Custom Campaigns

Custom Campaigns

A campaign tells Retribution where the war is fought, who starts with what, and which side you play. This page explains how campaigns are defined in 414Ret, how to author or import one, and walks through the fork's Germany - Red Tide campaign as a worked example.

How a campaign is defined

Every campaign is two files that share a base name, living in resources/campaigns/:

File	Purpose
<name>.yaml	The descriptor — metadata, recommended factions, economy, IADS mode, supply routes, starting squadrons.
<name>.miz	A DCS mission file that lays out the theater: control points (airbases, carriers, FARPs), objectives (SAM sites, factories, depots, ships), and front-line markers.

Retribution loads the .miz through its MizCampaignLoader, reading control points and objectives directly from the mission rather than the Mission Editor's scripting. You edit the theater in the DCS Mission Editor; you edit metadata and balance in the YAML.

Note: the upstream Pretense generator is not shipped in this fork — 414Ret runs only the standard YAML-plus-.miz campaign path. Don't look for Pretense settings or campaign files here.

Key YAML fields

name: Germany - Red Tide
theater: GermanyCW
authors: Starfire, 414th JFG
recommended_player_faction: Blufor Late Cold War (80s)
recommended_enemy_faction: Russia 1980
description: <p>...campaign briefing HTML...</p>
miz: red_tide.miz
recommended_start_date: 1988-07-13
advanced_iads: true
recommended_player_money: 800
recommended_enemy_money: 400
recommended_player_income_multiplier: 1.3
recommended_enemy_income_multiplier: 0.7
version: "10.8"

• theater names the DCS terrain (e.g. GermanyCW, Caucasus, Syria).
• recommended_*_faction must match faction names exactly (see Custom Factions).
• recommended_start_date gates date-restricted units and weapons.
• advanced_iads: true turns on networked air defense (see below).
• recommended_*_money / *_income_multiplier set the starting and per-turn economy per side — the lever for making one side the aggressor.
• These are recommended defaults; the new-game wizard can override them.

Supply routes, IADS, and squadrons

• supply_routes: defines ground convoy paths and shipping lanes in YAML using DCS map [x, y] coordinates; each route's endpoints resolve to the nearest control points. This replaces baking front-line vehicle groups into the .miz.
• advanced_iads: true with range mode auto-wires each red SAM to nearby comms, power, and command-center structures placed in the .miz, producing destroyable per-base C2 cells. A by-name iads_config: block is only possible when the SAMs have fixed names.
• A squadrons: block (or per-base squadron entries) sets each side's starting air wing. A squadron entry can name a bare airframe, or reference a predefined squadron def under resources/squadrons/<type>/<unit>.yaml to pin a unit name and livery.

Authoring and importing a campaign

1. Build the theater in the DCS Mission Editor: place airbases/carriers as warehouses, add objective groups (SAMs, factories, depots, ships) and front markers, then save the .miz.
2. Write the matching <name>.yaml next to it.
3. Drop both files in resources/campaigns/ (or your Saved Games override directory) and restart Retribution — campaigns are scanned at startup, so changes need a restart.
4. The campaign appears in the new-game wizard, where you can flip the playable side, pick factions, and adjust the recommended economy.

The shipped campaign list (Caucasus, Syria, Persian Gulf, Falklands, GermanyCW, and more) lives in resources/campaigns/ — read those .yaml files as worked examples.

Worked example: Germany - Red Tide

red_tide.yaml + red_tide.miz is the 414th's Red Storm Rising-flavoured 1988 NATO counteroffensive on the GermanyCW terrain. It is a fork of Crossing the Rubicon, left as a separate selectable campaign so the original is untouched.

What it demonstrates:

• Economy skew as the offensive lever. Blue gets more starting money and a higher income multiplier (1.3 vs 0.7) so NATO out-produces the culminated Soviet salient — no special "aggressor" flag, just the economy fields.
• Theater edits in the .miz. Hamburg is flipped to red (captured), Copenhagen (Kastrup) is added as a red enclave, Fulda is flipped blue as a forward FARP, and a carrier air wing is brought ashore — all hand-edits to the warehouse/country blocks.
• Advanced IADS in range mode. advanced_iads: true with co-located Command Center + Comms + power statics per red base, giving Skynet/MANTIS a destroyable C2 layer.
• YAML supply routes instead of baked front-line groups, re-anchored on exact control point coordinates.
• Named, liveried squadrons. Every squadron references a predefined squadron def, so real GSFG/VVS regiments fly Soviet liveries on the red side and 414th identities (VMF-29, Voodoo, the 414th TFS, JFG Hornets) fly on the blue side — no mismatched paint.

The full build log, including the .miz edit points and gotchas, is in docs/dev/design/414th-red-tide-campaign-notes.md.

See also

• Custom Factions — who fights and with what units
• Custom Loadouts — per-aircraft default payloads
• Lua Plugins — the in-mission scripting layer
• Turn Zero — what happens when a campaign starts