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11 — Campaigns and scenarios

Index · Maps · Cheats build

Companion to the Events Script Reference, covering the layer above individual event scripts: how a campaign is assembled from missions, how a mission's win/lose conditions are declared, and how the mission map itself is prepared.

Contents

  1. Overview
  2. The top-level SCENARIO file
  3. The map file's ScenarioInfo block
  4. Missions in event scripts
  5. Chaining missions across a campaign
  6. DLC campaigns and the virtual Scenario folder
  7. Preparing the mission map in the Cheats build
  8. Mission-specific mods
  9. Tutorial: a simple 3-mission campaign

1. Overview

A campaign is one top-level SCENARIO file plus an ordered set of missions. Each mission is a separate map file (Scenario/<Campaign>/<Campaign>-N.txt) with its own ScenarioInfo block and its own per-faction event scripts (see Where event scripts live in the Events Script Reference).

Top-level campaigns:

  • Scenario/Main.txt — the base game's main campaign, 11 missions (Main-1.txt … Main-11.txt).
  • Scenario/SNARE.txt — a 5-mission campaign (SNARE-1.txt … SNARE-5.txt).
  • Each DLC ships its own top-level SCENARIO file (DLC_1.txt, DLC_2.txt, DLC_3.txt), 11 missions each. See §6 for where these physically live.

A mission map is an ordinary map file (09 — Maps) that also carries the starting position — units, technologies, borders — and a ScenarioInfo block. §7 shows how to make one.

2. The top-level SCENARIO file

SCENARIO
Name ID 6000
Description ID 6001
Image "Scenario/Main/Truman_and_MacArthur.jpeg"

MAP "Scenario/Main/Main-1.txt"
Image "Scenario/Main/Main-1.png"

MAP "Scenario/Main/Main-2.txt"
Image "Scenario/Main/Main-2.png"
...
  • SCENARIO starts the file.
  • Name ID / Description ID: the campaign's name and blurb (localised strings) as shown in the campaign-select menu.
  • Image: the campaign's own banner/thumbnail.
  • Faction N (optional): the faction pre-selected as the default playable faction when this campaign is chosen (SNARE.txt → Faction 0, DLC_1.txt → Faction 1, DLC_3.txt → Faction 0; Main.txt has none).
  • MAP "path" / Image "path" pairs, one per mission, in campaign order: the mission's map file and its selection-screen thumbnail. This list sets the campaign menu's ordering and labels; the mission-to-mission chaining at run time is done inside each map file's ScenarioInfo (§5).

String IDs and the LANG file

Every Name ID, Description ID, Text ID and BriefingText ID is a number, looked up in a .lng file at run time. From DLC-3's string file, UI.lng:

// DLC will use the range from 7099 to 7600
USE Previous "LANG/Eng/UI.lng"

7099 LANG "The year is 1946...."
7100 LANG "DLC: Assassin's Mace"
7101 LANG "Assassin's Mace"
7102 LANG "After decades of chaos, China is ready..."
  • USE Previous "path" chains this file to the base .lng file, so a DLC's strings extend rather than replace the base game's.
  • Each entry is <ID> LANG "<text>" — a flat table from numeric ID to the localised string.
  • A DLC reserves its own block of IDs so it cannot collide with the base game or another DLC (DLC-3 owns 7099–7600).
  • DLC_3.txt's Name ID 7101 / Description ID 7102 resolve this way to the campaign's displayed name and blurb; BriefingText ID and every mission's Text ID work the same way.

3. The map file's ScenarioInfo block

Each mission's map file (e.g. Scenario/Main/Main-1.txt) has a ScenarioInfo block:

ScenarioInfo
 BriefingText ID 6004
 BriefingImage "Scenario/Main/Main-1/briefing.png"

Primary Mission "Territory"
  Text ID 6005
  Value 1
  ProductionPoints 150

Secondary Mission "NorthKorea"
  Text ID 6006
  Value 1
  ProductionPoints 200

ON Success
  Text ID 6008
  Image "Scenario/Main/Main-1/success.png"

ON Failure
  Text ID 6009
  Image "Scenario/Main/Main-1/failure.png"

