[sp / CO-OP MP] EXPANSION - a Dynamic Mission and Sandbox (all aircraft)

[cfrag]

cfrag’s
EXPANSION

V1.20 - 20240518

A DCS dynamic Mission and Sandbox

Download - ED User Files

ABOUT EXPANSION
In Expansion, you are part of an ongoing larger battle to conquer the region. You are free to choose your own aircraft and mission (be it close air support, CSAR, combat patrol or similar), and if you choose to help your side's current tactical and strategical goals, that helps a lot. Holding off Red Forces from capturing Nalchik is likely and routinely accomplished by Blue's AI without your help. Expanding Blue's reach to hold half of the map requires moderate player skills. Turning the tables on Red and holding three airfields requires focus and dedication. Winning the scenario is possible, and a true achievement. Expect a full play-through to take some 15 to 20 hours, usually a lot more - this is a dynamic mission after all, and the opposing side will become increasingly aggressive when it loses. Expansion supports "persistence" (see notes) to save and resume your campaign at a later date. Expansion supports (actually: thrives) as multiplayer, so bring your friends. Since it’s a Sandbox dynamic mission, you can leave it running on a server for anyone to join on their own time.

You can win Expansion in single-player, and it is a lot more fun in multiplayer.

Expansion's strategic objective is to capture all four airfields of the region:

• Nalchik
• Beslan
• Mozdok
• Mineralnye Vody

The mission starts with BLUE side holding only one airfield: Nalchik. AI will assign tactical objectives as it sees fit. The battle progresses around you in real-time and responds to your actions. Both side's AI Admirals task their units dynamically and according to their tactical needs - so plan your own flights accordingly. And yes, Red WILL try and re-capture any strategic location that you took. And it will succeed if you don't help.

HELPING YOUR SIDE
The overall battle is controlled by AI Admirals for BLUE and RED that task their troops. They will direct their forces and assign primary and secondary objectives.

Initially, you should focus on supporting your side’s secondary objectives, as they help your side to expand control over the battlefield, and allow your side to secure a steady income that you (the players) then can spend on tactical support.

INCOME
When your side captures strategic locations (for example: the "Gigawatts Power Plant" south of Nalchik), these generate income for your side. The more locations that your side holds, the greater your income.

Another source of income is direct enemy attrition: for every enemy unit that a player destroys, your side gains some income - provided that the pilot can land their plane at a player-controlled airfield or FARP.

A third source of income is rescuing downed pilots and returning them to a player-controlled airbase or FARP.

A fourth is successfully inserting troops into enemy locations to capture them.

Your side's income is regularly gathered and added to your side's available funds. Funds are available to all players on the same side. And funds are meant to be spent - "funds are only valuable as long as they are used". Use them wisely. 

SPENDING FUNDS
You spend your side's funds in various ways:

• to directly repair and/or upgrade a location's defenses. For this you must land inside that location and come to a full stop. At that point you can access the menu to repair or upgrade local defenses. Note that all defenses must be repaired before you can upgrade. The cost for upgrades and repairs vary by location.
• to order strategic upgrades / repairs. This transfers funds to your control authority and the AI decides where these funds are invested. The drawback is that you don't know where the funds will be invested. The advantage is that you don't have to be on location.
• to order support in the form of SEAD, CAP or CAS flights for a region.
• to order a strategic insertion force to attempt taking an enemy-held (or neutral) location. Which location to take is a decision made by your command authority.
• to order a missile strike on one of the four strategic targets. Note that these missiles (Tomahawk cruise missiles) have to traverse significant distance to arrive at their target, expect 15-20 minutes.

And remember: there are few things less useful to a pilot than

• altitude above you
• runway behind you
• fuel in the truck
• funds still in the bank

 

AVAILABILITY OF AIRCRAFT
Blue aircraft are only available on airfields that belong to BLUE. You cannot ‘slot’ into an aircraft that sits on an airfield or FARP that doesn’t belong to BLUE. This is intentional: one key aspect of Expansion is to capture more FARPs and airfields to extend your reach.
As of version 1.2 of Expansion, this feature is available also for single-player. 

