                               Command : LAUNCH

NAME
   launch - Launch missiles or satellites

Level: Expert

SYNTAX
   [##:##] Command : launch <PLANES>

The  launch command is used to launch missiles (or satellites) from sectors or
submarines owned by you.

There are 5 classes of missiles:

   1. "marine" missiles may only be fired at ships.  They may be given
      "interdiction" mission.  When interdicting ships, "marine" missiles
      will keep launching until the entire enemy fleet is sunk.
   2. "tactical" missiles (without "marine" capability) may only be fired
      against sectors.  They may be given missions.  If they fire on a
      mission, then only enough missiles will fire to cause 100 damage.
   3. "intercept" missiles can not be launched.  They automatically
      intercept planes.  You can increase their reaction radius by giving
      them an "air" defense mission.
   4. "a-sat" missiles will automatically attempt to intercept AT_WAR
      satellites which are launched into orbit within range.
   5. "abm" (anti-ballistic-missiles) will automatically attempt to
      intercept incoming "tactical" (non-"marine") missiles.

   As well, there are "satellites" which are like missiles in that they
   can be launched, but unlike missiles in that they don't get destroyed
   as soon as they are launched.

In certain cases, a missile will require petrol or shells to be in the  sector
before  it  can be launched.  See 'show plane stats' to find out how much fuel
the missile requires.  The 'load' value in 'show plane  stats'  specifies  how
many  shells  the  missile requires.  Note that if the missile is armed with a
nucelar warhead, then it does not require any shells.

Once a satellite has been launched, it can not be moved again.

Note here that it is much safer to use 100% missiles than those which are less
efficient, and missiles below 60% cannot be launched.

The  formula  for  the  chance  that  a  missile  hits  its target is in "info
Hitchance".

Of course, things don't always go as planned!

Note that when you are first asked for the target sector you can  chicken  out
by hitting ^C (or your favorite abort character).

In  the  case  of non-marine tactical missiles, if there are any HOSTILE abm's
within range of the target sector, then two of them will fire in an attempt to
intercept the incoming missile.

Similarly,  two  AT_WAR  a-sat's  will attempt to intercept any satellites you
attempt to launch within their range.  Also, if the sector you  are  launching
your satellite at is owned by a non-allied country, then they will get a tele-
gram informing them of the  positioning  of  the  satellite.   See  below  for
details of a satellite's orbit path.

When launching missiles, there is a % chance equal to (5 + 100 - efficiency) *
(1 - techfactor) that the missile will blow up on the launching pad instead of
launching.  If  that happens, then there is a further 33% chance that the war-
head it is carrying (whether it be conventional  or  nuclear)  will  detonate.
(Note that nuclear warheads will only detonate in this way if the option NUKE-
FAILDETONATE is enabled).  A nuclear warhead exploding on the launch pad  will
do  the  normal amount of damage, but a conventional missile will only do half
damage to the sector or ship it is being launched from.

Missiles launched from submarines are anonymous. The victim is not notified of
the identity of the launching country.

Missiles  on  interdiction  mission have the same chance of hitting and do the
same damage as if they were launched by hand.  Also, any  nuclear  armed  mis-
siles  will  detonate  if they launch on an interdiction mission.  You specify
whether the nuclear warhead will airburst or groundburst when you arm the mis-
siles  (see  info arm).  In order to better destroy missiles on the ground (or
in their silos), the ground-burst technique is used.  Ground-bursts  are  much
less effective against large area targets, but do massive damage to the sector
it impacts, possibly knocking out hardened missiles before they  can  be  used
against  you.  In the parlance of nuclear targeting doctrine, this is known as
"counter-force" targeting.  Air-bursts are used in order to kill large numbers
of civilians, to knock out industry (by flattening the factories), to take out
lightly armored military targets in a  large  area,  and  to  generally  wreak
havoc.  Nuclear strategists call this a "counter-value" technique.

See Also "On Thermonuclear War" by Herman Kahn.

If  the ORBIT option is enabled, then when you launch a satellite, you will be
asked "Geostationary orbit?".  If you answer "y",  then  your  satellite  will
stay  where  you  launch it.  If, however, you answer "n", then your satellite
will orbit the planet.  When a satellite is "orbiting", it moves along 5% of a
geodesic path every update.  The path the satellite follows looks like this:

   +----+
   | /  |
   |/   |
   |   /|
   |  / |
   | /  |
   |/   |
   |   /|
   |  / |
   +----+

That is, start in the middle, move northeast until you hit the edge, then con-
tinue from the west edge near the top and go northeast until you  go  off  the
top  of  the map, then continue at the bottom going northeast until you go off
the eastern edge again, and continue from the western  edge  near  the  bottom
until  you  get  back to the centre.  That is the path of satellites which are
_not_ in geostationary orbit (geo-stationary means stay in the same spot  over
the planet).

If  a  foreign satellite moves over your territory durring an update, then you
will get a message like "Fodderland satellite spotted over 12,24" as a part of
your update BULLETIN.

SEE ALSO
   build, plane, satellite, Nuke-types, relations, Planes

