                             Concept : Land Units

NAME
   Land-units - How to use land units

Level: Basic

Land units are organized collections of mil (militia). They  are  considerably
more effective and cost-efficient than militia, and have many extra abilities.
With the addition of land units, mil are now more or  less  considered  to  be
militia instead of military, and are less important.

The way that military are incorporated into units are that the mil  are  load-
able commodities of the unit.  The offensive or defensive

Commands for land units are generally similar to those  of  planes/ships,  and
will usually start with 'l'.

Land unit characteristics

Land units have some characteristics of  both  ships  and  planes,  plus  some
unique  ones. Like both ships & planes, they have efficiency & mobility.  Like
ships, they can carry cargo, may have/use fuel, and may be able to  fire  guns
at  distant targets. Like planes, they have attack and defense values, and may
be able to act automatically to defend your country.  Let's look at a  typical
land unit:

   [##:##] Command: land *

      # unit type             x,y   a  eff mil fort  mu  fd tech retr rd xl ship
      0 inf   infantry        8,0      96% 100    0  93  24    0  42%  1  0
   1 unit

This land unit is an infantry unit, located at 8,0. In many  games,  you  will
start  with 1-2 basic land units of this type. Some of the things about it are
familiar. It is 96% efficient, has 93 mobility units, carries 1 food, no fuel,
and  is tech 0 and currently contains 100 mi. It carries 0 extra-light planes,
and is not on a ship. The 'a' stands for army, and  is  just  like  fleets  or
wings, i.e. a way of grouping your units. (See info army for more information)
Fort is  the  level  of  fortification  of  the  land  unit.  The  higher  the
fortification, the harder the unit is to hurt.

The 'retr' stands for retreat percentage. This land unit  must  begin  rolling
morale  checks  in combat whenever its efficiency goes below 75%. This is user
settable in a range determined by the happiness of  the  owning  country.  The
happier  your  people  are, the more determinedly they fight. If, on the other
hand, you want the unit to retreat easily, you can set this to  100%  or  some
other  high  number.  (For  information  on setting this, see info morale. For
information on morale checks, see info attack)

The 'rd' field is referred to as the unit's 'reaction radius', and is the dis-
tance  to  which  the unit can react to defend your country.  Basically, if an
enemy attacks a sector close enough to the unit, it will go to the  threatened
sector and fight, like a plane intercepting. If it survives the attack without
failing a morale check, it will return to the sector  it  started  from,  just
like  a  plane would. (For more information on reacting and morale checks, see
info attack) Just as you can use rangeedit to change the range of your  planes
and  control  how  far  away they'll intercept, so you can change the reaction
radius with lrangedit. Units with a base reaction radius of 0, or those  whose
radius you have set to 0, will not react.

Cargo

Each land unit can carry cargo. The cargo display for land units is very simi-
lar to that of ships, and is gotten with the lcargo command.

   [##:##] Command: lcargo *

   lnd# unit type     x,y    a   eff  sh gun pet irn dst bar oil lcm hcm rad
      0 infantry      8,0        96%   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
   1 unit

The land unit is not carrying anything. Potentially, land units can carry  any
of the commodities listed above. Unlike ships, they cannot carry mil, civs, or
uw's. Land units are loaded and unloaded using the lload command, which  works
pretty  much  like the load command for ships. (See info lload) Units on ships
can transfer supplies to/from the ships with the ltend command.

HQ's & Building land units

Like planes and ships, land units are  built  in  special  sectors.  For  land
units,  the  sector  is  the  headquarters  sectors, designation !. Like other
units, they may require hcms and lcms, and will generally require money.

Some land units may require guns to build. All this info can  be  gotten  with
the show command.

   [##:##] Command: show land build

                             lcm hcm guns avail tech  $
   inf   infantry             10   5    0    40    0  $500

The infantry unit takes a total of 10 lcms, 5 hcms,  and   0  guns  to  build.
Like ships and planes, units are built at a lower percentage, and 'grow' up to
100%, and any unit with an efficiency of less than  the  build  percentage  is
dead.  For land units, this minimum efficiency is 10%.  The build requirements
for land units, like those listed above,  are  for  a  100%  unit.  Thus,  the
infantr1  would  require  1  lcm  and .5 hcms (Fractional amounts are randomly
rounded... i.e. .5 has a 50% chance of being 1 or 0. It'll all even  out  over
time)

When 'growing', land units require materials which must be present in the sec-
tor.  The  amount of growth is calculated in the same fashion as planes/ships.
Generally a land unit can grow by up to 2x the ETUs per update. (See the  ver-
sion command for exact maximums, as these are deity-settable) So, for example,
in a 32 ETU game, a land unit could possibly grow by 64% per update.  For  the
infantry  unit  shown above, this would require 6.4 lcms and 3.2 hcms.  If any
of these things aren't present in the sector, the unit won't gain efficiency.

