Hey everyone. I've ben playing Empire for, well, decades. However, this is my first encounter with advanced units, such as Air Transport.

I figured I'd try out a new unit (in this case, Air Transport). So, I built one, loaded a tank on there, flew it to another island with an enemy outpost and... nothing. I can't get the unit to drop. It's above clear terrain. I hit Shift-D... and NOTHING!

Yesterday, I tried building a long range nuke. Built it, tried the launch command, and... nothing. I then tried to tell the nuke what the target was (long click). And... nothing. Tried that, then launch. Then launch then that. Kept saying something along the lines of "launch sequence not initiated."

Is there some document (manual, whatever) that walks you through the basics of these units so I can try 'em and see if I like 'em, etc.?

Sorry for the newbee questions.

Bob H.

Hello Bob,

There is manual that comes with the game in PDF format.  It will be found somewhere in the game files you have saved on your computer.

The Nuke issue may be related to rules set up.  When you set up your game, have you checked off the "Allow Nukes" option in the game rules dialog?  If you have not, you can still build Nukes, but they don't do anything.  I come across that all the time in games I play against the AI.  It build nukes if it gets a city with SN or LN specialty, but then never uses them, as it cannot detonate them as nukes.

As to the Drop command, not sure on the whole issue.  I can say that you cannot drop Armor from an Air Transport, you can only drop infantry (aka, they become paratroopers).  So, your Air Transport can carry Armor, but it needs to land to offload.

For the Trucks with a Heavy Artillery, I use these all the time to ferry the HA around.  I drop them into Forts as a relatively safe place to fire from.  If I am remembering the rules correctly, you need the ability to stack units turn on to be able to drop a unit in the same square.  If unit stacking is turned off, then you might have the issue.  By default, stacking only occurs in cities.

Hope that helps,

Cheers :)