Helicopter gunship, unitcombat_archer?

[Tekamthi]

This isn't a criticism, just a question: Why in CBP is the helicopter gunship assigned to the "archer" unitcombat category, instead of "helicopter"? Something to do with how these units are handled by AI?

 

[Txurce]

This isn't a criticism, just a question: Why in CBP is the helicopter gunship assigned to the "archer" unitcombat category, instead of "helicopter"? Something to do with how these units are handled by AI?

Because it's an upgrade from a line that originates with archers.

 

[Tekamthi]

Because it's an upgrade from a line that originates with archers.

Thanks for your reply. That makes sense I suppose... except when you consider unitcombat_melee changes at some point to unitcombat_gun.. ie if unitcombats are meant to be constant through upgrade lines, what's going on with that one? And is there any reason why unitcombat_helicopter still exists w/ no units assigned to it?

I guess what I'm getting at here, is if I wanted to make helicopter gunship slightly different than other archers re: promos available, and thus assigned it back to its own unitcombat while adding the relevant promos to this category to make it *almost* same as it is now as an "archer", would I be overlooking some more subtle problems that unitcombat_archer is supposed to solve?

 

[Gazebo]

Thanks for your reply. That makes sense I suppose... except when you consider unitcombat_melee changes at some point to unitcombat_gun.. ie if unitcombats are meant to be constant through upgrade lines, what's going on with that one? And is there any reason why unitcombat_helicopter still exists w/ no units assigned to it?

I guess what I'm getting at here, is if I wanted to make helicopter gunship slightly different than other archers re: promos available, and thus assigned it back to its own unitcombat while adding the relevant promos to this category to make it *almost* same as it is now as an "archer", would I be overlooking some more subtle problems that unitcombat_archer is supposed to solve?

There’s a limited pool of combat types. Adding new ones isn’t a good idea.

Gun and melee share traits, distinction is for promotions exclusive to post gunpowder units.

G

 

[Tekamthi]

There’s a limited pool of combat types. Adding new ones isn’t a good idea.

Gun and melee share traits, distinction is for promotions exclusive to post gunpowder units.

G

Maybe I'm confusing things here then... I play VP primarily in its homemade modpack, hotseat form, albeit with a few additional mods on top (i think i have reforestation, global warming + congress, hex conquer & release, and growing fog of war). The xml that is created in this modpack still has a unitcombat_helicopter in it, with unique helicopter-only promotions still there too and linked to this unitcombat, albeit with no actual units assigned to this tag.

Working with the modpack xml directly, which I assume doesn't have any unitcombat changes outside of VP (though I havent audited the contents of my add-ons), it does not feel like I'm "adding new ones" so much as reclaiming an abandonned unitcombat and molding it into something nearly identical to archer... is that still equally a bad idea?

Ultimately I'd like to recreate the gunship under unitcombat_helicopter with all the same parameters as it has as unitcombat_archer, maybe with one or two terrain and other promotions nixed, and a single added promo for prox to carrier... but I'd prefer not all archers near carrier to have this promo if I can avoid it.

I already have this all done and working (superficially at least) in a test-game, I'm just wondering if somewhere deeper under the hood the AI is gonna horsehocky the bed somewhere down the road because of subtleties of unitcombat changes I don't understand, given the highlight of my modding knowledge at this point is injecting 1-2 lines of my own lua into firetuner...

I'm okay if AI just doesn't know about the new carrier prox promo -- its effect should be very subtle even for human with full knowledge of it -- I'm just hoping it still treats the unit otherwise the same, given that the new(salvaged) unitcombat has been setup the same as the one i just moved it from.

Thanks again for any insight you can share

 

[Tekamthi]

There's a bit of a disconnect with promotion_anti_air 1&2 here I think; they still reference unitcombat_helicopter for their bonus, as does their pedia description... possible my version is outdated here, will check in latest VP later on.