Repair of Land units

Ships can repair themselves in any sector, and can use work from  their  crew,
or  from  a  harbor  they are in. Planes can only be repaired in airports, and
only use work from the airport. Land units can be repaired in HQ's, or in for-
tresses,  and use the work of the HQ or fort. This means that front-line units
in forts will repair themselves  each  update,  assuming  that  the  necessary
materials  and work are available. They can also gain efficiency in other sec-
tor types, but at a much reduced efficiency (1/3rd normal gain)

Land unit statistics

Each land unit has certain vital statistics which show how  it  will  operate.
These are obtainable from the show command:

   [##:##] Command: show land statistics

                                          s  v  s  r  f  a  d  a  a        x
                                          p  i  p  a  r  c  a  m  a  f  f  p
                             att def vul  d  s  y  d  g  c  m  m  f  c  u  l
   infantry                  1.0 1.5  60 23 15  2  1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0

The infantry unit has an attack multiplier of 1.0, and defensive multiplier of
1.5.  It  has a vulnerability rating of 60, a speed of 23, a visibility of 15,
spy value of 2, reaction radius maximum of 1, no firing range, no accuracy, no
firing  damage,  uses  no ammo, has no aa fire, doesn't carry of use fuel, and
can't carry extra-light planes.

When attacking, a unit's value is expressed in 'mil-equivalents', i.e. 1  mil-
eq  is  as  strong as 1 mil. To find a unit's attack value, find the number of
mil currently in it, and multiply by the attack multiplier and efficiency.  In
the   case  of  our  infantry  unit  the  unit  has  an  attack  value  of  96
(100*1.0*.96), and a defense value  of  144  (100*1.5.96).  Some  units,  like
tanks,  will  have  high  attack  multipliers, and medium defense multipliers.
Some, like most infantry, will be better at defending  than  attacking.  Some,
like artillery units, will be bad at both.

As time goes on, and your tech increases, the stats of your  land  units  will
get  better.   This  reflects the technological breakthroughs you have made in
that you can now build better units of the same type.

The vulnerability of a unit determines how easy it is  to  hurt  the  unit  by
shelling  it, bombing it, or when it encounters land mines. The lower the vul-
nerability, the better. Values range from 1-100.

Spd is the relative speed of the land unit. Land units move by  marching  (see
info  march),  and  use  mob depending on their speed and the terrain they are
moving through. For more info and formulas, see info march.

Vis is the visibility of the unit. This is a measure of  how  easy  it  is  to
see/detect  the  unit.  Lower is harder to see, and the numbers can range from
1-100 or so. When a land unit tries to use the llook command to look for enemy
land  units/planes,  its  chances of success are affected by the target units'
visibility (see info llook for more details).

Spy is the other side of the equation, i.e. how well can the unit find things?
A unit with a low spy won't be very good at locating other units, and won't be
able to report much when it encounters them in battle. A high-spy unit will be
able to use the llook command with more chance of success, and will be able to
more accurately report information about the units it  runs  into  in  battle.
(See  info attack for information about intelligence reports) Units with radar
capacity also use their spy value to determine  how  far  they  can  see.  Spy
values range from 0-127, with low numbers being most common.

Don't confuse this spy value with the "spy" capability of a unit.   See  "info
Spies" for more information.

Rad is the maximum reaction radius for the unit. When  built,  the  unit  will
have  this  as its reaction radius. If you change the reaction radius by using
the lrangedit command, you will be able to select any value that is between  0
and the maximum.

Frg is the unit's firing range. The unit can fire as far as the frg,  modified
by  the  unit's  tech.  Accuracy  is  the unit's firing accuracy, and helps to
determine how much damage it will do, along with the dam  of  the  unit.  When
firing  at  sectors,  damage  is  based  solely  on the damage. When firing in
defense of a sector, or firing at ships, damage is based on both acc and  dam.
(See info fire for more information)

Ammo is the number of shells a land unit uses every time it fires or  partici-
pates  in  combat. If the unit does not have enough shells when firing, damage
will be reduced proportionately. If a unit does not have enough shells in com-
bat,  it will be out of supply, and have its combat strength cut in half. (See
info supply and info attack for information on supply and how it affects  com-
bat.

Aaf is the unit's anti-aircraft fire value. The higher  the  value,  the  more
damage the unit will do to planes flying overhead.

Fc/fu are the unit's fuel capacity and use. If the fc/fu are 0, the unit  does
not  need fuel to gain mobility. If the fc/fu are non-zero, the unit will need
fuel to gain mobility, and will use fu fuel whenever  it  fights.   (See  info
fuel for information on fuel)

Xpl is the number of extra-light planes the unit can carry. Planes can operate
from  a  land  unit  in  the  same fashion as if it were a carrier.  Normally,
extra-light planes are SAMs, so units can carry  SAMs  for  air-defense.  This
particular unit can't carry any.

