Agg, Cha, Spi & UU Drafting

[aelf]

I thought drafting favours units like longbowmen and pikes pre-Gunpowder. Is it possible to draft maces by skipping Feudalism and Engineering?

 

[UncleJJ]

I'm not sure what you mean. How does drafting affects longbows and pike? You can only draft basic infantry, which means swordmen, macemen, musketmen, rifles and infantry or the equivalent UUs when applicable.

 

[Wodan]

A beeline for Nationalism could work nicely for Ragnar and Tokugawa once they have their UUs. Both are Aggressive so drafting their special macemen would not be too bad . Barracks and Theology would allow Berserkers or Samurai to be drafted with free combat and a suitable promotion (cover, shock, pinch even medic 1). Picking up Drama (which is on that path) as well for theatres, Globe Theatre and the cultural slider could allow a powerful early drafting strategy that could be run for long enough to generate a lot of good troops that could overrun superior technologies with sheer numbers.

I tried this with a CS/Machinery slingshot for Vikings a couple of times. It worked well. It gets kind of tricky to manage the slingshot when there are 4-5 expensive techs you want to get cheap. I ended up comboing great scientists and prophets using stonehenge/oracle plus library and scientist specialists. Pull up the GP lightbulb preference lists and compare the two, you'll see what I mean.

There's no real "easy" way to go about it, but on the other hand my feeling is that most ways will come out about the same. You could go the priest route with Oracle, or skip all that and go the scientist route. Also, great scientists should combo with great artists pretty well, using an artist to pop Nationalism.

Wodan

 

[aelf]

I'm not sure what you mean. How does drafting affects longbows and pike? You can only draft basic infantry, which means swordmen, macemen, musketmen, rifles and infantry or the equivalent UUs when applicable.

As in if you can build longbowmen and pikes, you will draft either one (I don't know which), and not maces. It that true? If it is, that would mean you have to avoid researching Feudalism and Engineering on the way to Nationalism.

 

[UncleJJ]

As in if you can build longbowmen and pikes, you will draft either one (I don't know which), and not maces. It that true? If it is, that would mean you have to avoid researching Feudalism and Engineering on the way to Nationalism.

No; you can't draft longbows or pikes or many other types of troops.

As I said originally you can only draft so called basic infantry, which means one of swordmen, macemen, musketmen, rifles or infantry. Only these and their UU equivalents can be drafted. You can draft the most advanced troop type from that list providing you can also build it normally in that city. So they need to be researched and for macemen you need iron or copper.

 

[aelf]

No; you can't draft longbows or pikes or many other types of troops.

As I said originally you can only draft so called basic infantry, which means one of swordmen, macemen, musketmen, rifles or infantry. Only these and their UU equivalents can be drafted. You can draft the most advanced troop type from that list providing you can also build it normally in that city. So they need to be researched and for macemen you need iron or copper.

That is actually good news. Drafting macemen is potentially a lot more powerful. Although maybe you'd wish to draft a pike or two on that rare occassion someone managed to pull off a sneak attack with mounted units. But since AFAIK most people draft when riflemen are available, the chances of that happening are minute.