Helicopters at airbases

[Major Advantage]

And another question that occured to me during the current GOTM:
As a strategy to cross the endless forests of Nottingham, I had planned to try out helicopter(s), because they can move pretty fast, have good attackability and can capture cities. As the heli approached the enemy, its power decreased (of course), so I ordered an engineer who was slowly following him to set up and Airbase in the middle of nowhere (for airbase purpose only, no city anywhere near) in order to let the heli recover its strength there. However it could not be set to sleep there but when I hit the "f"-button it disappeared entirely from the map, but was still visible in the "unit-information-screen" to th right!
Next turn, the heli awoke at the airbase, safe and sound and fully recovered... So what happened? Are airbases not suitable for helicopters? I thought they were some kind of aircraft carrier, just immobile and not on water?! Have I stumbled into the "uncrashable plane trick", that I have just heard the name of? Therefore, can I still make use of the heli according to GOTM rules? (I haven't done so so far and wouldn't need to).

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Air units do "disappear" from the main map when they are put in an airbase (you should see a small white airplane on the airbase showing that it is occupied).

I seldom use helicopters, so I don't know how they react to being fortified or kept in an airbase.

This is definitely not the uncrashable plane trick. That trick involves ending your turn early in MGE (I think you use ctrl-n) when the airplane still has a movement point but is in the air.

 

[Major Advantage]

Air units do "disappear" from the main map when they are put in an airbase (you should see a small white airplane on the airbase showing that it is occupied).

IIRC, there was such a plane. I was mostly irritated by the fact, that I couldn't send it to sleep("s"), which I usually do to let them recover in cities or on carriers.

I use them sometimes, since they do have some benefits, like being able to attack severals turns in a row (unlike bombers), don't have to end their turn in cities (unlike Fighters) and therefore can travel further across undeveloped territory than any other unit and they can capture cities (unlike both fighters/bombers).

 

[Ali Ardavan]

There are no rules against using helicopters. Building an air base far from your cities is also allowed. (Building them in the city radius of your cities is not allowed because it is a cheap and quick way for terraforming.) Helicopters are indeed useful units. I have used them on occasion. Unfortunately, challenging modern warfare is rare in GOTM games because we are usually far ahead of the rivals by the time the modern units are available. Often the modern units are used against ancient ones.