Let’s look on fact how difficult could be a write and implement a fully dynamic campaign engine in to flight simulator. In my opinion the best in this category is still DID, even if MicroProse Falcon 4.0 has a ground war implemented. Take your time to read all of this text.
Complexity of dynamic campaign looks incredible.
I can’t imagine how many hours you need to spend to finish it successfully. As IT proffesional who is not working as programmer but with some knowledge of VB, C++, Java from past I’m thinking how much this could be difficult to finish in smaller team with limited money.
You need to be skilled in military tactics (at least in theory), as well as miliard other things like AI, flight model, avionics, how to radar or SAMs works, etc.
Digital Image Design (DID)
EF 2000
From EF2000 SE manual PDF pages 259-288
"The Wargen System
How the Conflicts are Driven
The DID War Generator, or WARGEN system, was born the desire to create a realistic combat environemnt for the EF2000 simulation. After all, a good flight simulation has to do far more then just mimic real aircraft. Many war simulations suffer from tedium associated with managing the massive amounts of data used to model a large scale conflict. The aim of DID War Generator was to fully automate the management of this data to allow the users to concentrate entirely on their role as pilot.
To produce an AI system capable of controlling all aspects of future war, from the organisation and movemenets of carrier fleets to the repair of runways and hangars, required a great deal of research. An AI system was designed that would mimic the hierarhical command and control structure of modern Air and Sea forces. The system was tailored towards a Norwegian Limited Theatre Conflict where the emhasis would lie with Sea and Air power (the Norwergian terrain would make a land war difficult).
The DID WARGEN is actually a sophisticated war-gaming engine that underlies the unique 3D world of EF2000. Over 10 000 individual objects in the 3D word are controllerd by WARGEN as you interact with the environment. This is what makes EF2000 a true hybrid of wargaming genres. If the demand is there, we may soon decide to give the player the power to manipulate the AI that drives the WARGEN, enabling you to set-up and play out scenarios in a way that will astonish military strategists. Let us know what you think!
Some of the theoretical basis for WARGEN came from the ideas presented in Colone A. Warden’s book on the operation theory of a modern airforce. His ideas on the mechanics of the airforce and its relation to the other sectors of the military machine were intergrated with the original design of the AI engine to produce the core of the WARGENs AI engine.
Total War Games
The Wargen operates st four dstinct levels of command base AI. Data in the forms of orders and directives are filtered down through the system to the lowest level. Field report and statistical data are then propagated back through the system to update the higher levels of intelligence allowing the WARGEN to accureately manage the overall conflict.
The highest levels is The Grand Strategic Level.
Grand Stragic level - This level manages the forces from a govemmental or military chiefs perspective for the overall direction of the war as well as the maintaining of nternational relations with all other propagonists. In is at this level that a propagonits may decide to surrender, or indeed may decide to bring a neutral country into the conflict by force in order to improve their current situation.
In additional, keeping on good terms with non-combatant countries means that you can use their road/rail network and ports to bring in your supplies, if they become angry with you, they will not allow you to use their transport network, thereby cutting your supply network and making life easier fot the enemy.
Strategic Level - Once your friends and enemies are identified it is then necessary to re-distribute your forces to defend your teritory, or put yourself in optimal attacking positions (if attacking is the correct response). The strategic level performs all necessary force distribution and resets the primary supply routes. If force sizes are getting dangerously low then reserves will be brough in.
Operation Command level - This is where it all happens. Your aim is select the most important enemy targets for your overall campaign. Then for each base these targets are prioritised. The operation level will build a mission for all prioritised targets and decide who is going to do what to whom, where and when.
For the planes the AI selects the most appropriate plane for this type of mission from a desirabilty list, then it selects the appropriate size and content of the mission in terms of flights and number of planes, and finally, it selects the supply requirements for the mission.
For the airbase: the AI assesses the ability of the airbase to cope with this mission given the amount of air traffic already going through the base. An ATC system is used to schedule the launch of all missions.
For the target type: the selects exactly the correct weapon package for the target type from over 500 possible combinations.
