[##:##] Command : launch <PLANES> <SECT|SHIP|PLANE>
The launch command is used to launch missiles (or satellites) from sectors or submarines owned by you.
There are five classes of missiles:
1. "marine" missiles may only be fired at ships. They may be given "interdiction" mission. 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't be launched manually. They automatically intercept planes. 4. "satellite" missiles may only be fired against satellites in orbit. They will automatically attempt to intercept AT_WAR satellites being launched into orbit. Unlike other missiles, they don't get used up. 5. "SDI" (anti-ballistic-missiles) can't be launched manually. They automatically intercept incoming "tactical" (non-"marine") missiles.
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 40% cannot be launched.
The formula for the chance that a missile hits its target is in info Hitchance.
In the case of non-marine tactical missiles, if there are any HOSTILE ABMs 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.
Missiles launched from submarines are anonymous. The victim is not notified of the identity of the launching country.
Nuclear-tipped missiles can only be launched at sectors. You specify whether the nuclear warhead will airburst or groundburst when you arm the missiles (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.
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 move along 5% of a geodesic path around the world every update. The path the satellite follows looks like this:
+----+ | / | |/ | | /| | / | | / | |/ | | /| | / | +----+
That is, start in the middle, move northeast until you hit the edge, then continue 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.
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 , Nukes