Operation Snowfox Escalation - Persian Gulf PvE Persistent Campaign

[Surrexen]

Operation Snowfox Escalation

 

Operation Snowfox Escalation is a self-contained persistent campaign for the Persian Gulf map. The mission will randomly choose targets throughout the map but you can do things in whatever order you like. You can fly any role you like, and if you are on your own, you can use the radio menu to request support flights of AI planes to assist you. Most modules have been included. You will be flying against Iranian forces, who are supported by the Russians. The mission utilizes Moose functions and custom scripts which have been included in the mission file. To allow the mission to provide persistency, it is necessary to de-sanitize 'lfs' and 'io' in MissionScripting.lua. This is a requirement for all features of the mission to work correctly.

 

Check the mission briefing for AWACS/Carrier Group/Refuelling frequencies etc.

 

Notes on requesting support flights:

- CAP/CAS/Anti-Shipping/SEAD and Pinpoint Strikes are available to call in, you can choose the sector they will fly to

- Only one flight of each type can be active at any given time, so choose carefully

 

Other radio options

- Check Current Objective will remind you what the current target is

- Target Report will give you coordinates and distance to the target, and if the target is a group it will tell you how many units are remaining in the group

- Abort Directives will allow you to send support flights back to base

- Skip Mission under Snowfox Options will allow you to put the current mission back into the pool and draw another one

- Snowfox Sound Options will allow you to toggle all custom sounds on or off

 

To Enable Persistency

Inside your DCS installation there is a folder called Scripts. Inside that there is a file called MissionScripting.lua, if you want persistency to work, edit this file (make a backup first if you like) and make the bit that looks like this:

 

do

sanitizeModule('os')

sanitizeModule('io')

sanitizeModule('lfs')

require = nil

loadlib = nil

end

 

Look like this instead:

 

do

sanitizeModule('os')

--sanitizeModule('io')

--sanitizeModule('lfs')

require = nil

loadlib = nil

end

 

Important: The user that runs DCS must also have write permissions to the installation directory or the lua files for persistency will not be generated.

 

Once you have done that, start DCS and launch the mission. The mission will then write out a list of dead units and statics to a pair of lua files inside the DCS root folder. A file is also generated to track the status of airfields. Another one is generated to track what you have built from the helo operations menu. Once these files exist, the mission will load those files when it starts up and remove the units and statics that were previously destroyed so you can pick up where you left off.

 

Note: MissionScripting.lua will need to be changed any time an update or repair is run.

 

Download here: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3313322/

 

General Flow

 

In the early game, there are a lot of neutral airbases. Periodically, red and blue AI generals will dispatch transport planes which will attempt to land at these bases. If they land, they will capture the airfield with a vehicle.

Once there are no neutral bases, the mission will ‘escalate’. The red general will then dispatch various strike packages ahead of transport helicopters towards a target airfield. If the transport helicopter lands, it will attempt to capture the airfield with a vehicle. The blue general will only dispatch a transport helicopter, so you need to clear a path for it yourself. Aside from this, using your own transport helicopter (Huey or Mi-8) you can bring an infantry team to an airfield, and they too will attempt to capture a base with a vehicle.

 

The status of the airfields is persistent between sessions.

 

Note that the red general will not target Al Dhafra or Al Minhad since that is where all the player client slots are located. The blue general will not target Lar, Jiroft, Shiraz or Kerman, as those airfields are beyond the scope of the mission.

 

Helo Operations Menu

 

Huey’s and Mi-8’s get a special menu to be able to call in infantry squads and cargo containers. Please note you need to join a helicopter slot after about 5-10 seconds into the mission before the menu can be automatically added. The infantry teams are specific to the FARPS (London and Paris).

 

Navy Seals, UAE Presidential Guard and the USACE 1^st Squad Engineers start at London FARP, DELTA Force, Sultan’s Special Forces and the USACE 2^nd Squad Engineers start at Paris FARP.

 

Cargo Containers will spawn at the nearest cargo loading zone to your helicopter. You can carry only one container or infantry group at a time. The locations of the infantry teams when they are on the ground, is persistent. To construct something, you will need the engineering team, and the required amount of containers to be present in the same area (the engineers construction zone, the construction zone is set when the engineers are “inserted” into an area). Cargo Loading Zones, Infantry pickup locations, Construction Zones, and Extraction zones can be smoked via the radio menu. Also note that the containers are loaded ‘on’ your helicopter, and not slingloaded.

 

Note: At the current time, repairing damaged constructions such as a HAWK site is not implemented, therefore, a HAWK site will only be persistent while it has all members of its group alive. This is because the amount of HAWK sites (and other vehicles you build) is restricted, and will allow you to build a new site when the mission reloads, instead of a semi-destroyed HAWK counting towards the total.

If you want to utilize combined arms, you can add a tactical commander slot, and allow ‘planes can control vehicles’ in the mission editor. This will allow you to be able to drive or command the M1A2 Abrams tanks, M818 Trucks, and Roland ADS systems. I would like to expand on the Helo Operations section, but it may not happen for a while.