CAPTURING STRATEGIC LOCATIONS
You win Expansion by capturing strategic locations that increase your income, and then by using that income in smart ways to further your campaign. So make capturing locations all over the map your goal. The first step is to wear down defenses: SEAD and CAS the location until it's next to helpless. Be wary that enemy AI can (and will) order repairs and reinforcements, so if possible, loiter near a defenseless location until it's really captured. Once captured, spend funds to beef it up.

If you have helicopter pilots among your players, the easiest way to capture a location is to make sure that there are no enemy units inside the area (check the F10 map), and then place your own units inside the zone. Some Helicopters (Hind, Hip, Huey, Hook) can spawn and transport troops (check Other->Airlift Troops).

If you don't have anyone who can chopper a chopper over the shed, you'll have to tough it out: see which tactical objective the AI is working at, support it, and occasionally transfer funds to order a capture attempt.

RESCUING DOWNED PILOTS
Quickly, the map will be littered with pilots requesting extraction. Some helicopters (Hip, Huey, Hind, Hook and Gazelle) are equipped for CSAR. Land next to the downed pilot (or hover close to them), and then return the pilot to one of your airbases/FARPs. Doing so will give a substantial boost to your available funds.

LONG RANGE FLIGHTS (“SWABBIES”)
Due to popular demand, CVN 73 “George Washington” is cruising up and down the Caucasus coast, with F/A-18 and F-15B standing at the ready for people wo really dig long ingress (and, should you survive, egress). 
These aircraft also have access to a special “Request New Tanker” radio menu (available under “Other…”) that spawns a new tanker whenever chosen. The tanker spawns north of Honi (roughly between Senaki and Kutaisi) and heads northwest on a racetrack pattern towards Sukhumi-Babushara. The tanker’s TACAN is 11X and can be contacted at 255 MHz.

FREQUENCIES (optional, easy communications are enabled)

• FARP April – 132.5 MHz “London”, 14X
• FARP May – 137.5 MHZ “Dallas”, 15X
• FARP June – 142 MHZ “Paris”, 16X
• FARP October – 145 MHz “Berlin”, 20X
• FARP December – 155.5 MHz “Rome”, 22X
• AWACS – 251 MHZ “Overlord”
• George Washington – 254.5 MHz, TACAN 73X, ICLS 1, Link 331
• Shell – 255 MHz, 11X

 

A NOTE ON ENEMY AI
Initially, enemy strategy AI is almost docile - it is content with holding most of the territory and killing you in a vaguely unfriendly way. This changes with the number of strategic locations that you capture. Once you start closing in on it, Red AI becomes aggressive, and at some point, positively vicious. So, enjoy the time when it just tries to crush you.

A NOTE ON PERSISTENCE (SAVING THE MISSION)
Expansion automatically saves the state of the mission every 5 minutes, so should you wish to end and later continue the mission, the maximum you lose are 5 minutes. All typical restrictions to DCS mission saving apply:

• your (server's) DCS installation must be 'de-sanitized'
• upon reload, the day's time is reset to mission starting time (08:00 local)
• ground units reset to full health
• all airborne units are wiped
• all currently open missions reset

To enable persistence, you must 'de-sanitize' DCS. Edit "\Scripts\MissionScripting.lua" in your main DCS installation folder:

 Look for:

do
    sanitizeModule('os')
    sanitizeModule('io')
    sanitizeModule('lfs')
    _G['require'] = nil
    _G['loadlib'] = nil
    _G['package'] = nil
end

and change it to:

do
    sanitizeModule('os')
    --sanitizeModule('io')
    --sanitizeModule('lfs')
    _G['require'] = nil
    _G['loadlib'] = nil
    _G['package'] = nil
end

 (put double dashes in front of the two that contain "sanitizeModule('io')" and "sanitizeModule('lfs')"), then save the file. If you are ham-fisted like me, make a backup first.

From that point on, Expansion saves its current state every 5 minutes into a folder called "Expansion (data)" that resides inside your DCS missions folder. If you want Expansion to start from the beginning, delete that folder before starting Expansion.

NOTES FOR SINGLE PLAYER 
CHANGE NOTICE:
Earlier versions of Expansion did not support single-player slot blocking. As of Expansion Version 1.2, single-player and multi-player slot blocking is supported.

