About capturing planes

[Catt]

Originally posted by vulture


. . . . it does look as though different people's games are behaving in a somewhat different manner [. . . ]Which suggests either a bug, a dodgy installation of the game, or some extra variable that we're all overlooking so far.

I agree that the game can behave in funny ways sometimes - not too long ago I posted a game in which I was able to trade luxury and strategic resources as part of a peace treaty (not a renegotiation) - I haven't seen that possibility since that particular game - Theseus later had it happen to him in a different game, but in only one instance. So I do think that the game gets a little quirky sometimes.

Nonetheless, I really believe that the default rule is that with the technological know-how you capture units, without the know-how you destroy the units. I ginned up a simple scenario pair to test it, and confirmed that at least in the test case the technology advancement of the "capturer" seems to be the determinative factor on capture or destroy. Happy to post a zip with the two different test scenarios if anyone is really interested.

Catt

[vmxa1]

I don't think that anybody disagrees that you must at a least have the technolgy to capture a device. The only thing hanging is even with it can you capture a stl bomber? Some are saying they have and that may be the final answer.

[Thrawn05]

Originally posted by vulture


Well cannons do arrive with Metallurgy rather than Military Tradition The resources to build a unit seem to be irrelevant to whether they can be captured. But it does look as though different people's games are behaving in a somewhat different manner. I imagine that vmxa1 and Thrawn05 are able to tell whether they have the techs to build e.g. stealth bombers when those units are destroyed when capturing a city, since they both seem to have a good understanding of the game. OTOH I know that stealth aircraft (fighters and bombers, not that the AI ever builds SF) can be captured in my (unmodded) games. Which suggests either a bug, a dodgy installation of the game, or some extra variable that we're all overlooking so far.

Sorry, but I still didn't have the tech to build one.

I uninstalled and reinstalled the game last night (this is the 3rd time). Still SB are destroyed. Could you post a save?

[Thrawn05]

Originally posted by vmxa1
I don't think that anybody disagrees that you must at a least have the technolgy to capture a device. The only thing hanging is even with it can you capture a stl bomber? Some are saying they have and that may be the final answer.

I do wish someone from Firaxis would chim in here... before we move on to page 3.

[Catt]

Originally posted by Thrawn05


Sorry, but I still didn't have the tech to build one.

I uninstalled and reinstalled the game last night (this is the 3rd time). Still SB are destroyed. Could you post a save?

Mysterious.

Attached is a zip file with two scenario bics. In each game, the entire map consists of a very small square island. The human, playing as Rome, starts off with 3 cities and six modern armor. The AI (just to the north) starts off with one city -- in the city is a spearman, a bomber, a jet fighter, 2 stealth bombers and 2 stealth fighters. Each civ starts off with a bunch of gold. Each starts off in Monarchy or some other advanced government. The AI Egyptians start out with all techs discovered. The human Romans start out with (1) all techs up to stealth, in one bic, and (2) all techs, in the other bic.

I played the opening two turns of each scenario several times, each time with preserve random seed off, and with all unit animations on. My opening moves were to: (1) fortify all units; (2) move one MA into Egyptian territory; (3) contact the spearman in Thebes; (4) just click on "That's all Cleopatra" without concluding any deal; (5) move MA back out of Thebes territory; (6) end turn; (7) establish embassy (to see the units in Thebes); and (8) attack with an MA. (In each case, Cleo seems to have disbanded the spearman and rushed a rifleman, or upgraded the spearman into a rifleman).

In each test case: (1) using the scenario bic in which the human hasn't discovered Stealth, all planes are destroyed; and (2) using the scenario bic in which the human has discovered Stealth, the regular bomber and jet fighter are destroyed but the 2 SBs and 2 SFs are captured.

(On a side note, in the "human has all techs" version, the second turn produces a "We want to improve your palace" while the "human behind in techs" version no palace improvement is offered - tech advancement as one of many other triggers on spontaneous palace imrpovements?)

Catt

[vmxa1]

I wonder if there only having one city has created a situation that is not handled properly. IOW that ends the game as no civs are left, or atleast it will have to create or revive the end civ. If they had 2 or 3 cities, it would not go into the end of civ?

[Catt]

Originally posted by vmxa1
I wonder if there only having one city has created a situation that is not handled properly. IOW that ends the game as no civs are left, or atleast it will have to create or revive the end civ. If they had 2 or 3 cities, it would not go into the end of civ?

I suppose it's possible, but note that in each test case it is the sole city - the only difference is the tech devlopment of the human player. It would probably be easy for someone to modify the bics to add another city or two -- I did the tests just to confirm for myself that my own memory wasn't playing tricks on me.

I used to play with diplo, cultural and SS victories turned off and so engaged in a lot of modern warfare with all the modern toys, and I remember capturing SBs and SFs pretty often - but, like you, have never seen or heard of a non-stealth plane, or any ship for that matter, being captured rather than destroyed. I've been playing with all victory conditions 'on' for some time now, and it's been months since I last saw stealth technologies in the game, so I really just wanted to be certain that capturing stealth planes was in fact possible.

