SE Software -  FAQ/How TO (Version 2.0)

SEOW is an open source add-on to Maddox Games' IL2 series.

Last updated 23 October 2005    (here is the SE1.0 version)

Campaign Overview

System Overview

Requirements and Recommendations

Non-English Installations

Software Installation (for Hosts)

DCS Options and Configuration

How to Make a Template

Initializing a Template

The Mission Planner and How to Use it With the DCS

 

Scorched Earth Campaign Overview

Scorched Earth Online War  (SEOW) is a persistent coop campaign system. The system is initialized with a starting template which includes all of the squadrons and moving ground objects that will take part in a given theatre of operations. The system will then allow for hourly mission generation based on direct input from two opposing commanders, one Allied and one Axis. The system will also allow sub-commanders of individual units. All air operations are planned using a web-based mission planner. You classify which flights will attack available targets, and when. You have the ability to quickly assign escort flights to any given strike flight. Fog of war persists throughout, with recon levels affecting the amount of information that opposing commanders can use to plan missions. The mission plans for any given hour in the day cycle are merged based upon the plans of the opposing sides. The mission is generated local to the Host computer, then hosted to the squadrons taking part in the online campaign. The best part of all of this is that the damage is persistent. If you take out a bridge early in the day, it will still be destroyed several hours (missions) later. As you can see, SEOW expands upon elements featured in previous online campaigns, but a major aspect of SEOW is that it offers persistent damage templating, as well as an open source format. If you feel like a part of SEOW is not to your liking, code a new one. We hope to make the process of providing modifications to the system as smooth as possible and centralized via http://www.sourceforge.net/

System Overview

There are three main parts to SEOW: the Dynamic Campaign System (DCS), the database (DB), and the Mission Planner (MP). The DCS is a Win32 executable program front-end to a SQL-compliant database (DB) backend. The front-end allows for the initialization of a template mission for a given map in the campaign. It is intended that the full release system will support all of the existing Forgotten Battles+PF maps, but within the 2.0beta milestone, Ardennes, Crimea, Kuban, Kursk, L'vov, Moscow, New Guinea, Normandy, Prokhorovka, Smolensk, Stalingrad and Tunis are the only maps fully completed in the DB. Once you see the granularity of object tracking, you'll understand why only a few maps are currently supported. There are plans to support Pacific Fighters as well, but not every feature is done for that yet: carrier group operations and planning will require augmentations to the MP. The MP itself is a web application that acts as a mission planning tool for all commanders active in the campaign. The MP handles all aspects of mission planning, reconnaissance, reinforcement etc. Presently the MP is available only as a PHP application, connecting to the standard SEDB via a (free) third-party ADO library.

Requirements and Recommendations For Scorched Earth HOST installation

• Free options: MS Internet Information Service with PHP added (only supplied by Microsoft on XP Pro, Win2K Pro/Advanced Server, not XP Home!. IIS is installed via the control panel "add/remove programs". Full admin access to the HOST pc is required in order to add/remove windows applications.); Xitami Web Server with PHP added, Abyss Web Server with PHP added; Apache Web Server with PHP added.

Plus, to run the DCS,

• Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 (Required to run DCS)
  • .NET Framework download
• MyODBC v3.51.11 (Required to run DCS)
  • MyODBC v3.51.11 download

Plus, to run the SE DB, either

• Microsoft Access 2000 or higher (Local installation model)
  • ACCESS is used to view the .mdb database file that holds mission results and mission planning requests. It is vital for anyone wishing to modify the Scorched Earth code to be able to view and understand the ACCESS database.

or

• MySQL 4.0 or higher (Remote installation model)
  • MySQL is a free server application that commonly runs on ISP systems of any operating system flavour. It is perfect for setting up public online wars using SE. You can download it from here.