NOTES FOR MULTI-PLAYER 
CHANGE NOTICE:
Earlier versions of Expansion required "SSB" be installed on the server to support dynamic slot blocking. As of version 1.2 of Expansion, this is merely recommended for a better user experience. If SSB is not running on the server, Expansion now supplies its own lightweight mission-based (instead of server-based) SSB-service. 
 

CUSTOMIZATION / PERFORMANCE NOTES -- Requires Mission Editor

ADDING YOUR OWN PLAYER AIRCRAFT
Expansion supports all DCS aircraft, yet it comes pre-configured with only a limited set. If “your” aircraft isn't amongst them, simply add them in Mission Editor. Make sure to remember to add them to all airfields. DO NOT add them onto a numbered parking slot, place them with "FROM GROUND" instead (hot or cold, your call).

EYE CANDY
Expansion comes pre-configured to use 'StopGap', a little utility that fills empty player slots with static stand-ins. This makes airfields look much cooler and contributes little else but using up performance close to these airfields. See below how to enable / disable this feature should it crush your PC’s performance.

 DIFFICULTY
Expansion runs on difficulty 1 (“Kindergarten”) by default. You can change it to other, “more manly” values (smaller than 1 reverts to 1). Ramping up difficulty means that your side starts with fewer funds, and RED is allowed to more might to crush you. I’m a wuss, and I prefer difficulty 1.

AUTO-SCALING DIFFICULTY
Expansion's enemy AI Admiral's aggression scales with the number of players. The more players participate, the more enemies Red can throw against Blue. 

HOW TO CUSTOMIZE EXPANSION
Everything in Expansion is controlled with trigger zone attributes, there is not a single line of code to change. The first step to customize Expansion is always this: click on the "view trigger zone list" (three interlocking rings). Then find the trigger zone described below.

Changing Difficulty
Open the trigger zone "expansionConfig". Look for the name 'difficulty' and change its value. Default is 1.

Turning Eye Candy ("StopGap") on/off
Open the trigger zone "stopGapConfig". Look for the value "onStart". Change it to "yes" or "no". Default is "yes" (eye candy is enabled)

WARNING: stopGap for multiplayer requires that the server (and only server) has the small 'stopGapGUI' script running to work around a DCS bug and facilitate client synchronization. If your planes crash down to the ground when you enter their cockpit, your server needs to install stopGapGUI.

Changing time limits on CSAR missions
CSAR missions are automatically limited to 3 hours, after which the pilot expires. You can change this with the csarManagerConfig zone: Look for the attribute named “timeLimit”. It’s set to 180, meaning 180 minutes until a pilot dies after ejecting. You can either delete the attribute entirely (by clicking on the trash can), which disables time limits entirely, or set it to a ridiculous value like ‘99999’ (which some 70 days playing time)

Hot/Cold starting
Expansion comes with most aircraft set to HOT START. Some people prefer cold starts (especially more seasoned players, who find some of the more unusual “hot”-started settings questionable). To change an aircraft to COLD, click on the aircraft, and choose your preferred starting method. ALWAYS USE "FROM GROUND". Rinse and repeat for all other instances of that aircraft on all airfields (and FARPS for helicopters)

Adding the Blackhawk
If you want to add the Blackhawk helicopter (a player-controlled MOD) the mission automatically supports its use in CSAR missions. Simply add it to wherever you prefer with Mission Editor. Expansion recognizes it for CSAR and Troop Transport missions.

MODIFY, BUT PLEASE DO NOT PUBLISH
You are free to modify Expansion to your heart’s content. I ask you to not, however, post your version of Expansion (modified or otherwise) on-line. Running your own version of Expansion as a mission on a multiplayer server is fine, though – and decidedly encouraged by me – I’d love to see how and what you make of Expansion.

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Expansion would have been impossible without the kind support and deep bow to:

• "Expansion" is inspired by @Dzsekeb phenomenal "Foothold" and "Pretense" missions. Expansion represents my re-imagination of Dzsekeb’s game ideas, and I’m humbled by his implementation.
• My thanks to the kind people at 61st Griffins and @bitboy for stress-testing Expansion
• Voice Acting by Elevenlabs
• Mission created with DML by cfrag

COMING ATTRACTIONS (?)
Expansion is a truly complex mission, and yet there already is a (growing) list of things that I may want to add if feedback warrants it:

• Tie TACAN availability to an upgrade per location
• Some devilish AI tricks like
  • ‘revenge strikes’ for captured locations
  • Stronger target prioritization (that May FARP is just “my precious”)
• Bombing missions (purchasable from both sides)
• AWACS support
• Convoy escort missions
• More/better audio effects

FEEDBACK WANTED
Expansion wouldn’t be what it is today without all the feedback that I’ve received. Keep it coming, and please keep it constructive. Naming your first-born after me is entirely optional. Please add your feedback in this thread.