Catt

[vmxa1]

Well I am not a user of the editor so I do not know about the ins and outs only what I have read.
The first thing I saw when I loaded the map was a warning about the rules being changed, which was what I postulated in the first place. I edit it and change one city from Rome to the AI. I sent a tank to the captiol and attacked and the game crashed back to the desktop.
The thing is that all of the people swearing that they have std games and captured the stl bomber have made me doubt my own experiences, namely that I had never seen that and had seen them destroyed and low and behold the map is played with non std rules. Not saying you are doing this Catt, but some people use non std so much they forget they are not using the regular rules.

[Catt]

Originally posted by vmxa1
Well I am not a user of the editor so I do not know about the ins and outs only what I have read.
The first thing I saw when I loaded the map was a warning about the rules being changed, which was what I postulated in the first place. I edit it and change one city from Rome to the AI. I sent a tank to the captiol and attacked and the game crashed back to the desktop.
The thing is that all of the people swearing that they have std games and captured the stl bomber have made me doubt my own experiences, namely that I had never seen that and had seen them destroyed and low and behold the map is played with non std rules. Not saying you are doing this Catt, but some people use non std so much they forget they are not using the regular rules.

Any scenario that starts a player off with units and/or technologies will give the "rules have been modified" warning upon loading it -- this is true regardless of the nature of the rule changes. By attaching the bic files (rather than saved games employing the bic files) I was trying to allow everyone to see the rule changes made in creating the scenario. The alternative to creating a scenario that starts with access to SBs and SFs in 4000 BC is to play an unmodded game all the way until the modern age with Diplo, Cultural and SS victories turned off, and then run the tests both before and after the discovery of Stealth (making sure in each case that the AI has both discovered Stealth and built some stealth planes and located them in a vulnerable city) -- no thanks on that time commitment.

The point I was trying to get across is that in otherwise identical circumstances, with the only difference being the technological development level of the human ("capturing") player, the outcome (capture or destroy SBs and SFs) is different. This fact, combined with the manual's explanation (although only referring directly to artillery units) that units with A/D of 0/0 are either captured or destroyed depending on the "capturer's" technological development level, would seem to me to make a decent case that SBs and SFs are captured if you have discovered Stealth and destroyed if you haven't.

Catt

[vmxa1]

Like I said many times I understand your point. The only question is if it correct or not. Now it is not correct that you get the rules changed when you place things. I am trying it now with the small isle with 3 cities and and island with 1. Each civ has 2 cities and I gave a stl bomber to player 2. I did not get any msg. Another thing I just saw is they can use the bomber as they just bombed me with it and I doubt they have learn the tech as it is 1990bc. I am running up the tech tree and when I get to that tech we shall see what happens and that will be the end of it.

[Catt]

Originally posted by vmxa1
. . . . we shall see what happens and that will be the end of it.

I doubt it

Someone else will come up with a theory that explains away all the previous tests, so that there will need to be another round of testing; and another; and another . . . .

[vmxa1]

Sorry I had to go to the docs. Bad news, when I got the tech and captured the city (either one) the bomber was gone. The bum sold it off. Two things I did see 1- they can use them without the tech and you can not buil them without the resources.
One more thing is that you can add units or cities to a map and not get any msg about the rules not being std. This is because I did not change any rules.

[vmxa1]

Ok, I give up. I tried any number of things and could not reproduce a scenario that let a SB even be in the city when it was captued. Ran through the tech tree and gave all the techs to AI. Put a SB in a city and gave the city to AI, no good the unit goes back to the captiol. You can not give a unit even as part of the city. I tried given the techs and leaving a city with the SB and no troops and decalred war. The AI never even sent a unit to capture the city. I figure it was afraid of the bomber so I moved it out, figuring when they send a unit I will put the SB back for them, never came.

[bongo]

This topic were recently discussed in this thread

Please note the test results from vulture:

Units destroyed:

fighter
bomber
jet fighter
helicopter
tactical nuke
ICBM

Units captured:

catapult
cannon
artillery
radar artillery
cruise missile
stealth fighter
stealth bomber

[vulture]

Originally posted by vmxa1
Ok, I give up. I tried any number of things and could not reproduce a scenario that let a SB even be in the city when it was captued. Ran through the tech tree and gave all the techs to AI. Put a SB in a city and gave the city to AI, no good the unit goes back to the captiol. You can not give a unit even as part of the city. I tried given the techs and leaving a city with the SB and no troops and decalred war. The AI never even sent a unit to capture the city. I figure it was afraid of the bomber so I moved it out, figuring when they send a unit I will put the SB back for them, never came.

That seems like a rather complex way of doing it. Why not just create an AI city (or several) with all different aircraft in it, give yourself a pile of MA next to each one, load up the game, and then just attack each city? You have to make sure that the cities are large enough/have culture so that they are not destroyed (nothing apart from ground artillery gets captured if the city is razed of course - btw what happens in the game if you abandon a city with aircraft in it? I've never tried (for obvious reasons)). You can do all of this on your first turn since you can put your MA right next to the AI cities (but it'll ruin your reputation ) so that the AI doesn't have time to move or sell any units. You can also give it a huge pile of gold so that it doesn't need to sell anything yet.