RB PBEM #1 - Charlemagne [SPOILERS]

[mostly_harmless]

Dreylin finally figured out what to do with his massive fighter force and bombed a lot of my tile improvements. Gold, wheat, sheep, lumbermills and a lot of towns. Urgh. That really hurts. I can assign my workers to rebuilding efforts, but only away from the front lines. And there is nothing I can do about the loss of towns and villages.
I had to cancel my gold and sheep gifts to sooooo.
I thought I would get Flight from soooooo this turn, but looks like game mechanics prevented that. So I will have it next turn, upgrade all my 12 airships to fighters. Then probably have to wait another turn for them to be assigned on intercept missions. So Dreylin can keep up his harassment for at least two turns without any interfering. And even then my Fighters will be outnumbered.
I don't even want to think about what happens when bombers appear.

mh

[mostly_harmless]

The Fighter bombardment on tile improvements really hurts (around 10 strikes this turn). My two front line cities (Vienna and Medina) get into problems with food supply. My sole pig tile at Vienna sits directly on the border, so there is no chance to re-improve it without risking my whole army.
All tiles along the border are lost (gold and pig hurt the most).
I upgraded al airships to fighters, but I believe they want "accept" the interception mission until next turn, so I assume that I have to suffer through another air raid.

One question to the lurkers. I have fighters covering the paratroopers drop zones. Fighters have a 100% interception chance (are the two available promotions "Interception" even sensible? Is there benefit in having 110% interception chance?). Paratroopers have a 25% evasion chance. So I assume I will catch 3 out of 4. But then, will paratroopers enter the air combat with 24 strength versus 12 strength fighters and shred them??? Does anyone know?

Also the help says that units like MechInf and SAMInf cover the tile they are on AND the adjacent tile against air attacks. Is that true? And is that also valid for MGs and AntiTank?

In other news, Dreylins stack is fully healed. So I expect him to make a move next turn.

mh

[Cyneheard]

One question to the lurkers. I have fighters covering the paratroopers drop zones. Fighters have a 100% interception chance (are the two available promotions "Interception" even sensible? Is there benefit in having 110% interception chance?).

Fighters have 100% * their combat strength in interception chance. And can intercept multiple times a turn. So if they are damaged, the interception promotion does have its uses. I am not familiar with air combat to give any more advice on the matter.

[regoarrarr]

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/air_combat.php

[mostly_harmless]

Thanks.
My problem will be, that there is no real advantage for the defender in the air. He only gets to roll first, I think. So with me being outnumbered 2:1 with Fighters, I might end up with all Fighters gone next turn and Dreylin only losing half of his. Lets see.

I struck a little blow against Dreylins plans, by bombing down his fort/airfield. Lost one fighter, shot down two. :D
Unless he instant-builds a fort with 6 workers next turn, those 5 paratroopers jump nowhere in the near future.

On a different topic:
The screen says I have sufficient espionage points to carry out a "steal tech" mission in some of the former Arab cities. Since no tech brokering is on, does anyone know, whether I can only steal tech I could trade for from Dreylin in peace time? i.e. Philosophy only. Fascism for example was researched by Ruff and appears in the can't trade column for Dreylin. Would I be able to steal that?

mh

[Jabah]

You could always 'try' and click on the steal mission, there is a sub-menu afterwards, so no harm checking. (except you need as py there of course )

I have no idea what the restrictions are with no-brokering, but I think you could steal any tech. On the other hand, the difference in cost between Philosophy and Fascism is so high that you will need a lot more to be able to steal the second one (you probably want to have the 5t stationary spy discount if possible).

[mostly_harmless]

It is actually Liberalism, I think.
Yes I think that the stated cost in the espionage screne is probably for the cheap Liberalism and the cost say for Radio or Fascism is much higher.
If I find time to test it in WB then fine. Otherwise, I think I won't bother with risking one or two spies.

Thanks.

mh

[Square Leg]

If you are checking from the espionage screen, remember that you may be able to get another 50% discount from stationary spy when you come to steal it. That might allow you to steal something more valuable.

[Rowain]

It is actually Liberalism, I think.
Yes I think that the stated cost in the espionage screne is probably for the cheap Liberalism and the cost say for Radio or Fascism is much higher.
If I find time to test it in WB then fine. Otherwise, I think I won't bother with risking one or two spies.

Thanks.

mh

The cost shown is for the cheapest possible tech. More advanced techs do cost more EP. But as SL posted the discount for stat-spy is huge :-)

[athlete4life10]

You can steal any tech. Drelyin stole Engineering from me but I had received it in trade from you.