1 .TH Concept "Land Units"
2 .NA Land-units "How to use land units"
5 Land units are organized collections of mil (militia). They are considerably
6 more effective and cost-efficient than militia, and have many extra
7 abilities. With the addition of land units, mil are now more or less
8 considered to be militia instead of military, and are less important.
10 The way that military are incorporated into units are that the mil are
11 loadable commodities of the unit. The offensive or defensive
13 Commands for land units are generally similar to those of planes/ships, and
14 will usually start with 'l'.
16 .L "Land unit characteristics"
18 Land units have some characteristics of both ships and planes, plus some
19 unique ones. Like both ships & planes, they have efficiency & mobility.
20 Like ships, they can carry cargo, may have/use fuel, and may be able to fire
21 guns at distant targets. Like planes, they have attack and defense values,
22 and may be able to act automatically to defend your country.
23 Let's look at a typical land unit:
27 # unit type x,y a eff mil fort mu fd tech retr rd xl ship
28 0 inf infantry 8,0 96% 100 0 93 24 0 42% 1 0
32 This land unit is an infantry unit, located at 8,0. In many games, you will
33 start with 1-2 basic land units of this type. Some of the things about it are
34 familiar. It is 96% efficient, has 93 mobility units, carries 1 food, no fuel,
35 and is tech 0 and currently contains 100 mi. It carries 0 extra-light
36 planes, and is not on a ship. The 'a'
37 stands for army, and is just like fleets or wings, i.e. a way of grouping your
38 units. (See info \*Qarmy\*U for more information)
39 Fort is the level of fortification of the land
40 unit. The higher the fortification, the harder the unit is to hurt.
42 The 'retr' stands for retreat percentage. This
43 land unit must begin rolling morale checks in combat whenever its efficiency
44 goes below 75%. This is user settable in a range determined by the happiness
45 of the owning country. The happier your people are, the more determinedly
46 they fight. If, on the other hand, you \*Qwant\*U the unit to retreat easily,
47 you can set this to 100% or some other high number. (For information on
48 setting this, see info morale. For information on morale checks, see info
51 The 'rd' field is referred to as the unit's 'reaction radius',
52 and is the distance to which the unit can react to defend your country.
53 Basically, if an enemy attacks a sector close enough to the unit, it will go
54 to the threatened sector and fight, like a plane intercepting. If it survives
55 the attack without failing a morale check, it will return to the sector it
56 started from, just like a plane would. (For more information on reacting and
57 morale checks, see info attack) Just as you can use rangeedit to change the
58 range of your planes and control how far away they'll intercept, so you can
59 change the reaction radius with \*Qlrangedit\*U. Units with a base reaction
60 radius of 0, or those whose radius you have set to 0, will not react.
64 Each land unit can carry cargo. The cargo display for land units is very
65 similar to that of ships, and is gotten with the \*Qlcargo\*U command.
69 lnd# unit type x,y a eff sh gun pet irn dst bar oil lcm hcm rad
70 0 infantry 8,0 96% 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
74 The land unit is not carrying anything. Potentially, land units can carry any
75 of the commodities listed above. Unlike ships, they cannot carry mil, civs,
76 or uw's. Land units are loaded and unloaded using the lload command, which
77 works pretty much like the load command for ships. (See info \*Qlload\*U)
78 Units on ships can transfer supplies to/from the ships with the \*Qltend\*U
81 .L "HQ's & Building land units"
83 Like planes and ships, land units are built in special sectors. For land units,
84 the sector is the headquarters sectors, designation !. Like other units,
85 they may require hcms and lcms, and will generally require money.
87 Some land units may require guns to build. All this info can be gotten with the
93 lcm hcm guns avail tech $
94 inf infantry 10 5 0 40 0 $500
97 The infantry unit takes a total of 10 lcms, 5 hcms, and 0 guns to build.
98 Like ships and planes, units are built at a lower percentage, and 'grow' up
99 to 100%, and any unit with an efficiency of less than the build percentage
100 is dead. For land units, this minimum efficiency is 10%.
101 The build requirements for land units, like those listed above, are
102 for a 100% unit. Thus, the infantr1 would require 1 lcm and .5 hcms
103 (Fractional amounts are randomly rounded... i.e. .5 has a
104 50% chance of being 1 or 0. It'll all even out over time)
106 When 'growing', land units
107 require materials which must be present in the sector. The
108 amount of growth is calculated in the same fashion as planes/ships. Generally
109 a land unit can grow by up to 2x the ETUs per update. (See the \*Qversion\*U
110 command for exact maximums, as these are deity-settable) So, for example, in
111 a 32 ETU game, a land unit could possibly grow by 64% per update. For the
112 infantry unit shown above, this would require 6.4 lcms and 3.2 hcms.
