SECTOR CONTROL (2.0)

In Sector Control, we have a region with 15 objectives and 3 separate assault lanes. Red and Blue ground units fight to gain control of each objective, using scripted AI logic to make decisions on what to do and where to go. As a rotary wing pilot, your goal is to support the ground forces in this endeavor wherever possible. The AI controller will handle all the ground force activities such as offensive armor fights, mechanized infantry tactics, and reconnaissance.

In Sector Control, all progress is saved between server restarts. Friendly and enemy forces will have their positions saved and resume the fight. Enemy strongholds will be in the same place with the same units it had before. SAM sites will continue to be a problem until destroyed. Any CTLD assets such as troops, specialists, or facilities will be saved so spending multiple hours building that FOB will not be wasted. When the AO has been 100% secured, it will be considered a win! Congratulations. Come back after the server restarts and do it all again. The entire area gets wiped so enemy strongholds and SAM sites will be in different spots, and the types of enemies out there will be shuffled.

The goal of Sector Control is to support the BLUE groups in capturing all 15 sectors. The AI dispatcher will control all the friendly movements and make sure they are as efficient as possible in securing the sectors. You do not need to worry about using CA to move them. Your goal is simply to support the friendly groups in securing these sectors. You can respond to contact reports, perform armed reconnaissance, destroy enemy strongholds and SAM sites, or establish a screen along sector lines. If you are flying in a lift helicopter, you can transport supply depots and ammunition crates where needed. When that’s taken care of, transport infantry, JTAC, or HMMWV with TOW launchers to strategic places on the battlefield.

Using SRS, the ground AI will report what’s going on to help direct you on to their activity. In Sector Control 2.0, this is split between 3 FM frequencies, 51.00, 52.00, and 53.00. Each frequency corresponds with the lanes West, Mid, and East respectively.

Consider tuning in to the frequency for the lane you’re operating in to maintain SA with your friendlies on the ground. They will report useful information such as spot and contact reports, support requests, vehicle abandonment, retreating, and troop deployment or extraction.

Friendly ground vehicles will spot and report enemy positions on the F10 map. They will also report new contacts over the radio on their lane specific FM channel. The marker will update every 60 seconds.

• LIGHT RED diamonds with solid edges indicate an enemy was spotted there less than 60 seconds ago.
• DARK RED diamonds with dotted edges indicate an enemy was spotted there between 1-5 minutes ago, but the spotter lost visual.

Markers are removed when the target is lost for more than 5 minutes, or the friendly group is KIA.

When friendly groups spot, shoot, or are shot at, they will report contact over their lane specific FM channel. They will also deploy flares from their present position. If you see flares nearby, it may be a good idea to head over and provide support.

• LIGHT RED triangles with solid edges indicate an enemy was engaged there less than 60 seconds ago.
• DARK RED triangles with dotted edges indicate an enemy was engaged there between 1-5 minutes ago, but the spotter lost visual.

Markers are removed when the target is lost for more than 5 minutes, or the friendly group is KIA.

Friendly armor may be active for extended periods of time, expending lots of ammunition. When the friendly armor’s ammunition supply dips below 10%, they will hold position and await resupply.
Lift helicopters are able to take a single ARMOR AMMO crate out to these friendly groups and build it. Upon building the crate, an M939 transport truck will spawn and begin rearming the group. Once the group has rearmed fully, the ammo truck will despawn and the group will resume with their tasking.

The ground AI in Sector Control are handled by a significant amount of under the hood scripting. They will behave a lot more realistically then vanilla DCS AI does. The scripting is split into two sections:

TACTICS which is a Moose class developed by [BSD] Statua that adds autonomous behavior to the AI. They will spot and attack targets, support each other when taking hits, retreat after taking losses, and abandon vehicles when severely damaged. Mechanized Infantry will deploy and pick up troops to attack targets.

Ground Commander is the AI dispatcher. It constantly monitors the objectives and friendly forces. It assigns attack or defend roles to groups and balances these roles as groups are lost. It coordinates attacks onto objectives and ensures backline objectives that are lost are recaptured.

