Warfare Guide - Land Units

The main purpose of Land units is to capture enemy land hexes, since Air and Sea Units cannot. They also defend your Region against aggressors and some can help you to construct facilities.

The classes of Land Units include Infantry, Reconnaissance (Recon), Tank, Anti-Tank (AT), Artillery, Air-Defense (AA), Command Units and Transport. Many of these classes such as Infantry can capture enemy territory while others like Artillery cannot.

As with all Services, many Land Units have Special Capabilities such as the ability to cross small stretches of water (Amphibious).

Although most Land Units are mechanized and mobile, others such as Marines must be transported by Transport or Air units in order to travel long distances. Land Units in general must be flown or shipped in order to transport them across oceans.

Land Units consist of from 6 to 70 battalions of soldiers. Each battalion consists of from 1-28 personnel. When not deployed Land Units are garrisoned in Barracks units which offers them some degree of protection. The soldiers that had staffed the Units are placed into the Defense Department Reserve Pool.

Land Units of various classes should be combined into balanced battle-groups whose skills efficiently combine to accomplish their mission.

Many of the specific Land Unit types specified in the following text will consist heavily of U.S. units, since those units are the ones that the author is the most familiar with.

Garrisons
Garrisons are a special type of Land Unit that by default is controlled by the Defense Minister. When the DM has control of garrisons it will entrench them in cities, towns and complexes all over your Region. You can lock the DM out of Garrison control from the Defense Cabinet Panel. There are also two priorities that you can issue to you DM that cause it to either increase or decrease the level of garrisoning in your Region. Each of the non-empty land hexes also have a manual Garrison control available on their Land Complex Details Panel. From this panel you can deploy or remove up to seven Garrisons from the hex.

Once deployed Garrisons are independent and will entrench out of sight until an enemy approaches their hex. When the Garrisons spot the approaching enemy unit they will "pop-out" of entrenchment and defend their hex in close combat.

Partisans and Guerillas
These types of Land Units are enemy units that spring up on your newly captured hexes, due to the low Loyalty level of your new citizens. They are beyond your control since they represent "freedom fighters", intent on re-taking their Region. Guerilla groups number 350 fighters but Partisans only contain 300.

Special Capabilities
Infantry comes in two target types - un-armored Soft targets and armored Hard targets. Other classes such as Artillery, AA and Transport are generally soft targets. Soft targets are marked with a special Soft Target icon along with its other Special Capabilities (SCs).

The SCs of Land Units consist of Amphibious, Air-droppable, Demolition, Indirect Attack, Bridging, Engineer and NBC Equipped. Air-droppable (Airborne) Units can be parachuted from transport aircraft onto any land hex. Demolition units have strong fortification attack specs that make them useful when attacking enemy structures.

Indirect attack indicates that the damage inflicted by the unit is largely against Soft type targets. Its indirect damage cannot be targeted at any one unit but rather is spread throughout the units in its target hex.

A Unit with the Bridging SC is able to facilitate other non-amphibious Land Units across small stretches of water. Engineering Units often also possess Bridging SCs, and in addition can assist in the repair of damaged structures or hasten the construction of new ones.

"NBC Equipped" is meaningless since the game does not contain Biological or Chemical warfare elements and there is no nuclear contamination to protect against.

It is often wise to keep units with the same SC, such as airborne units, together on the map for quick deployment.

Infantry
The infantry class consists of combat units, designed to move or air-drop onto enemy hexes, and capture them. They can also assist you in holding and defending your own Region. This class consist of both soft and hard, armored units. Some are mobile and mechanized but others are dismounted foot-soldiers that rely upon Transport units in order to move long distances.

The basic Infantry types are Conscript, Marines, Airborne, Ranger, Light Infantry, National Guard and Engineer. Most regions will start out with some or all of these Unit designs, but more sophisticated Units designs may need to be researched.

Armament
Dismounted Units are armed with small-arms such as automatic assault rifles, light machine guns, RPGs and explosives. Mobile infantry Units mount larger caliber machine guns and small-bore cannon.

