Chassis Idea: Balloon; Improvement Idea: Balloon Defence.

[Christantine The Great]

If the Unit Workshop is included in Civ III (Which I am sure of.) there should be a new unit chassis called the balloon. It would be the first air unit you could research. It would be pretty strong until the discovery of the airplane, which it would have a -50% of winning aganst (Like popping a...balloon!). Of course with the balloon comes the "Balloon Defence". The balloon defence would be a city improvement that would represent a ring of small balloons around a city to protect it from air attacks. The balloon defence would only work aganst planes with props so with the jet it would become obesolete. The defence would give a unit inside the city a 50% defence bonus. The only downside to the Balloon Defence is that it would have to "heal" every time it is used.

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"Freedom, Trade, Christantine!"

The Viking Archives

[Tical_2000]

No.

[Christantine The Great]

quote: No.

Well that was a hard fought out argument over the subject. I perfectly see your point of view.

(Care to elaborate?)

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"Freedom, Trade, Christantine!"

The Viking Archives

[UltraSonix]

I think the olden day (late 1700/1800) balloons were very hard to control - they wouldn't be very useful.

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No, in Australia we don't live with kangaroos and koalas in our backyards... Despite any stupid advertisments you may see to the contrary... (And no, koalas don't usually speak!)

[Evil Capitalist]

Before we start on baloons there are much more importasnt units to incorporate. Like a swarm of killer turtles. Or the telethon improvement.

[Christantine The Great]

I believe that Zeppelins were used heavly in WW I not II.

The balloon unit would cover all types of airships, from the first balloons to the huge Zeppelins. The shape would change slightly and it would get various advantages over the changes. But it would always have the weakness aganst planes. The early balloons might have a trireme effect if they get too far away from a city. But instead of the balloon being destroyed it would crash and whoever finds it would receave a damaged balloon that they would have to get to a city before it completely broke.

[Evil Capitalist]

quote: Originally posted by Ribannah on 12-02-2000 12:01 PM Indeed the early Balloons were hard to control, but the later Airship had more possibilities. The 20th century Zeppelins were a force to reckon with in WW II.

Assuming you mean WW1- they still wern't. They resulted in about 100 deaths, and took about 2 days to reach the target. If an AA gun or fighter was in the area they were finished.

[Ribannah]

In WW I they flew higher than the fighter planes of that time, and farther than bomber planes.

In WW II, the allied forces were still afraid of the airship. They bombed the airship works, and the Germans went into rocketry instead, that's why none were used.

With today's technology (no hydrogen!) an airship could take a lot of bullets and a few rockets before going down, but would probably be used for transportation. Unless it had Stealth

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If you have no feet, don't walk on fire

[Harel]

Well, Napolean used flying balloons to gather intel on troops movement... it could be an excellent recon unit ( a line of sight of 2, maybe even 3... )

[DarkCloud]

Scout Balloon- Scouts out attacks; works like a helicopter (damaged for more time)
1 Attack, 2 Defense, 6 Movement (Ballooning)

Zeppelin- Same as scout
6 attack, 4 Defense, 2 Movement (Advanced Ballooning)

[Ribannah]

Indeed the early Balloons were hard to control, but the later Airship had more possibilities. The 20th century Zeppelins were a force to reckon with in WW II.

Rather than forming a "ring of defence", the balloon could be used for reconnaissance (both offensive and defensive) and bombardments.

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If you have no feet, don't walk on fire

[Evil Capitalist]

quote: Originally posted by DarkCloud on 12-02-2000 06:05 PM Scout Balloon- Scouts out attacks; works like a helicopter (damaged for more time) 1 Attack, 2 Defense, 6 Movement (Ballooning) Zeppelin- Same as scout 6 attack, 4 Defense, 2 Movement (Advanced Ballooning)

I'd suggest they have a defense of 0- it shows how easily they were shot down.

[UltraSonix]

quote: it could be an excellent recon unit

I think that could be the only plausible use of balloons - aren't balloons atill used nowadays for this purpose? (As well as for weather predicting.)

And on the subject of airships - if they are to be included, shouldn't they have a small chance per end-of-turn of exploding?

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No, in Australia we don't live with kangaroos and koalas in our backyards... Despite any stupid advertisments you may see to the contrary... (And no, koalas don't usually speak!)

[Christantine The Great]

quote: And on the subject of airships - if they are to be included, shouldn't they have a small chance per end-of-turn of exploding?

A balloon will only explode if it is filled with hydrogen, like the Hindenburg. It was filled with hydrogen because they thought it would go faster than a helium filled balloon, since it is lighter, but did not know that some weather conditions could light the balloon on fire.

[DarkCloud]

Balloon Defense- this sounds far too unlikely, since it never happened.

A defense of 1 would be better than 0, with a 0 defense they would be shot down after one fire.
However you have a good point. Zeppelins would have a defence of 2 because of double-coating.