Aeronautics - Heliomance/Uncharted-Horizons GitHub Wiki

_{Focus Areas · Design document §3}

Available from: MC09, or AE01 (Hot Air Balloon)

Also reachable in this focus (dual-path; home focus in parentheses): Ekranoplan (SF15, from Seafaring).

20 breakthroughs — CORE 1 · STANDARD 14 · UNCOMMON 4 · RARE 1 — Early Modern – Space

Builds on: Fire (1) · Observation (1) · Metallurgy (3) · Seafaring (1) · Mathematics (2) · Philosophy and the Arts (1) · Textiles & Materials (3) · Mechanics (4) · Thermodynamics (2) · Electricity (3) · Electronics (2) · Quintessic Physics (1) · Rocketry (1) · Materials Science (4)

Leads into: Seafaring (1) · Warfare (1)

_{The numbers count prerequisite links between this focus and the other. How to read the tables.}

flowchart LR
  n_AE01["AE01 Hot Air Balloon"]:::STANDARD
  n_AE02["AE02 Dirigible/Airship"]:::STANDARD
  n_AE13["AE13 Rigid Airship"]:::STANDARD
  n_AE12["AE12 Grand Aerostat"]:::STANDARD
  n_AE18["AE18 Sky Carriers"]:::STANDARD
  n_AE03["AE03 Heavier-Than-Air Flight"]:::CORE
  n_AE04["AE04 Jet Engine"]:::STANDARD
  n_AE07["AE07 Stealth Technology"]:::UNCOMMON
  n_AE08["AE08 Scramjet"]:::UNCOMMON
  n_AE14["AE14 Aerospace Industry"]:::STANDARD
  n_AE15["AE15 Jet-Stream Navigation"]:::STANDARD
  n_AE19["AE19 Suborbital Point-to-Point Transport"]:::STANDARD
  n_AE16["AE16 Airborne Assault Doctrine"]:::STANDARD
  n_AE17["AE17 Air Mobility"]:::STANDARD
  n_AE20["AE20 Current Rigging"]:::STANDARD
  n_QM_E23["QM-E23 Current Sail"]:::STANDARD
  n_AE05["AE05 Helicopter"]:::STANDARD
  n_AE10["AE10 Flying Boat"]:::UNCOMMON
  n_AE11["AE11 Electric Aviation"]:::UNCOMMON
  n_AE09["AE09 Ornithopter"]:::RARE
  n_AE01 --> n_AE02
  n_AE03 --> n_AE04
  n_AE03 --> n_AE05
  n_AE04 --> n_AE07
  n_AE04 --> n_AE08
  n_AE03 --> n_AE10
  n_AE03 --> n_AE11
  n_AE02 --> n_AE13
  n_AE13 --> n_AE12
  n_AE04 --> n_AE14
  n_AE14 --> n_AE15
  n_AE14 --> n_AE16
  n_AE14 --> n_AE17
  n_AE14 --> n_AE18
  n_AE12 --> n_AE18
  n_AE16 --> n_AE19
  n_AE15 --> n_AE19
  n_QM_E23 --> n_AE20
  n_AE14 --> n_AE20
  n_AE14 --> n_QM_E23
  classDef CORE fill:#dbeafe,stroke:#1d4ed8,color:#0b1b3b
  classDef STANDARD fill:#f1f5f9,stroke:#64748b,color:#0f172a
  classDef UNCOMMON fill:#dcfce7,stroke:#15803d,color:#052e16
  classDef RARE fill:#fef3c7,stroke:#b45309,color:#3b2005
  classDef UNIQUE fill:#fae8ff,stroke:#a21caf,color:#3b0a3f

_{Prerequisites within this focus. Box colour is the tier (blue CORE, grey STANDARD, green UNCOMMON, amber RARE, purple UNIQUE); dotted arrows are alternatives (“or”); a line can pass behind another box, so follow it from its start. 14 of these 20 breakthroughs also need breakthroughs from other foci, which the overview above lists.}