The offensive and defensive values of all of your units will improve as your tech level increases and your Research Department discovers new defense-related technologies. Foremost among these is new weapons technologies that increase the fire-power of your new Infantry units. Some of the high-tech Weaponry technology that you can obtain at various tech levels are listed below:
 * TL Weapon Type
 * 114 Electro-Thermal Chem Guns
 * 116 Basic Microwave Weaponry
 * 117 Electro-Magnetic Guns
 * 124 Laser Cannons
 * 124 Electro-Magnetic Rail Gun
 * 126 Laser rifles
 * 138 Phaser Cannons
 * 142 Ion Burst Weapons
 * 142 Ion Burst Weapons

Engineers
Engineering Units specialize in the construction and repair of facilities like bases and factories. An Engineer constructs by default without receiving a formal "Construct" command. The construction effect reaches not only the Engineer's hex, but also the hexes immediatley surrounding them. If an Engineer is commanded to Entrench then it stops construction.

There are both mobile and dismounted Engineer units. Engineers, being infantry can capture territory

Engineers are fierce fighters with high close combat offense and defense. The ECB (Engineer Combat Battalion) Engineer is air-droppable which makes it very useful when you need an engineer quickly in a remote location. They are also expert in demolition so they can both build and destroy.

Engineers cannot repair other Units.

Dismounted
Dismounted units have no motor vehicles to transport them so these Units consist of battalions of foot-soldiers. These "ground-pounders" can move slowly on foot for a certain distance each day, but in general it is best to garrison them or transport them with supply trucks or by air.

In general, dismounted units suffer from limited ammunition and supplies since they have no vehicles to store and transport them in. They are armed with small-arms and explosives.

Common foot units include Conscripts, Marines, Foreign Legion, Airborne, Ranger and Green Berets. Units such as Marines, Special Forces and Airborne can be air-dropped.

Advanced foot units such as Special Forces, Exoskeleton and Advanced Warrior Infantry are fierce fighters.

The following high-tech research discoveries can either enhance the combat stats of your dismounted infantry or allow you to build newer more powerful foot-soldiers at the listed tech levels:
 * TL Technology
 * 96 - Military Body Armor
 * 103 - Military Body Armor II
 * 104 - Upgrade Infantry Protection
 * 111 - Land Warrior Systems
 * 113 - Military Body Armor III
 * 117 - Chameleon Armor
 * 118 - Upgrade Infantry II
 * 121 - Leap Infantry
 * 121 - Nano-metal Body Armor
 * 124 - Exoskeleton Technology
 * 125 - Upgrade Infantry II
 * 140 - Cyborg Soldiers
 * 151 - Advanced Chameleon Armor
 * 151 - Advanced Chameleon Armor

Airborne
Airborne units can be parachuted onto any land hex in the world from transport aircraft. Some of the airborne, dismounted "foot-pounder" types include Airborne, Marines, Green Berets, Airborne ECB Engineer and Ranger units. All Special forces units are air-droppable. Some of the mobile airborne units are: APCs, Mechanized Reaction Force and the M113 MTVL.

Airborne assaults give the enemy little or no warning of the approach of your units and allow you to skip over heavily defended enemy areas. Enemy AA is however a serious threat to the drop aircraft and their passengers.

In addition you will probably be dropping your units into enemy hexes that lack supply, so your units will need to be able to fight and defend themselves for at least two days after they capture the enemy drop-site. It is often wise to re-supply them with continued passes by transport aircraft with needed supplies.

There are other non-infantry types of airborne Units within the other Land classes such as air-droppable artillery, light tanks, AT and supply units.

Special Forces
There is a unit type called "Special Forces", but here we are discussing the broader class of dismounted Land units that have received special intense battle-training. Special Forces units include Green Berets, Rangers, Marines and of course Special Forces.

One of their distinguishing traits is that they have 35 small teams of about 5 highly trained personnel, instead of many large battalions of 10-18 personnel. They are stealthy and possess superior combat statistics. SFs can travel farther faster, and their offensive and defensive statistics are superior to those of the average "foot-pounder". SF units are also more costly and take longer to build.

All Special Forces units are air-droppable.

