airship problem

[echolovesyou]

I just built couple of airships and French started to invade me across continent. I can only strike their destroyer with one of my airships. then I can not strike anymore in the following turns. Whenever i press the strike button it is grey on its target. Can someone help me to explain this? The airship is definitely within the range (only two squares away)

 

[KMadCandy]

they're like siege weapons kind of, they can't kill ships. there's a maximum damage they can do i think. so if they're hurt the max already, you can't attack them again until they heal up some. it's like when you use a bomber to attack units in a city, once they're all down to half health the bombers refuse to fly. i don't know what the airship percentage max is.

 

[killmeplease]

they will not bomb since target unit has 70% or less

 

[kazapp]

To further the discussion now that the original issue has been resolved, the only real problem with airships is the very existence of such a stupid irritating illogical unit.

 

[killmeplease]

what is wrong with airships?

 

[sabremookie]

what is wrong with airships?

The problem with airships is that they were more of a spotter unit, and not an attacking unit. It would be OK if you could have them just sit above airspace as a spotter, but it silly that they could attack. Sure, airships did on time to time attack, but it was very cumbersome and left them highly exposed to being shot down. Basically, the airship would see a submarine, flutter down, and unload its bombs (which were really depth charges, and those would hopefully hit the sub. Unfortunately, once the sub surfaced, it could easily shoot down the airship (with its above water guns) (this exact scenario actually happened off the coast of the United States during WWII). So, it seems a total mismatch for the airship to be bombing frigates, destroyers, battleships. I mean really, if an airship tried to bomb a destroyer, it would be mincemeat.

 

[killmeplease]

just read about them in wikipedia. huh, airships were not so cool as in the game. they were not cool at all

but i think they could successfully to bomb any pre-infatry units (particulary frigates)? it would be funny if they acted like a siege units but flying! does anybody knows how to mod them such a way?

ps: sorry for my english)

 

[Bushface]

Why do Airships, in the game, return to base after a mission ? Why can't they shut off their engines and loiter at a safe height above enemy territory, giving you sight of a goodly patch of that land, and perhaps drifting randomly by a tile per round until ordered home ? Naturally, if they drifted out of range of their starting point they would be lost - that is, disappear, not just "where are we ?"

 

[3 EMS]

You can't lower a city's cultural defence with them but you can attack the units residing there. After you weaken them they are fairly easy to kill.

 

[Dida]

I remove airship's ability to perform air strike, now they are perfect recon unit. Still a very powerful unit.

 

[kazapp]

what is wrong with airships?

Its a unit without any reasonable counter, that what's wrong.

There's no SAM's in the "Age of Airships" and you can't get to the airships without invading its home city (by which time the argument is moot - assuming your weakened troops succeed, that is). Not until you get Fighters is the game's natural balance of play restored.

Other facts, such as it being loved by AI, and how it utterly dominates naval warfare, and is such a generally unfun unit, are less urgent faults.

But they do contribute to a picture of a hastily introduced mess of an untested unit. And the thought of Firaxis now abandoning the game without fixing their own foul-up is extremely irritating.

So what's wrong with the Airship, you say?

It's an ill-concieved, poorly-tested, illogical, unfun and needless addition to the game, that's what's wrong with it!

(Yes, I can mod it out, but the point is that the monkey interns that apparently was left in charge of BtS should never have been allowed to add it in the first place!)

 

[Andraeianus I]

Other aircraft behave the same as airships when attacking ships, don't they?

 

[kazapp]

The problem isn't that airships are small fighters - the problem is that these "small fighters" can be built in age where they can't be touched.

Adding "fighterettes" like that with no intercepting counter unit - what were they thinking? (It's unhistorical, it's disruptive, it's unfun, ... in short, no, they weren't. Thinking, that is... )

 

[KMadCandy]

one thing that annoys me about them is that they're better than their upgrades in one sense . they can see subs, which don't even exist when you "invent" airships. but when airships go obsolete in the future when submarines are invented, fighters and bombers can't see subs. sometimes i forget that and upgrade all my airships, oops! then i go pillage my oil to make a few airships again. easier to do air recon than station subs/destroyers* out in the water to spot enemy subs, and cheaper on unit support costs too. of course i can't get warning from as far away, but depending on the map and how safe i feel in general it's what i do sometimes.

*add in that often i forget that after learning stealth, i can't make the old-fashioned destroyers that can spot subs any more. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

 

[Mesix]

The military use of airships is ridiculous.

There are two things that airships should do...

1. Blow up like the Hindenburg.

2. Attempt to fly around the world like rich entrepreneurs (maybe there could be a quest).

Other then that, they are a worthless addition to the game.

 

[Soneji]

Someone on here posted a good link about Blimps, and their military applications.

He clearly, unlike some here, had knowledge of what the hell they were talking about.

 

[Mesix]

Someone on here posted a good link about Blimps, and their military applications.

He clearly, unlike some here, had knowledge of what the hell they were talking about.

Here is a really good excerpt from the proud history of the use of airships in war.

The Germans, French and Italians all operated airships in scouting and tactical bombing roles early in the war, and all learned that the airship was too vulnerable for operations over the front. The decision to end operations in direct support of armies was made by all in 1917. Count Zeppelin and others in the German military believed they had found the ideal weapon with which to counteract British Naval superiority and strike at Britain itself. More realistic airship advocates believed the Zeppelin was a valuable long range scout/attack craft for naval operations. Raids began by the end of 1914, reached a first peak in 1915, and then were discontinued in August 1918. Zeppelins proved to be terrifying but inaccurate weapons. Navigation, target selection and bomb-aiming proved to be difficult under the best of conditions. The darkness, high altitudes and clouds that were frequently encountered by zeppelin missions reduced accuracy even further. The physical damage done by the zeppelins over the course of the war was trivial, and the deaths that they caused (though visible) amounted to a few hundred at most. The zeppelins also proved to be vulnerable to attack by aircraft and antiaircraft guns, especially those armed with incendiary bullets. Several were shot down in flames by British defenders, and others crashed 'en route'.

A military technology that was used for less than four years and proved to be a tactical blunder hardly warrants an addition to the game. Maybe you should have done a little research before chiming in with your opinion.

 

[Dida]

I concur with the above, especially the last sentence.

 

[BoydofZINJ]

air crafts are a very powerful weapon (similar to siege weapons) where you can destroy damage and cities and units from a distance. However, you can not destroy any units with aircraft. However, you can destate it to the point where a weaker unit should be able to kill the unit.

Ultimately speaking you can not defend an island successfully with just aircraft. Transports can still ferry their entire crew even if they are damaged to 0.1% or operating at 100%. Even against a superior technology, superior air power can help you catch up or repell the invaders. However, its only a help... not the "end all be all" in island type defenses.

 

[ranLR]

Why do Airships, in the game, return to base after a mission ? Why can't they shut off their engines and loiter at a safe height above enemy territory, giving you sight of a goodly patch of that land, and perhaps drifting randomly by a tile per round until ordered home ? Naturally, if they drifted out of range of their starting point they would be lost - that is, disappear, not just "where are we ?"

well they have to re-fuel (re-helium??) pack up some more food and water, maybe a conjugal for the crew? besides they have to tell their commanders what they saw no? dont forget a turn is ~1yr.

A luftwafa-indian-jones type blimp w/ attached mini-fighters would be nice though, flying recon missions and sub-spotting