Markus Armbruster
6564ff2240
The ancients designed interception dead simple: when you overfly a sector, you get intercepted by the sector owner. Fine print interception rules govern which planes intercept. Then complexity got piled on top of it. Chainsaw 2 added an extra interception by surface ship owners, in the target sector only. Chainsaw 3 added an extra interception by land unit owners, in the target sector only (Empire 4 later merged this extra land unit interception with the extra surface ship interception). Chainsaw 3 added an entirely separate kind of interception: air defense missions. When you enter a sector in some air defense op area, you get intercepted. Fine print air defense rules govern which planes intercept. These rules differ significantly from the interception fine print. Additional complexity comes from these facts: * Air defense mission interception happens in addition to non-mission interception. You can boost your total interception by setting up air defense. Which means you must set it up, or forgo an advantage. * Air defense planes are not available for non-mission interception duty. You need to decide on a split. * In contrast to non-mission interception, interceptors flying air defense get intercepted. Moreover, the air defense code breaks one of the plane code's design assumptions, namely that just one plane sortie is active at a time. The air defense sortie runs while the sortie it intercepts is in progress. This leads to two interceptions being active at the same time: the one intercepting the original sortie, and the one intercepting the air defense sortie. The same plane can fly in both interceptions, and damage received in the interception of the air defense sortie is wiped out, triggering a seqno mismatch oops. The previous commit already simplified non-mission interception: you get intercepted by anyone who owns the sector, or a surface ship or a land unit there, whether it's the target sector or not. Now simplify mission interception, by merging air defense back into ordinary interception: when you overfly a sector, you get intercepted by anyone who owns the sector, or a surface ship or land unit there, or has an air defense mission covering the sector. That's all. No multiple interceptions, no separate air defense rules. Remove air_defense(). Simplify ac_encounter() and sam_intercept() accordingly; both lose their last parameter. Change sam_intercept() and ac_intercept() to intercept in mission op areas. New parameter only_mission to suppress non-mission interception. Pass zero when the intercepting country owns the sector or a surface ship or land unit in the sector. ac_encounter() can't efficiently predict whether a country intercepts, so it needs to call ac_intercept() unconditionally. This kills the optimization to collect interceptors only when needed; simplify accordingly, replacing getilist() by getilists().
291 lines
13 KiB
Perl
291 lines
13 KiB
Perl
.TH Command MISSION
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.NA mission "Assign a mission to a ship/plane/unit"
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.LV Basic
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.SY "mission <TYPE> <UNITS> <s|o|d|i|e|r|a|c|q> <op sector|.> [<radius>]"
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.s1
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The mission command is used to assign ships, planes, or land units to
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missions. The available missions are:
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.NF
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Mission Ships Land-Units Planes
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i interdiction yes yes only "tactical"
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s support no no only "tactical"
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o off support no no only "tactical"
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d def support no no only "tactical"
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r reserve no yes no
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e escort no no only "intercept" or "escort"
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a air defense no no only "intercept"
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.FI
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You may also use 'q' (query) to check on
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the mission of something, or 'c' (clear) to wipe the mission of a land
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unit/plane/ship.
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.s1
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GENERAL CONCEPT
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.s1
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Missions are things that your planes/land units/ships can do automatically, such
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as bombing/shelling. You assign a unit to a mission, and whenever the right
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conditions occur, the unit attempts to perform its mission. Note that missions
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don't allow a unit to do anything it normally could not do, they simply allow
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them to do it in an automatic fashion. In some cases, units performing missions
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might not be as 'smart' as they would be if you were operating them personally.
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That's the price you pay for having automatic defenses.
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.s1
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.L "IMPORTANT NOTES"
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.s1
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Missions can occur during updates. (Interdicting ships using "sail"
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or "order").
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.s1
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Artillery units less than 40% efficient will not fire.
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.s1
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Planes flying missions other than air defense will be intercepted
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normally. (i.e. if you fly over enemy territory, you'll get
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intercepted.
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.s1
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Planes assigned to missions other than air defense are \*QNOT\*U
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eligible to intercept normally. For example, if a fighter is assigned
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to an escort
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or interdiction or support mission, it will \*QNOT\*U rise to intercept
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an intruding enemy plane. (planes on air-defense missions will intercept
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planes flying in their op-area, in accordance with the air-defense mission,
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but will not intercept one outside their op-area, even if it is within
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their normal range. Be sure you understand this before using plane missions.)
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.s1
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Nukes on missiles or planes flying missions DO detonate.
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.s1
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"marine" missiles will keep launching to interdict ships until all of
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the valuable ships in the fleet are sunk. A "valuable" ship is one
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which cost at least $1000 to build or can carry land units or planes.
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For each new missile launched, the most valuable ship according to
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(cost to build) * efficiency is targeted.
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.s1
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Non-marine missiles will keep firing
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on a sector until 100 damage is done.
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.s1
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OPERATIONS SECTORS
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.s1
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Missions require the designation of an 'op sector', short for operations
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sector. This is the center of an area that the mission is focused on.
