Deadly Rifleman

[Giaur]

I see very often that enemy's longbows and musketman are upgraded to rifleman in one turn. And my cavs cannot manage them. How do you manage with that? Theoritically it's good to upgrade our own units too. However it's very expensive, usually demands 2 GMerchants.
Maybe the reason of lack of money is an addiction to be the tech leader. But on the other hand it has some benefits, which is obvious.

 

[ratrangerm]

I recall it discussed elsewhere that the AI civs tend to have a slight advantage in terms of how much money they generate, hence why they are able to upgrade units quicker than a human player can.

The best strategy to employ is to take either Cats or Cannons along with your Cavalry and use them to soften up the Riflemen. Wounded Riflemen are much easier targets for Cavalry.

Alternatively, bring some Grenadiers along and use their bonus against Riflemen to at least soften them up (and Grenadiers will win their share of battles, even if the Riflemen are promoted).

Don't forget to employ the usual tactic of Cats and Cannons bombarind the cities to eliminate the city's cultural defense.

 

[svv]

Even better than grenediers promoted with pinch (anti-gunpowder) are grenediers with City-Raider 3. Of course the only way to get those is by upgrading your old swordsmen/axemen. In either case, any grendier does pretty well against riflemen.

The other solution is to have plenty of catapults/cannon and suicide them.

 

[gunkulator]

There is a significant period of time when you can build both Macemen and Grenediers. Give your Macemen city raider promotions and then upgrade them right away to Grenediers. It's costly but it allows you to continue building city raider units.

 

[carl corey]

I see very often that enemy's longbows and musketman are upgraded to rifleman in one turn. And my cavs cannot manage them. How do you manage with that? Theoritically it's good to upgrade our own units too. However it's very expensive, usually demands 2 GMerchants.
Maybe the reason of lack of money is an addiction to be the tech leader. But on the other hand it has some benefits, which is obvious.

First, if this happens when you've already made some progress in the war just try to ask for peace if your forces can't cope with Rifles. Of course suiciding siege units as others have already pointed out is a good way to keep your advance. Or bring overwhelming numbers: in my Great Generals game I fought almost an entire war with Cavs vs Rifles and the poor AI was too afraid to come out of his cities. Even if it had won a few battles I would have taken advantage of the reduced number of city defenders if my Cavs had been within two steps of the city.

As for the lack of money, a good enough economy can help you upgrade your units by lowering the research slider to 0% for a few turns. Don't be afraid of that, you'll definitely make up for it if your units actually stand a chance in the upcoming war. Also, choose well which units to upgrade. In the case you mentioned you'll want both stack defenders (Pinch Grenadiers) and city attackers (CRIII Grenadiers). I sometimes made the mistake of not having good stack defenders which made my city raiders take up arms while still in march and that's definitely not a good situation to be caught in.

 

[shyuhe]

The AI gets massive bonuses on upgrade costs too. At deity, I think it's 5% of what we pay (imagine that! you could upgrade catapults to cannons for 20 gold). I've seen the AI whip an archer then upgrade it to a longbow the next turn. It really feels unfair sometimes...

 

[Galileo44]

Yes, the AI recieves incredible upgrading bonuses to make up for their inability to fight wars well. Imagine if an AI had a couple dozen archers sitting around costing maintainance in 1900AD. Then again, in my last game my capital was guarded by the initial warrior at the time of my space race win.

 

[cabert]

Then again, in my last game my capital was guarded by the initial warrior at the time of my space race win.

that's very common
It's kind of stylish , meaning that you know no one will get near your capital.

 

[Orion071]

Then again, in my last game my capital was guarded by the initial warrior at the time of my space race win.

In the game I'm currently running, not only was my capital guarded by the Warrior, but my Ironworks/Military Academy/West Point/Pentagon city that was pumping out Tanks every other turn was guarded by an Archer. I felt bad for them and spent the 1000 or so that it took to make them both Infantry.

 

[aelf]

Indeed, the AI receives massive upgrade bonuses. This was meant to help it in the past, but I have no idea why the 'better' AI of 2.08 needs the same amount of help. All I can say is pure laziness.

 

[Buntaro]

"I felt bad for them and spent the 1000 or so that it took to make them both Infantry."

