                               Command : LAUNCH

NAME
   launch - Launch missiles or satellites

Level: Expert

SYNTAX
   [##:##]% 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
telegram  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
NUKEFAILDETONATE  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

