                              Command : MISSION

NAME
   mission - Assign a mission to a ship/plane/unit

Level: Basic

SYNTAX
   [##:##]  Command  :  mission  <TYPE>  <UNITS> <s|o|d|i|e|r|a|c|q> [<op sec-
tor|.>] [<radius>]

The mission command is used to assign ships, planes, or  land  units  to  mis-
sions. The available missions are:

Here is a summary of which units can be put on which missions:

   Mission        Op-sect  Radius  Ships  Land-Units  Planes
   interdiction        no     yes    yes         yes  only "tactical"
        support        no     yes     no          no  only "tactical"
    off support        no     yes     no          no  only "tactical"
    def support        no     yes     no          no  only "tactical"
        reserve       yes      no     no         yes  no
         escort       yes      no     no          no  only "intercept" or "escort"
    air defense        no     yes     no          no  only "intercept"

You  may  also  use  'q'  (query) to check on the mission of something, or 'c'
(clear) to wipe the mission of a land unit/plane/ship.

GENERAL CONCEPT

Missions are things that your planes/land units/ships  can  do  automatically,
such  as  bombing/shelling.  You  assign a unit to a mission, and whenever the
right conditions occur, the unit attempts to perform its  mission.  Note  that
missions don't allow a unit to do anything it normally could not do, they sim-
ply allow them to do it in an automatic fashion. In some cases, units perform-
ing  missions  might  not be as 'smart' as they would be if you were operating
them personally.  That's the price you pay for having automatic defenses.

IMPORTANT NOTES

Missions can occur  during  updates.   (Interdicting  ships  using  "sail"  or
"order").

Artillery units less than 20% efficient will not fire.

Planes  flying  missions  will  be intercepted normally. (i.e. if you fly over
enemy territory, you'll get intercepted. Any mission except air  missions  may
also be intercepted by planes on air defense missions)

Planes of less than 40% efficiency will not fly missions.

Planes  assigned  to  missions  are  "NOT" eligible to intercept normally. For
example, if a fighter is assigned to an escort or air-defense or  interdiction
or  support mission, it will "NOT" rise to intercept an intruding enemy plane.
(planes on air-defense missions will intercept planes flying in their op-area,
in accordance with the air-defense mission, but will not intercept one outside
their op-area, even if it is within their normal range. Be sure you understand
this before using plane missions.)

Nukes on missiles or planes flying missions DO detonate.

"marine"  missiles  will  keep  launching  to interdict ships until all of the
valuable ships in the fleet are sunk.  A "valuable" ship is one which cost  at
least  $1000 to build or can carry land units or planes.  For each new missile
launched, the most valuable ship according to (cost to build) * efficiency  is
targeted.

Non-marine missiles will keep firing on a sector until 100 damage is done.

OPERATIONS SECTORS

Some  missions require the designation of an 'op sector', short for operations
sector. This is the center of an area that the mission is focussed on.  The op
sector  may be any sector that is within the unit's range.  (Firing range, for
ships & land units, flying range for planes, changeable with rangeedit).   The
unit  will  exert influence in a radius around the op sector.  By default, the
radius will be as large as possible,  i.e.  the  biggest  range  so  that  the
unit/ship/plane could legally act there.)  For example, a ship with a range of
4 could designate any sector up to 4 away from it as it's op sector, and would
affect  anything  within 4 of it's op-sector, provided it was also within 4 of
the ship.

If a smaller radius is desired, it may be specified on the command line. If it
is not specified, it will not be prompted for.

The area affected by a unit is known as that unit's op-area.

If  a '.' is given as the op-sector, the op sector will be the location of the
unit.

Additionally, if the unit's op-sector is the sector the unit is  in,  and  the
unit  moves  without losing its mission status, the operation sector will move
with it. (Normally, of course, the only way for a unit on a mission to move is
to be carried on a ship, so this mostly applies to planes on carriers) Thus, a
tactical bomber on a ship could have an op-area centered on the  carrier  that
moved with the carrier.

Otherwise,  if the unit moves without losing its mission status, the op sector
will stay where it was designated.

For example, suppose that land unit 4 is an artillery unit, range  5,  located
at 0,0.

   [##:##] Command : mission land 4 int .

This  would  make  the unit interdict anything passing within 5 sectors of its
location.

   [##:##] Command : mission land 4 int 4,0

This would make the unit interdict anything passing within 5 sectors  of  4,0,
provided it was also within 5 sectors (the unit's range) of 0,0.

   [##:##] Command : mission land 4 int 4,0 2

This  would  make the unit interdict anything passing within 2 sectors of 4,0,
provided it was also within 5 sectors (the unit's range) of 0,0.

