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, 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 frt mu fd tch retr xl ln carry
28 0 inf infantry 8,0 96% 100 0 93 1 50 42% 0 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,
35 and is tech 50 and currently contains 100 mi. It carries 0 extra-light
36 planes and land units, 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 Frt 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 \*Qmorale\*U. For information on morale checks, see info
53 Each land unit can carry cargo. The cargo display for land units is very
54 similar to that of ships, and is gotten with the \*Qlcargo\*U command.
58 lnd# unit type x,y a eff sh gun pet irn dst bar oil lcm hcm rad
59 0 infantry 8,0 96% 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
63 The land unit is not carrying anything. Potentially, land units can carry any
64 of the commodities listed above. Unlike ships, they cannot carry mil, civs,
65 or uw's. Land units are loaded and unloaded using the lload command, which
66 works pretty much like the load command for ships. (See info \*Qlload\*U)
67 Units on ships can transfer supplies to/from the ships with the \*Qltend\*U
70 .L "HQs & Building land units"
72 Like planes and ships, land units are built in special sectors. For land units,
73 the sector is the headquarters sectors, designation !. Like other units,
74 they may require hcms and lcms, and will generally require money.
76 Some land units may require guns to build. All this info can be gotten with the
82 lcm hcm guns avail tech $
83 inf infantry 10 5 0 40 0 $500
86 The infantry unit takes a total of 10 lcms, 5 hcms, and 0 guns to build.
87 Like ships and planes, units are built at a lower percentage, and 'grow' up
88 to 100%, and any unit with an efficiency of less than the build percentage
89 is dead. For land units, this minimum efficiency is 10%.
90 The build requirements for land units, like those listed above, are
91 for a 100% unit. Thus, the infantr1 would require 1 lcm and .5 hcms
92 (Fractional amounts are randomly rounded... i.e. .5 has a
93 50% chance of being 1 or 0. It'll all even out over time)
95 When 'growing', land units
96 require materials which must be present in the sector. The
97 amount of growth is calculated in the same fashion as planes/ships. Generally
98 a land unit can grow by up to 2x the ETUs per update. (See the \*Qversion\*U
99 command for exact maximums, as these are deity-settable) So, for example, in
100 a 32 ETU game, a land unit could possibly grow by 64% per update. For the
101 infantry unit shown above, this would require 6.4 lcms and 3.2 hcms.
102 If any of these things aren't present in the sector, the unit won't
105 .L "Repair of Land units"
107 Ships can repair themselves in any sector, and can use work from their crew,
108 or from a harbor they are in. Planes can only be repaired in airports, and
109 only use work from the airport. Land units can be repaired in HQs or
110 in fortresses, and use the work of the HQ or fort. This means that front-line
111 units in forts will repair themselves each update, assuming that the
112 necessary materials and work are available. They can also gain efficiency
113 in other sector types, but at a much reduced efficiency (1/3rd normal gain)
115 .L "Land unit statistics"
117 Each land unit has certain vital statistics which show how it will
118 operate. These are obtainable from the show command:
120 .EX show land statistics
125 att def vul d s y d g c m m f l
126 infantry 1.0 1.5 60 23 15 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
129 The infantry unit has an attack multiplier of 1.0, and defensive multiplier
130 of 1.5. It has a vulnerability rating of 60, a speed of 23, a visibility of
131 15, spy value of 2, reaction radius maximum of 1, no firing range, no accuracy,
132 no firing damage, uses no ammo, has no AA fire,
133 and can't carry extra-light planes.
135 When attacking, a unit's value is expressed in 'mil-equivalents', i.e. 1
136 mil-eq is as strong as 1 mil. To find a unit's attack value, find the number of
137 mil currently in it, and multiply by the attack multiplier and efficiency.
138 In the case of our infantry unit the unit has an attack value of 96
139 (100*1.0*.96), and a defense value of 144
140 (100*1.5.96). Some units, like tanks, will have high attack multipliers,
142 defense multipliers. Some, like most infantry, will be better at defending than
143 attacking. Some, like artillery units, will be bad at both.