VERSION HISTORY

Version 1.00 - Initial Release

Version 1.01 – Minor Update  

• Turned off stopGap (single-player only) for all FARP helos to work around DCS 'sky falling down' bug  
• Activated stopGap's refresh option: once an hour 
• AI difficulty > 1 makes AI more likely to do bad things to players  
• Better audio f/x for funds and TACAN responses  
• Mission restarts automatically after 8 hours runtime (multiplayer only) 
• reduced verbosity  
• Changed mission date and time  
• Fixed a potential error when spawning AI flights

Version 1.02 Minor Update 

• fixed rather silly and embarrassing TACAN sound bug
• slightly moved all helicopters in FARPS to be immediately within service range of FARP vehicles
• reworked some TACAN descriptions to better fit with existing descriptions

Version 1.10 - Swabbies & CSAR Update

• Added George Washington carrier 
• Added FA-18 CATOBAR - note 250 nm ingress!
• Added F-14B CATOBAR - note 250 nm ingress!
• Added Shell tanker for swabbie flights 
• Added ability to request Shell at will (swabbies only)
• Added ingress and egress routes for swabbie flights 
• Provided all FARPs with their own Frequency
• Frequency reference added to manual 
• CSAR missions now all have a time limit of 3 hours before they expire
• Persistence status no longer displayed 
• Repairing an owned location also repairs all FARP service vehicles for that location
• Sound f/x when CSAR times out / pilot KIA
• Nalchick CAP also can use Eagle 
• Nalchick SEAD can also use Tornado 
• FARPs now correctly spawn resource vehicles on loading from storage 
• Income sound f/x

Version 1.11

• Fixed a persistence (“save game”) bug that affected some units on airfields

Version 1.20

• now supports slot-blocking in single-player
• now supports slot-blocking on servers that aren’t running SSB 
• fixed a cosmetic bug that appeared after winning the mission 
• upgraded Mineralnye's defenders 
• added Tomahawk missile capability 
• smart tomahawk target res points 
• insertions now deduct their price from funds 
• Tomahawk strikes can be ordered for all primary objectives 
• added some eye candy to the Washington 
• completing an objective nets §1000 
• an AWACS is available on-demand, once per hour, free.

Enjoy,

-ch

Edited Saturday at 07:48 AM by cfrag

[jacobs]

Thanks a lot! It sounds fun. BTW, can I add a GCI script like Dzsekeb put on pretense?

[cfrag]

16 minutes ago, jacobs said:

BTW, can I add a GCI script like Dzsekeb put on pretense?

I guess that would rather depend on the script. I don't know why it shouldn't work, only one way to find out, I guess

 

[orbir]

Would you consider renaming config zones, so they are grouped together in the Zone List to make them easier to find and identify?

Below I just added "_" at the beginning, but something like "Config autoCSAR" would work too.

Edited May 4 by orbir

[Chicki]

Hi.  Trying to run this on my server.  I put the SSB file in the Hooks folder.  Just dropped it in, no editing.  I noticed there's a do script called cfxSSB in the triggers.  Does that relate to ciri's SSB?  Sorry, totally confused.  I also get some script errors.  See attached.  Love to try this mission.  Looks like a hoot.  Thanks.

[Mistermann]

Thank you, @cfrag!  It was so disappointing to see the demise of pretense, foothold and some of the other dynamic missions out there.

Can't wait to give this a try with my buddies.

[Grindmetal]

In April, there is no way for Farp to arm and refuel? @cfrag

[cfrag]

13 hours ago, orbir said:

Would you consider renaming config zones, so they are grouped together in the Zone List to make them easier to find and identify?