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Early Modern
• Prerequisites: F01 + TX01 + PH04 (Scientific Method)
• Unlocks: Observation Balloonⁿ [unit, Scout; cost 60; mv 2; str 4; ⟨[+2] Sight⟩; ⟨Ignores terrain cost⟩] — the first flight, and the first view from above. Hot air does not burn, so the Observation Balloon never suffers the Airship Disaster.
• Notes: The Montgolfiers flew in 1783, before oxygen chemistry was accepted.
• Leads to: AE02 Dirigible/Airship

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: AE01 + (MC09 or EL06 (Electric Generator — the motor))
• Unlocks: Airshipⁿ [unit, Bomber; cost 250; ranged str 30; range 5; ⟨[+2] Sight⟩; no resource; ⟨Triggers a [Airship Disaster] event <with [1]% chance> <upon turn start> <before discovering [Helium Extraction]>⟩ (the Airship Disaster, §1.2)] — slow, fuel-light and far-seeing. The first of the airship chain (AE02, AE13, AE12), whose undiscovered breakthroughs sit on each civilisation's confidence ladder.
• Leads to: AE13 Rigid Airship

• Tier: CORE · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: MC09 + MA03 (Basic Algebra — trigonometry)
• Unlocks: Triplane and Great War Bomber (units — canonical Flight; both require Oil); Carrier (unit). (Fighter, Bomber and Paratrooper move to Radar, EN04, as in the canonical tree.)
• Leads to: SF15 Ekranoplan, WA20 Drone Warfare, AE04 Jet Engine, AE05 Helicopter, AE10 Flying Boat, AE11 Electric Aviation

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: AE03 + TH03 (Turbine) + (ME14 or ME12)
• Unlocks: Jet Fighter (unit — requires Aluminum). ⟨[+2] Range <for [Fighter] units>⟩; ⟨[+10]% Strength <for [Fighter] units>⟩ — past the sound barrier (Supersonic Flight, merged here in v3.101).
• Leads to: AE07 Stealth Technology, AE08 Scramjet, AE14 Aerospace Industry

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: AE03 + MC03 (Gearing)
• Unlocks: Helicopter Gunship, Marine (units).

• Tier: UNCOMMON · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: AE04 + EN04 (Radar) + (MS03 or MA01)
• Unlocks: Stealth Bomber (unit — requires Aluminum).

• Tier: UNCOMMON · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: AE04 (Jet Engine — supersonic) + MS01 (Composite Materials) + TH05
• Unlocks: ⟨[+3] Range <for [Bomber] units>⟩ — hypersonic reach: a strike anywhere on the map.

• Tier: RARE · Era: Early Modern
• Prerequisites: O03 + MC03 + TX01
• Unlocks: Ornithopterⁿ [unit, Scout; cost 80; mv 4; str 5; ⟨[+2] Sight⟩; ⟨Ignores terrain cost⟩] — flight before the combustion engine. RARE.
• Notes: Speculative.

• Tier: UNCOMMON · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: AE03 + SF10 (Drydock)
• Unlocks: Flying Boatⁿ [unit, Fighter; cost 250; ranged str 25; range 8; ⟨Can see invisible [Submarine] units⟩; no resource] — the maritime patrol that finds submarines. (Seaplane tenders have no Unciv mechanism.)
• Notes: Catalina/Short Sunderland era of ocean-spanning flight.

• Tier: UNCOMMON · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: AE03 + (EL12 (Room Temp Superconductor) or (EL02 (Voltaic Pile — batteries) + EN10 (Miniaturization)))
• Unlocks: Electric Aircraftⁿ [unit, Fighter; cost 400; ranged str 50; range 8; no resource] — flight without Oil.

