Ferries

[TheDS]

But the point with the one turn delay for transports is that you always have the opportunity to see it coming. If I see a Civ powering across the ocean with heaps of loaded transports towards me, I know to prepare. And if it is only a one-turn warning (say, a fleet loading in London to head to Paris on the Earth18 map), then you still see that there are numerous transports in a city, and that those transports are loaded. And you should be duly prepared for that. Now, if we are to apply that to ferries also, which would have to be done, to negate any possible exploits of the system, then it just reverts back to the fact that that same function is achieved by transports, so the only real benefit out of ferries would be a lower cost.

When my cultural border is bordering on your city, and I build a rail line to it to allow me to walk through so I can get past your territory and attack some idiot that attacked me for no reason, and then later you and I have a falling out, I can still declare war on you AND attack your city AND you'll never see it coming or have a chance to defend against it.

If my Espionage is good and my borders are far and I load up my transports, I can be sitting like what, 9 squares away? Do you really remember to send your airships out to patrol the whole of your oceans every single turn? Maybe you do, but it's not going to save you.

A war is not going to be won or lost on a Ferry, and I've EXPLICITLY SAID THIS TWICE NOW, because you CANNOT USE THEM TO ENTER HOSTILE TERRITORY. Please, Cam, read that. Don't make me put it in gigantic letters and have Sid explain it to you himself. (He charges money, the bugger!) Ferries are NOT tools of invasion. They are NOT amphibious landing craft. Even if you have no defenders sitting on your coast, my units still can't enter your territory by using a Ferry if we don't have OB. It's assumed there are SOME defenses that are capable of sinking a piddly boat, even if they're not represented overtly and under your direct control.

I agree in all statements, but I want a loss of movement when going of the ferry and maybe a max use of ferries per turn.
When using a transport, the unit loses its turn when entering and leaving. Losing movement at only in one of these conditions will therefor still be an improvement.
If a ferry had a maximum capacity per turn, I guess it might be possible to build a few ferries on same tile (nice on, passes that are much used). Capacity would maybe start with 2. With new technologies, like engineering, it might be 3.

This is pretty much already how the game works. Just use a transport, or multiple transports! The point of a Ferry is to remove the hassle and speed up game play, in the same way that Workers now having 2 MPs makes them a lot less aggravating to use. (And Indian Workers having 3 MPs is better still!) I could see limiting them to having a certain number of units on them at a time, like say 2 while you have Galleys, 3 when you get Galleons, and 4 when you get Transports (or the Dutch Indiaman), but I've already said the thing can't use Railroad movement bonus.

Really, guys, we're talking about saving 2 squares' movement for most units for most of the game, and it's only when the game is pretty much over with that you could save more than that on a regular basis. It's like arguing whether a unit with fractional MPs remaining should be allowed to enter a Forested Hill.