113 If any of these things aren't present in the sector, the unit won't
116 .L "Repair of Land units"
118 Ships can repair themselves in any sector, and can use work from their crew,
119 or from a harbor they are in. Planes can only be repaired in airports, and
120 only use work from the airport. Land units can be repaired in HQ's, \*Qor\*U
121 in fortresses, and use the work of the HQ or fort. This means that front-line
122 units in forts will repair themselves each update, assuming that the
123 necessary materials and work are available. They can also gain efficiency
124 in other sector types, but at a much reduced efficiency (1/3rd normal gain)
126 .L "Land unit statistics"
128 Each land unit has certain vital statistics which show how it will
129 operate. These are obtainable from the show command:
131 .EX show land statistics
135 p i p a r c a m a f f p
136 att def vul d s y d g c m m f c u l
137 infantry 1.0 1.5 60 23 15 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
140 The infantry unit has an attack multiplier of 1.0, and defensive multiplier
141 of 1.5. It has a vulnerability rating of 60, a speed of 23, a visibility of
142 15, spy value of 2, reaction radius maximum of 1, no firing range, no accuracy,
143 no firing damage, uses no ammo, has no aa fire, doesn't carry of use fuel,
144 and can't carry extra-light planes.
146 When attacking, a unit's value is expressed in 'mil-equivalents', i.e. 1
147 mil-eq is as strong as 1 mil. To find a unit's attack value, find the number of
148 mil currently in it, and multiply by the attack multiplier and efficiency.
149 In the case of our infantry unit the unit has an attack value of 96
150 (100*1.0*.96), and a defense value of 144
151 (100*1.5.96). Some units, like tanks, will have high attack multipliers,
153 defense multipliers. Some, like most infantry, will be better at defending than
154 attacking. Some, like artillery units, will be bad at both.
156 As time goes on, and your tech increases, the stats of your land units
157 will get better. This reflects the technological breakthroughs you have
158 made in that you can now build better units of the same type.
160 The vulnerability of a unit determines how easy it is to hurt the unit by
161 shelling it, bombing it, or when it encounters land mines. The lower the
162 vulnerability, the better. Values range from 1-100.
164 Spd is the relative speed of the land unit. Land units move by marching (see
165 info \*Qmarch\*U), and use mob depending on their speed and the terrain they
166 are moving through. For more info and formulas, see info \*Qmarch\*U.
168 Vis is the visibility of the unit. This is a measure of how easy it is to
169 see/detect the unit. Lower is harder to see, and the numbers can range from
170 1-100 or so. When a land unit tries to use the \*Qllookout\*U command to look for
171 enemy land units/planes, its chances of success are affected by the target
172 units' visibility (see info \*Qllookout\*U for more details).
174 Spy is the other side of the equation, i.e. how well can the unit find things?
175 A unit with a low spy won't be very good at locating other units, and won't
176 be able to report much when it encounters them in battle. A high-spy unit
177 will be able to use the \*Qllookout\*U command with more chance of success, and
178 will be able to more accurately report information about the units it runs
179 into in battle. (See info \*Qattack\*U for information about intelligence
180 reports) Units with radar capacity also use their spy value to determine how
181 far they can see. Spy values range from 0-127, with low numbers being most
184 Don't confuse this spy value with the "spy" capability of a unit. See
185 "info Spies" for more information.
187 Rad is the maximum reaction radius for the unit. When built, the unit will
188 have this as its reaction radius. If you change the reaction radius by using
189 the \*Qlrangedit\*U command, you will be able to select any value that is
190 between 0 and the maximum.
192 Frg is the unit's firing range. The unit can fire as far as the frg, modified
193 by the unit's tech. Accuracy is the unit's firing accuracy, and helps to
194 determine how much damage it will do, along with the dam of the unit. When
195 firing at sectors, damage is based solely on the damage. When firing in
196 defense of a sector, or firing at ships, damage is based on both acc and dam.
197 (See info \*Qfire\*U for more information)
199 Ammo is the number of shells a land unit uses every time it fires or
200 participates in combat. If the unit does not have enough shells when
201 firing, damage will be reduced proportionately. If a unit does not have
202 enough shells in combat, it will be out of supply, and have its combat
203 strength cut in half. (See info \*Qsupply\*U and info \*Qattack\*U for
204 information on supply and how it affects combat.
206 Aaf is the unit's anti-aircraft fire value. The higher the value, the more
207 damage the unit will do to planes flying overhead.
209 Fc/fu are the unit's fuel capacity and use. If the fc/fu are 0, the unit
210 does not need fuel to gain mobility. If the fc/fu are non-zero, the unit
211 will need fuel to gain mobility, and will use fu fuel whenever it fights.
212 (See info \*Qfuel\*U for information on fuel)
214 Xpl is the number of extra-light planes the unit can carry. Planes can
215 operate from a land unit in the same fashion as if it were a carrier.
216 Normally, extra-light planes are SAMs, so units can carry SAMs for
217 air-defense. This particular unit can't carry any.
219 .L "Land unit capabilities"
221 There are many different capabilities that land units may have. They may
222 be seen with the show command:
224 .EX show land capability
228 infantry 5f light assault
231 The command shows the cargos the unit can carry (5 food in this case), and its
232 abilities. See info \*QUnit-types\*U for a complete description of the
233 various capabilities.
