What a babe!

[B16Enk]

Well it got you in here didn't it!

Any one interested in giving this a whirl?

We have the technology and know-how for it, and for sure the enthusiasm to fly it.

From Scorched Earth Online War pages:

Scorched Earth Campaign Overview

Scorched Earth Online War (SEOW) is a persistent coop campaign system. The system is initialized with a starting template which includes all of the squadrons and moving ground objects that will take part in a given theatre of operations. The system will then allow for hourly mission generation based on direct input from two opposing commanders, one Allied and one Axis. The system will also allow sub-commanders of individual units. All air operations are planned using a web-based mission planner. You classify which flights will attack available targets, and when. You have the ability to quickly assign escort flights to any given strike flight. Fog of war persists throughout, with recon levels affecting the amount of information that opposing commanders can use to plan missions. The mission plans for any given hour in the day cycle are merged based upon the plans of the opposing sides. The mission is generated local to the Host computer, then hosted to the squadrons taking part in the online campaign. The best part of all of this is that the damage is persistent. If you take out a bridge early in the day, it will still be destroyed several hours (missions) later. As you can see, SEOW expands upon elements featured in previous online campaigns, but a major aspect of SEOW is that it offers persistent damage templating, as well as an open source format. If you feel like a part of SEOW is not to your liking, code a new one. We hope to make the process of providing modifications to the system as smooth as possible and centralized via http://www.sourceforge.net/

System Overview

There are three main parts to SEOW: the Dynamic Campaign System (DCS), the database (DB), and the Mission Planner (MP). The DCS is a Win32 executable program front-end to a SQL-compliant database (DB) backend. The front-end allows for the initialization of a template mission for a given map in the campaign. It is intended that the full release system will support all of the existing Forgotten Battles+PF maps, but within the 2.0beta milestone, Ardennes, Crimea, Kuban, Kursk, L'vov, Moscow, New Guinea, Normandy, Prokhorovka, Smolensk, Stalingrad and Tunis are the only maps fully completed in the DB. Once you see the granularity of object tracking, you'll understand why only a few maps are currently supported. There are plans to support Pacific Fighters as well, but not every feature is done for that yet: carrier group operations and planning will require augmentations to the MP. The MP itself is a web application that acts as a mission planning tool for all commanders active in the campaign. The MP handles all aspects of mission planning, reconnaissance, reinforcement etc. Presently the MP is available only as a PHP application, connecting to the standard SEDB via a (free) third-party ADO library.

[BBloke]

I voted "too right". I'm sure more leg work will be require but I think we have enough savvy to get it off the ground and bench it.

If need be I can run most of it at home to see or find any bugs.

Sounds like a very good idea and a nice way to fly, time allowed of course.

[delta7]

I liked it when Quazi was running the DCG crimea campaign so would be happy to try this out - it would be good to try for a change like the dogfight nights - variety is the spice of life

[Blairgowrie]

I like these campaigns as long as we only run a couple in a row and then change to another one. I just find the same map and plansets get a bit boring if overdone.

I have run a few DCG and like them.

I would support this if you want to sort this out for us dumb guys.

[B16Enk]

The nature of it is we could do one or two missions, then do something totally different.

Then return to it a week or days later and pick up where we left off.

Not unlike the sort of thing Glenn has been doing, but in a Co-Op setting and with persistence.

With the skills we have within the squad, mission building as well as the mechanics behind this campaign system, we should be able to produce something pretty damn good!

And of course it can be shared back to the SEOW project by giving them any templates we produce that work well.

[BBloke]

I have all that is needed at my end for a local install. All I need is a replacement vid. Blew another up yesterday! Seems the heat was just too much for it!!

I'll probably take me til the end of the month. As soon as I have something in it I'll start testing with Co-ops and get back to you all.

[DoubleTap]

I am very much interested in it. How difficult does it sound to set up?

[B16Enk]

I am very much interested in it. How difficult does it sound to set up?

Not too bad Glenn, I haven't read the manual for quite a while though.

But combined with our web server here and facilities @ home (for both Bbloke and myself) I'm pretty sure we can get a package together pretty soon.

[Rattler]

I love these kind of campaigns. Like BG said, it would be good to change campaigns every once in awhile, but I like to see them fininsh too. I guess I like fighting to the end more than the variation. Flying a DCG with the HH's was one of the best times I had many months ago! My 2 cents...

