Unit Relocation

The Concept of Motion

Within conquer, there are three types of mobile units: armies, navies, and caravans. Armies and caravans will generally travel over land, while the navies will roam the oceans. Flight is also possible for those army units which naturally possess flight, or which are given the property of flight via magic. Using flight, army units are able to traverse many places, such as oceans, which would otherwise be inaccessible.

The "Movement" attribute of a nation is a quantitative indication of how well orders are distributed to military units, as well as a rating for how quickly a unit may be relocated. This, combined with the inherent quickness of the unit, will give an indication as to how far a unit may move in a single update. This quantitative value can be thought of as movement points, and is displayed in the extended information portion of the "command-unit" function.

Sectors will each have a relative movement cost, based on the terrain and vegetation of the sector, as well as the racial characteristics of the nation. These costs are in the same movement points as the "Movement" attribute of a nation and the movement potential of a unit.

Each unit also possesses a speed, which indicates the rate of motion of the unit. The faster a unit is moving, the more movement potential a unit will possess. But, there is a trade-off, because a unit moving faster is much more vulnerable to adverse conditions and combat than units which are moving slowly due to the energy expended during motion.

It is possible to view the various movement costs for each sector using the display routines.

The Commands Governing Motion

There are a number of commands which affect the motion of units. The most obvious command is "move-unit" which is used to actually relocate a unit. While in the main Conquer map, simply highlight the unit you wish to move, and perform the "move-unit" command, which is bound to `m' key by default.

Another command which will affect the movement ability of a unit, is the "command-unit" function, which is bound to the Escape key by default. This command can adjust the status of the unit, which determines whether or not a unit will actually be able to move. Of even more importance, are the speed adjustments within the "command-unit" function. These are used to directly adjust the unit speed.

Army Motion

Army units can be relocated in a number of different ways. They can move on their own from one sector to another. They can be carried over water using naval warships. They can fly after having the spell of "Flight" cast on them, thus being able to cross water sectors without a navy. And, they can be grouped together under a leader, and moved when that leader moves.

The movement potential for an army unit is directly proportional to the national "Movement" attribute. This value will be multiplied by the movement rate of the unit type, and then adjusted by the speed of the unit.

While moving, army units, if not flying or scouting, can be stopped whenever they encounter a group of hostile troops or a wall sector owned by a hostile nation. Any garrisoned unit large enough to hold a land sector will be able to stop any sized army unit. If the garrisoned units are at least half the strength of the units trying to move, then those units will only be able to leave the sector by going the same way out as they used to come in. Non-garrisoned troops are considered to be mobile within the sector, and as such are not positioned properly to prevent enemy movement.

There is one other form of movement available to army units: that of being instantly transported from one sector to another. If the nation possess the proper magical knowledge, and they have a wizard with enough power, they can instantly relocate a unit from one sector to another using the spell of "Teleport".

Caravan Motion

Caravan units move in mostly the same manner as army units, except the heavy wagons are not too prone towards either flight or teleportation. They will suffer the same prevention of motion as army units within sectors controlled by others, and will also have their movement ability governed by the "movement ability" of the nation.

The exact number of movement points which a caravan receives is half that of the national movement ability (with a minimum value of 6), adjusted by the speed of the caravan. If any crew is missing from a caravan, the caravan will lose the same percentage of mobility.

Caravans are useful for conveying both civilians and materials around, but they are not able to be moved across water sectors at all. This, combined with their minimal combat effectiveness means that caravans while useful in moving materials to sectors that need them, are rather vulnerable to attacks if not properly protected.

Navy Motion

Naval fleets can prove to be a powerful weapon for your nation. Their large capacity for storage and ability to traverse water sectors gives them the potential to make or break the economy and/or military of your nation. Whenever a fleet is relocated, all the materials, civilians, and troops onboard are carried along with it.

The movement points which a fleet may possess are dependent on the type of ships within the fleet. Light ships have 3 more movement points than medium ships, and 6 more than heavy ships. Warships have a base rate of 30 (for heavy models). Galleys have a base rate of 25 and the slower Merchants have a base rate of 20. Finally, the very slow Barges have a base rate of 10. The movement rate of the entire fleet (or unit) is the movement rate of the slowest ship in that fleet. If the fleet is missing any crew, the percentage of missing crew will indicate the percentage of lost speed.

