ok you modders got the SDK

Is there anyone who is working on the cruise missile now? and other missiles? this was a good unit why fraxis missed it out I'll never know but could someone please do it now we got the SDK

You don't need the SDK for missiles - I'm pretty sure you could code it all in python.

And I believe that Kael has already done somthing similar with firaballs.

I think the biggest problem with cruise missles wasn't implementation but balance. It would be easiy to create a 12 movement unit that destroys itself upon an attack. The hard part is understanding that this completely changes the game from what it was for the first 400 turns. The AI doesn't know how to handle it, and even the designers probably had a hard time figuring out "why would anyone build anything but cruise missiles except to finally occupy the cities they destroy?"

You could make cruise missiles very weak but give them massive collateral damage and bonuses versus ships. And make them very expensive (2* modern armour for example)

Would people cry that cruise missiles are too weak? I suppose cruise missiles are just like anything else. If you make it too strong or too weak, it will suck. There's always a middle ground.

Hmm... I suspect that the REAL danger behind cruise missiles is their movement rate, then. The AI always did a really bad job whenever a unit with 3 movement points came around, which is why you don't see them. A unit with 12 movement points or what not can come out of nowhere. I think the AI generally has a hard time with that.

The only possible way of making the AI use it is to use the SDK to create a new UNIT_AI type called UNIT_AI_MISSILE. I'm not sure what we should tell the AI to do with it though?
Shoot at any enemy ship in range (with preference loaded carriers and transports)
Attack large stacks
any more...

It's not just what you do with it. It's also what you do against it. It's very hard to teach the AI to fight against an enemy that they can't really see coming.

dh_epic said:

The AI always did a really bad job whenever a unit with 3 movement points came around, which is why you don't see them. A unit with 12 movement points or what not can come out of nowhere. I think the AI generally has a hard time with that.

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You mean, the AI has a hard time moving the unit, or defending against it?

(What would decent human player do, for that matter?)

I don't think it would be any worse than fighters/bombers and nukes. All of those can attack from a great distance.

Maybe you could even make it work in the game similar to a nuke (except moveable). That way the ai would have more of an idea of how to use it, and the SDI would work against it to provide some balance. You would need to change the reaction to using them though, so that they are not treated as nukes diplomatically.

The truth is that the AI is hurting when it comes to handling arial units and it's hurting when it comes to nukes. The only thing that saves them is the fact that the game is almost over, and by that point you're either dominating them and nukes are saving you time, or you're so close that you decide not to war with them and go after the space race.

Has anyone actually tried fighting an even-war against the AI in the modern era? I know the AI isn't generally as good as the player when it comes to war, but the defecit when you add in planes / naval units is huge.

Dual said:

Maybe you could even make it work in the game similar to a nuke (except moveable). .

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Thats what i mean if you could take the nuke away from the ICBM and as you say make it moveable then it wouldn't it just be a missile? you could then just reskin it and edit some game files so it dies at the end of its turn (unless moving to a friendly city). people have made things like the V1/V2 rockets but because they are from the ICBM still have the "nuke" thing with it.

Dh epic said:

Has anyone actually tried fighting an even-war against the AI in the modern era? I know the AI isn't generally as good as the player when it comes to war, but the defecit when you add in planes / naval units is huge.

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I know what you mean but i think this is because fraxis didn't spend much time programing this era... as we don't spend as much time in the modern era but i still would like to see this unit out and in my game even if the AI only uses it against my ships...I only play maps where I'm on my own Island anyway so the AI would have one up on me when I'm attacking and i would have one up on the AI when its coming for me (as long as i see em coming or have enough missiles to do any damage)