Mobile
Mobile Infantry units travel in motorized vehicles that may or may not be armored. All are armed. Engineers, National Guard and Light Infantry travel in HUMVES or light trucks and so are soft targets. Other tougher mobile units travel in battalions of armored vehicles such as Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs).

Mobile Units can be either tracked or wheeled. Tracked Units can move more easily over rough terrain, but wheeled Units can travel faster on roads and flat terrain.

Light infantry is armed with small-arms and explosives. Heavy armored infantry is discussed below.

These units require petroleum fuel that is subtracted from your Region's stockpile. If your stockpiles run out and you cannot manufacture or buy more petroleum then your mobile units, ships and planes will stop moving until they are refueled. These units can move a certain maximum distance at a speed determined by the terrain and by their ROE speed settings.

Mobile units can only be transported by sea or by heavy air transport.

Armored
Certain mobile infantry units have light or medium armor. This armor increases their defensive stats but slows them down and limits their supply and range.

The following are some important types of U.S. armored vehicles: Most armored units are armed with heavy machine guns or small-bore cannons. Specialized weapons like AA missiles, anti-tank weapons or mortars are often mounted on armored vehicle bodies, but then they are classified as AA, AT or Artillery units, not as Infantry.
 * APC - Armored Personnel Carrier
 * LAV - Light Armored Vehicle
 * IFV - Infantry Fighting Vehicle
 * ICV - Infantry Combat Vehicle

Armored units do a good job of protecting their passengers from rifle and indirect artillery fire, but are more vulnerable to close combat and air attacks.

The following are some important high-tech armor technologies that you can research at various tech levels:
 * TL Armor Type
 * 60 Spaced Armor
 * 62 Reactive Armor
 * 78 Composite Armor
 * 82 Advanced Composite Armor
 * 106 Active Protection System Armor
 * 116 Advanced APS-KE
 * 118 Self Healing Armor
 * 121 Nano-metal Body Armor
 * 122 Electrically Charged Armor
 * 122 Electrically Charged Armor

Recon
Reconnaissance units are mobile, stealthy, have excellent spotting abilities, speed and long Move Ranges. Recon units rely on stealth instead of offense or armor to accomplish their tasks of seeking out and reporting on the deployment of enemy units in hostile territory.

Many infantry and a few tank types have been stripped of their armor and heavy weapons and converted to recon roles such as the M113, m118, M3 Bradley CFV,M1127 Stryker and the M551 Sheridan.

At higher tech levels new recon units acquire much higher defense and offense stats and are less vulnerable.

Recon units like infantry can capture territory.

Radar
A specialized type of recon unit is the Mobile Radar unit (tech level 71) and the Advanced Radar Unit (tech level 114). They have ranges of 110 km. and 140 km. respectively. This unit can patrol or be parked anywhere to utilize its powerful radar equipment to spot units across friendly borders or behind enemy lines.

These units have no attack values and very low defense stats so they must be kept safe from enemy attack.

There is another emplacement unit called a "Radar Station" that you can build. It has a range of 190 km.

Tank
The tank class provides the bulk of offensive land power in the game. Tanks are powerful in that they pack a great deal of fire-power and are protected by heavy armor. In exchange for this power, they have limited speed and Move Ranges.

Tanks function best in flat, open terrain and their stats are somewhat compromised in close combat situations. Tanks are effective even when on the move and can withstand indirect attacks better than any other land class.

Like the Infantry class, Tanks can capture territory. In many ways tanks are like mobile artillery and they can indeed be use this way.