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The op sector may be any sector that is within the unit's range.
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(Firing range for ships & land units on interdiction, reaction range
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for land units on reserve, flying
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range for planes, changeable with range command).
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The unit will exert influence in a radius around the op sector.
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By default, the radius will be as large as possible, i.e. the biggest range
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so that the unit/ship/plane could legally act there.)
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For example, a ship with a range of 4 could designate any sector up
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to 4 away from it as it's op sector, and would affect anything within
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4 of it's op-sector, provided it was also within 4 of the ship.
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.s1
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If a smaller radius is desired, it may be specified on
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the command line. If it is not specified, it will not be prompted for.
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.s1
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The area affected by a unit is known as that unit's op-area.
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.s1
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If a '.' is given as the op-sector, the op sector will be the location
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of the unit.
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.s1
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Additionally, if the unit's op-sector is the sector the unit is in, and
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the unit moves without losing its mission
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status, the operation sector will move with it. (Normally, of course, the
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only way for a unit on a mission to move is to be carried on a ship, so
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this mostly applies to planes on carriers) Thus, a tactical bomber on a ship
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could have an op-area centered on the carrier that moved with the carrier.
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.s1
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Otherwise, if the unit moves without losing its mission status, the
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op sector will stay where it was designated.
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.s1
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For example, suppose that land unit 4 is an artillery unit, range 5,
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located at 0,0.
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.s1
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.EX "mission land 4 int ."
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.s1
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This would make the unit interdict anything passing within 5 sectors of
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its location.
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.s1
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.EX "mission land 4 int 4,0"
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.s1
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This would make the unit interdict anything passing within 5 sectors of
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4,0, provided it was also within 5 sectors (the unit's range) of 0,0.
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.s1
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.EX "mission land 4 int 4,0 2"
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.s1
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This would make the unit interdict anything passing within 2 sectors of
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4,0, provided it was also within 5 sectors (the unit's range) of 0,0.
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.s1
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The op-sector/op-range concept allows you to restrict a unit's area of
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interest to a small, important area, or just let it shoot at anything within
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range.
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.s1
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MOBILITY USE
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.s1
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When a unit is given a mission, it costs no mobility. When a unit performs
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its mission, it uses the normal mobility costs that it would use to
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perform that mission if done by the player.
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.s1
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A unit stays on its mission until you cancel it, OR the unit acts. Any type
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of action not a part of a mission
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is sufficient, so marching, navigating, transporting, flying, reconing,
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bombing, mining, paratrooping, being attacked, being
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paratrooped on, retreating, etc, will all cause a unit to lose its
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mission status, but the unit could bomb/shell/etc AS PART OF A MISSION, and
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still retain its mission status.
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Also, land units with a reserve
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mission can react to a threatened sector and fight, and (assuming they win)
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return to their original sector without losing their reserve status.
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.s1
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Note that fortifying a unit does not affect it's mission status.
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.s1
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DEFENDERS
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.s1
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The defender's planes will intercept planes flying missions.
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His ships/forts/units, however, will \*QNOT\*U fire at ships/forts/units
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firing on a mission.
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.s1
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INTERDICTION MISSIONS (ships, planes, land units)
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.s1
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When giving a unit a interdiction mission, you designate an op sector. From
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then on, whenever an enemy (defined as something belonging to a nation which
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you are at war with) moves in a sector in that unit's op-area,
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the unit will try to shell or bomb it (as appropriate). Almost any kind of
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movement, except for distribution movement during an update, and the tiny
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amounts moved by the supply routines is enough.
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.s1
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For example, an enemy land unit marching up to the front would be
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shelled/bombed.
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An enemy moving commodities around would have the commodities automatically
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shelled/bombed. A ship navigating into a sea sector would be shelled or bombed,
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depending on it's type (obviously, only depth-charge or ASW capable units would
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affect a submarine, and a submarine would only affect things it could torpedo)
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In general, units can only affect things they could normally affect. For
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example, if the enemy was transporting a plane along a highway, and you had an
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artillery unit and a light bomber interdicting the highway sector, the land
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unit would fire and the bomber would fly there and bomb, and the total damage
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would be applied to the plane being transported. If it was still alive, it
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might be moved to another sector, there to be bombed/shelled again (assuming the
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new sector was also in both units' op-areas) If a different unit later moved
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in, it would be shelled/bombed. This happens as long as the interdicting units
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have mobility left.
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.s1
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Damage done is divided amongst all units/ships/commodities moving. For
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example, if 6 ships were moving, and the interdiction mission did 18 points of
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damage, each ship would take 3.
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.s1
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Note that only ships with sonar and ASW planes can interdict subs. Also, the
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units may or may not detect the subs, so it's kind of random. The sub also
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has a chance of escaping the damage, depending on the visibility of the sub.
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.s1
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Only planes with the 'tactical' ability can fly interdiction missions.
