            Concept : How to take a sector or ship from the enemy

NAME
   Attack - Details for attack, assault, paradrop, board and lboard

Level: Expert

This   info   page   describes  5  different  commands:  "attack",  "assault",
"paradrop", "board" and "lboard".  These are the four commands that you use to
take something (either a ship, land unit or a sector) from the enemy by force.

Note that much of the board information relates  to  the  lboard  information,
just apply it to a land unit instead of a ship.

   A combat has 15 steps:
   (1)  Ask the aggressor for the target sector/ship.
   (2)  Ask the aggressor further details about the offensive force.
   (3)  Estimate the odds and possibly ask the aggressor for confirmation.
   (4)  Move reacting defensive units to the target sector.
   (5)  Calculate defensive support.
   (6)  Fight.
   (7)  Spread the plague.
   (8)  Take mobility and supply from land units.
   (9)  Send reacting units home.
   (10) If successful, the aggressor takes the target sector/ship.
   (11) Remove mobility and efficiency from the target sector/ship.
   (12) Remove mobility from the aggressor's sectors/ship.
   (13) Possibly ask the aggressor for mil and units to move into the target.
   (14) Possibly interdict the aggressor's mil and units as they move.
   (15) Charge the aggressor BTU's.

(1)  Ask the aggressor for the target sector/ship.

   Sea, sanctuary, and wasteland are illegal targets.
   You may not assault a mountain.
   You may not paradrop into a mountain, capital, city, or fortress.
   You may only board a ship from the sector the ship is in, you may
   not board a ship which is faster than your ship, and you may not board
   a submarine at sea.
   You may only board a land unit from the sector the land unit is in.

The  "assault"  command is the only command which will let you attack your own
sector (you can use this to get mil & assault units on shore).  You should not
"attack" unowned land (see info explore).

If  the  SLOW_WAR  option  is enabled, you will not be able to attack a sector
owned by a country you are not AT_WAR with, unless you are the  old  owner  of
the sector.

If the SNEAK_ATTACK option is also enabled, you can attack ONE sector owned by
a country you are not AT_WAR with, paying $5K  for  the  privilege.  Once  the
sneak  attack  is  done, you will automatically declare war against the enemy,
and go through the normal SLOW_WAR sequence before you can attack  again  (see
info relations).

(2)  Ask the aggressor further details about the offensive force.

When  you board, you are asked for a ship or sector to board from.  If you are
attacking or assaulting, then you have the option to specify whether you  want
your  forts/ships/plane/units to support your attack.  If no support is speci-
fied, then it is assumed that you want support from all sources.

If you are not paradropping, then you will be asked  for  mil  and  units  you
would like to attack with.  You must always leave at least 1 mil in the sector
or ship you are attacking from, so you may never attack with all of  your  mil
out  of  a sector or ship.  The following limitations apply to the aggressor's
mil:

   Attack:  You are limited by the mobility of the attacking sector
            according to the mob-cost to move the mil into the target sector.
   Assault: If the target sector contains mil, then you may only attack with
            1/10th of your mil on board, unless your ship has "semi-land"
            capability in which case it is 1/4th, -or- if your ship has
            "land" capability in which case there is no limitation.
   Board:   When boarding from a sector, the sector must have mob.  When
            boarding from either a ship or a sector, the number of mil
            you may board with is limited to the maximum number of mil that the
            target ship can hold.  Note that you can board land units
            from a sector only.

   The following restrictions apply to the aggressor's land units:
   A land unit must have mobility and be in supply (see info supply) in
   order to be able to enter the combat.  Land units with "security",
   "supply" or "flak" capability may not attack.  Also, you may not
   attack with artillery units (i.e. if frg > 0).  Only land units with "assault"
   capability may assault or board.
   Attack:  The land unit must have at least as much mobility that it
            would cost for it to march into the sector.
   Board:   You may only board with as many land units as the target ship
            can hold.  You cannot board a land unit with other land units.

