Ground

AA

Antiaircraft fire is handled with a single command very similar to +fire for aircraft (have a look at +help aircraft gunnery if you're curious).

You don't need to specify a target, it automatically picks the target with the best chance of hitting it. Effective range is handled in yards, rather than the usual MUSH rooms of ground combat, and is a maximum of about 1000 yards for machine guns, less for other weapons.

+aa

Arty

Artillery is somewhat downplayed in this game, so it isn't -quite- as lethal as it likely was in real life. In real life, artillery scored the most number of kills in both World Wars, by a long margin. However, this assumes you do something about it when it starts to fire - if you dont, it is plenty lethal enough, rest assured. Walking through a barrage is risky indeed. Artillery's main purpose against entrenched troops is suppression, artillery fire reduces the accuracy of all soldiers caught in the barrage.

Artillery barrages fire a number of salvoes, each separated by a certain number of ticks dependent on the artillery piece doing the work. Anybody in the room they target is a potential victim. Those in subrooms are quite unlikely to be hit by artillery fire, those out in the open are considerably more vulnerable. When faced with artillery, +join as soon as possible, or run away. Cover modifiers from +style are used, so taking cover also helps, but the biggest factor is not being in the open.

+arty/status

Gives a report of all barrages due or currently firing, with their target and the number of salvoes they still have left to fire. When used by a player it only returns friendly barrages, when used by staff, it shows all barrages.

Artillery in the Great War was not known for its responsiveness. Barrages had to be planned days, even weeks in advance, and while innovations in tactics had led to things like the creeping barrage - where the artillery always fires just ahead of the advancing infantry, thus protecting them as they advance - such tactics required the infantry to be able to move in time with the artillery barrage. …therefore, in such situations, make sure +arty/status is used so you know when the supporting artillery will be shifting.

Chemweps

There are four distinct chemical agents coded on this game which have varying effects.

Tear gas is non lethal but may impair fighting ability by increasing your combat stress. The Veteran skill helps here, as combat stress is amassed more slowly the higher it is. Tear gas is obvious, you will get emits if you've been tear gassed. Even though it is non lethal itself it is often mixed with other gases as tear gas makes it hard to put a mask on - willpower checks are required to do so.

Chlorine causes choking and respiration problems, as soon as it is breathed in. It is obvious if you are being gassed with chlorine, and you will be warned with an emit. Chlorine will do a small amount of damage to head or chest areas while you are vulnerable, prolonged exposure will kill.

Phosgene is the most lethal gas used, it is intended to kill, not wound. It is insidious because it's hard to detect, colourless and almost odourless - though it does have a faint smell of mouldy hay, which you may (or may not) detect in time. If you get a mouldy hay emit its advised that you warn your fellows by pose to suit up! Phosgene does not have an immediate effect, its effects take up to 24 hours to become apparent, whereupon it wrecks the unfortunate victims lungs. Phosgene will reduce your Constitution by a varying amount - typically a lot, depending on exposure. If your constitution goes to 0, you die. Slight exposure is survivable, any more than that risks death.

Mustard gas is not always obvious but is more easily noticed than phosgene is, and smells, as the name implies, of mustard or horseradish. Mustard gas has a delayed effect also, it causes huge blisters and sores which are excruciatingly painful. It is rarely fatal - though heavy doses of gas can be fatal - but rather tends to incapacitate in a most horrifying way for a long time. Mustard gas causes burn damage to every body part, the precise amount of damage depending on the length of the exposure. It can kill if the dose is high enough - death by mustard gas is a particularly terrible way to go.

Gas masks are represented by the GasDefence style. You are immune to chemical attack while you use this style - though the style itself gives you some penalties when fighting, as its hard to see and fight when wrapped up in chemical warfare gear and peering through the eyeholes of a WW1-era mask.

Closecombat

Unarmed combat is always available, even if the zone you are in is not declared a combat zone. This to facilitate punch ups in bars. ;)

To attack an enemy in melee, you must first engage them. This represents the difficulty in getting in position to land a blow on someone, and is a big reason of why guns are better - guns can reach out and touch people from a long way away and do not have to go through this stage. If you are engaged both you and your victim are unable to move until the situation is dealth with, either by disengaging or disabling the opponent.

+engage <name>
+disengage <name>

Once engaged you may then attack either unarmed, or with a melee weapon. You can also shoot at close range (see +help ground firearms) if you have a ranged weapon to hand.

+punch <name>

+melee <name>

Chance of hitting, blocking successful hits, location of hits and damage are all heavily dependent on your and your opponents unarmed and melee skills.

