War Roads

[Xiao Xiong]

I haven't seen this discussed much, but I do it ALL THE TIME. Thought I would share:

When I go to war, I always send a couple of workers along with the troops. I use them to build war roads: Roads over strategic hills and across rivers so that I can advance a range unit and fire in a single turn, so that I can rotate the wounded troops to the rear faster for recovery (and get them out of harms way so they don't die).

Especially when a city is surrounded by rough terrain, or if there is a bottleneck, war roads are the key to victory. You can sit on the outskirts of a city just beyond its range picking off the units, while building roads. Sometimes send in a unit with heavy cover promotions to sit in the line of fire and protect a worker building a road right up to the city gate.

If there are hills adjacent to the city where range units can snipe at it, I will build roads all along the hilltop during a long siege.

After the war is over and the city is mine, I have the workers remove the extraneous roads so that I don't have to pay maintenance on them.

BTW, this is why the roman legions that can build roads are just incredible. You could send just legions and leave the workers at home!

The other thing the workers can do is repair pillaged tiles in enemy territory so that they can be pillaged a second time for faster healing -- though, sometimes I feel bad about doing that, it kind of feels exploitative. Depends on my mood.

But war roads feel like real strategy and I do it all the time.

 

[tetley]

If you've played Romans, you get used to this tactic, and it kind of sticks with you. You can also build forts and camp your crossbows in them.

Another trick on water maps is, send in your workers on the water. The AI navy eats themselves alive on them. Idiots.

 

[DrakenKin]

I do it all the time too, even use railroads to send new units to the front when dealing with AI unit spam sometimes. it is a must on all maps and significantly improves your warfare.

The only issue is that it is easier to build them than remove them and railroads can nosedive your economy for a bit, but it's worth every penny until you can start fielding air units that make your life easier.

 

[shaglio]

I've never used my workers to build war roads, but I have used the "repair pillaged tiles" tactic on occasion. I've also brought along workers to chop down forests around the city to allow more ranged units to get a clear shot at it.

 

[George Abitbol]

I use at least one worker to build a "war road": units come faster, especially siege units, and also GG, if I want to plant a citadel to weaken a city.

 

[Civking5]

Also these type of roads are used a lot in multiplayer games. Especially when a player plans for an effective/fast war which is almost all the time.

 

[vivalamexico]

When using seige units this is a must. It enables arties, for example, to set up and fire on the same turn. It really makes the war quicker and more effective.
As a side note, another fun use for workers is to send them to the Iroquois and chop down all their forests

 

[Illinus]

How have I not been doing this?

 

[shaglio]

Also these type of roads are used a lot in multiplayer games. Especially when a player plans for an effective/fast war which is almost all the time.

I've never played MP, but I'd imagine, based on this, that if you see your neighbor building roads toward your territory, a DOW is imminent. That would seem to negate any chance of a surprise attack.

 

[shaglio]

After the war is over and the city is mine, I have the workers remove the extraneous roads so that I don't have to pay maintenance on them.

This would be the biggest downfall for me in using this tactic. I know I'd forget to remove the excess roads and be sitting there wondering why my economy was in the toilet. My ADD is directly limiting my ability to become a better Civ player.

 

[danaphanous]

I've never done this either, I did in Civ III and IV but ever since 1UPT I had given up on it as workers take time to build and it's hard to protect them. I've never been in a long siege though...I typically either kill them quickly or make peace...will try.

 

[Civking5]

I've never played MP, but I'd imagine, based on this, that if you see your neighbor building roads toward your territory, a DOW is imminent. That would seem to negate any chance of a surprise attack.

No, road building and war happens at the same time and you usually don't see the road building in advance. The reason is, multiplayer games are mostly played with the quick speed ( not standard speed), and roads can be built within one turn with right wonders/ social policies. So in another word, you can declare war and at the same turn build roads.

 

[tetley]

You don't have to undo that many roads, because once you capture the city, that city is connected. That's the desirable side effect of this tactic. Also, I would never actually build workers for this purpose: this is what you do when you have an abundance of workers through worker stealing.

 

[RedThree]

If possible, I will swoop in a couple of horse units to pillage roads and cut off their reinforcements while building a road from my major production cities. It's just a game of who can units there fast enough.

 

[AntPi1e]

I started doing somewhat the same thing as well.except i usually try to send the workers to pave a war road before my troops get there.

 

[Mutineer]

If you ever played Civ4 it was an essential tactic especially against humans.

 

[Scotch0101]

I use this tactic a lot, especially when I have to march my soldiers through marshes or forests. As you get to the atomic and info eras you don't really need this 'cause all your units have 5 or 6 move points.

 

[Dylan96B]

I'm also a huge fan of the war roadding. Ill usually build a road system 3 wide, or as wide as needed; this way my units can get anywhere on the battlefront, and still have a point for attack. Although the mess it creates on your screen is a downer on my OCD, haha I prefer perfect forks everywhere.

Doing it now in a game vs Greece. Artillery, super upgraded Gatling (3), and about to be 8 Pracinha. After the wars over, I delete the extra mess of roads and make a true path.

 

[Walter R]

I do it all the time on anything but water maps, concentrating on the rough terrain first.
Amusingly, in current game I found Alex building a road to me whilst I was building one to him - I attacked him once his worker completed up to my border.

 

[tide15]

I build war roads on a regular basis. I learnt that trick from real life. Back in the day West Germany had all kinds of them in case the Russians attacked them.