Controlling Air Units

[Sassenach Ruler]

I'm running Civ 3 on Apple Macintosh and the game doesn't seem to respond like the manual suggests.

I would like to put some air units on Air Superiority missions and also like to activate them from Carriers to do bombing runs but I can't seem to do this. I'm supposed to use the "A" key on the keyboard but this has no effect when the unit is selected. Ctrl-click also has no effect.

Is anyone else using Apple Macintosh and can give me some pointers on getting my air-units to help my attack and defence?

 

[tao]

You have to use "S" for superiority, "B" for bombing. And this is not Macintosh-specific.

 

[Sassenach Ruler]

I'm still having difficulty getting air units and sea units to join and move together. I expect that they should move like an Army does (This is the impression I get from the manual) but when I have an active air or sea unit and I press the above mentioned keys I get no response. I've even tried with Shift or function keys held down.

I'm playing on an Apple Powerbook using Mac OS X.

Am I expecting too much, I also can't get Helicopters to pickup or drop off marines or any land units.

I have worked out how to launch ICBM and managed to break the Russians I'm against. I've now got various cities on their continent which I'm due to ravage with my Mech Info units.

Can someone help me on the Air and Sea units question?

 

[tao]

Originally posted by RichardIII
when I have an active air or sea unit and I press the above mentioned keys I get no response.

You have to activate each plane, not the ships. "S" does not generate any visible response. "B" should allow you to use the mouse for selecting (within range) the tile to bombard.

 

[n8mac]

An option for any unit to move all of their kind (goto) at once is to use the J key. This works with all units. Planes cannot use the goto individually though (G key).

 

[gjlucas]

I have the same problem (using Civ3, v1.16, Mac OS X). Four bombers on a carrier and I can't select or control any of them. I can select a bomber from the "contents" window that appears above the info window (it draws a blue square around it) but all controls still relate to the carrier and not the bomber. Can anyone confirm that they've successfully carried out an air attack from a carrier?

 

[AlanH]

Originally posted by gjlucas
I have the same problem (using Civ3, v1.16, Mac OS X). ..... Can anyone confirm that they've successfully carried out an air attack from a carrier?

I certainly can, but I haven't run 1.16 since about two days after I got the CD at Christmas. I almost immediately upgraded to 1.21, and as soon as Brad produced 1.29 I was there.

You must have succeeded in doing a rebase mission once to get it onto the carrier in the first place, and after that there's no difference as far as I know, between using the 'plane from a carrier or from a city. Well, there is one difference - 'planes go to sleep while the carrier moves, but cities don't move.

I normally select the aircraft by right clicking (control clicking if you have an Apple mouse) on the carrier and choosing it in the pop-up menu just like any other unit in a stack. It then appears over the relevant tile in place of the carrier. I can then use B to bring up the bombard grid and select a tile to hit, and the 'plane does it's thing, usually misses, and returns to the carrier with its movement points used up. This is the only mission that shows the plane actually moving. Or I can hit S for air superiority - that does nothing much except apparently to put the unit back to sleep. Or I can hit shift-R for a rebase - move it to a carrier or to a city, select the destination tile and the plane relocates to that city/carrier. You don't see it move. If it's a fighter I can choose R for a reconnaissance mission, and that brings up the red squares again fo me to select a target tile. The fighter illuminates the target area and uses up its movement points, but you don't actually see anything move. I'm not into helicopters and paratroopers so I can't help you there.

 

[Sid]

gjlukas, upgrade to 1.29b2 when you get the chance. Then, you can use the 'Wake All' and 'Fortify All' commands on your carriers. When you use 'Wake All', the bombers/fighters will then come up for action, as everyone has explained above.

If you are getting heat from enemy air action, it pays to have a few fighters allocated to air superiority missions. The problem with Civ3 is the very small text usually says, "Enemy artillery destroyed ...(whatever)", even if it was done by bombers that are carrier-borne. So, if you play on large water maps, like me, get those fighters working on 'Air Superiority' and 'Reconnaissance' to pick up the AI's -- very poor -- attempts at bombardment and invasion.

Helicopters should load one foot unit (Infantry, Paras, Marines) and be able to transport it to the limit of their range. Landing on a tile that is enemy-occupied will lose your ground unit. Helicopters can be shot down by enemy fighters. Placing paras on mountains in enemy-held territory is a fun tactic, because paras defend quite well.

Good luck,

 

[Sassenach Ruler]

Originally posted by gjlucas
I have the same problem (using Civ3, v1.16, Mac OS X). Four bombers on a carrier and I can't select or control any of them. I can select a bomber from the "contents" window that appears above the info window (it draws a blue square around it) but all controls still relate to the carrier and not the bomber. Can anyone confirm that they've successfully carried out an air attack from a carrier?

The way that I get this to work it to do a Control (Ctrl) click on the Carrier and the contextual menu will allow you to "wake" the planes on that carrier. When they are woken they then become the active unit.