I appreciate the idea, although I'm not convinced of its benefits. Although many things in DCS force us into habits from a millennium gone by, alphanumeric sorts aren't one we have to abide by. Simply click on 'show all', and you can find all config zones, bunched up together, and color-coded yellow. GUIs are so much better than lists, and I prefer to not be restricted by naming schemes unless we really have to. I deem the effort to change that (and all of DML) for a usability return for a feature that belongs to years yonder not be substantial enough. Let's use the visual editor in ME instead. 

[cfrag]

9 hours ago, Chicki said:

Hi.  Trying to run this on my server.  I put the SSB file in the Hooks folder.  Just dropped it in, no editing.

... and? Does it work? Did you fully restart DCS before trying?

10 hours ago, Chicki said:

I noticed there's a do script called cfxSSB in the triggers. 

That is a small mission script that, when SSB is present, disables player slots in multiplayer that are inside airspace/fields that do not belong to the player's faction. It's the mission-side counterpart to the server-side SSB script.

10 hours ago, Chicki said:

I also get some script errors.  See attached. 

Thank you so much. I'll investigate and hopefully have a fix asap. 

[cfrag]

7 hours ago, Grindmetal said:

In April, there is no way for Farp to arm and refuel?

There should be, but your side must own April, and April must have spun up (some 30 seconds after you capture it) and you must be in range of the FARP utility vehicles.

Edited May 5 by cfrag

[cfrag]

Version 1.01 - Minor update -20240505

• Turned off stopGap (single-player only) for all FARP helos to work around DCS 'sky falling down' bug  
• Activated stopGap's refresh option: once an hour 
• AI difficulty > 1 makes AI more likely to do bad things to players  
• Better audio f/x for funds and TACAN responses  
• Mission restarts automatically after 8 hours runtime (multiplayer only) 
• reduced verbosity  
• Changed mission date and time  
• Fixed a potential error when spawning AI flights

[Grindmetal]

i get this error 

When I click on the radio menu to see TACAN, the error appears

null

2024-05-05 23:40:06.637 ERROR   SCRIPTING (Main): Mission script error: [string "tacan = {}..."]:379: Parameter #2 (sound file name) missed
stack traceback:
    [C]: ?
    [C]: in function 'outSoundForCoalition'
    [string "tacan = {}..."]:379: in function <[string "tacan = {}..."]:350>
2024-05-05 23:40:06.660 INFO    DXGUI_WIN_ADAPTER (Main): resize main window to [0, 0]

null

function tacan.doListTacan(args) 
    tacan.GC(true) -- force GC, once.
    
    -- collect all neutral and same (as in args)-side tacans 
    local theTs = {}
    for name, theZone in pairs(tacan.tacanZones) do 
        if theZone.coa == 0 or theZone.coa == args then 
            for idx, aTacan in pairs(theZone.spawnedTACANS) do  
                table.insert(theTs, aTacan)
            end 
        end
    end
    
    if #theTs < 1 then 
        trigger.action.outTextForCoalition(args, "No active TACAN.", 30)
        trigger.action.outSoundForCoalition(args, tacan.actionSound)
        return 
    end
    
    local msg = "\nActive TACAN:"

    for idx, aTacan in pairs(theTs) do 
        msg = msg .. "\n  - " .. aTacan.activeCallsign .. ": " .. aTacan.activeChan .. aTacan.activeMode
        if aTacan.desc then 
            msg = msg .. " - " .. aTacan.desc 
        end 
    end
    msg = msg .. "\n"
    trigger.action.outTextForCoalition(args, msg, 30)
    trigger.action.outSoundForCoalition(args, tacan.actionSound)
end

 

Edited May 6 by Grindmetal

[eric963]

Getting the same error myself.

[cfrag]

7 hours ago, Grindmetal said:

When I click on the radio menu to see TACAN, the error appears

Thank you @Grindmetal and @eric963 for reporting those issues.

<blush> I have no idea how that one slipped by regression testing, it's a really silly typo while reading the configuration. Confirmed, re-produced. blushed, and fixed. It will be included in an update scheduled for later today, after some more regression testing.

The Issue with FARPs not providing services appears to be distance-related (the player-controlled units must be inside a DCS-specific distance) or they do not receive service. I'll go over and re-position the spawn points for each FARP individually. This may take a little bit longer and not be part of the upcoming hotfix.

[cfrag]

Oh boy, I had forgotten just how annoying FARP set-up in DCS can be. I'll bite the bullet and change all FARPS so that players do not have to relocate their helicopter to the correct spot, as it is truly difficult to find, and not at all intuitive.