Consider

Gives your accuracy to a target, and gives you a breakdown of how that accuracy figure is being computed.

+consider <name>

Demolitions

The demolitions skill can be used for various things. All the following commands require a Satchel Charge to use, and that item is used up when you run the command. The demolitions skill is usually required, and there is always a chance that these commands fail, based on your skill level.

…atm theres only one command until more are coded!

+demolish/connection <place>
+demolish/connection <direction>/<place>

Lets an engineer demolish the link between two places which allows easy movement between them.

Entrenching

There are commands available for soldiers to dig their own fortifications (ie subrooms, places) without staff having to do it for them. The commands are suitably flexible for entire trench systems to be made by players if need be.

ICly YOU WILL BE ORDERED WHEN TO DIG IN. DO NOT DIG IN UNTIL TOLD TO. PLAYERS WHO SCATTER TRENCHES ALL OVER THE GRID WILL INCUR THE WRATH OF THE STAFF. DO NOT ABUSE THESE COMMANDS!

+entrench
Digs a foxhole. The most basic of defences. Also the most ineffective. Costs 500 ticks.

+entrench/improve <place number>
Begins work on improving a place. Foxholes can be improved to slit trenches, then to front line trenches, then to reserve trenches, and finally to redoubts. Each offers improved protection. There is a law of diminishing returns though, so while a redoubt is better than a reserve trench it isnt hugely better, though at the other end of the scale a foxhole is waaay better than nothing at all, and a slit trench is significantly better than a foxhole.
There is a large tick cost associated with this command. Each place has an account of work done on it and any work done is credited to that account. Eventually, the place will improve a level. It takes many man-hours of work to improve a fortification, especially at the higher levels. Combat engineering skill is a significant help.

+entrench/connect <place>=<place>
Use this command to connect two places together in the same room.

+entrench/connect <place>=<exit>/<place>
Use this command to connect two places which are in different rooms.

+entrench/emplace <gun dbref> in <subroom number>
Antitank guns and field guns can be emplaced in a fortification, so it gains the benefit of cover. It is highly advisable you do this as improperly emplaced towed guns are extremely vulnerable!

+entrench/unemplace <gun dbref>
If you want to move a towed gun out of its emplacement, presumably in readiness to be moved, this is the command to do it.

Firearms

The commands to use firearms are fairly straightforward.

+wield <item> puts a weapon in your hand, ready for action. When you shoot, you will use whatever item is wielded at the time.

+unwield puts a wielded weapon away.

+shoot <name/dbref> when shooting a player you can use their name, when shooting a vehicle you have to use the vehicles dbref number (eg #57)

+reload to reload when you are out of ammo

+unjam to clear a jammed weapon

Accuracy with a gun is modified by a whole range of factors. Some locations offer an intrinsic cover modifier to those in them, to represent forests and broken terrain. Subrooms within the rooms may offer a further modifier. The fighting style of shooter and target also often modifies the final score.

Range is a consideration. All weapons have modifiers for short, medium and long ranges. Short range is defined as being engaged in close combat or in the same subroom as the target. Medium range is defined as being in the same room as the target. Long range is defined as being in an adjacent room to the target. Submachineguns and pistols tend to be effective at short range but not at long, rifles tend to be better at the longer ranges. Machine guns tend to be effective at all ranges, but have high recoil. The amount of ticks required to fire off a shot or burst is largely dependent on the fire mode of the weapon, single shot (SS) is the slowest, semiautomatic fires a little faster (SA), fully automatic (FA) and extremely rapid fire (XA) fire faster still. Some weapons may have adjustable fire modes, if your weapon has such an option you can set which fire mode you want to use with

+firemode <SA/FA>

Recoil is a consideration, particularly with fully automatic and XA weapons. High strength helps to stave off recoil penalties to an extent, but heavier weapons like machineguns are extremely inaccurate when "fired from the hip" even by meatheads, and must be deployed first for accurate fire.

+deploy
+undeploy

Deployed weapons do not suffer recoil penalties, on the other hand it takes a little time to set them up. A deployed weapon is almost unusable at short range, so undeploy if enemies are in your face. You automatically undeploy your weapon if you move.

Finally, Wounds to the arms or vital areas will significantly reduce accuracy. When heavily wounded, consider retreat! Guns tend to be lethal weapons as well, a single well placed round almost always has the potential to kill. In combat, take cover whenever possible.

Flare

If you are carrying a flare equipment object, use this command to let it off…

+flare

Can only be used at night. You can use it in a warzone if you want but it isnt required. Firing off a flare alerts all within line of sight to your presence.

