Curious, anyone use rally points?

[planetfall]

Just wondering, does anyone actually use rally points?

If so, how can they save time/effort?

PF

 

[t3h_m013]

i never use em
my troops always end end up being where i wanted them 5 turns ago but dont any more

 

[Sinapus]

I usually use them to assemble forces.

 

[TomOC]

I have used rally points about 2 or 3 times. The only time I found it useful was at bottlenecks. If there is only one point in which an AI can attack you (and you attack them), then I set that place as a rally point. Be careful not to produce workers/settlers or ships at that time, because they will go there too.

Otherwise, I find it pointless IMO.

 

[zerksees]

Yes.

I tried them in PTW but always had to set them one city at a time - it was too much hassle. Now you can set a continental rally point for all cities with one click. After the RR network is complete I would turn this on and save moving all the units separately to the rally point. All the units you produce that turn automatically rally to one city. Since I usually take inventory of all avaliable units for offense each turn, this saves dragging all the new units one at a time.

 

[dze27]

I use them fairly often. They are very useful if you're doing a massive inter-continental invasion and you are constantly sending Transports full of units over to another continent. You set a coastal city that is near to the other civ as the rally point and then all your units are ready waiting there. Rally points are best when you have railroads since you don't lose any movement points and if you want to move 90% of your troops to one city then it's easier to have them all move automatically and move the other 10% manually. You really notice that it speeds things up if you've got a 100+ city empire in Communism in the Modern Age, in the middle of a big intercontinental war and you're just mass-producing MA and sending them all to the front.

Pre-railroad, I sometimes use them before war when I'm preparing my military since it saves a bit of time assembling stacks of units. The only catch here, as someone else mentioned, is it moves your Workers and Settlers as well so you don't want that.

For me, Rally Points can be somewhat convenient at times, but also slightly flaky. Sometimes I find they don't work right and I'm not sure why. I wouldn't totally rely on them and they are not going to beat individually managing your unit movements.

 

[Smellincoffee]

I use them, handy for when I'm gearing up for a massive invasion and need a lot of troops in particular places.

 

[DJMGator13]

I use them fairly often. They are very useful if you're doing a massive inter-continental invasion and you are constantly sending Transports full of units over to another continent. You set a coastal city that is near to the other civ as the rally point and then all your units are ready waiting there.

I agree in my last game I set the continental rally point and had my transports running nostop with troops to the next continent. I was in complete control of my homeland and was not worried about any counter attacks popping up.

 

[Catt]

I only use them post-RR when my entire empire is RR'd -- it's a nice feature that lets me deal with all newly created units at the same time from a central point (having arrived at that central point without using any movement points).

 

[Jaybe]

I use Rally Points (post rail network) to:
assemble for invasions;
gather units (near the front) for dispatch to their individual assignments;
during peace, stockpile units by type;
have bombers be available for missions at the front on the turn they are produced.

BTW, Continental Rally Points are also quite useful. If there are exceptions you want to make (particular land units that are needed elsewhere or cities not connected by rail, for instance), you can Clear or re-Set the Rally Point for those particular cities. If I set a Continental RP to a non-city/airbase, air unitss won't go there; if to a non-port city, produced naval units won't use it.

 

[Adam7Eight]

I usually use them to assemble forces.

Same here, especially if I'm only into building a particular unit at the time.

 

[LLXerxes]

YEs, I mean, no. I use them once in a while.
I'll tell you the truth, i don't really know what they do that much
In a way.

 

[valamas]

i use them when i am done creating settlers, workers or defenders for my new cities as it is a pain when they go walkabout for 10 turns.

 

[Chieftess]

They come in handy when you're building nothing but military units, and improvements (it is annoying to have your workers and settlers head to a chokepoint, though).

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

I found them really useful in the scenarios. Especially in Rise of Rome and Napoleonic Europe.

 

[Turner]

I like using them on cities that are producing air units. They move and are available to bomb/attack that turn....

 

[Commander Bello]

Rally points are useful after having connected your cities via railroads. If you put it on a tile at a strategical location (or somewhere next to it), you will find the newly produced units there and you will have to move units like settlers, workers, and so on, back by hand.
Anyway, as soon as you have cleared your continent and are doing your military actions somewhere else, they do pay off.
But you shouldn't get confused - the movement of the units affected does take place just after you have managed *ALL* other units by hand - even, if you had to make them "wait", in case of continental action, for instance.