Amphibious attack bonus

[Aqualung71]

Would some kind soul out there whose memory is better than mine please remind me what the attack/defence bonus is for amphibious attacks (if indeed there is one)?

Thank you kindly

[Solomwi]

I'm not 100% positive, but the rumor at one point was that units defending against an amphibious attack were going to be stripped of defense bonuses.

[Shogun Gunner]

Originally posted by Solomwi
I'm not 100% positive, but the rumor at one point was that units defending against an amphibious attack were going to be stripped of defense bonuses.

Wow. I hadn't heard that. I would like to be able to confirm that before I switch production to Marines!!!!

Long Live the Core!!!!

[Solomwi]

Whether or not it was actually implemented, SG, Marines rock, and 4xMarine armies are godly. There's nothing quite like declaring war against an overseas enemy, making a landing that turn and swallowing 5-6 cities, plus both luxuries you were getting from him in trades, in the same turn, all before he has a chance to hit back.

[Aqualung71]

Thanks Solomwi.

Is anybody able to confirm this issue once and for all?

[pvzh]

I know that coastal fortress provides +50% defence against amphibious assaults, but it seems to me stripping of defensive boni for defender was not implemented. I recall that in C3C amphibious assault have +25% to attack. Cannot point to any reply by developer or readme.

Edit: I tried a search, but it is hopeless! I am picking up every thread where Theseus posted due to his signature.

[Jaybe]

pvzh, the reason you cannot find anything of authority on that is ...
there ISN'T any.

(And alexman hasn't tested for it yet)

[alexman]

pvzh is right: there is a 25% bonus for amphibious units when attacking amphibiously, confirmed by Jesse Smith of Firaxis.

Defensive boni apply normally. I had actually never heard that coastal fortresses apply against amphibious assaults. Have you tested it, pvzh?

[Shogun Gunner]

ahhh, the removal of defense bonuses was too good to be true...

[pvzh]

It is from in game help file, I think.
Edit: I was wrong, but I do remember I saw it somewhere

[gunkulator]

But the 25% attack bonus is a surpisingly good thing. Makes that Marine as good as a Tank. I wonder if it is in all versions of CivIII. Hmm. Would this mean that Berserkers also get a 25% attack bonus?

AFAIK, this is the only attack bonus in the entire game.

[Theseus]

Sorry for intruding on your searches, pvzh!!

It might be my fault for introducing some myths about the power of amphib attacks... Catt did some testing on it, though, and as alexman notes, Jesse cleared it up at one point.

BTW, while Berserks and Marines ROCK, in the AU Mod we have Special Forces, which are a great late game tool.

[Nor Me]

I once did a test for any combat bonuses for marines and didn't find any. I made a scenario where a stack of 20 2hp marines could be loaded into a transport to attack from the sea or just attack from the land against an even target. I played with attacking by land, then reloaded and attacked from the sea. I got the same result both times.

Even with a 25% combat bonus, the odds in each round would change from 1/2 to 5/9 so there'd be a 1/18 chance of a different result. There must have been at least 40 rounds so the chances of no rounds being different are at most (17/18)^40 which is about 10%. Of course, some of those battles will have lasted 3 rounds so that's just a bound. I could easily have been unlucky but I'd rather doubt that there is a bonus until someone shows otherwise, whatever Jesse Smith might say.

I think that might have been with the latest PTW patch but it might have been original civ3.

It should be easy to demonstrate that there is a bonus this way so if anyone's bored...

[alexman]

The 25% bonus was added in C3C.

A preview of the expansion pack even mentioned a 100% amphibious bonus, but it was evidently toned down before release.

[Nor Me]

I thought I heard about it under PTW and that marines still not being good enough lead then to up the stats in C3C. It's unlikely that they did both at the same time. Not that I couldn't see all those happing during the beta test.