                           Concept : Balloon Types

 The balloons currently available in Empire are:

   balloon
   blimp
   airship

These balloon types differ in their fundamental capabilities; some  can  carry
guns,  other  cannot;  some  are faster than others; etc.  The capabilities of
each balloon are given by the show command.

The build data listing looks like this:

   [##:##] Command: show balloon build

                           Concept : Balloon Types

                 lcm hcm avail tech  $     maint
   balloon        10   2     3   30 $150    $12
   blimp          25   5     8   60 $400    $12
   airship        50  10    15  100 $1800   $21

  lcm  number of lcms required to build the balloon
  hcm  number of hcms required to build the balloon
 tech  the minimum technology required to build the balloon
    $  balloon construction cost
maint  balloon maintanence cost per update

The capability listing looks like this:

   [##:##] Command: show balloon cap

                           Concept : Balloon Types

                 def spd vis spy rng fir mpg tnk pln cargoes & abilities
   balloon         1  20  45   2   0   0   0   0   0 1c 1m 10f
   blimp           1  25  45   3   0   0   0   0   0 3c 3m 30f 3u
   airship         5  25  80   5   1   1   0   0   0 20m 50f 10u 20s 1g spy

def  defensive armament of the balloon
spd  the distance/mu for moving (in relative units)
vis  how visible the balloon is (in relative units)
spy  how far the balloon can see (how good the communication equipment is) (in
     relative units)
rng  twice the distance the guns can fire, (assuming a high technology level)
fir  the number of guns the balloon can fire at once

The volume listing looks like this:

                           Concept : Balloon Types

   [##:##] Command: show balloon vol

                            min gas req'd       max     refill
                 tech     low alt  high alt   gas vol    rate
   balloon         30       500       750      1000      1200
   blimp           60      1250      1875      2500      1200
   airship        100      2500      3750      5000      1200

                  tech  the minimum tech required to build the balloon
 min gas req'd low alt  the minimum gas volume needed for low altitude flight
min gas req'd high alt  the minimum gas volume needed for high altitude flight
           max gas vol  the maximum gas volume the balloon can contain
           refill rate  the per-update gas refill rate  in  a  100%  efficient
                        sector

Balloons can be built or scrapped in either harbors or airports.   Because  of
its  fragile construction, however, once a balloon has been built it can never
be upgraded.  Each balloon can carry a certain amount of products and has cer-
tain  capabilities.  These  are  listed under the cargoes & abilities section.

                           Concept : Balloon Types

The cargoes give the number of each product that can be carried.   The  abili-
ties are as follows.

spy  The balloon can engage in spying activities

See also : balloon, coastwatch, fire, load, lookout, navigate, tend, show

