Suggestion: Advanced Flight

[Risa]

Problem: Well, how long ago was last time you researched Advanced Flight yourself?

By the time you can reserch it, lots of good stuff are around the corner: modern armor, 3 techs away; TOW infantry, jet fighter and modern SAM, 1 tech away; the UN, 1 tech away; mech infantry, research lab and SETI, 1 tech away; Internet, 2 tech away. Sure, Advanced Flight also offers some nice toys, but they're just toys compared to those good stuff. Who want to drop defense 9 units (paratroopers) that can't take action until next turn deep into enemy's territory at the age of tank? That's suiciding. As for helicopters, if using it at front line, enemy's fighters will be really annoysome. When using it in your own land, why not use railroad and sea transport instead?

There're several ways to solve that problem:
a) Give Advanced Flight more candy. For example, move aircraft carrier from Mass Production to it. That make sense in realistic aspect, too, since it should be impossible to build aircraft carriers before knowing what an aircraft is. The drawback is, it may make carrier even less appealing.

b) Make it required tech for era advancing, rather than optional.

c) Remove some of its prerequisites. I've no idea which should be removed, though.

[pauli]

i like the sound of b.

[alexman]

Risa, you make a good point. Although I have not given much thought to it, making the tech optional sounds like a good idea to me too.

Another idea would be to move Jet Fighters to Advanced Flight from Rocketry. With the addition of TOW infantry and the Mobile SAM, Rocketry has become overloaded with units.

[donZappo]

I like the sound of a or b, with my preference being a. Would it be possible to add this discussion to the "power of flight" thread or create an official thread for continued debate? This definitely seems like a topic worth further exploration.

-donZappo

[alexman]

There is already a relevant thread: Balancing Airpower