Does anyone use the first strike promotion??

[AccipiterQ]

I'm kind of curious as to whether or not any one uses this promotion? I've never really seen it mentioned here, but I like using it on units like machine gunners. Anyone else use this promotion ever?

 

[Lightwave]

I played the Chinese a lot in vanilla, and with the Cho-Ku-No (sp?) I did use the first strike quite a bit. I am probably wrong here, but I did not "feel" like it made as big of a difference, so as I played others I tended to pick the other promotions such as hill defense mostly to help against the barbarians early (I always play Raging Barbs).

 

[ShannonCT]

Drill III and IV are really nice, each granting 2 first strike chances and 20% reduced collateral damage. With the new Oromo Warrior getting Drill I and II for free, taking Drill III and IV is the best choice for most game situations. But I never upgrade a new unit to Drill I. I'd rather have Combat I - IV than Drill I - IV.

 

[CivScientist]

First strike is only decisive if you have a clear technological lead against the opponent you're attacking. First strike is only useful if that first strike actually hits and hits hard. If the odds aren't greatly in your favor during that fight, first strike will probably do little good for you. However, if the odds are greatly in your favor, first strike can generally whipe out your opponent before your unit gets any significant damage. For that to happen, however, you probably need a good tech lead.

 

[sourboy]

I use first strike on my attacking units, and I'd agree -- it only seems to matter when you have a tech lead. Then you can knock their units out with little damage taken. Otherwise, if your units are comparable -- pick something else.

 

[Diamondeye]

Drill III and IV are really nice, each granting 2 first strike chances and 20% reduced collateral damage. With the new Oromo Warrior getting Drill I and II for free, taking Drill III and IV is the best choice for most game situations. But I never upgrade a new unit to Drill I. I'd rather have Combat I - IV than Drill I - IV.

Drill I: 1 First strike chance,
Drill II: 1 First strike.
Drill III: 2 First strike chances
Drill IV: 2 First strikes.

There is a difference between nr 3 and 4.

Anyway, @OP:
Drills are only really useful against lesser opponents - if you have a longbow and needs to fight a maceman, dont pick it.
If you have a machinegun and needs to fighta dozen macemen, it'd be much more helpful though.

 

[bardolph]

Use Drill on "clean up" units, so they can kill the last wounded units in a city without taking damage themselves. Works great after using siege to soften them up.

I regularly use highly-promoted Drill Tanks and Modern armor. Drill archery units can be pretty nice, and are good stack defenders. I like Drill Crossbowmen for this purpose.

 

[Rusty Edge]

Drill 4, is pretty strong, drill 1 may do nothing. The drill promotion line is an investment.

As everyone said , it allows you to take less damage on a fight you'd probably win anyway. So It's better when you have a tech lead, a unit with a bonus such as crossbows , or a UU. I hate facing Churchill's redcoats when they are loaded with it.

It's also handy on some tanks , because blitz works better when you take less damage- a synergy .

 

[mudphud]

Drill is nice on city defenders. A drill IV unit defending a city can withstand attacks and take no damage so your opponent has to throw a lot of units at you. I know how much I hate it when I attack a city and my first unit dies while doing no damage to the defender.

 

[CivDude86]

It allows you to grab some more exp since thats based only on .

 

[Pikkis]

Drill I: 1 First strike chance,
Drill II: 1 First strike.
Drill III: 2 First strike chances
Drill IV: 2 First strikes.

There is a difference between nr 3 and 4.

Anyway, @OP:
Drills are only really useful against lesser opponents - if you have a longbow and needs to fight a maceman, dont pick it.
If you have a machinegun and needs to fighta dozen macemen, it'd be much more helpful though.

And don't forget Drill IV gives +10% vs. Mounted units in addition to 2fs and reduced amount of collateral damage suffered. That can be really helpful, for example, if your Drill IV+Combat I (10XP) Samurai gets attacked by a Knight (immune to first strikes).

 

[ShannonCT]

Drill I: 1 First strike chance,
Drill II: 1 First strike.
Drill III: 2 First strike chances
Drill IV: 2 First strikes.

There is a difference between nr 3 and 4.

Anyway, @OP:
Drills are only really useful against lesser opponents - if you have a longbow and needs to fight a maceman, dont pick it.
If you have a machinegun and needs to fighta dozen macemen, it'd be much more helpful though.

My bad. So Drill III is on average the same as Drill II, since the first strike chances have a 50% chance of hitting (I think I read this somewhere on this forum). Drill IV is a beast. If you can get a unit to Drill IV right out of the starting gate, it's worth it.

I like the 60% reduction of collateral damage that comes with Drill II-IV. It's especially useful in multiplayer games where human players make better use of cats for city defense.

And I have to disagree about Drill only being useful against lesser units. Having several first strikes means guaranteed damage to any non-mounted unit, and the opportunity to defend against superior invaders with cheaper units.

 

[DigitalBoy]

I'm beginning to think that Drill promotions may be competitive with City Garrison promotions for defensive units.

City Garrison only applies to the unit's base strength, but the first strikes will benefit the unit according to its total strength (base strength adjusted for defense and fortification and any other strength modifiers).

 

[Devil Inside]

churchill redcoats FTW!!

 

[peter450]

FS are an extension of the way combat works, an example

2 units of 6 str the odd's are 50/50

Each time a successful blow is landed, one the units takes x amount dmg, the dmg either unit recieves per successful blow is the same.

Lets say the differance is a 9 str vs a 6 str unit.

The dmg is now calculated differantly a successful strike on the 6 str unit will deal x amount of dmg, if a blow is landed on the 9 str unit it's dmg will be 2/3 of figure x, putting that into some rough ballpark numbers (not accurate, but close) the 6 str unit will deal somthing like 16/17 hp dmg per blow, the 9 str unit will deal 24/25 hp per blow.

In cases were your strength is double, the dmg you inflict is double that you receive so the other unit would need to score over twice as many hits on you to to win the round.

If you have a high str rating an several FS what that means is you will likely do dmg around the mid 30s (hp per hit) so 3 or 4 hits an your opponent is dead, meaning that if you have a strong unit with lots of FS you can fight battle after battle with no loss, or very low loss of health.

 

[VLGoldenJew]

As per many of the posters here, I generally only upgrade Drill if I'm my units start with Drill 1 or 2. Unless you can go all the way to 4, I usually feel the bonuses are best spent elsewhere.

 

[peter450]

As per many of the posters here, I generally only upgrade Drill if I'm my units start with Drill 1 or 2. Unless you can go all the way to 4, I usually feel the bonuses are best spent elsewhere.

Wise advice, because the amout of dmg you inflict is proportinal to the str differance between both units in combat, you should focus on boosting str first an FS second, as such the best use for FS is on units with lots of promotions (warlord unit) or city defenders, were there str is massively multiplied by city def bonus + city defense rating, and were there's a high chance of them being battered by siege weapons

 

[Dominico]

I had some first strike promoted machine gunners protecting a hill top city and they kicked some ass. It was only when my fighter cover got slotted that the enemy managed to soften them up with Zeppelins and then shift them. Very impressive defence.

It was great fun!

 

[Enigma256]

i usually have a few drillIV/Barrage units to soften up a city before the "real" attack with the city raiders.

this way they can also work as defender for the stack, cause city raider is useless in the open field.

 

[Defiance]

With the Oromo.. sometimes with crossbows