NihilZero
WHEOOHRNY
Well, I certainly concur that the absolute minimum of military is always the best military. And if things do go wrong, we can always abandon ship, start another game, and hope that the RNG is a little kinder next time! 
Standing Army in Peacetime: Rule of Thumb?
- Thread starter Jhaeman
- Start date
Exactly... some games just aren't meant to be won on Deity, sometimes even Immortal. In the real world, you can't be safe against everything either, unfortunately. Some luck is always needed.
I feel, there is only a handful of people in the world who are proficient enough with Deity to be able to win almost any game with no reloads at all... might be wrong, though
I feel, there is only a handful of people in the world who are proficient enough with Deity to be able to win almost any game with no reloads at all... might be wrong, though
The key word is "flexibility":
In military history there has always been the question how one can use his forces with the higest efficiency delivering the best effects.
So if you intend to protect all of your cities against enemy invasions with infantry, it is clear that it will be costful since you then would (as a tendency; reality is more complex of course) always need an army nearby that is able to counter a major invasion. However, you can reach flexibility by producing large numbers of cavalry units and by sensefully using roads. You have two base movement points, with roads you get 4, which means that you will then already be able to cover a diameter of 9 squares (including the one that your units stand on). Later on you can cover 13 squares with cavalry. With railroads 41 altogether. Assuming that each of your city is two squares from the next cultural border and assuming that the enemys attack is led by infantry, you have still another turn to react, which doubles the number of covered square-diameters. For many or most situations/games this number of effective movement points should be totally sufficient.
In the end this has a second significant advantage: The army can in case also be used for your own military, offensive operations.
Again the principle "attack ist the best defense" rules.
Btw: I had that idea when I was watching a documentary on the limes (the border between the Roman Empire and "Germania") where the Romans essentially applied the same concept. That's how real-history strategies can serve as models for Civ.
In military history there has always been the question how one can use his forces with the higest efficiency delivering the best effects.
So if you intend to protect all of your cities against enemy invasions with infantry, it is clear that it will be costful since you then would (as a tendency; reality is more complex of course) always need an army nearby that is able to counter a major invasion. However, you can reach flexibility by producing large numbers of cavalry units and by sensefully using roads. You have two base movement points, with roads you get 4, which means that you will then already be able to cover a diameter of 9 squares (including the one that your units stand on). Later on you can cover 13 squares with cavalry. With railroads 41 altogether. Assuming that each of your city is two squares from the next cultural border and assuming that the enemys attack is led by infantry, you have still another turn to react, which doubles the number of covered square-diameters. For many or most situations/games this number of effective movement points should be totally sufficient.
In the end this has a second significant advantage: The army can in case also be used for your own military, offensive operations.
Again the principle "attack ist the best defense" rules.
Btw: I had that idea when I was watching a documentary on the limes (the border between the Roman Empire and "Germania") where the Romans essentially applied the same concept. That's how real-history strategies can serve as models for Civ.