For the waypoints: the AI plots waypoints to and from the target making use of the terrain or using safe (out-to-sea) routes, or routes through neutral countries.
JSTARS and AWACS are poitioned to achieve maxium detection range whilst still being in secure friendly airspace, usally only a short sprint away from a base. Refuellers are positioned for maximum accessibility but away from direct enemy threat - although refuellers near to the FEBA will be at considerable risk.
CAP routes are chosen based on information about previous enemy incursions and local topography. Strike routes are chosen to try and get the strike flights to target as safely as possible. From the ingress point onwards, each pilot on a flight is made to follow an individual waypoint route called an attack pattern - each tailored to the weapon type and target type which ensures that the planes release their weapons over the target at the correct time intervals. All this is done not only for EF2000 but all of the 1000 plus planes in the world.
Selection of Ground Forces and Placement of Air Defenses
For Ground based vehicles the most appropriate trucks and tanks are selected for offensive or supply missions. The choice of the safest supply routes ro use that day will allow the required amnount of supply through.
Placement of battle vehicles in the current disputed areas of the word is carried out as follows…
For Ships: placement of the carrier fleet adjacent to the current are of most offensive operatins.
Selection of the safest supply routes to use to get ships either to or from ports for supply.
Attack-ships are positioned when an attempt is made to capture a base.
Base Repair and Critical Targets
When critical targets such as runways and control towers are damaged the AI system will beign a seriesof simulated repairs over the course of several hours or days. Some targets such as heavily damaged control centre can take days to repair if it is possible at all, others such as runways can be mended in uder six hours if the damage is not too severe.
The Pilots
All pilots are individually modeled, i.e. many pilots al have several attributes desribing their behavioural characteristics, skill and experience. After each mission, a pilot is reassessed and his details are updated for the next phase of missions.
Tactical Combat level - When you actually fly your mission, an advanced tactical AI system processes all ground and air combat that occurs around you. All AA combat in which you are directly, involved is handled by the SmartPilot system. All combat more then 100 miles away from the player is dealt with bz the WarGen system. The results are plane based and takes into account the ability of each plane to: achieve a lock-on the enemy, the probability of missile hitting if launched, based on military data, the palne comabt performance ratings, and the relative plane proximites.
All AG combat is processed in a similar way. The AAA combat uses probabilities of a lock-on coupled with the plane’s ability to evade the lock, and a probability of kill to determine the outcome.
The Smartpilot System
Your Companions in the Sky
situation in hand Just as you will sometimes be contacted by AWACS, JSTAR, or another flight in your mission, so will CCP Wing leaders, in fact, if a CCP CAP is in a better postion to intercept an enemy flight then yours, AWACS will send them instead of you.
Aerodynamic Models
In fight, CCP motion is determined by a full aerodynamic flight model. Lift, drag, thrust and weight are all taken into account, as are roll and ptich inertia. For this reason, the MiG-21, which lacks a G-limiter, can obtaion a higher intantaneous turn rate then the 9 G F-16, but will lose a lof of speed in the process, due to induced drag. The A-10, witch its high aspect ratio wing, will maintain an excellent turn rate at low speeds, where either fighter will bleed off speed.
The F-15, although fast and powerfull, will suffer in close combat againts a fighter with higher roll are, like the Su-27.
The Dogfight Algorithm
Air-to-air combat with SmartPilots use a new system, the Dogfight Algorithm. The CCP continually re-calculates its situaction in combat, without ever resorting to set maneouvres. For instance, instead of using pre-defined high yo-yo maneouvre to prevent overshoot in a turning fight, the CCPs will incorporate a calculation of energy and turn-rate tactics into their manoeuvring, while still keeping eye on target positon, heading and speed.
Furthermore, the CCPs will acts as a tearn, each flight splitting into two-ship selections which will co-ordinate their attacks using moder air-combat techniques. You may notice the opposing fighters using the double attack system against you. It can no longer be presumed that Russian forces will use out-dated ground-control tacticts and trail formation."
