Building a new dynamic campaign - a long journey

[Sandman Simulations]

Hi,

I might be loosing my mind but I have thought about possibility to start building a new dynamic campaign next year. I'm not sure I'll do it but in case it happens I would like to hear your opinions about what kind of features players would like to be included? I have no idea how I would implement the dynamicity this time but certainly it won't be the way it was made in Flaming Sunrise Campaign. You can think out of the box and shoot with any suggestion. No problem if it's not even possible to be made. I just would like to hear what you think about.

Thank you.

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Sandman Simulations

[BoFrost]

Hi,

Happy new year !!

I have no clue about dynamic campaign or creating any kind of campaign at all.

But what would maybe nice to have or to see...

A kind of track to watch, to see what the result of your action and strategie came out with. How does the frontline move in more detail.

Total freedom. If you own several modules. Switch between them, as you like. I think this would be insane, but I already guess completely impossible.

 

Regards

Frank

[Sandman Simulations]

2 hours ago, BoFrost said:

Hi,

Happy new year !!

I have no clue about dynamic campaign or creating any kind of campaign at all.

But what would maybe nice to have or to see...

A kind of track to watch, to see what the result of your action and strategie came out with. How does the frontline move in more detail.

Total freedom. If you own several modules. Switch between them, as you like. I think this would be insane, but I already guess completely impossible.

 

Regards

Frank

Thanks for reply.

All suggestions are welcome no matter how impossible they are. 

Some players have asked multiple modules to fly in same campaign.. I think it's not totally impossible, at least if there are two or three. Need to think about it. 

In Flaming Sunrise campaign there is freedom to choose tasks to AI and for yourself but all AI tasks need to be preplanned. Otherwice they won't do what you want. Tacview is a quite good application to check afterwards what happened in detail.

In dynamic campaign there is a big performance problem if all units are visible. In Flaming Sunrise air defense units only appear when enemy gets close enough and front line battles only happen for certain time period or if some of the good guys is close enough. If they are fighting all the time mission would be unplayable due to low fps. 

[BoFrost]

Thanks for the hint with Tacview. Dump that I did not realize to use it myself. Have the full version of it.

 

Regards

Frank 

[Sandman Simulations]

 

 

I've been working on a new dynamic campaign for about a month now. It's still uncertain whether it will ever see the light of day. Still some progress though. Hundreds of lines of triggers and an F10 menu structure for inputting an eight-character mission code. This gives around 24 billion different scenarios, so it should be enough.

The plan is to create a campaign where the player acts as an Air Wing commander and aims to advance goals by assigning tasks to four F-14 and six F/A-18 squadrons. The squadrons operate from two aircraft carriers and one land base. The player can personally fly missions they design as part of either the Tomcat or Hornet squadrons. 

Probably within a year, we'll see if it's possible to make such a campaign performance-friendly enough and if ED even approves this type of campaign.

Edited February 18, 2024 by Sandman Simulations

[BoFrost]

Wow ! This sounds to be very very complex, even for the player himself !

Like to see the progress of it. Please keep us updated.

 

Regards

Frank

[Sandman Simulations]

2 hours ago, BoFrost said:

Wow ! This sounds to be very very complex, even for the player himself !

Like to see the progress of it. Please keep us updated.

 

Regards

Frank

I'm trying to balance between playability and challenge so that the campaign wouldn't be too complicated to play. However, this kind of campaign is still aimed at players who are willing to put in some effort into planning tasks before diving in.

I'll report here on progress from time to time.

[Sandman Simulations]

I have made some progress regarding the campaign. Once again, hundreds of lines of triggers.

A few rather laborious stages have now been completed. The AI aircraft spawning on the carrier deck in such an order and at suitable intervals so that they do not collide or get stuck requires quite a bit of testing. This is a somewhat risky part to break when ED changes deck behavior next time. However, with suitable timing, it is possible to get all aircraft airborne regardless of the order in which the player selects different AI flights to spawn. Another challenge in a dynamic campaign is radio messages, which easily overlap and interrupt the previous message. DCS cannot queue radio messages, so to prevent overlaps, another considerable set of triggers was needed.

