Best High Tech War Unit--POLL

[Fundamentalist]

Id go for spies as they can cripple the enemy without getting you into ****, except when they get caught obviously. I also like Howitzers, they are powerful.

 

[The Overlord]

Definitely the Howitzer. You can take almost every city out with this one but don't have the disadvantage of withdrawing him every 2nd turn (like the planes) and you don't get pollution like with the nuke. Furthermore nukes and missiles are one-hitters and that's it the nice Howi can attack again and again and wisely used you can take out even the heaviest fortification with these babies.

*Fire*

 

[Old n Slow]

Yup. Howies. 'nuff said.

Actually, Howies can appear as early as tech 58 (Mech at 55, Tanks at 52). But Stealth doesn’t show until tech 71, same as Future Tech. If you really have to go out and take something, then send in the best.

Stealth fighters & tanks have a nice use for clean up -- multiple attacks against misc. leftovers hanging around.

 

[Remorseless]

1. Spies
2. Stealth fighters/bombers
3. Paras
4. Battleships
5. Engineers

 

[gr8ful wes]

I'll chime in here though I have yet to win at diety. I have begun to build a very diverse army/navy /airforce for all my games now and feel that there is a time and place for each unit, but there are those special ones I simply cannot live without. I love the Stealth fighter for reasons mentioned earlier by others. and I do use riflemen a lot, to block partisans, they are just so quick to build. For the longest time I insisted that the tank was the single most important military unit, While I still like it a lot, I use it to augment my military now instead of featuring it.

I have also found the battleship to be very fun for nailing the coast. And I have finally developed a decent strategy for using the paratrooper.

It is stealth fighter for me.

 

[ben_weller1991]

you left out the spy. it is a unit itself and every over unit (as long as your opponents not a democracy)

 

[Alice]

Tanks! Great attack, very good defense and good movement. I love howitzers too, but their defense is a little weak. Spies are cool, but they fall in a different category I think.

 

[ben_weller1991]

Alice-
Spies are cool, but they fall in a different category I think

DID YOU NOT READ MY POINT?

 

[highflyin213]

howitzer

 

[The bad guy]

Do you know pikemen are two times defence against howitzers?

 

[funxus]

No, I didn't, but I guess that's kind of logic

 

[Imperial-Markus]

Hey of course it's the nuke. Your enemy can build as much units as he like with one rocket you can blow up his whole army and with some more you can nuke his civ into submission. What do you want more You can beat him with half the effort he did to create his army very cost efficient.

 

[Old n Slow]

Originally posted by The bad guy
Do you know pikemen are two times defence against howitzers?

Yawn, I figure that it is difficult to notice -- when one of my vet howies run up to a unit that small, it looks like a one shot -- puff & they are vapor; muskets vanish so fast that I'm embarassed to even use a howie on them -- I ususally have some other left over unit take out the easy stuff.

 

[Terrapin]

My only problem with howitzers is their movement rate of 1. Once they attack, they are stuck wherever they are. Left alone, they are dead meat, sitting outside of the city I just took. In a game where it is relatively even, the enemy will use fighters, bombers or railroad carried ground units to kill the howie. This does not happen against clearly inferior foes, but then it does not matter much what modern units you use against musketeers and archers. If you try to protect an exposed howie by stacking Mech Inf (or armor/marine/alpine) with it, it is harder to kill, but a more tempting target. One way that the ai is smart is that it loves to kill stacks of units. Because of this effect, howies are often just glorified cruise missiles. You shoot them once and then they die. So I often skip the howies and use armor, which can move, attack and then enter the conquered city or retreat to a fortress or city. If thwarted by a strong unit behind city walls, I just launch a cruise missile or two.

Ultimately, I think armor is the best unit in the game. It has 5/6 of the howitzers attack power, combined with 5/6 of the mech inf defense power and the best movemnet rate of any attacking unit except alpine (which is faster off road, but much slower on a road).

 

[Old n Slow]

Well you just need better Howies. My Howies move 2, and each bullet fired does twice the damage of a Tank bullet. So rather than the 5/6 offense comparison, it is more like a 5/12.

But then again, one should consider the unit in the context of the job desired. If the purpose is to conduct a raid, then a single tank works -- a spy & a tank also work well as a team -- strike a blow or two & be able to take a hit or two as well. Dropping off a couple of partisans can do a similar effect with these guys hanging out fortified on mountains & otherwise getting in the way.

Clearly, having a random howie out on a raid is not the best use for this unit -- they hunt better in packs with friends. Two or three howies will take out most cities & a couple of spies can buy many of the partisans hanging around. For me I often slide a howie along a railroad, fire once & slide back; sometimes they fire twice & a jeep comes in to cover on a flank if need be.

But my eight unit transport mix looks like: 4 howies, and one each of: Jeep, Tank, Spy, & Engineer. Ideally, two or rarely three transports land, take out a city or three & a follow up force lands the next turn with fresh units (while the first wave heals.) Don’t do this often, as two boats’ worth is usually enough to do the whole job for a fifteen city island begging for new government.

 

[thedirk]

Nothing cuts through defenses like the howitzer. The tank is a good take and hold unit, if you have cash, nothing stops a spy so they get honourable mention.

 

[funxus]

Remember they ignore walls as well, which armors don't.

I usually wait til late game before I wage my wars, meaning I'm in demo and have the UN. So my tactic usually is to empty as many cities as possible, move in defenders like mech inf (cavalries and howitzers work too , and my favorite is the paratrooper) and capture all the cities at once at the end of the turn. I refuse to talk to them except after I've captured their last city, when they are forced to sign a peace treaty. Either they attack me when it's their turn (making my government liking them less) or I ask them to leave my territory, and they declare war. If they attack, it's usually with a partisan, and most of the times I win that battle and they give up for the rest of the turn.

Why do I say this, it's because you're able to use all your units movements attacking twice with howies, and three times (unless damage) with armors and then just leave them out on the field for one turn without fearing to lose them. I lose two or three maybe each game, which is a small cost when my howies are twice as effective

 

[Titi]

If I remember well, once you capture one enemy city, some partisans appear. If you still have one unit nearby that has not moved yet, the enemy will talk to it when this unit becomes active, and very often you senate will agree with a cease fire (when it's not a peace treaty).
It's only if the enemy has sneak attacked you several times in the past that the senate will allow you to keep the war on, and continue to capture empty cities

 

[funxus]

Yes, the trick is to start easy and only maybe take one city at first. Then get Peace. Move in new offensive unit to your new city and use it as a base. Also start demanding them to leave, which finally will piss them off and they declare war - making the senate look worse on them. After a couple of cities they won't care at all and you use the tactic above as much as you want.
Since I wait until the end to declare my wars, the AI usually has grown quite big and there are many cities to capture as well as colonies.

 

[Titi]

Colonies ? You mean in Civ III ?

But OK, that's a trick I'll surely keep in mind.
I usually change from democracy to democracy when I don't want the senate to interfere (using the turn when anarchy is government). Maybe your way of making war is less expensive...