The important research items that can improve your tank's defenses are the same ones listed above for Infantry Mobile Armor. In addition there are some gunnery/artillery related research that is also important:
 * TL Technology
 * 58 - Gyrostabilized Gun Mounts
 * 85 - Large Bore Artillery Rifles
 * 90 - Depleted Uranium Munitions
 * 100 - Improved Fire Control
 * 101 - Smart Target Munitions
 * 102 - Metal Storm Technology
 * 103 - Metal Storm Weapons Pods
 * 103 - Laser Guidance Systems
 * 106 - Laser Gyro Stabilizers
 * 107 - Advanced Anti-Armor Designs
 * 108 - Advanced Tank Designs
 * 109 - Fire Control Upgrades
 * 114 - Electro-Thermal Chem Guns
 * 113 - Advanced Tank Designs II
 * 116 - Basic Laser Weaponry
 * 117 - Electro-Magnetic Guns
 * 119 - Advanced Metal Storm
 * 120 - Electro-Magnetic Rail Gun
 * 123 - Advanced Tank Designs III
 * 124 - Laser Cannons
 * 132 - Phasers
 * 138 - Phaser Cannons
 * 143 - Advanced Tank Designs IV
 * 150 - Advanced Tank Designs V
 * 150 - Advanced Tank Designs V

Armament
Tanks are armed with heavy machine guns and a powerful large-bore main gun.

The machine gun is often used by the tank commander to neutralize soft target treats such as dismounted enemy units and helicopters.

Some tanks are equipped with ejector ports that can generate cloaking smoke.

Fire-control of the main gun is performed using range-finders to determine target distance. These range-finder systems improve the spotting ability of the unit and also have a night-vision mode so that the tank can fight in the dark. Modern tanks that can fire on the move use computer controlled fire-control and laser gyros to compute a constant firing solution, improving firing accuracy and enabling the tank to hit moving targets.

Laser
Late in the game at tech level 124 tanks can be constructed with Laser Cannons. These are very long range and extremely accurate. Tank armor at this tech level has become much lighter and stronger making for lighter but more powerful tanks.

Phaser
At tech level 138 tanks can be fabricated with Phaser Cannons that over-shadow even Laser weapons. At this tech level both tank offence and defense reach incredibly powerful levels.

Anti-Tank
The Anti-Tank (AT) class of land unit is dedicated to destroying tanks and other armored units, as its name implies. There is quite a variety of ATs - there are dismounted teams armed with hand-held AT weapons, Units of towed ATs as well as mobile mechanized AT units.

Of course one of the best types of AT is other tanks.

Dismounted ATs are soft targets and the mobile ones are only lightly armored, at best.

ATs suffer from a "Move and Fire Penalty" which means that they attack more efficiently when they are stationary. Therefore is good to used them from pre-prepared positions from both an offensive and defensive perspective.

Mobile mechanized AT units can carry and store a larger quantity of ammunition than can the hand-held and towed units.

However their speed, mobility and range makes them useful in quick raids and harassment operations into enemy territory.

The following research technologies advance the state of AT at the listed tech levels:
 * TL Technology
 * 90 - Depleted Uranium Munitions
 * 102 - Multi Purpose AT Munitions
 * 107 - Advanced Anti-Armor Designs
 * 107 - Advanced Anti-Armor Designs

Armament
ATs are armed with anti-tank guns, recoilless rifles and AT missiles. Mobile ATs are armed with their main weapon and little else.

The Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided (TOW) missile is the gold standard for AT weapons and variations of this design are found in all regions of the map.

Often the same TOW missile is deployed with different types of Unit- there are dismounted teams with hand-held TOW missile launchers and there also towed and mechanized versions that fire the same weapon.

Mobile mechanized ATs wile likely also be equipped with electronic range-finding sights with which to aim the weapon(s). Towed and mechanized AT may mount more than one of the weapons which will increase the Unit's Reaction Time.

TOW missiles are intrinsic to the AT and are not discreet fabricated missile units.

LOSAT - Line-Of-Sight Ant-Tank is another AT technology that is more effective than TOW. LOSAT utilizes a non-explosive hyper-velocity projectile to drive a metal rod through the armor of a tank.

HVGM - High-Speed Guided Missile is the next high-tech AT technology before the Laser types.

Laser
In the midgame at tech level 124 Laser Cannons become available and these make excellent AT weapons. The armor of mobile ATs had also improved at this point so it is safer for them to get out and move around from their pre-prepared positions.

There are several towed laser AT units since beam weapons do not require the storage or heavy missile or gun rounds.

