**** UNIT FINISHED - SCROLL DOWN TO LATER POST ****
Well, I'm at it again - making more units. This is kinda fun!
As requested by Tony Stowe, I have started work on the E-3 sentry unit.
This is an aircraft with a radar attached to the top.
I'm not sure how to make it behave in the game ( A/D/M, abilities, etc.)

It still needs a lot of work.
Here is a preview:

This is the picture Tony Stowe sent me of an e-3 sentry

Here is a preview in attack mode:

Hmm, what will be it's function ? Are you suggesting that only E-3 can do recon ? Other thay it would be excessive...

While I think the graphic is great the game doesnt really support it. I created a spy satalite type unit. The problem is the games support of aircraft is really wacked. A Max range of 8 means it cant go far on a recon, specially on a huge map. If you mark it as a land unit with radar you can move it around on the land but not the sea and visa versa. Neither of which is terribly usefull. Radar artillery with a 2 range make sense, Ground to ground isnt great however E3's and spy satalites would have a much greater radar visiability. It would be great if they would lift the max range from 8. This shouldnt require much of any programming time, its probably just a hard coded number. As for the radar range that might require a tiny bit more code but not alot. Mostly of which would be in the editor not the game. A small conditional in the game and an interface for specify radar range in the editor.

In refernce to my comment aircraft being whacked have you ever heard of a jet fighter who couldnt sink a wooden galley? Ill give you that phaylanx systems and such severely limit a planes ability to sink a battleship or aegis cruiser but to my knowledge the viking never deployed phaylanx systems on there galleys. I could be wrong but Im pretty sure.

Originally posted by Umask077

In refernce to my comment aircraft being whacked have you ever heard of a jet fighter who couldnt sink a wooden galley?

Yes. modern jet fighter can't sink _anything_ if it is not carrying missiles/bombs. (we are suggesting it have no gun pod). Make you fighter airdrop cruise-missile type of unit and it can sink a wooden galley :) the downside is that it can not land on carrier if it can transport anything ;(

The stealth fighter has recon ability but it can only reach 6 squares away. I was thinking of making the e-3 capable of recon to 8 sqaures away.

I'm glad you guys like my graphics:)

Pesoloco,

great work on the graphics - that looks great. The radar dish might look better if its diameter was increased somewhat.

As for the range of 8 for aircraft - the E-3 should have a radar range between 4-8, thus extending its recon capabilities out to 16. If I remember correctly, in CIV II the bomber had two movements - one movement out to its max range and a second movement that had to end in a city or airbase. I think that should be implemented with the E-3 Sentry. As for protection of the E-3. . .I haven't made if far enough into the game to where another CIV had airplanes to see how the Air Superiority missions work.

My question: When on Air Superiority will my aircraft actually fly out and attack another aircraft once the enemy aircraft gets within the operational range of my fighter? OR Does the enemy aircraft actually make it to my city and then my fighter engages?

Assuming that the fighter uses its maximum operational range to stop the enemy fighters, one could plan the E-3's route such that it is always under "protection" of friendly aircraft during its mission.

As for the E-3's abilities. . . .(A/D/M) I was thinking along the lines of 0/3-4/8 (or maximum). The only defenses possible would be the flares and whatnot - nothing hard such as guns and the like.

Another issue with this unit. Is there a possibility of creating a ground unit that can detect and counter the E-3's ELINT capabilities? That would be cool as well. Jammers if you will. It could look like the Radar Artillery unit but have an antenna mast - kind of looking like a Command and Control Vehicle. :confused:

Of course, the P-3 Orion could be created for ASW and Coastal patrols. Its abilities could have A/D/M - 4/3-5/8 or whatever.

Again, Pesoloco, great work on the unit.

Ok, all you skeptics out there (just kiddin), I got it to work :)

You can check out my post in the Tutorials and References section "make planes move like Civ II"

i have discovered how to make planes move around outside of cities just like other units.
This is great for this unit, since it is used for surveillance.

Pesoloco,

Your the man! Great Work. What of the Radar Range and its detection possibilities?

I still left the range at 8 squares
The way I have it right now, the player can fly the plane into enemy territory then use recon missions to probe a closer look.

When I conduct a recon mission with the current aircraft I select a square within its range and then a two-square radius (I think its two squares) lights up for that turn.

1. How is this done for that aircraft.

2. How can we apply a constant 8 square radius recon on the
E-3?

I know how to get the plane to target squares up to 8 squares away, but as far as changing the radius of the recon view, i'm not sure.

Someone came up with an airbase mod, which is essentially a land based carrier that paradrops up to 8 squares away. This could be a way to extend the range of your aircraft beyond your cities.

I'll have to take a look at that mod.
My method does not require the use of carriers or transport units.
The planes are free to fly outside the cities on their own.

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know, the unit animations are on their way. I'm almost done

You're talking about my airbase mod. You can get it here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14107).