SEOW and Non-English Installations

The SE software has been developed using English (Australian and US flavours) as a localization culture. Reports from users indicate that the DCS and MP are stable when installed in these localization environments. However, there have been reports of significant errors when installing in some European localizations (there are no known users in Africa and Asia so far). In discussions with a user (ft, aka Fred, from Sweden) the MP was brought up to localization compliance some months previously. Major issues involved the use of the character "," instead of "." when delimiting decimal places. Recently, with DCSv1.0beta(H), several French users (Meliok, Findo) reported DCS errors. French localization also uses the "," character as a decimal delimiter, as do some other European cultures. In DCSv1.0beta(I), the DCS is explicitly told to run using the "Invariant" culture. Users can set localization options for their PC using the "Regional and Language Settings" control panel. So far, just changing the decimal delimiter has not eliminated all DCS errors. There is some suggestion that end-of-line characters may also be different in the various locales. We are keen to address this issue! If there is a programmer out there with Visual Studio .NET who wants to tackle this, just drop us a line at scorchedearth@yahoogroups.com . We will make a full VS solution file of the latest DCS available for download to any interested programmer.

Update on Localization: French users report that setting the PC localization to English(US) and using versions of DCS1.0beta(I) or later has fixed the localization problem. As far as we know, there are no outstanding problems with SE v2 and European-style localization.

Scorched Earth Software Installation (for Hosts)

Download the SE System files from the SEOW File Releases page at Sourceforge. You need the latest DB, DCS and MP (choose either ASP or PHP version) releases - that is 3 separate files.

DCS Installation

The DCS installation is self explanatory. Just download the .msi file, remove any previous DCS install on your PC, run the new .msi and it will

1. Prompt you to supply an installation location for the DCS;
2. Install the DCS program. Easy!

Please note that DCSv2 installs a "DCS.ini" file in your user "My Documents" folder, in a newly created "SEDCS" subfolder. Test show that the .msi installer does this correctly, but you never know... The DCS.ini file is used to store your preferences between DCS sessions. The DCS will not run correctly unless you have already installed the .NET Framework 1.1 and MyODBC v3.51.11 (see above). Anyone can install the DCS as a standalone application - you don't need FB+PF, the MP or the DB to use the DCS. The DCS will quite happily connect to a remote MySQL DB and build new SE missions or analyze a log file. This standalone installation is a "Remote SE Campaign Host" install.

DB Installation

If you want to set up a SE database, you need to download the latest DB file. You have two choices: SEDB in MS Access format, or SEDB in MySQL format.

SEDB in MS Access Format

This is perfect for squad wars, LAN parties etc, where you just want a simple local installation of everything. Just download and unzip the SEDB MS Access file anywhere on your file system and name it whatever you like. Note that the DB contains all your campaign information: overwriting your current DB file with a new release will eliminate any current campaigns you might have. You may have to alter your SEDB folder privileges if you are using XP PRO (see below).

 

SEDB in MySQL Format

This is the option for the power user. Download and install MySQL 4.1 or higher and set up your own MySQL server (anywhere on the internet). Extract the .sql file from the SEDB MySQL zip file and import it into your MySQL database. Note that InnoDB table types are required by the DCS for best performance (row locking and transaction support). ASCII character sets are likely to be sufficient, but we have tested purely against Latin1. Set up the connection accounts to the database. The MP and DCS will connect to the database using whatever connection login  accounts you specify. For proper operation these login accounts must have SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, DELETE and EXECUTE privileges on the database. If you wish to autoarchive campaign files directly through the MySQL server, the accounts should also have the FILE privilege (but this is not recommended for security reasons).

How fast is MySQL? Well, this release of the DCS uses a very simple connection layer called MyODBC. This is easy to program with, but is known to be slow. The DCS also uses encapsulates ALL SQL queries within transactions. Another slow-down. Therefore DCS2.0 is not a fast MySQL implementation, our focus here in v2.0 was on establishing functionality rather than on performance tuning. Nevertheless, we have noticed some ways of boosting MySQL performance. First, use the compression setting - this can give 40% improvement on large queries. Second, MySQL 4.1 performs significantly faster than earlier MySQL versions, this may be something to do with the improved InnoDB engine support in 4.1. We hope to post here some benchmarking data on standard operations with different MySQL releases. The DCS now reports elapsed times for Analyze/Build operations. Feel free to perform your own tests using SE campaign templates and send the results to us - we will report the details here.