145 As time goes on, and your tech increases, the stats of your land units
146 will get better. This reflects the technological breakthroughs you have
147 made in that you can now build better units of the same type.
149 The vulnerability of a unit determines how easy it is to hurt the unit by
150 shelling it, bombing it, or when it encounters land mines. The lower the
151 vulnerability, the better. Values range from 1-100.
153 Spd is the relative speed of the land unit. Land units move by marching (see
154 info \*Qmarch\*U), and use mob depending on their speed and the terrain they
155 are moving through. For more info and formulas, see info \*Qmarch\*U.
157 Vis is the visibility of the unit. This is a measure of how easy it is to
158 see/detect the unit. Lower is harder to see, and the numbers can range from
159 1-100 or so. When a land unit tries to use the \*Qllookout\*U command to look for
160 enemy land units/planes, its chances of success are affected by the target
161 units' visibility (see info \*Qllookout\*U for more details).
163 Spy is the other side of the equation, i.e. how well can the unit find things?
164 A unit with a low spy won't be very good at locating other units, and won't
165 be able to report much when it encounters them in battle. A high-spy unit
166 will be able to use the \*Qllookout\*U command with more chance of success, and
167 will be able to more accurately report information about the units it runs
168 into in battle. (See info \*QAttacking\*U for information about intelligence
169 reports) Units with radar capacity also use their spy value to determine how
170 far they can see. Spy values range from 0-127, with low numbers being most
173 Don't confuse this spy value with the "spy" capability of a unit. See
174 "info \*QSpies\*U" for more information.
176 Rad is the maximum reaction radius for the unit.
178 Frg is the unit's firing range. The unit can fire as far as the frg, modified
179 by the unit's tech. Accuracy is the unit's firing accuracy, and helps to
180 determine how much damage it will do, along with the dam of the unit. When
181 firing at sectors, damage is based solely on the damage. When firing in
182 defense of a sector, or firing at ships, damage is based on both acc and dam.
183 (See info \*Qfire\*U for more information)
185 Ammo is the number of shells a land unit uses every time it fires or
186 participates in combat. If the unit does not have enough shells when
187 firing, damage will be reduced proportionately. If a unit does not have
188 enough shells in combat, it will be out of supply, and have its combat
189 strength cut in half. (See info \*Qsupply\*U and info \*QAttacking\*U for
190 information on supply and how it affects combat)
192 Aaf is the unit's anti-aircraft fire value. The higher the value, the more
193 damage the unit will do to planes flying overhead.
195 Xpl is the number of extra-light planes the unit can carry. Planes can
196 operate from a land unit in the same fashion as if it were a carrier.
197 Normally, extra-light planes are SAMs, so units can carry SAMs for
198 air-defense. This particular unit can't carry any.
200 .L "Land unit capabilities"
202 There are many different capabilities that land units may have. They may
203 be seen with the show command:
205 .EX show land capability
209 infantry 5f light assault
212 The command shows the cargos the unit can carry (5 food in this case), and its
213 abilities. See info \*QUnit-types\*U for a complete description of the
214 various capabilities.
218 Land units move with the \*Qmarch\*U command, which is pretty identical to the
219 navigate command. Marching units can run into land-mines, be interdicted, etc.
220 See info \*Qmarch\*U for more information. See info \*Qmission\*U for information on
225 Each type of ship is rated on the number of land units it can carry.
226 Land units that are 'light' can be loaded onto ships using the normal \*Qload\*U
227 command (see info \*Qload\*U). Units that also have the 'assault' ability (see info
228 \*Qshow\*U and info \*QUnit-types\*U for explanations of abilities) can be
229 used in assaulting sectors. (See info \*Qassault\*U)
233 Units need supplies in order to attack. See info \*Qsupply\*U.
237 Land units are able to \*Qfortify\*U themselves to better resist damage. Each
238 point of mobility spent increases the fortification level by 1, up to a maximum
239 equal to the maximum mobility of a land unit. A fully fortified unit takes one
240 half the normal amount of damage. Fortification is lost when the unit moves or
241 retreats. (Note that a reacting defending unit \*Qcan\*U have a fortification
242 value. This is an abstraction) Read info \*Qfortify\*U for more details.
