Trireme vs Battleship

[Last Conformist]

Yeah, the Age of Sail is ridiculously compressed in CivIII.

[curtsibling]

Navies should be far more useful than they have been in previous versions.

I want to see sailing ships around for longer, and to
see a midway unit between wood and steel hulls!

[Solver]

There are naval tile improvements, which automatically makes navies more useful than in Civ3 at least.

[Kataphraktoi]

there are naval tile improvements in SMAC and naval(combat) units are still among the top 'luxury' units that youd only build when way ahead.

[Solver]

That's because navies are expensive in SMAC. Good ships cost a lot of minerals, and building cheapo ships and upgrading them costs a lot of money. But the navies in SMAC can serve a very useful purpose, genreally unlike Civ3.

[Kataphraktoi]

units on a naval chassis or naval units with attack\defense as primary role aka battleship\carrier? except for capturing a sea base or some odd-job air units cannot do,i never use naval units in the role they are historically used for

[Ninot]

Battleships and aircraft carriers aren't entirely cheap in Civ3 either tho. If your in a dedicated land war, you dont have the resources to do it as much.

Now that I think of it, something i'd like to see is give the ability of Cities on Rivers to build ships on whatever sea the river leads to. Doesnt make sense to me that only coast cities can build ships.

[Last Conformist]

Originally posted by Solver
That's because navies are expensive in SMAC. Good ships cost a lot of minerals, and building cheapo ships and upgrading them costs a lot of money. But the navies in SMAC can serve a very useful purpose, genreally unlike Civ3.

Also, ships in SMAC are vulnerable to aerial attack. That won't be the case for CivIV ships for much of the game.

[Addled Platypus]

Originally posted by Ninot

Now that I think of it, something i'd like to see is give the ability of Cities on Rivers to build ships on whatever sea the river leads to. Doesnt make sense to me that only coast cities can build ships.

A few things to consider:
It would have to be limited to river depth
Type ship/vessel


When was the last time a carrier went down river?

[Ninot]

True enough, most ships cant go very far up or down a river nowadays.


But older ships could. Maybe it could be restricted to 1 or 2 tiles.

Its just annoying to give up prime land to have a coastal city.

[Addled Platypus]

Ain't it a b***h to make the fun choices

[Ninot]

Originally posted by Platypus Rex
Ain't it a b***h to make the fun choices

Yeah.

I should go study accounting. thats nice and boring enough.

i guess it would take away an element of strategy.... in a way.

But it WOULD be realistic to have certain rivers allowing ships.

[Solver]

Also, ships in SMAC are vulnerable to aerial attack. That won't be the case for CivIV ships for much of the game.

SMAC ships aren't more vulnerable, it's just that air power in SMAC comes early. I expect that Civ4 planes will be quite a threat to ships, too, once they come around.

[KyuuA4]

Originally posted by Solver
That's because navies are expensive in SMAC. Good ships cost a lot of minerals, and building cheapo ships and upgrading them costs a lot of money. But the navies in SMAC can serve a very useful purpose, genreally unlike Civ3.

Upgrade cheapo ships? Just Decommission them.

Now that I think of it, something i'd like to see is give the ability of Cities on Rivers to build ships on whatever sea the river leads to. Doesnt make sense to me that only coast cities can build ships.

Unless you're thinking of things like Barges and Riverboats... forget it.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Solver

Also, ships in SMAC are vulnerable to aerial attack. That won't be the case for CivIV ships for much of the game.

SMAC ships aren't more vulnerable, it's just that air power in SMAC comes early.

... which makes them more vulnerable.