Phaser
At tech level 138 Phaser ATs are the ultimate in anti-tank weaponry and due to the tremendous strides in armor and materials at this point level 134 ATs can hold their own on the battlefield when confronted by a lower-tech opponent.

Phaser equipped ATs are nearly all mechanized units.

Hand-Held
Hand-held recoilless rifles (RPGs) and TOWs are used by small teams of dismounted soldiers. They present soft targets and it is vital that they operate from protected positions. The TOW firing tube can be hand-held or mounted on a tripod.

Towed
Towed Units are mounted on a two-wheeled chassis which rotates as the weapon is aimed. Towed ATs are less mobile than the mechanized units but they never-the-less will slowly move great distances on their own. They require fuel and their maximum Move Range is shorter than their mobile mechanized compatriots.

Never-the-less the offensive stats of the towed units is still impressive, even when compared with the larger mechanized units. They are cheaper and faster to fabricate than mechanized ATs so it is easier to produce them in quantities.

Artillery
The Artillery class of Land Units is arguably the most important defensive Unit in the game. When accompanied by a sufficient number of supply units it can become a potent offensive force too.

AU guns fire indirect-fire ballistic projectiles for great distances - 20-33 km. Unfortunately these guns have a voracious appetite for ammunition. When firing from your own supplied territory this is hardly a problem - AUs ammo supplies are magically replenished from the ambient supply system. But in enemy territory AU guns need external supply and plenty of it. This can be accomplished by either supply trucks or air-dropped supplies from circling transport planes.

An exception is the French AMX-105 SPH Mk 61, which has a combat time of 24 hours, but a range of just 20 km. The TL 107 U.S. Stryker-G7 105mm SPG has a 25 hour CT and also has a 20 km range.

Since AUs have long attack ranges, long-range Spotting is vital to their use. Prior to acquiring ETC gun technology, two of the longest-range guns are the TL 112 Chinese PLZ-85 185mm and the TL 111 U.S. M111A1 Templar 185mm. Both have a range of 33 km, just like the ETCs. The PLZ-85 is also amphibious.

AUs also have Surface attack stats equivalent to their land stats, so they make good weapons for coastal protection.

The smallest calibre AU guns are as big as the largest tank main guns - beginning at about 105mm with some AU gun types as large as 185mm. Mobile mechanized AUs start at 105mm but go as large as 200 mm.

AUs are nearly all soft targets so it is important to stage them in pre-prepared protected positions. With their long range is is fairly easy to post protective armor between them and the battle-line.

Artillery can be set to fire upon "targets of opportunity" in the ROE. When given a little initiative the artillery will automatically pick spotted targets and open fire on them.

Prior to Update 6 Artillery lacked a "Bombard" command and the "Attack" command would cause AUs to go charging towards the target instead of standing off and shelling it. This has now been fixed and the "Bombard" order should make artillery do what it is suppose to.

AU guns come in both towed and mobile mechanized types. Several of the light guns, such as the U.S. M777E1 (LW155) 155mm, are also air-droppable. Most AUs have 18 battalions with an average crew of about 6.

Other types of AU are ETC guns, EM guns, Multiple-Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), missile launchers and mortars.

Laser and Phaser technologies do not come into play with AUs, since they are not line-of-sight weapons. However there are plenty of research technologies that can be used to increase the range and accuracy of your existing AUs and to design more powerful new ones:
 * TL Technology
 * 75 - Artillery Locating Radar
 * 85 - Large Bore Artillery Rifles
 * 97 - ERFB-BB Ammunition
 * 101 - Smart Target Munitions
 * 104 - V-LAP Artillery
 * 107 - Anti Personnel Munitions
 * 108 - Advanced Ballistic Artillery
 * 109 - Fire Control Upgrades
 * 112 - Electro-Thermal Systems
 * 128 - Electro-Magnetic Ballistics
 * 128 - Electro-Magnetic Ballistics

There're 4 techs that exetend Ballistic Arityllery range. when You acquired these 4 techs you got +80% extended range.

For MLRS, there're 2 techs and +60% extended range.

Towed
As with towed AT, towed AUs can move under their own power and have motorized towing units to move them around the battlefield. Some can slowly move up to 400 km. on one tank of fuel.

