Air Combat...ok, but NO AIRBASES!?!?!

[izmircali]

THe info on Air combat said that its totally different and iit sounds better, but it said aircraft operate from cities and carriers. So does this mean the air base improvement is out? anyone know?

[Faboba]

Yes, it is. There's no indicator in the tech tree that you can build it.

As aircraft have a long range and you get aircraft carriers early, this doesn't have terribly drastic implications for the planes ( and all planets are at least 60% water )

What I'm more concerned about it paratroopers. If there are no airbases then they can only drop for cities with airports ( they can't take off from carriers )

This is going to limit their importanmce quite a bit. Fine if you're the UK in ww2 it's great, but what if you're the US. You can't use an airbase. You're going to have to conquer normandy and build an airport there before you can drop your troops......... into normandy!!!!

Unless you take over Southampton or Portsmouth and drop from there.

[Sarxis]

Airbases are somewhat silly anyhow- an airfield, in the middle of nowhere?

I can't say that, on a global scale, that stand alone airfields like this are effective or realistic. Won't miss them. But what about Fortresses?

Also, makes carriers all that more important.

[Faboba]

Both forts and airbases have played important roles in history,

Forts were used by Kings to supress local populations - he would base his knights in the fort where they were easily defended and then would ride out and smash a few villages before returning to the fort. They provide a good base of operations for an ancient - Industrial army without having to start up a city. Forts were only stopped being used as a useful tactic with the advent of modern artillery, what good is a fort when you can simply shell it from a mile away and destroy it?

Airbases however are obviously a more recent thing and came to the forefront of their importance in world war 2. In world war two Europe there were few ( if any ) aircraft carriers. After the threat from the luftwaffe had mostly died away the allied forces ( mainly British and American forces using squardrons of bombers comprised mainly of Lancaster and Flying Fortress type bombers respectively ) began a major campaign of bombing german cities however, due toe devestation of most English cities they based these air forces on makeshift runways in big open fields - airbases. During the Normandy landings and the attempt to secure important bridges across the Rhine ( codenamed Market Garden ) the new American tactic of dropping paratroopers was used, first by American soldiers alone then by American, British and Polish forces in the latter of these two manouvers. Again these were launched from the makeshift runways and command centres located all over the country ( as far away from the cities as possible so the German bombers couldn't find them )

So you see both forts ( in game ) and airbases ( not in game ) are both useful and historicly important in the game, and their loss will be greatly felt, especially by scenario builders. I only hope I'm wrong about the tech tree and they ARE in it.

[Earthling7]

Airbases "in the middle of nowhere" are important. The British did not launch their attacks against the Germans from cities. They had airbases out in the countryside. Same with the US. They have airforce bases littered all over their deserts.

I agree that something needed to be done to make the aircraft carrier more important, but airbases have a very important place in history.

[Sarxis]

Ok, so I recant

But, wether they are in or not, I will adjust my gameplay style accordingly.

And I think I will go do some research to see if I can found out anything about airbases in CivIII.

[Sarxis]

OK, take a look at this screen, and look at the fourth icon from the left in the Flight technology box. What is that? Is it an airport tower? If it is, it is probably just for the Airport improvement.

[Grim Legacy]

On the one hand, I do like the concept of Airbases... but on the other hand I have to admit that I never built in Civ... ever.

[Sarxis]

Maybe that is why I don't care so much about their possible exclusion. I never built them much, usually because trying to get a settler to where it needed to be built was a pain, and it usually took a very long time to build them.

I also think that the new air combat system may also be responsible for the possibility of Firaxis deciding not to include airbases.

[Grim Legacy]

Agreed.

I think the new air combat system is a welcome addition. There were some 'bugs' with the older system that made it easy to 'cheat' yourself to victory with a few planes. The only offset was the expense of the units. And that wasn't enough.

[Ralf]

Originally posted by Grim Legacy
On the one hand, I do like the concept of Airbases... but on the other hand I have to admit that I never built in Civ... ever.

I didnt either - but in Civ-2, both the navy and the airforce played an unproportionally minor role compared to your landbased battleforces. This has been counter-balanced in Civ-3, I believe.

As for airbases; Even if you can build your air-combat units, you cant move them around the map anymore, as you could in Civ-2. I agree with Anunikoba that the flight-tech seems to provide you with some kind of tile-upgrade. Whether it is a radar-tower, airport-tower or what, I dont know.

[Grim Legacy]

Originally posted by Ralf

As for airbases; Even if you can build your air-combat units, you cant move them around the map anymore, as you could in Civ-2. I agree with Anunikoba that the flight-tech seems to provide you with some kind of tile-upgrade. Whether it is a radar-tower, airport-tower or what, I dont know.

Suspense!

[Ralf]

I believe its a radar-tower. Remember those air-combat "defensive ranges" Firaxis talks about? The radar-tower maybe increases that range somehow. But Im only guessing here.

[Pods]

We need an answer!

S.

[Earthling7]

Originally posted by Anunikoba
Maybe that is why I don't care so much about their possible exclusion. I never built them much, usually because trying to get a settler to where it needed to be built was a pain, and it usually took a very long time to build them.

This is why I prefer the CtP's PW system. That is ONE thing that Activision did better. I used airbases in Civ, but only a few times, but they were an important part of my CtP strategy.