[Vote] (3-17) Air Unit Policy Bonus Proposals

[Recursive]

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Players, please cast your votes in the poll above. Vote "Yea" for every proposal you'd be okay with if it were implemented. Vote "Nay" if you'd be okay if these proposals weren't implemented. You can vote for any number of options.

All votes are public. If you wish, you can discuss your choice(s) in the thread below. You can change your vote as many times as you want until the poll closes.

VP Congress: Session 3, Proposal 17
Discussion Thread: (3-17) Proposal: Move around the Air Unit Policy Bonuses
Proposer: @pineappledan
Sponsor: @pineappledan

Proposal Details
Current Imperialism Finisher:

Unlocks the Pentagon​

Can buy Admirals with Faith​

Naval units gain the Ironsides Promotion (Units become stronger as they take damage).​

Each Air unit stationed in a city increases the City's Defense by 3, and reduces Unhappiness from needs by 3%.​

​

Current Air Superiority Tenet

Free Airport in all cities​

+25% towards Air units​

Can build Zeroes​

​

The problem:

• The Imperialism finisher often unlocks before you even have flight, and the air unit bonuses on it are really awkward
  • Cities start with only 2 air slots, and don't get more until airports/Pentagon, much later
  • Air units require SRs, and they are expensive. You aren't likely to have that many of them
  • This is one of the last places that still has % Needs reductions in the game
  • This is not why people build airplanes anyways; it's a tiny bonus that never factors into any decision-making.
• Air superiority got nerfed recently
  • This policy is still really good, but airports don't give the major % boosts to tile culture and GWs that they used to.
  • Their Finest Hour gives +25% towards air units too. Combined with Total War, Autocracy has +50% for air units, which is a bit much.

Solution:
Current Imperialism Finisher:

Unlocks the Pentagon​

Can buy Admirals with Faith​

Naval units gain the Ironsides Promotion (Units become stronger as they take damage).​

Air units gain the Interrupter Gear Promotion (+20% on attack)​

​

Current Air Superiority Tenet

Each Air unit stationed in a city increases the City's Defense by 3 (doesn't affect needs)​

Free Airport in all cities​

Can build Zeroes​

(removed the +25% for air units)​

​

A clean, straightforward boost to air units in a time when they are just coming out, and have limited uses makes more sense.
The Air Superiority tenet feels as if it was made for a bonus on stacking air slots. It gives extra air slots to all cities for free, and gives access to a SR-free air unit to fill them with.
The addition of the defense bonus doesn't majorly affect the policy, but it fits with Autocracy's existing kit of weird abilities, and if that bonus is going to exist somewhere, this tenet is the best place for it.


VP Congress: Session 3, Proposal 17a
Discussion Thread: (3-17a) Counterproposal: Shuffle Air Policy Bonuses w/Finest Hour Included
Proposer: @DeAnno
Sponsor: @pineappledan

Proposal Details
Reading over the @pineappledan proposal here, it struck me that a city defense bonus might fit better on Freedom than on Autocracy. Then, when I looked at Their Finest Hour, the Freedom Policy, it struck me that a production boost to planes fit better on Autocracy than Freedom. Then I looked at Air Supremacy, and noticed it had a production boost anyway (because Autocracy gets everything I guess.) But it should have it instead of Freedom, surely, and Freedom should have the Defense boost. So leave that one alone.

TFH had a City Defense boost already, but it was a boring one that we can make more interesting and thematic by tying it to planes. That's the core of the idea.

For reference, these are the policies in question:

Current Imperialism Finisher:
Unlocks the Pentagon
Can buy Admirals with Faith
Naval units gain the Ironsides Promotion (Units become stronger as they take damage).
Each Air unit stationed in a city increases the City's Defense by 3, and reduces Unhappiness from needs by 3%.

Current Their Finest Hour Tenet
All Cities get +1 Air Unit slot and +33% Combat Strength.
+25% Production towards Air Units in all Cities, and can build B17 Bombers.

Let's get a better idea what that +33% CS means. I'm going to assume it applies before garrisons and after buildings: correct me if I'm wrong. Lets look at the two most basic cases in my eyes:

Hill City (8) + Walls (6) + Castle (8) + Bastion (10) + Arsenal (12) = 44 (33% is +15)
Hill City (8) + Walls (6) + Castle (8) + Bastion (10) + Arsenal (12) + Military Base (20) = 64 (33% is +21)

I think requiring Air Units to get the bonus should make it a little bit better, though being able to work on a city with no infrastructure is an advantage too, at least for the first 3 planes. Planes 4-7 would require an Airport to cram in, which is the same cost as a Military Base (but of course, you also need the Planes now!)

+3 CS is clearly kinda weak: at the end you're getting the same size bonus for way more effort. +5 CS could get way too ridiculous, giving a total of +35 bonus at the end. So one direction we might take is +4 CS: more effort for more return. But that's still a lot of defense indeed, even at +28. So what if instead we boosted another aspect of the policy: the Air Slots. Going from +1 to +2 is a big boost, but we do lose the production bonus too, so it's a justified boost.

As for the Imperialism Finisher, I thought the original proposal did fine with that at first, but PD was thinking we could apply the same "stronger when damaged" promotion to the planes too. I think this is a more thematic and unified option so I'm fine with that happening, and happy to include it in this proposal.

New Imperialism Finisher
Unlocks the Pentagon.
Can buy Admirals with Faith.
Air and Naval units gain the the Promotion which gives: 'Units become stronger as they take damage.' This promotion is renamed to 'Banzai!'

New Their Finest Hour Tenet
All Cities get +2 Air Unit slots.
Each Air Unit stationed in a City increases the City's Defense by 3.
Can build B17 Bombers.