Coastal fortresses

DeadDireWolf · January 1, 2003, 14:42

Do these things work? I have a bunch of enemy frigates blockading my port and the Coastal fortress hasn't fired a single shot? I have the latest patch. I just reinstalled Civ3 after having taken it off my HD just weeks after it came out. I've tried to read all the new FAQ and the readme but I don't see much addressing.

And if they are working properly, how are the damn things supposed to work?

vondrack · January 1, 2003, 15:01

Quote:

Originally posted by DeadDireWolf
Do these things work? I have a bunch of enemy frigates blockading my port and the Coastal fortress hasn't fired a single shot? I have the latest patch. I just reinstalled Civ3 after having taken it off my HD just weeks after it came out. I've tried to read all the new FAQ and the readme but I don't see much addressing.

And if they are working properly, how are the damn things supposed to work?

IIRC, they are supposed to take a free shot at enemy vessels PASSING by them, that is moving from one adjacent tile to another adjacent tile. They are not guaranteed to hit, though. Moreover, in vanilla Civ3, you will not see misses, only hits - PtW adds waterspouts for missed shots.

SanPellegrino · January 1, 2003, 15:18

Quote:

Originally posted by vondrack

IIRC, they are supposed to take a free shot at enemy vessels PASSING by them, that is moving from one adjacent tile to another adjacent tile.

vondrack is right, I saw a coastal fortress firing a shot once and marked this day red in my calendar.

DeadDireWolf · January 1, 2003, 15:18

Ok. Thanks.

bobbo008 · January 1, 2003, 15:51

Does the fortress lessen the chance of a "hit", e.g. the temple being destroyed...?

vondrack · January 1, 2003, 16:22

Quote:

Originally posted by bobbo008
Does the fortress lessen the chance of a "hit", e.g. the temple being destroyed...?

Nope.

bobbo008 · January 1, 2003, 16:52

So, with the exception of having a maintenance cost, it doesn't do anything really?

SanPellegrino · January 1, 2003, 17:53

It gives you that satisfied feeling when you have built everything.

benjdm · January 1, 2003, 19:31

Its maintenance cost is 0.

Pyrodrew · January 1, 2003, 20:00

It... looks pretty.

Pyrodrew · January 1, 2003, 20:02

It... allows you to disband/sell it later for shields & gold.

WarpStorm · January 1, 2003, 20:51

It's an extra target for bombardment (and it seems to 'absorb'

the hits well. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it is usually the first destroyed.

alva · January 2, 2003, 00:19

True Warp, that's probably the best you can get of of them

eug btw:
http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=72641
???

Optimizer · January 2, 2003, 05:06

I've moved the ability to build veteran ships from the Harbor to the Coastal Fortress. Then they are at least good for something.

SanPellegrino · January 2, 2003, 08:22

Optimizer, the translation of your sig is:

Männer, die vor einem Schokoladenladen Laden laden, laden Mädchen ein zum Tanz.

PrinceBimz · January 2, 2003, 18:52

A coastal fortress is a good build when there is a busy waterway or coastal area where alot of AI ships pass through. Also if you don't have a large enough navy and are outnumbered its better to have some defense instead of none by building that coastal fortress. Like mentioned above, don't expect to heavy damage and fight off Battleships with it alone. You would need some planes to help for that or ships of your own.

bobbo008 · January 2, 2003, 19:16

"don't expect to heavy damage and fight off Battleships with it alone. You would need some planes to help for that or ships of your own."

Are you saying they have lethal bombardment?

Kingof the Apes · January 3, 2003, 01:13

I don't really like coastal fortresses. If there is a coastal chokepoint you want to protect, just stack some arty on it.

alva · January 3, 2003, 02:18

Quote:

Are you saying they have lethal bombardment?

No, they don't.
He means, damage them, so they will retreat. (I think, hmm, nah...,I'm sure of it

)

Hurricane · January 3, 2003, 03:27

IMHO, the coastal fortesses main weakness is that they are the first being destroyed when the city is bombarded. This means that they have little or no effect against a determined foe.

