                              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 sector|.>
[<radius>]

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

      Mission        Ships  Land-Units  Planes
   i  interdiction     yes         yes  only "tactical"
   s       support      no          no  only "tactical"
   o   off support      no          no  only "tactical"
   d   def support      no          no  only "tactical"
   r       reserve      no         yes  no
   e        escort      no          no  only "intercept" or "escort"
   a   air defense      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

Artillery units less than 40% efficient will not fire.

Planes flying missions other than air defense will  be  intercepted  normally.
(i.e. if you fly over enemy territory, you'll get intercepted.

Planes  assigned  to  missions  other  than  air defense are "NOT" eligible to
intercept normally. For example, if a fighter is  assigned  to  an  escort  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 inter-
cept one outside their op-area, even if it is within their  normal  range.  Be
sure you understand this before using plane missions.)

Planes armed with nukes cannot be assigned missions.

"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 launching to interdict land units until 20 dam-
age per interdicted land unit is done.

OPERATIONS SECTORS

Missions require the designation of an 'op sector', short for operations  sec-
tor.  This  is  the  center of an area that the mission is focused on.  The op
sector may be any sector that is within the unit's range.  (Firing  range  for
ships  & land units on interdiction, reaction range for land units on reserve,
flying range for planes, changeable with range command).  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
mission 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  points  of
damage, 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 air cover  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 into its op-area.  If even 1 plane flies a support  or  interdic-
tion  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)

Putting a plane on an air defense mission modifies where the plane intercepts.
Without a mission, it intercepts over own  sectors,  surface  ships  and  land
units.   With  an air defense mission, it intercepts over any sector in its op
area.

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.   It  gets  inter-
cepted by Joeland's fighter, because the sector is in its op-area, and by Ban-
nannarama's fighter, because the  sector  belongs  to  Bannannarama.   And  so
forth.

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 on a reserve mission may react to enemy  attacks  within  its  op-
area.  See info "Attacking" for more on land unit reactions.

Note that units with a reserve mission retain this status even when they react
to a 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 DOES lose its status.

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