MP Installation

Finally you need to download the latest MP release, which is now available only in  PHP format (ASP is deprecated for SE2). Note: there is no sense in installing the MP unless you are already sure that your web server is running and handling PHP scripts properly. Delete any previous release of the MP and unzip the new MP into your web server document tree. You can do this without harming any campaign information you might already have in your DB. Depending on how you wish to set up your SE database(s), you may have to edit the MP\Scripts\MP-Connection.php script to locate the DB services you want. Alternatively, from MP-v4.36 onwards, you can use the in-built Connection Administration GUI:

This GUI is contained in the MP itself, at the URL http://localhost/ScorchedEarth/MP4/Scripts/MP-Admin.php (assuming you are using a local MP instal). You will need a password to use the GUI connection manager. This password is set in the Scripts\MP-Configuration.php file (near the top). To change entries, place your mouse cursor INSIDE each cell and type your information. Moving your cursor outside the cell will register the change (do not hit the ENTER key - this will execute the "Save Connection Settings" form button). MySQL connections require ALL fields to be filled. MS Access connections require only the last field to be filled. See MP-Connections.php file for more information if you are unsure. You can point each Sector at an entirely different database if you like, and you can use mixtures of Access and MySQL databases for different sectors, as above. Each database will potentially have its own commander login accounts. Also, note that the DCS does not yet support simple multiple database connections as elegantly as this - you must re-enter your DCS connections each time if you want to Analyze or Build in different databases. Note: your web server MUST have write access to Scripts\MP-Connection.php for this GUI to work.

The MP is a simple collection of PHP scripts and image folders, so you can install it anywhere on a PHP-enabled web server. For example, with IIS web server the MP is usually installed into the common IIS folder. In default setups, this is C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ .  In our cases, we create a ScorchedEarth folder manually within wwwroot. Then UNZIP the MP zip file into the c:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ScorchedEarth\ folder. Then set up your DB connections - as a first trial you may only want to use a single SEDB, so you can enter it as the default connection and use it for all sectors. Later you can reconfigure your DB connections as you need to.

To test the installation, open up your web browser and go to http://localhost/ScorchedEarth/MP4/

You will immediately get either a screen with a list of SE Sector names, or a screen showing that you have an incorrect DB connection setting for at least one sector. If you have got the DB connections sorted out, all you have to do is click on a Sector name and you will be directed to login as a valid commander in that sector.

Type admin as user and password as the password.

There will be no campaigns initialized into the system until you follow the next steps using the  supplied test template (or one of your own), and the DCS program.

VERY IMPORTANT STEP FOR XP PRO and MS ACCESS

In order for the MP to work with the MS Access database version, you may need to set your web server's  'webuser' account to have read/write/execute access to the folder where the .mdb file was stored. Go to that folder in Windows Explorer, and right click on the folder. Select Properties. In this dialog box you should see a Security tab.

NOTE IF YOU DON'T SEE SECURITY TAB!:

You will have to turn off "simple file sharing" for the folder. In order to turn off simple file sharing, you should go into the folder using Windows Explorer : Click on Tools/FolderOptions/View/ One of the last clickable options therein is "Use Simple File Sharing (Recommended)" UNCLICK THIS option. Now, go back out to the Data folder icon itself, right click, then click on Properties. You should see a SECURITY tab now that you have turned off simple file sharing.

You should see several users listed with permissions shown at the bottom. Click the ADD button.

Now, you are going to want to add an account for IUSR which is for any internet user that accesses this particular folder on your PC using IIS. You will need to give them full write, read and execute access to this and only this folder and to the DB (.mdb) file. The format of the entry is as follows

YourComputerName\IUSR_YourComputerName

You should be able to see your computer name in the other accounts. There should be for example a YourComputerName\administrators or similar account. Use that same computer name convention.

Once you've ADD'ed the new "Internet Guest Account" entry, give that entry Full Control (ALLOW checked on)

Voila! Sounds difficult, but what you are doing here is giving internet users full access to write to the .mdb file, so your campaign commanders can lodge their own missions.

DCS Options and Configuration

The DCS stores its configuration settings in a text file created at installation time. This file is the user's "My Documents\SEDCS" folder, and it is called DCS.ini. The DCS reads this at startup and writes out the latest preferences when closing. Other campaign-related options are held in the database.

The DCS has various options that can be set by the HOST to configure their own campaign system. In DCS 2.0 these options are accessed using a tabbed form displayed by selecting DCS:File:Options.

Database Tab

Here you can use the radio buttons to select either MySQL or MS Access database format:

MySQL

Because MySQL is a server, it requires address and security settings. To make a connection you will need to gather the following information from the SEDB host.

MySQL Server Address:  Can be IP number or domain name.

