[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Bombers/Fighters no longer obsolete (PR#1628)

[Jason Short <jdorje@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gregory Berkolaiko wrote:
> On Wed, 26 Jun 2002, Ross W. Wetmore wrote:
> > Now my formula of the moment includes defence and in this world 
> > one would never want regular fighters ...
> >  power formula = defence * hitpoints + attack * firepower
>
> A "power" concept is vague, but "attack power" is quite real.
I won't argue whether "attack power" can be well-defined or just 
approximated, but "power" itself is certainly vague.  The overall 
"power" of a unit can only be assessed strategically, and can never be 
simplified to a single number for a whole class of units.
Yet if the "attack power" of a bomber is cheaper (not better, but 
cheaper) than the "attack power" of a stealth bomber, then this clearly 
means that bombers are not *completely* obsoleted by stealth bombers. 
There are still some tasks that they may be better suited for [2]. 
(Note that this is a _strategic_ decision; whether the cheaper attack 
power is more important than the additional movement, defense, etc., is 
a job for the player to determine).
The correct solution in this case may just be to have stealth bombers 
not obsolete bombers.  This seems to be what happens in real life: 
bombers and stealth bombers have different strategic uses [1].
[1] Ignoring the difference between "strategy" and "tactics".

[2] This argument could easily be abused.  Perhaps it would be better to 
say "there are still some *reasonable* tasks that they may be better 
suited for".
jason