EndGameCountdown 600
ResultFileName "Scenario/Main/Main-1.txt.result"
ProceedTo "Scenario/Main/Main-2.txt"
  • BriefingText ID / BriefingImage: the text and image of the mission's briefing screen.
  • Primary Mission "Name" / Secondary Mission "Name": one mission slot. "Name" is the mission ID used from event scripts (§4). A map can declare several of each; the event scripts decide what winning each one means.
  • Text ID: the mission's description in the mission list during play.
  • Value: the target count of the mission's progress counter (driven by Mission "Name" add … / SET … from the event scripts). Value 1 is a plain success/fail mission; Value 5 (as in Main-2.txt's "Missiles" mission) is a counted objective, e.g. "destroy 5 missiles".
  • ProductionPoints: the reward for completing the mission.
  • ON Success / ON Failure: text and image of the end-of-mission screen.
  • EndGameCountdown: how long the end-of-mission countdown runs before moving on (600 in Main-1, 1200 in Main-2, 120 in Main-11).
  • ResultFileName: where this mission's outcome is recorded (by convention the map file's path plus .result).
  • ProceedTo: the next map file to load once this mission ends. Absent on the last mission.
  • TransitionFileName: the previous mission's result file, read on this mission's start. Absent on the first mission.

The campaign's last mission additionally declares ON FinalSuccess, ON FinalSuccess1 and ON FinalSuccess2 (each with its own Text ID/Image). They are not alternative endings: they are three end-of-campaign screens shown one after another when the finale mission reaches the Final_Success outcome (§4).

4. Missions in event scripts

A mission declared in ScenarioInfo is driven from the event scripts with the MISSION/Mission keyword (Events Script Reference, Mission events):

// Main-1.txt / EVENTS/United Nations.txt
ON BESIEGED "Busan" BY ENEMY MISSION "Territory" FAIL
ON REGION_OCCUPIED "North Korea" BY ALLY PLUS ME MISSION "NorthKorea" SUCCESS

// Main-11.txt / EVENTS/United States.txt  (the campaign's last mission)
if (Total>=15)
  Mission "Casualties" Success
else
  Mission "Casualties" Fail
end
...
BLOCK CheckForFinalSuccess()
  Mission "China" Success
  Mission "Russia" Success
  Mission "Casualties" Final_Success     // triggers the FinalSuccess / FinalSuccess1 / FinalSuccess2 screens
END

ScenarioInfo declares the mission slots (name, description, target value, reward) and the event scripts decide when each one succeeds or fails. Mission "Name" SUCCESS/FAIL, Mission "Name" add N/SET N and MISSION_STATE("Name") are the only connection between the two files.

5. Chaining missions across a campaign

Across Main-1.txt → Main-2.txt → … → Main-11.txt, the fields form a linked list:

Mission ProceedTo TransitionFileName
Main-1.txt (first) Main-2.txt (none)
Main-2.txt Main-3.txt Main-1.txt.result
… … …
Main-11.txt (last) (none) Main-10.txt.result

Each mission points forward to the next map to load (ProceedTo) and back to the previous mission's recorded outcome (TransitionFileName, the previous mission's ResultFileName).

6. DLC campaigns and the virtual Scenario folder

Each DLC ships its own top-level SCENARIO file, structured like Main.txt/SNARE.txt:

// DLC_3.txt
SCENARIO
Name ID 7101
Description ID 7102
Image "Scenario/DLC_3/Truman_and_MacArthur.jpeg"
Faction 0

MAP "Scenario/DLC_3/DLC_3-1.txt"
Image "Scenario/DLC_3/DLC_3-1.png"
...

Physically, a DLC's SCENARIO file and its missions live inside the DLC mod's own package, under DLC_n/Scenario/. The mod virtually extends the base game's Scenario/ tree, so every path inside these files is still written as Scenario/DLC_n/..., as if it were part of the base game's folder (the same convention as for USE paths in event scripts).

Case study — DLC-3 Mission 1. Its ScenarioInfo declares six mission slots — "All China", "Destroy Enemy", "Control 2 Territories", "Lose less than 30 divs" (a bonus objective that can fail on its own), "Complete Faster" and "Casualties" — driven from EVENTS/Communist Party of China.txt and EVENTS/Kuomintang.txt. "Complete Faster" is a timed bonus objective:

// DLC_3-1.txt / EVENTS/Communist Party of China.txt
MISSION "Complete Faster" TIMER FasterTimer
ON TICK +FasterTimer MISSION "Complete Faster" FAIL

MISSION "Name" TIMER <var> starts a countdown tied to that mission slot; the ON TICK fails the mission once it runs out.

7. Preparing the mission map in the Cheats build

The quickest way to build a mission's starting position is to set it up in a running game and save it as a scenario. This uses the Cheats build.

