[Vote] (3-11) Proposal: A small rebalance of fighter aircraft

[GeneralAmadeus]

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VP Congress: Session 3, Proposal 11
Proposal Details:
Add new abilities and promotions to fighter aircraft.
Air Recon II: Replaces AR 1 for fighter/zero, reveals 7 tiles.
Air Recon III: Replaces AR 1 for jet fighter, reveals 8 tiles.
Anti-ship Armaments: Requires Ace Pilot 3, +20% vs naval units.
Bomb Rack: Requires Dogfighting 3, +20% vs land units.
Change the zero a bit.
Zero: Replace Ace Pilot 2 with Dogfighting 1.

Reason:
AR 2 and 3: It would make sense that the reveal range would increase with better planes.
Anti-ship Armaments and Bomb Rack: Once Dogfighting 3 or Ace Pilot 3 has been achieved along with the upgrades that come after there is not much point in going to the other branch since its unlikely to get very far. This gives some specialization options and adds more choices when selecting promotions and aircraft do not have many compare to other unit types. Bombers also do not get many promotions to choose from but for them it is fine to have both branches while for fighters it is less useful.
Zero ability change: So in my experience players with autocracy tend to be the aggressors. And as the one attacking i have found much more use in destroying enemy anti-air and aircraft before it can be used than simply intercepting enemy air attacks. So as a result most fighters get dogfighting with only a few getting Ace Pilot since only 1 or 2 per city are needed for interception. If the enemy has few planes or little oil then not even a single interceptor is needed and instead dogfighting can kill any aircraft before they manage to do much.

 

[Anarcomu]

AFAIK extending vision range would require new code, as the 6 tile reveal is linked to the unit, and not the promotion (during a discussion about adding this ability to scout promotion).

As for the zero change, I agree on the strategy, don't know if it is viable from a balance perspective.

 

[pineappledan]

There might be a way to make the vision range extend. There's an ability for it, but I've only managed to make it work on standalone promotions. I tried creating new promotions that added vision range modifiers as a bonus in addition to other things, but it's as if they are hard coded to just 1 promotion. The Zeppelin line in my tweaks mod uses vision modifiers to give the zeppelin line units unobstructed vision on a mobile unit.

Keep in mind that aircraft carriers get that unobstructed vision. 8 tiles in a radius is a lot. Probably too much.

 

[Stalker0]

It would help fighters check for interceptors a bit more easily, which is always a pet peeve of mine.

 

[GeneralAmadeus]

@Recursive I was thinking I might sponsor it myself depending on a few things.

1) Do I need to change the AI in any way?
2) Can I use the same icon from Air Recon for Air Recon II 2 and 3?
3) Am I allowed to use existing Icons from other unit types for Anti-ship Armaments and Bomb Rack? If not are there any unused icons I can repurpose?

 

[Legen]

On point 3, check the files on (4a) Promotion Icons for VP folder. The icons on the extraPromo_XXX.dds files are stated to be of use for modmods, and only 4 are used in VP (not sure on each modmod). From "Promotion Icons for VP.txt":

. + 64 Extra Promotion Icons you can use in your own modmods: Extra Promo Icons.png ( IconAtlas = 'extraPromo_Atlas' )

 

[Recursive]

@GeneralAmadeus Promotion selection AI would need to be changed, at minimum. You can repurpose icons, yes. While it's ideal that promotions have a unique icon, it's not required.

 

[GeneralAmadeus]

@Recursive I am 95% certain I can manage the promotion selection for AI and I know I cab handle the rest so I will try sponsoring this.

 

[Recursive]

Proposal sponsored by GeneralAmadeus.