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 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,
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 \*Qmorale\*U. 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 \*QAttacking\*U) Just as you can use \*Qrange\*U to change the
58 range of your planes and control how far away they'll intercept, you can
59 change the reaction radius for land units with \*Qlrange\*U. Units with a base reaction
60 radius of 0, or those whose radius you have set to 0, will not react.
61 When built, the unit will have as its reaction radius set to zero.
65 Each land unit can carry cargo. The cargo display for land units is very
66 similar to that of ships, and is gotten with the \*Qlcargo\*U command.
70 lnd# unit type x,y a eff sh gun pet irn dst bar oil lcm hcm rad
71 0 infantry 8,0 96% 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
75 The land unit is not carrying anything. Potentially, land units can carry any
76 of the commodities listed above. Unlike ships, they cannot carry mil, civs,
77 or uw's. Land units are loaded and unloaded using the lload command, which
78 works pretty much like the load command for ships. (See info \*Qlload\*U)
79 Units on ships can transfer supplies to/from the ships with the \*Qltend\*U
82 .L "HQ's & Building land units"
84 Like planes and ships, land units are built in special sectors. For land units,
85 the sector is the headquarters sectors, designation !. Like other units,
86 they may require hcms and lcms, and will generally require money.
88 Some land units may require guns to build. All this info can be gotten with the
94 lcm hcm guns avail tech $
95 inf infantry 10 5 0 40 0 $500
98 The infantry unit takes a total of 10 lcms, 5 hcms, and 0 guns to build.
99 Like ships and planes, units are built at a lower percentage, and 'grow' up
100 to 100%, and any unit with an efficiency of less than the build percentage
101 is dead. For land units, this minimum efficiency is 10%.
102 The build requirements for land units, like those listed above, are
103 for a 100% unit. Thus, the infantr1 would require 1 lcm and .5 hcms
104 (Fractional amounts are randomly rounded... i.e. .5 has a
105 50% chance of being 1 or 0. It'll all even out over time)
107 When 'growing', land units
108 require materials which must be present in the sector. The
109 amount of growth is calculated in the same fashion as planes/ships. Generally
110 a land unit can grow by up to 2x the ETUs per update. (See the \*Qversion\*U
111 command for exact maximums, as these are deity-settable) So, for example, in
112 a 32 ETU game, a land unit could possibly grow by 64% per update. For the
113 infantry unit shown above, this would require 6.4 lcms and 3.2 hcms.
114 If any of these things aren't present in the sector, the unit won't
117 .L "Repair of Land units"
119 Ships can repair themselves in any sector, and can use work from their crew,
120 or from a harbor they are in. Planes can only be repaired in airports, and
121 only use work from the airport. Land units can be repaired in HQ's or
122 in fortresses, and use the work of the HQ or fort. This means that front-line
123 units in forts will repair themselves each update, assuming that the
124 necessary materials and work are available. They can also gain efficiency
125 in other sector types, but at a much reduced efficiency (1/3rd normal gain)
127 .L "Land unit statistics"
129 Each land unit has certain vital statistics which show how it will
130 operate. These are obtainable from the show command:
132 .EX show land statistics
137 att def vul d s y d g c m m f l
138 infantry 1.0 1.5 60 23 15 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
141 The infantry unit has an attack multiplier of 1.0, and defensive multiplier
142 of 1.5. It has a vulnerability rating of 60, a speed of 23, a visibility of
143 15, spy value of 2, reaction radius maximum of 1, no firing range, no accuracy,
144 no firing damage, uses no ammo, has no aa fire,
145 and can't carry extra-light planes.
147 When attacking, a unit's value is expressed in 'mil-equivalents', i.e. 1
148 mil-eq is as strong as 1 mil. To find a unit's attack value, find the number of
149 mil currently in it, and multiply by the attack multiplier and efficiency.
150 In the case of our infantry unit the unit has an attack value of 96
151 (100*1.0*.96), and a defense value of 144
152 (100*1.5.96). Some units, like tanks, will have high attack multipliers,
154 defense multipliers. Some, like most infantry, will be better at defending than
155 attacking. Some, like artillery units, will be bad at both.
