Right now: When you hover over a unit to attack with an Air Unit, the UI will show you if their are interceptors that would attack the unit except those outside your line of sight.
Proposal: Interceptor UI includes any unit that will intercept the plane, even ones outside of line of sight. In other words, you will always know if there is a risk of interception when you attack a unit with a plane.
Rationale: Now does it make sense that the UI doesn't show units that are hidden? It does I absolutely admit that. But from a UI standpoint, the current mechanic is horrible. You check the UI, see its clear, and fire your bomber. Next unit, you do it again, things are clear, you fire....and the bomber instantly goes up in smoke due to a hidden fighter in the backline. Its a terrible mouthfeel.
It also starts to petrify airpower, especially in the 2nd tier (bombers/fighters). Once fighters come out they generally have the range to screen behind the lines, and still intercept units on the front. But these cities are much farther back and extremely difficult to get line of sight on. As a consequence air power is actually weaker in the 2nd tier, because you have to be incredibly careful about what you attack, and cannot trust the UI to help you on the intercepts (because the UI is basically lieing to you at this point). Any attack could insta kill your bomber, and so the bombers get less used. The only real way to tell is to use fighter air screens, but against an opponent with interceptor promotions that provide multiple interceptions per plane, it can take many fighters to clear away all the interception before you "know for certain" its safe to bomb. Often in a game you just don't have the oil necessary to provide that level of fighter support and still mix in bombers.
While the current mechanic makes thematic sense, its effect on gameplay is too great imo. It tremendously weakens air power at a point where it should be at its near zenith in strength, and it gives you a UI that lies to you about the actual state of the game.
Proposal: Interceptor UI includes any unit that will intercept the plane, even ones outside of line of sight. In other words, you will always know if there is a risk of interception when you attack a unit with a plane.
Rationale: Now does it make sense that the UI doesn't show units that are hidden? It does I absolutely admit that. But from a UI standpoint, the current mechanic is horrible. You check the UI, see its clear, and fire your bomber. Next unit, you do it again, things are clear, you fire....and the bomber instantly goes up in smoke due to a hidden fighter in the backline. Its a terrible mouthfeel.
It also starts to petrify airpower, especially in the 2nd tier (bombers/fighters). Once fighters come out they generally have the range to screen behind the lines, and still intercept units on the front. But these cities are much farther back and extremely difficult to get line of sight on. As a consequence air power is actually weaker in the 2nd tier, because you have to be incredibly careful about what you attack, and cannot trust the UI to help you on the intercepts (because the UI is basically lieing to you at this point). Any attack could insta kill your bomber, and so the bombers get less used. The only real way to tell is to use fighter air screens, but against an opponent with interceptor promotions that provide multiple interceptions per plane, it can take many fighters to clear away all the interception before you "know for certain" its safe to bomb. Often in a game you just don't have the oil necessary to provide that level of fighter support and still mix in bombers.
While the current mechanic makes thematic sense, its effect on gameplay is too great imo. It tremendously weakens air power at a point where it should be at its near zenith in strength, and it gives you a UI that lies to you about the actual state of the game.