Towed AUs are cheaper and quicker to fabricate than mobile mech AUs so large quantities can be built quickly.

One of the best towed units is the tech level 113 U.S. M285A1 185mm Towed.

ETC
ETC artillery guns such as the TL 116 U.S. M111E1 Templar ETC begin to appear at tech level 116. Electro-Thermal-Chemical (ETC) technology is an attempt to increase accuracy and muzzle energy of artillery guns by improving the predictability and rate of expansion of propellants inside the barrel. These are the hardest-hitting artillery units and have a land range of 33 km and a combat time of 5 hours.

These AUs uses a plasma cartridge to ignite and control the gun ammunition's propellant, using electrical energy as a catalyst to begin the process.

ETC increases the performance of conventional solid propellants, reduces the effect of temperature on propellant expansion and allows for more advanced, higher density propellants to be used. It also reduces the pressure placed on the barrel since that helps spread the propellant's gas much more smoothly during ignition.

Current guns fire advanced kinetic energy ammunition with a penetrator and Sabot type KE projectile, suitable for an anti-armor round. It is conceivable that HE artillery rounds could be developed later for soft targets.

EM
Electro-magnetic (EM) artillery, such as the TL 132 U.S. M116A1 Valkyrie EM Ballistics is the highest-tech artillery and starts at TL 122. EM artillery has a land range of 46 km and a combat time of 4 hours.

MLRS
MLRS are highly lethal area-effect weapons with long ground attack ranges and very high reaction times. Some types of MLRS AUs double as missile launchers too.

The Chinese tech level 104, W-2 400mm MLRS is the longest range of any artillery in the game - 210 km. With technical improvements its range is extended even farther - 353 km for land targets and 387 for surface targets. The down side is that its combat time is just one hour.

The level 110 Russian BM-31 combines 24 hour combat time with a decent 38 km land attack range. The Israeli LAR-160 Mk I has an incredible 8 hour combat time with a range of 30 km.

The tech level 106 U.S. M280 MLRS is air-droppable.

Early in the game the following long-range MLRS are well worth trading for:
 * TL
 * 87 - WM-80 273mm MLRS (China)
 * 92 - SS-80 Astros MLRS (Brazil)
 * 99 - M-1B 350mm MLRS (China)
 * 104 - W-2 400mm MLRS (China)

Missile Launchers
Missile launchers are special mobile Artillery units that launch Missile units. Some units are dedicated only to launching missile units. Some MLRS AUs like the M270-A1 can load ground-launched Missile units as well as generate barrages of MLRS rockets.

The following launchers will all accomodate up to size 12 missiles: Most launcher units have a "Strength" of 12, so they contain 12 launchers or squads. If the "Max Missile Size" of the launcher unit is listed as "12" in its technical-readout, then this means that each launcher can carry 6 size 2 missiles and that the unit has a capacity of 6 X 12 = 72 size 2 missiles.
 * MAZ-7910 SCUD Launcher (Russia, China, Other, Arab, Brazil/Argentina, Czech, Austria, Yugoslavia, Finnish, Poland, Romanian )
 * Tatra Kolos (India)
 * BGM-109 Gryphon GLCM (U.S.)

Mortars
Mortar type AUs are indirect-fire, ballistic weapons. The have shorter attack ranges (12-15 km) than AU guns but are more conservative of their ammunition supply. Most have combat times of 24 hours.

The Russian 2S43B is a direct-fire weapon that can hit individual targets in a hex.

The TL 106 U.S. M1064A4 MTVL Dragon Fire MLRS is air-droppable, as are several other types.

The ones with the best ranges are:
 * TL
 * 102 - 2S43B (Russia)
 * 110 - ZBD-IIM 120mm SP Mortar (Russia. China)
 * 114 - M1211 125mm Mortar (U.S.)

Air Defense
The "Air Defense" class refers to all Anti-Aircraft (AA) unit types. Anti-aircraft warfare, or air defense, is any method of engaging hostile military aircraft in defense of ground objectives, ground or naval forces or denial of passage through a specific airspace region, area or anti-aircraft combat zone[1]. It is also used in denying entry into national air space to unauthorized aircraft.

