Aonghus
Rainwood
LOL!
Using Explorers Revealed
- Thread starter gzollinger
- Start date
LOL!
one_hoop
Chieftain
Interesting to hear how the AI deals with Explorers during peacetime... might be worthwhile as windows into enemy troop units, especially if two AIs are fighting each other. I especially liked the Chinese/French example of joining the party late.
As far as using them for pillaging, the last game that I played I didn't bring enough artillery for an overseas invasion. I had landed three attack forces though and each stack was big enough that the Roman counter-attack was pathetic. I figured if they couldn't make a dent with the initial "counter attack" then I didn't really need to fortify. Two of the stacks had cavalry armies, so I converged the three stacks using the armies auto-pillage (it's not really automatic, but it doesn't cost any MPs) function to pillage along the way. In doing so, I made a two-tile wide disruption in his road network across the entire continent without making a single crater (if only my battleships had been so considerate! What a mess that was to clean up).
One thing worth noting: Moving into a square with a barricade ends the army's turn regardless of MP (makes sense), but pillaging it the next turn also ends your army's turn so use something cheaper to pillage barricades.
I really liked that method of pillaging, so I don't know when I'll get an opportunity to try the explorers method of pillaging. I suppose if I reach that point in the game without having gotten a MGL I will give it a shot. I'm trying to shift towards being more militaristic in the early stages of the game though so maybe that'll help (or maybe not, since I should have formed an army before Astronomy?).
<B>What I'd really like to see is an explanation of how to use Conquistidors! I mean they look cool and they have ZOC, but I hardly think that justifies 70 shields!</B>
M@
As far as using them for pillaging, the last game that I played I didn't bring enough artillery for an overseas invasion. I had landed three attack forces though and each stack was big enough that the Roman counter-attack was pathetic. I figured if they couldn't make a dent with the initial "counter attack" then I didn't really need to fortify. Two of the stacks had cavalry armies, so I converged the three stacks using the armies auto-pillage (it's not really automatic, but it doesn't cost any MPs) function to pillage along the way. In doing so, I made a two-tile wide disruption in his road network across the entire continent without making a single crater (if only my battleships had been so considerate! What a mess that was to clean up).
One thing worth noting: Moving into a square with a barricade ends the army's turn regardless of MP (makes sense), but pillaging it the next turn also ends your army's turn so use something cheaper to pillage barricades.
I really liked that method of pillaging, so I don't know when I'll get an opportunity to try the explorers method of pillaging. I suppose if I reach that point in the game without having gotten a MGL I will give it a shot. I'm trying to shift towards being more militaristic in the early stages of the game though so maybe that'll help (or maybe not, since I should have formed an army before Astronomy?).
<B>What I'd really like to see is an explanation of how to use Conquistidors! I mean they look cool and they have ZOC, but I hardly think that justifies 70 shields!</B>
M@
Son_Of_Dido
Prince
- Joined
- May 31, 2005
- Messages
- 315
One Hoop: Thanks for bumping this article to where i could see it! I'm glad to find out about this unexpected upside to explorers.
As for Conquistadors: While I wouldn't want to write a strategy section on it yet, I'm thinking Conquistadors and their movement bonus might well make them lethally effective in a medival Jungle Warfare campaign. I'm about to find out. I'll post a save of the game I'm playing with the Spanish momentarily. You'll see the southern, jungle-choked area of my home continent has recently become infested with some unwelcome intruders as of late; Japanese, Byanztine, and Sumerian cities (The Japanese city is close to a source of precious iron which seems rare in this world, and one byzantine city is holding holding 4 gems in it's sphere of influence; I already have 2 gem colonies linked up and a source of iron, but I'm greedy. My attempts to rush culture in my nearby cities and flip 'em is not working, so I'm going to soon grab them the old fashioned way. The land is, being jungle naturally very underdeveloped and lacking in roads, so I'm thinking I'll send my Conquistadors down there to secure the goods.)
So yeah, not ready to put a strategy article out there, and this does seem so far to be a rather narrow window of opportunity (jungle welfare against an enemy of inferior resources/technology), we'll see how they do.
EDIT: here ya go. You'll see a lot of my Conquistador Jungle Warriors to be are out of position right now, but you'll get an idea for what part of the land I'm talking about and what I'm planning.
