                              Command : MISSION

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

Level: Basic

SYNTAX
   [##:##]%  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:

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  exam-
ple,  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
interest  to  a small, important area, or just let it shoot at anything within
range.

MOBILITY USE

When a unit is given a mission, it immediately uses 1/2 it's maximum mobility.
For  example, if a plane unit (normal max mobility 127) is given a mission, it
immediately loses 64 mobility. From then on, whenever the  unit  performs  its
mission,  it  uses less than the amount of mobility is would normally use. For
instance, if a land unit is given a reserve mission and then reacts to a  sec-
tor, it pays only half the normal mobility cost of combat.  A plane performing
a mission would pay only 1/2 the normal amount of mobility to fly a mission. A
sub  torping as part of a mission would pay 1/2 the normal amount of mobility,
etc. Learn by doing.

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, tran-
sporting, flying, reconing, fortifying, 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.

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 sec-
tor 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
status.

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

