Air Units

[bombtrack]

Ok, I'm a Civ III rookie, so any advice on the use of air units would be appreciated (aside form the fact that bombing missions are very effective). But can someone explain to me why a stealth fighter can't conduct air superiority missions?
And what good are helicopters aside from recon missions? I'm finding they're a waste of resources.
Also, I noticed that other civs will hate you if you're prosperous, even though you have a clean track record. In my current game the Romans, English, Russians, Egyptians and Aztecs are constatnly "furious" with me, but I've never initiated any conflicts.
(I'm kicking butt scientifically and economically).
The AI is amazing, but fairly volatile.

Thanx for your replies in advance!

P.S. Posting a poll soon: "Favorite methods of war" God I'm cryptic!

 

[CrazyScientist]

In civ3 as in real life, wars are won and lost on the ground. However, air and naval units can be a vital supplement to your ground forces. I find that the best strategies employ all three.
Weaken defenders with bombard and you can attack cities with a lot fewer casualties. Also, cutting off cities from road networks prevents them from building key units. In particular, cutting off a capital city will cause an opponent to lose all resources gained through trade, which can be crippling in the right circumstances.
Also, cities that have been heavily bombed are more suceptible to propaganda (spies) and the reduction in population makes them less likely to culture flip back to your enemy once captured.

Helicopters are used like air transports. You can drop certain units anywhere within its operational range. I don't know if they're all that useful because I haven't played around with them much.

As to the question of stealth fighters, I don't know why they can't conduct superiority missions. Maybe that's not their purpose in real life (I have no clue) but it would be nice in the game. Actually, I have to wonder why you would even build them at all, since they require the same strategic resources and technology as stealth bombers, and don't bombard as effectively. Is there anything they can do that stealth bombers can't do better?? I don't know

 

[Black Waltz]

Yep, the best attacks take all three into account, like a Real Life war.

Let's take the recent Military Campaign in Afgahnistan as an example. An extensive bombing campaign was undertaken by the US and UK to weaken the enemy ground forces. Cruise Missles were launched against Enemy Targets to weaken them for the oncoming ground assault. UK Battleships were using Cruise Missiles, firing them off-shore, and Air Craft Carriers held bombers with which they weakened the enemy.

Then the ground troops moved in and conqured the weakened forces. HOWEVER, there was also diplomatic means mixed in here with the PsyOps team broadcasting radio messages to get the people on the ground to stop resisting, therefore you could say that there are many things that could be mingled together to make an effective strike. Paratroopers (if you have a city within a close enough distance) can be used to block access to stratigic resources by landing them on them, and cutting the roads to that specific resource. I suppose that Helicopters could be used for the same task - taking one defensive unit to the site, breaking the roads to the resource, then fortifying to prevent enemy workers re-claiming the resource. Meanwhile, batteships could be blockading the ports stopping the Civilisation from trading with others to recieve their Stratigic Resource back. Bombers could be softening up enemy defenses and ground units moving in to claim the terotory.

So as you can tell, just waging war using one way only is doomed to failiure. In Civ 3 timing is very important in Military Strikes. It is best to cut off their access to as many resources as possible in their first turns of conflict. If they have Modern Armour for example, the best way to cripple them would be to cut off their access to rubber, oil or alaminum. Even better if you can cut them all off. Another good idea would be to cut off their access to luxeries. Due to War Wearyness they will inevitably fall into Anachy, disrupting their production of anymore units.

Sorry for blabbing so much, but I hope it helps.

 

[BillChin]

If a player has tech and military superiority, bombard units are just extra fluff. A player can roll over the enemy by using more units and superior firepower.

If a player is in a competitive game, where the computer has about the same tech and about the same military, bombers and artillery are vital. On competitive difficulties (Regent and above) early wars with Swordsmen, Horsemen and Knights are the usually the best way to go.

 

[Beamup]

Originally posted by DamnCommie
As to the question of stealth fighters, I don't know why they can't conduct superiority missions. Maybe that's not their purpose in real life (I have no clue) but it would be nice in the game. Actually, I have to wonder why you would even build them at all, since they require the same strategic resources and technology as stealth bombers, and don't bombard as effectively. Is there anything they can do that stealth bombers can't do better?? I don't know

As a matter of fact, IRL the F-117 (the only true "stealth" fighter in existence) has no air-to-air capability at all. The F-22 is stealthY (i.e. hard to detect on radar but not a full stealth design) and is primarily an air superiority fighter, but from the graphic it's pretty clear they're intending the "stealth fighter" to represent the F-117.

Oh, and in-game, there is precisely one advantage to stealth fighters over stealth bombers - they're cheaper.

 

[zzcczz]

I like to use air units for a variety of purposes (it just depends on how a game is playing out). I totally agree that they are mainly fluff, but I do have to say that they are great for weakening a huge stack of strong enemy units getting ready to attack.

I also like to bombard enemy ships with them, so that my small navy can safely move in and finish off their damaged fleet (besides, it's no fun having to send ships back for repairs that are spaces away ).