Immortal AI military overwhelming

[gcrockwood]

I'm still very new to immortal level, so I'm still getting used to it. The major issue I'm running into is AI military. Even on emperor I was able to easily keep up with the AI military, now I can spam military constantly in every city and remain in last place. War by turn 200 is literally a 100% chance at which point all the AI's turn on me.

I know all the advantages the AI gets at this level, and I'm boggled on how to keep up military-wise.

 

[renton555]

IMO don't bother trying to "keep up" with AI military. At immortal and deity they spam so many units that it is futile to bother. Just keep an updated ranged unit garrisoning most cities, two for cities in risky areas (also build walls in those), otherwise IMO its not worth the GPT for a standing army unless you are taking cities with that army and getting your money's worth.

Also it can't hurt to keep 1k gold or so to rush buy a couple of units in response to a surprise attack.

Other than that, try to pay more attention to diplomacy and not to piss off the other civs, especially the warlike ones.

 

[Fire0rb]

Just ignore everything in score but the last on in demographics... you only need to know how good are you doing techwise.
On Immortal and Deity the AI gets absurd bonus to their production and reduced costs for all the units they spam them like crazy.
You just need a good bunch of veterans with massive upgrades to destroy whole armies (normally 10-20 units). You will have much lower "points" in soldiers but have a way more powerful and effective army when the AI sits on unupgraded, unpromoted useless units which give points...

The only good of this statistic is the point that you know who has the most military and with that most likely to attack someone when bribing him

 

[joshua43214]

...The major issue I'm running into is AI military. Even on emperor I was able to easily keep up with the AI military, now I can spam military constantly in every city and remain in last place...

This is your mistake.

You can't keep up, your wasting gold and hammers even trying to be in the middle. Unless you are dead last in military for the early game you are doing something very wrong. You might move up to #6 if you have a very early successful war.

You will need to focus on when you think you will need a military tech, and when any given AI is likely to DoW. It's mostly a matter of making good predictions 10-20 turns ahead of time. You can do this because you made it through emperor level and are able to predict when you need to start improving resource, this is much the same.

On immortal the early DoW comes ~T50 and you can fend off with archers, it comes around ~T35 on deity. The next DoW comes around T100 on immortal and T80 on deity, and you need comp bows to fend it off. You should be in a tech position to be able to get the needed tech if you get DoW'd. I usually won't research construction until it comes up naturally in my tech progress, but if I have a scary neighbor, I will take some turns off of it so I am more ready.

The AI gets a big advantage over you in everything from happiness, production, and starting units. Getting parity tech wise is my first priority.

 

[Buccaneer]

I will give you an example of what a dead last place military can do. Around turn 300, I was declared upon by five AI opponents (that was when ideology wars and world ideology kicked in). Since it was a Small Continents-Low Seas map (my most favorite one to play), they all had a good mix of naval (mostly), air and ground forces. All I had were 6-8 Gatling Guns and a couple subs plus some worthless mounted units. I survived all of their spams with credit going to my city-states for helping out. The downside and what hurt me was going from +100 gpt to -69 but getting lump sums from my friends every 5-8 turns helped.

Now at turn 350, I am facing a swarm of naval and air units but my 100+ defense cities are holding well so far and that's all I care about as I go for a cultural win.

 

[cAtlas]

First off, if all AIs turn on you, you're doing the diplomacy game wrong. That said, Immortal and Diety is all about trading very cost efficiently, rather than positioning battle of equal armies.

 

[joshua43214]

I will give you an example of what a dead last place military can do. Around turn 300, I was declared upon by five AI opponents (that was when ideology wars and world ideology kicked in). Since it was a Small Continents-Low Seas map (my most favorite one to play), they all had a good mix of naval (mostly), air and ground forces. All I had were 6-8 Gatling Guns and a couple subs plus some worthless mounted units. I survived all of their spams with credit going to my city-states for helping out. The downside and what hurt me was going from +100 gpt to -69 but getting lump sums from my friends every 5-8 turns helped.

Now at turn 350, I am facing a swarm of naval and air units but my 100+ defense cities are holding well so far and that's all I care about as I go for a cultural win.

With respect, I specified early part of the game. If you are getting dogpiled at T300, then perhaps your diplomacy failed (I know, depends on the particular game). I have played countless games to the end doing what you are doing now, holding on and driving for the finish. This is the price we pay when we chose to play a peaceful victory condition. 6-8 gats + subs and a couple or melee is about what I usually have at that point too unless I was being paranoid then I crank out bombers as well. The only time you should have military parity is when you are mid/late game in a domination victory. Trying to buy needed buildings and maintain a large army is only goig to happen on one of those really special maps

 

[Buccaneer]

The same thing applies to an early game defense (I just used my later game one because it's fresh in mind). Those 6-8 gatlings were 6-8 archers/compBows and the could handle a swarm of iron units and the like. I don't worry much about defenses once I decided to go construction and machinery in the middle of going philo-education-archaeology. The couple of games before when I didn't, I got overrun by early swarms. Soon I will try offensive military and domination, my strong suit, when I feel I got growth, science, gold and culture/tourism down.

 

[mrwho]

How do any of you guys possibly win an immortal or deity domination victory?

 

[Txurce]

How do any of you guys possibly win an immortal or deity domination victory?

Speaking only of Immortal, but assuming the same for Deity: in a nutshell, technology and tactics. Get to a key tech first (or close enough), and take advantage of the AI's mostly mediocre, occasionally harebrained tactics.

 

[joshua43214]

Speaking only of Immortal, but assuming the same for Deity: in a nutshell, technology and tactics. Get to a key tech first (or close enough), and take advantage of the AI's mostly mediocre, occasionally harebrained tactics.

QFT

A domination victory is a science victory in many ways. Most of the AI do not fight very well, so you get tech parity or advantage and win through better tactics. You just have to know when to switch off the science focus and go military tech focus, when to get peace and turtle up, and when to push. The important thing is to get in there and fight, don't muck around building a large army, the AI is doing the same but they are doing it faster than you. Take what you have and go for it, and just keep adding units as you go

 

[JustinianIV]

I agree with what others have posted. I too am new to immortal. However I have not been overwhelmed, and have been successful in all my wars.

On top of what other people said, I find that it is often better to build defensive buildings (walls, castles, and so forth) rather than units if you had to choose between them. This is because units take maintenance while defensive buildings do not. Most of the time my army is there just to deter the enemy, and defensive buildings also bolster your military rating.