MySQL Server Port:  A number, default is 3306 for MySQL servers.

Use Compression:   Whether to perform compression of SQL queries (recommended).

Use Transactions:   Whether to encapsulate SQL queries in transactions (recommended).

Use Extended Inserts:   Whether to use MySQL-style extended inserts (recommended).

MySQL Server Login Name:  The account name to connect with.

MySQL Server Password:  The password associated with the Login Name.

Scorched Earth Database Name:  The name of the database on the MySQL server that contains the SE tables and information.

 

MS Access

MS Access is only supported in local/LAN mode, so the security requirements are lower.

MS Access Database Location:  An absolute path to the SEDB .mdb file, either on the local filesystem, or via a mapped drive (UNC format).

 

For both DB formats, the "Make Database Connection" button attempts to establish a ODBC connection to the database and test read/write operations. The Reset buttons clear all settings associated with the relevant connection format. All settings are saved in the DCS.ini configuration file when the DCS is closed.

Files and Splashscreen Tab

This tab covers locations of local files where the DCS reads and writes to, plus the display of the splashsceen.

• Show Splashscreen - uncheck this to stop the splashscreen showing. If it is showing, you can immediately abort the splashscreen by left-clicking on the image in the splashscreen.
• Over-write Old Logs - if checked the eventlogs will be over-written. Only the previous mission log is retained, i.e. 1-level retention. If unchecked, all log files will be stored locally in campaign sequence.
• Log File Location - the user chooses the file that the DCS will inspect for logs of hosted SE missions.
• Missions Folder - the user chooses where the DCS will look for hosted mission files (*.mis) and where the DCS will write newly created mission files (*.mis and *.properties).

Campaign Mode Tab

These settings configure the style of campaign you want. Set them before initializing a campaign and then do not change them. These settings are stored in the SE campaign database, so other DCS connections will pick them up automatically.

• AI Skill Setting - the recommended setting is "Balanced/Random" which assigns unit skills based on a particular weighting: Rookies and Average are common, Veterans less so, and Aces rare. All aircraft in each flight have the same skill. You don't want to encounter a flight of Ace I-16s!!!
• Enable Plane Refit Delays - if selected, the DCS keeps track of how long each aircraft type needs to refuel/rearm after each mission. Once set, this checkbox should remain unchanged throughout the campaign.
• Load Ground/Sea Units at Maximum Strength - if selected the DCS will initialize a campaign template with all ground and sea units loaded with maximum unit strength, i.e. a template containing a single BMW motorcycle will load that unit as a single platoon with 4 BMW motor cycles. Platoon strengths are defined in the Object_Specifications table. You can change these strengths as you see fit, but you must do it BEFORE you initialize a campaign template for it to take effect.
• Dynamic Reconnaissance - with this unchecked, both sides have perfect intelligence on the other's units. With it checked, the campaign is initialized with recon info generated randomly for a HOST-specified fraction of units on both sides. This recon decays over time, and both sides will rely upon information purely gained from ground unit proximity and whatever recon flights the commanders schedule.
• Automatic Bridge Repair - hosts have the option of allowing destroyed bridges to repair themselves after a configurable time interval.
• Automatic Industrial Repair - hosts have the option of allowing Factories and Fuel Dumps to repair themselves after a configurable time interval.
• Restore Factory Defaults - this button will reset all fields in the Campaign Mode and In-Game Environment tabs to "standard" values.

In-Game Environment Tab

These settings can be changed from mission to mission - they have no lasting effect on the campaign.

