.TH Command FIRE
.SY "fire [<VSECT> | <VSHIP>] [<ASECT> | <ASHIP>] <NUMBER>"
The fire command is used to shoot up land sectors or ships.
.s1
The general form for shooting at land from land is:
.EX fire <VSECT> <ASECT>
Where "<VSECT>" is the victim sector, (the sector AT which you are shooting,
not the sector FROM which you are shooting).
.s1
The general form for shooting at land from ships is:
.EX fire <VSECT> <ASHIP> <NUMBER>
.s1
The general form for firing at ships from land is:
.EX fire <VSHIP> <ASECT>
Again, "<VSHIP>" is the victim ship number.
.s1
The general form for firing at ships from ships is:
.EX fire <VSHIP> <ASHIP> <NUMBER>
.s1
If not specified on the command line
the program will ask for the sector or ship FROM which you are firing,
(<ASECT> or <ASHIP>).
.s3
The only sector that may fire is a fortress which must have at least
5 military for a firing crew, at least 1 shell to fire, and a gun big
enough to reach the victim location; range is equal to the "number"
of guns, (with a maximum of 7), times the technology factor,
(which has a maximum of 1. see "info technology").
.s1
Any military ship may fire as long as it has
at least one gun, at least one shell,
and has at least 60% efficiency.
If the ship can fire more than one gun and "<NUMBER>" was not
specified on the command line the program will ask how many
you wish to fire.
See info "ship-types" for gun ranges.
.s3
The program then prints a satisfying "Kaboom!!!" and,
assuming you were in range, inflicts damage.
.s3
Ships lose 20 mobility points for each shot fired.
.s1
The damages inflicted vary with efficiency of the attacker,
the size of the guns (battleship guns are four times as big as
patrol boat guns), the number of guns fired, etc.
.s1
A table of approximate damages looks like:
.NF
From    To      Range of damages
----    ----    ----------------
land    land    11% .. 16%
land    sea     14% .. 49%
pat *   land    7%
pat *   sea     9% .. 28%
bat **  land    25%
bat **  sea     30% .. 64%
.FI
* pat here is a patrol boat firing a single gun,
(the wimpiest sea gun available)
.br
** bat means a battleship firing four guns at once.

An illustrative example of shelling land:
.EX fir 34,18 36,18
.NF
Kaboom!!!
13% damage done to sector 34,18
.FI
Meanwhile, the owner of sector 35,18 might be logged on and would
perhaps see the following:
.NF
[15:98] Command: cen 34,18
Sat Jul 30 16:18:01 1984
CENSUS              del cnt
  sect      eff mob cmf cmf % * civ mil food min gmin fert oil
 34,18  i  100% 127 ... ...     200 100   23  23   31   73  18
	1 sector
You have a telegram waiting ...
.FI
.NF
[15:98] Command: read
BULLETIN!       dated Sat Jul 30 16:18:02 1984
Country #9 shelled 34,18
Shall I burn it? y
.FI
.NF
[15:98] Command: cen 34,18
Sat Jul 30 16:18:26 1984
CENSUS              del cnt
  sect      eff mob cmf cmf % * civ mil food min gmin fert oil
 34,18  i   87% 110 ... ...     175  83   20  23   31   73  18
	1 sector
.FI
Note that the shell did about 13% damage in the sector.

If the sector fired on is a fort with guns and shells it will fire back
with approximately the same damages (assuming it has the range).
.br
If the sector is near a fort that is within range of the attacker
that fort will fire back.
.br
If a ship fired on has guns and shells it will fire back AND
any other ships of the same nationality that are in range will also
fire on you.
.s3
See also : attack, assault, torpedo, technology
