Air Power Mechanics: SMAC vs. Civ III

[MercantileInterest]

Been a long time since I touched Civ III but I recall a very different system of air power.

SMAC advantages:

• Air Units destroy their targets if successful. Not just an alternate form of artillery.
• Needlejets and Choppers can choose to exhaust their fuel in suicide runs.
• Recon missions work in straight lines. In civ, you only see certain areas, not everywhere you fly over.

Civ III advantages:

• Ground units can't block air units.
• Rebasing air units in new bases works better.
• Missiles aren't recon units.
• Aircraft can't be shot down halfway through a recon mission
• Air units never run out of fuel.

Miss anything?

[bvanevery]

I can't remember how Civ III did it, it's been too long.

Air units are way too cheap in the stock game.  The game turns into flying death spam.  Except that, the AI also does a piss poor job of using those air units for anything other than wrecking Formers.  This can be stopped by making AAA infantry units and having them stand guard over a Former doing its work.

In my mod, I made planes cost a lot more.  Planes, ships, and ground units have proportionate costs more like you'd expect in our modern era, although I did end up relaxing on ships because I do want naval battles.  I don't care about any postulated future where planes are exceedingly cheap to manufacture.  Cheap planes is goofy and I did away with that.

With air units actually costing something, the AI deemphasizes their use.  So, solving air mechanical 'problems', is not really important enough in a single player game, in my modding.

The true way to win the game is Formers and Mag Tubes, as you get instant movement and can put cheap infantry anywhere.  If I were binary modding, I'd consider making that not quite such a free lunch.  That would make air power more worthwhile, for its cost.  Whereas in my current play practice, there's no point in doing air force, because I'm going to overrun everything on the ground anyways.

YMMV for multiplayer.  I never do multiplayer because the game is too long.

The only way I ever really end up using planes, is if I Repeal The U.N. Charter and make chemical attacks on cities within air strike range.  Planes are good for that.

[Aureustgo]

An alternative to changing costs, is simply to limit the distance air units can travel. Rather than a base 8 + 2*reactor rating, something like:

Needlejet: 6 + 2*reactor rating
Copter: 5 + 1*reactor rating

This would give needle jets more viability late game, and limit some of the other abuses. Moreover, thematically air units need not be particularly costly. They're not heavy bombers.

[bvanevery]

Copters are not allowed in my mod, except for 1 special Unity Lifter unit with a transport package on it, that you can get from the Unity crash site or from popping pods.  Copters shoot way too much.  I've had them at lower movement rates, it still sucks.  So I banished them.

[ariete]

could an air unit, like a needjet, under DESIGNATE DEFENDER mode, stop an infiltration operation killing the probe team even if not yet enemy (still in peace time with that faction) ?!

about choppers, if enemy dont produce the same amount you get too much advantage - im playing with Scient patch, which is your mod, bvanevery ?!

[bvanevery]

SMACX AI Growth mod.  Look in the modding subforum.

I don't have much experience putting the probe team package onto a needlejet chassis.  I don't think you can actually probe cities by flying up to them, so it's not useful on offense.  Never thought about it on defense.  I don't use DESIGNATE DEFENDER at all, so I don't know what you can pull off with that.  I doubt you'd need to do anything special for probe team defense.  Like if I have a probe team ship in a base, it does defend against probe attacks.

[ariete]

designate defender is usefull when you create particular unit like defence garrisons and so they will the first, if even the only, to responde to the attacks

i tried yesterday night and no, neither a needjet nor a chopper attack a probe team who try to infiltrate in your base, even in peace time with that faction

[Aureustgo]

A more annoying feature is SAM rovers being the default defender to aerial attacks. Designate defender is an important feature, for sure.

[Nexii]

Increasing AAA to 200% is something I'm trying out

Simply increasing cost of air only half fixed the problem. As the air units are rarely shot down they pay for themselves very fast

[bvanevery]

Single player or multiplayer?  With my more expensive Needlejet chassis, I really don't see the AI producing much in the way of planes.