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: AE02 (Dirigible/Airship) + ME13 (Aluminium Extraction — duralumin frames)
• Unlocks: Rigid Airshipⁿ [unit, Bomber; cost 350; ranged str 45; range 8; ⟨[+2] Sight⟩; no resource; ⟨Triggers a [Airship Disaster] event <with [1]% chance> <upon turn start> <before discovering [Helium Extraction]>⟩ (the Airship Disaster, §1.2)] — the Zeppelin: a frame of light alloy around great gas cells, with the range to cross oceans and no need of oil. Heavier-than-air flight does not obsolete it: aeroplanes are faster and stronger, airships see further, stay aloft longer and burn no oil, and the two lines trade rather than replace one another. What ends airships, if anything does, is the Airship Disaster. The middle of the airship chain.
• Notes: The R101 (1930), the Akron (1933) and the Hindenburg (1937): the rigid airship was not pre-empted but abandoned, one catastrophe at a time.
• Leads to: AE12 Grand Aerostat

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: AE13 (Rigid Airship) + (MS01 or TX08)
• Unlocks: Sky Fortressⁿ [unit, Bomber; cost 600; ranged str 60; range 6; ⟨[+3] Sight⟩; no resource; ⟨Triggers a [Airship Disaster] event <with [1]% chance> <upon turn start> <before discovering [Helium Extraction]>⟩ (the Airship Disaster, §1.2)] — the apex of lighter-than-air. (A mobile aerial base and a floating platform have no Unciv mechanism and are dropped.) The last of the airship chain.
• Notes: Named and framed by world type; identical mechanics.
• Leads to: AE18 Sky Carriers

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: AE04 + MS01
• Unlocks: ⟨[+25]% Production when constructing [Air] units [in all cities]⟩.
• Notes: W18 — Entry: opens the pool; on Plenum's build (elemental worlds).
• Leads to: AE15 Jet-Stream Navigation, AE16 Airborne Assault Doctrine, AE17 Air Mobility, AE18 Sky Carriers, AE20 Current Rigging, QM-E23 Current Sail

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: AE14 — cost ×2.5
• Unlocks: ⟨[+2] Range <for [Air] units>⟩.
• Notes: W18 — Pool.
• Leads to: AE19 Suborbital Point-to-Point Transport

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: AE14 — cost ×2.5
• Unlocks: New infantry gain an Airborne promotion: ⟨May Paradrop to [Land] tiles up to [12] tiles away <in [{Friendly} {Land}] tiles>⟩.
• Notes: W18 — Pool; first step of capstone A.
• Leads to: AE19 Suborbital Point-to-Point Transport

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: AE14 — cost ×2.5
• Unlocks: ⟨[+1] Movement <for [Infantry] units>⟩.
• Notes: W18 — Pool.

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: AE14 + AE12 — cost ×2.5
• Unlocks: Sky Carrierⁿ [unit; a land-type aerostat like AE01's Observation Balloon; statistics set at spec; ⟨Ignores terrain cost⟩; ⟨Can carry [3] [Fighter] units⟩; carries the Airship Disaster risk ⟨<before discovering [Helium Extraction]>⟩; stands on the confidence ladder with AE02, AE13 and AE12].
• Notes: W18 — Pool; on the airship chain.

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: AE16 + AE15 — cost ×4
• Unlocks: Two modes: combat drops reach ⟨up to [20] tiles away⟩, onto tiles you can currently see; and any land unit ⟨May Paradrop to [{your} {City center}] tiles up to [40] tiles away <in [City center] tiles>⟩ — redeployment between your own cities.
• Notes: W18 — Capstone A.

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: QM-E23 + AE14
• Unlocks: ⟨[+10]% Strength <for [Air] units>⟩ — the rigging that drops a craft into one current and out of another, as a balloonist changes altitude to change wind. Hosts the "riding the currents" condition (W14).
• Notes: W18 — Pool; Plenum engineering (elemental worlds only); hosts a condition, so priced as a decider.

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: QM-E19 + RK07 + AE14 — cost ×2.5
• Unlocks: ⟨Propulsion⟩ (tag), counted toward the Boosters' propulsion by Orbital Mechanics (RK04); the final research of the Plenum Drive costs ×0.5 (a cost multiplier, §1.2 — riding the currents before riding them faster than light). The parallel of the Solar Sail (RK11). (Earlier "Current-Sail Probes" are gone: Unciv has no probes.)
• Notes: W18 — Pool; Plenum engineering (elemental worlds) — moved here from Rocketry; promoted to STANDARD; its Propulsion tag stays. Before the Drive, the sail.
• Leads to: AE20 Current Rigging