Unit Transfers - dcs-liberation/dcs_liberation GitHub Wiki

Transferring Air Units

Squadrons can be transferred through the Air Wing pane by double-clicking on a squadron. You will have to transfer the squadron itself, not individual aircraft.

The transfer destination can then be selected from the pulldown menu at the bottom of the pane.

Transferring Ground Units

Ground units can be moved between bases following the available transit routes. Transfers move along the transit route toward their destination at a speed of one control point per turn.

Transfers will be automatically created when purchasing units. New units will spawn at the factory nearest the base purchasing the units and will then begin to transfer.

Units being transferred will not appear in the base's inventory, and will not be able to join combat at the front line. To see a list of all in-progress unit transfers, click the "Transfers" button in the top bar. Transfers can be cancelled from this menu as well. Cancelled transfers will add the units in transfer to the inventory at their current location.

If the transfer destination is cut off due to a base capture, the transfer will be cancelled and the units will be added to the inventory at their current location. If the transferring units are surrounded (the base they left at the beginning of the turn was captured, as were the connecting bases), the units are destroyed.

Transport methods

Units can be relocated by road, cargo ship, or airlift. A single transfer may make use of multiple modes of transportation over the course of its journey. The type of transit used will be chosen automatically with the following priorities:

  1. Road
  2. Shipping
  3. Airlift

Airlift is given lowest priority because airlifts require the use of planes and helicopters that could be used for other tasks. Convoys are self-propelled, and cargo ships are free and have no other purpose.

The decision of route and transport method is re-evaluated at the beginning of each turn, or whenever a new transport order is created. This means that transfers interrupted by a base being captured (or, later, a bridge being destroyed) will cause the group to re-route if possible.

Convoys

Road transfers follow the same route as the front line.

Units transferring by ground will be present as a convoy in the mission. The convoy will spawn at its origin base and move on-road to the next base on its path to its final destination. Convoys are vulnerable to attack, so interdiction of enemy convoys will prevent the front line from receiving those reinforcements on a future turn.

Shipping

Cargo ship transfers follow shipping lanes.

Units transferring by cargo ship will be present as a freighter in the mission. The ship will spawn at its origin port and follow the shipping lane to the destination port. Cargo ships are vulnerable to attack, so sinking enemy cargo ships will prevent them from receiving those reinforcements.

Airlift

Airlift transfers move between any two airports.

Helicopters carry one unit each. Cargo planes can carry up to two units each.

Units transferring by airlift will not be directly present in the mission but will be represented by helicopters and cargo planes flying between the origin and destination. Shooting down transport aircraft will destroy the carried units, preventing those reinforcements from reaching the front line.

Creating transfers manually

Ground units can be moved between bases by opening a base's menu and clicking the "Transfer Units" button at the bottom of the page. This button will only be present if there is a safe path from the selected base to another friendly base. In the transfer creation window, select the destination base and the units to move, then click "Create Transfer Order" to accept.

Note that manual creation of transfers is only needed when redeploying existing units. Transfer orders for purchased units will automatically be created to move them from the factory to their destination.

Further work that's planned: