Things you never build...

Lil_Yospeck · Jul 30, 2007

Okay so I dont play online much so my 'tactics' are no doubt n00b and I would get trounced, but I was wondering which buildings/units you never seem to use. Also, if anyone can say WHY you should use them and if there's any major benefit then I'd like to hear them. Looking forward to getting into the multiplayer portion of the game.

1) Forts. I havn't built one yet. I always find it much easier to just take a civs city and carry on from there.

2) Knights. Never build them, they annhialate longbowmen, but get battered by pikemen, if I'm attacking a city I would sooner go in with macemen and some siege units who can usually tackle longbowmen and pikemen (albeit they can take a hit by crossbowmen, but I favour having more macemen over knights).

3) Castles. I've always managed to hold my own against AI attacks, am I assuming that in multiplayer they're needed more when facing an SoD?

4) Windmills. Always favour mining boosts, rarely am I in an area where there's not enough food so that I would need to build them, yet the AI seems to build loads of them.

Anyone else?

jonpfl · Jul 30, 2007

Lil_Yospeck said:
Okay so I dont play online much so my 'tactics' are no doubt n00b and I would get trounced, but I was wondering which buildings/units you never seem to use. Also, if anyone can say WHY you should use them and if there's any major benefit then I'd like to hear them. Looking forward to getting into the multiplayer portion of the game.

1) Forts. I havn't built one yet. I always find it much easier to just take a civs city and carry on from there.

2) Knights. Never build them, they annhialate longbowmen, but get battered by pikemen, if I'm attacking a city I would sooner go in with macemen and some siege units who can usually tackle longbowmen and pikemen (albeit they can take a hit by crossbowmen, but I favour having more macemen over knights).

3) Castles. I've always managed to hold my own against AI attacks, am I assuming that in multiplayer they're needed more when facing an SoD?

4) Windmills. Always favour mining boosts, rarely am I in an area where there's not enough food so that I would need to build them, yet the AI seems to build loads of them.

Anyone else?

I have never built forts until BtS. Now, instead of improving a mine/quarry/camp/etc that is within my culture but outside the fat cross for any of my cities, I build forts now. I figure I can use them in the future for aircraft and just in case I need to use units to fortify inside them.

On a side note, does anyone know if units heal faster in forts?

CivDude86 · Jul 30, 2007

Yes, not sure how much though.
1)Hermitage Can never find that city really needs that extra :culture:

2)Globe Theater I usually don't build since the only city its usually of any use is a GP farm and last thing I want to do is put GA points in there.

DrJambo · Jul 30, 2007

1. Agree on the Hermitage. Only if going for a Culture win might I consider building this building.

3. I rarely built colliseums, although in BtS I'm finding I'm doing this a little more. Either because they're better or I need Happiness more...

sneaky · Jul 30, 2007

I never ever build an explorer.

MikeH · Jul 30, 2007

sneaky said:
I never ever build an explorer.

Explorers make great medics, their 2MP means they can keep up with everyone. I've never built one to actually explore anything though :lol:

.

I almost never build plain colissseums, by the time they are available there are plenty of other ways of controlling happiness.

Proteus · Jul 30, 2007

Lil_Yospeck said:
1) Forts. I havn't built one yet. I always find it much easier to just take a civs city and carry on from there.

Have grown more useful now as they can forn canals and harvest resources,
therefoe from BtS on I will sometmes build them.

Lil_Yospeck said:
2) Knights. Never build them, they annhialate longbowmen, but get battered by pikemen, if I'm attacking a city I would sooner go in with macemen and some siege units who can usually tackle longbowmen and pikemen (albeit they can take a hit by crossbowmen, but I favour having more macemen over knights).

The additional MP comes in handy, and in BtS AFAIk they can be used to flanf the defenders in a mixed stack and directly attack the artillery

Lil_Yospeck said:
3) Castles. I've always managed to hold my own against AI attacks, am I assuming that in multiplayer they're needed more when facing an SoD?

I often build them because of the additoonal traderoute they give.

Lil_Yospeck said:
4) Windmills. Always favour mining boosts, rarely am I in an area where there's not enough food so that I would need to build them, yet the AI seems to build loads of them.
Anyone else?

