The Submarine is an Industrial-era offensive sea unit in Civilization II, available with the Combustion advance. It is a stealth unit that remains invisible to rival civilizations until attack, or exposure by rival units entering its tile. Submarines are also revealed when adjacent to anti-submarine units.
Submarines cannot attack land-based units or cities, although they can attack Helicopters stationed over ocean. Submarines are also able to carry missile units.
Strategy[]
Submarines normally remain invisible to rival civs unless immediately adjacent to anti-sub units such as Destroyers and Cruisers, or a rival unit attempts to move into into their tile. Foreign submarines can also be seen when moving within the player's city radius, although this will not permanently reveal them on the map.
Effective use of submarines relies on ambush tactics: their high attack strength makes them a threat to most sea units, but their slow speed and low defense leave them vulnerable to retaliation from screening ships. Controlling the Magellan's Expedition Wonder greatly improves submarines' maneuverability, especially in conjunction with the movement bonus from Nuclear Power.
The advent of Rocketry provides submarines with a new strategic use as launch platforms for missiles. Subs with cruise missiles can act as offshore artillery, while subs bearing nuclear weapons present a deadly means of infiltrating the enemy perimeter and/or safeguarding an atomic stockpile against a decapitating "first strike".
Civilopedia entry[]
A submarine is a submersible warship, designed to attack enemy vessels while remaining hidden underwater. Although defensively weak, submarines are feared because of their ability to make a stealthy approach and attack without warning. Often, the presence of a submarine is not detected until the first of the sub's torpedoes strikes its target. Submarine warfare was first used extensively by the Germans during World War I. Developments after the war, such as sonar, made the submarine even more effective. During World War II, submarines were used extensively by all the world's naval powers. Today's submarines, in addition to their role as fast attack vessels, also carry nuclear weapons that can be fired from underwater positions just off the coast of an enemy country.
Modding[]
The Submarine is defined on Line 42 in the @UNITS section of Rules.txt. Any unit can be flagged as a submarine; such units use the unique attack sound TORPEDOS.WAV.
Submarines' missile transport capacity is hard-coded to the unit flag: up to 20 air units flagged as missiles can be carried. This ability is superseded if the submarine is assigned a discrete cargo capacity, and is redundant to a broader carrier role.
See also[]
- Submarine in other games
Civilization II Units | |
---|---|
Ground |
Alpine Troops • Archers • Armor • Artillery • Cannon • Caravan • Catapult • Cavalry • Chariot • Crusaders • Diplomat • Dragoons • Elephant • Engineers • Explorer • Fanatics • Freight • Horsemen • Howitzer • Knights • Legion • Marines • Mech. Inf. • Musketeers • Paratroopers • Partisans • Phalanx • Pikemen • Riflemen • Settlers • Spy • Warriors |
Sea |
AEGIS Cruiser • Battleship • Caravel • Carrier • Cruiser • Destroyer • Frigate • Galleon • Ironclad • Submarine • Transport • Trireme |
Air |
Bomber • Cruise Msl. • Fighter • Helicopter • Nuclear Msl. • Stlth Bmbr. • Stlth Ftr. |