• Create Host Seat - the DCS creates missions for each campaign hour regardless of whether there a scheduled flights. This is so the ground war can continue. In such cases, a dummy seat is created so the host can physically run the mission. If desired, the HOST can disable this in any mission  by unselecting this prior to hitting the "Build Next Mission" button.
• Enforce Radio Silence - if selected, the DCS will insert the radio silence directives for all flights. Note that reinforcement flights automatically have radio silence ON. There will still be annoying radio chatter at landing time.
• Enforce Air Starts for Escorts - the HOST can enable this prior to "Build Next Mission" to force escorts to have air starts. This sometimes helps escorts meet their escorted units in time.
• Enforce Aircraft Loadouts - if selected this prevents human pilots from selecting their own armaments and fuel loads in the game. In this case, loadouts are determined by the Commander requests in the MP.
• Enable Burning Wreckage of Aircraft - if selected smokes/fires will be placed in the next mission at the locations of aircraft destruction (during the previous mission). Smokes/fires last only for 1 mission.
• Enable Burning Wreckage of Ground Units - if selected smokes/fires will be placed in the next mission at the locations of vehicle destruction (during the previous mission). Smokes/fires last only for 1 mission.
• Enable Burning Wreckage of Sea Units - if selected smokes/fires will be placed in the next mission at the locations of ship destruction (during the previous mission). Smokes/fires last only for 1 mission.
• Enable Burning Wreckage of Infrastructure - if selected smokes/fires will be placed in the next mission at the locations of factory, fuel dump and bridge destruction (during the previous mission). Smokes/fires last only for 1 mission.
• Barrage Balloon Model - there are 3 modes for placing barrage balloons at controlled airfields in each mission. Mode 0 is no balloons, mode 1 is balloons only at IDLE controlled airbases, mode 2 is balloons at ALL controlled airbases. Good for air defence but often catches friendlies too.
• Vehicle Breakdown Rate - this determines the percentage of stationary (parked) vehicles (on both sides of the war) that are rendered inert (non-combative) each mission, simulating repair/breakdown etc. This is a random feature, inert vehicles will change randomly between the units from mission to mission. Member vehicles of units with current movement orders will ALL be active. This is a neat way of reducing the FB+PF game load.
• Naval Rate of Fire - this can be set for each mission. Recommended value is 1.0 (historical rate) but lower rates might be useful for large ship numbers. This setting applies to ALL ships in the mission.

Remote Functions Tab

This tab contains some new functions for administering remote online wars.

• Automatically Upload Mission and Log Files - if selected, the DCS will upload mission files (.mis and .properties) to the MySQL database "SE_File_Buffer" table as they are created. As log files are analyzed they will be uploaded too. This provides campaign managers with an easy way of accessing all campaign files no matter which host's DCS is performing functions.
• MySQL Server Archive Folder - if this box is used the string contents will be interpreted as a filesystem pathname and the DCS will attempt to dump the contents of the SE_File_Buffer table to the pathname on the MySQL server immediately after files are uploaded. The pathname can contain expandable tokens (see the "?" button). This feature requires FILE access to the MySQL server.
• DCS Web Script URL - if this box is used the string will be interpreted as a URL to a script on the Internet, and the URL will be executed by the DCS via a HTTP POST command at the successful completion of each Initialize, Analyze or Build command. This provides campaign managers with a simple means of automatically running scripts on web sites at each new stage in the SE campaign. At present only the DCS version string is provided to the Web Script as a POST key=value pair. One potential combination of uses is to select the auto upload function, ignore the Server Archive and put the URL to a PHP script in the Web Script field. When executed by the DCS, the script could then dump the SE_File_Buffer to a zip file and archive it in a Web Portal, and then run a statistics script to display the outcome of the latest mission on a public web server.

How to make a template

Use IL2 PF/FB Full Mission Builder (FMB). All tanks and vehicles, both moving and static are supported within the template. The thing to remember though, is balance. You don't want to over do it, nor do you want an empty field of battle. You are free to plot any chiefs that you want to move in pre-determined routes in the campaign. For example; 5 hrs of plotted movement will equate to 5 hours real time in the campaign (an hour plotted for 5 separate hour long missions).  However, simple ground movement is supporting in the MP and DCS, so you don't actually need to plot movement for ground/sea objects in the template. Just be aware that simple ground movement takes no notice of terrain features, objects ordered to move in the MP will follow their routes literally using straight lines through towns, across rivers etc. The same applies for sea units. Note that carrier air operations are not yet supported.

To re-iterate, with SE2.0 there is NO NEED to build templates with all ground movement specified up front. SE2.0 fully supports dynamic air, sea and ground movement at the commanders' whims. SE campaigns are now open-ended!

Please note, scenery is supported and will now take effect! Feel free to place trees, buildings wherever you like to add atmosphere. They will be placed in each successive SE mission file, but their damage state will NOT be tracked.

