sure how it works but sometimes something like a tank will 'win' against a soldier or an ammo truck or whatever. I'd follow Ripley's suggestion and nuke it all from orbit, just to be sure.

[Aarnoman]

Hey Surrexen, really enjoying your mission. If you are still considering doing further updates/additions to it, would love to have some moving ground targets included (e.g. supply convoys, infantry in the open). From my testing in missions they no longer cause massive slowdowns like they used to for performance.

Another request, would love for to see some map objects as targets (now that we got the scenery object is dead trigger condition). Would be interesting to hit some bridges/factories/etc present on the map natively, lots of great potential targets.

Just my 2 cents, I am really impressed with the mission and having an absolute blast already as is, but would love to see the above to additions in the future if you are open to them. Hands down one of the best missions I've played in DCS world thus far. Thank you for your amazing work!

[BRAVO_16]

@Surrexen Hi There, is it at all possible to move aircraft spawn points to newly captured airfields?

 

For instance on Caucacus, we capture Gudauta.  Is there a way to now move our A-10C slots to Gudauta?  So that we don't have fly all the way from Kutaisi every time.

[Surrexen]

1 hour ago, BRAVO_16 said:

@Surrexen Hi There, is it at all possible to move aircraft spawn points to newly captured airfields?

 

For instance on Caucacus, we capture Gudauta.  Is there a way to now move our A-10C slots to Gudauta?  So that we don't have fly all the way from Kutaisi every time.

 

You can do this if you implement slot block into the mission and run it on dedicated server. Since I don't have a server I don't make it like this. I was led to believe that ED were moving away from the slot system entirely, so perhaps if that ever happens I'll be able to rework things to make it more logical like that.

[Aarnoman]

On 10/5/2021 at 11:27 PM, Aarnoman said:

Hey Surrexen, really enjoying your mission. If you are still considering doing further updates/additions to it, would love to have some moving ground targets included (e.g. supply convoys, infantry in the open). From my testing in missions they no longer cause massive slowdowns like they used to for performance.

Another request, would love for to see some map objects as targets (now that we got the scenery object is dead trigger condition). Would be interesting to hit some bridges/factories/etc present on the map natively, lots of great potential targets.

Just my 2 cents, I am really impressed with the mission and having an absolute blast already as is, but would love to see the above to additions in the future if you are open to them. Hands down one of the best missions I've played in DCS world thus far. Thank you for your amazing work!

@Surrexen any thoughts on the above? Thanks again for a great mission.

[Surrexen]

49 minutes ago, Aarnoman said:

@Surrexen any thoughts on the above? Thanks again for a great mission.

 

Well, I was going to remake Operation Jupiter so I could make use of the Mosquito, but alas the flak is kind of insane right now so there isn't much point. Also there is no AI Lancaster to go along with the Mosquito which is rather disappointing. For the modern missions, If the Forrestal ever comes out I will add it in as I've been wanting to do that. When the Apache comes out, I will add that as well. But really, I haven't had much time to fly for months so major changes are not likely to happen. I didn't know they added that scenery object trigger doodad either.

[Aarnoman]

13 hours ago, Surrexen said:

 

Well, I was going to remake Operation Jupiter so I could make use of the Mosquito, but alas the flak is kind of insane right now so there isn't much point. Also there is no AI Lancaster to go along with the Mosquito which is rather disappointing. For the modern missions, If the Forrestal ever comes out I will add it in as I've been wanting to do that. When the Apache comes out, I will add that as well. But really, I haven't had much time to fly for months so major changes are not likely to happen. I didn't know they added that scenery object trigger doodad either.

@Surrexen

Fair enough, I appreciate that life can definitely get in the way of doing hobbies, so I won't push the point - just want to show my appreciation for what you created and what I would personally love to see in the future if you ever do want to further develop this mission

Regarding the SceneryObjectIsDead trigger condition, it is quite simple to use. You can get objectId for any map object using Right Click->Assign As in the mission editor.

There is also lua script level access to this function I believe, with use of the objectID (also selectable for map objects using the Right click functionality).