If a navy unit is within a land sector, that unit is considered to be beached, or in the harbor, if the sector possesses one. Once in a land sector the navy can load or unload armies using the "transport" command after the fleet is highlighted as a selection. It should be noted that only those troops which are experienced at making beachheads, such as Sailors or Marines, may disembark within territory not owned by the nation. If troops are lead off by a leader, however, the restriction concerning unowned territory will be waived. If the land sector in question contains a supply center owned by the nation, raw materials may be transferred between the two.

The Movement Process

The actual method of moving a unit from one sector to another is fairly simple. You select the unit that you wish to move by highlighting it using the "pick-previous" and "pick-next" commands, and then execute the "move-unit" command.

If the unit is able to be moved, you will will be now be in the movement-mode of conquer, otherwise an error message showing why the unit was unable to be moved will be displayed. Once within the movement-mode, you are able to relocate the unit by telling it which direction to go using the proper directional command.

The percentage of movement available to the unit will be displayed, and the percentage costs for relocating to each of the neighboring sectors will be shown in the bottom portion of the screen.

If the sector in the direction you chose is a valid one for the unit to move into, you will be switched to that sector. Otherwise, the reason for your not being able to enter the sector will be given, and the movement will be disallowed. You can then enter another direction to move towards, or hit the space bar to stop your movement.

As the unit moves through each sector, the percentage movement cost of the sector is deducted from the unit's movement potential. If the unit runs out of movement or if you end the movement phase, the motion will be stopped and the unit will now be located in the current sector. Stopping motion will cost an additional 5% of movement potential, so you should make sure to take this fact into consideration if you wish to move the unit again during the same turn.

Once the final sector has been reached, the unit will be relocated to that sector. If the unit was flying and "lands" in a sector that is incompatible with the unit's survival, the unit will be destroyed. At this point, if the unit is flying via magical means, the power of flight will be lost, with the flight spell being broken upon contact with the ground.

The Other Movement Methods

Besides the normal, cost involved method of motion, you can relocate things using a sector selector. Relocating people using the "move-people" command, or transporting an army unit using the "Teleport" spell are both examples of this technique.

With such forms of movement, the distance of the movement is what matters, not the actual relocation route itself. In other words, you can select any sector within a given range, as long as you can get to that sector. This sort of movement can be aborted using the "move-quit" command, which is usually bound to the Escape key.

The Costs for Land Movement

For each sector, there is a given movement cost to enter that sector. This cost is determined by the race of the nation doing the entry, the vegetation of the sector, and the elevation of the sector. The movement cost for a sector can also be halved through the use of the minor designation of roads.

The list of the land movement costs for each of the elevations, by race, is:

       Elevation Level         Orc     Elf     Dwarf   Human   Others
      ===================     ======= ======= ======= ======= ========
       Water (*)                ---     ---     ---     ---     ---
       Valley                     2       3       2       3       3
       Flat                       1       1       1       1       1
       Hill                       2       2       1       2       2
       Mountain                   3       5       3       4       4
       Peak                       4       8       4       6       6
        (*)  - Water sectors may be made passable using bridges,
               causing such sectors to possess a movement cost of 2.

The added land movement costs for each vegetation type, by race, is:

       Vegetation Type         Orc     Elf     Dwarf   Human   Others
      ===================     ======= ======= ======= ======= ========
       Volcano                  ---     ---     ---     ---     ---
       Desert (*)                 3       6       5       3       3
       Tundra                     2       4       3       3       3
       Barren                     1       1       0       1       1
       Light Vegetation           0       1       0       0       0
       Good                       0       0       0       0       0
       Wood                       2       0       1       0       0
       Forest                     2       0       3       1       1
       Jungle (**)                4       2       5       3       3
       Swamp (**)                 3       2       4       3       3
       Ice (*)                    7       7       7       2       2
       None                     ---     ---     ---     ---     ---
        (*)  - Possessing either the magic power of Dervish or
               Destroyer reduces this cost to 1.
        (**) - The magic power of Amphibian reduces this cost to 1

Basically, you add the movement cost for the elevation of the current sector with the movement cost for the vegetation and you obtain the movement cost for the entire sector.