When asked whether you'd like to include a certain land unit  in  the  combat,
you will be given a prompt ending in [ynYNq?].  At this prompt, you can type:

   y - yes this unit
   n - no this unit
   Y - yes all units in this army
   N - no all units in this army
   q - quit attack
   ? - print this help message

(3)  Estimate the odds and possibly ask the aggressor for confirmation.

   The offense strength of your land units is mil * off where "mil" is the
   number of mil in the unit, and "off" is the offense multiplier of the
   unit (see show land stats), with the following exceptions:
   Assault: If the unit doesn't have "marine" capability, then its
            offense strength is cut in half.
   Board:   If the unit doesn't have "marine" capability, then its
            offense strength is equal to half of the number of mil in the unit.

The  total  offense strength is the number of mil plus the offense strength of
all offensive units.  This number is then multiplied by the offense  value  of
the  sector  the  mil  and  units  are attacking from (see show sector stats).
Ships have an offense value of 1.

The defense strength of a land unit is the total number of  mil  in  the  unit
times  its  defense  multiplier  (see show land stats).  The only exception to
this is non-marine land units on ships which have  a  strength  equal  to  the
total  number  of mil in them.  The defense strength of units out of supply is
cut in half.  The defense strength of fortified units is multiplied by (127  +
fortification) / 127.

The  total  defense strength is the number of mil plus the defense strength of
all defensive units.  This number is then multiplied by the defense  value  of
the  sector  the  mil  and units are in (see show sector stats).  Ships have a
defense value of 1  +  def/100  (see  show  ship  stats).   You  can  use  the
"strength" command to see the defense strength of your sectors.

Now,  When  your  scouts  estimate  the defense strength, they only count land
units and mil that they see.  If your scouts didn't notice the  efficiency  of
the  defending units, then they assume that they are at 100% efficiency.  Your
scouts also assume that none of the enemy  units  are  fortified.   Once  your
scouts  have come up with an "estimated defense strength", then that number is
compared with your offense strength.  The output so far might look like this:
   [##:##] Command : attack -14,2

   -14,2 is a 100% 5 harbor with approximately 0 military.
   Number of mil from headquarters at -15,3 (max 108) : 10
   cavalry #7 has a base attack value of 44
   attack with cavalry #7 in -15,3 (~ 100%) [ynYNq?] y
   cavalry #24 has a base attack value of 44

                Initial attack strength:      108
   Scouts report defending unit: inf1  infantry 1 #22 (efficiency 71, tech 169)
   Scouts report defending unit: inf2  infantry 2 #41 (efficiency 94, tech 169)
   Scouts report defending unit: inf2  infantry 2 #42 (efficiency 94, tech 173)
   Scouts report defending unit: inf2  infantry 2 #43 (efficiency 65, tech 139)
             Estimated defense strength:     1118
                         Estimated odds:        8%

Note that your estimated odds are  calculated  before  any  enemy  units  have
reacted,  and  before  support multipliers are calculated, so they will not be
particularly accurate.

(4)  Move reacting defensive units to the target sector.

If the target is not a mountain, then defensive units in  nearby  sectors  may
react.   Defensive  units will keep reacting until the defense strength is 1.2
times the offense strength.  The following restrictions apply to reacting land
units:

   - The efficiency of the unit must be higher than it's retreat percentage.
   - The unit must be in supply.
   - The unit must have enough mobility to get to the target.
   - The unit must be in range.

If  the  unit is in a 60% efficient headquarters, then 1 is added to its reac-
tion radius.  If it is on "reserve" mission, then 2 is added  to  the  radius.
Note  that  you  can  limit  the  reaction radius of your land units using the
"lrange" command.

(5)  Calculate support.

For attack and assault, both offensive and defensive  support  is  calculated.
For  paradrop,  only defensive support is calculated, and for board and lboard
there is no support (however, defending ships within range will  fire  on  the
boarding ship or sector before the fight if boarding a ship).

The  aggressor's  support is calculated based on what the aggressor asked for.
Defensive support is only called in to the extent that it would be useful.  If
the aggressor outnumbers the defender 10-to-1, then the defender will not have
any support.  Otherwise, the defender will keep calling in support  until  its
strength is at least 1.2 times the offense strength.