So far, no insurmountable challenges have arisen. The main concern still lies with the performance issue caused by a large number of units. All possible units must be hidden whenever the player is not nearby or when an AI aircraft is not performing a task related to them.

[Sandman Simulations]

Tests showed that the execution of SEAD flights was not effective. I had to redesign some parts, but now enemy air defense and about half of the AI aircraft flying SEAD missions are coded. Just the normal campaign development process. About 3500 lines of triggers are ready so far.

Once the SEAD missions are ready, Close Air Support missions will be next in line. These are a challenging part because a large number of ground units are quite resource-intensive. I don't yet know how this will be implemented while avoiding performance issues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 30, 2024 by Sandman Simulations

[Sandman Simulations]

The script for ground battles is gradually nearing completion. It took about three months. Around 9,000 lines of triggers are now ready, some quite complex.

Since it's not possible to activate all ground units on the map simultaneously to maintain performance, a large portion of the ground battles must be handled mathematically. The code design for this is still a work in progress. In any case, the success of CAS missions and the survival of both enemy and friendly combat helicopters will directly affect the course of ground battles. Indirectly, factors like supply, logistics, and the destruction of, for example, combat helicopter bases will also play a role.

Next up is the design of strategic targets and the impact of their destruction or protection on the overall scenario.

[Sandman Simulations]

The attack helicopters have now been added to support ground combat on both sides. Helicopters are quite a effective weapon system, although vulnerable to air threats. It requires careful balancing to ensure that the helicopters do not single-handedly decide the battle, yet their role remains significant. The presence of enemy attack helicopters can be mitigated by directly destroying helicopters in the air and more effectively by destroying enemy helicopter bases, naturally.

Edited July 2, 2024 by Sandman Simulations

[Sandman Simulations]

Progress has been made once again. The destruction of enemy strategic targets affects the enemy's ability to fight in the next mission. Destroying weapons factories, power plants, railway junctions, or oil refineries weakens the enemy's ground forces' combat capability as well as the resupply of the enemy's air forces. Important strategic targets are naturally protected by anti-aircraft defenses, and the enemy's air forces will try to keep the player-led squadrons at bay. Potential strike targets will be described in the initial briefing, and in the debriefing at the end of the mission, the successfully destroyed targets and their assumed impact on the enemy's operations in the next mission will be reviewed.

There is still a lot of work to be done, so this campaign won’t be finished anytime soon. The campaign differs quite a bit from traditional campaigns and even from its predecessor, the Flaming Sunrise campaign, so I’m anxiously waiting to see if ED will approve it for sale, even though they initially gave the project the green light.

Next up are the enemy airbases, along with the fighters and attack aircraft operating from them.

[Sandman Simulations]

Progress again. However, I've found working on this campaign to be so labor-intensive that we’ll have to see if ED manages to finish their official dynamic campaign earlier than I do . Hopefully not.

So far, I’ve completed the script for enemy airbases, targets to destroy, and OCA flights to take them out. More detailed target descriptions are still a work in progress, as is the code for calculating how the destruction of airbases and other strategic enemy targets, like fuel and ammunition logistics, will impact enemy air operations.

[Sandman Simulations]

The escort flights for good guys are ready, and dozens of pages of charts have been prepared. Unfortunately, a very significant, though not entirely unexpected, setback has arisen. When undertaking such an extensive dynamic campaign, the constant fear of performance issues looms, and now it seems this fear has materialized.

From the very start of the mission, a severe stutter issue occurs, even though no other aircraft or ground units have yet spawned. The stutter appeared to coincide with a script I created, which spawns and despawns static ground units depending on whether the player is within visual range. However, the stutter does not disappear even after removing these scripts, so the root cause might actually be the fact that the mission already contains well over ten thousand lines of triggers.