Inspire

The inspire command uses the Inspiration skill to reduce combat stress in friendly troops who can see you.

+inspire

Minefields

Minefields are made up of antipersonnel or antivehicular mines. AP mines are obviously dangerous to infantry. They will explode if a vehicle drives over them too but are unlikely to damage any but the least armoured vehicles. AV mines are another matter. They are fused so they will only explode in contact with vehicles, so infantry can pass over them without fear, but they pack enough punch to blow a vehicle's track off, at the least.

The Combat Engineer skill is used for all the following minefield related commands.

+minefield/lay <AP|AV>
Lays a minefield. You must be carrying the appropriate mines in your inventory. You can run this command repeatedly to lay denser, more dangerous minefields.

+minefield/search
Searches your current location for the presence of mines. If you succeed, it'll give you some idea of how many mines are in that room, and of what type.

+minefield/clear
Will attempt to remove mines from the room you are in.

If you enter a mined room you are subject to being hit by them, which makes clearing minefields a dangerous task. However, the combat engineer skill reduces the chance of you being hit. With a combat engineer skill of 5, you are effectively immune to minefields in fact and can move over them at will. Presumably clearing a path for the less well skilled…

Moving

Movement in ground combat is handled by three commands.

+join <number>

+leave <number>

+move <exit>

All three require a certain amount of ticks of the clock to execute, the characters movement score and wounds to legs, abdomen, chest and head will incur a movement penalty. Some styles may also affect movement speed (dashing modifier).

Join and leave is used to enter and exit subrooms within a given location. Subrooms are important in combat because they generally give cover modifiers, both soft cover (which reduces enemy accuracy) and hard cover (protects certain body parts entirely from damage). Characters not in a subroom are assumed to be more or less out in the open, so bear that in mind when the lead starts flying!

Obstacles

Military obstacles were a major component of fighting in World War 1, and while heavy fortifications were less prevalent in World War 2 they were certainly used there as well on more than one occasion. Obstacles are split into four types, of which only one (wire) will feature in the World War 1 prequel.

Wire represents a mass of concertina or barbwire. The presence of wire impedes the movement of infantry.

Dragonsteeth are man sized blocks of concrete, scattered in an area and intended to block the progress of vehicles.

Obstacles may be laid, cleared and blown away with bangalores by soldiers with the following commands.

+obstacle/lay <wire|dragonsteeth>=<exit>

This command creates an obstacle. You must have the appropriate obstacle in your inventory to use this command.

+obstacle/clear <exit>
This represents cutting wire with wirecutters or dragging dragonsteeth out of the way. It is slow and marginally effective but it does work.

+obstacle/bangalore <exit>
Bangalore torpedoes were used primarily by the Allies in both world wars and are highly effective at clearing all manner of obstacles. The Demolitions skill will improve the effectiveness of this command. A bangalore must be in your inventory to use this command.

Barriers of obstacles are rated from 1 to 10. +obstacle/lay is wasted on a barrier at rating 10. Obviously, the higher it is, the more effective it is.

Peek

It is possible to peek into an adjacent location using the following command.

+peek <exit>

When peeking, when you look at the room you will see the contents of the location you are peeking into as well as the location you are currently in.

The concept of peeking has a major impact on the strategy of the game. Adjacent locations are considered to be "long range" so only rifles and especially sniper rifles are particularly effective at such ranges. In addition, peeking takes time, and you can only peek in one direction at once, so crossfires and flank ambushes become possible.

Sniping

If you have a weapon capable of accurate fire - rifle, antitank rifle or automatic rifle, and it is in semiautomatic or single-shot firing mode - you may spend some additional time taking aim to improve your chances of a hit, maybe improve the damage you inflict and hit a more vital area.

+snipe <target>

This command uses the Sniping skill, and a higher level of sniping skill will improve this is almost all regards (quicker to use, more chance of it working, greater effect when it does work).

Note that the snipe command does not actually take the shot. It lines you up with the target and the bonus is applied to the next shot. If the target moves or you fire at some other target, or you move, while you are lined up, the bonus is lost.

Status

Gives a status report on your current timers and +style.

+status

Stealth

Stealth is handled mostly automatically. Whenever you move, or an enemy peeks in your direction, a Stealth Check is automatically rolled against all possible enemy observers, if successful, you will not appear on their screen and they will not be alerted to your actions. Units on the same side as you will always be able to see you, you don't make stealth checks against your friends.

Stealth is only likely to work if you are using the Stealth style. All other styles have a Stealth penalty so it is unlikely, though possible, that you will be not be noticed when using these styles.

