bobbyboy29
I was saying boo-urns...
These should probably be in two separate threads but I'm lazy and so would just like to mention a unit and a tech which probably don't get the recognition that they deserve.
I'll start with biology, IMO one of the most crucial techs to get in its era. I think that the reason that biol is underrated is that its effect is so passive. You don't open up any great new buildings, wonders or improvements and it isn't accompanied with an immediate jump in your economy. However, what it does do is double the output of one of the most important improvements in the game: the farm. What i notice is that as soon as I get biology, the outputs of all my cities significantly increases. All of a sudden that production city which had been working the same amount of base hammers the whole game has enough food to work an extra mine or two, my commerce cities can work more and more cottages and run extra specialists. They say that land is power but i really believe that this is a simplification as when we say land we really mean resources+tiles worked. So next time you are unsure of what to research post rifling, try beelining biology, you will find that if you get there first having lots of 15-20+ cities will give you a big edge over the AI with its size 10-15 cities. It's also important to note that population contributes directly to your ability to win 3 of the victory conditions (domination, Ap and UN) as well as indirectly to the rest, so the more pop you have the better.
Now onto airships, a unit i havent used too much until lately. However, in a large scale war against an opponent capable of a counterattack i found these to be vital. I used to be so sick of trying to attack an enemy only for cavs and cannons to appear out of nowhere stealing stray workers, destroying mini-stacks and threatening underdefended cities. This is where airships come in, one to two recon missions and all of a sudden you know exactly where all your opponent's units are and who is within range of being attacked. This is vital because i find that in large scale wars, in general, if there are two stacks, whoever gets to attack with the siege will win. Even cannons and cavs can take out a bunch of infantry with enough suicide cannons.
This is where my favourite thing about airships comes in to play, if you get them early(even effective post MG's), they have the biggest range of any unit and they have no counter! What i have found is that for some reason, the AI hates attacking with minorly injured units. My strategy is to build about 10-12 airships, use a couple for recon, and then the rest just need to do one strike on a unit outside of a city (targeting seige) and the next turn that unit will run straight into a city and wat there to heal and get killed the next turn on defense. So once you have the AI on the ropes, cowering in their cities, you can use the airships to damage the top few defenders and save yourself from suiciding too much siege.
In summary, airships give you a tactical edge over the AI (who has no clue how to use them) in an era where other tactical advantages are minimal and thus vital. And Biology will usually give your civ the growth and population it needs to win the game.
I'll start with biology, IMO one of the most crucial techs to get in its era. I think that the reason that biol is underrated is that its effect is so passive. You don't open up any great new buildings, wonders or improvements and it isn't accompanied with an immediate jump in your economy. However, what it does do is double the output of one of the most important improvements in the game: the farm. What i notice is that as soon as I get biology, the outputs of all my cities significantly increases. All of a sudden that production city which had been working the same amount of base hammers the whole game has enough food to work an extra mine or two, my commerce cities can work more and more cottages and run extra specialists. They say that land is power but i really believe that this is a simplification as when we say land we really mean resources+tiles worked. So next time you are unsure of what to research post rifling, try beelining biology, you will find that if you get there first having lots of 15-20+ cities will give you a big edge over the AI with its size 10-15 cities. It's also important to note that population contributes directly to your ability to win 3 of the victory conditions (domination, Ap and UN) as well as indirectly to the rest, so the more pop you have the better.
Now onto airships, a unit i havent used too much until lately. However, in a large scale war against an opponent capable of a counterattack i found these to be vital. I used to be so sick of trying to attack an enemy only for cavs and cannons to appear out of nowhere stealing stray workers, destroying mini-stacks and threatening underdefended cities. This is where airships come in, one to two recon missions and all of a sudden you know exactly where all your opponent's units are and who is within range of being attacked. This is vital because i find that in large scale wars, in general, if there are two stacks, whoever gets to attack with the siege will win. Even cannons and cavs can take out a bunch of infantry with enough suicide cannons.
This is where my favourite thing about airships comes in to play, if you get them early(even effective post MG's), they have the biggest range of any unit and they have no counter! What i have found is that for some reason, the AI hates attacking with minorly injured units. My strategy is to build about 10-12 airships, use a couple for recon, and then the rest just need to do one strike on a unit outside of a city (targeting seige) and the next turn that unit will run straight into a city and wat there to heal and get killed the next turn on defense. So once you have the AI on the ropes, cowering in their cities, you can use the airships to damage the top few defenders and save yourself from suiciding too much siege.
In summary, airships give you a tactical edge over the AI (who has no clue how to use them) in an era where other tactical advantages are minimal and thus vital. And Biology will usually give your civ the growth and population it needs to win the game.
Well, to each his own, I know what you're saying, but that's a combination I almost never find myself in (well it's mainly just the mercantilism part). What I always find funny though is how Democracy meshes so well with Communism - the Kremlin makes payrushing unreal good. (Personally I never liked the Kremlin bonus anyway because it is a bit too much- in BtS it would be much better to have it relate to the espionage system somehow).
all together in one package makes Bronze Working an insanely good tech.
