What do you garrison your cities with?

[delra]

Here's something cool to poll about. What's your preferred garrison unit for majority of your cities over a large number of games with different civilizations?

 

[Cyberian]

I miss the option NONE.

But since you asked the only time I did this was in Cities on the front where som battle was going on.
And there I was just using the Artillery for attacks. The good thing is that it can't be destroyed easily when in a city.

But I usually don't garrison units.
It is better to keep your cities empty and rush buy if needed for defense. So all units are on the front where my current or next war is going on.

 

[r_rolo1]

Yup, normally none ... if needed , something that softens the enemy before they get there, either artilery or ranged units.

 

[Dermo]

generally there are no units garrisoned in cities for me.

 

[duxup]

My cities are mostly empty although if they have nice sized borders and I'm concerned I'll toss a some ranged unit in the city to do some pelting before I can bring up reinforcements.

 

[Man vs Civ AI]

I don't garrison every city early in a game. I keep cities connected by roads, and may garrison a normal infantry in a central city so I can send it to another city when needed.

 

[nightbringerggz]

I'm playing a Pangea map with Raging Barbarians where I wound up in the middle of the map, so a bit more defense is needed on my borders. Even so, it's far more effective to keep your defensive units on your borders rather than garissoned in a city. An archer on a nice hill can usually take care of any enemies befoe they're a threat, while I have the option of falling back to my cities if I need to.

 

[DaveGold]

None. Stick a catapult or cannon in a coastal city if there are pirates about.

If the AI just kept its catapults in its cities it would be a drastic improvement in AI defence. It's probably the simplest piece of AI you could ask for and it's missing.

 

[Rittmeyer]

you are not supposed to garrison in ciV. the obvious exception would be the honor line policy...military caste?

 

[sharper_knives]

Usually nothing. But if I'm trying to turtle up, I'll garrison with an archer and have a mop-up melee unit fortified in the hills or something.

 

[Gaizokubanou]

I don't put any garrison on my cities.

 

[ICNP]

Catapults in a city would be so hard to take down in that era. You would need a ton of units to approach the city.

But I have yet to have to defend a city yet, so onto the aggresive again!

 

[Pantastic]

In the early game, I usually have 1 unit near each city to take care of barbs and anyone who decides to declare war. Later on, I have an army and a single unit by any barbarian spawning area. Putting 1 unit per city is staggeringly expensive, and definitely not worth blowing 2 social policies to get 1 happiness from.

 

[Ahriman]

During war, nothing unless the city is under attack, in which case a ranged unit goes in there to keep it safe, but its firing, so it still doesn't count as a garrison. During peace... still nothing most of the time except if I happened to pick up Military Caste on my way to Professional army.
I prefer to have my army where I think I might need it.

 

[Yamian]

Nothing. The best defense is a good offense.

 

[alysenne]

The only time I garrison is if I have Military Caste, I'm in the middle of a war and struggling to avoid the unhappiness penalty. I'll buy some scouts and garrison. Of course, this assumes that I've already built/bought the happiness buildings.

 

[Dan Quale]

I think I used a worker once pretty good defender really, besides that nothing.

 

[Zelig]

No garrisons, since I barely build any buildings, and my cities are pretty much all small and wimpy at any stage in the game, there's no sense of loss if I lose a city.

 

[evanbgood]

I usually try to stick something ranged in a tough-to-conquer city that I'm holding against a counter attack. Cannons and the like are best, if I can get them there, since an artillary unit that can't be attacked directly is... well... obviously good.

 

[Rathelon]

Usually have a worker in my cities, if he's not improving tiles. My military units are in the field protecting the borders. I will put a ranged unit in a city if somebody is threatening it.