mariogreymist
Deity
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2009
- Messages
- 2,201
Not quite. First strikes mean they can finish the battle with no damage, not simply less. So, assuming you've gotten collateral damage on a stack you're attacking, you can begin the attack with either your drill troops (Assuming the collateral was enough to make victory likely) freeing your combat troops to move to the front quickly...or, you can use the less promoted Combat line troops attack to take the first casualties, only bringing the drill troops into the fray once the strongest defenders have been severely wounded. Also, if your opponent has mounted troops, it's good to have unwounded units left guarding your siege after the city falls. The drill troops which won their combat will be able to defend well. Anyone who's ever seen a stack of trebs killed by chariots/HAs for want of a single unwounded defender will see the usefulness of this.I'm still not sure what the key difference is. Tell me if this sounds right? "A Drill promoted unit has a lower chance of success than a Combat/CR promoted unit, but when it wins it takes less damage. This fact, combined with resistance to collateral damage from defending siege, allow an assault to move from target to target more quickly, but with potentially higher losses." Does that sum up drill? If I am understanding it right, I'm still not sure i like it.
Generally, I am more or less the same way. I do plan to go to war often, but I plan my wars to be short affairs with specific objectives. In my experience, a mix of troops and promotions is usually the best way to achieve this result, unless your opponent has homogenous defenders, and weak defensive positions. (A kingdom with nothing but archers, and no hill cities can easily be killed by C1/cover axes, and nothing else) And yes...all the troops are there to fight. Cover and flanking troops are just for specific parts of the battle where combat promoted troops are likely to die or be severely wounded.I tend to be a bit of a builder, though, so when I go to conquer, I have very narrow objectives and then plan to bring the smallest amount of troops necessary to get the job done with minimal risk. That usually means EVERYBODY fights, even the lowly spearman with medic 2 that was just there as a combination medic/chariot counter. By the time he fights there is one archer with .3 strength left, but still, he has to earn his keep. Maybe this is why I don't find drill useful. No matter what I did, the assault would have to pause after every city taken.