The op-sector/op-range concept allows you to restrict a unit's area of  inter-
est to a small, important area, or just let it shoot at anything within range.

MOBILITY USE

When a unit is given a mission, it costs no mobility.  When  a  unit  performs
its  mission,  it  uses the normal mobility costs that it would use to perform
that mission if done by the player.

A unit stays on its mission until you cancel it, OR the unit acts. Any type of
action  not a part of a mission is sufficient, so marching, navigating, trans-
porting, flying, reconing,  bombing,  mining,  paratrooping,  being  attacked,
being  paratrooped on, retreating, etc, will all cause a unit to lose its mis-
sion status, but the unit could bomb/shell/etc AS PART OF A MISSION, and still
retain  its mission status.  Also, land units with a reserve mission can react
to a threatened sector and fight, and (assuming  they  win)  return  to  their
original sector without losing their reserve status.

Note that fortifying a unit does not affect it's mission status.

DEFENDERS

The   defender's   planes   will   intercept   planes  flying  missions.   His
ships/forts/units, however, will "NOT" fire at ships/forts/units firing  on  a
mission.

INTERDICTION MISSIONS (ships, planes, land units)

When  giving  a  unit a interdiction mission, you designate an op sector. From
then on, whenever an enemy (defined as something belonging to a  nation  which
you  are  at war with) moves in a sector in that unit's op-area, the unit will
try to shell or bomb it (as appropriate). Almost any kind of movement,  except
for  distribution movement during an update, and the tiny amounts moved by the
supply routines is enough.

For  example,  an  enemy  land  unit  marching  up  to  the  front  would   be
shelled/bombed.  An enemy moving commodities around would have the commodities
automatically shelled/bombed. A ship navigating into a  sea  sector  would  be
shelled or bombed, depending on it's type (obviously, only depth-charge or ASW
capable units would affect a submarine, and  a  submarine  would  only  affect
things  it  could torpedo) In general, units can only affect things they could
normally affect. For example, if the enemy was transporting a  plane  along  a
highway,  and  you  had  an artillery unit and a light bomber interdicting the
highway sector, the land unit would fire and the bomber would  fly  there  and
bomb, and the total damage would be applied to the plane being transported. If
it was still alive,  it  might  be  moved  to  another  sector,  there  to  be
bombed/shelled  again  (assuming  the  new  sector was also in both units' op-
areas) If a different unit later moved in, it would  be  shelled/bombed.  This
happens as long as the interdicting units have mobility left.

Damage  done  is divided amongst all units/ships/commodities moving. For exam-
ple, if 6 ships were moving, and the interdiction mission did 18 pts  of  dam-
age, each ship would take 3.

Note  that  only ships with sonar and ASW planes can interdict subs. Also, the
units may or may not detect the subs, so it's kind of random. The sub also has
a chance of escaping the damage, depending on the visibility of the sub.

Only  planes  with the 'tactical' ability can fly interdiction missions.  Only
planes with 'ASW' ability will fly vs. subs. Planes with  'ASW'  ability  will
not fly interdiction vs. other types of ships/planes/units/commods.  Subs have
a chance of sneaking through ASW  aircover  unnoticed,  and  ASW  planes  will
respond  to any non-Friendly sub movement.  Depending on the visibility of the
sub, the ASW plane may or may not identify the type and/or owner of the sub.

Interdiction has no effect on flying  planes.  Interdiction  does  not  affect
loading/unloading.  It will also cause some damage to the sector that the com-
modities were moving into.

Note also that forts will fire at enemy ships coming within range.  You  don't
have  to  set  anything  for  this, it happens automatically. (Forts firing at
enemy ships naving happens before ships/planes/units interdicting ships, so if
the enemy is using an area a lot, a fort will hurt him without costing you mob
from planes)

SUPPORT MISSIONS (planes only)

A support mission allows your planes to automatically bomb the enemy.   Planes
with  offensive  support  missions  will  bomb  enemy sectors that you attack.
Planes with defensive support missions will bomb enemy troops  attacking  your
sector,  adding to your defensive strength. Planes with support orders will do
both.

When giving a plane a support mission, you designate an op sector.  From  then
on,  whenever a sector owned by the plane's owner (or by an ally of the plane-
owner, if the ally is also at war with the attacker) in that  plane's  op-area
is attacked, the plane will attempt to fly to that sector and give ground sup-
port, if it has support or defensive support orders.

If the plane's owner (or an ally of the plane's owner, if the ally is also  at
war  with  the  country  attacked)  attacks  a  sector in that plane's op-area
belonging to a country that the plane owner is at war  with,  the  plane  will
also  attempt  to  fly  there  and give offensive support if it has support or
offensive support orders.

