New game menu

At the launch you are presented with "new game" screen which features a couple of options. Those can't be changed after campaign is started.

• Player side - self explanatory. Russia is under-tested tho.
• Terrain - self explanatory
• SAMs - if unchecked no SAMs will be present on the campaign, resorting to anti-aircraft artillery only
• Mid game - start game with some of the bases already captured. Used to skip initial phase with low priority control points and derelict jets
• Multiplier - scale of the campaign. At default 1 strikegroups will vary from 4 to 8 units (CAP and CAS are separate), at 1.5 - 6 to 12, at 2 - 8 to 16, etc. This is not difficulty as your money income will be multiplied too. If you run a private group consisting of more than 5-6 pilots you might want to raise this.

After the game is started and you are presented with Campaign overview menu you'd need to purchase the initial set of aircraft and vehicles (I'd recommend going for something cheaper while roughly matching the numbers to the adjacent enemy base) for your base and click on Pass turn to get them delivered. Only then you will be presented with the list of operations to participate in.

Campaign overview menu

At this screen you are presented with campaign map and list of operations at the current turn. You can drag the map with right mouse button.

Map consists of half-circle base icons (base is considered "more important" if the circle is bigger; the drawn segment will grow smaller as you lower the "strength" of the base), their names, and amount of units available to them (AIRCRAFT/ARMOR/AA). "importance" of the base decide how much funding they will get (so there will be more and better units), and "strength" is base ability to assemble strike teams. "weakened" base will attack less and scramble less aircraft to counter your attacks. There are also a number of aircraft carriers from which you could start special "global" operations.

You can click on captured bases to bring up "Base menu".

List of operations displays list of operations that you can take part in. The operations are as follows:

• Base attack - attack (and possibly capture) the base. The goal of an attacker is to lower defender presence by destroying their armor and aircraft. Base will be considered captured if attackers on the ground overrun the defenders. Be advised that your flight will not attack anything until you explicitly tell them so by comms menu.
• Frontline attack - attack with ground units, providing support as CAS and CAP. Operation will be considered successful if total number of enemy units will be lower than your own by a factor of 1.5 (i.e. with 12 units from both sides, enemy forces need to be reduced to at least 8), meaning that you (and, probably, your wingmans) should concentrate on destroying the enemy units. Target base strength will be lowered as a result. Be advised that your flight will not attack anything until you explicitly tell them so by comms menu.
• Strike - strike operation, in which you destroy enemy ground assets in the region. Each of them would be loaded as a waypoint into your flight, starting with the closest one. Each destroyed building or vehicle will lower control points strength (use the reference images if you can't find the target). Additional flights could be assembled - Escort will follow either SEAD or Strike group, and SEAD (AI only) will go over AA sites to destroy them.
• Intercept - intercept supply transport aircraft. Escort will also be present if there are available planes on the base. Operation will be considered successful if most of the targets are destroyed, lowering targets strength as a result
• Naval intercept - destroy supply transport ships. Lowers target strength. Be advised that your flight will not attack anything until you explicitly tell them so by comms menu.
• Destroy insurgents - destroy vehicles of insurgents in close proximity of the friendly base. Good fit for Ka-50. Will lower base strength if ignored. Be advised that your flight will not attack anything until you explicitly tell them so by comms menu.
• Convoy strike - intercept enemy convoy. Convoy departs from frontline and arrives at flight first waypoint. Destroy most of the vehicles to succeed the mission.

Click on the mission icon, then click on the airbase or carrier you want to start it with. Some of the frontline operations (like frontline attack or convoy strike) will start at FARP closer to the destination if you select a helo flight instead of fixed wing.

Pass turn skips the turn providing new operation opportunities (you don't get budgeted this way). Enemy operations will be ignored and this will apply their negative events (ignoring enemy base attack operation will result in loosing the base).

Budget displays current amount of money and money that will be awarded on next turn (when you participate in the operation, no matter the result. Although positive outcome will grant bonuses).

Game is saved automatically at the end of each turn, but only when on main screen (i.e. when you return to the campaign overview screen after operation by clicking "Okay").

Configuration menu

"Configuration" menu is accessible from "Campaign overview" window. Most of the options are pretty self explanatory.

• Takeoff for player group only - when starting a mission, only player group will be placed on parking spots, while other aircraft waiting for you to takeoff already in the air
• Disable night missions - disables night missions. Sunrise and sunset ones will still be present.

