Gunship promotion

[the_bishop_987]

Hi,

I've got 12 gunships fresh out of the barn due to get two promotions each. When the balloon goes up, I'm going to surge them across the Malinese border and pillage as much as possible.

What would be the best promotions?

TIA

 

[Cam_H]

My gut feel, with no testing whatever, would be Flanking I and Flanking II in this instance.

I am unsure of your position vs. Mali in the technology race, but assume that they have SAM Infantry, who will decimate your Gunships in their retaliation effort. The best way out of this would be to build on the inherent 25% chance of withdrawal with an additional 10% and 20% with Flanking promotions so that there's a good chance that they can fly back to recover before going in again. Ideally there will be an invading force of mixed troops on a tile that they can get protection from on their last movement point.

 

[UncleJJ]

Well that depends on what you are facing and what his best troops are. In one of my recent games I used gunships to great effect by giving them the Pinch gunpowder promotion. I figured that since they already have the 100% bonus versus armour (he only had 4 tanks) you don't need to do much more in that department. The troops that gave my gunships the most trouble were Infantry, Sams and Marines since they all get terrain bonusses and the 25% Pinch bonus with the +1 combat (needed to get Pinch) goes a long way towards making that fight easy.

My 10 gunships ripped through the Malinese cities supported by massed fighters on 4 carriers backed up by my Pinch promoted Infantry and Machine Guns to hold ground. Research for tanks was only finished when the war was almost over. The fighters were only opposed by one Sam in each city and the fighters just took that one interception and then other 11 plus any others based in cities just reduced all his troops to half strength... and my gunships walked through those without loss. Destroyers reduced the defences of coastal cities and catapults (yes ) the odd inland one. It was the fastest Blitkrieg I've ever done and moving 4 squares/ turn in enemy territory is a huge advantage in speed.

Have fun

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

I, II, III, Blitz? And then let the multiple attacks build up the XP in a hurry? I discovered that one by accident in RB Adv 8. The attack got a lot faster after that.

 

[cabert]

I, II, III, Blitz? And then let the multiple attacks build up the XP in a hurry? I discovered that one by accident in RB Adv 8. The attack got a lot faster after that.

when you're already level 4, xp may build up in a hurry, but won't give you fast promotioons (since you need so much XPs to get the next level)

pinch is good for you pillagers
flanking as no effect (other than negating first strikes) in defense and usually, pillagers have to defend.

If you face mounted troops mostly, combat 1, 2 is best.

 

[pigswill]

Maybe have 3 stacks of 4 gunships; each stack has a scout (flanking 1, sentry) and three attack(combat). The problem with flanking 2 is further promotions coz you don't need mobility with gunships. Aim for blitz for the survivors.

 

[Eqqman]

I figured that since they already have the 100% bonus versus armour (he only had 4 tanks) you don't need to do much more in that department. The troops that gave my gunships the most trouble were Infantry, Sams and Marines since they all get terrain bonusses and the 25% Pinch bonus with the +1 combat (needed to get Pinch) goes a long way towards making that fight easy.

I'd concur with this. SAM infantry are largely a waste of money. The intercept chance is low, and the chance of an intercept killing an air unit outright is even lower. Combat 1 + Pinch gives 20 + 2 + 5 = 27 against the 18 + 6 = 24 of the SAM unit, which completely negates his advantage as an anti-air killer. A Marine gives the same 24 vs Gunships plus is 24 against everything else too. Of course, your opponent can have promoted SAMs, but these promotions are just serving to bring the SAM back up to even odds, not making it lethal vs your air. And a promoted Marine would still be more effective.

The Flanking promotions are nice, but they are only helpful in allowing you to fight battles you weren't likely to win anyway, and you should be managing your fights better than to have to rely on bad odds. The inherent movement ability of the Gunship allows you to fight a battle and then move back to heal safely already.

 

[UncleJJ]

< A gunships> Combat 1 + Pinch gives 20 + 2 + 5 = 27 against the 18 + 6 = 24 of the SAM unit, which completely negates his advantage as an anti-air killer.

Gunships are actually 24 base strength ... so that's 24 + 2.4 + 6 = 32.4

And SAM Infantry gets 50% versus Helicopters ... so that's 18 + 9 + promotions = 27 + promotions it might have

Which means the gunship stands a good chance defending against SAM. With support from other aircraft or artillery gunships can easily winkle half strength SAM infantry out of defensive positions.

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

Gunships are actually 24 base strength ... so that's 24 + 2.4 + 6 = 32.4

And SAM Infantry gets 50% versus Helicopters ... so that's 18 + 9 + promotions = 27 + promotions it might have

Which means the gunship stands a good chance defending against SAM. With support from other aircraft or artillery gunships can easily winkle half strength SAM infantry out of defensive positions.

Defender vs attacker screws up this math. Live tests, assuming no promotions for the SAM, show...

Gunship attacks: 26.4 (24 * 1.1 ) vs 22.5 ( 18 * 1.25 )
SAM attacks: 18 vs. 20.86 ( 24 / 1.15 )

 

[BadHorsie]

Gunships are actually 24 base strength

Perhaps he's not patched up

 

[UncleJJ]

Defender vs attacker screws up this math. Live tests, assuming no promotions for the SAM, show...

Gunship attacks: 26.4 (24 * 1.1 ) vs 22.5 ( 18 * 1.25 )
SAM attacks: 18 vs. 20.86 ( 24 / 1.15 )

Thanks I stand corrected. I have never understood all that attacker / defender jiggery-pokery and simply make approximations which seem to work for me... but it is wrong of me to correct someone incorrectly

 

[Boom22]

Comando is a good run so you can run aroud and destroy things but I'm not sure Gunships can get commando

 

[Zaldron]

Gunships could only get commando via being upgraded from a previous era's mounted units that already had commando.