Finished the unit animations.
Takes more than one Zip file
This post includes part 1
No civilopedia entries or icons yet

Unit Stats:
A/D/M 8/8/8 ?? let me know if you disagree
Op. Range: 8

Abilities:
Radar
Stealth

Air Missions:
Recon
e-base


Just unzip the files into:
\art\units\E-3 Sentry

and use the Hacked CivEdit to add "E-3 Sentry"

You need BOTH Zip files for the unit to work. the second one (part 2) is available in the next post.

Here's part 2
unzip into same folder as part 1

Here's how it looks in the game:

Great gaphics, but the green colour gives it a WW2 kind of look! :lol:

Since it is a modern aircraft it should be of a silvery-grey colour, like a jet fighter, etc.

Just a suggestion...

:eek: World War Two colors would seem appropriate as the unit appears to be a B-17 with a radar pod. Still, it is a good looking unit. But a B-52 put in as a Jet Bomber would be a better addition.

It would be really cool if an AWACS would increase the attacking capabillity of a nearby fighter plane.

This would simulate that the AWACS coordinates the attack.

Oh well, not possible I guess.

Good work though!

Originally posted by poppert
It would be really cool if an AWACS would increase the attacking capabillity of a nearby fighter plane.

This would simulate that the AWACS coordinates the attack.

Oh well, not possible I guess.

Good work though!


Great point. I wish this was possible. the limitations placed on aircraft in the game is real disappointment. Granted, the abilities to recon, bombard, and conduct air superiority missions are a huge plus when compared to CIV 2. But, I would still like to see more options pertaining to the air war in CIV.

Just to let you know this unit looks more like the E-2 Hawkeye, which was the model used between 1950's - 1970's. The E-3 is obviously like the Boeing 737/767 series. looks like a good unit for the end of the industrial age.

E-2 Hawkeye Picture
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/e-2_air4.jpg


E-3 Sentry Picture
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/e3_1.jpg

the unit looks great, but ...

it really shouldn't have a gun pod. this thing doesn't want to get involved in any sort of combat whatsoever.

just a thought.

The reason I left the gun pod was so it would be able to defend itself. On my own computer I give it an attack of 0 and defense of 12. This way units won't be able to destroy it without a fight.

Kal-el is correct in his statement concerning the E-3 (as well as the E-2) aircraft not having any direct attack capabilities. Your intentions were good, but inaccurate. Most E-3 have fighter escort to provide their protection (I think).

BUT, not all is lost seeing that CIV III may not allow us to position fighter aircraft with our very cool E-3 aircraft so maybe an attack option for the E-3 would be a representative of the missing fighter escort. . . Either way the aircraft will be a great asset to the game. NOW, by chance that I hap-hazardly direct my E-3 inside the operational range of a fighter of an enemy city. . .will that fighter go out to shot it down?

Originally posted by tstowe
NOW, by chance that I hap-hazardly direct my E-3 inside the operational range of a fighter of an enemy city. . .will that fighter go out to shot it down?

It all depends how you set up the unit in the editor.

If you made it a land unit, it will be attacked by enemy land units.
If you made it an air unit, it will be attacked by either land or air units, but even the weakest land units can destroy it.

My suggestion is to leave it as a land unit with a pretty high defense. (although you can't directly fly over water, you can use the re-base ability to move to other continents - at least warriors won't bring your planes down - easily)

If you do insist on keeping it as an air unit, I would recommend keeping a strategy similar to Civ I and II (end every few turns in a city or in a space with good ground cover.)

Due to popular demand, I have come up with a preliminary design for an updated E-3 unit.

I have made it gray and enlarged the radar disk.
Please let me know what you think and if you guys like ti, I will continue working on the update for the animations

I have tried to work on graphics but they have not worked out but as a suggestion. Why not for the flic that will be used for the planes defens a smaller fighter plane swoops in and shoots. It will give more realism, but still allow the unit to have a defense value.

I think a mjor addition would be a B-52 type bomber to fit between the wwII and Stealth bombers ince there is a huge difference in the real world between the two.

Originally posted by GenPatton
Why not for the flic that will be used for the planes defens a smaller fighter plane swoops in and shoots. It will give more realism, but still allow the unit to have a defense value.

I think a mjor addition would be a B-52 type bomber to fit between the wwII and Stealth bombers ince there is a huge difference in the real world between the two.
Thanks for the good idea. That fighter plane swooping in would make it much more realistic since these planes really dont have any defense.

About the B-52, I think it is a good idea. Unfortunately I just started a big project - the Engineer unit, and now the updated E-3, so it might be awhile till I work on the B-52.

I am trying to catch up on this unit creation stuff so that I can help with at least some of it. Being that I killed too many brain cells in my youth. . .that learning curve has gotten pretty damn large. haha

:D :beer: [party] :sheep: <-- And not necessarily in that order. haha

Do you create all the graphics straight up 2D? Or are any of the models in the game modeled in 3D and then frames rendered for an animation? Just wondering. Your first green plane looked nice, almost 3Dish, I just wondered if I created a CD model of something if it would be easy to turn it into a game unit...

I edit the graphics with Paint Shop Pro (a 2D editor), but it would be possible to use a 3D editor to make new ones. I believe thats how the original graphics were made.

