Orbital Insertions with Space Elevator

[Yxklyx]

Space Elevator Help says that Aerospace Complexes don't prevent insertions so why do they? Bug?

[Yxklyx]

Also, any way to prevent the 20% damage taken after air drops?

[Darsnan]

Answer to Q1: bug.
Answer to Q2: no. This is simulating the realism of real insertion drops (re: casualties suffered by airborne troop drops for all nations in WW II, etc.). However, you raise a good point. If a unit is Elite (or more/less experienced), shouldn't it suffer less /more casualties than the mandated 20%? I think your onto something here!

[Adalbertus]

Answer to Q2: no.

Half-true only. If you insert into a city, there is no damage. Useful if you just emptied an enemy city or for fast transport if you have to cross the sea or if your magtube system is not yet finished.

[MariOne]

This good observation leads to a question just popped up in my mind:
Would airdrop units suffer no damage as well when landing onto airbases?
I made so scarce use of airbases that I never thought of this.

Airdrop rules are not always that meaningful, leaving alone bugs.

For instance a Treaty prevents the drop in protected basezones of your formers and crawlers, but not of your combat units, which are prevented only at Vendetta. So your Treatied friend can still drop his attack forces in your basezones, and then attack you....

[knowhow2]

Originally posted by Adalbertus


Half-true only. If you insert into a city, there is no damage. Useful if you just emptied an enemy city or for fast transport if you have to cross the sea or if your magtube system is not yet finished.

into all cities or just when trying to capture a enemy city?

[Adalbertus]

Originally posted by Knowhow2:

into all cities or just when trying to capture a enemy city?

I had no damage certainly inserting into my cities (made a lot of use of it), but I guess also into allied cities. I never build airbases, though.

[aaglo]

If you airdrop, and then don't do anything else with that unit during that turn, the next turn the unit is completely healed. Also when attacking a base, the first unit entering the base will be completely healed (no matter how battered and bruised) which is pretty strange thing (maybe a bug).

[Kassiopeia]

I think that in Civ 2 the unit that took over a city gained suddenly full health, so I do not think it is a bug. Maybe it's there to reflect the unit replenishing itself from the city as it takes it over, raiding supplies and whatever?

[Clear Skies]

I don't seem to get Aerospace Complex defensive benefits from the building of the....ugh....the Aerospace Complex secret project....tip of my tongue...

God my memory sucks.

I know what it's called and I can't think of it...

Cloudbase Academy. That's the one.

[Googlie]

In a current game (see the *random events* thread) I can attest to the following:

With the Space Elevator, units, as is rightly said, can drop anywhere and still have all their movement points but suffer a 50% penalty if attacking that same turn. (They don't take damage from the drop, if made into a base - they do if onto dry land. If Elite, units get their 50% bonus, of course, but that only mitigates the hasty attack penalty from 50% to 75% - but they do retain their full extra movement point.

If they drop into an unaerospaced base (redundant, 'cos they can't drop into one with an aerospace complex) then they get healed, can attack, and if Elite can then vamoose when their attack is complete (my strategy in my game)

Course if bases are linked by maglines, then they are nor using movement points to traverse the land.

The cloudbase academy does confer the no airdropping defenses to the faction posessing it.

Giving the unit blink as well allows it to drop to the tile adjacent to the aerospaced base some of the time - although it worked every time in my scenario test, I was only able to drop about half my Elites (drop & Blink equipped) nest to an airbase

Stranding a drop unit within a base that's obliterated activates it again (is this a bug?) - so in my game I dropped, healed, attacked, retreated to a base, obliterated it and as the unit was blinking again, could hi-tail it back to my continent (where I decommisioned them to help with the Ascent build)

'Course as they were elites, maybe it wasn;t the obliteration of the base that gave them fenewed movement vigour - as I was attacking/retreating along enemy mag lines maybe they did have movement points left

G.

[Yxklyx]

Just a thought but is it possible that air drops are possible against Aerospace Complexes if they are done from the base in which the Space Elevator exists? Has anyone tested this?

[Yxklyx]

Oops sorry, I misread the Space Elevator help. It does NOT say that Aerospace Complex restrictions are lifted for air drops - it says that the restrictions are lifted for Orbital IMPROVEMENTS.

[Googlie]

Right - in fact what it does give you is the ability to build orbitals in bases without aerospace complexes, and, further, doubles the mineral output of any base building an orbital

G.

[aaglo]

...and space elevator increases the economy of that base by 50%