New Unit : E-3 Sentry

**** 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?

Click to expand...

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.

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.

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!

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

Just a suggestion...