Here is a quick example:

 

I think it is fantastic we now have the tools to use any map object as mission targets, as the static map objects we have available are often a poor fit into the environment.
Hope this may be helpful to you in some way, least of all if it makes it into some future mission if you ever get into it.
If it is ok with you, I might add some of these map object strike missions to your existing Scarlet Dawn campaign, and I can send it through to you in the future to have a look and see if it fits with you vision of the mission (I of course would not release this publicly since it would just a small addition to an existing complex mission you created).

Kind regards,

Yoyo

[Saruman]

First of all, congrats for the mission. Quite impressive skill to edit and script all of this!

That said, two questions:

1) is it safe to edit mission by changing client aircrafts to start cold?

2) does the mission randomly change weather and/or clouds every time you run it or is weather a fixed thing?

Cheers

[Aarnoman]

5 hours ago, Saruman said:

First of all, congrats for the mission. Quite impressive skill to edit and script all of this!

That said, two questions:

1) is it safe to edit mission by changing client aircrafts to start cold?

2) does the mission randomly change weather and/or clouds every time you run it or is weather a fixed thing?

Cheers

1) yes

2) no (but you can always change it in the mission editor).

Edited October 12, 2021 by Aarnoman

[ruprecht]

Hey @Surrexenjust want to say thanks, we have a group of 5 really enjoying this.

Casual question, no biggie: is there a reason you haven't implemented CA artillery in the spawn menu? I'm considering adding it, but wondering if you've tried and found it broken or something. Thanks

[Surrexen]

On 10/18/2021 at 1:48 PM, ruprecht said:

Hey @Surrexenjust want to say thanks, we have a group of 5 really enjoying this.

Casual question, no biggie: is there a reason you haven't implemented CA artillery in the spawn menu? I'm considering adding it, but wondering if you've tried and found it broken or something. Thanks

Hmm no particular reason really ... nobody ever asked for it before! I just put stuff in that you can drive and shoot with that I know about (which is very little since CA is well .... you know). That said, if you know of a particular artillery piece that is driveable and can be manually fired etc then let me know and I'll see what I can do about adding it in next week or whatever when the Forrestal is out. Also I found some of the weapon sounds are not working currently (magnum and rifle) because some weapon name prefixes changed somewhere along the line so that'll be working again too.

Edit: I trust that Paladin's will suffice?

Edited October 19, 2021 by Surrexen

[skiboss]

@Surrexen Mate, thank you for making this superb mission! It's occupied our small team for a couple of weeks now and it's invigorated several of our bored pilots. Is there any way I can send you a paypal donation or a virtual beer as a thank you?

I've been learning the mission editor and changing some things around for our squad too (mostly successfully). We have a bug with helo trigger zones where I can spawn cargo or troops, but cant pick them up. If I switch to another helo slot i can collect them straight away. This happened after i deleted some un-used aircraft slots from the farp and moved the other farp further north. Any ideas? I guess there is some dependency baked into one of the lua scripts. Not a big deal but thought id ask.

Can you provide any guidelines about editing your missions without breaking them? For eg, do helo trigger zones need to be within a certain distance from the farp or a certain distance apart? Can we add extra farps beside Paris and London and have the scripts still work at them? I was unable to get this working (tried adding a third farp with a different name).

Also, this evening, we completed Phase 4 by capturing all the required airfields, but when we check battle phase, it says "unable to determine phase". Have checked the mission docs and googled around but couldnt find any info.

Thanks again for making these - best missions I've played in 10 years. 

[Surrexen]

9 hours ago, skiboss said:

@Surrexen Mate, thank you for making this superb mission! It's occupied our small team for a couple of weeks now and it's invigorated several of our bored pilots. Is there any way I can send you a paypal donation or a virtual beer as a thank you?

I've been learning the mission editor and changing some things around for our squad too (mostly successfully). We have a bug with helo trigger zones where I can spawn cargo or troops, but cant pick them up. If I switch to another helo slot i can collect them straight away. This happened after i deleted some un-used aircraft slots from the farp and moved the other farp further north. Any ideas? I guess there is some dependency baked into one of the lua scripts. Not a big deal but thought id ask.