I’m still trying to find a way to resolve this issue, but it’s possible that the campaign may never become playable enough for official DLC.

All I can do is laugh when I think about the time spent on the project.

Edited November 16, 2024 by Sandman Simulations

[Darcaem]

Just here to thank you for your effort and encourage you to persist. All of you, campaign creators, make DCS alive

[rob10]

Ouch .  That'll be very unfortunate if you can't work around that.  I'll 2nd the sentiment that I appreciate the effort 3rd party campaign makers put into their work.

Edited November 17, 2024 by rob10

[Shurik75]

7 часов назад, Sandman Simulations сказал:

I’m still trying to find a way to resolve this issue....

I hope everything works out for you!  

[draconus]

On 11/16/2024 at 9:05 PM, Sandman Simulations said:

I’m still trying to find a way to resolve this issue, but it’s possible that the campaign may never become playable enough for official DLC.

Good luck optimising the code or you'll have to back off a bit on the scale of the project

A tip: not all triggers have to be checked every (mili)second and not every action has to be this fast either but I have no idea if DCS can handle such differentiation and stucked commands.

Edited December 11, 2024 by draconus

[Sandman Simulations]

Finally, after three months of work, I have reached the same point where the stutter issue first appeared. A lot of optimization and compromises have been necessary, but now it seems that the project can continue.

Next, the plan is to make the player's wingman fully functional. Originally, I had intended to use a stock wingman, but it cannot be commanded to attack enemy airfields or strategic targets, which significantly limits its usefulness. Of course, the stock wingman is still capable of SEAD, CAS, and CAP missions.

I will start exploring whether it would be practical to create a separate wingman and give the player the ability to issue commands for specific missions.

[Sandman Simulations]

For three weeks, I tried adjusting the code for an individual wingman. The goal was to enable issuing commands to the wingman via the F10 menu, such as bombing specific targets, engaging enemy aircraft, etc. It worked well otherwise, but unfortunately, the F10 menu doesn't seem to handle unlimited load, as repeated bugs began to occur where the menu would freeze. I found this to be too unreliable for a campaign. The menu already includes mission code input and, after that, push and RTB command options for assigned flights. I ended up continuing with the stock wingman. The AI wingman performs quite well in CAS, SEAD, and CAP missions. When commanded, it attacks the nearest enemy ground troops or air defenses and can be directed against either a specific enemy aircraft or all nearby hostile aircraft. However, it is unable to conduct bombing runs on strategic targets, as predefined parameters cannot bnulle provided due to the numerous possible target options. In these missions, the wingman primarily serves as a protective escort against enemy air threats and air defenses.

[Sandman Simulations]

Over the past month, I have been working on calculations to determine the impact of actions of our troops on the enemy's air force, air defenses, and logistics, and consequently on the progress of ground battles. Finding the right balance in terms of difficulty requires an immense amount of testing.

At the beginning of the mission, the player receives a briefing on the progress of ground battles, active enemy air forces and air defenses, available friendly aircraft, and active enemy strategic targets. Based on this information, the player sets an objective for the mission and assigns flights to accomplish it. The assigned aircraft take off from two aircraft carriers and one land base, proceeding to designated holding areas. From there, the player orders flights to push at appropriate timings. The player can choose to participate in the mission as part of any squadron.

It is advisable to neutralize enemy air defenses before escort, sweep, or strike flights enter the area. However, at the same time, enemy fighters may pose a threat to SEAD flights. Destroying airfields and SAM sites directly impacts enemy strength in the next mission. Depending on the overall situation, the enemy may be able to restore some destroyed bases or air defense positions.

Ground forces can be supported by providing direct close air support. Destroying enemy strategic targets affects their ground forces' combat effectiveness, air force logistics, or attack helicopter activity, depending on the target. Eliminating enemy attack aircraft, in turn, reduces nullcasualties among friendly ground troops.

At the end of the mission, the player receives a debriefing on the situation's progress during the mission.