Dispatches are orders written by the military leaders of a city or a guild and dispatched into the custody of a legion or designated group of legions detailing actions/responses to be undertaken in the event of specific circumstances and/or criteria being met. They can be used as remote command-orders or as a multi-purpose, diverse battle strategy whereby a commander can lead multiple armies from a single commandpost.
Syntax: DISPATCHES.
Shows you all dispatches in play about the land written and/or put into action by you personally.
Syntax: DISPATCHES <legion>.
Reviews all active dispatches under the banner of the specified legion. The legion must be one over which you have a modicum of authority but the dispatches may have originated from any source.
Syntax: DISPATCH MARK <dispatch> PERSONAL/CITY/GUILD.
Takes a dispatch and marks it personal, city or guild use for subsequent scribing.
Syntax: DISPATCH SCRIBE <dispatch> GOAL [...orders].
A dispatch can contain, at most, five separate command orders. To prepare a dispatch with orders, the SCRIBE command is used. The criteria after the GOAL is - simply - identical to the command one would issue directly to a legion, e.g MARCH EAST, or DEPLOY ARCHERS 50 and so on.
Syntax: DISPATCH ERASE <dispatch>.
Erases all orders from a dispatch sheet allowing it to be freshly inscribed as if newly created.
Syntax: DISPATCH READ <dispatch>.
Reads over a specific dispatch scroll, listing out the orders it contains.
Syntax: DISPATCH FETCH <dispatch>.
Fetches a dispatch with your city, guild or personal stamp - providing it is nearby. The dispatch is subsequently placed in your inventory.
Syntax: DISPATH CLAIM <dispatch>.
Places your unique mark on the spool of a suitable dispatch, so it will appear when you type DISPATCHES and represent your authority when scribed/executed. You can claim any dispatch of shared/familiar origin (city, guild or personal).
Syntax: DISPATCH CHAIN <primary dispatch> <dispatch to chain>.
Chains the secondary dispatch onto the primary, ensuring that once the primary has been executed the secondary will come into play.
Syntax: DISPATCH UNCHAIN <primary dispatch>.
Removes all secondary dispatches that have been chained to the specified primary, placing those chained into your inventory as independent dispatches once again.
Syntax: DISPATCH GIVE <dispatch> <target legion> [EXECUTE].
Hands the specified dispatch to the specified legion, assuming the legion is nearby (or you are at its commandpost). Giving over a dispatch is required for the use of runners, while appending the EXECUTE command will ensure the legion acts upon its contents immediately.
Syntax: DISPATCH RUNNER <dispatch>/ANY <runner>/<runnertype>/ANY/<potency> <to legion>.
Syntax: COMMAND <legion> RUNNER <dispatch>/ALL <destination legion-name> [<runner potency>].
Runners can be either enlisted, unbannered privates, or bannered legionnaires, who will take a dispatch from you and make their way across the land to the target legion. Specifying ALL for the dispatch will ensure the runner is given ALL dispatches held by you. Runners move quickly, though a greater distance will take a longer time to cross and present greater risk of interference. Legions with the "scouting" skill produce appropriately faster / more efficient runners.
Syntax: DISPATCH PIGEON <dispatch>/ANY ANY/<pigeonpotency>%/<pigeon> <to legion>.
The carrier pigeon can be used to carry dispatches all over the land. They are much faster than runners, albeit less reliable and intelligent if spotted and caught. Note that pigeons CAN be shot down or preyed upon by larger birds and that the "pigeons" ability in labours can be used to breed and train more of these most precious warfare-messengers.
NOTE: Using a dispatch number that is already held by your target legion will cause the runner / pigeon to retrieve the dispatch from that legion, preventing the need to repeatedly produce new dispatches.
Syntax: DISPATCH WITHDRAW <dispatch> <target legion>.
This command allows you to withdraw the specified dispatch from the order repertoire of a specific legion.
Syntax: DISPATCH WIPE <dispatch> <order number>.
Allows you to remove a single order from a dispatch sheet without interfering with anything else written on the scroll.