I hadn't put much thought to the drawings and animation themselves, but I have 3d Studio Max at the house. I will see if it can be used for the game. ??

good luck

pesoloco,

instead of redrawing the whole thing why not just recolor the existing unit. Just switch the palette using paintshop pro.

it should save you a lot of time.

thats a good idea. I'll try that

The E-3 uses the same wav files as the regular Bomber. With this modified .ini file you don't need to hang on to the doublette wav files. All I did was modify four lines of code, like so:

RUN=../Bomber/BomberRun.wav
ATTACK1=../Bomber/BomberAttack.amb
ATTACK2=
ATTACK3=
DEFEND=
DEATH=../Bomber/BomberDeath.wav
DEAD=
FORTIFY=
FORTIFYHOLD=
FIDGET=
VICTORY=../Bomber/Bomberbomb.wav

Thanks, Razorwing, didn't know I could use the .. in the path name
I had tried it once like this:
DEATH=\BOMBER\BOMBERDEATH.WAV
but that didnt work.
Good work.

You're welcome =)

It's called a relative path (or url) and is often used when making web pages. By telling the computer to go up in the folder tree (../) and then into another folder (Bomber) one can navigate on any computer without worrying about their file structure. Or as in the case of web pages, one can move a whole site to another server and it'll work seamlessly since the folder tree is intact.

Ok. I have come up with a way to keep land units from taking down the E-3 plane.

Set the E-3 plane as an air unit.
Give it the "Submarine" ability.

This will make it virtually "invisible" to enemy land units, unless there is an enemy ship nearby that can see submarines. Because their are no default land units that can see submarines, this is a good disguise.

how are ground units taking out air units?

The way the the game works, air units have no defense against land units. This is seen when land units conquer a city (the planes are destroyed)

Giving the plane submarine ability makes it so the land units can't "see" them. They wont attack what they dont see. However if you have other land units in the same square as your plane, they may attack and if they kill all the land units there, your plane will go down

hang on..... so your talking about the scenario where they take over the city that the e3 is sitting in..... cuz theres no other way they can destroy the plane....... during normal moves, the e3 does its recon, the recon happens, and the plane is gone back into the city...... theres no other way any ground unit can kill it unless we are talking about city squares....


if thats the case, i think its suppose to take over the plane, the plane is parked in the city, if the city falls, the plane belongs to the new invader..

This unit is an air unit that can move independent of cities just like any other unit. It is not immobile like the other planes in the game, and does not automatically return back to the city after recon.

The way it works is like this:
- the plane is an air unit
- the plane can move around just like any other land unit (except it can fly over water

When you have it set up like this, you can fly your plane outside the city. If you do recon, it will return back to its current map square. You still can use re-base to send it back to a city with an airport. If it is outside a city and it is attacked by a land unit, the land unit will automatically destroy the plane.

This is why you need the "Submarine" flag. It will prevent the land units from seeing and attacking the E-3.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Scipio Africanu
[B]Just to let you know this unit looks more like the E-2 Hawkeye, which was the model used between 1950's - 1970's. The E-3 is obviously like the Boeing 737/767 series. looks like a good unit for the end of the industrial age.


:D, Actually, all US Carrier battle groups use the E-2C Hawkeye today. The E-3 is ground based, USAF. Also, the French use the E-2C off their new carrier, the FNS Charles De Gaulle. Anyway, looks nice ;)

ah.....wow..didnt know u could make the plane mobile..and it doesnt crash at end of turn if it doesnt make it back to the city like in civ2? mm..that gives it the ability to stay anywhere in the world for any amount of time...thats not fair. :P

Civ isn't fair! (just jokes, just jokes, no anger)

If it was, I wouldn't have died from a musketman attack on my modern armor...:(

Originally posted by papajohns
ah.....wow..didnt know u could make the plane mobile..and it doesnt crash at end of turn if it doesnt make it back to the city like in civ2? mm..that gives it the ability to stay anywhere in the world for any amount of time...thats not fair. :P


It is my understanding that these planes are used for very long flights and missions so perhaps not returning to base all the time is more realistic?

How can you make air units go on land and sea with out going back to citys?:confused:

Never Mind i know how to now:cool:

Originally posted by PC Commander
How can you make air units go on land and sea with out going back to citys?:confused:

For those who don't know. Set the unit as an AIR unit. Then take the immobile flag off.

I was thinking of renaming this unit as the E-2 Hawkeye, (see page 2 of this thread)

It does resembled this plane more

I have come up with a new design for e-3 sentry plane:
lemme know what ya'll think:

This unit looks a lot more realistic than the other. They both look great!! :)

the E-2C is based off the COD aircraft (carrier onboard delivery)
the E-3 is a boeing 707 or 727 airframe.
there are also new awacs airframes based on the boeing 767.

on a side note, i really like the way aircraft worked in civ2. in civ3 i never use them because they cant kill and my armies outpace them. they cant keep up with my modern armor, if they had more range it would be awesome.