Two BIG things to note about putting aircraft in the template are:

• Give ALL your desired aircraft units AIR STARTS with a few waypoints directing them to LAND at their intended deployment airbases. Once the template is loaded, all planes will be at their designated landing bases.
• NEVER use flight numbers in the 4th Staffel/Squadron/Daitai of any Gruppe/Regiment/Kokutai when you assign squadrons to your flights in the template. SE uses the 4th Staffel/Squadron/Daitai of all Gruppen/Regiments/Kokutai for internal routing, so if you take one of these names, errors may occur. For example, IV_JG7_13 is OK (means IV/JG7 Staffel 2 Schwarm 4) but IV_JG7_31 is BAD (means IV/JG7 Staffel 4 Schwarm 2).

Another new feature is the in-template support for campaign objectives. Template builders can now specify what campaign objectives each side will get. The objectives can be put inside the .properties file alongside the standard template .mis file. Put your general campaign background/context text inside the <ARMY NONE> tag (both sides can read the contents of this tag in the MP); then put your Allied campaign objectives inside the <ARMY RED> tag (only visible to Allied commanders in the MP) and your Axis objectives inside the <ARMY BLUE> tag for the Axis commanders to read. The template then is contained in TWO files, e.g "myTemplate.mis" and "myTemplate.properties". Of course, the host can alter campaign objectives at any time as he/she sees fit, using the MP "Manage Campaign" facility. Close both <ARMY RED> and <ARMY BLUE> tags with </ARMY>.

Initializing a Template

The Scorched Earth team will endeavour to offer a single test template per supported map. Presently there are 9 maps that are supported in 2.0beta; these are Ardennes, Crimea, Kuban, L'vov, New Guinea, Normandy, Prokhorovka, Stalingrad and Tunis. For example sake, we will talk about the Normandy template. The Normandy template mission is Normandy_1944.mis. To load this template is EASY - just start your DCS, make sure the DB is clean (DCS: File: Flush Database), then enter your desired host name and theatre name. Where it says HOST, make up a unique HOST system name. For example SE_YourName or SE_YourLocation or whatever you want. Then there is a theatre name, this is meant to distinguish your campaign, so use something catchy. The screenshot above shows this common naming convention. The Host Name is used as a prefix for missions created by this DCS PC. The Theatre Name is used to designate a single campaign. 

Then hit the "Initialize Campaign" button. This will bring up a file dialog box that you can use to find the Normandy_1944.mis file and hit OK. The DCS will then process the template file and load the database with the initial settings. I told you it was easy. You will see something like the following... all ready to build the next mission (this is where you start creating orders with the MP).

The Mission Planner and how to use it with the DCS

There are some old movie tutorials - they are out of date but they give you the general idea of how to use the MP - it is all point and click!

Planning a mission

Each hour is represented by one single merged mission. Orders from one side of the conflict are merged with orders from the opponent, each made in isolation from the other side. The only limitations to assigning orders are what units are available. You may want to take into consideration setting a hard limit via rules as an admin. For example, no more than 16 planes ordered per side. This functionality for scaling operations is not built into Scorched Earth (yet). For 1.0beta, you will have to scale your templates and mission orders appropriate to the number of humans you wish to support in flight and with consideration of potential online lag.

The actual process of planning a single sortie with the MP is easy. You just hit the CREATE NEW button. Select the UNIT to order. Select the total # of planes from that unit (full-strength units are "flights" of 4 aircraft) to partake in the attack. Select the hour timeslot you want the mission to be performed. A suggestion would be to have each commander only make orders for a single hour and then create the mission, analyze the results, and move on to new orders.

Once the three selections are made, the airfield where the unit is taking off from will be bordered (highlighted) in black. At this point, you should be able to left mouse click on any coordinate on the map to create a waypoint. KNOWN BUG: If you have issues left clicking and a waypoint being created, RIGHT mouse click and toggle all icons on and off. This usually kicks out the bug. You should be able to place any number of waypoints. If you notice, on the left frame of the mission planner, you will see the waypoint definitions spelled out in front of you. At any time, you can click on the speed or alt link and set that to whatever you wish. Also, you can set the type of waypoint to fly, ground attack, land, or withdraw. FLY, is obviously a normal waypoint. The flight will likely attack enemies if threatened. This is likely what you would use for all waypoints of a CAP or INTERDICTION flight. The G for GATTACK would be used for, well, ground attacks. Don't worry about the target to hit, you'll reset that after the mission is "finalized". As for landing, the easiest way to force a waypoint to a landing waypoint is to RIGHT CLICK and hit FINALIZE MISSION. This will automatically set the last waypoint to a landing waypoint at the nearest airbase. This makes mission orders very easy to complete. Another way to set a GATTACK waypoint is also found in the RIGHT mouse click menu. There are also several self explanatory selections to delete all waypoints, last waypoint etcetera. This is a relatively easy planner!

