Army as a Scout

[Ringo Kid]

I tried something new last night, that I had not thought of before. I was in the middle of a war , my military was almost all Mounted Warriors, including one Army. . I was invading enemy territory, which was all blacked out. So I used the Army to scout the terrain in advance of the advancing MWs . I did not attack any of the citys with the army, but I did sometimes use it to shield MW stacks on the turn before THEY were in range to attack; or to pillage a resource.

The tactic led to a shorter war with fewer losses due to the scouting and shielding by the Army.

Point is if you have an Army of obsolete units you don't quite know what to do with - scouting is the thing to use it for.

Probably old news to many; but it was a new idea for me.

 

[Ringo Kid]

And also useful for sheparding enemy workers into a city about to be attacked, so you get more free slave workers.

 

[vmxa]

True, but you have to be careful with an MW army as they will get attacked by Knights and MDI. They have a low defense, so they AI is willing to attack them with Middle Age units.

Don't forget they are worth 100 shields, if you run into the city limit for armies or just do not need that army. They are able to rush a market or aqua.

 

[NickyH]

I've also used armies for scouting territory when I'm at peace and have right of passage. It's a very quick way to discover parts of the map that you don't see. Usually you have better use for armies, though.

 

[capnvonbaron]

The tactic led to a shorter war with fewer losses due to the scouting and shielding by the Army.

Point is if you have an Army of obsolete units you don't quite know what to do with - scouting is the thing to use it for.

VMXA made a good point, but early on the MW army works ok, if just for its mobility. Once Chivalry becomes widespread, that army becomes a semi-useful home defense system. Obsolete armies become truly obsolete when the AI will start attacking them, and they aren't useful for scouting even.

Many people here occasionally use armies as pillaging machines. Cavalry armies are rediculous... think "Sherman's March" If you can get a good cavalry army, hide a bunch of single cavalry units under the army (explorers can keep up too, but can only pillage, not capture workers and such, and navigation is a useless tech in general) and pillage every improved tile and steal every worker the AI has. Cav armies are safe at least until tanks, I believe... I've never really had an issue until modern armor comes around (AI will crush a cav army with MA). Anyways, even if you can't take any of their cities, you will cripple their economy and they will struggle to produce anything for many years.

 

[TheOverseer714]

On occasion, the AI will "bump" into an army, and once it is wounded, it is fair game. It rarely happens, but it does, and losing an army is always painful. Thats why the best pillaging/scouting armies are defensive units. Even an Infantry army will get eaten by Bombers, so that is when scouting and pillaging becomes high risk with any unit.

 

[capnvonbaron]

On occasion, the AI will "bump" into an army, and once it is wounded, it is fair game. It rarely happens, but it does, and losing an army is always painful. Thats why the best pillaging/scouting armies are defensive units. Even an Infantry army will get eaten by Bombers, so that is when scouting and pillaging becomes high risk with any unit.

Also a good point. I don't do it often enough to remember all the pitfalls, lol.

I remembered a 100K game where I was just waiting for the VC, so I took a 20hp infantry army on a little tour of Babylon. They didn't use bombers oddly enough (I think the Babs were tasking the bombers with naval defense and bombing nearby Rome), but I got too close to cities once too often and fell victim to artillery. It survived one assault by a modern armor and mech infantry, but was damaged enough that I parked it on a mountain and let it heal up while the rest of my more modern forces cleaned up. So, short of a four elite mech army, I don't know if anything is truly invincible.