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Only planes with 'ASW' ability will fly vs. subs. Planes with 'ASW'
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ability will not fly interdiction vs. other types of
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ships/planes/units/commods. Subs have a chance of sneaking through
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ASW air cover unnoticed, and ASW planes will respond to any
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non-Friendly sub movement. Depending on the visibility of the sub,
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the ASW plane may or may not identify the type and/or owner of the
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sub.
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Interdiction has no effect on flying planes. Interdiction does not
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affect loading/unloading. It will also cause some damage to the
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sector that the commodities were moving into.
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.s1
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Note also that forts will fire at enemy ships coming within
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range. You don't have to set anything for this, it
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happens automatically. (Forts firing at enemy ships naving happens before
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ships/planes/units interdicting ships, so if the enemy is using an area a
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lot, a fort will hurt him without costing you mob from planes)
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.s1
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SUPPORT MISSIONS (planes only)
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.s1
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A support mission allows your planes to automatically bomb the enemy.
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Planes with offensive support missions will bomb enemy sectors that you
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attack. Planes with defensive support missions will bomb enemy troops
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attacking your sector, adding to your defensive strength. Planes with
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support orders will do both.
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.s1
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When giving a plane a support mission, you designate an op sector. From then on,
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whenever a sector owned by the plane's owner (or by an ally of the plane-owner,
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if the ally is also at war with the attacker)
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in that plane's op-area is
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attacked, the plane will attempt to fly to that sector and give ground support,
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if it has support or defensive support orders.
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.s1
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If the plane's owner (or an ally of the plane's owner, if the ally is
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also at war with the country attacked)
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attacks a sector in that plane's op-area belonging to a
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country that the plane owner is at war with, the plane will
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also attempt to fly there and give offensive support if it has
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support or offensive support orders.
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.s1
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(see info attack for more information on how support works in land combat)
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.s1
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Only planes with the 'tactical' ability can fly support missions.
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.s1
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ESCORT MISSIONS (planes only)
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.s1
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When given an escort mission, an escort or intercept capable plane will attempt
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to escort any plane flying a support or interdict mission from the
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same airport into its op-area.
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If even 1 plane flies a support or interdiction mission from an airport, all
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planes on escort duty at that airport will attempt to escort. Planes with escort
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duty will NOT attempt to escort planes taking off from other airports, so it
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pays to put your bombing planes and escorting planes together.
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.s1
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Only planes with the 'escort' or 'intercept' abilities can fly escort missions.
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.s1
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AIR DEFENSE MISSIONS (planes only)
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.s1
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Putting a plane on an air defense mission modifies where the plane
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intercepts. Without a mission, it intercepts over own sectors,
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surface ships and land units. With an air defense mission, it
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intercepts over any sector in its op area.
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.s1
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.L Example
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Groonland wants to run a recon flight over Bannannarama. Joeland has a
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jet fighter with an air defense mission and an op-area covering part of
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Bannannarama. The 'j' sector belongs to Joeland, and is the base for the
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fighter. The 'b' sectors belong to Bannannarama, which has 1 fighter
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in the center sector. The 'g' sector belongs to Groonland. Assume that
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all countries are mutually at war.
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.s1
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The Joeland fighter's op area is centered on the 'B', radius 2.
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.NF
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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. . . . . j . . . . . b b . . . .
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. . . . . . . . . . . b B b . . .
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. . . . . . . . . . . b b . . . .
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. . . . . . . . . g . . . . . . .
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.FI
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.s1
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The Groonland player enters a path of 'uujjjbgbggh'.
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The first sectors entered is sea, and is not in the Joeland
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aircraft's op-area, so nothing happens.
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.s1
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Next, the Groonland plane enters the sector adjacent to Bannannarama.
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This is within the Joeland aircraft's op-area, so it flies to intercept.
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It takes the shortest path there, and fights the Groonland plane.
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Let's say that both take 20 points of damage, and neither aborts.
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.s1
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Next, the Groonland plane overflies a Bannannarama sector. It gets
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intercepted by Joeland's fighter, because the sector is in its
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op-area, and by Bannannarama's fighter, because the sector belongs to
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Bannannarama. And so forth.
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.s1
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A good use of this mission is to provide a wider CAP around a carrier,
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so that enemy planes get intercepted several times on the way to the
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carrier, rather than just once, in the carrier's sector.
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.s1
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Another use is to provide air-cover for an ally who has temporarily
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lost his planes.
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.s1
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RESERVE MISSIONS (land units only)
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.s1
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A land unit on a reserve mission may react to enemy attacks within its
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op-area. See info \*QAttacking\*U for more on land unit reactions.
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.s1
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Note that units with a reserve mission retain this status even when they
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react to a threatened sector and return. This is an exception to the normal
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rules on losing your mission status. If, however, the land unit is forced to
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retreat from the combat (see land combat for details), it DOES lose its status.
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.s1
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Note: information gained from planes flying missions is automatically
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added to your bmap.
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.s1
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.SA "Ship-types, Plane-types, Unit-types, attack, bomb, Ships, Planes, LandUnits"
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