How can you airlift units?

[reddishrecue]

Can you airlift units in Civ 5 BNW? If so, how? One of the island colonies needs a worker but all of my workers are idle and they need to be sent to the island to fix the plundered plots. Can airlifting be done here? or do you have to embark the units across the ocean?

 

[PreLynMax]

You can't. Haul that worker across the water.

 

[PhilBowles]

You need an airport (unlocked at Radar, in case you haven't got there yet) in both the target city and the city you want to send the worker from, but yes it can be done. The airlift icon is the same as the Portugese Nau trade mission icon for some reason, and will appear when a unit is within range of a city with an airport (it's not greyed out otherwise, it just isn't there) - it will be the top icon on the icon bar.

 

[Barghaest]

I think you have to begin your turn in range to airlift... can't remember if you can move to a city and then airlift (been a while since I paid attention to that in a game, usually takes my turn to get a unit in position).

 

[PhilBowles]

I think you have to begin your turn in range to airlift... can't remember if you can move to a city and then airlift (been a while since I paid attention to that in a game, usually takes my turn to get a unit in position).

Yes, that's the case,

 

[redwings1340]

mhm, you can't move and airlift on the same turn, but you can airlift workers if they start in the city you're airlifting from. It's a nice game mechanic, and definitely makes getting a few strategic airports important if you have an empire across continents.

 

[reddishrecue]

The airlift worked when I placed the worker on one city and then had it airlifted the next turn.

 

[Barghaest]

The airlift worked when I placed the worker on one city and then had it airlifted the next turn.

Ah good. My only issue with airlifting is the inability to do it with non-land units. You can shift DOMAIN_LAND units around the map extremely fast this way but can't move a naval/air unit as easily (sometimes Rebase for Air units won't quite reach where you need to send it unless you create Carrier relays and only the Great Admiral/Cargo Ship can "Change Port" - be nice to have any Naval unit able to do this).