Can you provide any guidelines about editing your missions without breaking them? For eg, do helo trigger zones need to be within a certain distance from the farp or a certain distance apart? Can we add extra farps beside Paris and London and have the scripts still work at them? I was unable to get this working (tried adding a third farp with a different name).

Also, this evening, we completed Phase 4 by capturing all the required airfields, but when we check battle phase, it says "unable to determine phase". Have checked the mission docs and googled around but couldnt find any info.

Thanks again for making these - best missions I've played in 10 years. 

 

Ok whoa there Nelly, do not make edits to Scarlet Dawn right now, I have been working on an update for it and a lot of fixes and improvements have been made. Originally I was only going to make a few fixes but somehow the fires of the great forge relit and well ... Wait for said update to come out and then go ahead and edit so you don't waste your time like I do

Some things to look forward to:

1. Forrestal Carrier Group added

2. An AI CAP flight added to the Forrestal

3. E-2D Hawkeye operating off the Forrestal to provide better early warning to the Southern half of the map

4. Paladin SPH added to Helo Ops build menu

5. AI Helo patrols for red and blue

6. Tomahawk Missile Strike radio support request

7. Handy Wind

8. Seawise Giant

9. A Whole lot more 'insurgents' *cough Apache fodder cough*

10. Moving convoys

11. Lots of script fixes and changes

12. Syrian Foxbats!

13. Other stuff I can't remember right now

 

In terms of your editing questions, you have to be careful with how and what you change as yes, loads of stuff is interconnected via script (everything I have done is done the way it has been done for a reason). You will probably not want to move the FARP once you see the update anyway. Adding another FARP requires adding a cargo and infantry loading zone in the ME, as well as adding it into the script tables in the helo ops script. It is important that the same naming conventions are used. Helo groups must be single helo flights only or the radio menu will not work properly for the group with more than one helo in it (can't change this, it's subject to the same kind of limitations as CTLD).

You completed Phase 4? Congratulations! I'll check the logic for Phase 4 completion .... I've never made it to Phase 2, let alone Phase 4 ... so I wouldn't have a clue what happens at that point

Edit: I think I'll have Scarlet Dawn's update out by next weekend, since everything I have added appears to be working pretty well now

Edited October 30, 2021 by Surrexen

[skiboss]

1 hour ago, Surrexen said:

 

Ok whoa there Nelly, do not make edits to Scarlet Dawn right now, I have been working on an update for it and a lot of fixes and improvements have been made. Originally I was only going to make a few fixes but somehow the fires of the great forge relit and well ... Wait for said update to come out and then go ahead and edit so you don't waste your time like I do

Some things to look forward to:

1. Forrestal Carrier Group added

2. An AI CAP flight added to the Forrestal

3. E-2D Hawkeye operating off the Forrestal to provide better early warning to the Southern half of the map

4. Paladin SPH added to Helo Ops build menu

5. AI Helo patrols for red and blue

6. Tomahawk Missile Strike radio support request

7. Handy Wind

8. Seawise Giant

9. A Whole lot more 'insurgents' *cough Apache fodder cough*

10. Moving convoys

11. Lots of script fixes and changes

12. Syrian Foxbats!

13. Other stuff I can't remember right now

 

In terms of your editing questions, you have to be careful with how and what you change as yes, loads of stuff is interconnected via script (everything I have done is done the way it has been done for a reason). You will probably not want to move the FARP once you see the update anyway. Adding another FARP requires adding a cargo and infantry loading zone in the ME, as well as adding it into the script tables in the helo ops script. It is important that the same naming conventions are used. Helo groups must be single helo flights only or the radio menu will not work properly for the group with more than one helo in it (can't change this, it's subject to the same kind of limitations as CTLD).

You completed Phase 4? Congratulations! I'll check the logic for Phase 4 completion .... I've never made it to Phase 2, let alone Phase 4 ... so I wouldn't have a clue what happens at that point

Edit: I think I'll have Scarlet Dawn's update out by next weekend, since everything I have added appears to be working pretty well now

 

Sounds fantastic man, thanks for the detailed reply and your on-going efforts to make this even better.

