User Guide

102
AIR UNITS
Air units operate under some special movement rules. These units can cross any terrain
square at a cost of one movement point per square. Because they are airborne, they get
no bonus for crossing squares improved by roads or railroads. All air units except missiles
have an observation range of two squares in any terrain.
Most air units must end their movement in a friendly city with an airport, at an Airbase,
or on a Carrier unit, as these are the only areas where they can safely land. Bombers and
Stealth Bombers must land for refueling every second turn, giving them effective ranges of
16 (8 out and 8 back) and 24 (12 out and 12 back), respectively. Bombers and Stealth
Bombers can only attack once, regardless of their remaining movement points. In addition,
attacking uses all a unit’s remaining movement points for the turn. Therefore, if you attack
during a Bomber or Stealth Bomber’s return flight, it does not have enough movement
points to return home safely, and it crashes and disappears. Fighters and Stealth Fighters
can attack targets as many times as they have movement points. However, be sure you
save enough movement after the attack to return to a landing area, or your pilots
kamikaze!
Both missile units are one-shot attackers; the icons represent missiles that are spent in
the aggression. If you have miscounted the number of squares to your destination, or
another unit’s movement or position prevents a missile unit from reaching a target city or
unit, you can attempt to return the missile to a friendly city or Airbase, or to a Submarine
or Carrier unit. If your missile gets stranded — that is, there is no target unit or city within
reach, and no safe landing area — the missile is a dud that falls to earth harmlessly. It
disappears from the game.
If a city is the target of a Cruise missile attack, the strongest military unit defends
against it (the unit in that city with the largest defense factor). There is no collateral damage
to city improvements from Cruise missile attacks. If a city is the target of a Nuclear missile
attack, half of the population is destroyed. All military units in and adjacent to the target
square are destroyed as well, regardless of the civilization to which they belong. If a military
unit or stack of units is the target, all units in the stack are destroyed. In addition to the
loss of units, all land terrain squares adjacent to the impact square become polluted.
Helicopters are unique air units in that they don’t need to return to a base for refueling,
giving them an unlimited movement range similar to a ground unit. However, every turn a
Helicopter starts in the field — not taking off from a friendly city, Airbase or Carrier — it
suffers a small amount of damage. Eventually, it must return to a friendly city or Airbase
for repairs. A Helicopter can only make one attack per turn; attacking uses all remaining
movement points for that turn.
Civ2 Man.pgs 89-end 5/22/00 5:41 PM Page 102