  1. Load a standard map (e.g. Atomic Earth) in a single-player game in the Cheats build.
  2. Research technologies. Queue the technologies the faction should start with and press Shift + T — the whole research queue is completed at once.
  3. Build units. Ctrl + click a unit in the production panel: it is added already built and is ready to deploy at once. Repeat for every unit you need.
  4. Place units. Deploy them on the map — holding Ctrl lets you place a unit anywhere, including outside your own territory. Select a deployed unit and press Ctrl + T to move it instantly to the point under the cursor.
  5. Adjust borders if the mission needs it: Ctrl + O gives the region under the cursor to the current faction.
  6. Switch factions with Shift + 0 … 9 (the faction slot number) and repeat steps 2–5 for every faction that needs a prepared position.
  7. Save as scenario: hold Shift when confirming Save. The game writes Documents/My Games/ICBM-Escalation/SAVES/SAVEn/world.txt and world.txt.remap.txt.

What a scenario save contains: the map part, all units on the map, each faction's technologies and stocks, region owners (in world.txt.remap.txt), and two templates to fill in — a commented-out ScenarioInfo block and, for every active faction, Events FromFile "Scenario/MY_SCENARIO_NAME/MISSION_N/Events/<faction>.txt". It leaves out the game clock, the mod list, AI plans, diplomacy history, pollution and score.

Turning it into a mission:

  1. Copy the two files into the campaign folder with matching names, e.g. Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-1.txt and Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-1.txt.remap.txt (the region owners are read from the map file's name plus .remap.txt).
  2. Set MAP Name ID / Description ID to your string IDs.
  3. Uncomment the ScenarioInfo template and fill it in (§3).
  4. Point each Events FromFile line to the faction's event script (a file that does not exist stops loading), or remove it for factions without a script.
  5. Add the map to the top-level SCENARIO file (§2).

The same save can also become a free-play map — see 09 — Maps §11.

8. Mission-specific mods

A campaign runs on the base game's data: no game-mode mod is active (12 §8). A mission that needs different data — another economy, changed or extra units, an extra technology — brings it in its own mod, named in the mission's map file:

MAP Name ID 6002
Description ID 6003
Restrictions …
MapSpecificMod "Scenario/Main/GDP-Mod"

The mod is active only while that mission is played, has priority over all other mods, and is kept in the mission's saved games. 09 §13 describes how it works; the points specific to campaigns are below.

The shipped campaigns:

Mod Used by Changes
Scenario/Main/GDP-Mod Main missions 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 11 A zero-cost technology GDP_MOD and ImprovedBy "GDP_MOD" Production 2.0, Science 1.0, Espionage 2.0 on VirtualCity; UseAbsolutePopulationForOccupationTime true.
Scenario/Main/GDP-Mod-M4, GDP-Mod-M10 Main missions 4 and 10 The same with Production 2.5 and 4.0.
Scenario/Main/VIP-Mod, VIP-KILL-MOD Main mission 6, and missions 7–8 The GDP-Mod changes plus a VIP unit for the missions' protect / eliminate objectives.
Scenario/SNARE/SNARE_Mod (ForceLoading) SNARE missions 1–5 Changed units (e.g. the SSBN loadouts), missiles and espionage.txt.

One mod for several missions, or one each. Several missions can name the same folder. Make a separate folder when one mission needs other values (as GDP-Mod-M4 does). Keep the folders under the campaign's own Scenario/<Campaign>/ folder.

ForceLoading. The screen where the player spends the mission's starting points reads the map without its mod. Add ForceLoading when the starting setup or the point costs use units or technologies that only the mod defines.

Preparing such a mission in the Cheats build (§7). Units and technologies that exist only in the mission's mod are available only while the mod is active. Add the MapSpecificMod line to the map file you start from before you load it. The scenario save keeps the line (re-add ForceLoading if you need it).

9. Tutorial: a simple 3-mission campaign

This walks through a small original campaign, "Border Crisis", with three missions for one player faction, "Blue". Each mission's map is prepared as in §7; this section covers the scenario structure and the event scripts.

Folder layout

Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis.txt        <- top-level SCENARIO file
Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-1.txt      <- Mission 1 map file (+ BorderCrisis-1.txt.remap.txt)
Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-2.txt      <- Mission 2 map file (+ .remap.txt)
Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-3.txt      <- Mission 3 map file (+ .remap.txt)
Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-1/EVENTS/Blue.txt
Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-2/EVENTS/Blue.txt
Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-3/EVENTS/Blue.txt

The top-level file

// Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis.txt
SCENARIO
Name ID 9000
Description ID 9001
Image "Scenario/BorderCrisis/Banner.jpeg"
Faction 0

MAP "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-1.txt"
Image "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-1.png"

MAP "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-2.txt"
Image "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-2.png"

MAP "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-3.txt"
Image "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-3.png"

Mission 1 — "Skirmish": hold the border

One Value 1 primary mission (hold a region) and one secondary (spot the enemy).

// Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-1.txt  (ScenarioInfo block)
ScenarioInfo
 BriefingText ID 9010
 BriefingImage "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-1/briefing.png"

Primary Mission "Border"
  Text ID 9011
  Value 1
  ProductionPoints 100

Secondary Mission "Recon"
  Text ID 9012
  Value 1
  ProductionPoints 50

ON Success
  Text ID 9013
  Image "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-1/success.png"

ON Failure
  Text ID 9014
  Image "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-1/failure.png"

EndGameCountdown 600
ResultFileName "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-1.txt.result"
ProceedTo "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-2.txt"

// Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-1/EVENTS/Blue.txt
def int Phase = 1

USE "Scenario/LIB/Common.txt"

BLOCK StdMessage(int ID)
  Message UI_STRING(ID) Position TopLeft
END

FOR AI
  SUSPEND AI
FOR PLAYER
  on each Besieged "Blue City" by enemy Mission "Border" fail
  on each Region_Occupied "Redland" by me Mission "Border" success

  on each visible any Ground of Enemy Mission "Recon" success

  ON Mission "Border" FAIL StdMessage(9015)
  ON Mission "Border" SUCCESS StdMessage(9016)
END

"Border" fails the moment our own city is besieged and succeeds once we occupy the enemy's region. "Recon" succeeds the first time we spot an enemy ground unit — a Value 1 mission needs only one SUCCESS.

Mission 2 — "Escalation": a counted objective

A Value 3 primary mission — destroy 3 enemy airbases — using Mission "Name" add 1, plus a casualties threshold using GetFactionCasualties from LIB/Common.txt.

// Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-2.txt  (ScenarioInfo block)
ScenarioInfo
 BriefingText ID 9020
 BriefingImage "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-2/briefing.png"

Primary Mission "Airbases"
  Text ID 9021
  Value 3
  ProductionPoints 150

Primary Mission "Casualties"
  Text ID 9022
  Value 1
  ProductionPoints 100

ON Success
  Text ID 9023
  Image "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-2/success.png"

ON Failure
  Text ID 9024
  Image "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-2/failure.png"

EndGameCountdown 900
ResultFileName "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-2.txt.result"
ProceedTo "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-3.txt"
TransitionFileName "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-1.txt.result"

// Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-2/EVENTS/Blue.txt
USE "Scenario/LIB/Common.txt"

BLOCK CheckCasualties()
  if (GetFactionCasualties(SelfID) > 200000)          // from LIB/Common.txt
    Mission "Casualties" fail
  end
END

FOR AI
  SUSPEND AI
FOR PLAYER
  on each destroyed any "Enemy_Airbase" Mission "Airbases" add 1

  on each TICK +SECONDS(10) CheckCasualties()

  ON Mission "Airbases" SUCCESS Mission "Casualties" success
END

"Airbases" succeeds after three add 1s reach its Value 3; "Casualties" fails only explicitly (once casualties pass the threshold) and otherwise succeeds when "Airbases" is done — the same "one mission gates another" pattern Main-11.txt uses.

Mission 3 — "Ceasefire": the campaign's last mission

The last mission has no ProceedTo. A real finale could use the three-screen Final_Success sequence (§3); this example keeps to plain Success/Failure.

// Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-3.txt  (ScenarioInfo block)
ScenarioInfo
 BriefingText ID 9030
 BriefingImage "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-3/briefing.png"

Primary Mission "Peace"
  Text ID 9031
  Value 1
  ProductionPoints 200

ON Success
  Text ID 9032
  Image "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-3/success.png"

ON Failure
  Text ID 9033
  Image "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-3/failure.png"

EndGameCountdown 300
ResultFileName "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-3.txt.result"
TransitionFileName "Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-2.txt.result"

// Scenario/BorderCrisis/BorderCrisis-3/EVENTS/Blue.txt
FOR AI
  SUSPEND AI
FOR PLAYER
  ON Surrendered "Red" Mission "Peace" success
  ON "Global War" Mission "Peace" fail
END

That is a complete, if minimal, 3-mission campaign: one top-level SCENARIO file, three mission maps prepared in the Cheats build, each with a ScenarioInfo block declaring its objectives, three EVENTS/Blue.txt files deciding when those objectives are met, and ProceedTo/TransitionFileName chaining them into one playthrough.