157 As time goes on, and your tech increases, the stats of your land units
158 will get better. This reflects the technological breakthroughs you have
159 made in that you can now build better units of the same type.
161 The vulnerability of a unit determines how easy it is to hurt the unit by
162 shelling it, bombing it, or when it encounters land mines. The lower the
163 vulnerability, the better. Values range from 1-100.
165 Spd is the relative speed of the land unit. Land units move by marching (see
166 info \*Qmarch\*U), and use mob depending on their speed and the terrain they
167 are moving through. For more info and formulas, see info \*Qmarch\*U.
169 Vis is the visibility of the unit. This is a measure of how easy it is to
170 see/detect the unit. Lower is harder to see, and the numbers can range from
171 1-100 or so. When a land unit tries to use the \*Qllookout\*U command to look for
172 enemy land units/planes, its chances of success are affected by the target
173 units' visibility (see info \*Qllookout\*U for more details).
175 Spy is the other side of the equation, i.e. how well can the unit find things?
176 A unit with a low spy won't be very good at locating other units, and won't
177 be able to report much when it encounters them in battle. A high-spy unit
178 will be able to use the \*Qllookout\*U command with more chance of success, and
179 will be able to more accurately report information about the units it runs
180 into in battle. (See info \*QAttacking\*U for information about intelligence
181 reports) Units with radar capacity also use their spy value to determine how
182 far they can see. Spy values range from 0-127, with low numbers being most
185 Don't confuse this spy value with the "spy" capability of a unit. See
186 "info \*QSpies\*U" for more information.
188 Rad is the maximum reaction radius for the unit.
189 If you change the reaction radius by using
190 the \*Qlrange\*U command, you will be able to select any value that is
191 between 0 and the maximum.
193 Frg is the unit's firing range. The unit can fire as far as the frg, modified
194 by the unit's tech. Accuracy is the unit's firing accuracy, and helps to
195 determine how much damage it will do, along with the dam of the unit. When
196 firing at sectors, damage is based solely on the damage. When firing in
197 defense of a sector, or firing at ships, damage is based on both acc and dam.
198 (See info \*Qfire\*U for more information)
200 Ammo is the number of shells a land unit uses every time it fires or
201 participates in combat. If the unit does not have enough shells when
202 firing, damage will be reduced proportionately. If a unit does not have
203 enough shells in combat, it will be out of supply, and have its combat
204 strength cut in half. (See info \*Qsupply\*U and info \*QAttacking\*U for
205 information on supply and how it affects combat)
207 Aaf is the unit's anti-aircraft fire value. The higher the value, the more
208 damage the unit will do to planes flying overhead.
210 Xpl is the number of extra-light planes the unit can carry. Planes can
211 operate from a land unit in the same fashion as if it were a carrier.
212 Normally, extra-light planes are SAMs, so units can carry SAMs for
213 air-defense. This particular unit can't carry any.
215 .L "Land unit capabilities"
217 There are many different capabilities that land units may have. They may
218 be seen with the show command:
220 .EX show land capability
224 infantry 5f light assault
227 The command shows the cargos the unit can carry (5 food in this case), and its
228 abilities. See info \*QUnit-types\*U for a complete description of the
229 various capabilities.
233 Land units move with the \*Qmarch\*U command, which is pretty identical to the
234 navigate command. Marching units can run into land-mines, be interdicted, etc.
235 See info \*Qmarch\*U for more information. See info \*Qmission\*U for information on
240 Each type of ship is rated on the number of land units it can carry.
241 Land units that are 'light' can be loaded onto ships using the normal \*Qload\*U
242 command (see info \*Qload\*U). Units that also have the 'assault' ability (see info
243 \*Qshow\*U and info \*QUnit-types\*U for explanations of abilities) can be
244 used in assaulting sectors. (See info \*Qassault\*U)
248 Units need supplies in order to attack. Each update, and each time they
249 attack, units will attempt to draw supplies. See info \*Qsupply\*U.
250 Really, I'm serious. If you don't read info \*Qsupply\*U, you'll die a horrible
251 death. I'm not kidding.