[ZeroReady]

2 hours ago, Surrexen said:

 

Ok whoa there Nelly, do not make edits to Scarlet Dawn right now, I have been working on an update for it and a lot of fixes and improvements have been made. Originally I was only going to make a few fixes but somehow the fires of the great forge relit and well ... Wait for said update to come out and then go ahead and edit so you don't waste your time like I do

Some things to look forward to:

1. Forrestal Carrier Group added

2. An AI CAP flight added to the Forrestal

3. E-2D Hawkeye operating off the Forrestal to provide better early warning to the Southern half of the map

4. Paladin SPH added to Helo Ops build menu

5. AI Helo patrols for red and blue

6. Tomahawk Missile Strike radio support request

7. Handy Wind

8. Seawise Giant

9. A Whole lot more 'insurgents' *cough Apache fodder cough*

10. Moving convoys

11. Lots of script fixes and changes

12. Syrian Foxbats!

13. Other stuff I can't remember right now

 

In terms of your editing questions, you have to be careful with how and what you change as yes, loads of stuff is interconnected via script (everything I have done is done the way it has been done for a reason). You will probably not want to move the FARP once you see the update anyway. Adding another FARP requires adding a cargo and infantry loading zone in the ME, as well as adding it into the script tables in the helo ops script. It is important that the same naming conventions are used. Helo groups must be single helo flights only or the radio menu will not work properly for the group with more than one helo in it (can't change this, it's subject to the same kind of limitations as CTLD).

You completed Phase 4? Congratulations! I'll check the logic for Phase 4 completion .... I've never made it to Phase 2, let alone Phase 4 ... so I wouldn't have a clue what happens at that point

Edit: I think I'll have Scarlet Dawn's update out by next weekend, since everything I have added appears to be working pretty well now

 

Really looking forward to the update!

[Spartan111sqn]

Please add in your list that time of the day is also moving forward according the last time the mission was running. And also a kind of random weather or changing weather every time we run the mission. 

 

Keep pushing, thanks a lot

Edited November 1, 2021 by Spartan111sqn

[Surrexen]

1 hour ago, Spartan111sqn said:

Please add in your list that time of the day is also moving forward according the last time the mission was running. And also a kind of random weather or changing weather every time we run the mission. 

 

Keep pushing, thanks a lot

 

This isn't possible within DCS currently.

[Spartan111sqn]

ok, understood, I though it could be "simple" take the time of the clock and continue where it was.

 

Can I change in the ME manually the clock and the weather everytime I am going to start the mission? or I would break something?

Thanks in advance.

 

 

[Surrexen]

2 hours ago, Spartan111sqn said:

ok, understood, I though it could be "simple" take the time of the clock and continue where it was.

 

Can I change in the ME manually the clock and the weather everytime I am going to start the mission? or I would break something?

Thanks in advance.

 

 

If it was possible I would have already done it. It's been asked before, and I would like to see this happen one. Yes you can of course change weather and time to suit whatever you like, it won't break anything.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Surrexen

[Spartan111sqn]

Thanks mate, I supposed so, probably you have already explore DSMC scripts, but I do not know if it is compatible with your stuff.

By the way I want to thanks you for your work, these missions are awesome, and are built with a lot of criteria, you have taken many details, as CAP altitude and cruise speed (loiter), locations, SAMs layers for protection, etc, big coherence on this.

A question, when a target is given by the HQ, when they will give you another one? once it is destroyed? or we select skip mission when it is done?

Also if a target has been assigned to us and we didn't complete it at all, once when we run again the mission that target still assigned or a new one, and that one is discarded or will be assigned later on?

Sorry for so many questions.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Spartan111sqn

[Surrexen]

6 minutes ago, Spartan111sqn said:

Thanks mate, I supposed so, probably you have already explore DSMC scripts, but I do not know if it is compatible with your stuff.

By the way I want to thanks you for your work, these missions are awesome, and are built with a lot of criteria, you have taken many details, as CAP altitude and cruise speed (loiter), locations, SAMs layers for protection, etc, big coherence on this.

