Air Units and ZOC

Rakki · September 29, 2001, 07:38

i wonder if air units will still ignore ZOC like in Civ 2 ? I've always felt that a major flaw in the "modern" era of Civ 2 was the lack of any decent air defenses... I don't know about how air strikes will actually work, but the main thing is, you should be able to set up AA units which will exert ZOC to prevent air units from getting through until they are taken out.

It's a joke that one stealth fighter can in one pass one wipe out entire armour divisions.... or cruise missiles can fly past your screen of destroyers and Aegis cruisers and frag your battleship and carrier just because they aren't in a stack.

crmeyer · September 29, 2001, 08:10

Wasn't there an option in Civ2 to have air units set to an "Air Defense" mode?

I can't recall the actual term, but it was similar to setting up a CAP in a city ... and on Carriers as well, if I remember correctly.

DonJoel · September 29, 2001, 08:30

Rakki: I AGREE! Air unit, especially stealth fighters were the biggest flaw of the game, it was even worse than howitsers on railway thing!
1 cheap stealth fighter could take out an entire army!

I think they have solved this in civ3, they said something about air units having ZOC or something. And i think they will balance the fighters a bit to make them more suitable for killing bombers and less efficiant against ground units.

cmeyer: Nope, there was no such unit in civ2. In smac you could equip units with aa guns to kill aircrafts easier, perhaps you mix them both up.

Rakki · September 29, 2001, 08:43

in Civ 2 some units can have X2 vs Air (such as Aegis Cruisers). I even added in a custom unit called "Flak" which had I think 2/4/2 with X2 vs Air... but without ZOC on air i had to use a lot more of them than i considered "realistic" (when you have as many flak units as tanks then it looks a bit odd)

The other "vs Air" thing in Civ2 was the Scramble, conferring fighters a 50% defense bonus I think if defending a city that has the airport improvement.

As for aircraft carriers in Civ2, they are basically sitting ducks unless you have an AEGIS cruiser in stack....

Gralak · September 29, 2001, 09:48

Quote:

Originally posted by crmeyer
Wasn't there an option in Civ2 to have air units set to an "Air Defense" mode?

I can't recall the actual term, but it was similar to setting up a CAP in a city ... and on Carriers as well, if I remember correctly.

There was that kind of order in SMAC, if i remember correctly. Scramble-mission is must in Civ3, because without it enemy bombers could destroy roads and cut access to resources very easily. Just imagine: Enemy destroys roads around capital and so all of your resource-trade would be cut off...

Offcourse there must be option to destroy a improvement, but i strongly believe that there is.

Urban Ranger · September 29, 2001, 10:06

Air units in a base can fly intercept missions against enemy air units on bombing runs in SMAC provided that they are in range.

Yog-Sothoth · September 29, 2001, 10:13

I hope there will be a AA unit in civ3 with a ZOC. That was the one unit that really was missing in civ2. Since, as UR posted, SMAC had the possibilty for air units to fly intercept mission, I have no doubt this will be present in civ3 as well.

Inverse Icarus · September 29, 2001, 12:47

IIRC, Air units do not work as they did in civ2... they have an "operating area" where they can preform tasks. i dont think you physically MOVE THEM space by space anymore, but give them a mission or something.

SOREN! DAN! MIKE! HELP!

hey, why hasn't Sid ever posted here? i think one of you three should fake it to rally hopes.