Setting a GATTACK target

If any of your waypoints are set to ground attack, you will have the option to pick which of the most closely located objects the flight will target. We recommend, given the possible DELAY in recon, that you chose "Target Area" for a target. Unless the target is a bridge, factory or urban zone, you have no clue if your recon is current or not. Most recon occurs with an hour delay. When you look at the map, the possible targets will either by ? question marks, or full symbols with information. The level of detail is dependent upon the level of recon against that unit. Recon is done both by ground unit proximity (and their range of recon ability) and recon flights.

One common question is "Why won't my bombers bomb the selected factory or fuel dump?" Here is the likely answer: the SE DCS places wagons and cars inside factory and fuel dump targets. The nationality of these dummy vehicles is set to be the same as the controlling side of the factory/fuel dump facility. Unless a nation has exerted control over the facility (i.e. made the facility's icon go red or blue in the MP), the dummy vehicle will be assigned a neutral nationality. AI flights cannot target neutral objects other than bridges. That is an IL2 limitation. Since either side may wish to destroy any neutral, enemy or friendly (!) target in the extremis of war, the DCS plays it strictly safe by observing the correct nationality at all times. So if you REALLY want to destroy a NEUTRAL or FRIENDLY industrial facility, get some humans to fly the mission. Of course, AI bombers quite happily destroy ENEMY industrial facilities.

Assigning escorts

After you set the flight order above, you assign escorts by clicking on the subsequently visible escort required pulldown menu and pick an option. You can then set whether they will fly the entire way or only portion of it. You also get to pick what flight will escort. The beauty of this is that you do not have to set waypoints for the escort ; they are automatically computed.

Once the mission escort is set, hit the YELLOW BUTTON to "Commit Mission for X" where X is the name of the unit. This will kick back a message from the HQ (literally a confirmation from the database) with all mission parameters seen. Voila, it's in the dbase ready to be created by the DCS executable. Please note that there is error correction upon hitting the YELLOW BUTTON. If you attempt to set a mission for a flight that is already assigned, it will reject and let you go back to the MP main gui to reset escort, et cetera.

Rinse, and repeat. Keep adding in orders to as many flights as you wish launch for that hour. In later betas, we will be including FUEL quantities per base. So beware, that in 1.0beta you can launch a lot of CAP, but later on, you may need to spare your FUEL.

Using Reinforcements

When reinforcements are available, the commander can use them at any time. At the moment, only aircraft are reinforced. Ships will appear in an upcoming MP release, then ground units in a later revision. For aircraft, there are two reinforcement methods (click the yellow Reinforcements button).

The first method is "Top-Ups". This is when aircraft from the reinforcement pool are used to bring under-strength active flights back up to full strength (4 planes). You can only top up understrength flights with reinforcements of identical type, i.e. a flight of 2 BF_109E4B fighters can only be topped up with BF_109E4B reinforcements, not BF_109E7. To issue top-up request, click Top-Ups. A menu of the possible top-ups will displayed on screen, based on matching the reinforcements with understrength flights. Select the desired top-ups (magenta line is drawn between Supply point and destination flight) and hit the yellow "Commit" button. Once accepted, the Top-Up flight (using a 4th Squadron transfer flight) will be flown in the next SE mission. No further action is required - the understrength flight will automatically be re-strengthed with the new aircraft that arrive successfully). Top Up flights cannot be given any combat task on their initial transfer mission. They can be flown by human pilots where appropriate to aircraft type.

The second method is "New Units". This is when the commander orders a totally new unit to be constituted from the reinforcement pool. The commander clicks "New Units", selects the type of aircraft, the destination base and the regimental name, then hits "Commit". This sets up the new flight in the database, and the flight's transfer mission to the destination is flown in the next SE mission. No further action is required. New Unit flights cannot be given any combat task on their initial transfer mission. They can be flown by human pilots where appropriate to aircraft type.

Here is a trap. If you are requesting New Units as the Admin user, you will be presented with a list of both Axis and Allied Regiment/Squadron/Flight names. Make sure you choose a name of the correct nationality! This *feature* does not occur for users logged in under Axis or Allied accounts.