The Costs for Naval Movement

The method used to determine the cost of movement for water sectors is fairly straight-forward. It costs all of the movement points for a ship to enter a land sector which does not possess a canal or a harbor. Movement in water sectors is easier along coastal regions, and more difficult in deep water.

For navies, land sectors come in three forms: "tera" - inaccessible land sectors; "costa" - land sectors neighboring water; "waterways" - land sectors with harbors or canals for smooth naval access. The "tera" sectors cannot be reached via ships. The "costa" sectors can be moved into, but the navy losses all movement by beaching the craft in this manner. And the "waterway" sectors have a movement cost of either two or four, depending on whether the sector is a canal or a harbor respectively.

Finally, the movement cost for a water sector is dependent on the number of neighboring water and land sectors. If the sector is totally surrounded by land or water, the cost is 5. If there is an even balance of land and water sectors, the cost is 1. The rest of the possibilities range between those two extremes. This creates movement costs such that travel along open coastal regions is much easier than over open ocean.

The Costs for Flight

Flight, naturally available to a number of army unit types, can make pinning down a unit almost impossible. Their ability to traverse blockades and fly over water make them swift scouts and deadly strike forces.

The movement costs while flying are greatly reduced from the normal land movement, and are independent of the national race. The costs, specified by vegetation and elevation, are:

       Elevation Level         Cost       Vegetation Type         Cost
      ===================     ======     ===================     ======
       Water                     1        Volcano                   4
       Valley                    3        Desert                    1
       Flat                      1        Tundra                    1
       Hill                      1        Barren                    0
       Mountain                  2        Light Vegetation          0
       Peak                      6        Good                      0
                                          Wood                      0
                                          Forest                    0
                                          Jungle                    1
                                          Swamp                     0
                                          Ice                       0
                                          None                      0

Commands within movement-mode

Once within movement-mode, there are a number of commands available to the user. Most of these commands simply allow for the motion of the unit, but some other commands are also available. The full list of commands is:

adjust-display (`d'): This command is the same as the "adjust-display" command within the normal conquer mode.
conquer-options (`O'): This command is also similar to the normal "conquer-options" commands, but is available here to allow the rebinding of movement-mode keys.
customize-display (`D'): Another display command to adjust the viewing of the map.
highlight-all (`='): Change all of the highlighting slots.
highlight-current (`,'): Change the highlight at the focus slot.
highlight-horizontal (`-'): Change the highlight of the focus and neighboring slot.
highlight-upleft-lowright (`\'): Change the highlight of the upper left and lower right slots.
highlight-upright-lowleft (`/'): Change the highlight of the upper right and lower left slots.
highlight-vertical (`|'): Change the highlight of the current slot and the slot above or below.
ignore-key (`5'): Bind this to any key that you wish to be able to hit, but not have do anything.
move-east (`6',`l'): Move your unit one sector to the east. With a hexmap world, this function is useless.
move-exit (` ',`q'): Indicate that your movement is complete, and have the unit placed in the current sector.
move-help (`?'): Display this list of functions.
move-north (`8',`k'): Move the unit one sector to the north.
move-northeast (`9',`u'): Move the unit one sector to the northeast.
move-northwest (`7',`y'): Move the unit one sector to the northwest.
move-quit (ESC,`Q'): Attempt to abort the current movement. This is usually equivalent to the "move-exit" function, but when movement people or teleporting a unit will abort the operation.
move-south (`2',`j'): Move the unit one sector to the south.
move-southeast (`3',`n'): Move the unit one sector to the southeast.
move-southwest (`1',`b'): Move the unit one sector to the southwest.
move-west (`4',`h'): Move the unit one sector to the west. In a hexmap world, this command has no use.
recenter-map (`^R'): Relocate the current sector to the center of the screen.
shift-focus (`+',`)'): Shift the focus slot to the next position.
shift-focus-back (`('): Shift the focus slot to the previous position.
redraw-screen (`^L'): Clear and redraw the screen.
toggle-infomode (`@'): Switch into and out of the information mode of the map display.
troop-listing (TAB): Show any troops not controlled by your nation, which are visible in the current sector.