Old school problems with an old school disk

[SkyhawkDDD]

I bought my CIV III game when it first came out close to 8 -10 years ago. The bugs that were on it then have never been fixed. I have downloaded every patch that I can find on to my desktop and ran it. I do not have the Conquests disk or Play the world disk.

My main issue is air superiority missions. The computer uses air superiority defense against me all of the time. It renders my air forces ineffective on attack as even expensive stealth bombers can be shot down by AI F-15's. I, however, cannot use air superiority. When I select it no grid comes up and my planes just sit there when enemy bombers are in the area. Therefore, fighters are only good for bombing missions and in my experience that is a waste of time. I end up facing very large air forces and my SAM batteries never have shot anything down either. My tactics have become to use immense numbers of ground units to search out and destroy strategic resources used in the manufacture of enemy air units. How can I get my fighters to scramble to defend my territory?

 

[GVBN]

I don't think there is grid for air superiority

 

[Turner]

That's correct, there is no grid. When you hit 'S' for Air Superiority, the unit in question sentries, and there's a chance it will defend when there's an air mission inside of it's operating radius.

 

[Capt Cook]

Try putting several of your fighters in the forward area that is being bombed & then set them for air superiority. This will take care of the AI bombers attacking you.

As for your bombers being shot down I have this advice.
You can try sending 1 or 2 fighters in first to take on enemy fighters then use your bombers. Also, make sure to build airports & build your bombers there so that they are veterans. You would be surprised at how much of a differance this can make when they are attacked by fighters.
I have had my bombers shoot down enemy fighters left & right & become Elite, thereby making them able to shoot down even more fighters.

You may have some trouble with the Americans regardless of what you do.
Remember that the F-15 is their UU & a pretty nasty one too!

 

[SkyhawkDDD]

Thank you for your suggestions. I hope using more fighters in the forward operating area will increase the likelyhood that an interception will take place. Until now, though, even as many as 2-4 fighters has not resulted in a scramble. (I use that term because of CIV 2) Enemy bombers will attack terrain improvements in spaces adjacent to cities containing my fighters and yet no interceptoions take place with my old game disk. It is quite annoying and unfair since when I attack AI terrain improvements near enemy cities the computer has no problem intercepting my bombers.

I do build airports and veteren planes but they never have become elite.

My next question has to do with precision strikes. My stealth bombers can only precision strike my cities. The bombing icon will not show when I put my curser over an AI city but it will if I put it over one of my own. Is this correct? I have never tried to precision strike because I fear destroying my own city improvements.

Also, can air superiority be used to gaurd carriers and other ships on the same sea square? I can't seem to get air superiority to work at all but this would be good for guarding tactical fleet groups.

Lastly, does anybody think I can play CIV 4 with a 1.5 GHz Pentium 4 using an ATI 6200 Geforce 256MB video card? My system only has 512 RAM, 22 free gigs left on the hard drive and uses windows XP. To put it bluntly, my system did terrible with both Stronghold 2 and Star Wars Empire at War (The games were slow, crash prone, and had video graphic errors such as unreadable text in key GUI game controls) I'm worried that the lack of power will again be disheartening. Guess I'm stuck with with my old school Vanilla.

 

[Capt Cook]

I can't help you with all your questions but as for your Carrier group...
I almost always use CAP(Constant Air Patrol) as cover for my Carrier groups. Funny thing is that they never seem to attack them with bombers, go figure.

 

[Turner]

My next question has to do with precision strikes. My stealth bombers can only precision strike my cities. The bombing icon will not show when I put my curser over an AI city but it will if I put it over one of my own. Is this correct? I have never tried to precision strike because I fear destroying my own city improvements.

What version of Civ are you playing? I seem to remember a bug way back when where precision strike only worked on your cities. Patching removed the problem.

Also, can air superiority be used to gaurd carriers and other ships on the same sea square? I can't seem to get air superiority to work at all but this would be good for guarding tactical fleet groups.

If the carriers are within the operational range of the fighter on the AS mission, it should be covered.

Lastly, does anybody think I can play CIV 4 with a 1.5 GHz Pentium 4 using an ATI 6200 Geforce 256MB video card? My system only has 512 RAM, 22 free gigs left on the hard drive and uses windows XP. To put it bluntly, my system did terrible with both Stronghold 2 and Star Wars Empire at War (The games were slow, crash prone, and had video graphic errors such as unreadable text in key GUI game controls) I'm worried that the lack of power will again be disheartening. Guess I'm stuck with with my old school Vanilla.

I don't know. But you could d/l the demo and see if it works. I think you're a little bit light on the processor speed and memory. Not sure on the graphics card.

 

[SkyhawkDDD]

You were correct. Patching fixed the precision bombing problem. Still waiting to see if I can intercept a bomber or two. Playing as Gandi, my 43 city Indian empire has an uneasy peace with the Persian AI, a smaller but more advanced empire. The only real threat to either of us is the Russian-French Federation, as the English and Chinese have been relegated to small and insignificant parts of the Pangaean continent. The Russian air force is huge, estimated at 42 bombers and at least 8 fighters. Gandi's modern armor are eliminating what is left of China on the eastern front with an all out push supported by radar artillery. The western side of this two front war is being held by a thin line of 26 mech infantry. I need some relief from Russain air forces or I'll remain on the defensive against France.
Persia continues to use nukes and get nuked for their effort. Their entire country is a polution wastland with few railrods and farms. They are taking more than they are giving, which is why I continue to hold on to my ICBM's. I've only been nuked once in this game; I cleaned it up and now have the cleanest empire in the world. Persai's problems are good for me because eventually I will have to destroy them as well. In the mean time I rely on their air force and ground units to cover my southern flank.
France is a problem. They continue to expand westward and will eventually destroy the English. I tried to send a transport of mech infantry to help England, but it looks bad because French Aegis cruisers are patrolling the coastline. I can't keep the troops flowing by sea. The ones that managed to land are in hostile territory and won't last long.
India's air force and navy remain weak, she has only one 8 plane squadron of stealth bombers and a couple of battleships. I have paid Russia off to keep those bombers away from the front. I hope to move more fighters to the forward area before making my next push. If ever I needed air superiority to work... Also, attacking France from the rear with no carrier battle groups to deal with her cruisers isn't working either. Wish me luck. When England and China fall, the odds will be an even 2 on 2. The Indian empire is a ground based power, however, and that does not bode well against superior air and naval forces. Year: 1926 Level: Regent Map Size: Standard