Naval Transports

[jdmillard]

I think that the naval transports should not automatically reduce power to 1. Let me explain.

It is extremely easy to defend a coastal invasion using orbital bombardment. Even if the opponent uses an escort, the orbital bombardment hits everything in the tile. I think that being on a transport should reduce the power to a percentage of the current power (I say current to take into account any damage). Even if it was a small percentage, it would make it so that it at least requires a few bombardments instead of just 1 (obviously depending on the strength of the unit). Requiring a few bombardments for each transport would actually make a big difference; rendering orbital bombardment useful but not over-powered.

I agree that units should be vulnerable on the water, but power:1 in the mid/late game is pretty extreme.

[fortydayweekend]

Yep, it doesn't make sense that an orbital bombardment or artillery would be able to destroy an entire fleet of transports.. or there should at least be the option to build armoured transports (maybe they could take the unit's armour into account).

[boulugre]

I think that the naval transports should not automatically reduce power to 1. Let me explain.

It is extremely easy to defend a coastal invasion using orbital bombardment. Even if the opponent uses an escort, the orbital bombardment hits everything in the tile. I think that being on a transport should reduce the power to a percentage of the current power (I say current to take into account any damage). Even if it was a small percentage, it would make it so that it at least requires a few bombardments instead of just 1 (obviously depending on the strength of the unit). Requiring a few bombardments for each transport would actually make a big difference; rendering orbital bombardment useful but not over-powered.

I agree that units should be vulnerable on the water, but power:1 in the mid/late game is pretty extreme.

Agreed, the same thought occurred to me. You should be able to defend your transport a little better

[NightReaper]

++1. I mentioned this in earlier threads that sub-orbital operations seemed a tad over the top. Either reduce hit points by some % and/or apply them randomly to the stack being attacked would make much more sense to me. Just my 2BC…also transports are incredibly too vulnerable and should be allowed a turn to at least scatter from the stack before being sent to the bottom.

[player1]

Essentially, due to way how orbital bombardment works, there is no reason what so ever to ever attempt to move transport units in stacks, or as part of armed stack of ships and aircraft.

They are just more vulnerable that way.

Note that same applies when combating ships with artillery weapons. They will obliterate transport stacks.

[jdmillard]

Essentially, due to way how orbital bombardment works, there is no reason what so ever to ever attempt to move transport units in stacks, or as part of armed stack of ships and aircraft.

They are just more vulnerable that way.

Note that same applies when combating ships with artillery weapons. They will obliterate transport stacks.

A fair argument, but I'm telling you: Even if the enemy comes with the transports all spread out in individual hexes, I can still dominate their entire offensive and I've done it.

Also, I'll point out that I started this thread not because my transports were getting destroyed, but because it was too easy for me to destroy the opponents' transports.

I'm simply suggesting that the power of transports be changed to depend on the strength of the unit (a small percentage perhaps with a minimum of 1 for the early game). I don't claim that this will fix the problem, but it would help considerably.

[fortydayweekend]

Are we now talking about how it's too easy to hold off a sea invasion because of the weakness of transports? Because my experience is slightly different - I was attacked by the Ascension once, mostly by sea, from 3 directions. I sent strike aircraft to take out their transports and did so, 1 per aircraft, but my planes were then taken out on the next turn by her aircraft, behind the transports. Within a few turns the next wave arrived and I lost my 2 biggest cities.

So I reloaded to the beginning of the war and held back, only engaging with artillery when they made landfall, and keeping my planes alive by not sending them far from my cities. This time I eventually won a long war of attrition, caught up, and counterattacked.

In this game at any rate the AI came with individual transports - so bombardments weren't effective - and while they were vulnerable at sea they basically acted as bait to draw out and destroy my airforce. So in effect because I couldn't control the air or sea, her transports were invincible. I think if you *can* control the sea then transports *should* be very weak. And if the AI comes at you with stacks of transports instead of individuals backed up by lots of aircraft, then the AI needs fixing, not transport strength.

[player1]

Idea:
Change a bit how naval transport chassis works.
Have it reduce defense to 1 for attacks from units.

But have it keep some part of unit defense for artillery attacks.