Changing airport symbol after airlift...

Demerzel · July 31, 2002, 09:19

Would it be possible to have the airport symbol for a city change once that city has performed its outgoing airlift for that turn? Would make things easier than having to remember which of your 15 airport based cities you've used so far in a massive airlift of troops towards the end of the game.

A simple way of knowing which airports can still airlift that is easily viewable when you scroll around your cities on the main map would at least halve the time necessary trying to find a city to use, which would be all important when you are having to micro-manage a heck of a lot of units at end game.

Apologies if this has been asked before, but I couldn't see anything similiar in a quick-search of previous 'airlifts' topics.

Gangerolf · July 31, 2002, 09:43

good idea.

the airport symbol's colour could simply change after an airlift has been performed.

Carver · July 31, 2002, 09:56

Props out to Demerzel. That would be alot easier than remembering to go from west to east (or something) across my civ trying to make sure I use all the airports without wasting time trying the same ones over and over.

Dida · July 31, 2002, 13:46

2 thumbs up! A great idea.

Jaybe · July 31, 2002, 14:03

From a player's standpoint, this would be very useful.
OTOH, I would wager that Firaxis was mainly concerned with trade (as with harbors) when they put the symbol in.

From a military perspective, I would also appreciate a symbol for the Barracks, so I know where to send my troops for repair or upgrade.

Alex · July 31, 2002, 15:38

I like both the airport idea and the barracks idea. When I'm in the middle of a huge war, I want to know at a glance where I can send my troops for repairs. I hate having to go into the city view to check if the city has a barracks.

vondrack · July 31, 2002, 15:43

Good ideas, both for airports and barracks. I guess that "greying out" an airport already used would be fine.

zulu9812 · July 31, 2002, 16:21

Thumbs up on this one

petey · July 31, 2002, 16:39

I like this one a lot. It can get annoying towards the end of the turn when you're shuttling a unit through half the cities on your continent trying to find an unused airport.

The barracks idea would be an added bonus, too.

phunny_pharmer · July 31, 2002, 18:03

Nice.

How about 'graying out' the airport icon? Currently, it is white...after an airlift, make it dark, but still visible.

Could also tell you if an enemy is making an airlift (should that city be investigated), adding another strategic level...

ixnay · July 31, 2002, 18:17

Excellent idea, and one that I would think could be added with relative ease.

Demerzel · August 4, 2002, 10:34

top

Alex · August 4, 2002, 12:25

Quote:

Originally posted by ixnay37
Excellent idea, and one that I would think could be added with relative ease.

With relative ease, yes, so why not in PTW? Firaxis, take note.

steven8r · August 4, 2002, 12:35

I like the 'greying-out' idea. It would save some time.

What's really annoying is when you have cities where you have to travel through another civ to get to the airport and discover that you can't use their roads because some unit/worker is sitting there and you use all your movement trying to reach an airport that turns-out to be unreachable on that turn.

Switch · August 4, 2002, 14:59

Great ideas! I think greying out would work best, or perhaps an "X" accross the symbol.

A barracks symbol could also be useful (but what would happen if you had a harbour, airport, and barracks in a single city?)

That investigating city revealing an airlift idea looks good too. Could perhaps give spying a little more usefulnes....

And the great thing about these ideas is that they are probably all easy to add in in an expansion pack...

miccofl · August 4, 2002, 17:59

The concept of a one unit per turn airlift should hit the recycle bin! Realistically, if it took two years to airlift a tank or infantry division Kuwait would no longer exist. Perhaps a stack airlift would be more realistic.

For purposes of the discussion, if they can show if a unit has made a leader or not, it should not be too difficult to show whether or not the city's airlift function has been used. For the barracks, a sword planted in the ground dead center behind the city could show that without getting in the way and if the graphics people did their job well it would probably look pretty cool as well.

Jaybe · August 4, 2002, 22:56

Quote:

Originally posted by miccofl
... Realistically, if it took two years to airlift a tank or infantry division Kuwait would no longer exist. ...

miccofl, your memory does not serve you well with this.

VERY few M1 tanks were airlifted from Europe or the US. Most were SEAlifted over, including lots of equipment that had been stockpiled at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

There were only a few dozen C-5 air transports available. Each one can carry at most two M1 tanks. Only 2 or 3 battalions of M1's were airlifted over, with great effort. Especially considering everything else that had to be airlifted there.

Desert Shield was initiated with massive air force relocation, and many LIGHT armor and mobile units. Heavy armor in numbers would come later by sea.
----
Civ3 is a game, and not meant to simulate reality. Greater realism would require LESS airlift capability than is in the game, particularly concerning armored units. If you look for the years-per-turn as a firm guide to your appreciation of the game, then WHY are you playing it?

BTW, I consider Industrial/Modern era units to be of brigade size, 3 or 4 of which make up a division.

DeepO · August 5, 2002, 08:09

I like the greyed out airport symbol idea, and the barraks symbol would be a nice addition too, but I see one problem with this: each time those symbols are added / distracted from the map, my computer holds for a moment. (this is especially visible when I bombard cities, which lose their harbor or airport). If this would happen each time I airlift something, I could easily wait an extra minute each turn so that the map gets updated... I don't know if I would like that.

DeepO

vondrack · August 5, 2002, 08:18

Quote:

Originally posted by DeepO
I like the greyed out airport symbol idea, and the barraks symbol would be a nice addition too, but I see one problem with this: each time those symbols are added / distracted from the map, my computer holds for a moment. (this is especially visible when I bombard cities, which lose their harbor or airport). If this would happen each time I airlift something, I could easily wait an extra minute each turn so that the map gets updated... I don't know if I would like that.

DeepO, the delay is not caused by the fact that the icon is removed. It is caused by the need to recalculate the entire trading network for the affected civ after the harbour/airfield blasts off. It is quite obvious that there would be no such delay if the icon just turns greyed out because of an airlift, as there would be no need to recalculate anything...

Jaybe · August 5, 2002, 08:24

Quote:

Originally posted by vondrack
... by the need to recalculate the entire trading network for the affected civ ...

And for each civ that isn't at war with them, potentially using their network ...

DeepO · August 5, 2002, 08:33

Thanks Vondrack, that probably is causing the delay. I thought it to be a map-update problem. So nothing stand in the way of greying out airport symbols

DeepO

Adm.Naismith · August 5, 2002, 09:03

Quote:

Originally posted by DeepO
I like the greyed out airport symbol idea, and the barraks symbol would be a nice addition too, but I see one problem with this: each time those symbols are added / distracted from the map, my computer holds for a moment.
DeepO

DeepO, I wonder if that depends from the graphic engine or from some internal variable resetting (quite long, I know and I get myself the same in many late games).

Of course the latter would means no trouble for Airlift and Barracks icons...

Edited: slow writers always come laters with solution... never mind...

BTW, I agree with the usefulness of "Airlift already done" and "Barracks available", but instead of greyed out Airlift symbol I would like the Airport changed with the same symbol of the "Airlift button" that usually show on lower main menu when you have selected a unit available for airlift. That can mean a little confusion between airlift on/off, first time you play, but then it will be easy to link the command button with the flag "airlift already done".
IMHO