15-05-2000 19:27									#1
	Blink Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

Does this work?

The reason I ask is that I noticed that when I pound enemy units in a city, the lowest they seem to go is 50% damage. Outside, damage can be 90%. So recently I upgraded my Shard, regular, to Graviton Artillery, Blink. No discernable effect. Units in the city still could not be pounded below 50%. I had expected more.

Ned

	15-05-2000 19:50									#2
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Blink Displacer just removes the defence bonus. It doesn't remove the maximum damage inflicted, which is BTW:
50% for base/bunker
99% for open
100% for sea units

LoD

	16-05-2000 08:33									#3
	Suffering from ads?

LoD, Thanks for you reply. I was expecting more. I expected it would permit one to hammer units as if they were in the open. BTW, open seems to give units a 50% bonus which I do not understand. In real life, getting caught in the open would be the worst with artillery.) I was already able to hammer units in cities to 50% damage using conventional artillery.

I retested, and yes indeed, Blink simply removes the defensive bonuses added by being behind a perimeter defense and in a base. It seems unfair, though, that one cannot simply decimate defending units.

Ned

	17-05-2000 02:44									#5
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IIRC, the 50% bonus in open is to reflect the ability of the defending units to move about to avoid artillery fire.

	17-05-2000 02:48									#6
	Got spare money?

AFAIR, only mobile units get the bonus vs. arty in open. Would be even logical, because a single shell would fly a great distance before it would hit, so a mobile unit could "dodge" it.

LoD

	17-05-2000 03:39									#7
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So, how does one really soften up a city? The reason I ask is that a Boil Worm defender, even at 50% strength, is a major pain when one is attacking a city regardless of perimiter and sensor defenses when one's own SE is FM with a -30% planet rating. I suppose the answer is to switch to green/cybernetic.

Ned

	17-05-2000 17:51									#8
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Another answer is probing the city, although AFAIR Perim. Defense and Tachyon Field are considered high risk targets (low risk of suceeding, but with Elite Probes you shouldn't have a big problem).

LoD