Off Map flights and Withdrawals

Here is a subtlety. Withdraw points are used to move active aircraft into the Reinforcements pool. To do this, issue flight orders with the last waypoint on a Withdraw point, and select "Finalize Mission". All planes in the flight that survive the mission will appear in the reinforcements pool for the corresponding Supply point.

On the other hand, Supply points can be used directly as "Off Map" bases. Off Map bases are used to simulate long-range missions. To designate a flight to take part in Off Map missions, simply issue orders for it to fly to a Supply point and then select "Finalize Mission". The unit's survivors will next be available for tasking at that Supply point as an Off Map unit. In the one mission, you can order an Off Map flight to fly into the map, do a GATTACK/ESCORT/RECON/CAP/whatever and fly back to the same Supply point (remain Off Map), or rebase to an landing field, or fly to a different Supply point (stays Off Map at the new location) or fly to a Withdraw point (goes to Reinforcements pool). Off Map flights with current orders start the SE mission at altitude near their Supply points.

Note that New Unit reinforcement flights can be allocated directly as Off Map flights without first having to run a transfer mission.

What if I want to edit missions before creating the mission files?

So, you really screwed up ordering your flights. No worries. When you go back into the whole sector map, you should see a yellow button newly highlighted stating "3 missions" or whatever number of air missions you have ordered. Just click that button, then select the mission to edit. The rest is self explanatory. Just fix or delete whatever you wish, resubmit with the big yellow button, confirm the data, and voila, you are ready to go.

Creating the mission

The MP or Mission Planner is only an interface for opposing commanders to assign orders for available flights. It does not actually CREATE the mission, nor does it parse the previous mission. The DCS program on the HOST's pc does this part. It is very easy to do. At the main DCS GUI, just hit "Build Next Mission" and voila, a dialog will show you the the file is being created and tell you when it is ready to fly. The MP will not allow you to schedule missions that lie in the past - the MP and the DCS use synchronization logic that is held in the database.

Running a mission

Once the HOST has hit 'Build Next Mission' in their DCS main program, the mission is placed in their "Missions" folder as set in the DCS:File:Options screen. The format of the filename will be the SE_TheatreName_DayTime.mis All they need to do is hit Multiplayer / Cooperative,  browse to the SE missions folder and click on the mission, just like in running any other coop mission online.

Analyzing a mission

Once the mission is complete, the information needs to be parsed into the database. All the HOST needs to do is go into their DCS program main gui and hit the "Analyze Last Mission" button. Thats it. When you go back to the MP and hit REFRESH, the new data will be present to the system and the Scorched Earth system clock will advance to 14:00 , 15:00, et cetera as you go through sequential missions. Please recall that RECON and ground unit movement takes an hour to update. The information you are presented is at least an hour old! This is a built in simulation of the amount of time that was required to debrief flights and piece together intelligence in the 1939-45 war.

Capturing Airbases and Control Points

Control of Airbases and the new Control Points has been reworked in version 2.0beta(F). Now you really have to CAPTURE them and HOLD them. The minimum size of a capturing force is specified in the DCS Options - only ground forces can capture airbases and control points. Once you control such a position you can only lose it if your forces leave or if they are entirely destroyed. The opposition can only capture the position if their controlling size force is unopposed within the control radius. If both sides have units within the control radius, the position is "In Dispute". If, as far as your recon intelligence is concerned, no-one has any units nearby, then the position may appear "Apparently Unoccupied", although both sides have perfect intelligence on whether an Airbase or Control Point is controlled by the enemy. Aircraft are not counted as controlling units. Remember, don't feel safe just because there are no enemy units within the control radius. Some units can lob shells over much linger distances. Enemy ships in Port Moresby harbour can easily shell most airbases in the vicinity, so your aircraft will not last long!

Running Seaplane Missions

There are now seaplane bases defined for most sectors with seas or large lakes. Seaplanes can operate out of these bases if they are under friendly control. Seaplanes can also transit on the open sea between missions, simulating the marathon missions that many of them undertook in 1939-1945. To do a transit mission, order the seaplane to land on the open sea. It will happily do so, and will be there for the next mission, ready to take off again without refueling delay. Seaplanes have a big recon boost too, they can see a long way.