Fort,  ship, and unit support is simply those forts, ships, and units in range
that can fire (see info fire).  Note that ships and units on missions will not
fire  support.   Plane  support  comes from those planes on "support" mission.
The support multiplier is

   1.0 + fortdamage/100 + shipdamage/100 + planedamage/100 + unitdamage/100.

Ships/forts/units belonging to allies of the combatants will support, if  they
are  at war with the other combatant. (For example, if A is allied with B, and
at war with C, and A attacks C, things belonging to B will support the  attack
if  able.  The same is true for defense. If C attacks A, the B stuff will help
defend A)

After these four supports are calculated, then land mine support is  added  to
the  defense  support.  Defending land mines add (number of mines) * 0.02 to a
maximum of 0.40.  If there are attacking engineers present, this number is cut
in half.

(6)  Fight.

Total offense and defense strength are multiplied by their support multipliers
to obtain the final combat strengths.  From this, odds are  calculated.   Then
in  each  "round", a chance according to the combat odds determines whether an
aggressor or defender troop is lost.  Troops killed in combat are first  taken
from  the  mil  (from  the  sector containing the most mil), and then from the
units (from the unit containing the most mil).  Combat odds  are  recalculated
and the process continues until there is a victor.  Each time there is a casu-
alty, a character is printed:

   ! means a defending soldier bit it
   @ means one of your soldiers went doan

If the effiency of a land unit is less than its  retreat  percentage  when  it
gets  hit,  then it will need to make a morale check.  The chance of failing a
morale check is (retreat percentage - efficiency).  If the unit has nowhere to
retreat  to, then it takes "extra losses" which amounts to an extra 10% docked
from its efficiency.  Otherwise, the land unit retreats to the adjacent sector
containing  the  maximum  number of civs.  Units will never retreat into moun-
tains.

Also note that once all of the military on a land unit are  killed,  the  land
unit  stops  defending.   What  this  means  is  that  a  land unit can become
"trapped" in an sector if an enemy takes it over after killing all  the  mili-
tary on a land unit while the land unit may not be destroyed.

When  planning  an  attack remember that overwhelming forces greatly increases
your odds; i.e., attacking 10 men with 40 will result  in  your  losing  fewer
troops than if you had attacked with 20.

(7)  Spread the plague.

If  any combatant in a battle is infected with the plague, all potential comn-
batants in the battle are infected as well (if they do not already  have  some
level of plague already.)

(8)  Take mobility and supply from land units.

The  "aggresor  loss  factor"  is  equal to the number of aggressor casualties
divided by the total number of aggressor troops that went into  the  conflict.
Similarly,  the  "defender  loss  factor"  is calculated.  Then each land unit
loses mobility equal to 10 * (loss factor).  Defensive land units  on  reserve
mission only lose half of that.  Also there is a chance equal to the loss fac-
tor that the land unit will use up some of its supply (see info supply).

(9)  Send reacting units home.

If the defending land unit did not retreat, then send it back to where it came
from at no mobility charge.

(10) If successful, the aggressor takes the target sector/ship.

Either  1  aggressor  mil  (first  choice) or one land unit (second choice) is
automatically moved into the conquered ship or sector  to  occupy  it.   Since
this  mil  or  unit is effectively "chasing out" the remnants of the defending
forces, the defender will not interdict it (because he won't  want  to  damage
his forces with "friendly fire").

   This is what happens to the sector when you take it:
   - All delivery and distribution information is wiped.
   - The production in the sector is stopped (see info stop).
   - Planes in the sector owned by the player you just took the sector from
     lose 30 plus random(100) efficiency and go to 0 mob. If the new efficiency
     is less than 10%, the plane is blown up.
   - Units in the sector owned by the player you just took the sector from
     lose 30 plus random(100) efficiency and go to 0 mob. If the new efficiency
     is less than 10%, the unit is blown up.
   - The avail is set to 0.
   - New che are created (see info Guerrilla).
   - Set the loyalty of the sector to 50 (see info Loyalty).
   - Reduce the mobility to 0.
   - The civs in the sector become "conquered populace" (see info Occupation).