PrinceBimz · January 3, 2003, 12:04

The bombardment of coastal fortresses works the same as all other bombardment units. So no, it is not lethal. Now I am not sure if you can change that within the editor or not. Like mentioned above, artillery works well too and if you have both the fortress and artillery thats probably the best defense you can have in a coastal city from enemy ships.

bobbo008 · January 3, 2003, 18:07

"IMHO, the coastal fortesses main weakness is that they are the first being destroyed when the city is bombarded. This means that they have little or no effect against a determined foe."

for such a huge mass of stone(?), it sure gets destroyed quickly from what its supposed to defend against...

Kingof the Apes · January 3, 2003, 19:14

The civilopedia says it "gives the city a naval bombardment defense of eight and a 50% defensive bonus against naval attacks. The fortress automatically bombards passing enemy ships."

So it seems it protects against marines and berserks,(50% bonus) and provides a sort of shield to other improvements(naval defense of 8).

The cost is 40 shields and has no maintenance, and arty costs 80 shields with 1 gpt maintenance.

This could be useful in some ways I suppose, as an inexpensive placeholder for artillery.

bobbo008 · January 3, 2003, 19:32

basically, it seems like a "might as well" to me. the marine/berserker thing would be interesting if anybody had any proof.

LionQ · January 4, 2003, 12:35

Quote:

Originally posted by Kingof the Apes
The civilopedia says it "gives the city a naval bombardment defense of eight and a 50% defensive bonus against naval attacks. The fortress automatically bombards passing enemy ships."

So it seems it protects against marines and berserks,(50% bonus) and provides a sort of shield to other improvements(naval defense of 8).

The cost is 40 shields and has no maintenance, and arty costs 80 shields with 1 gpt maintenance.

This could be useful in some ways I suppose, as an inexpensive placeholder for artillery.

You're right. If a Marine or Berserk attacks the city, the defending Unit gets +8 on it's DefenseFactor. The 50% defensive bonus means there is a 50% chance that the bombarder of your city will get "Artillery bombardment failed" 50% of the times that he'll bombard your city.

Lawrence of Arabia · January 4, 2003, 16:11

The coastal fortress acts as a limiter to the Berzerker. Since it is so much stronger then any defensive unit of the age, its attacks will be punishing for a short while. However, with Metallurgy, the age of the Viking bezerker is over.

what I dont understand is that if it adds +8 to a units defense, then the Marine is useless (it is too weak) I think therefore that its a +50% beonus to a units defense, not a +8.

alva · January 5, 2003, 00:17

isn't the +8 a defensive bombardement bonus?

Hurricane · January 5, 2003, 15:52

Quote:

Originally posted by Kingof the Apes
The civilopedia says it "gives the city a naval bombardment defense of eight and a 50% defensive bonus against naval attacks. The fortress automatically bombards passing enemy ships."

So it seems it protects against marines and berserks,(50% bonus) and provides a sort of shield to other improvements(naval defense of 8).

The cost is 40 shields and has no maintenance, and arty costs 80 shields with 1 gpt maintenance.

This could be useful in some ways I suppose, as an inexpensive placeholder for artillery.

Well, firstly we know that the civilopedia is full of errors. Second, while the artillery sure is more expensive, it is undestructable and can also move freely (especially after railroads). So it boils down to the free shot and the "feature" of taking the first hit on the city. I still say those shields could be used much better.

bobbo008 · January 5, 2003, 18:44

40 shield is one turn later in the game...

it could be your cathedral or something important destroyed that makes citizens upset...

...i could be stupid, though, too...

PrinceBimz · January 7, 2003, 12:58

While on the subject of coastal fortresses, I need to mention I had one in my last game that helped out alot. It was built in a small straight of water where chinese warships passed through. I had junky galleys at the time to their caravels so the fortress hitting their caravels down made it possible to fight them with my weak galleys.