No Airstrips?

Pods · October 19, 2001, 12:44

Quote from the latest Ask the Civ Team:

Quote:

Air units now operate out of base of operations (which in Civ III is either a friendly city or an aircraft carrier)

Hey - does this mean that there are no Airstrips in Civ3?

What if: I am fighting a war against an enemy, the ocean is not near by (rules out Aircraft Carrier), I have no cities nearby and obviously establishing one on the front is a bad idea, and there are no friendly cities nearby?

What then? No air power? Or am I missing something?

S.

drake · October 19, 2001, 12:51

there must be some sort of airbase like in civ2

Earthling7 · October 19, 2001, 12:54

I refuse to believe that such an obvious oversight would be allowed to be sighted over beyond the point of gold...

cyril25376 · October 19, 2001, 13:41

I agree this is ridiculus, when you dont have an air base, why they have reworked air combat ...

Pods · October 19, 2001, 14:36

Someone who knows, please tell us!

nlmalph · October 19, 2001, 15:40

Why does every change get complained about here on 'poly like its the end of the world?

I've got no problem with air bases being tossed, just involves a different strategy, one which forces a little more strategy about planning wars.

If there is a landlocked country im trying to attack, and its out of operational range of my planes (I'm not clear how common thats even going to be, but anyway) -- I just have to either found a small city, or send an invasion and take over one of my enemies cities.

That to me is much more interesting strategically than being able to march my army to their border, plop down an air base with litttle effort or risk, and go nuts from there.

I'm glad there gone, but even if you aren't... honestly, you don't even know how often its going to be necessary since we don't know the ranges, and I can't imagine how it could be that big of a deal.

PS For realism types:
Where are the US launching air strikes from now? Well, stealth bombers are flying from *missouri*, others from aircraft carriers, and some from basis in countries that have agreed to let the US use their air fields. Modeling that in diplomacy ("use our air bases") sounds like a confusing pain to me (way too nuanced).

drake · October 19, 2001, 15:44

They had their place in civ2, but they may not in 3. If there is a suitable replacement, I'm not that worried.

But airbases are quite realistic if you think about it. Cities in civ represent urban centers. The areas that are not incity ranges represent rural areas. Most major cities do not have military airbases located in their center, they have them nearby in a less populated zone.

So the idea of airbases is not an un-realistic one (as long as people don't go crazy and build them everywhere)

IMO of course.

ixnay · October 19, 2001, 15:46

Can you use your ally's bases to fly your air missions, like in SMAC?

korn469 · October 19, 2001, 16:39

nlmalph

unless firaxis has changed the attributes of the stealth bomber, it has an operational range of 8 so this means that the operational ranges of other units like normal bomber might be even lower...even the smallest map in Civ3 is 60x60 so the operation range of a stealth bomber is about 13% of the map (flat map or flying north to south or 26% of a round world map flying east to west), the two Earth maps in civ3 are 100x100 and 180x180...so airbases could prove to be a useful thing

and for realism types, besides US carriers the most important base in the region for strategic bombers is Diego Garcia

ixnay37

it seems quite likely that if you have a military alliance that you should be able to use your ally's bases like in SMAC

rockville · October 19, 2001, 16:58

When you run down the list of Civ features, "airbase" is pretty far down the list. It is possible that it is in the game and no one has talked about it because it's not really on the same level as "better graphics" or "civ-specific units" or even "countering ICS". They're airstrips. They are a place for planes to land. I think I've used them twice ever.

I'm trying to think of a less crucial facet of Civ than the airbase. I'm having a hard time. The About Screen? The noise the menu makes when you bring it up?

Anyone?

CapTVK · October 19, 2001, 17:31

All that whining while the solution is simple :
Build a carrier that can move over land!

See? Problem solved...

Lorizael · October 19, 2001, 17:36

Do we know yet what RoF means? How many missions a plane can perform per turn, what?

korn469 · October 19, 2001, 18:10

Lorizael

no official word on Rate of Fire, but most likely it is how many air missions per turn an air unit can conduct

Sandman · October 19, 2001, 19:02

I wonder if colonies act as airbases?

Pods · October 19, 2001, 19:14

I doubt it...

Adm.Naismith · October 19, 2001, 19:42

I bet airbases will be in, like fort/bunker for ground troops. They aren't irrilevant, if you play hard for airsupport.
I love planes, and used quite a lot the fighters/bombers (basic, jet and stealth) in Civ II.
SMAC was really a plane/copter fest, for me

One of my best friend (an old and good Civ I, Civ II player), OTOH won't care less of planes if can have strong ground units...

I'm really interested to see the new air missions in action. I hope they'll keep up a primary role for airplanes (imagine a crossing finger smile here).

Adm.Naismith · October 19, 2001, 19:55

I wonder how transfer planes between bases will work. It seems the most debatable air mission in range terms (it's silly to limit it to the range of the unit).
I wonder if it resemble the solution proposed months ago here.

Of course we now know all the subject has been simplyfied, so may be Firaxis simply double the range of the plane for re-base...

Easy to compute, easy to understand.