All we hear is Radio Gaga

[Plotinus]

What's the lowdown on Radar Towers? The AI always builds these things obsessively but I'm never quite certain how best to use them. What bonus do they give to nearby battles, and how does that interact with other bonuses, such as city or terrain bonuses? How close do you have to be to one of them to gain the bonus? Does the bonus apply if the battle occurs outside your territory, even though the tower is inside your territory? What if there's more than one tower within range?

It puzzles me that I have seen no discussion of these things, despite their ubiquity from the end of the Industrial Age onwards.

[Donegeal]

Radio towers give a 25% bonus (attack and defense) to all of the units of the civ that has the tower. The range of this bonus is 2 tiles in all directions. Overlapped tiles still only get a 25% (not 50%) bonus. If you are fighting an AI that has these things, it would be wise to send in some bombers to take out the towers before you attack.

[vmxa1]

The AI does seem to love them. To me it not a good investment in my homeland. I need my workers. I can see that it could make sense in a disputed territory, but it can be hard to get workers to some of those spots.

I tend to run into them when I invade using MA's or armies. In that case they will not be all that useful.

[CerberusIV]

I don't build them but the AI loves them and almost always puts (wastes) a unit on the tiles to guard them.

Use bombers/artillery to take them out or just make sure your units take that tile before attacking the city they cover.

Attack is the best form of defence!

[SporkPimp]

I think human players do give them slightly short shrift. It's not an awful use of slaves, and I generally have more than I need anyway.

(Oh, btw, they don't get eaten alive so badly if you forest the tiles around your border that aren't within your production radius... it slows the enemy troops to a crawl, making them easy pickings for your tower-boosted troops.)

Still, I'd say that I would be surprised if I built 1/5 the towers that the AI does.

-SporkPimp

[Mountain Sage]

Tha major drawback is that you cannot put them in cities. Therefore, you have to defend them and those units are much more vulnerable that in cities...

[Kuciwalker]

I use slaves to build them, and many times even my own workers. After I've RRed everything, and especially after Ecology and Recycling, I don't need nearly as many workers, so rather than disbanding them (a waste) or put them back into cities (which don't really need it by now) I give as much of my territory as I can, working from my borders inward, radar tower coverage. I defend them with a few Guerrilas or TOW Infantry because I think it looks cool

[:) Smiley]

My question is why don't cities have automatic radio tower coverage? Surely there's some advantage to having a short supply line.

[vmxa1]

skywalker do you find your homeland under invasion a lot that late in the game?
I could built towers, but they would have nothing to defend at home. When I am attacking, I won't have many workers on their land and can't afford to use them for towers, until I really don't need the towers. IOW I have the land secured.

[Plotinus]

I take it that they don't affect sea or air battles?

[vmxa1]

It does not say, only that it has a two tile radius. So I would take that to mean the defense counts for air attacks or sea attacks.

Maybe it would count for arties shooting at ships within the range or flak or mobile sams.