As was decribed in The Official EF200 Strategy Guide on pdf page 275 - chapter 10 Campaings
“Thouhg some aspects of WarGen are nto as perfect as most of us would like (the missing ground war being he main complaint),…”
F-22 Total Air War
TAW manual page 15
Welcome to DID’s Total Air War (TAW). TAW is an extremely sophisticated aerial campaign and flight simulation program expertly integrated into one very compelling game. It is the next step in Digital Image Design Ltd’s proud tradition of award winning military flight simulation products.
TAW is as its name suggests – a total, integrated air campaign based on plausible (but fictional) international conflicts in the Red Sea theater. It is a fight for aerial supremacy that will test your understanding of the chief tenets of modern strategic air power planning and execution. Don’t worry though, there is a lot of interesting theory and expert advice contained here to help get your campaign started off in the right direction.
In TAW, your real-time campaign will run continuously until the conflict has reached a final resolution. This conclusion will be based on several real-world variables being monitored by the campaign engine. Perhaps it might be that the allied losses have been too high, or that enemy forces have failed to
realize their campaign objectives within their projected time frame, just to name a few. Any one of these or many other realworld factors will influence and ultimately force the winning or losing decision model. All aircraft missions within the campaigns are created dynamically in response to highlevel
scenario decision-making processes made possible by the next generation of campaign artificial intelligence. These missions will vary in complexity and reflect the current strategic objectives, each of which will adhere to current USAF strategic doctrine.
Thus the campaign you embark on will be non-linear in nature which, as no missions are scripted, ensures that no scenario will ever play the same way twice. Your control of the campaign will be accomplished in one of two direct action roles, one as a U.S.Forces Battlespace Commander aboard the AWACS airborne command and control platform; and the other as a U.S. Air Force pilot, flying the advanced F-22 Air Dominance Fighter aircraft. Both roles will test your ability to focus on achieving your strategic objectives through a balanced use of proper force and sound tactics.
This section will introduce you to TAW and provide you with a brief glimpse at some of the fun and challenges that await you!
TAW manual page 16-17
Campaign Scenarios
The Campaign scenarios are the heart of TAW. They are comprised of ten separate and distinct situations involving the nations in the Red Sea theater. These scenarios vary in complexity and duration starting with border disputes and progressing in scope and complexity to multi-national regional conflicts.
Accurate modeling of air, ground and sea forces, based upon predictions of the balance of power in the early decades of the
next millennium, means that you can fly alongside many different aircraft in many different national markings. These can
include such diverse groups as Yemenis Su-35s, Egyptian Rafales, or maybe even British EF-2000s!
War Room
The War Room is your active command headquarters screen for playing out the selected campaign scenario. From the War Room, you can monitor your campaign as it unfolds in real-time. Allied aircraft missions will appear and move as they carry out their orders, such as; patrolling friendly borders or flying offensive missions to strike deep behind enemy lines. Enemy and neutral forces are also visible from the War Room.
However, without the assistance of the AWACS in conjunction with ground-based EWR sites, the enemy’s intent may be difficult to determine. In the War Room you can watch as targets within the theatre get engaged by opposing forces.
The War Room uses information display filters to assist you in understanding the current status of your campaign by displaying target damage information on the map. This will help you determine any targets relative strategic importance as the campaign progresses.
The status of your Allied offensive can be determined by looking at the graphic display of gains and losses from within the War Room. The information on these graphs is updated every hour, as intelligence feedback is tabulated. From your position in the War Room, understanding and use of current US Air Force doctrine will play a key role in determining a winning strategy. Take command as key elements of enemy infrastructure are rendered in-operative and enemy aircraft and C4 nodes are targeted. Successful players will see the end result of air supremacy being achieved.