Firing a weapon automatically alerts all enemies who are in your location or peeking into your location of your presence. Note that the way that peeking works means that if you are some distance away and attacking from side or rear it may be some time before eyeballs are looking in your direction, stealth rolls aside. Snipers, take heed!

If you suspect that there is a hidden enemy out there that passed a stealth check, use the following command :-

+lookout

It will force a fresh stealth check from any enemies in either the location you are in, or in the location you are peeking in to.

It is possible to try and break contact with enemies once they have spotted you. You should only use this /after/ you have been seen and are trying to break contact, not before. In attempting to break contact everybody with line of sight to you rolls a perception check, those who pass it see you, those who don't do not. Needless to say its best to be in the stealth style before you try it.

+hide

Stress

By popular demand, there is now a command which tells you your combat stress level. +status also shows this but as part of a spammy screen full of info, this returns just a one liner.

+stress

Styles

You may adopt a general fighting style which applies modifiers in addition to any other modifiers you may have. This is for roleplayings sake, so if you want to pose diving for cover, sprinting as fast as you can, charging bravely heedless of bullets and so on, it can have an effect upon the code.

+style <style>

There are several different fighting styles available to you.

Banzai style implies you are not seeking cover but aggressively seeking out the enemy, perhaps engaging him in close combat. It is easier for you to inflict damage upon the enemy, but likewise it is easier for you to be damaged.

Sprint implies you are running as fast as you can. Movement is faster, and it is easier to enter or leave close combat, but it is easier to be shot as you aren't taking cover.

Standard has no modifiers, either good or bad, and is the default.

Takecover implies you are doing your utmost to avoid being struck, getting prone, and so on. Your own accuracy stays about the same, but movement is much slower. On the other hand its harder for opponents to hit you.

Stealth implies you are attempting to be stealthy. There is a chance your Stealth skill works with the other styles but you only really have a good chance of hiding yourself when using this style. Stealth is only really effective against small numbers of opponents - as each opponent gets a roll to spot you, its difficult to sneak up on a huge squad. Stealth slows you down moderately in exchange for this ability to hide.

RapidFire is really for machineguns and other weapons with plentiful ammo, it increases your rate of fire at a penalty in accuracy. As being shot at causes combat stress, its possible to stall an enemy even without hitting him just by pouring it on.

GasDefence is a special style. It implies you are masked up, covered in a gas resistant smock, and regularly decontaminate yourself and the area around you with bleach, which was as good as it got in World War 1. The cumbersome equipment causes penalties to your combat stats, so you generally don't want to use this style - but chemical weapons will have no effect on you while you are so protected. It is assumed that all soldiers and civilians have access to the required equiment if its needed, so anybody can use this style, the same as any other.

Weaponspecials

Many if not most weapons have one or more of the following special attributes which impacts their performance, above and beyond damage codes, range modifiers and recoil.

Heavy Weapon
Slows the wielder down somewhat, has a somewhat increased +reload time. May be reloaded by someone other than the wielder with +reload <name>.

Super Heavy Weapon
As heavy weapon but the penalties are massively increased. Represent mostly static infantry weapons.

Scope
Gives +20 percent bonus to Sniping tests.

Bayonet
Inflicts bayonet (wound) damage in melee, rather than clubbing bruise damage.

Deployable
Weapon includes bipod or tripod, may be deployed with +deploy command. Deployed weapons ignore recoil penalties.

Silent
Weapon includes a silencer, will not reveal users location when fired.

Flamethrower
Ignores cover penalties (though not style modifiers), if user is struck there is a chance the flamethrower explodes, which hurts. A lot. Also has a 25 percent chance of starting a fire whenever its fired.

Explosive
Weapon is area of effect, and may strike more than one target, in addition to inflicting multiple wounds. As the name implies this is mostly weapons that explode on impact, but some incendiary type weapons also have this tag. Weapon may strike other individuals a) in the same subroom as the victim, b) engaged by the victim, the dice number after Explosive indicates how many wounds it may inflict. Explosive weapons are somewhat unpredictable, the damage codes given are in effect maximum values, they may do considerably less. Explosive weapons will never strike the wielder, but may strike allies.

Rifle Grenade
Most grenades have very poor accuracy at range, a rifle-grenade used when the user is also carrying a rifle (not automatic rifle, ordinary rifle) has somewhat increased ranged accuracy.

One-Shot
All grenades and some rocket launchers are one shot weapons, ie when you use it, it is gone.

Shotgun
The United States used shotguns in both World Wars, and some civilians may be forced to resort to such weapons as well. Shotguns are assumed to be firing buckshot - this inflicts +2 damage at short range, but half damage at long range.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 License.