   When you take a ship:
   - Mission, retreat info and fleet info is wiped.
   - Planes and land units on the ship are reduced to 10%.

   When you take a land unit:
   - Mission, retreat info and army info is wiped.
   - Planes and land units on the unit are reduced to 10%.

   When you take someone's capital, the defender loses half of their
   money or $3000 whichever is greater.  If the defender wasn't broke to
   begin with, then the aggressor gets half of their money times (1/5 +
   4/5 * efficiency of the sector).

(11) Remove mobility and efficiency from the target sector/ship.

The  efficiency  of the target sector or ship is damaged by a percentage equal
to the total number of casualties divided by ten.

If the target is a sector, then it will lose  a  percentage  of  the  mobility
equal  to the number of defender mil casualties divided by the total number of
mil that were originally in that sector, up to a maximum of 20  mobility.   So
if  for  example,  your  casualty fraction was 70/100, and your sector started
with 50 mobility, then you would lose min(20, 50*70/100) = min(20,  35)  =  20
mobility.

(12) Remove mobility from the aggressor's sectors and ships.

The pre-combat mobility costs are:

   Attack:  Remove mobility equal to the mob cost to move the mil into the
            target sector.
   Board:   If boarding from a ship, the cost is the half of the speed of the
            defending ship times the efficiency of the defending ship.
            If boarding from a sector, the cost is the number of boarding
            mil divided by 5. This applies for boarding of ships and land units.

Only  sectors  are  charged  an additional post-combat mobility cost.  In this
case, the amount of mobility the sector loses is  calculated  using  the  same
formula as is used for the defending sector's mobility cost.

(13) Possibly ask the aggressor for mil and units to move into the target.

If  the  combat was an assault, paradrop, board or lboard, then all victorious
mil and units are automatically moved into the target.  The mil are  moved  in
with  no mobility charge.  If the combat is assault, then the mil will take an
amount of food with them proportional to the  number  of  people  leaving  the
ship.  The mobility cost to land units is as follows:

   Assault: If the land units are attacking from a ship with "land" capability,
            then land units are charged (update mob) mobility, except for
            "marine" units which are only charged half of that.  For all
            other kinds of ships, land units go to -(update mob), except for
            "marine" units which go to zero.  Here, (update mob) refers to
            the amount of mobility that units gain at the update.
   Board:   Marine units are charged 10 mobility and other land units are
            charged 40.

In  the  case of attack, the aggressor is asked what they'd like to move in as
follows:  First, the aggressor is asked how many mil they would like  to  move
in from each attacking sector.  This number is limited by the amount of mobil-
ity left in the attacking sector.  Then the  aggressor  is  asked  which  land
units  they'd  like  to  move into the sector with the same [ynYNq?] prompt as
above, the only difference being that 'q' now means "don't move anything  in".
The mobility costs here are the same as for "move" and "march".

(14) Possibly interdict the aggressor's mil and units as they move.

Post-attack  interdiction  only  occurrs  in  the "attack" command (and not in
"assault", "paradrop", "board" or "lboard").  When you move your mil into  the
target  sector after an attack, you will risk the same chances of interdiction
(number of mil / 200) and stepping on land mines (see "info lmine") as if  you
were moving them using the "move" command.

Similarly,  once  you  have specified which land units you'd like to move into
the conquered sector, then all of your units will move in at  once,  and  they
will  be interdicted in the same way as though they were being moved using the
"march" command, including the danger of stepping on land  mines.   Note  that
there  is  no post-attack interdiction and no danger of stepping on land mines
if the INTERDICT_ATT option is disabled (see version).

(15) Charge the aggressor BTU's.

The BTU cost is equal to 0.5 + (the total number of casualties) * 0.015.

SEE ALSO
   attack, assault, paradrop, board, lboard, Combat

