The Values of Air Warfare


   Some folk say that stealth fighters are useless, and that one should wage
his end-game war using nothing but howitzers, mech infs, and a few engineers
for railroading and building new cities on the coast- a trick that involves
moving the transport into the new city so your units don't lose movement
points. They say that the fighters just don't hold a candle compared to a
good, coordinated land attack. (At least, a lot of people on AOL say that.)
Well, I can't wait for Ultimate Civ2, because those folk aren't going to have
much to say when I repeat what I did in this story.
   The year is 1899. I am playing as the Vikings, the indisputable rulers of
the world, as far as technology goes. It had been my goal to start the world
war before the 20th century showed. I got my goal- in 1899, seven loaded
transports and a carrier holding 14 brand-new, veteran stealth fighters
touched down on Sioux soil. Up to this point, I hadn't interfered much with
foreign affairs; at the time, I was at a fairly stable peace with the Sioux,
the Russians, and the Egyptians. That changed mighty fast when I launched an
air raid on Dead Buffalo, the Sioux's chief port and a fit starting place for
a war- easily defended, the town was the closest to my home continent and was
at the edge of a peninsula.
   Using the usual technique, building a city with engineers, then moving the
units in, just would not have worked. First, my tranports had only enough
movement points to get to the city- they couldn't have dropped off any
engieers far enough from the city to build a little outpost. Waiting a turn
wouldn't have suited my needs either- the Sioux, with whom I had a quickly
disintegrating relationship, surely would have sneak attacked my loaded
transports- I could see their battleships waiting.
   The air raid took the city easily, and my units moved in comfortably
without losing the MPs they would have if they had beached normally.
Unfortunately, I soon found out that the raid might take a while- the Sioux
hadn't connected railroads to most of their cities, so my howitzers and mechs
would be vulnerable to bomber attack if left in the field. So, I used another
stealth fighter to clear the defenses from Slim Buttes, then moved in with the
fast-moving mechs. As it turned out, Slim Buttes was the Sioux capital- I had
the UN, but did not remember to check it before attacking. I had not
eliminated two Sioux cities, I had eliminated fifteen. They split into the
Carthaginians, who took many of the large outlying cities. I immediately
allied with the new nation, a common practice in my games. The entire thing,
were it not for the fighters, would have taken at least five turns, given the
necessary evasive maneuvers on the parts of the transports and the slow
movements of the howitzers.
   The fighters continued to aid me hugely in my war, taking out the garrisons
in the other Sioux cities and getting rid of those pesky partisans, as well as
crushing any weak attempts at a counterattack on their part.
   The year is 1904. The Sioux are gone. After they were split once again into
the Chinese, they lost any hope of regaining their fallen cities. The Chinese,
too, are eliminated from the Earth- after the fighters allowed me access to
Morning Rock, the city completely cut off from any roads. As it stands, I am
at unstable peace with the Russians and Egyptians. The Carthaginians are my
enemy; they decided that I couldn't be trusted, a worthwhile assumption since
I have an Atrocious reputation. They have a few pathetic cities on a small,
nearby island; I have completely claimed the island of the former Sioux.
Because of the stealth fighters, the war proceeded much faster than any land
attempt would have. To think- there were two possibilities for the world's
situation by now: either the one in which I have stealth adding to my power,
the one in which I have annihilated the military superpower of the world in
five years; or the one in which I took the approach of many, using just ground
troops, in which I would have just captured Dead Buffalo and Slim Buttes, and
would have an undoubtedly long, tedious war ahead.
The moral: Sometimes it is good to use stealth technology.

|| Meinekel@aol.com ||