[cfrag]

Version 1.02 - Minor Update - 20240506

•    fixed a rather silly and embarrassing TACAN sound bug
•    slightly moved all helicopters within FARPS to be immediately within service range of FARP vehicles
•    reworked some TACAN descriptions to better fit with existing descriptions

[Grindmetal]

Is there a tool that changes all client slots to Cold start without having to do it 1 by 1?

[cfrag]

15 minutes ago, Grindmetal said:

is there a tool that changes all client slots to Cold start without having to do it 1 by 1?

If you find one, please let me know. It should be simple, but this is DCS, I guess.

[Grindmetal]

 

35 minutes ago, cfrag said:

If you find one, please let me know. It should be simple, but this is DCS, I guess.

I'll find a way

[Grindmetal]

@cfrag  changed Work  File MIssion use notepad++

Edit - Changing it like this doesn't work

 

EDIT2: 

ready now it works
you have to do the following

change these two lines in the MISSION file in the MIZ file

["action"] = "From Ground Area Hot",

["type"] = "TakeOffGroundHot",

for

["action"] = "From Ground Area",

["type"] = "TakeOffGround",

With Notepad++ you can make mass changes, it's easier

 

Edited May 7 by Grindmetal

[cfrag]

8 hours ago, Grindmetal said:

you have to do the following

Thank you for taking the time - yeah that works. I was hoping for some slightly more automated approach that gets me around having to extract "mission" from the miz, replace all actions/types (with the exceptions that are part of my scripts of course - else a nasty surprise) and then put everything back into the miz. It still beats doing it mano a mano, for sure, so thanks again. Perhaps at some later day when XP has settled a bit I'll look into an automation script that can do that for me. I still think that ED should have an option in mission settings pop-up where you can choose between 'Start up:' - 'îndividual'/'all hot'/'all cold'. It would save so much time, and is trivial for ED to implement when they read the mission file. Guess I'll request this in the appropriate forum.

EDIT - done 

 

Edited May 7 by cfrag

[Diablo 1-1]

A FARP needs utility vehicles or structures to rearm and refuel if I am not mistaken. I can still can't rearm or refuel at the April FARP due to this. I added a bluefor m939 heavy for ammo and a hemtt refueler at farp april for a temp solution.

[cfrag]

57 minutes ago, Diablo 1-1 said:

A FARP needs utility vehicles or structures to rearm and refuel if I am not mistaken

You are not mistaken. However, they spawn automatically 30 seconds after you capture the FARP. are you sure that you have captured it (i.e. that you have boots on the ground, not just your helicopter). Note also that single-player XP lets you spawn in neutral FARPS because SSB isn't active, so maybe check that as well. The FARP must be marked in BLUE on your F10 map. 30 seconds after capture, the utility vehicles spin up for the capturing side

[Diablo 1-1]

1 hour ago, cfrag said:

You are not mistaken. However, they spawn automatically 30 seconds after you capture the FARP. are you sure that you have captured it (i.e. that you have boots on the ground, not just your helicopter). Note also that single-player XP lets you spawn in neutral FARPS because SSB isn't active, so maybe check that as well. The FARP must be marked in BLUE on your F10 map. 30 seconds after capture, the utility vehicles spin up for the capturing side

Yeah it was blue. I did not start over from 1.01 to 1.02 if that matters. I do remember them spawning in .01. They spawn around the TACAN if I remember correctly. I tried a couple ways, going to spectator for 30 seconds, spawning at NAL airfield first, and spawn there and sat for 30 seconds. I even re downloaded the mission and replaced it. Hope the screenshot helps my case. My next step would be to restart, but I wanted to see if there was something not triggering right first. If its too blurry, the time says 06:31:29.

[cfrag]

51 minutes ago, Diablo 1-1 said:

I did not start over from 1.01 to 1.02 if that matters. I do remember them spawning in .01.

Thank you, that may be the hint that I’m looking for, will have to verify. It’s possible that persistence either didn’t save those vehicles, or that they got destroyed in the meantime (red seems to attack service vehicles first when attacking FARPS). In any event, I’ll to it that service vehicles at farps are regularly refreshed or can be repaired from the funds / repairs / upgrades menu.