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************************ Chapter 4 - Ground Parties *************************
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Ground Parties can be set-up by ships, colonies and other ground
parties. They are most often used to explore worlds more efficiently
than a ship. A ground party may only be created when you are landed
on the surface of a world and may not be created inside your ship.
To create a ground party costs no TU's, but there is the TU cost of
transferring items to it. When it is first formed from another ship
or ground party you should give your ground party a name (i.e. - Swamp
Searchers) and the computer will assign it a position number. If you
want your party to be lead by a specific character be sure to include
his name too.

Most ship and colony items will not function in a ground party. 

When you create a ground party during your turn the new party may 
have a turn processed immediately.

There are two ways in which a ground party may move - Shuttle Movement 
or Surface Movement.

Shuttle Movement

Shuttle movement employs small shuttle craft to move a ground party
either into orbit or to another location on the same planet. Shuttle
craft cannot travel into space beyond orbit. The most common shuttle
craft are SHUTTLES, TROOP CARRIERS and TANK CARRIERS.

TANK CARRIERS may only carry tanks and aircraft. TROOP CARRIERS may 
only carry troops. SHUTTLES may carry any item. 

To use shuttle movement your ground party must be shuttle capable. 
This means that every item in your party must fit aboard your shuttle 
craft, including surface vehicles. Shuttle craft commonly hold 20 
MU's of items. Items larger than 20 MU's can be carried in multiple 
shuttle craft.

Shuttle movement requires 20 TU's. You must specify the Sector & Square 
location of  your destination.

Surface Movement

Surface movement permits your party to move across the surface of 
the planet. It can be hard going and time consuming. Every Sector 
on a planet contains a certain type of terrain. Although there are 
dozens of different terrain types, for the purposes of surface movement 
they are divided into four terrain classes. Each terrain class
represents a difficulty level for a ground party to cross. Each 
vehicle is given a speed value for traveling through each of these 
terrain classes. No surface vehicle can enter a Sea Sector.

To determine the overall speed of your ground party the speeds of 
all your vehicles and any walking lifeforms are averaged based on 
mass. The result is the speed of your ground party to travel through 
a Square (not Sector!) of that terrain. Don't worry if this seems 
complicated; the speed of your ground party will be shown each turn 
on your printout.

To perform surface movement a ground party must be surface capable. 
In other words, all possessions, including shuttle craft, incapable 
of surface movement in the ground party must fit within the cargo 
capacity of its surface vehicles. Ground vehicles commonly carry 20 
MU's of items. When speed calculations are performed the computer 
first places your cargo into the vehicles. Then if there is any room 
left it allows lifeforms inside. The reason for this is that lifeforms 
can move on their own, although at a slower rate.

Here is an example of movement: A ground party consists of one HEAVY 
TANK (40 MU's) and one SOLDIER (1 MU). In terrain type 1 the speed 
of this party would be calculated as ((40 x 6) + (1 x 10))/41 MU's 
= 6.1

See Appendix J for a list of items and their movement rates

Sector Mapping>Sector Mapping

You may obtain a map of the Sector where you are currently located 
by spending 8 TU's. A shuttle capable ground party may similarly obtain 
a map of any Sector on the world while in orbit. 

Exploration & Analysis

Issue the Surface Exploration Order to obtain basic exploration information 
on the terrain type you are located in. If you find something that 
requires further analysis, issue the Investigate Order for each specific 
investigation you wish to undertake. You'll need a BIOLAB to investigate 
lifeforms or a  PHYSICS LAB for most other types of investigations.  
In either case  you must write a Special Action describing what you 
want to do or hope to learn.  Both the Surface Exploration and Investigate 
Orders take 10 TU's to complete.

Prospecting

Prospecting is the method of determining the exact location of a
mineral deposit on a world's surface. One of the few ship items which
function in a ground party is the GPI.  A ground party can GPI a Sector
from orbit or from the surface at a cost of 14 TU's just like a ship.

Once you have used a GPI to determine that a Sector actually 
contains a mineral deposit you are ready to begin prospecting. Prospecting 
takes 50 TU's and gives you the exact Square of the deposit as well 
as its yield. The yield is the number of MU's of ore a deposit will 
produce per MINE each week. Prospecting may only be done in the sector 
where your ground party is located.

Ground Party Support

Ground Parties do not use LIFE SUPPORTS unless embarked on a ship.
To keep them supported all that is needed is a supply of food.  Each
lifeform in a party uses 0.025 MU's of food per week. Rather than worry
about every week's food ration it is possible to allocate food in
advance for a period of time up to 13 weeks.

There are two main ways to obtain support for your party. First, you 
may purchase support from a RESTAURANT complex in a colony starport.
This costs 5 stellars per lifeform in your party and takes 10 TU's to
accomplish. Your party's support is increased to the maximum 13 weeks.

The second way is to purchase FOOD from a colony market and to allocate 
the food yourself. Just tell the GM you wish to allocate FOOD for 
support and the computer will automatically use the available FOOD 
to give you up to 13 weeks of support. The FOOD is then removed from 
your possessions (rounded up).

Ship Embarkation

If your party is at the same location as a ship you may board the 
ship if you have the ship owner's permission. Your party remains intact 
and appears to the ship owner as two items in his Cargo section - 
GP ON BOARD - LIFE and GP ON BOARD - OTHER.

Embarking or disembarking from a ship costs 20 TU's and only 1 GP 
may be aboard a ship at a time. When a GP is aboard a ship its actions 
are very limited. It may only disembark, perform training, do R&R, 
or operate an agent. It will not fight if a boarding action is attempted 
against the ship. Ships may not pick-up a ground party.  However a 
ship may forcably disembark an unwanted ground party. 

Ground Party "Scanning"

SENSORS do not function in a ground party.  However, your ground party
will still be told of any other positions currently at its location.
Your ground party will receive a colony market report when it ends its
turn at a colony. You may also allocate 20 TU's to acquire a market
report and message if you plan on leaving the colony before the end
of the turn.

Splitting Your Party

Operating your ground party in more than one location is not allowed. 
If you wish to split your party you must set-up another ground party 
from it.

Disbanding a Ground Party

To disband a ground party, transfer its items to another position. 
When weekly adjustments are processed by the computer it will be noted 
that this ground party has no possessions. Shortly thereafter it will 
be removed from the game.