There are three sub-classes of AA in SR2020- guns, missiles and lasers. Guns are generally effective just for close air defense (or offense). Missiles are very versatile and some types can engage all three types of air targets - close, medium and high air. Lasers have limited uses but have very long combat times.

As with the AT and Artillery classes AA comes in both towed and mobile mechanized movement types. All non-towed AA Units travel at infantry speeds and so can be set to escort other units.

In reality the more effective and complex AA units become, the less mobile they are. The highest end missile units like the Russian SA-20 S-400 Triumf are portable, but they are not mobile. Even though they actually take over a day to relocate and set up, the game treats them as fast-moving mobile units.

Guns
Non-towed AA Gun Units are used to engage close-air targets with close air stats of 35-46. Multiple-barreled units hit harder at around 55. They come in two sizes 12-37 mm short-range (5-8 km) and long-range (10-21 km) 57-100 mm. Like the towed AA, mobile Units have combat times of 10 hours.

In general missile systems out-perform guns systems.

Towed
Towed Units are cheaper than mobile mechanized AA and can be produced quickly in great numbers. As with other towed Units, towed AA consumes fuel and can travel at slow speeds for great distances across the battle-field.

Towed AA engage mostly close air targets and have combat times of 10 hours. Their average range is 1-5 km, however the TL 40 Russian/Chinese KS-19 Towed AA Gun can also engage mid-air targets at a range of 14 km. KS-30 Towed AA Gun has a range of 20 km, but has a low effectivity due to a small air attack strength.

Several missile AA and two of the laser AA units are towed units.

CIWS
The Close-In Weapons System (CWIS), often referred to as the Vulcan gun, is a short-range (2 km) AA gun that fires dense ammunition at extremely high-firing rates. CIWS is nearly as effective as lasers on close-air targets.

Missiles
Missile AA units come in four different ranges - close-in (1-4 km), short-range (5-12km), medium range (13-75km) and long range (76-300km).

Due to the screwy way that weapon Ranges works in SR2020 the effective range of all AA is greater than 16 km, since every unit in the game is able to attack outside its hex.

Close-in and short range missile AA are close-air defenses and usually have good combat times of about 10 hours. The best close-in missile AA unit may be the hard-hitting TL 76 Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg Gepard 1A2. The best short-range missile AA is the TL 90 Russian SA-15 Gauntlet.

Mid-range missile systems often can engage both close and mid-air targets and have combat times of about 4-6 hours. The best medium range unit is the TL 82 Russian SA-12a Gladiator.

Long-range AA missiles often can engage air targets at all altitudes but have very short combats times of 1-2 hours. The best high-air AAs are the TL 120 Russian Sa-12F Giant-G and the TL 118 U.S. THAAD-II. The longest ranged missile AA is the TL 111 Russian S-500 (SA-24) (260km).

The MIM-23 Hawk system is a towed short-range missile unit, as is the Chinese PL-9 AA unit.

MANPADS
The short-range MAN-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) are everywhere in the game. These close-air target AA missile units have ranges of just 3-8 km and all have combat times of 3 hours. MANPADS are operated by dismounted foot-soldiers, although some of the actual missiles like Stinger are mounted on mobile units of other types of units.

The champion MANPADS unit is the hard-hitting TL 87 U.S. FIM-92 Stinger.

ADATS
The original U.S. Army Air Defense Anti-Tank System (ADATS) was a dual-purpose SHOrt Range surface-to-Air Defense (SHORAD) and anti-tank missile system, based on the M113A2 vehicle. The ADATS missile can engage all types of low-level threats, including attack helicopters exposed at stand-off ranges at extremely low altitudes. The system has a 10 km range against air or ground targets.

The ADATS MIM-146A missile has laser beam-riding guidance and the laser guidance grid is digitally encoded for precision and immunity to countermeasures. It is equipped with smokeless boost-coast propulsion. The missile has a speed of over Mach 3 and manuverability of 60g.

