Armies

[Gvok]

How do I make an army? I followed the instructions in the manuel, but I must be doing something wrong because the units never attach to the great leader. Please advise. Thanks.

 

[AlanH]

You have to convert the Great Leader into an army first. You do that by moving him him to a city and then clicking the "Builld an Army" button in the unit actions group. You then load units into the army, which you can do any time or place once it exists.

If you are playing Civ3 Compete then there are two kinds of great leader. One is called a Scientific Great Leader. He can't make an army, he can only rush a city project like a wonder. A Military Great Leader can rush a small wonder, I think, or he can build an army.

If you are playing vanilla or Play the World you only get one kind of Great Leader, and he can do any of the above.

 

[dojoboy]

Please excuse AlanH, Gvok. He's a busy man around here.

But, on behalf of the mac community, welcome.

 

[Gvok]

Thanks for the welcome. So, how do I load units into the army? Do I just move the unit onto the tile that the army occupies?

 

[dojoboy]

Thanks for the welcome. So, how do I load units into the army? Do I just move the unit onto the tile that the army occupies?

Correct. Move the unit onto the tile the army occupies and select load from yout action buttons at the center-bottom of screen. A bit of advice, don't mix units in the army. You won't be able to capitalize on the army if you do so. For example, the army will only have movement points equal to your "slowest" unit in the army. Go all swordman, or knight, etc.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Welcome. Don't be discouraged, or feel foolish. Took me a minute to figure this one out too.

You have to convert the Great Leader into an army first. ...You then load units into the army, which you can do any time or place once it exists.

See, the answer to your question just taught me something new to try. I've only ever tried loading an army in a city.

A Military Great Leader can rush a small wonder, I think, or he can build an army.

Yes, a MGL can rush any city build with a few exceptions (like Great Wonders).

Move the unit onto the tile the army occupies and select load from your action buttons at the center-bottom of screen.

It's very similar to the way units board ships.

A bit of advice, don't mix units in the army.

If I remember right the army attacks like the strongest attacker, defends like the strongest defender, moves like the slowest unit, etc. An army of ALL marines will be able to do amphibious assaults. Elite units in an army don't seem to generate new leaders as often as elites attacking on their own I read somewhere here.
March or Die!

 

[AlanH]

Elite units in an army don't seem to generate new leaders as often

I think they *never* generate new leaders.

 

[Beamup]

Correct. Which is why Elite* units are particularly good choices for army duty.

 

[Gvok]

Forgive me, but I can't find the "build an army" button. Can you be more specific as to where I can find this mysterious button?

 

[dojoboy]

Forgive me, but I can't find the "build an army" button. Can you be more specific as to where I can find this mysterious button?

It is along the bottom center of the UI (main screen), where buttons are located for other functions, such as worker functions, disband a unit, etc. The GL must be in a city for it to appear.

 

[Gvok]

Yeah, I had a leader in a city but there was no button for "create an army" anywhere on the screen. I must be doing something wrong but I don't know what.

 

[dojoboy]

Yeah, I had a leader in a city but there was no button for "create an army" anywhere on the screen. I must be doing something wrong but I don't know what.

Is it a MGL (Military Great Leader) or a SGL (Scientific Great Leader)? SGL's cannot become Armies, they can only rush Great Wonders or increase the city's research rate. Likewise, MGLs can only rush Small Wonders and produce armies.

 

[Gvok]

I don't think I have the capability of a non military great leader in my version of the game. Anyway, I'm pretty sure they are military great leaders.

 

[AlanH]

Which version are you playing?

 

[Gvok]

Standard Civilization III for the Macintosh. No expansions or anything.

 

[AlanH]

There are no "expansion packs" for the Mac versions. You can only buy two versions, and there are patches for both of them but no expansions. The version number is dsplayed in the bottom left corner of the main menu screen. The key question is - is the CD a MacSoft CD or an Aspyr one?

 

[Gvok]

I don't know from my present location. Can you give me the answer for both options?

 

[AlanH]

The old version was by MacSoft. The version on the CD was typically 1.14. It was patchable up to version 1.21g with downloads from MacSoft, and there's a "beta" patch to version 1.29b2, which was the best version of that software.

MacSoft lost the franchise for Civ ports to Aspyr last year. Aspyr produced Civ3 Complete at the turn of the year, which gives you version 1.22 of Conquests plus version 1.27f of Play the World. PtW is unsupported, but works fine.

If you bought a retail copy of Civ3 recently then chances are it was Aspyr's Civ3 Complete. If you bought it before 2006 then it was the MacSoft version.

The reason this is critical is that in Conquests you can produce Scientific Great Leaders that cannot make armies, or Military Great Leaders that can. In the earlier versions you could just produce Great Leaders, and they can always make armies.

If you want to upload a copy of a save that has a Great Leader who can't make an army, it'll be easier to see what the problem is.

 

[Gvok]

I'm pretty sure it is the version without scientific great leaders.

 

[JoAT]

Doesn't the city you want to build the Army in need a barracks? I haven't played in few months, but I thought that was the case...

JoAT