"Can Opener" is my term for a unit specialized for attacking cities. If there's a better name out there already, I'm sure someone will let me know.
To qualify as a Can Opener, a unit needs the following promotions: City Raider I, II and III, Combat I, and then -- depending on the era -- either Cover or Pinch. There are endless possible combinations of promotions, but if you're maxing your city attack -- and who isn't? -- this is the most efficient way to do it.
You don't need a Can Opener for every city attack. If you're picking off some dinky medieval Pop 3 city with 20% culture and a couple of unpromoted longbows inside, this unit is overkill. But sooner or later you'll have to fight some horrible Protective opponent with Drill 1/CG III longbows in a holy city on a hill. That's when you'll be very, very glad of your Can Opener.
Can Openers need a lot of experience. Five promotions cost:
26 eps for most civs
20 eps for Charismatic
17 eps for Aggressive civs (because they only need four)
13 eps for Boudica
Wise players hoard their Can Openers like diamonds, risking them only when the stakes are high. There's nothing more maddening than losing a unit with 30 eps to a bad roll on some dinky no-consequence town. Once you hit that fifth promotion, further promotions are not all that useful, so there's no point in risking your precious unit just to grab an xp or two.
There are two frustrating aspects to Can Openers. One is that units lose all but 10 xp upon upgrading. So, your 33 xp Axeman will promote to a 10 xp Maceman. This is annoying, but the promotions are kept and -- as noted above -- a mature Can Opener doesn't get much value from additional promotions anyway.
It's easy to obsess over reaching the next level, but it can be really counterproductive sometimes. I have often found myself keeping some obsolete unit around for centuries because it needed just one or two more xp. In one recent game, I had a Crossbowman with 15 xp still hanging around in the days of Riflemen, Cavalry, Transports and Destroyers. I just wanted one more Drill promotion before upgrading him...
The other problem with Can Openers is that pre-gunpowder units with Cover become less useful in the gunpowder age. There's no real solution to that. Just accept that your killer Maceman is going to become a less-killer Rifleman. At least he'll still have the CR promotions.
Which leads to the other thing about Can Openers: once you hit the gunpowder era, City Raider promotions disappear, not to be seen again until Armor rolls onstage. So you have to rely on upgraded earlier units -- usually Macemen -- to be your city killers. Wise players know this and make sure they build up a stock of Macemen with CR promotions, ready for upgrading to Riflemen and Grenadiers. There's something really pleasing about having an Infantry unit with CR III. Contrariwise, it's pretty depressing trying to fight a gunpowder-era war without a single CR unit. Don't let this happen to you.
To fine tune this a little more, if you have a CR III Maceman, pause to check the state of the world. If you're still early in the game, great... the next two promotions should be Combat I and Cover. But if you're near the end of the medieval era, and gunpowder units are close at hand, then you may want to set that unit aside for a little while. (Assuming you can spare him, of course.) He'll upgrade to a CR III Grenadier or Rifleman, while still keeping his promotions. You can then move him along the promotion line to Combat I and Pinch.
Obviously Great Generals are one way to get Can Openers in a hurry. A GG only gives enough xp to build one from scratch if you're Charismatic or Aggressive, but if you've generated enough xps to get a GG you probably have some CR II and III units hanging around. A Warlord Can Opener is likely to be your most valued unit. Just accept that sooner or later it's going to get that bad roll...
Thoughts?
Waldo
To qualify as a Can Opener, a unit needs the following promotions: City Raider I, II and III, Combat I, and then -- depending on the era -- either Cover or Pinch. There are endless possible combinations of promotions, but if you're maxing your city attack -- and who isn't? -- this is the most efficient way to do it.
You don't need a Can Opener for every city attack. If you're picking off some dinky medieval Pop 3 city with 20% culture and a couple of unpromoted longbows inside, this unit is overkill. But sooner or later you'll have to fight some horrible Protective opponent with Drill 1/CG III longbows in a holy city on a hill. That's when you'll be very, very glad of your Can Opener.
Can Openers need a lot of experience. Five promotions cost:
26 eps for most civs
20 eps for Charismatic
17 eps for Aggressive civs (because they only need four)
13 eps for Boudica
Wise players hoard their Can Openers like diamonds, risking them only when the stakes are high. There's nothing more maddening than losing a unit with 30 eps to a bad roll on some dinky no-consequence town. Once you hit that fifth promotion, further promotions are not all that useful, so there's no point in risking your precious unit just to grab an xp or two.
There are two frustrating aspects to Can Openers. One is that units lose all but 10 xp upon upgrading. So, your 33 xp Axeman will promote to a 10 xp Maceman. This is annoying, but the promotions are kept and -- as noted above -- a mature Can Opener doesn't get much value from additional promotions anyway.
It's easy to obsess over reaching the next level, but it can be really counterproductive sometimes. I have often found myself keeping some obsolete unit around for centuries because it needed just one or two more xp. In one recent game, I had a Crossbowman with 15 xp still hanging around in the days of Riflemen, Cavalry, Transports and Destroyers. I just wanted one more Drill promotion before upgrading him...
The other problem with Can Openers is that pre-gunpowder units with Cover become less useful in the gunpowder age. There's no real solution to that. Just accept that your killer Maceman is going to become a less-killer Rifleman. At least he'll still have the CR promotions.
Which leads to the other thing about Can Openers: once you hit the gunpowder era, City Raider promotions disappear, not to be seen again until Armor rolls onstage. So you have to rely on upgraded earlier units -- usually Macemen -- to be your city killers. Wise players know this and make sure they build up a stock of Macemen with CR promotions, ready for upgrading to Riflemen and Grenadiers. There's something really pleasing about having an Infantry unit with CR III. Contrariwise, it's pretty depressing trying to fight a gunpowder-era war without a single CR unit. Don't let this happen to you.
To fine tune this a little more, if you have a CR III Maceman, pause to check the state of the world. If you're still early in the game, great... the next two promotions should be Combat I and Cover. But if you're near the end of the medieval era, and gunpowder units are close at hand, then you may want to set that unit aside for a little while. (Assuming you can spare him, of course.) He'll upgrade to a CR III Grenadier or Rifleman, while still keeping his promotions. You can then move him along the promotion line to Combat I and Pinch.
Obviously Great Generals are one way to get Can Openers in a hurry. A GG only gives enough xp to build one from scratch if you're Charismatic or Aggressive, but if you've generated enough xps to get a GG you probably have some CR II and III units hanging around. A Warlord Can Opener is likely to be your most valued unit. Just accept that sooner or later it's going to get that bad roll...
Thoughts?
Waldo
