Civ3 vanilla helicopter strategies?

[Sinterklaas]

Is there anyone here who actually uses helicopters in Civ3 vanilla? I never build them because they can only transport one infantry unit a few tiles away from your city and that's it. They do pretty much the same thing as a paratrooper does, except the paratrooper does it by himself without needing a helicopter, making helicopters imho the most useless unit in Civ3.

So, are there people here who do use them and if so, for what strategies? Because I don't see any reason for building them right now.

 

[Fiddlin Nero]

Experimented a couple times in PTW, never found a use for them.

 

[Verarde]

Have never, ever used them, in PTW or C3C. I've never played Vanilla, so I don't know if there's a difference.

 

[Sparthage]

In C3C they can carry three in one turn. Of course, they're still useless when you can have MA Armies, but I guess they're less useless than before.

edit: In Vanilla, of course I don't use them. They're more useless than F-15s.

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

I used them once in Vanilla, and used them several times in the playground mod.

 

[creamcheese]

I find them useless as well. I think they added them knowing people would complain if they forgot helicopters, but never really had much of a use for them in mind.

You could use them to humiliate the AI or an opponent in multiplayer. Wait until you are the superpower, and then attack them with troops all landed by helicopter .

 

[Sinterklaas]

Thanks, so I'm not the only one who finds no use for these things.

edit: In Vanilla, of course I don't use them. They're more useless than F-15s.

Why are F-15's useless? I've never used them (never played as America so far) but they look like better versions of the jet fighter, which I use a lot.

 

[I. Larkin]

In early version of vanila when research went much faster helico was something to use. I mainly use it for infantry transportation to remote cities without Airport.

 

[Sparthage]

Thanks, so I'm not the only one who finds no use for these things.


Why are F-15's useless? I've never used them (never played as America so far) but they look like better versions of the jet fighter, which I use a lot.

If the game goes the way I hope, I've won before the F-15 or Jet Fighters come into play. In addition, the improvements they make on the Jet Fighters don't do you much good. Besides, your shields are better spent on Tanks, Bombers, and Artillery. All of them can do more damage than a F-15 can.

 

[Babylon746]

In some of my first games, I used helicopters just to try it.
Never really bothered after that.

 

[Sinterklaas]

If the game goes the way I hope, I've won before the F-15 or Jet Fighters come into play. In addition, the improvements they make on the Jet Fighters don't do you much good.

I don't play the game to win asap; I usually build a small country and then try to interact with the rest of the world while improving my cities, engaging in diplomacy and eventually ending up in the modern age, which I like the most. By that time I've either won by culture points or by being the first to launch a space ship, after which I just continue playing. In the meantime I go on "adventures" by helping friendly countries against agressors or by taking a piece of someones land and making it into an overseas colony.

Besides, your shields are better spent on Tanks, Bombers, and Artillery. All of them can do more damage than a F-15 can.

I only use jet fighters in a defensive role: I give one to each city and put them in "Air Superiority" -mode so they will attack enemy aircraft invading my airspace (jet fighters and F-15's are the only ones that can do that in the game). For the offensive role I use stealth bombers (which are better than the average bombers): I build about ten of them and then use them as some sort of cavalry, since they can rebase to any friendly city on the map and are therefore a quick intervention force. In my last game the Chinese surprised my fleet with a sh*tload of battleships and sunk over 2/3rd of it, leaving my transports full of tanks and mech infantry so vulnerable that they could destroy them in the next few turns without any of my units being close enough to prevent this. So I retreated them into a bay where I had just taken a Chinese village, rebased my army of stealth bombers to that village and the next turn my bombers crippled the Chinese fleet so much that it retreated out of the bombing range, leaving a gap through which my transports could escape, saving my entire expeditionary force and preventing me from losing the war.

 

[toy4080]

My main difficulty with the vanilla helicopters is that the unit transported cannot move once it has been landed. In reality, helicopters are used to transport units to battle quickly, where they then can immediately fight. That is why I mod helicopters in my scenarios as air units that are not immoble and have movement rates (generally movement of 2 with "all terrain as roads" checked"). That way, they can move into enemy territory, drop off units, and then return. The units can then attack that turn. Same with attack helicopters, but with large bombard rating.

 

[shl7070]

Helicopters are totally useless. To transport units to battlefield I use airports and rails. Airports near the front are rushed. If I want to pillage tiles at that stage I use bombers.