31-05-2002 16:42									#1
	Balancing Bombarding Get a bigger avatar today!

Since Firaxis hasn't done anything here in the patches, I think I should make bombarding stronger for different units. I'm sick of my jet fighter being weaker than a catapult. Here's what I plan to do.

Fighter- bombard of 4, 1 rate of fire (same as catapult)
Jet Fighter- bombard of 6, 1 rate of fire (almost as good as cannon)
F-15- bombard of 9, 3 rate of fire (better than cannon)
Bomber- bombard of 13, 2 rate of fire (better than artillery)
Stealth Fighter- bombard of 8, 2 rate of fire
Stealth Bomber- bombard of 17, 2 rate of fire (they should easily be able to damage mech infantry and modern armor)

Plus, I increased radar artillery bombard to 20. They come so late in the tech tree, they deserve it. The F-15 deserves so much power because it comes into the game very, very late. When it's available, it needs a lot of power to be a factor. I think the F-15 deserves the 3 rate of fire, the others really don't.

I made the bombers much stronger because they are confined to a city, unlike the artillery units. Also, bombers can be destroyed. Artillery can be protected.

As for navy...

The Frigate will be as strong as the catapult.
Man-o-War will have 2 more bombard than Frigates, and 1 more rate of fire.
Ironclads will be the same as cannons.
Cruisers will be the same as artillery.
Aegis Cruisers will be as strong as Cruisers, but can fire 2 spaces away.
Battlecruisers will have 14 bombard, 3 rate of fire, and can fire 3 spaces away.

I think artillery is such an easy counter to naval units, the Battlecruiser deserves the extra range. This will mean aircraft will be needed to defeat the Battlecruiser. This should make aircraft better.

Finally, if tanks should be given bombard (somehow), how powerful should they be? I think the modern armor should be a great fighter, but they should also be able to bombard. Plus, the modern armor's defence is too high, compared to mech infantry. I want to lower modern armor's defence and give them bombard. I think 7 bombard with 1 rate of fire would be perfect for a fast unit like the modern armor.

Should I feel guilty for changing unit stats like this?

	31-05-2002 21:27									#2
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

Just about everything looks reasonable. The only thing I disagree about is the battleship. They are already a powerhouse. And anyway, they are a ship. They don't need a range of 3, they can just move next to a city, bombard, and then move away.

	31-05-2002 21:35									#3
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

Player 1 has done some reasonable bombard and ROF changes in his mod. You might want to check it out.

	01-06-2002 05:09									#4
	Get a bigger avatar today!

If you care anything about history and realism, frigates, MOW, and ironclads should NEVER be able to bombard improvements. They did not have the firepower owing to the limitations of their cannon. And I have so edited my mod to reflect that.

	01-06-2002 09:37									#5
	Full PM-box? Change here!

And I suppose you should just allow the AI to move 20 ironclads up to your undefended land? I won't remove bombarding from navy units, they are not very useful as they are. There should be consequences for having a bad navy. Having the AI punish your improvements (or vice versa) makes the ships more useful.

Really, I have found navies to be obsolete after I establish a single city on that opposing continent. Rush an airport and you can send in dozens of units. Ancient warships become obsolete too quickly. They really do need to be improved, especially the frigate. It requires both iron and saltpeter, but it is too weak.

Coracle, I thought you quit this game. At least you are doing something about its faults instead of flaming it...