When traveling or holding a defensive position, ground groups are constantly scanning their surroundings for enemy. If they spot an enemy, they will move into a RED state and advance on the target in a combat formation. If they are far away, they will drive quickly in a DIAMOND formation. If they are closer, they will shift to LINE and slow down.

When a group fires on the enemy or takes fire from them, they will disperse if able and hold position to engage from a stable platform. They will remain stationary for the entire fight and up to 2 minutes after the last shot.

When a group receives fire, they will call for any nearby who is not preoccupied to help them. If the called group is available, they will maneuver to defend the requesting group and counter the attack. Up to 3 friendly groups can respond to a single support request.

If a group is down to the last vehicle remaining, it will not stick around to die. The group will retreat to whatever base it came from to get out of the fight. If you see vehicles flying down the road running away from the fight, this is why.

When a vehicle has taken too much damage to be effective in the fight, the crew will abandon it. If there are still operational vehicles in the group, they will board those vehicles. Otherwise, they will find a place to hide and wait for a recovery vehicle to pick them up. The abandoned vehicle becomes a static object, incapable of doing anything.

When a vehicle in the group dips below the minimum ammunition levels, they will request rearming. For Blue force, this means they will place a map marker and wait for a friendly helo to bring them ammo. For Red force, a resupply group will be dispatched to handle the request.

Armor is tasked with attacking and defending objectives. They will maintain a balance of attackers and defenders, with the priority being to attack. Armor will respond to support requests as well. They hunt for and attack any enemy they see.

RED UNIT TYPES

• T-55
• T-72B
• T-80
• BMP-1
• BTR-RD
• MTLB

BLUE UNIT TYPES

• Chieftain Mk.3
• M1A2 Abrams
• Leopard 2A4
• HMMWV TOW
• VAB Mephisto ATGM
• Stryker ATGM

MAX RED: 3 per lane

MAX BLUE: 2 per lane

Mechanized infantry groups are able to deploy and extract troops to attack. They will attack or defend similar to the armor groups, however will also deploy troops at objectives that do not have any friendly infantry to hold the ground. When a mechanized infantry group gets close to its target or meets contact, they will deploy troops and advance with them to engage.

RED UNIT TYPES

• BMP-1
• BTR-80
• MTLB
• BMD-1

BLUE UNIT TYPES

• MCV-80 Warrior
• Marder 1A3
• AAV-7
• LAV-25
• M2A2 Bradley

MAX RED: 2 per lane

MAX BLUE: 2 per lane

Mobile ADS are helicopter hunters. Similar to the armor, they will use LOS detection methods to locate helicopters (you). If they are far away, they will move to the location they spotted the helicopter. Once they get close enough, they will stop for better attack accuracy. Some Mobile ADS groups are tougher than others.

RED UNIT TYPES

• SA-9 + BRDM-2
• ZU-23 Ural + BRDM-2
• BMP-1
• BTR-82A
• BMP-1 + SHILKA + SA-9

MAX RED: 1 per lane

RED team will have a total of 3 SAM sites in the AO. These sites start deep in enemy territory and will require a coordinated strike to disable. They typically have some sort of armor defense and SHORAD to keep pesky BLUE guys out. Eliminating these sites is crucial to capturing sectors beyond the midpoint.

RED SAM UNITS

• SA-2 + SHILKA
• SA-3 + T-72 | SA-8 | SHILKA
• SA-5 + T-72 | SA-8 | SHILKA

TOTAL SAM SITES: 3

RED team groups spawn from strongholds. They will spawn at the southernmost stronghold for that lane. These are scattered around RED territory initially and remain in place until destroyed. Similar to the SAM sites, they will have armor and air defense units supporting them. Eliminate all units and buildings to disable the ability for RED groups to respawn here.

RED STRONGHOLD UNITS

• T-72 | ZSU-57-2 | SA-9
• BMP-2 | KS-19 | SA-18
• BMP-3 | SHILKA | SA-18

MAX STRONGHOLDS: 5

BLUE team groups spawn from the armor depot that is furthest North in that lane. They start the match with one depot just outside the AO. Transport helicopters may bring 6x crates to a location somewhere in the AO, allowing BLUE groups to respawn closer to the fight.

BLUE DEFENSES

• M1A2 Abrams + Depot
• VAB Mephisto + Depot
• Merkava IV + Depot