(see info attack for more information on how support works in land combat)

Only planes with the 'tactical' ability can fly support missions.

ESCORT MISSIONS (planes only)

When given an escort mission,  an  escort  or  intercept  capable  plane  will
attempt  to  escort  any  plane flying a support or interdict mission from the
same airport.  If even 1 plane flies a support or interdiction mission from an
airport,  all  planes  on  escort duty at that airport will attempt to escort.
Planes with escort duty will NOT attempt to  escort  planes  taking  off  from
other  airports,  so  it  pays to put your bombing planes and escorting planes
together.

Only planes with the 'escort' or 'intercept' abilities  can  fly  escort  mis-
sions.

AIR  DEFENSE  MISSIONS  (planes  only)  When  given an air defense mission, an
intercept capable plane will attempt to intercept any enemy plane (defined  as
any  plane  belonging  to a country you re at war with) flying into its opera-
tions area, irregardless of whether the enemy planes  are  flying  over  owned
sectors.  For  example,  if a plane is given an air defense mission with an op
area covering some owned sectors, some sea,  some  allied  sectors,  and  some
enemy sectors, it would try to intercept over any of them.

When a plane enters a sector, any planes with air defense missions that are at
war with the owner of the plane will fly there to fight it.  The  air  defense
planes  encounter normal interception along the way (but do "NOT" trigger more
air defense missions, but  "MAY"  be  intercepted  normally).   Once  the  air
defense  planes get to the sector, they fight the plane. Then, if the owner of
the sector is hostile to the plane, still more planes may intercept it.

Example  Groonland wants to run a recon flight over Bannannarama. Joeland  has
a jet fighter with an air defense mission and an op-area covering part of Ban-
nannarama. The 'j' sector belongs to Joeland, and is the base for the fighter.
The 'b' sectors belong to Bannannarama, which has 1 fighter in the center sec-
tor. The 'g' sector belongs  to  Groonland.  Assume  that  all  countries  are
mutually at war.

The Joeland fighter's op area is centered on the 'B', radius 2.

    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
     . . . . . j . . . . . b b . . . .
    . . . . . . . . . . . b B b . . .
     . . . . . . . . . . . b b . . . .
    . . . . . . . . . g . . . . . . .

The  Groonland  player  enters  a  path  of  'uujjjbgbggh'.  The first sectors
entered is sea, and is not in the Joeland aircraft's op-area, so nothing  hap-
pens.

Next, the Groonland plane enters the sector adjacent to Bannannarama.  This is
within the Joeland aircraft's op-area, so it flies to intercept.  It takes the
shortest path there, and fights the Groonland plane.  Let's say that both take
20 points of damage, and neither aborts.

Next, the Groonland plane overflies a Bannannarama sector. The  Joeland  plane
flies  there,  and is intercepted by the Bannannarama plane. Let's say that it
comes through the fight without being aborted. It then  fights  the  Groonland
plane.  After  this  combat,  if the Groonland plane is not aborted, it may be
intercepted again by the busy Bannannarama fighter, assuming that  that  plane
is still efficient enough, has mob enough, etc.

A good use of this mission is to provide a wider CAP around a carrier, so that
enemy planes get intercepted several times on the way to the  carrier,  rather
than just once, in the carrier's sector.

Another  use  is to provide air-cover for an ally who has temporarily lost his
planes.

RESERVE MISSIONS (land units only)

A land unit given reserve orders has an increased ability to  react  to  enemy
attacks.  A  reserve unit has its reaction radius increased by 2.  (Note: this
is cumulative with the +1 modifier for being at an efficient headquarters,  so
a  reserve  unit  at an HQ would have a +3).  In addition, a reserve unit pays
1/2 the normal cost for fighting a battle.  (It still pays the normal cost for
moving to the threatened sector) See info attack for more details on reaction.

Note that units with a reserve mission retain this status,  even  though  they
move  to  the threatened sector and return. This is an exception to the normal
rules on losing your mission status. If, however, the land unit is  forced  to
retreat  from the combat (see land combat for details), it WOULD lose its sta-
tus.

When a unit with a reserve mission is listed, the op sector is the sector  the
unit is in, and the radius is the units maximum reaction radius, including the
bonus for the reserve mission and HQ (if applicable).  Note  that  the  unit's
actual radius might be different if it was changed by lrangeedit.

Note: information gained from planes flying missions is automatically added to
your bmap.

SEE ALSO
   Ship-types, Plane-types, Unit-types, attack, bomb, Ships, Planes, LandUnits