AWACS
First introduced in F-22 Air Dominance Fighter the AWACS plays a pivotal role in directing your airborne campaign strategy in TAW. Networked with the ground-based EWR network, control from the AWACS makes it possible to detect and identify enemy airborne forces as soon as their intent can be classified as hostile. The role of the AWACS commander is to bear full responsibility for maintaining the integrity of all allied airspace. With the simple drag-and-drop control interface, vector friendly aircraft assets to intercept in-bound bandit aircraft, identify unknown airborne targets and clear attack routes deep into enemy territory for allied strike flights. The real-time, constant generation of allied and enemy flights by the TAW campaign engine ensures that your role as the AWACS commander can at times be a complex and demanding task.
TAW manual page 24-26
Campaign
“One cannot doubt that flying…must in the future exercise a potent influence, not only in the habits of men, but upon the military destinies of states.” Winston Churchill
Introduction
Total Air War (TAW) uses a new campaign engine to faithfully replicate the look and feel of 21st century warfare. Extensive research into military planning and doctrine as well as consultation with experts in joint and coalition warfare from the United States, Britain, France, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and several Pacific Rim nations, have resulted in a highly interactive, non-linear campaign engine that promises non-stop, exciting, and very realistic game play, every time you strap on a jet, walk into the War Room, or fly a sortie as an Airborne Warning & Control System (AWACS) commander. You, as a player, are
taking part in a fully interactive, ongoing, dynamic air campaign that lasts anywhere from several hours to several days. Your inputs will effect the outcome of the campaign. Depending on how well you fly the F-22 and battle manage from the War Room and AWACS, your actions, in large measure, determine whether your side wins or loses the campaign.
The artificial intelligence (AI) portion of the campaign engine uses a strategic assessment process and methodology first adopted by U.S. and coalition forces in the Gulf War. Known as the “Five Rings” strategic assessment and campaign building process, each adversary is examined, targeted, and struck using a campaign template that identifies “centers of gravity,” and the most cost effective way to force an enemy to yield to your will. Your adversary will be doing the same thing to you. He will react to your moves and send forces to destroy you and your ability to fight. From the war room you can use your intelligence assets to try and get an idea of what it is the enemy is going after and what kind of operations tempo he is trying to sustain in order to defeat you.
Pay close attention to this. If the enemy is able to maintain high sortie rates against you in offensive operations, you may have to shift your effort to more defensive sorties in order to dull the effect of his campaign.
Generally, it is always better to maintain a high rate of offensive sorties. Although defeat can be avoided through good defense, no war is ever won by it.
Five Rings Process
The Five Rings process is derived from the 1990-1991 work of USAF Colonel John A. Warden III and his followers during the build up and execution of the Gulf War. Col. Warden convinced Gulf War commander, Gen. Norman A. Schwarzkopf, of the need to adopt a radically different strategy and warfighting template for his battle with Iraq. Warden’s basic premise was that all nation states consist of five concentric rings –or centers of gravity—the innermost ring being leadership, then key production, infrastructure, population, and—finally—fielded military forces. Prior to the ascendancy of airpower, the only way to subdue a nation state was first to engage and then destroy the opponent’s fielded military forces. Until that was accomplished, the other centers of gravity (i.e. all other areas vital to the survival, continued functioning, and will of the nation state) would be impossible to reach.
With air power, this is no longer the case. All aspects of a nation state are vulnerable to attack and destruction by air power from the onset of hostilities. Having said that, Warden and others believe that leadership is the real key to success or failure in war. When an enemy’s leaders decide they had enough,
they sue for peace—or someone takes power away from them. For that reason, every action in war should be geared to affecting the enemy’s leadership directly or indirectly.
“A useful analogy that helps make the five rings process readily understandable is that of the human body compared to the modern nation state. As the president (or dictator) is to the nation state, so is the brain to the body. These are leadership centers of gravity.
Key production centers of gravity, that is oil, gas, water, and electrical plants correlate to the human body’s lungs, stomach, and circulatory system. All are energy conversion devices. Infrastructure in the nation state refers to the road, bridges, rail, and airways that link the country together. The human body analogy to this is muscle and bone. The nation state’s people – the men, women and children that populate a nation state - correlate to the myriad of cells that make up the human body (population). The outermost ring of the nation state - fielded forces, the armies, navies, air forces, and police that protect and defend the state - relate directly to the human body’s leukocytes that seek, attack, and destroy any threat to the body. An accompanying chart shows the five rings and relates then directly to nation state centers of gravity (CoG’s) in an artists rendition. Note how the CoG’s have multiple targets in each category, if you stop and think about it, this war-fighting principle embodied in TAW and the current doctrine of many modern air forces is nothing more that a logical extension of what most of us do when faced with a physical confrontation.
