SAM

Flag:	SAM
File(s):	Rules(md).ini
Values:	Boolean values: yes or no, true or false, 1 or 0
Default:	no
Applicable to:	BuildingTypes

Can be set to yes in order to restrict a defensive structure to being a SAM (surface to air missile launcher) site. When enabled, the weapons can only fire at aircraft and not at hovering/flying vehicles, nor at airborne infantry.

In Red Alert 2

This tag is unused in RA2, since the many Jumpjet units (like Kirovs) would be untargetable, but is perfectly valid. Adding it to a Patriot battery or Flak gun would drastically reduce their effectiveness, and other units or defenses would be required to fire at the targets the SAM won't. It is generally better to use armor for target filtering.

In Yuri's Revenge

With the addition of Natural=yes tag to defensive structures or AA units, a kind of inbetween scenario can be achieved. TechnoTypes with Natural will not attack others with Unnatural=yes. With some clever application a modder can more finely tune which targets are valid for a defender.

Note

Aircraft designated as targets must not exist in the [General]►PadAircraft list;

• otherwise, the SAM will not even aim.

Aircraft designated as targets cannot have a valid building in their Dock list;

• otherwise, the SAM can only rotate its turret but cannot actually fire.

However, even so, the SAM can only fire its weapons normally when the target aircraft is in a hover state. Once the aircraft moves, it will only occasionally fire a few shots under specific conditions and the frequency of re-locking and turret rotation in this case does not adhere to the weapon's ROF settings, nor is it a fixed value. Even the aforementioned situation of suddenly firing two rounds can occur without facing the target, even if there is no [Weapon] > OmniFire=yes. Additionally, SAM enforces attacks only on aerial targets, meaning it cannot fire at targets that have landed on the ground, even if they do not have LandTargeting=1.

In other words, SAM targets can only be Aircraft that have AirportBound=yes, Dock=none, and have taken off.
Currently measured:
In the YR1.001+Ares3.0p1+PhobosBuild#45 environment
it is functioning normally.
In the YR1.001+Ares3.0p1+KratosPPv0.1.15 environment
the SAM building will be prohibited from acquiring targets

• (the author of KratosPP stated that this part was not modified at all, and the author does not understand this logic either).
  

In the YR1.001+Ares3.0p1+PhobosBuild#45+KratosPPv0.1.15 environment
the SAM can acquire targets normally
but firing will immediately trigger a Fatal Error, and the EIP address is not in gamemd.exe (the record doesn't really mean much, hence it's not included in the EIP page.).