Tutorial UI - dcs-liberation/dcs_liberation GitHub Wiki

Now that you have started a new campaign, let's go through the UI to get an understanding of what the various elements & buttons do.

UI Elements

Overview

Overview-numbered

use browser zoom function to see all details on the picture above

1 - Toolbar

Toolbar

Buttons from left to right

  • New Game - starts the process of a new campaign as described in the Getting Started guide.
  • Open - Load a previously saved campaign file *.liberation
  • Save - Save the currently active campaign
  • Discord Server - Link to the DCS Liberation Discord server
  • Github Repo - Link to the DCS Liberation Github repository (code & wiki)
  • Settings - opens current campaign settings dialogue
  • Stats - opens current campaign statistics dialogue
  • Notes - opens the campaign notes

2 - Info section

Info

Displays information about ...

  • selected factions
  • current turn number including date and time
  • weather forcast

pro tip: If you mouse hover over the weather forecast, you will get information about the cloud base altitude

3 - Actions panel

Actions panel

Provides access to ...

  • Budget - opens finances dialogue, showing income sources and amounts
  • Intel - opens intelligence dialogue, showing details on the air & ground forces numbers (can also show enemies data)
  • Misc - opens air wing dialogue, showing details about squadrons and the inventory

4 - Turn panel

Turn panel

Lets you ...

  • check the number of available human player slots, as set up via the planning panel
  • Pass turn - skip turn
  • Take off - opens the mission dialogue

Mission dialogue

Mission dialogue

Read the information given in this dialogue carefully!

5 - Planning panel

Here you can edit/remove packages and flights of various types

Packages planning

Flights planning

Check out the details on available task types

6 - Map & Overlays

Map and Overlays

Here you can see the campaign map with the following elemtens

  • A - Ruler - meassure distances, similar to the DCS F10 map feature
  • B - Overlays - enable/disable various overlays as shown below
  • C - Display filters - enable/disable various filters

Overlays

tut13_overlays

7 - Info panel

Showing system output Info panel

Map Icons

Major point of interests

General information

  • You can hover the mouse over a point of interests to get details
  • Every point of interest will get a name assigned, e.g. CATFISH, ROACH, SILKWORM, for easy identification and reference

Control points

Airbases

Friendly airbase

tut10_friendly_airbase

You can left click on a friendly airbase to open airfield management dialogue

  • buy/sell aircraft
  • buy/sell ground units (HQ static defences)
  • initiate unit transfers

You can right click on a friendly airbase to open the mission planning dialogue

  • setup BARCAP missions

Enemy airbase

tut10_enemy_airbase

You can left click on an enemy airbase to open the airfield dialogue

  • Intel - Attack airfield
  • Departing convoys - show departing convoys and order an attack on them

FOB

FOB = Forward operation base

tut10_friendly_fob

Since version 5.x , FOBs host FARPs that can be used for rotorwing operations.

You can left click on a friendly FOB to open FOB management dialogue

  • buy/sell ground units (HQ static defences)
  • buy/sell rotorwing aircraft (Heliport)
  • initiate unit transfers
  • IF he FOB is the control point closest to the frontline, you can set the frontline ground units stance, e.g. defining their speed of advancement

Lines to and from a FOB:

  • red line indicates route to the frontline
  • white line indicates friendly convoy/supply route

Objective locations

Objective locations are structures of various types.

Those structures yield income for the player/enemy, depending on ownership.

Right clicking an enemy objective location will open the strike mission planning dialogue.

Enemy buildings are automatically captured when the nearby airbase or FOB has been captured. They can't be repaired after capturing them, so be smart about strikes.

SAM sites

Friendly SAM sites

tut11_friendly_sam

Enemy SAM sites

tut11_enemy_sam

Damaged SAM sites will show a "health bar" underneath the icon.

Frontlines

tut12_frontline

In the example above, you can see the friendly FOB in dark blue, surrounded by SAM sites and static defences. A red line leading up to the front (orange bar), going further to the right, leading to the next enemy control point. This red line is a representation of the supply route to the frontline. Note that the actual route taken by convoys has nothing to do with where the red line is placed. That is purely for aesthetics. The orange bar indicates a frontline. A campaign can have multiple frontlines, depending on the campaign setup.

You can right click on a frontline to open the mission planning dialogue.