Battles you have trouble stomaching

[DarkSchneider]

Alright, I played a game yesterday where one of my badly damaged gunships was taken down by a capapult! A catapult! I have a lot of difficulty stomaching that battle, or even imagining it happening. I mean really... "throw the rocks higher!" "you'll get them eventually" Are there any other losses you've incurred that have been hard to stomach? Personally, I haven't seen anything as blantant as the old spearman vs tank nonsense, but I have seen quite a number of questionable situations involving modern and ancient units.

 

[WetWarev7]

Are you having trouble stomaching the idea that gunships and catapults would be in the same era, or that a catapault could possibly damage a gunship?

I think both would be possible, if incredibly unlikely.

 

[Toefur]

It's a rarity but it does happen. Quite frankly I'm finding Gunships pretty useless anyway and don't build to many of them. 20 power (I think that's what they are off the top of my head) doesn't seem like enough to effectivily take on later units, even though they get a nice bonus against armored units. Maybe I'm wrong though and just haven't figured out their proper use.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

I think they are supposed to be a VERY specialized unit (basically anti-tank and only that...although they are sort of weak with respect to those as well)

 

[Padmewan]

This is the ongoing debate between realism and simplicity. I've resolved it in my mind that since the civ's in the game are all supposed to be "great civilizations" (in contrast to the barbarians) they are NOT running around in the modern era with catapults, but that a catapult unit actually represents a really undersupplied / underfunded (but maybe well trained, paradoxical as that might be) "modern" unit, perhaps irregulars with RPG's or something. Aesthetically I think SEEING a catapult take down a helicoptor is ridiculous, but each unit obviously represents lots of different specific units, so it's imaginable that a band of irregulars could take down a group of choppers by destroying their fueling station or something like that...

At least that's the story I tell myself

 

[mrjepson]

Helicopters are for pillaging... they destroy a town down to nothing in one turn...

 

[Gufnork]

Why wouldn't a catapult take out a badly damaged gunship? Those rocks are big and do you really think a badly damaged gunship is that maneuverable? It's likely that it just sits there taking the punishment due to previous damage.

I still don't like the effectiveness of outdated units. I've had swarms of knights make short work of my tanks. That was rather annoying, a tank could only take like 5-6 knights before being beat.

 

[Brutus2]

I have had a gunship get beat by a Knight which is absurd. I don't care how badly damaged a gunship is, as long as it is in the air how could a Knight even possibly damage it. At least a catupult is a ranged attack weapon. Luckily these results are extremly rare.

 

[Jurph]

There's an anecdote in "In The Company of Soldiers" about the 101st Airborne attacking a town in Iraq with Apaches. As the helicopters came in over the town, all the lights in the town went out at once. A second or two later, they came on again, and everyone in the town stepped outside with their own handguns / AK-47s / goat-rifles and fired straight up: a primitive, distributed anti-aircraft gun!

Only not so primitive: something like 75% of the unit's airframes were so badly damaged that those helicopters were grounded for a week for repairs. The mission to attack the town was not completed. Now, imagine if the guys in that town had taken the time to build a few of these suckers - all of them are very low-tech, and some of them are able to throw a 10-pound pumpkin over a range of 4400 feet . A gunship buzzing a village at 500 feet altitude would be in for a very nasty surprise if a ten-pound anything hit it at those speeds.

 

[twansalem]

I attacked a longbowman in a city with a moderately damaged Panzer and lost.

 

[Vizzini]

There are enough stories of grossly outclassed units succeeding in real life - I don't find it odd at all that a catapult could down an already damaged gunship.

Give me a catapult, load it with 200 pounds of small fist sized rocks and I could down just about anything in the air if it got within range. A big ancient era shotgun.

Jets were downed in Vietnam by farmers armed with bolt action rifles - one in a zillion shots but they did happen - so don't get too bent out of shape about it when it happens in game.

 

[harry_horse]

a) its only a game - dont get to bent out of shape about it - but it is incredibly annoying.
b) gunships seem completely a waste of time to me
c) I always try and go in with full health to any battle to try and avoid this
d) Jurph - the pumpkin photos are fantastic

 

[Aleph]

I destroyed a battleship yesterday with a transport. The BB was mildly damaged previously (log showed it on even footing with the transport) but still, I raised an eyebrow.

 

[OldTucksGhost]

I lost a tank last night to a longbowman in a desert tile. Granted, the tank was badly damaged with something like 6 hp, but still, the odds were in favor of the tank. And it lost.

 

[Vizzini]

You have to be very careful of "first strike" units if you're attacking and already damaged. Bet you a nickel that Longbowman that trashed your tank had been upgraded to 2 or more First Strikes, which are free attacks - starting at 6 strength your tank might have been down to only 2 or 3 strength before it ever got a chance to fire a shot - and at that point it's a coin flip who's gonna win.

 

[weimingshi]

Well a badly damaged gunship can fall off sky on its own. You know even with all those advanced mordern engineer, there is still a thing called mechanical failure. even a brand new gunship can fall off sky on its own.

 

[snepp]

You have to be very careful of "first strike" units if you're attacking and already damaged. Bet you a nickel that Longbowman that trashed your tank had been upgraded to 2 or more First Strikes, which are free attacks - starting at 6 strength your tank might have been down to only 2 or 3 strength before it ever got a chance to fire a shot - and at that point it's a coin flip who's gonna win.

Well, if his tank was down to 6 strength before attacking the longbowman, it was a coin-flip even before factoring in the first strike. If the first strike was successful, then it's advantage longbow.

 

[Dairuka]

Maybe it's not the game itself; but the fact that Gunships suck.

I use them to pillage and thats it.

It's easier to use bombers + tank combos as the tank busters.

 

[Vizzini]

Well, if his tank was down to 6 strength before attacking the longbowman, it was a coin-flip even before factoring in the first strike. If the first strike was successful, then it's advantage longbow.

Yea I was thinking "archer" with 3 strength when I was writing that - Longbows start at 6 Strength, so attacking a 6 Strength First Strike unit with a 6 Strength unit is usually a bad idea.

OP - Read this: Combat Explained

 

[snepp]

Yea I was thinking "archer" with 3 strength when I was writing that - Longbows start at 6 Strength, so attacking a 6 Strength First Strike unit with a 6 Strength unit is usually a bad idea.

I figured that, but thought I'd throw my weight around anyway (what little of it I have).