[Enforcer57]

Well, i can contribute by continuing to try and convince the overlords of space and time to let us have an extra day in the week, or a couple more hrs in the day.

Well that really contributed, huh? Ill go back to bed now.

[DoubleTap]

I am very much interested in it. How difficult does it sound to set up?

Not too bad Glenn, I haven't read the manual for quite a while though.

But combined with our web server here and facilities @ home (for both Bbloke and myself) I'm pretty sure we can get a package together pretty soon.

Roger, I looked through the Webpage's installation manual for this, and I was right the first time; in addition to some of this stuff being over my head, I don't seem to have the tools to implement it.

If you plan to go forward with this (and it would rock if you did) let me know what I could do to help.

[B16Enk]

Will do Glenn.

I may start fiddling with it over the next couple of days and get my head around how it works

[Quazi]

What I like about DCG is that it a dynamic in nature. Our actions affect our progress of moving the front lines. That in essence kinda makes each mission a bit more immersive knowing our performance directly correlates to victories and defeats. Keeping in mind it is the ground war that truly gets the front lines moving, each mission would be more about a) protecting the ground pounders in order for them to desimate the enemy's ground forces, & shooting down as many of the enemys bombers before they have a chance to reach our ground forces. This puts a whole new spin to actually winning the day.

Yes plane sets don't change much, but this is as it was. Nothing wrong with setting up a DCG campaign to run a bit before switching over to other missions. The one Dave mentions that I had setup was probably the most fun I have had in a dynamic campaign ever. This would definately give us reason to actually use the other rooms as we do when Glen cranks up the mission maps he has created from time to time. And it would be good to choose a side and stick to it whenever a DCG campaign that is in progress is being flown.

Just my nickel.

Quazi

[delta7]

I agree with what has been posted - it would be good to do this kind of DCG thing on a regular bases as part of one of our nights and then go back to the co-ops . It would be good to run it for a while to see the effects on the lines etc, and folk could pick teams for the night so that they dont have to stick to a plane type over the whole campaign - Im sure you can tailor the planesets and mission timelines to ensure a quick progression from crapplanes through to 45 types to give variety . I liked the crimea as it was a short map and had good targets so there was plenty of action

quazi is it possible for different hosts to host the same campaign so that the progress can be maintained or would it rely on one host to carry it through ?

[Quazi]

Yea, one should be able to do this. It would just be a matter of sharing the pertinent files, of which I have no idea which ones they would be. But, it should be figurable.

[DoubleTap]

Yea, one should be able to do this. It would just be a matter of sharing the pertinent files, of which I have no idea which ones they would be. But, it should be figurable.

It is doable; I remember reading about it, and it is a matter of switching files, although I seem to recall it being a little more involved. You had to X, before Y, but not before Z, etc.

As far as DCG and longer campaigns, I think that running them in short bursts is the best option for the group as many would like to switch to something new after a bit, and none of seems to have a whole lot of time to fly.

The problem as I see it in trying to run larger campaigns is maintaining the focus from week to week and session to session. As in; where are we and what are we doing again? I know this from a few large scale board games I have played.

What seems attractive about the Scorched Earth program is that it affords an ability for everyone to check up on the current progress online, and thus keep in touch with what is happening. I think the fact that you can directly affect the whole battlefield by issuing orders to ground troops, ships and supply lines would help keep people involved. Of course, I have never used it, so I am going by the description on the website.

When using DCG, I think we would need to come up with some way to post overall progress on a regular basis, even if just an article about it after every session. At the very least, the mission debriefs could be copied posted from each mission in succession.

That way, someone who has not been able to fly for 1 or more DCG sessions can get a sense of how things are going, AND it might motivate people to get more involved if it looks like their side is getting whipped.

I am 100% behind doing a campaign of some sort. I love 'em. Before Roger started looking into SE, I was fiddling around with basic rules for doing order and movement manually for a small scale one. Getting a program to do the bulk of the work would be sweet.

[Tonar]

I like anything that gets all the dogz together

[Redeye]

I'm with him ^

[Rattler]

We could have someone download one of their Campaign Sets and try it out to see if we like it???

http://seow.sourceforge.net/CampaignSets.htm

[B16Enk]

I'm now in the process of setting up the database on this server.

Crashed the server briefly yesterday as it is so large ooops.

Once that is done I will put the web interface up here too, than all that is needed at the client end (our PCs) is a small database driver install...watch this space.