Army Combinations

[RulerOfDaPeople]

What do you think is the best combinations when forming an army with a great leader?

Right now I am at the end of the industrial age and I have just gotten a lot of tanks and my most recent techs are flight and amphibeous warfare. I have 2 great leaders and I am going to shape my armies. I was thinking about just making an army full of tanks but then I worry that the ability to attack 2 times in one turn per tank may be lost. I also considered adding an infantryman of marine in but then they slow down my movement in enemy territory.

I ask the experts...

What are the best pieces/combinations to make an army?

 

[vmxa]

As long as you only put in tanks the army retains the abilities. Sometimes you need the 4 moves you get from cav armies, so I would look over what it is I will be attacking.

If it is rifles and soon to be infantry, tanks are the only way to go. If it is musket, cavs and knights, then cav armies will get an extra attack and move farther.

 

[RulerOfDaPeople]

Well at this point I would be attacking alot of infantry men. Rome is my nearest neighbor that's left but they are inferior and had only recently gained infantry and seem to be pop rushing them in our war. However I have cut off their saltpepper supply and killed off most of their forces with my tanks so their river is running dry.

The other foe I am wanting to attack is the Hittites who are the only other Civ more tech advanced than I am. They are just getting ready to enter the modern era with only 1 or 2 techs to go. I am researching Atomic Theory at the moment. So I have 3 techs to go. The other thing about them is that they are on another continent accross my games atlantic ocean. Picture it as if my civilization was America as a Democracy located in exactly the same part of the world as in real life and the HIttites directly across the ocean to the east.

 

[vmxa]

So you have to worry about bombers and soon Mechs. It is oil and rubber you have to worry about.

Oil for planes and tanks, rubber for infantry. You may need some flaks to protect your stacks.

 

[Delphi456]

As long as you only put in tanks the army retains the abilities. Sometimes you need the 4 moves you get from cav armies, so I would look over what it is I will be attacking.

If it is rifles and soon to be infantry, tanks are the only way to go. If it is musket, cavs and knights, then cav armies will get an extra attack and move farther.

Boy, I don't think I would ever sacrafice the extra hitting power of tanks merely for an extra movement point of cav. Once those AI musketmen get upgraded to infantry, that cav army is all but worthless. Plus, the tank army will rack up more 'kills' and need less downtime to heal than a cav army. So, in the long run, I'd go for tanks.

Just the ramblings of a guy who's well past his bedtime

 

[Pyrrhos]

My two cents:

Two tanks for offensive power and one mech inf for defense (in case someone DARES attack my army, which has happened).

 

[Turner]

Except the AI tends to avoid armies. Except in rare circumstances where even the AI can see that it has the units to overwhelm them.

Generally, I don't like mixing units in my armies, even if they have the same MP. I just may, however, be weird in that.

 

[Delphi456]

My two cents:

Two tanks for offensive power and one mech inf for defense (in case someone DARES attack my army, which has happened).

Look at it this way: more than likely your tank army will burn up movement points by attacking, so a standalone mech infantry (or two) could just shadow the tank army, moving in lockstep.

 

[Turner]

Won't work in Conquests, as Armies get an extra movement point. So your two-move Tanks become a three-move Tank Army.

But yeah, you can have some follow along. Or make a defensive army.

 

[Delphi456]

Won't work in Conquests, as Armies get an extra movement point. So your two-move Tanks become a three-move Tank Army.

But yeah, you can have some follow along.

What won't work? I'm kinda confused because your last line agrees with what I was saying. What do you THINK I was saying?

 

[Turner]

Look at it this way. You have an Army of Tanks. Tanks have two movement points. Putting them in an Army gives them three movement points.

MechInf have 2 movement points. So the Army of Tanks will leave the MI behind. Yeah, they can follow...but I should have added they probably wouldn't arrive at the same time.

 

[Delphi456]

Look at it this way. You have an Army of Tanks. Tanks have two movement points. Putting them in an Army gives them three movement points.

MechInf have 2 movement points. So the Army of Tanks will leave the MI behind. Yeah, they can follow...but I should have added they probably wouldn't arrive at the same time.

Agreed. But my example implies the tank army would attack at least once ("your tank army will burn up movement points by attacking"), leaving < 3 MP left, thus equal to a standalone MI.

By this time (in my games), everything is roaded (if not railed), so my armies are attacking EVERY turn (allowing the MI to lockstep), unless they are healing. Does this make sense now?

 

[Turner]

Agreed. But my example implies the tank army would attack at least once ("your tank army will burn up movement points by attacking"), leaving < 3 MP left, thus equal to a standalone MI.

By this time (in my games), everything is roaded (if not railed), so my armies are attacking EVERY turn (allowing the MI to lockstep), unless they are healing. Does this make sense now?

That's also assuming that your Army is attacking a tile with more than one unit. I'm not making that assumption. I'm also assuming that you're going into enemy territory and not attacking every square. So if the culture is three tiles deep before getting to a city with no units between you and them, then your MI will be a tile behind.

Just another example of differing situations in Civ.

 

[Delphi456]

Just another example of differing situations in Civ.

And sure enough, I WAS thinking of a specific example from a specific game that wouldn't apply enmass.

 

[Aabraxan]

For what it's worth, I don't usually combine different units in an army. I probably should experiment with it some more, but I usually just load up my best attackers. And I don't build many defensive armies. I have on occasion built an army of mech infantry, but it's been pretty rare.

And I just can't seem to bring myself to disband armies, no matter how obsolete they get. Even in the Modern Ages, I'll keep a Medieval Infantry army around, if only for pillaging and picking off stray enemy units.

 

[vmxa]

Boy, I don't think I would ever sacrafice the extra hitting power of tanks merely for an extra movement point of cav. Once those AI musketmen get upgraded to infantry, that cav army is all but worthless. Plus, the tank army will rack up more 'kills' and need less downtime to heal than a cav army. So, in the long run, I'd go for tanks.

Just the ramblings of a guy who's well past his bedtime

I guess it was past your bed time. I am pretty sure I stated tank, if infantry is at hand or soon will be. If you have lots of target like muskets/longbow/cav, those 4 move cav armies are going to take towns in one turn, that a tank cannot even reach in one turn.

This is often seen with towns that have tundra forest that the tanks stop at the door, the cavs hit the town.

You always have to evaluate your options, that is what makes a tbs game good. Down time is not an issue as they heal at the same rate. The damage taken will about the same as you are not going to be attacking targets that will put your army at risk.

The real value of tank army is that can defend so much better.

 

[Nitfan]

I also only ever put one type of unit in army. It's either gotta be an attacking army or a defending army that is going to cover a stack of units/artillery.

The AI will avoid your armies as long as they aren't damaged to bad. I've read the rule is if they have less than a 10% chance of victory they won't attack. However, I think there are certain exceptions to this rule because I've had the AI throw tons of cavs at an MI army that was in a captured city.

 

[vmxa]

They will often counter attack a town, regardless of what is in it. IOW you can forget the idea of armies being safe in a town.

 

[Sashie VII]

They will often counter attack a town, regardless of what is in it. IOW you can forget the idea of armies being safe in a town.

Yes, I was pretty shocked the first time I see the AI effectively killing my army a while back. Seeing my infantry army fall to a few hundred LBs made me wonder if the AIs actually got smarter all of a sudden

Then I realized it was defending a city I took.

 

[AznWarlord]

You could have a tank army and a mech infantry army.