I have never used an aircraft carrier very effectively. I have never had an opponent build an aircraft carrier.

I have been in situations in which an aircraft carrier could almost be used effectively, but it would miss being able to reach a needed location by 1 move.

That is, on a couple of occassions I built an aircraft carrier "for the fun of it", to see how effective I could be with it, and it was not very useful (although it came close at times, it could have been useful had things been slightly different).

Considering how very rarely aircraft carriers are built, should some change be made which might make use of carriers more appealing?

One possibility is to allow an aircraft carrier to move after its bombers have bombed (currently, once a bomber on the carrier hits a target, the carrier may no longer move).

Would this be too powerful?

It would make the carrier much harder to kill, as it could bomb units chasing it, and then move away. In fact, it could protect a fleet that was being chased.

On attack, it could also "dart in", fire, and then "dart out". However, with a movment of 3, the "dart in" would generally be limited to a single movement.

A compromise would be to allow half the bombers (rounded down) to attack before the carrier moves.

Bomb then move? Anyone move to bomb this idea?

Aircraft Carriers are highly useful as is. You of course need to protect them, but being able to strike 6 spaces away with 4 individual planes is very deadly in naval or land support. One of the nicest things is that they can finish off damaged units very efficiently.

Another point is that when they are well protected, they are a unit that won't die. Once you have a carrier, it often lasts for a long time. Even if the Carrier is taking heavy damage, you can unload the planes back to land, and only a part of the expense in building the carrier is lost. On the other side, Battleships deal good damage at a decent range, but they will be taken down quite regularly, much like heavy bots. The same is true of amphibians. They can reach very far, but they are easily destroyed when in pitched battle.

Yes, Carriers are very expensive. But much like planes, they are an investment.

I am currently in a game in which I am finding an aircraft carrier to be very useful.

Yes, certainly one would generally offload the bombers from an carrier that is about to go down.

Also, one often has existing bombers that have been useful from city bases. In some cases, obtaining a fully loaded carrier requires building only the carrier, or perhaps a carrier and one bomber.

Nevertheless, the situations in which carriers are of value are somewhat limited. They seem more likely to be useful in the late stages of the game, when one has idle bombers and units to protect them - although it can be hard to do so from subs.

As I said, I have never once had an opponent build one. I have built a few (I try to keep alert for situations in which they might be valuable, especially if I already have idle bombers - spending $6 can put 4 otherwise idle bombers to use).

Part of the reason that people build so few is likely mindset, they just don't think of it. However, part of it is also inherent difficulties.

There is nothing wrong with a unit that is used only occassionally. However, to never have an opp build one seems odd.

I remember one game when i bought 2 at once and the planes to go with them

That was on the latest MAN map i believe (Trinity?) The large one, anyway. They are good units to buy from rear countries, even better from countries just behind the rear while the rear rear countries buy the planes. Aswell as the actual use of an aircraft carrier in, you also have to consider the logistics of how to get your money to the front line. As aircraft carriers have such a long range they are easy to start using them after youve bought them, and they dont tend to die so the money you are spening doesnt have to be transferred up and down your shores all the time.

Oh, and he quit when i brought the 2 aircraft cariers to bear. BOOM!

Xcomcommander

Have you been playing on some of the large maps Quark? I admit that there are very rare situations where carriers are a good investment on such maps such as Antarticus, where there are no channels through the map, or even Anubis, where Rocket Launchers on shore can easily make your Carriers miserable. In any of the major naval maps, however, Carrier fleets can really destroy your enemy's hopes really quick.

Protected by a fleet of destroyers, Carriers deal death to artillery, battleships, and amphibians with ease, all with little chance for the enemy to strike back.