I agree and I also rarely build workshops.
Aside from this you will rarely seem me building atomic shelters and coal plants

marioflag · Jul 30, 2007

1)Castles and Walls.Usually i don't build them, particularly Castles which obsoletes too early.
2)Windmills.I usually build mines, just in rare cases i build them.
3)Ironclad.All other units have their usefulness,Ironclad have a good strength but with 2 movement it's nearly impossible to make them good defenders.

IronCrown · Jul 30, 2007

I build Explorers only on terra maps, because they can travel on caravels and explore the New World before Galleons are availabe. Other than that, they are useless. By the time you can build them, your home continent is explored already. And they can't even take tribal villages that are defended by a barbarian unit because they cannot attack :lol:

Other things I never build:
-Swordsman
-Horse Archer
-Archer (unless I have no copper/iron/horses)

sneaky · Jul 30, 2007

I usually turn one of my pikemen in a medic. Or if I need the movement, a Horse Archer. It seems pretty useless to me to build a explorer just to turn him in a medic, when you can do the same to a pikemen and at the same time defend your stack against mounted attacks.

scu98rkr · Jul 30, 2007

I quite like windmills and I really like castles as well. I generally play LAN against one other opponent and they make me feel more secure.

I started building them when I was spanish due to the extra XP boost, but it you have stone they are very cheap really.

TheLastOne36 · Jul 30, 2007

I love forts in bts, look what they did or me!

Saved me a big trip around the pinnisula. After that i love using forts now. But mainly for canals.

It turned a useless desert tile to a canal that saved a long trip around!

MikeH · Jul 30, 2007

sneaky said:
I usually turn one of my pikemen in a medic. Or if I need the movement, a Horse Archer. It seems pretty useless to me to build a explorer just to turn him in a medic, when you can do the same to a pikemen and at the same time defend your stack against mounted attacks.

The advatage of the explorer as medic is that he will never be chosen to defend, unless the stack is almost dead anyway. A pikeman-medic could well die to an unlucky dice roll againsts knights or cavalry.

IronCrown · Jul 30, 2007

Good point, I think I will start building Explorers after all. You live, you learn

LegionSteve · Jul 30, 2007

Forts - I don't think I have ever built one. I didn't know you could use them as canals, until my first BtS game which I have just finished, where I saw my vassal doing it. That could be useful.

Castles - I would add walls to that too, unless I start next to Montezuma maybe. That might have to change in BtS though.

Musketmen - if I can, I try to bypass musketmen and go straight from a longbow/maceman army to a rifleman/grenadier army.

OKScientist · Jul 30, 2007

I disagree on windmills, they give food and commerce!
I agree on walls and castles, though.

On the knights subject, one good thing about them is that I can upgrade them to Cuirassiers (sp?) and later Cavalry, although Cavalry is not as good as it used to be.

I rarely build archers too, unless I have no copper.

EDIT: Ironclads are great when you just want to place them on your fish/clam/crabs for tile-defense.

Lil_Yospeck · Jul 30, 2007

I always found that I never needed to build Musketmen either, cause riflemen came so quickly after. Hasn't that changed with BTS though? Though they gave knights and musketmen a longer shelf life?

And what is meant by forts turning tiles into a canal?

skallben · Jul 30, 2007

Fort = canals and airbases, possibly for defending hotspots. I build them quite alot since BTS.

Castles = If you get engineering early, they are great in big cities, 1 trade route and +25% espionage in town is my reason. If I got stone I spam them.

Windmills = Good in extremely hilly towns or cities with low food, I rather get one more pop and run engineers specialist than sit on a mine.

What I do not build, let's see:
Ironclads.

Virulent · Jul 30, 2007

I almost never build any curassiers as I seem to reach rifling right before or right after I learn Military Tradition. Of course I tend to play on normal speed they might be of more use on the slower speeds.

Kissamies · Jul 30, 2007

Hmm, lets see...

I have inherited an irrational fear of coal plants from previous civs. I may sometimes build them on smaller polar cities, but usually I try to get Three Gorges Dam ASAP. I rather build a nuke plant than a coal one... crazy, eh? Explorers are a really rare build for me. I never built bomb shelters before, but in recent game my non-profileration treaty was not getting through and some AI's were pretty advanced so I got paranoid and built them. I do build colosseums but usually only in late game when I can spare hammers and need extra happiness in big cities. I have gotten that quest to build them a few times.

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History Addict

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Deity

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