237 Land units move with the \*Qmarch\*U command, which is pretty identical to the
238 navigate command. Marching units can run into land-mines, be interdicted, etc.
239 See info \*Qmarch\*U for more info. See info \*Qmission\*U for information on
244 Each type of ship is rated on the number of land units it can carry.
245 Land units that are 'light' can be loaded onto ships using the normal \*Qload\*U
246 command (see info load). Units that also have the 'assault' ability (see info
247 \*Qshow\*U and info \*QUnit-types\*U for explanations of abilities) can be
248 used in assaulting sectors. (See info \*Qassault\*U).
252 Units need supplies in order to attack. Each update, and each time they
253 attack, units will attempt to draw supplies. See info \*Qsupply\*U.
254 Really, I'm serious. If you don't read info supply, you'll die a horrible
255 death. I'm not kidding.
259 Land units are able to \*Qfortify\*U themselves to better resist damage. Each
260 point of mobility spent increases the fortification level by 1, up to a maximum
261 equal to the maximum mobility of a land unit. A fully fortified unit takes one
262 half the normal amount of damage. Fortification is lost when the unit moves or
263 retreats. (Note that a reacting defending unit \*Qcan\*U have a fortification
264 value. This is an abstraction) Read info \*Qfortify\*U for more details.
268 Land units can use \*Qllookout\*U to look around. This command is analogous to the
269 look command used by ships. When llooking, land units have a chance to spot
270 other land units and also planes. Recon units tend to have better spy values,
271 and so are better at this.
272 (See info \*Qshow\*U and info \*QUnit-types\*U to
273 find out more about recon units).
277 Some units can use the \*Qlradar\*U command. This command works like the
278 radar command. Radar range is determined by the unit's spy value.
279 (See info \*Qshow\*U and info \*QUnit-types\*U to
280 find out more about radar units).
284 Some land units have the 'engineering' ability. These units can do several
285 things. Engineers are the only units that can lay land-mines, and the only units
286 that can sweep them when moving (like a minesweeper). Attacking engineers
287 also halve the defender's mine bonus. Engineers can also use the \*Qwork\*U
288 command, which allows them to raise sector efficiency. (See info \*Qwork\*U)
289 They also tend to be quite expensive.
291 .L "Attacking & defending"
293 Info \*Qattack\*U has a complete treatment of this, but I will summarize here.
294 When you decide to attack a sector, you can use mil and units from adjacent
295 sectors. The attack value of your forces is the combined attack values of all
296 attacking land units, plus the number of mil coming in from adjacent sectors.
298 The defense value is equal to the mil in the defending sector, plus
299 the defense values of any defending units in the sector, as well as any that
300 react and move there.
302 Friendly ships/forts/artillery units/planes can contribute
303 \*Qsupport\*U. Support starts at 1.0. Each friendly ship/fort/artillery unit/
304 plane that can help adds its damage/100 to the support. For example, if you
305 were attacking a sector, and a friendly battleship was close enough to fire
306 there, it could support you. If it would normally do 23% damage when firing,
307 it would add +.23 support, making your support number 1.23. The enemy also
308 gets support from all his stuff.
310 When all support is totaled, the attacker strength is multiplied by
311 the attacker's support to get the total attacker strength. The defender's
312 total strength is determined similarly. Both sides have their strength modified
313 by the terrain. (show sector stats will show the defensive value of a sector)
314 He can also get support
315 by having mine-fields in the sector (see info \*Qlmine\*U and info
316 \*Qattack\*U for more information). Planes support only if assigned to a
317 support mission. See info \*Qmission\*U for information on support missions.
319 Combat is done fairly normally, with a series of rolls for attacker/
320 defender casualties, until one side is dead or retreats. Land units take damage
321 after all mil on their side are dead, and each 'hit' on a land unit does 1 mil
322 damage. (Therefore, a unit that takes 100 mil to build would take 1% damage
323 when it suffers a casualty. A unit that takes 50 mil would take 2%, etc)
324 When a land unit's level of damage taken in a battle reaches it's 'retreat
325 level', it must begin taking morale checks. When it fails one, it will retreat.
326 Retreating attacking units go back to the sector they came from. Defending
327 units will attempt to retreat to an adjacent owned sector. If there are none,
328 the unit will take extra damage and continue fighting.
330 If the attacker wins, he captures the sector, and his mil/units will
331 move into the sector if he ordered that. If the defender wins a combat,
332 his units in the sector stay there. His reacting defending units that did not
333 fail a morale check return to their starting point. Defending units who
334 started in the sector stay in the sector.
336 In both cases, retreated units end up in the sector they retreated to.
338 .L "Units and retreating"
340 Ships can use the \*Qretreat\*U command to specify when and how they will
341 run away from trouble. Land units use a similar command \*Qlretreat\*U to
342 do the same thing. See info \*Qlretreat\*U for more details.
344 .SA "Unit-types, show, supply, LandUnits"