Are Corps and Armies even worth it?

LoneDragon

Warlord
Joined
Aug 20, 2016
Messages
207
Seems like for such a mediocre bonus, unless I have so many units that they really crowd the map, it would be better to have more units and be able to cover more area with more total attack power for the same cost.
 
+10 is a solid bonus... especially if you have Military Academies decreasing the cost

Its not worth it if you are only going to have enough units for 2 or 3, but if you can have a couple armies and a few more units for the flanks, that's good.
 
Well it does allow you to concentrate more power in a given area which can be useful sometimes. As a mechanic I think it could be fleshed out by allowing different bonuses to stack from different units.
 
One thing to note is that when you upgrade in to a corps, your higher level unit keeps its upgrades. That means that if, say, you have a level 5 field cannon, you can create two more unupgraded field cannons to create a level 5 army field cannon. This can be pretty useful defensively or offensively.

I actually have a couple questions about how they work.

1) If I combine a unit with battlecry and a unit with tortoise, does the corps keep both upgrades, one upgrade, or only the upgrade for the unit with higher experience?

2) If I combine a level 4 unit created without an encampment, and a level 1 unit created from a military academy, what experience rate does the new corps get?
 
It'd be useful if there could be a way to break 'em up again in a way that can't be gamed.

Move as an army and siege as units.
 
One thing to note is that when you upgrade in to a corps, your higher level unit keeps its upgrades. That means that if, say, you have a level 5 field cannon, you can create two more unupgraded field cannons to create a level 5 army field cannon. This can be pretty useful defensively or offensively.

I actually have a couple questions about how they work.

1) If I combine a unit with battlecry and a unit with tortoise, does the corps keep both upgrades, one upgrade, or only the upgrade for the unit with higher experience?

2) If I combine a level 4 unit created without an encampment, and a level 1 unit created from a military academy, what experience rate does the new corps get?
I believe the answer to the first question is only the higher one. I would be interested to know the answer to the second though.
 
Corps / Armies are most useful after you have enough units that if you didn't form corps/armies with some of them that your own units are preventing some of your units from getting to the front lines (melee units) / within range to bombard the enemy (ranged / siege units).
 
Civ VI is more about ratio then actual number, so having a unit with 40 versus a unit with twenty isnt twice as strong. Its exponential.
 
I think it's very silly that a veteran keep all experience when you attach a unit with 0 experience to it in order to form a corps or army. That doesn't make sense. Although maybe there could be a policy (amalgame?) that lets you make corps without experience loss.
 
Civ VI is more about ratio then actual number, so having a unit with 40 versus a unit with twenty isnt twice as strong. Its exponential.

In Civ V, combat was based on proportionality. In Civ VI, it's based on absolute strength differences. So 40 vs. 20 isn't "exponential" -- it's a difference of 20. And 80 vs. 60 is also a difference of 20. As is 55 vs. 35. And so forth.
 
Its all about having something with 4 upgrades and adding a couple of raw units to it to buff it further. Mid and late game benefits that allow the strong experienced units to become more key, you have named them and buffed them and now they rock.
 
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There is certain periods of time, where city defense is better than your units, resulting in 2-3 hit kills for the city attack. In that situation corps/armies upgrade the strength of your unit to remove the difference.

In my games I'm actually fighting AI's that either have higher tech and/or corps/army, so I don't really have a choice but to use the corps/army system. Though it's possible that is because of mods, though I thought the fall patch mostly fixed the unit upgrade issues.
 
I enjoy the system because they are unlocked in the Civics Tree, while good units are unlocked in the Tech tree. Warmongers should actually prioritize culture (after gold) because of this among other reasons. Gold and faith purchasing are a warmongers best friend. You can start a war band, have them earn promotions, then combine promoted units with new units to keep the momentum going.
I did this with a Faith purchased Cossack Corps rush last night.
 
I use corps and army mainly as upgrade of my core veteran army. All my level 2+ units receive a buff by eating a young fresh unit.
Seeing it like this, plus the fact that relative power is now difference based instead of ratio based, makes it very much worth it.
 
I think, as a rule, Corps and Armies are useful when fighting an opponent whose units are as strong, or stronger than your own. An infantry corp at str 80 vs a single infantry at level 70 makes a bigger difference than if you're fighting pikes than you can steamroll anyway. Because of this, and the way that the AI utterly fails to have a modern army, I dont think they are particularly useful
They're actually still useful as armies and corps take less damage from cities given their higher strength so you don't even have to stop to heal them at all when waging your colonial wars. They certainly speed up the inevitable conquest.
 
Its essentially making your units an era stronger. Its worth it to build the most modern units, even if they cost more. By that logic it's worth it to build armies and corps.
 
They are not worth it against this AI.
 
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