255 Land units are able to \*Qfortify\*U themselves to better resist damage. Each
256 point of mobility spent increases the fortification level by 1, up to a maximum
257 equal to the maximum mobility of a land unit. A fully fortified unit takes one
258 half the normal amount of damage. Fortification is lost when the unit moves or
259 retreats. (Note that a reacting defending unit \*Qcan\*U have a fortification
260 value. This is an abstraction) Read info \*Qfortify\*U for more details.
264 Land units can use \*Qllookout\*U to look around. This command is analogous to the
265 look command used by ships. When llooking, land units have a chance to spot
266 other land units and also planes. Recon units tend to have better spy values,
267 and so are better at this.
268 (See info \*Qshow\*U and info \*QUnit-types\*U to
269 find out more about recon units)
273 Some units can use the \*Qlradar\*U command. This command works like the
274 radar command. Radar range is determined by the unit's spy value.
275 (See info \*Qshow\*U and info \*QUnit-types\*U to
276 find out more about radar units)
280 Some land units have the 'engineering' ability. These units can do several
281 things. Engineers are the only units that can lay land-mines, and the only units
282 that can sweep them when moving (like a minesweeper). Attacking engineers
283 also halve the defender's mine bonus. Engineers can also use the \*Qwork\*U
284 command, which allows them to raise sector efficiency. (See info \*Qwork\*U)
285 They also tend to be quite expensive.
287 .L "Attacking & defending"
289 Info \*QAttacking\*U has a complete treatment of this, but I will summarize here.
290 When you decide to attack a sector, you can use mil and units from adjacent
291 sectors. The attack value of your forces is the combined attack values of all
292 attacking land units, plus the number of mil coming in from adjacent sectors.
294 The defense value is equal to the mil in the defending sector, plus
295 the defense values of any defending units in the sector, as well as any that
296 react and move there.
298 Friendly ships/forts/artillery units/planes can contribute
299 \*Qsupport\*U. Support starts at 1.0. Each friendly ship/fort/artillery unit/
300 plane that can help adds its damage/100 to the support. For example, if you
301 were attacking a sector, and a friendly battleship was close enough to fire
302 there, it could support you. If it would normally do 23% damage when firing,
303 it would add +.23 support, making your support number 1.23. The enemy also
304 gets support from all his stuff.
306 When all support is totaled, the attacker strength is multiplied by
307 the attacker's support to get the total attacker strength. The defender's
308 total strength is determined similarly. Both sides have their strength modified
309 by the terrain. (show sector stats will show the defensive value of a sector)
310 He can also get support
311 by having mine-fields in the sector (see info \*Qlmine\*U and info
312 \*QAttacking\*U for more information). Planes support only if assigned to a
313 support mission. See info \*Qmission\*U for information on support missions.
315 Combat is done fairly normally, with a series of rolls for attacker/
316 defender casualties, until one side is dead or retreats. Land units take damage
317 after all mil on their side are dead, and each 'hit' on a land unit does 1 mil
318 damage. (Therefore, a unit that takes 100 mil to build would take 1% damage
319 when it suffers a casualty. A unit that takes 50 mil would take 2%, etc)
320 When a land unit's level of damage taken in a battle reaches it's 'retreat
321 level', it must begin taking morale checks. When it fails one, it will retreat.
322 Retreating attacking units go back to the sector they came from. Defending
323 units will attempt to retreat to an adjacent owned sector. If there are none,
324 the unit will take extra damage and continue fighting.
326 If the attacker wins, he captures the sector, and his mil/units will
327 move into the sector if he ordered that. If the defender wins a combat,
328 his units in the sector stay there. His reacting defending units that did not
329 fail a morale check return to their starting point. Defending units who
330 started in the sector stay in the sector.
332 In both cases, retreated units end up in the sector they retreated to.
334 .L "Units and retreating"
336 Ships can use the \*Qretreat\*U command to specify when and how they will
337 run away from trouble. Land units use a similar command \*Qlretreat\*U to
338 do the same thing. See info \*Qlretreat\*U for more details.
340 .SA "Unit-types, show, supply, LandUnits"
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