Helicopters

[BeBMan]

Ok, i know they weren´t very useful in Civ2, but i love Helis, so do we have nice Helicopter units in Civ3? Any info about that?

Perhaps we could have different types, one Attack heli (AH64 or Mi24) and one for air transport purposes, or one for AntiSubmarine warfare?

[Alinestra Covelia]

I agree with you, and I think a mixture hybrid unit should be made.

Helicopters should have a primary use in battlefield clearing, or in attacking separate units in terrain. They should not have any particularly good success against well defended bases, especially those with air defence.

Something like SMAC's attack-per-turn model should be good, but with a 50% penalty if attacking a city. How does that sound?

[BeBMan]

I haven´t played SMAC, but yes, I also think they should be more useful in the open than against cities/bases. Perhaps Fireaxis will introduce some nice new special abilities...

[Dida]

Re: Helicopters

Originally posted by BeBro
Perhaps we could have different types, one Attack heli (AH64 or Mi24) and one for air transport purposes, or one for AntiSubmarine warfare?

this is stupid, we should have 1 unit with all these strength combined.
helicopters can transport troops to any tile, requiring no air field. they can spot submarines, and conduct air-to-surface attack. No air attack.

[BeBMan]

I disagree, an AH64 cannot carry troops, and a normal Mi24 cannot detect submerged subs. The game should reflect such things, as well as it reflect the differences between Tanks and APCs (if we identified the units correctly).

[Dida]

a game is not real life, and real life is not as fun as a game. this game is not intended to simulate combat situation. too many helicopter units would adds complexity to the game, and make it hard to manage. By far, 1 copter for transport, another for combat/sub detection would be enough.

[BeBMan]

Yeah, I don´t request dozens of different helis, two or three types are ok for me.

[Inverse Icarus]

we discussed this here: http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=22494

[DarkCloud]

I think one type is suitable... we can't flood the game with 1950+ units, can we?

If we must have helicopters, one from an older era and one from the 2000's is acceptable.

[Theben]

I think the whole unit should be abstracted into the mechanized armor unit.

It's effects would be to have a combat bonus vs. non-heli enhanced armor, and to lessen the % chance of retreat of other units.

As for transport, I've never heard of a helicopter lift of an entire division. Maybe short "paradrops" allowed for small units (explorer, dips/spies if still units, partisans/commandos), from any location within x# of tiles from an airbase/city.

[AroSch]

The only thing I know about helis in Civ3, is that they (and airplanes too) are not "directly" moved. So it seems ther is (are?) a (some) helicopter(s) in Civ3. But this was sad in a early review, so it could also be, the heli is no longer in the game (remember, firaxis sad, units from Civ2 which aren´t useful are not in Civ3). So you may hope, they make them more useful instad.

[BeBMan]

Not directly moved?

Hm, does that mean that the player has not full control over planes and helis? Do you have more info about that, Arne?

[Mech Assassin]

Hmm, helis were quite useful for capturing cities with Carrier-bound attacks to ground.

[Case]

Originally posted by Theben
As for transport, I've never heard of a helicopter lift of an entire division.

Then you need to brush up on your military history. In Vietnam the US army had the entire 1st Cavalry Division mounted in helicopters, and in the Gulf War the entire 101st Air Assult Division invaded Iraq via helicopters.
Also, AH-64's were to destry frount-line air defences on the first days of the bombing campaign.

[death_head]

I think in Civ3 you should get to build black helicopters...