FAQ

Things people actually ask.

The questions that come up over and over. Question missing? Tell usand we'll add it.

I need help with my subscription or a mission. How do I reach support?: Open a support ticket on our Discord — join discord.gg/fox3, then #tickets → Open Fox3 Ticket. That routes you straight to the Fox3 support queue.
I asked for X SAMs but only got Y. Why?: Each cell has a fixed anchor pool. If you ask for more than the pool has, the engine clips quietly. The preview panel on /build shows the per-role anchor pool ceiling.
The mission spawned aircraft I didn't pick. Why?: Default behavior: the engine fills player slots from the era pool (e.g. F-16C / F/A-18C in Modern). To force a specific aircraft per slot, expand Per-slot aircraft (advanced) on /build.
Why is my Modern mission missing AWACS?: Check the Doctrine controls card. AWACS has a three-option selector: Auto (era-aware — on for Modern/ColdWar, skipped for WWII), Always (force-inject regardless of era), Never (suppress entirely, even in Modern). Tanker has its own checkbox alongside. Both default to era-aware behavior.
I dropped a player and the AI didn't engage me. Why?: AI engage tasks were weak in older lifts. As of v6 (commit 6e10289) we add explicit CAP+EngageTargets tasks on activated red intercept groups. If you still see passive reds, file a feedback report and reference the cell.
My .miz won't open in DCS — “missing script” error.: We re-embed all script dependencies into the .miz at build time. If you still get the error, the cell was probably built before commit 03199f8. Rebuild — the new .miz will be self-contained.
Will my history follow me to a new browser?: Not yet — currently history is keyed on a browser cookie. When the joint launch with fox3servers.com ships, history will move to your real account.
Can I run this against my self-hosted DCS server?: For downloads, yes — the .miz works in any DCS install. For auto-deploy, only Fox3-fleet servers are supported (Tailscale + WinRM). Self-hosted users download the .miz and place it manually.
Does Mission of the Day count against my quota?: No. /today is free for everyone, every day.
Why are some scenarios “lifts” and others “full-adapt”?: A lift is a real production mission turned into a Fox3 cell with minimal modification — quick to add, but you can't use the full slider/recipe injection on it. A full-adapt has been rewritten to the Fox3 SEED_SPEC with explicit anchor points, which lets the engine inject composition cleanly. We start with lifts and promote popular ones to full-adapts based on feedback.
I have a feature idea. Where do I send it?: /feedback or in the Fox3 Discord. Feature requests are auto-promoted to GitHub issues if the classifier flags them as such.
Do threats actually shift between lives?: Yes — every Fox3 mission ships with Fox3MenuKit v1.3 which holds 2/3 of composition picks in respawn pools. On each death, one is destroyed and a fresh one activates. Look for Fox3MenuKit: respawn re-roll in dcs.log to confirm. 30-second debounce per coalition prevents thrash.
How do I build a PvP mission?: Pick the Skirmish scenario on a PvP-capable map (Caucasus/Modern, Caucasus/ColdWar, Syria/Modern, Sinai/Modern, Falklands/ColdWar). Toggle PvP mode in the Player roster card. The red roster editor appears next to blue. Add slots for both sides, build, ship.
I want a 60-player mission. Will it work?: Yes — the engine distributes player groups across all friendly airfields (round-robin). When slot count crosses 40, dynamic spawn auto-enables on both coalitions to avoid parking-id collisions. Tested on Caucasus/Modern with 60 blue slots across Batumi + Kutaisi + Senaki.
How do I fly a helicopter mission?: Pick one of HeliCAS (Caucasus/Modern, blue rotary CAS), AirCav (Syria/Modern, hot-LZ insert), CSAR (Persian Gulf/Modern, downed-pilot recovery), or HindFight (Caucasus/ColdWar, red Mi-24P + Mi-8MT — first red rotary roster in the corpus).
Does the engine catch broken missions before they ship?: Yes — every Mission of the Day passes a tier-1 auto-QA gate (live load test against a real DCS server + dcs.log scan) before it goes out. Tier-2 (Tacview-based behavioral scoring with cap_engaged / sam_radiated / support_alive metrics) is shipped and runs when DCS_server is active on the test host.
My squadron wants kills + captured bases to carry across sessions — how?: Toggle Persistent campaign on /build (Creator tier). The builder bakes Fox3Persistence.lua into the .miz; on first load it creates a save file at Saved Games/DCS.openbeta_server/Fox3_Persistence/<mission_id>.json, then writes on every dead-unit / mission-end / 60s heartbeat. Reloading the same mission restores dead groups + author flags 600-899 + the captured-base flag. Same scenario re-built with a different composition seed gets the SAME mission_id and inherits the save. Full details on /help/persistent-mode, including the pause-on-load gotcha (the framework only fires once a real pilot slots in — empty servers stay paused).
How does the F10 task system work?: Toggle Dynamic Tasking on /build (Fleet tier). Pilots pop F10 → Other → Fox3 Tasking → Available Tasks, accept one of seven kinds (STRIKE / SEAD / CAP / CAS / ESCORT / SUPPLY / CSAR), fly it, RTB. The framework scores PERFECT / PARTIAL / FAIL based on the kind's success criteria — e.g. SUPPLY needs cargo landed in the delivery zone, CSAR is a 2-stage pickup-then-RTB, ESCORT requires both target dead AND ≥50% of the AI package alive. STRIKE and SEAD use target-dead conditions. My Active Tasks in the F10 menu shows progress per accepted task. Full pilot flow + scoring tables on /help/tasking.