Land unit capabilities

There are many different capabilities that land units may have.  They  may  be
seen with the show command:

   [##:##] Command: show land capability

                             capabilities
   infantry                  5f light assault

The command shows the cargos the unit can carry (5 food in this case), and its
abilities. See info Unit-types for a complete description of the various capa-
bilities.

Moving

Land units move with the march command, which is pretty identical to the navi-
gate  command.  Marching  units  can run into land-mines, be interdicted, etc.
See info march for more info. See info mission for  information  on  interdic-
tion.

Units & ships

Each type of ship is rated on the number of land units  it  can  carry.   Land
units  that are 'light' can be loaded onto ships using the normal load command
(see info load). Units that also have the 'assault' ability (see info show and
info  Unit-types for explanations of abilities) can be used in assaulting sec-
tors. (See info assault).

Supply

Units need supplies in order to  attack.  Each  update,  and  each  time  they
attack,  units  will  attempt  to draw supplies. See info supply.  Really, I'm
serious. If you don't read info supply, you'll die a horrible death.  I'm  not
kidding.

Fortification

Land units are able to fortify themselves to better resist damage. Each  point
of  mobility  spent  increases  the  fortification level by 1, up to a maximum
equal to the maximum mobility of a land unit. A fully fortified unit takes one
half the normal amount of damage. Fortification is lost when the unit moves or
retreats. (Note that a reacting defending unit can have a fortification value.
This is an abstraction) Read info fortify for more details.

Looking

Land units can use llook to look around. This command is analogous to the look
command  used  by ships. When llooking, land units have a chance to spot other
land units and also planes. Recon units tend to have better spy values, and so
are better at this.  (See info show and info Unit-types to find out more about
recon units).

Radar

Some units can use the lradar command. This command works like the radar  com-
mand.  Radar  range is determined by the unit's spy value.  (See info show and
info Unit-types to find out more about radar units).

Engineers

Some land units have the 'engineering' ability. These  units  can  do  several
things.  Engineers  are  the  only units that can lay land-mines, and the only
units that  can  sweep  them  when  moving  (like  a  minesweeper).  Attacking
engineers  also  halve  the  defender's mine bonus. Engineers can also use the
work command, which allows them to raise sector efficiency.  (See  info  work)
They also tend to be quite expensive.

Attacking & defending

Info attack has a complete treatment of this, but I will summarize here.  When
you  decide  to  attack a sector, you can use mil and units from adjacent sec-
tors. The attack value of your forces is the combined  attack  values  of  all
attacking land units, plus the number of mil coming in from adjacent sectors.

The defense value is equal to the  mil  in  the  defending  sector,  plus  the
defense values of any defending units in the sector, as well as any that react
and move there.

Friendly ships/forts/artillery units/planes can  contribute  support.  Support
starts  at  1.0.  Each  friendly ship/fort/artillery unit/ plane that can help
adds its damage/100 to the support. For example, if you were attacking a  sec-
tor,  and  a friendly battleship was close enough to fire there, it could sup-
port you. If it would normally do 23% damage when firing, it  would  add  +.23
support, making your support number 1.23. The enemy also gets support from all
his stuff.

When all support is totaled,  the  attacker  strength  is  multiplied  by  the
attacker's  support  to  get the total attacker strength. The defender's total
strength is determined similarly. Both sides have their strength  modified  by
the  terrain. (show sector stats will show the defensive value of a sector) He
can also get support by having mine-fields in the sector (see info  lmine  and
info  attack  for more information). Planes support only if assigned to a sup-
port mission. See info mission for information on support missions.

Combat is done fairly normally, with a series of rolls for attacker/  defender
casualties,  until  one side is dead or retreats. Land units take damage after
all mil on their side are dead, and each 'hit' on a land unit does 1 mil  dam-
age.  (Therefore, a unit that takes 100 mil to build would take 1% damage when
it suffers a casualty. A unit that takes 50 mil would take  2%,  etc)  When  a
land unit's level of damage taken in a battle reaches it's 'retreat level', it
must begin taking morale checks. When it fails one, it will retreat.  Retreat-
ing attacking units go back to the sector they came from. Defending units will
attempt to retreat to an adjacent owned sector. If there are  none,  the  unit
will take extra damage and continue fighting.

If the attacker wins, he captures the sector, and his mil/units will move into
the sector if he ordered that. If the defender wins a combat, his units in the
sector stay there. His reacting defending units that did  not  fail  a  morale
check  return  to  their  starting  point.  Defending units who started in the
sector stay in the sector.

In both cases, retreated units end up in the sector they retreated to.

Units and retreating

Ships can use the retreat command to specify when and how they will  run  away
from  trouble. Land units use a similar command lretreat to do the same thing.
See info lretreat for more details.

SEE ALSO
   Unit-types, show, supply, LandUnits

