Where have the Paratroopers gone?

T

thorhammer

Chieftain
Joined
Jan 27, 2004
Messages
30
Location
Oregon,USA
I have only had CIV4 for a couple days, and i love it. Yet, i find there is a lack of units I believe as you go up the tech tree. The Gunship is cool, adn the SAM guys, but there could be more... The biggest dissapoinment though was there are no longer Paratroopers!:cry: I loved in CIV3 being able to drop units using the helicopters/ dropping troopers over enemy lines.

Just a suggestion, the game is still great!
 
The AI is just unable to deal with units that don't move in conventional ways. Paratroopers are essentially teleporting units. It means that you'd need to spend months of game balance just trying to get them to understand how to defend against paratroopers, and how to adequately use them. Might be a worthy addition, but it's big enough in itself that it's paratroopers or civics. Paratroopers or great people. Paratroopers or religion.
 
I don't see why they couldn't have added a simple 'Paradrop' promotion. Not sure what it should do, but the ability to attack straight after airlift, along with an ability to airlift into any square, would be a start. Increasing levels of Paradrop could increase both the range and combat bonus involved in the airlift process. Another possibility might be to give units with the Paradrop promotion a bonus to strength inside of enemy borders (after all, this IS what they were designed to do). This would allow paratroopers to be brought back to the game, but in a much better fashion-and a fashion which the AI might have a better chance of understanding.

Aussie_Lurker.
 
Anything that involves a teleport to a noncity square would require tons of AI to get it right. Civilization 4 basically took the philosophy of "if the AI can't use it, we're not gonna do it". They were trying to avoid the problems of Civ 3 where the AI would be abused and exploited by a much more skilled player.
 
Too bad, the paratroopers were a great unit in Civ 3. I used them to block the enemy advance routs and to pillage infrastructure behind enemy lines and then I relived them with armor and mech inf.

One unit I dont get in 4 is SAM-infantry. I´ve never heard of an infantry division equiped with Stingers as the main weapon. Sure, after rocketery you should have the choice of incorporating an Anit-Aircraft value to all your units to symbolise handheld SAM:s, ZSU-23:s and Stinger Avengers and so on. But I miss real dedicated Air Defence Units like the SP-SAM:s in Civ 3.

And I also miss SSN:s and modern self-propelled howitzers but thats another story.
 
Has anyone heard of or was thinking of making a Paratrooper unit? Or if not could someone point me in the direction of where i can download stuff to make my own custom unit?

Thanks!
 
dh_epic said:
Anything that involves a teleport to a noncity square would require tons of AI to get it right. Civilization 4 basically took the philosophy of "if the AI can't use it, we're not gonna do it". They were trying to avoid the problems of Civ 3 where the AI would be abused and exploited by a much more skilled player.
Click to expand...

Indeed. The planes are basically teleporting units, and the AI has no idea how to use them properly. Sure they can use them to some extent, but they don't realise how effective they are if you make squadrons of 20+ bombers. Using bombers already feels like cheating... paratroopers would be just the same.

A damn shame though :(
 
Very astute observation, jimbob27. I think that the AI is piss poor at air combat. Then again, I rarely find myself in situations where I get to test this, since by the time air units come around I'm either shifting resources to the space race, or I'm picking on very weak civs to get to the end of my domination victory.

Before we get good paratroopers, we'd have to make air combat into something worthwhile. The AI is hopeless when it comes to bombers.
 
Well, I have to say that I was not making this suggestion in isolation, but as part of an overhaul of both the entire air-warfare system AND how the AI uses it.

Aussie_Lurker.
 
jimbob27 said:
Indeed. The planes are basically teleporting units, and the AI has no idea how to use them properly. Sure they can use them to some extent, but they don't realise how effective they are if you make squadrons of 20+ bombers. Using bombers already feels like cheating... paratroopers would be just the same.
:(
Click to expand...

I argree the AI already sucks enough why add another element of advantage to the human players? just a thought
 
I went straight from civ1 to civ4 so I don't know how they used to work but I was thinking paratroopers would "launch" from a friendly city into enemy territory with the same radius as a bomber has (or from a bomber). Then it would be unable to move until the following turn but could pillage the square they landed in. From a defensive angle this wouldn't be too different from fast moving units charging in, or a transport suddenly unloading on your coast.
 
@ dh_epic & jimbob27
The AI used paratroopers pretty effectively in Civ. 2. They would wipe out my city defenses and paradrop into the empty city. I really miss the paratroopers. But the AI realy does need some work. The only time I've seen air units at work is when theyre intercepting. Other than that, theres little to be worried of.
 
I've had the AI use it's air units to bomb my tile improvements and the units bordering it's cities. But my invasion force was short on SAM's, and from what I've seen the AI normally doesn't seem to like risking it's planes.
 
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