Armies

[AlanH]

I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I've converted one or more in a just-captured city, and they typically don't have barracks.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Playing TAM, just today, I got a MGL and built an Army before I even discovered the tech that let's me build barracks.

 

[AlanH]

There isn't a prerequisite tech for barracks. You can build them from 4000 BC with any Civ.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Not in TAM

 

[AlanH]

.... confusing for me, and no doubt for the guy with the problem

 

[Gvok]

You will all be happy to know that last night I successfully built an army. Thanks for all the help.

 

[dojoboy]

You will all be happy to know that last night I successfully built an army. Thanks for all the help.

Whew! Excellent. But, you must let us know how you "discovered" the process. Even if it was human error.

 

[Gvok]

I'm not sure. It never seemed to work before but this time I saw the button for build an army while the great leader was in the city. I guess I just never looked hard enough in the past.

 

[wallyskier]

Now you get to figure out on how to use them!
Do you want some tips as well on how to use them? Some players love them and some hate them.

And welcome!

 

[md2112]

I'm not sure. It never seemed to work before but this time I saw the button for build an army while the great leader was in the city. I guess I just never looked hard enough in the past.

I've noticed this before. Never tracked it, but it 'seems' like the first leader needs to be in a city to build an army, however I would also say I have had the leader outside a city as well. I've just gotten to accept that if I don't see the build army button with a great leader, I move it to a city and then I always see the build army button.

 

[Gvok]

Here's another question: Do armies heal in the same way regular units do? It seems like once my army takes a hit it does not replenish the hit points when I return it to a city.

Also, the army only seems marginally better than just keeping the units seperate. Is there some benefit (besides the cool graphics) to the army that I am overlooking?

 

[AlanH]

An army heals one unit at a time. If it's in a barracks each unit heals during one turn of inactivity. If there's no barracks it heals one hit point at a time for each turn of inactivity, so a redlined army can take 10 turns to heal instead of two or three turns for individual units.

I believe armies are powerful in Conquests, as they get an extra movement point and extra strength points. I never thought of them as particularly effective in vanilla or PtW, for the healing reason above, and because they constrain your fast units to all attack the same target, which may not be what's best.

Their two advantages over separate units are that all units stay alive until the whole army is killed, and the AI looks at the best unit's hit points in deciding whether to attack a stack. If the best unit is an army with 12 hit points the AI will almost never land attack, whereas 4 hit points for each unit makes a softer target. So an army provides excellent cover for a pillaging force, or to defend an attacking force. The AI *will* bombard an army, though, and if it can knock it down to low hit points it will then attemopt to kill it.

 

[wallyskier]

I agree with AlanH

Vanilla armies just didn't have enough "oomph" to make them worthwhile building after the arrival of Military Academy. I still built them but just used them as a super single unit.

Conquests changed that. It can get really annoying when one unit in a city resists all your attempts to kill it, and you end up hurting or losing a lot of your mobile forces. However, send in the army and it does the job. It will be hurt, but that blocker is destroyed too. That extra movement point allows you to send powerful units ranging deep into the enemies rear as well. The AI gets confused as to what unit to hit: the one in deep and going for resources, or the threats to the city. The conquests army gives a great punch on the offence and there are few AI's that will take on a really strong (mech inf) army in good terrain while on defence.

Beware though. This isn't Leavenworth, or the real army and combined arms doesn't work. I once tried to create a "combined" army with a mech infantry/modern armor team and it didn't work out as the mechs cost the MA a movement point and it was a weaker army compared to it's pure bethren. Stick to units of all the same type!

 

[Blue Monkey]

If you play one of the mods such as TAM, a four-unit all-elephant army is devastating on the attack. It's as fast as a chariot (and by the time you can build them, noone of consequence is building chariots anymore, so they're faster than anything opposing them), with up to three 16 point attacks per turn. I'm playing a game right now where my capital is cranking out an army a turn thanks to a Wonder. With four other cities building an elephant a piece at the same rate I'm easily paying back all those who tried to snipe at my borders early on.

 

[wallyskier]

An army a turn thanks to a wonder? How the heck can you pull that off, Blue Monkey? I am in awe of your skills!

 

[Blue Monkey]

TAM has a wonder that let's you build armies in a certain city, if you combine that with maxed out production late in the game, it's very doable. (As much luck as skill)

 

[Gvok]

For some reason I can't load units into an army produced from a city with a military academy. The load button does not appear at the bottom of the screen. Does anyone know what I'm overlooking?

 

[AlanH]

I assume you are selecting the unit you want to load, not the army?

 

[Gvok]

I think the problem is that I moved the army out of the city it was made before I loaded units into it. Could that be the reason it did not work?

 

[AlanH]

You should be able to load units into an army anywhere, not just in a city. Make sure the army and the unit to load are on the same tile, then select the unit, and you should see a Load icon on screen. Click that to load the unit into the army.