Our first instinct is to avoid harm to ourselves and those around us we care about. The second instinct, if confrontation is unavoidable, is to convince our opponent to do what we want him to do at the lowest possible cost in physical injury and embarrassment to ourselves. If this can’t be done, we use whatever force is necessary to convince our opponent to do what we want him to. The point is, regardless of whether we are punching our opponent in the nose, arms, or legs, our entire focus is on getting his leadership functions to do what we want. This then, is the essence of what you are tryingto do in TAW.”
TAW manual page 26-29
Total Air War Campaign
Total Air War has adapted the Five Rings Process to allow for superb game play. Political targets (PIT) include multi-storied structures that house the government elite as well as temples and traditional government buildings. Key production (also known in some circles as “organic essentials” or “POL”) targets include oil, gas, water, and electrical complexes, as well as power generating dams. Infrastructure targets (INF) are the roads, bridges, pipelines, railroads, and airports that crisscross the opposing countries. Industrial targets (IND) are the factories that turn out the war materials needed by the fielded forces to re-supply and fight. Command, control, communications and computing (C4) targets are the networks and nodes that send orders to the fielded forces and information back to the are the radar and sensors that provide forces and leadership with “eyes and ears.”
Naval (NAV), Army (ARMY), and Air Force (AF) targets are also included in the TAW database.Depending on the campaign you have chosen and the number of adversaries and allies in the conflict, chipping away at one or two of the five “rings” may be sufficient to achieve battlefield success. For example, attacking only infrastructure (roads, bridges, railroads, and airports) and key production (oil, gas, electricity, and water) targets may shut an opponent down and cause him to sue for peace. However, in large scale conflicts with competent adversaries, it is often necessary to create a parallel attack on the entire system to cause its collapse and surrender. An analogy might be useful here to understand what is meant by “parallel attack.” Assume you and several of your friends are forced to fight a large bear with only spears for weapons. If each of you makes an independent attack on the bear it is likely you may wound him but only at great risk to yourself and with little chance of killing the bear. However, if all of you rush the bear at the same time, even if some of you miss, it is likely that the bear will collapse from his simultaneously inflicted wounds (none of which done independently would kill him) and lead to his immediate demise. This is parallel attack. Prior to the creation of precision weapons, it was almost impossible to do parallel attacks. In World War II, it took almost 1000 B-17s to have a 90% probability of kill on a target that was as big as a soccer field. That meant exposing 10,000 airmen to danger and possible death for a single target kill. Consequently, raids were flown against target complexes in large areas or cities, one target at a time. The enemy learned from each attack and was able to divert resources from locations that weren’t hit to repair the ones that were. Each successive raid became more difficult and costly. The war dragged on for many months and years at great cost in blood and treasure to both sides.
Things changed dramatically with the advent of precision weapons. Less than fifty years after WWII, one F-117 carrying two, 2000 lb. bombs could accurately hit twice as many targets as those 1000 B-17s. As a result, in the first 24 hours of the Gulf War, more than 2000 targets across Iraq were put under attack at the same time. Iraq, like the bear in our analogy, simply went into shock and could not recover from this parallel attack. This is the effect of a modern air campaign on a nation state. Your challenge, as a player, is to inflict the same level of loss and confusion on your enemies. It won’t be easy. TAW’s strategic game engine expects a certain percentage of enemy losses before it decides individual campaign objectives have been met. For example, the game engine may infrastructure before it gives you the nod in that portion of the fight.