 

Known Issues I Cannot Do Anything About So Don’t Ask

 

Occasionally, AI planes spawning at Khasab have a weird thing happen, where the flight leader will taxi to runway and take off correctly, but the wingman decides to taxi into the dirt and goes nowhere. I have no idea why this happens sometimes, and it appears to only happen at this airfield. I’m just going to assume that sometimes the wingman has been drinking too much of the radar coolant.

 

The carrier group has AI CAP planes and an S-3B tanker that will spawn on the deck and go hook up to the catapults. If players do not co-operate with the AI, horrible deck accidents may occur. In the interest of ‘immersion’ I am keeping these spawns starting from the carrier deck instead of air spawns. 99% of the time it is fine. If the AI get stuck on the deck and don’t/can’t launch for whatever reason, they will self-delete after about 5-10 minutes and respawn by themselves at a later time.

Edited January 9, 2021 by Surrexen

[zildac]

Thanks Surrexen :thumbup:

[Surrexen]

Small update made to the mission as I'd forgotten to swap it back to fog of war. This has been corrected.

[Super Wabbit]

Surrexen, awesome mission!  Quick question, is there a way to move or remove a Hawk battery?

[Surrexen]

1 hour ago, Super Wabbit said:

Surrexen, awesome mission!  Quick question, is there a way to move or remove a Hawk battery?

 

Not currently no.

[FoxTrotAlpha691]

Greetings, loving the new missions and the added functionality, however I have been unable to access the helo functions in game. I do not see any choices for them in the mission menu, I'm sure I'm missing something can you advise?

[Surrexen]

6 hours ago, FALT691 said:

Greetings, loving the new missions and the added functionality, however I have been unable to access the helo functions in game. I do not see any choices for them in the mission menu, I'm sure I'm missing something can you advise?

 

The helo ops menu will only add to Mi-8's and Huey's, you need to wait about 5-10 seconds before joining a helo slot after mission start, and the menu must have everything set up correctly for utilising persistence or the script will not run.

[Surrexen]

Mission updated to fix everything related to airfield names (I hope) after today's patch.

[Surrexen]

Mission updated again as ships in Jask and Havadarya harbour's ended up underneath the map due to the shoreline changes in the patch.

[Sabre05]

Hey Surrexen, 

 

First off thanks for making this and the several other endless sandbox missions you've made. They're quite a lot of fun to play. I would like to report a bug though. On both Snowfox and Escalation I have noticed that for several of the A2G spawns some of the vehicles will end up spawning inside of buildings which makes them damn near impossible to kill. Is this an issue that you're aware of and would it be possible to fix it?

 

Thanks again for all the hard work you've done on these missions.

[Surrexen]

6 hours ago, Sabre05 said:

Hey Surrexen, 

 

First off thanks for making this and the several other endless sandbox missions you've made. They're quite a lot of fun to play. I would like to report a bug though. On both Snowfox and Escalation I have noticed that for several of the A2G spawns some of the vehicles will end up spawning inside of buildings which makes them damn near impossible to kill. Is this an issue that you're aware of and would it be possible to fix it?

 

Thanks again for all the hard work you've done on these missions.

 

Neither mission spawn any ground targets, all ground targets are hand-placed. I have had some issues after this last patch with ships suddenly being under the map which I corrected yesterday. If you find any targets that are under the map or inside a building suddenly, then let me know the group names affected and I can fix it. I am not and have not updated the original Snowfox mission for many months and have no intention of doing so as the new mission (Snowfox Escalation) makes the old one completely obsolete.

[Sabre05]

On 12/19/2020 at 4:10 PM, Surrexen said:

 

Neither mission spawn any ground targets, all ground targets are hand-placed. I have had some issues after this last patch with ships suddenly being under the map which I corrected yesterday. If you find any targets that are under the map or inside a building suddenly, then let me know the group names affected and I can fix it. I am not and have not updated the original Snowfox mission for many months and have no intention of doing so as the new mission (Snowfox Escalation) makes the old one completely obsolete.

You know, you're right and I'm an idiot. I was thinking of Through The Inferno. THAT SAID, I stand by what I said earlier and that I really do enjoy this and other missions you have made. Sorry for the confusion!

[GolfJuliett]

Is it possible to add the SA-342 to the helo ops menu? Also, would you be able to implement pickups fr om captured airfields so you don’t have to spawn crates and troops from a farp. The maps are huge and it would take about 4 hours to build a Sam site if you fly from Farp London to khasab on your own. 

Also, would we be able to fly a c130 mod wh ere we can put the crates and troops in?

Thanks for making these awesome missions! 
GolfJuliett

[Scotch75]

Hey Surrexen,

I'm enjoying the dynamics in this fantastic mission, well done. Is there a way to randomise the mission start time, to get dawn, dusk, night mission variety?

Cheers!

Scotch


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[Surrexen]

14 hours ago, Scotch75 said:

Hey Surrexen,

I'm enjoying the dynamics in this fantastic mission, well done. Is there a way to randomise the mission start time, to get dawn, dusk, night mission variety?

Cheers!

Scotch


Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 

 

Unfortunately not, or I would have made the mission time persistent as well. The only way around it is to make multiple copies of the mission and set the weather/time etc differently on each one.

 

[Scotch75]

 
Unfortunately not, or I would have made the mission time persistent as well. The only way around it is to make multiple copies of the mission and set the weather/time etc differently on each one.
 

Ok, many thanks.


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