246 Land units can use \*Qllookout\*U to look around. This command is analogous to the
247 look command used by ships. When llooking, land units have a chance to spot
248 other land units and also planes. Recon units tend to have better spy values,
249 and so are better at this.
250 (See info \*Qshow\*U and info \*QUnit-types\*U to
251 find out more about recon units)
255 Some units can use the \*Qlradar\*U command. This command works like the
256 radar command. Radar range is determined by the unit's spy value.
257 (See info \*Qshow\*U and info \*QUnit-types\*U to
258 find out more about radar units)
262 Some land units have the 'engineering' ability. These units can do several
263 things. Engineers are the only units that can lay land-mines, and the only units
264 that can sweep them when moving (like a minesweeper). Attacking engineers
265 also halve the defender's mine bonus. Engineers can also use the \*Qwork\*U
266 command, which allows them to raise sector efficiency. (See info \*Qwork\*U)
267 They also tend to be quite expensive.
269 .L "Attacking & defending"
271 Info \*QAttacking\*U has a complete treatment of this, but I will summarize here.
272 When you decide to attack a sector, you can use mil and units from adjacent
273 sectors. The attack value of your forces is the combined attack values of all
274 attacking land units, plus the number of mil coming in from adjacent sectors.
276 The defense value is equal to the mil in the defending sector, plus
277 the defense values of any defending units in the sector, as well as any that
278 react and move there.
280 Friendly ships/forts/artillery units/planes can contribute
281 \*Qsupport\*U. Support starts at 1.0. Each friendly ship/fort/artillery unit/
282 plane that can help adds its damage/100 to the support. For example, if you
283 were attacking a sector, and a friendly battleship was close enough to fire
284 there, it could support you. If it would normally do 23% damage when firing,
285 it would add +.23 support, making your support number 1.23. The enemy also
286 gets support from all his stuff.
288 When all support is totaled, the attacker strength is multiplied by
289 the attacker's support to get the total attacker strength. The defender's
290 total strength is determined similarly. Both sides have their strength modified
291 by the terrain. (show sector stats will show the defensive value of a sector)
292 He can also get support
293 by having mine-fields in the sector (see info \*Qlmine\*U and info
294 \*QAttacking\*U for more information). Planes support only if assigned to a
295 support mission. See info \*Qmission\*U for information on support missions.
297 Combat is done fairly normally, with a series of rolls for attacker/
298 defender casualties, until one side is dead or retreats. Land units take damage
299 after all mil on their side are dead, and each 'hit' on a land unit does 1 mil
300 damage. (Therefore, a unit that takes 100 mil to build would take 1% damage
301 when it suffers a casualty. A unit that takes 50 mil would take 2%, etc)
302 When a land unit's level of damage taken in a battle reaches it's 'retreat
303 level', it must begin taking morale checks. When it fails one, it will retreat.
304 Retreating attacking units go back to the sector they came from. Defending
305 units will attempt to retreat to an adjacent owned sector. If there are none,
306 the unit will take extra damage and continue fighting.
308 If the attacker wins, he captures the sector, and his mil/units will
309 move into the sector if he ordered that. If the defender wins a combat,
310 his units in the sector stay there. His reacting defending units that did not
311 fail a morale check return to their starting point. Defending units who
312 started in the sector stay in the sector.
314 In both cases, retreated units end up in the sector they retreated to.
316 .L "Units and retreating"
318 Ships can use the \*Qretreat\*U command to specify when and how they will
319 run away from trouble. Land units use a similar command \*Qlretreat\*U to
320 do the same thing. See info \*Qlretreat\*U for more details.
322 .SA "Unit-types, show, supply, LandUnits"
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