Coastal Fortresses

[pdescobar]

I'm curious if anyone has done any extensive testing on coastal fortresses. They seem to have 3 characteristics:

- A "Naval Power" of strength 8 which supposedly will take pot-shots at enemy boats much like a unit with a Zone of Control.

- A "Naval Bombard Defense" of 8 which should (I guess) cause naval bombardment vs that city to miss more often that it would against a city without a coastal fortress.

- Finally, "a 50% defensive bonus against naval attacks" which is listed in the civilopedia and appears to be in the BIC/BIX in a hidden field which can't be accessed from the editor.

How well do these work? I'm most curious about this final ability as I don't even understand what it means. Since ships cannot directly attack a city and bombardment should be covered by the bombard defense, the only thing I can figure is that it applies to amphibious assaults. Either that or it was an idea that was abandoned but still remains in the documentation. So, have any studies been done on these things?

 

[Thrawn]

I don't usually bother building them so I don't know.

 

[Mr Black]

I've never seen a fortress take pot-shots at enemy vessels. I'm starting to think, they don't actually do anything.

 

[GEChallenger]

Hmm... this is something I've often wondered about, but never asked about or tested. I generally build Coastal Fortresses in every one of my cities since they're cheap, and I have yet to see them do anything at all. There isn't even an animation for a coastal fortress defense in the Art/Animations folder, like there is for the SAM or SDI defense, which is kind of weird.

 

[SewerStarFish]

Originally posted by pdescobar
- Finally, "a 50% defensive bonus against naval attacks" which is listed in the civilopedia and appears to be in the BIC/BIX in a hidden field which can't be accessed from the editor.

How well do these work? I'm most curious about this final ability as I don't even understand what it means. Since ships cannot directly attack a city and bombardment should be covered by the bombard defense, the only thing I can figure is that it applies to amphibious assaults. Either that or it was an idea that was abandoned but still remains in the documentation. So, have any studies been done on these things?

I believe this refers to the defense bonus you receive should enemy Marines attack your city with a coastal fortress.

 

[Sailorstick]

The AI never EVER attacks your cities with naval units anyway. The coastal fortress seems like a complete waste of time, so I've never built one.

 

[Turner]

I've built them, and yes, I've seen them take pot shots at a naval vessel. However, it's been so long that I dont' recall the exact circumstances.

I believe it works like a Zone of Control, it'll take a potshot based on a RNG when an enemy naval vessal enters an adjacent square.

 

[allhailIndia]

I've never seen AI actually contest the seas, but then I usually play Pangea

 

[Sailorstick]

I always play continents so that naval warfare is slightly more useful.

 

[John-LP]

WASTE OF TIME

 

[Moulton]

I have seen them take potshots, but with little or no damage. However, the AI avoids them, so I put them in narrrow channels to deny access to some areas, or at least make them work harder. Other than that, I see no value, and rarely build them. AI has never invaded a city of mine with Marines, yet, nor attacked a port.

 

[Frisian Warrior]

If I expect the ai will come from the sea, I will build them, for example on archipel maps. They can hurt their ships so bad that they turn around and go home before they put troops on my land. It 's also good against barbarian ships.

 

[chocmushroom]

It also seems to me that if they are bombarding your city, then the coastal fortress always seems to be the 1st improvement to be destroyed.
Which as they are so cheap is good

 

[The Last Conformist]

I've seen 'em knock off the odd HP of AI ships, but I've long stopped building them since I figure it's not cost effective.

 

[inudog]

I'm pretty sure that for the bombard to work, the enemy ship must move from a tile adjacent to the city to another tile adjacent to the city. Therefore, if the enemy is bombarding your city by moving into range, bombarding, and then moving out, the fortress won't take a shot. So it seems that they would be most effective in a canal type situation, where enemy ships would be forced to be adjacent to the city to get by.

PS. Not 100% sure on this, but I think I also read it in another thread.

inudog

 

[Lord_all_Mighty]

Well they ARE free of maitenence

 

[joycem10]

inudog, thats always been my reasoning as well. ive limited my building of coastal fortresses to canals and "gibralter like" situations.

 

[alpha wolf 64]

they seem to have more of a indirect benefit than a direct benefit as the AI tends to avoid going to close to them so even tho they may not hurt enemy ships, they in essence keep them away thru intimidation.

 

[pdescobar]

Thanks to everyone who has relayed their experiences with the free shots ability.

Originally posted by SewerStarFish
I believe this refers to the defense bonus you receive should enemy Marines attack your city with a coastal fortress.

SSF, have you done any testing on this, seen any anecdotal evidence of it, or is that just an educated guess? I may be forced to run some tests on this, although I don't think I can use the J-key from a boat which will make the tests much more tedious

 

[Turner]

Well, I've never tried to j-key out of a boat, but I know you can't j-key into a boat. So I would guess that you're going to have to do it one by one.

Looking forward to your results. . .