Battering Rams suck

[Hammer Rabbi]

I know they are good for taking out cities, but 4 times now my starting warrior has gotten upgraded and can no longer defend himself because he cant attack barbarians. it's the first time i played them that i found this out and it was a real let down. i wanted to see their UUs and compare to Genghis. im generally not able to take a city for at least 30 turns or so and im stuck with a slow scout that wont get upgrades until then.

also the razing speed hasnt helped much. most of the time the early raze-able cities are 6 or 7 pop max and reduced to 3 so razing was only sped up 1 turn. it felt underwhelming.

 

[Bob_]

I guess when some people claim a unit is absolutely overpowered and some that the very same unit sucks, then it is quite ok.

Why dont you just take out someone (city state for example) with that ram?

 

[Udey1]

I havent played attila yet, didnt realize an upgrade would do that from a ruin- but it make sense. That is a bad consequence. Better pop all the ruins with scouts- unless you want free rams.

 

[MaximusK]

I guess when some people claim a unit is absolutely overpowered and some that the very same unit sucks, then it is quite ok.

Why dont you just take out someone (city state for example) with that ram?

I captured Warsaw on turn 10 in this situation.

 

[Truronian]

If your warrior pops an upgrade as Attila, head straight for the nearest city do not pass Go do not collect £200.

 

[Furycrab]

If your warrior pops an upgrade as Attila, head straight for the nearest city do not pass Go do not collect £200.

Actually, pretty sure in this case it's...

Collect 200 dollars!

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

you can take a city with 1 battering ram? really? i didnt even think to try it because i thought that's just silly.

 

[Furycrab]

you can take a city with 1 battering ram? really? i didnt even think to try it because i thought that's just silly.

City without wall in Ancient age and no hill (8 strength) can sometimes go in 1 turn. Cities between 10-14 and no wall go in 2 turns tops.

So ya, you can smash a CS right away.

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

wow, i have to rethink their suckitude. but still, cant defend against barbs sucks, imo.

 

[Scam]

so build/purchase another warrior. Free ram is awesome.

 

[wobuffet]

If your warrior pops an upgrade as Attila, head straight for the nearest city do not pass Go do not collect £200.

 

[OmniPotent42]

Yeah, I'm not sure about the Battering Ram. I would be more comfortable if it was a catapult replacement, which would solve a lot of problems associated with it replacing the spearman.

 

[PhilBowles]

Yeah, I'm not sure about the Battering Ram. I would be more comfortable if it was a catapult replacement, which would solve a lot of problems associated with it replacing the spearman.

The only actual problem with it replacing the spearman is in AI coding, since the AI treats it as though it was a spearman. It makes the Huns weak at defending their conquests in the early game, but that's precisely the point - they're meant to sacrifice defence for offence, and replacing the catapult doesn't do that. If the Huns find themselves in more than one war at once in the early game, they're finished - they rely on capturing cities so fast that there's no one left to fight back; they won't be holding those cities if they have another opponent pressing their own attack.

 

[thadian]

wow, i have to rethink their suckitude. but still, cant defend against barbs sucks, imo.

If you actually care about barbs, build a second warrior and travel them in a group - or get horses ASAP priority one while exploring so you can join them up. Once you have that ram, get another unit of any kind, even a scout (or 2) will work. 2 scouts can often kill a warrior/archer with ease and clear a path.

 

[Moriarte]

If your warrior pops an upgrade as Attila, head straight for the nearest city do not pass Go do not collect £200.

Just read your post 10 minutes ago, started a small pangaea emperor map to try this out. Powerful civ? Ya.

 

[PhilBowles]

Just read your post 10 minutes ago, started a small pangaea emperor map to try this out. Powerful civ? Ya.

My first thought when looking at that was completely unrelated - "Cool, I hadn't realised Khorat was in the Siamese city list!" Not sure why they use Ratchasima instead of the Thai abbreviation (both the city and province are Nakhon Ratchasima).

 

[OmniPotent42]

The only actual problem with it replacing the spearman is in AI coding, since the AI treats it as though it was a spearman. It makes the Huns weak at defending their conquests in the early game, but that's precisely the point - they're meant to sacrifice defence for offence, and replacing the catapult doesn't do that. If the Huns find themselves in more than one war at once in the early game, they're finished - they rely on capturing cities so fast that there's no one left to fight back; they won't be holding those cities if they have another opponent pressing their own attack.

I don't think that a civilization should be forced to act a certain way simply because a UU gives the unit a different purpose - and AI coding isn't a priority in my opinion.

 

[awesome]

well, i can certainly understand why someone would want the computer to use its units the most effective way possible, just like a human player would.
but anyway, every unit is effective when it's used right. battering rams are just there for the early rush.

 

[PhilBowles]

I don't think that a civilization should be forced to act a certain way simply because a UU gives the unit a different purpose - and AI coding isn't a priority in my opinion.

It's not forced, but there's not a whole lot of point playing Huns rather than another civ if you don't want to play that way - that's why civs differ from one another. Anything you can do with a Spearman you can do with two Warriors, and Huns just happen to have a production bonus that lets them churn out units quickly in the early game.

 

[Syntax Error]

How to counter rams: Block adjacent tiles to your cities with military units. They can only attack cities, anyway.

I have a save game on King, continents, standard. I popped a goody hut and managed to conquer France on the turn I met him + 1. Conquered Harun on 20 turns after that, and am readying up on conquering Wu (the only AI left in my continent) before turn 70. So yeah, 3 capitals before turn 80. My plan for that is to stay holed up, and see how many times I can get Future Tech.