I always think of those guys as ceremonial units, like the Beefeaters in the Tower of London, or the Horse Guards at Buckingham palace. It is an honor to be an archer unit at game end. I don't know about the warrior guys though. I wouldn't feel honored to be wearing a leather breechcloth and carrying a club. Sure, I do it once in a while, but it's not particularly honorable, and it chafes something fierce.

 

[Quagga]

I always think of those guys as ceremonial units, like the Beefeaters in the Tower of London, or the Horse Guards at Buckingham palace.

Yes, these units should earn culture points.

 

[feldmarshall]

Yes, these units should earn culture points.

or also happiness "we love to see our ancestor heritage"

 

[Dan Quale]

Ive been surprised at times by just the opposite, AI not upgrading, It was 1820 on monarch and I was attempting a domination win, My next choice to attack were my german neighbors, I invaded with a force of about 30 cannons 15 calvary, 40 grenadiers, and probably another 45ish rifles and muskets, not to mention my ceremonial warrior. The turn after I had moved my army into their terroritory, I was immediately attacked by a catapault, which died, then another, in succession for about 5 minutes, then came the cannons, calvalry and rifles, i survived that part, then more ancient stuff, so much collateral occured the entire invasion force was finally killed by antiquated macemen, and knights.

 

[bardolph]

Ive been surprised at times by just the opposite, AI not upgrading, It was 1820 on monarch and I was attempting a domination win, My next choice to attack were my german neighbors, I invaded with a force of about 30 cannons 15 calvary, 40 grenadiers, and probably another 45ish rifles and muskets, not to mention my ceremonial warrior. The turn after I had moved my army into their terroritory, I was immediately attacked by a catapault, which died, then another, in succession for about 5 minutes, then came the cannons, calvalry and rifles, i survived that part, then more ancient stuff, so much collateral occured the entire invasion force was finally killed by antiquated macemen, and knights.

Dan Quale, you have the leadership abilities of ... (who was it again?)

 

[KMadCandy]

Indeed, the AI receives massive upgrade bonuses. This was meant to help it in the past, but I have no idea why the 'better' AI of 2.08 needs the same amount of help. All I can say is pure laziness.

big bonuses even at settler level btw. i guess it is (or was) partly because they never delete units. i've seen units trapped by my borders stand around for centuries upon centuries upon centuries, doing nothing, just costing the AI money. does it make me feel guilty enough to open my borders and set him free? of course not.

when i'm playing a protective civ i'll get archers up to drill4 and hold on to them if i can. they make fun and deadly gunpowder units when they're grown up too.

 

[50_dollar_bag]

I have a bad habit of never upgrading my units. Unless the AI lands a stack next to a city or I've got some CR3 Maces and i've learnt Chemistry. I'm usually cruising round the map fighting wars with units like chariots and Axemen in the renaissance age. Probably kills me in units support but it helps to absorb collateral damage.
Some units don't need to be upgraded though like accuracy catapults or a medic chariot.

 

[KMadCandy]

I have a bad habit of never upgrading my units. Unless the AI lands a stack next to a city or I've got some CR3 Maces and i've learnt Chemistry. I'm usually cruising round the map fighting wars with units like chariots and Axemen in the renaissance age. Probably kills me in units support but it helps to absorb collateral damage.
Some units don't need to be upgraded though like accuracy catapults or a medic chariot.

not upgrading isn't necessarily a bad habit. if those axemen are getting to surviving long enough to get CR3, and then survive long enough to grow up to be gunpowder later, great. if they die, well, hey, they sacrificed for the greater good. IMO anyway.

medic chariots it's often better to not upgrade. i often use my first GG on a medic chariot to made him medic3. i on purpose never upgrade him, so that he's not the defender when the stack gets attacked. well okay, i'll upgrade him to a gunship if it goes that long and i'm in the mood to look at a helicopter instead of a cute chariot.

i do end lots of games with old units in my core cities that never got upgraded. i only upgrade units with useful promotions, except in cases of 'OMG i need better troops quick'. and i never ever ever ever ever 'upgrade all units of this type'.

 

[50_dollar_bag]

A medic three chopper kind of reminds me of M*A*S*H.

 

[rhawn]

.

medic chariots it's often better to not upgrade. i often use my first GG on a medic chariot to made him medic3. i on purpose never upgrade him, so that he's not the defender when the stack gets attacked. well okay, i'll upgrade him to a gunship if it goes that long and i'm in the mood to look at a helicopter instead of a cute chariot.

If you use a GG to create a medic 3, then he gets a free autopromote whenever he is eligible.