Rubber for Infantry?

[RX2000]

This has been bugging me for a while. Why do I need rubber to build infantry? Whats rubber on an infantry soldier? Anyone know the historical reason for this?

 

[wasteddragon]

boots and straps

 

[jpowers]

That would be a hysterical reason, not historical.

 

[planetfall]

Ask firaxis, we don't know. Perhaps it's needed for the Jeeps and Hummers moving the grunts along. "Infantry" in civ3 thus would mean to represent 'infantry & transport vehicles'.

 

[jpowers]

That would be a hysterical reason, not historical.

 

[planetfall]

Oh, pre infantry is what? rifleman-- recall Grant, Lee, and Gone With the Wind? no rubber, no easy movement. By WWII, infantry required transport.

Would you really want to have to buy land transport like you do for sea in order to move foot soldiers on land? Synthetic tires were developed because Axis removed access to rubber and army needed land transport.

 

[sabo]

I have another hysterical reason, condoms on there 24 hour night on the town leave

 

[planetfall]

Right, like there were no military units and no unit companions before sheep and condoms. Review history. There are some interesting reads of the Greeco-Roman conflicts.

Since firaxis has not replied, the ball is in your court to come forward with a better explanation.

 

[ShredZ]

They need rubber for their bullets, that explains why they aint so great in combat

 

[Zouave]

You want ME to try to make sense of what Firaxis does?? I don't think anyone can, not after the illogical of Culture Flipping, et al.

But in THIS case there is some small semblance of logic to it: Infantry might need a lot more modern supplies and that would be provided by trucks using rubber wheels; plus there would be staff cars and other vehicles for communication.

That's the best rational I can come up with for it.

Doesn't make enough sense? It makes more sense than frigates firing solid cannonballs just 500 yards past the shoreline being able to destroy improvements.

 

[stooky]

I have a feeling it's part of Firaxis' desire to match up with history. Infantry is basically a WWI/WWII soldier, and during WWII at least, rubber was a very important resource. The gasoline rationing during WWII wasn't so much to conserve gas as it was to reduce demand for tires for private vehicles.

Of course, aluminum was important during WWII (to build aircraft), but apparently Firaxis only needs it for jet engines.

 

[Sabotage]

Originally posted by stooky
Of course, aluminum was important during WWII (to build aircraft), but apparently Firaxis only needs it for jet engines.

In World War 2, cloth and fabric could easily been substituted for aluminium in aircraft, atleast in terms of fighters. The British did this with their earlier versions of the Supermarine Spitfire.