Base menu

In this menu all of the units that could be purchased are listed, with an options to buy new ones or sell existing. They are separated into following categories:

• Pinpoint Strike - armor that could be used for ground war in capture operations. You pretty much need those to match the enemy numbers and to actually capture something
• Transportation - helis used to transport troops. If you don't plan on partaking in transport operations you could ignore this
• CAS - self explanatory. Used in most operations where ground war is present. Ka-50 is also in the category, but is not advised to use in Capture operations due to it taking forever to arrive at the position
• CAP - self explanatory
• AirDefense - will be placed at the base you purchase them at.

You can buy units by clicking on Buy button, and this will take one turn to deliver (you can use Pass turn to speed this up), and sell by Sell button (instantaneous).

Operation start menu

At this menu strike groups are assembled by the player. Top displays the name of the operation and approximation of the enemy forces.

Next, flights are listed. You should assign appropriate aircraft to appropriate flight. There are two columns - Amount and Clients. Amount is amount of units to partake in the operation, and Clients is a number of Client slots for that unit (if you are playing solo there should be a "1" for single "Player" slot). Keep in mind that if the plane doesn't support the role you've assigned it to it would spawn without ordinance.

At the very bottom there's AWACS checkbox, that could be enabled if you want AWACS to be available during the operation (this costs money). Tanker will be available all times around starting base.

As soon as you click Start button mission will be generated and you're free to play it.

Playing the mission

Mission file will be generated to the Missions directory in the users DCS folder (this could be either Saved Games\DCS or Saved Games\DCS.openbeta). Two missions will be generated:

• liberation_nextmission.miz - full mission, which includes startup, departure, flying to the operation position, and the operation itself
• liberation_nextmission_quick.miz - same mission, but without initial stages (you will spawn just before the action begins)

Next open DCS, go to Missions, My Missions, load liberation_nextmission.miz and start it as normal.

Operation flow

First thing to know is that your side bullseye on the map will always mark objective location, so if you get tangled up with what waypoint is what you can refer to it for the guidance.

Starting at airport (player attacking enemy)

During full mission you will spawn on the airfield parking slot. If it happens that there's not enough slots for all aircraft scrambled, some of it will be spawned already in the air. You need to takeoff and proceed to waypoint 1.

AI aircraft will circle around airport until all of the scrambled aircraft leave the airport zone (i.e. take off). Then, message "Strikeforce is in the air, proceed with the objective" will be displayed at the top right corner of the screen, at which AI aircraft will proceed to first objective waypoint.

For players Waypoint 1 usually marks conflict location, be it enemy base or location of enemy units to intercept. Be advised that in Capture operations CAP aircraft should escort CAS to waypoint 1, so just follow the CAS group until you detect enemy contacts.

Somewhere around 80 miles to the objective, another trigger will be engaged, which will activate enemy units. You will probably notice this by a minor freeze.

After completing the objective you may proceed with RTB at next-to-last waypoint, while the very last one is landing waypoint.

Starting in the air (enemy attacking player)

During this types of operations you already start in the air.

• In case of enemy interception you are tasked with escorting cargo plane, so just stick to it until threats appear. You can freely ignore existing waypoints in this type since they are mostly for the AI. Last two will be RTB and landing.
• In other cases, waypoint 1 will direct you towards the objective, and next two will be RTB and landing.

Replaying the operation

If you need another try at the operation, or want to skip takeoff straight ahead, it's faster to load liberation_nextmission_quick.miz instead. This will skip takeoff and flying to the objective, putting you already in the air and a lot closer to the objective.

Submitting results

Single player

To submit the mission results to the application, you have to save mission debriefing (you absolutely have to, if you forget this you'll have to play the mission again!) by clicking Save debriefing (not Save track!), and save the file to the Saved Games\DCS[.openbeta]\liberation_debriefings folder (i.e. in C:\Users\USER\Saved Games\DCS[.openbeta]\liberation_debriefings\debriefing.log). Note this is not the default folder which DCS present when you click on that button, you have to navigate back one directory and enter liberation_debriefings.

Multiplayer

After you complete the mission, you should go into the slots selectio screen and reload the mission again. If you don't do this DCS will not generate correct debriefing! Locate debrief.log file which was saved automatically to the Saved Games\DCS[.openbeta]\Logs. Copy the file to the Saved Games\DCS[.openbeta]\liberation_debriefings folder (i.e. in C:\Users\USER\Saved Games\DCS[.openbeta]\liberation_debriefings\debriefing.log).

Application will detect the new or modified file (you can use one file and overwrite it each time) being added to the directory, and use it to calculate operation results and units lost. Budget money will be provided, and new events will be generated, effectively starting new turn. Now you can minimize the DCS and select new operation from the campaign application.