Frontline Movement

Overview

Frontline movement in DCS: Liberation is based on the results of the running battle between ground units deployed out of the frontline's connected Control Points. The frontline can come no closer than 5km to an uncaptured Control Point at the start of a mission. The location of the frontline is based upon the relative Strength Ratings of the connected Control Points.

Base Strength

Maximum and Minimum

The Strength Rating for a Control Point has a maximum value of 1.0 and a minimum value of 0.0.

Campaign Events

At the start of a campaign, each Control Point starts with Strength Rating of 1.0. After being captured, a Control Point's Strength Rating is set to 0.0.

Natural Regeneration/Decay for Player Control Points

Each turn that the user performs a "Take Off" and "Accept Results," all the player's Control Points increase their Strength Ratings by 0.2. Each turn after Turn 0 that the user performs a "Skip Turn," all the player's Control Points decrease their Strength Ratings by 0.2.

Frontline Location

The frontline location is determined by calculating the fraction of the total Control Point Strength Ratings of the frontline's connected Control Points belonging to the player. So if the player's Control Point has a Strength Rating of 0.6 and the enemy's Control Point has a Strength Rating of 0.4, the player's fraction of the total Strength Rating is 0.6 / (0.4 + 0.6) = 60%. This fraction is then applied to the total distance between the player's Control Point and the enemy's Control Point. If the Control Points are 100 miles apart, the frontline will be 60 miles along the route between the player's Control Point and the enemy's Control Point. This distance is applied along the waypoint route set up in the Campaign's Mission file between the two Control Points. More or fewer waypoints in the route do not make the frontline move more quickly or more slowly given the same mission results, but it more waypoints do make the movement somewhat smoother in terms of orientation of the frontline. Note that the limits described above still apply, so if the distance applied would cause the frontline location to be closer than 5km to one of the connected Control Points, the frontline location is instead moved to 5km from that Control Point.

First Turn

Because both connected Control Points would have a strength of 1.0 at game start (and after using "Skip Turn" to advance from Turn 0 to Turn 1), the player's fraction of the total Strength Rating would be 50%, so the frontline starts exactly between the two Control Points.

Mission Result Impacts on Control Point Strength Rating

Based on the results of a given "Take Off" mission, the Strength Rating of the Control Points connected to a frontline are adjusted. It is this change in Strength Ratings that causes the location of the frontline to change from mission to mission.

Quantities Involved

The relevant quantities involved in the calculation of the Strength Rating adjustment are: enemy casualties, allied casualties, enemy remaining units, and allied remaining units. Additionally the Frontline Stance of the player's Control Point at at frontline plays an important part.

Aggressive Stances

The player Control Point's Frontline Stance is considered to be an "Aggressive" Stance if it was one of AGGRESSIVE, ELIMINATION, or BREAKTHROUGH.

Winners and Losers

After a mission, for each frontline, a winner and loser is calculated. This is done as follows, with results being taken in the order listed:

• If the player has no surviving units at the frontline, the player loses the battle.
• If the enemy has no surviving units at the frontline, the enemy loses the battle.
• If the player's Control Point Frontline Stance is RETREAT, the player loses the battle.
• If the enemy takes more casualties than the player, the enemy loses the battle.
• If the player takes more casualties than the enemy, more analysis is required:
  • If the player has 2x or more remaining units than the enemy and the player's Control Point Frontline Stance was an "Aggressive" Stance, the enemy loses the battle.
  • If the player has less than 2x more remaining units than the enemy, the player loses the battle.

Victory/Defeat Influence

Depending on the four quantities listed above and the player's Control Point Frontline Stance, a Victory/Defeat Influence is determined. The Victory/Defeat Influence is applied as an increase to the winning side's Control Point Strength Rating and as a decrease to the losing side's Control Point Strength Rating.

Victory/Defeat Influence Values

The Victory/Defeat Influence at a Frontline can have one of three values:

• STRONG = 0.5 Strength Rating increase/decrease
• Normal = 0.3 Strength Rating increase/decrease
• MINOR = 0.1 Strength Rating increase/decrease

Casualty Ratio

The casualty ratio at a frontline is calculated as ratio = (1 + enemy_casualties) / (1 + allied_casualties). This ratio is used to determined Victory/Defeat Influence in some circumstances.

Victory/Defeat Influence Determination

The Victory/Defeat Influence is determined as follows:

• If the player has no remaining units, the Victory/Defeat Influence is STRONG.
• If the enemy has no remaining units, the Victory/Defeat Influence is STRONG.
• If the player's Control Point Frontline Stance is RETREAT, the Victory/Defeat Influence is STRONG.
• If the enemy takes more casualties than the player:
  • If the player's Control Point Frontline Stance is BREAKTHROUGH, the Victory/Defeat Influence is STRONG.
  • If the player's Control Point Frontline Stance is DEFENSIVE or AMBUSH, the Victory/Defeat Influence is MINOR.
  • If the casualty ratio is greater than 3, the Victory/Defeat Influence is STRONG.
  • If the casualty ratio is between 1.5 and 3, the Victory/Defeat Influence is Normal.
  • If the casualty ratio is less than 1.5, the Victory/Defeat Influence is MINOR.
• If the player takes more casualties than the enemy:
  • If the player has less than 2x as many remaining units as the enemy, the Victory/Defeat Influence is STRONG.
  • If the player has between 2x and 3x as many remaining units as the enemy and the player's Control Point Frontline Stance is an "Aggressive" Stance, the Victory/Defeat Influence is MINOR.
  • If the player has 3x or more remaining units as the enemy and the player's Control Point Frontline Stance is an "Aggressive" Stance, the Victory/Defeat Influence is STRONG.

Final Adjustment

As the turn is processed after "Accept Results" the winning side's Control Point's Strength Rating is adjusted upward by the Victory/Defeat Influence. The losing side's Control Point's Strength Rating is adjusted downward by the Victory/Defeat Influence. Then the Frontline Location is calculated for the next turn.