As for Conquistadors: While I wouldn't want to write a strategy section on it yet, I'm thinking Conquistadors and their movement bonus might well make them lethally effective in a medival Jungle Warfare campaign. I'm about to find out. I'll post a save of the game I'm playing with the Spanish momentarily. You'll see the southern, jungle-choked area of my home continent has recently become infested with some unwelcome intruders as of late; Japanese, Byanztine, and Sumerian cities (The Japanese city is close to a source of precious iron which seems rare in this world, and one byzantine city is holding holding 4 gems in it's sphere of influence; I already have 2 gem colonies linked up and a source of iron, but I'm greedy. My attempts to rush culture in my nearby cities and flip 'em is not working, so I'm going to soon grab them the old fashioned way. The land is, being jungle naturally very underdeveloped and lacking in roads, so I'm thinking I'll send my Conquistadors down there to secure the goods.)
So yeah, not ready to put a strategy article out there, and this does seem so far to be a rather narrow window of opportunity (jungle welfare against an enemy of inferior resources/technology), we'll see how they do.
EDIT: here ya go. You'll see a lot of my Conquistador Jungle Warriors to be are out of position right now, but you'll get an idea for what part of the land I'm talking about and what I'm planning.
AutomatedTeller
Frequent poster
I hate playing against conquistadors...
I often only garrison border cities, but against conquistadors, there are lot of cities near the border that are vulnerable. It's not hard to lose a city a turn to those guys - even if you take them right back, it's a serious distraction.
I often only garrison border cities, but against conquistadors, there are lot of cities near the border that are vulnerable. It's not hard to lose a city a turn to those guys - even if you take them right back, it's a serious distraction.
Son_Of_Dido
Prince
- Joined
- May 31, 2005
- Messages
- 315
Yeah, they're only 3.2, but basically they have movement of SIX, which means they are way faster than any other military units out there. They can get to your unprotected inner cities like that. That would be highly annoying.
And yeah, they cut through those jungle cities easily. I fought those 3 civs one at a time, and each war was basically 1 turn. It helped that they were lightly defended fronteir cities and i was only going against spearmen, but man, it was nice to see my units fly through jungle like it was nothing. Definite speed advantage for the Conquistador, especially in the pre-rail era.
And yeah, they cut through those jungle cities easily. I fought those 3 civs one at a time, and each war was basically 1 turn. It helped that they were lightly defended fronteir cities and i was only going against spearmen, but man, it was nice to see my units fly through jungle like it was nothing. Definite speed advantage for the Conquistador, especially in the pre-rail era.
Noobnerd
Chieftain
I didn't know that some AI would not consider the explorer as a threat but I'm going to try it out immediately. I also did not know it can pillage too.
A conquistadore - army can pillage 8 tiles + attack 
Explorers+Armies=game over/in control fast. We all have tons of corrupt towns in large empires. How might one use these towns well? Train explorers. Plant and chop at least one forest for an explorer. So, you'll get one from each corrupt city at least every 10 turns. Now... here's the kicker (and someone already saw it, I bet).
Take those explorers and move them to your city which produces armies, and disband them there for armies. Since the game has a 4:1 production:disbandment ratio, you get 5 shields *exactly* back from disbanding explorers. *And* explorers move fast without rails. Why do I have a feeling Kuningas or Moonsinger *already* knew and used this?
Take those explorers and move them to your city which produces armies, and disband them there for armies. Since the game has a 4:1 production:disbandment ratio, you get 5 shields *exactly* back from disbanding explorers. *And* explorers move fast without rails. Why do I have a feeling Kuningas or Moonsinger *already* knew and used this?
Why do I have a feeling you bumped an old thread to talk to yourself?
I rarely use them, but mostly because I'm not good at things like strategy or tactics.
I rarely use them, but mostly because I'm not good at things like strategy or tactics.
Lord Emsworth
Emperor
I am more familiar with doing it the other way 'round. Build explorers in your uncorrupt core area, and disband them in corrupt lands.
One might use explorers for short-whipping in say a post-Education 100k game when playing as scientific. Instead of waiting for your city to grow to size 4, you just hit size 3, have one shield in the box, short-whip in an explorer, and then whip in a library.
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