Where's my cover bonus?

[D64]

Why isn't the swordsman's Cover promotion bonus included in the combat calculation here?

 

[ArchGhost]

Cover is against Archery units. Your Swordsman is targeting a Maceman, which is a Melee unit.

Edit:
To clear up a little potential confusion...I assume you are attacking a city defended by Longbows and hence the question. Well the Civ4 combat system will always select the "best" defender in a stack to combat an attacking unit, so in the case of this Swordsman, it's picking the AI's mace since the native +50% in melee combat is making it a tougher opponent than a Longbow for that sword.

In fact, because Cover is on this sword, and would it give it an easier time against a Longbow, the promotion could have possibly taken any Longbows out of selection as a target for it, as the Mace is a harder fight for it to win. One of the little quirks that can pop up that can make you think twice about picking promos. City Raider III would be a better promo here in this case as it not only applies equally to all potential targets in the city, but it's actually stronger (-30% defense) than Cover or Shock (+25% combat ) in terms of power anyway and especially in cases where the defending unit has large modifiers -- such as units defending cities.

 

[AcaMetis]

Note that attacking units will always face the "best" defender, so it's possible the Knights (for example) would attack a different unit than the Swordsman, since the +50% against Melee units that the defending Maces get won't apply if a Knight is attacking them. The same thing can happen if you give units specific promotions like Cover - if the other Swordsman are facing a Longbow instead of a Mace it's because the Cover promotion makes the Longerbow a weaker defender for that unit, so the Mace is called to defend instead.

 

[jmas]

City Raider III would be a better promo here in this case as it not only applies equally to all potential targets in the city, but it's actually stronger (-30% defense) than Cover or Shock (+25% combat ) in terms of power anyway and especially in cases where the defending unit has large modifiers -- such as units defending cities.

It is stronger; I just wanted to point out that all modifiers are applied to defenders, not to attackers, except for Combat promos on attackers. So in your example, City Raider III is -30% modifier to the defenders, while Cover or Shock would also affect defenders (of the relevant type) by -25% (whereas referring to it as +25% combat might give the incorrect impression).

 

[D64]

Cover is against Archery units. Your Swordsman is targeting a Maceman, which is a Melee unit.

Geez. I thought it was a crossbow unit. Apologies for posting a time-waster.

 

[Lennier]

I mistook it for a crossbow at first as well; but it really is a maceman with its backside turned to the swordsman. "I fart in your general direction."