SR2020 ADATS Units can attack all three target types - air, land and sea at ranges of up to 25 km. The TL 110 Chinese PDZ-110 ADATS-II has a combat time of 25 hours and can engage both close and mid-air targets.

ANLOS
Advanced Non-Line-Of-Sight AA units are medium range (40 km) missile AA designed to engage both low and mid-air target aircraft over-the-horizon.

Lasers
Laser AA is very effective for close air but cannot be used for other higher air targets. Lasers have extremely long combat times of 60 hours.

Command Units
Command Units are specialized units that only appear in the game if you select the "Capture" Victory setting from the game Lobby when you start your Campaign.

Command units are stealthy and have huge defensive values in the 1000 to 1500 (indirect fire) range. They are also killers with ground-attack values of 100 and a combat time of 100 too. However they have no air defense at all.

Under the "Capture" Victory Condition, each Region is assigned a Command Unit that is located in their Capital city at the beginning of the game. To get a Region to fall, it is necessary to destroy their Command Unit. Command Units are designated by a red star on their roofs. Command Units are somewhat stealthy, so finding another region's CU can sometimes be difficult. In general it will stay at the Capital until it comes under attack.

Transport
The Transport class consists of non-combatant Units that perform logistical support for your army. These Units include Supply and Bridging Units. There are about 30 of these unit types in the game.

Supply trucks are very important to land attack groups when they enter unsupplied enemy Regions. Your combat units will quickly run out of fuel and ammunition without the support of either land or air supply Units.

Except for heavily armored Bridging units, Transport units are soft targets that required serious defense from more hardened combat units. You must deploy you units to protect these easily damaged but vital units.

Enemy AIs are strongly attracted to attacking your Supply Units, which is another very good reason to defend them and not send them in harm's way.

You can configure your Supply Unit's ROEs by selecting such settings as "Avoid Contact" that will help them to keep themselves out of trouble.

Supply
Land Supply units consist of supply trucks that double as transports. Their transport role is secondary to their vital logistical task of supplying your combat units when they are fighting on un-supplied enemy territory.

Each attack group that you form that is destined for enemy territory must have either supply trucks or aircraft assigned to service the group's supply requirements. To do otherwise risks stranding your forces behind enemy lines without fuel or ammunition, unable to move or fight.

Your dismounted units - foot-soldiers or "ground-pounders", from time to time require mechanized transport to remote land locations. Unfortunately there is no "Land Transport" command like there are for "Sea Transport" and "Air Transport", so you must manually load your Special Forces and other ground-pounders onto your transport trucks in order to move them to air-fields or other important land destinations.

Several of the supply units such as the universal F.A.R.P. units are air-droppable and can be added to airborne assault teams to be parachuted along with your Airborne, Marine and Special Forces into enemy territory. These supply units can greatly extend the combat time of these combat units as they fight to take control of their drop target hexes.

Supply Tactics
One tactic that you can use to successfully supply your battle-front is to issue the "Patrol" command to your supply trucks and have them "Patrol" between important concentrations of your combat units and some well supplied hex, base or supply depot within your secured, supplied territory.

Another supply tactic is to give your supply units over to control of your Defense Minister (DM). The DM has a pretty good sense of which combat areas need supplies and it will soon have your supply trucks and aircraft servicing the battlefront. If you detect spots that your DM has missed, then try setting "Supply" hotspots at these locations.

Bridging
Bridging units are portable bridges that, when deployed across small rivers, allow your non-amphibious land units to cross the short stretches of water.

Amphibious land units such as Engineers can cross small rivers on their own. Other non-amphibious units will balk at crossing water or swamp and will likely attempt to navigate a path around water obstacles.

Wide rivers such as the Amazon and stretches of lake or Ocean cannot be bridged.

It is easy to discount the necessity of such units if you have been playing for a long time in arid Regions without a lot of rivers. It is always wise to pre-survey the terrain that you plan to cross and then select the appropriate mix of units needed to successfully path across it - including a sufficient quantity of Bridging Units.

Engineering units also have an immediate bridging capability. It is also possible for your Engineers to construct permanent roads and bridges across rivers.