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So, this is the second quirk I have encountered.

The "Bombarder" flag should allow a unit to attack a neighbouring unit, give it some damage, NOT able to kill it, but in return not receive any damage.

The first quirk is a rumour: Battleships are able to baombard cities even without this flag. Can someone confirm this?

The second quirk I just confirmed. Cannon has a "Bombarder" flag and also has the ability to attack non-native tiles, namely, ships.

So my cannon just attacked a Destroyer and died in the attack. Which is directly in opposition to the "Bombarder" flag.

Does anyone have an explanation? Is this intended behaviour or a bug?

No idea about first issue, at least in 2.6 it works fine (direct attack without bombarder flag).
Second issue is hardcoded. Bombarder flag works only on land. Same with airplanes.

Wahazar wrote:Bombarder flag works only on land.

So if I give "Bombarder" flag to ships, they will still be attacking each other normally while at sea?

Corbeau wrote:

Wahazar wrote:Bombarder flag works only on land.

So if I give "Bombarder" flag to ships, they will still be attacking each other normally while at sea?

Yes, it is a freeciv feature. Same with artillery with AttackNonNative+bombarder flag - it is bombarding objects on land, but directly attacking ships near coast. Check your own ruleset

Why? Does it say in the ruleset that NonNative attack is regular, and not bombardment??

Corbeau wrote:Why? Does it say in the ruleset that NonNative attack is regular, and not bombardment??

It doesn't say, but it work as above. Just check your cannon vs ship.

So, I notice this behaviour seeing a situation with the cannon and the ship and you answer by pointing at the situation with the cannon and the ship...

You're a funny guy.

Depending on your game version, this might still be hardcoded behavior (bombardment only against land), or it might be part of the respective action enabler (or both).

Corbeau wrote:The first quirk is a rumour: Battleships are able to baombard cities even without this flag. Can someone confirm this?

This is just a rumour. It comes from the so-called "coastal bombardment rule": if a unit attacks a non-native tile and the defender can't exist at the attacker's tile, both sides' firepower is set to 1. It has been named so before the bombardment attack was developed.

Hardcoded bombardment rules in 2.5, other then "Bombarder" flag, nonzero bombard rate, no actions forced primarily and general attack legality, are:
* target is not an empty city, or it is conquered/destroyed;
* target is not on sea, or the attack is regular;
* bombarder is not transported, or it just gives an excuse
(all three unhardcoded in 3.0, and ranged bombardment introduced).