To make matters even more challenging, the game engine demands you reach these objectives within a certain time frame. This reflects any modern commander’s concern about world opinion and the political support he may or may not receive from his civilian leaders. Time is not your friend in this game. Like Schwarzkopf in the Gulf War, you need to worry about your government deciding the effort is not worth the cost, and sending you and your forces home before the job is done. It is political reality, and you have to deal with it!
Communications Network/Allies and Adversaries
TAW heralds the development of the second phase of the C4 network developed for F-22 ADF. In TAW, early warning radar (EWR) sites detect inbound enemy aircraft and uplink data to the airborne AWACS aircraft. Airbases augment this data flow further. Targeting a nation’s C4 network will significantly affect their ability to wage war. A player must use his own system sensors to pay close attention to his borders.
The dynamic campaign engine may very well cause nations both in and out of the theater to be drawn into the conflict. Neutral nations whose territories have been overflown by careless combat patrols or bomber raids may decide to ally with a nation hostile to your own. Border skirmishes can quickly escalate and UN forces may be called in to defuse the situation. You can win the battle and lose the war by not managing where and how your forces engage the enemy!
Eurofighter Typhoon
Eurofighter Typhoon: Operation Icebreaker
In Eurofighter Typhoon manual on page 48 pdf DID explained The Secret of Typhoon Dynamic Campaign:
Many air combat games offer simple scripted missions, where the events and challenges are all pre-programmed. With a scripted mission, you must always complete prescribed events in order to progress. Objects, aircraft, vehicles have preprogrammed behaviour for each mission, so when you play the game again, everything is just as it was before. If you fail, you simply go back and try again. Real life is far more unpredictable.
Our dynamic campaign is unique in the way it mimics real life. The missions are generated on-the-fly to cope with emerging events; for example a scramble mission is generated if an airbase is attacked. Whether this happens is down to the state of the game’s logic, not a preprogrammed file.
Most importantly, you must keep your pilots alive because this is the real key to winning the war. If you fail on a mission, make sure you fly to fight another day rather than lose your aircraft and pilot. In many simulations, such a loss is a minor inconvenience and the game will just present you with another aircraft. Not in Eurofighter Typhoon!
Hitting targets is critical to your success, and failure to destroy secret weapons may well cost you the war. Events are defined that are capable of altering the course of the war, and we insert these into the campaign to create new, exciting and unusual missions.
The result is an absorbing challenge that no other air combat simulation can offer. Because of the unpredictable nature of events in Eurofighter Typhoon, we have included the possibility to save games. If you feel that you could have done better, then this offers you a way to retrace some of your steps. But remember, the next time you replay a dogfight, it may not evolve the same way, leading to an entirely new outcome. This alone marks Eurofighter Typhoon one of the most truly immersive products of its genre.
Typhoon is a truly dynamic campaign within the theatre of conflict. Events in other parts of the world will affect the campaign system. It is the first time we have modelled a campaign at so many levels. Few if any other products boast such a comprehensive system.
Typhoon’s campaign makes decisions in real time. That is to say, it constantly monitors and reacts to changes in the system. In our previous product, Total Air War (TAW) the campaign is a real time system, like Typhoon’s. EF2000, on the other hand, was not real time at the campaignlevel: campaign decisions were made in a turn based way every 8 hours.
It’s easier to have a system pause and think every 8 hours and make decisions. To make decisions in real time for hundreds of planes and tanks, missions and groups, while at the same time displaying a full 3D world and running flight models, etcetera, is much more difficult.
A real time system is not only harder to design and implement, but also much more difficult to test and balance. This is in general true for any dynamic system, but once it works you have the best representation of reality possible.
A campaign like Typhoon’s is far more complex to design, code and test than a branching system. You can see from the table above that it has taken a number of products to get to Typhoon’s technology.
Conclusion
Read this article from 29th April 1998 Campaign Dynamics: the Hub of the Wheel (www.combatsim.com)
How prophetic were these words: “Dynamic Campaign systems are very difficult and costly to develop which could mean that smaller simulator developers might not be able to compete with the larger more established brands. This coupled with the limited market for flight simulators and their development costs might lead to less combat flight simulator products on the shelf of local computer stores in the near future”