Penetrator vs stack of SAM Rovers and AAA Infantry

[TarMinyatur]

I've been playing SMAC since 1999. Today I noticed something strange. Miriam's 6-1-10 Missile Penetrators easily destroyed both of my <6>-1-2 SAM Rovers while ignoring the expected defender in the same tile, my 1-<4>-1 AAA Infantry. I figured my AAA unit would protect my vulnerable rovers. Nope. Has anyone seen this happen?

I am playing kyrub's latest version of SMAC with the latest PRACX patch.

[TarMinyatur]

Using the scenario editor, I was able to understand the situation. A bomber will preferentially attack a SAM Rover in a stack of ground troops. I can designate the AAA Infantry as a tile defender to override this surprising behavior.

I assume my SAM Rover appears to be the best defender against an air-strike, if attacker's weapon strength were compared to defender's weapon strength. But my rover is obviously not an aircraft, so it uses its armor strength (1) to defend, and it gets demolished.

A tactical fighter (SAM aircraft) does not choose my SAM Rover as a primary target. It is matched as expected against the AAA Infantry by default, and it will do poorly in that penalized ground strike.

So be careful to designate your AAA troops as tile defenders, otherwise bombers can knock out your SAM rovers easily if you're not building air superiority fighters to protect your ground units.

[bvanevery]

Or just don't build SAM Rovers.     Aren't you pretty much wasting your time with that to begin with?  I don't recall any practical advantage, they didn't seem to work very well.