Those magnificent men in their flying machines

[Garuda]

I havn't seen anything in the threads yet that deals with flight.
As Victoria utilises a technology tree like HoI, I assume that you will be able to research whatever is necessary to achieve flight and make use of observation baloons and form squadrons of bi and tri-planes by the time of the game's climax i.e. WWI.

But if it is merely achieved by completing research in the tech tree then with foresight we'll all be forming flying corps before historically correct. As I assume flight will be incorporated into the game I hope it will be done by way of tech research but the option to research will not be available prior to event triggersi.e the Wright Bros and Louis Bleriot. My knowledge of such history is hazy to say the least and I have no idea when the Wright Bros. flew but didn't Bleriot fly over the English channel in 1905?

Of course all this will be by the board if the game runs at the same rate as EU2; what I mean is in EU2 when the much awaited "Napoleonic age" arrived the game suddenly reaches an abrupt end. I hope we'll have more time to enjoy re-writing and enacting WWI.

So, does anybody know how any of this is going to be handled????

 

[Alexandru H.]

Though the technology tree or through events? This is the question, right? Well, IMHO, it should be handled through the tech tree but it should have a special reward for the country that discovers it first, like a special event

 

[unmerged(9563)]

I think its Event Fires --> Tech becomes available.

 

[HisMajestyBOB]

So Wright Brothers event fires in 1903 -> Flight becomes researchable.

 

[Earl Uhtred]

Nah, heavier-than-air flight was just waiting to be discovered - could have happened any time after the invention of the internal combustion engine.

 

[Alexandru H.]

I don't like the idea of flight being invented by the wright brothers in the same year, in the same day, in the same country... if USA decides to be more autocratic and denounce new ideas, the wright brothers would have been in jail!

 

[unmerged(18558)]

In 1783 the hot air ballon was first flown in france, so it would be acceptable to include hot air ballons to be in the tech tree.

 

[Garuda]

Originally posted by HisMajestyBOB
So Wright Brothers event fires in 1903 -> Flight becomes researchable.

Yeah, thats what I'm getting at.

..........Sopwith Camel anyone?

 

[Garuda]

While I'm at it....I was also considering the combat effect that your squadrons will have. They weren't exactly precision bombers were they? But the sheer amount of panic and terror they caused on the ground was out of all proportion to the actual amount of damage they were capable of inflicting.

Perhaps then they would force down morale more so than organisation and strength.

 

[Killerjes]

Originally posted by Garuda
While I'm at it....I was also considering the combat effect that your squadrons will have. They weren't exactly precision bombers were they? But the sheer amount of panic and terror they caused on the ground was out of all proportion to the actual amount of damage they were capable of inflicting.

Perhaps then they would force down morale more so than organisation and strength.

Initially scouts threw heavy darts(!) and handgrenades at the enemy on the gound, and dogfights were done with sidearms, so damage should be minimal!
The primary role should be scout / intelligence / artillery spotting, i.e. bonusses to artilley, and infantry attacks, and maybe a better chance of breakthroughs (slim anyway...).
Later techs and doctrines (real fighters, observation planes with cameras) can increase these bonusses and fighters can, through control of the skies, negate or reduce the bonusses for the enemy aircraft and observation balloons.

The actual discovery of flight should probably be event driven, not nescessesarily on an exact date, but subject to variation, maybe even influenced by the attitude of the government as mentioned above.
Further the Wright Brothers weren't the only ones.
The Dane, Jacob Christian Ellehammer flew his first plane in sept. 1906.
Louis Blerriot flew his first monoplane in 1907 and crossed the English Channel in juli 1909.
If other flying pioneers could have beaten the Wright brothers to first flight is anyones guess, but some degree of randomness could be neat