new building improvements

[ak]

Here's my ranking of the new build improvements best suited to my playing style (it's the economy, stupid):

Stock Exchange
Civil Defense
Commercial Docks
Radar Towers
Outposts
Airfields

I wonder how it may change after playing a few games of PTW.

The Internet wonder will be a doozy and possibly worth saving a leader for.

Any comments?

[Tassadar500]

What do you mean by its the economy stupid

[ak]

It was a famous political rallying cry for the Clinton administration during the roaring 90's implying that "it's all about the economy". Sorry, I shouldn't assume the international community would be familiar with it.

[Carver]

Are civil defence and commercial docks in? What do they do?

[ak]

According to the GameSpy Review:

"Also available to everyone are a few new city improvements and worker abilities. Commercial Docks will make coastal cities more profitable by adding one extra unit of trade to all water squares within the city's radius. The Stock Exchange increases the money earned from a city's taxes by 50%. If you want to build Wall Street, which adds interest to the money in your treasury, you now need five Stock Exchanges instead of five Banks. Stock Exchanges also means Corporation isn't just an empty step on the way to researching tech for advanced military units.

Radio also used to be an empty technology advance that served only as a stepping stone to get to Advanced Flight -- unless you wanted Helicopters, you could just as well skip it. But in the Play the World expansion, Radio allows you to build Civil Defenses in your cities, adding a 50% defense bonus to all units in the city. It also allows your workers to build Radar Towers on the map. Radar Towers are the analogue to Sensor Arrays from Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. They give all friendly units within two squares a 25% attack and defense bonus. However, building a Radar Tower uses up the Worker. Workers can similarly "sacrifice" themselves to build Airfields, which serve as staging points for aircraft, and Outposts, which extend line of sight by two squares. However, an Outpost on a hill will see out three hexes and an Outpost on a mountain will see out four hexes. The new Great Wonder is the Internet, which immediately builds a Research Lab in every city on the continent, substantially boosting a tribe's research."

[Carver]

Gracias. I wonder if our cities will get that wooden fence from SMAC around them now.

[1]

A 50% bonus in city defense? That's insane. Now metros will have 200% defense? (I honestly don't remember their base def, I just know its high) And on a hill, it will give ANOTHER 50%. AND, across a river, ANOTHER 25%. I wish the computer knew how to exploit things like that. But since they don't, I think the 50% defense bonus will be unbalancing when it comes to the AI, especially since it doesn't even bombard. Against the human.... it will give a much needed boost in defensive power, because humans know how to use its units very precisely on the offense. Just my 2 cents. BTW... does anyone know if radar towers within 2 squares of a city, add its additional 25% as well to the city defenders?

[ak]

Don't know for sure, but in theory you'd think a city garrison would be treated just like a stack outside and receive the radar benefit. Heck, London would have been in worse shape if not for the coastal radar in WWII.

[WarpStorm]

If I'm calculating things correctly, a maximally defensive MI can have a defense of 67.5. Cool! Or not, if it's not mine.

[jim_steer]

wow 67.5.
Bet it will still get beaten by a rifleman half the time

[ak]

You would almost have to use lots of bombardment to soften the hit points. Pure Tank raids on cities may be a thing of the past.

[Nyl]

How do the defensive percentages stack? Do you add up the percentages then apply it to the unit's D rating, or do you apply them individually in some arbitrary order?

[statusperfect]

A warrior with two +50% bonuses gets + 1 defense.

50% of 1 is 0.5. 1 + 0.5 + 0.5 = 2

[ZargonX]

Does anyone know with which tech commercial docks become available? I could see them as possibly a late Rennaisance or early Industrial improvement. They could be a real boon around mid-game, as I see it.

[Carver]

In another thread someone said comm docks come avail with Mass Production.