A question, when a target is given by the HQ, when they will give you another one? once it is destroyed? or we select skip mission when it is done?

Also if a target has been assigned to us and we didn't complete it at all, once when we run again the mission that target still assigned or a new one, and that one is discarded or will be assigned later on?

Sorry for so many questions.

 

Once the currently assigned mission target(s) are destroyed, then shortly after a new one will be drawn from the pool of mission targets. Or you can use skip mission to draw a different target at any time. If you draw a mission target with 8 units in it and only kill 3 of them, then (providing persistence has had a chance to record those kills) the next time you reload it will still be able to draw this mission target, but the 3 units you already killed will still be dead, making it only 5 units. Likewise, if you kill 3 of 8 units in a mission target and then used skip mission, then that mission is still 'live' and can be redrawn later. Hope that all makes sense.

[Spartan111sqn]

36 minutes ago, Surrexen said:

Once the currently assigned mission target(s) are destroyed, then shortly after a new one will be drawn from the pool of mission targets. Or you can use skip mission to draw a different target at any time. If you draw a mission target with 8 units in it and only kill 3 of them, then (providing persistence has had a chance to record those kills) the next time you reload it will still be able to draw this mission target, but the 3 units you already killed will still be dead, making it only 5 units. Likewise, if you kill 3 of 8 units in a mission target and then used skip mission, then that mission is still 'live' and can be redrawn later. Hope that all makes sense.

awesome

Thanks

[=37.Sqn= Mjugen]

Surrexen, super news for refreshed mission. Probably when I will "deploy" new mission on my server, I should also delete 4 lua files created in DCS root for persistent camping ?

New mission will probably create new one ?

Thank you !

[Surrexen]

6 hours ago, =37.Sqn= Mjugen said:

Surrexen, super news for refreshed mission. Probably when I will "deploy" new mission on my server, I should also delete 4 lua files created in DCS root for persistent camping ?

New mission will probably create new one ?

Thank you !

Yes this will be necessary as a lot of name changes have been made to ground units.

[Surrexen]

Scarlet Dawn's update has been sent to user files:  https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3313323/

Please Be Advised:

1. If you change things, and things don't work, it's not my problem

2. Enabling persistency is now a requirement for the mission to run as the order of the running of scripts has changed to facilitate changes

3. Ensure you remove any existing persistence files before starting the new version to avoid any unwanted Imperial entanglements

4. Be aware that all helicopter slots at London and Paris have been set to "takeoff parking hot" instead of "takeoff from ground hot", and that occasionally AI helicopters will launch from the FARPs. For busy servers you may want to readjust this so you don't have players spawning all over each other. I like the ridiculous illumination that the FARP provides when taking off properly from the pads. You should too.

5. At the 30 second mark you will be notified that you have 1 Tomahawk Missile available to launch. You can request via radio 'request support' to launch it from either the CVN-72 Abraham Lincoln or the CV-59 Forrestal. The strike will launch at the currently assigned mission target when fired. Since I am unable to get it to reliably work with an AttackGroup command, it will use FireAtPoint. Therefore, do not waste your Tomahawks on moving targets (like Ships or whatever). You acquire + 1 Tomahawk Strikes every 30 minutes. The Tomahawks can be shot down by the enemy, so be clever about things. The idea here is that the Tomahawk's are limited so it's not completely overpowered. May end up adjusting things but we'll see how we go.

6. There are now 181 'missions', destroying all mission targets will trigger an Annihilation Victory and auto-scrub all data from persistence files and relaunch the mission after 1 minute. Capturing all airfields from Phases 1-4 should trigger a Take And Hold Victory and do the same thing. Yes, it's a Dawn of War reference.

7. As mentioned, the CV-59 Forrestal has been added, and has it's own pair of F-14A Tomcat's for air cover, and also launches an E-2D Hawkeye for more Southern AWACS coverage. It's on 265MHz AM. I changed all the Southern airframes to default to 265MHz on a radio and added 266MHz for the E-3A on a separate channel. Hopefully I didn't miss any.

It sounds like Ugra Media are now going to add in Deir es-Zor after all ... I feel a migraine coming on.

Happy Flying