Does anyone build these units?

[benstandby]

Originally posted by apparition
How effective is a fighter screen? I'm being hit by bombers at the moment.

Unbelievably so!! It is an extremely high priority for me to get a large and well-placed defensive airforce established as quickly as possible upon the developmant of fighters.

While I'm not one of those players whose scores are always in the top 10 on GOTM (I usually don't finish on time, so that's part of it), I do play online at least twice a month, and I tend to do fairly well. So this advice is coming from a "better than average player".

On top of this, it's nice to have a fleet under the protection of a few fighters- to discourage any attempts by air to break down your naval superiority off the coast of your enemies.

 

[scoutsout]

I have built helicopters and paras, as well as destroyers.

Though in real life I WAS a paratrooper of sorts (and worked with a lot of different helicopters) I don't like the CIV3 renditions of helos and paras. IMHO, the helicopter lacks sufficient range and capacitiy (ONE lousy infantryman or marine? no workers/arty/etc.?) The paras lack sufficient range. (When the Rangers and 82nd hit Grenada, they did it straight from the Continental US). The 173rd hit western Iraq from Italy. If the paras could truly strike DEEP into enemy territory, say... deep enough to threaten two or three cities "in" from the border, they might be useful for more than a diversion. A well designed blitz can usually pass those paras you dropped on the previous turn.

Destroyers, OTOH, are a useful unit...though their uses are already well described in this thread. I like to try to use a combination of my old ironclads and destroyers set up a naval "picket line" beyond my coast, to illuminate everything an additional 3-5 squares beyond my borders, so that I see any invasion long before it gets there....so I can make sure to roll out the red carpet and "welcoming committee"...

 

[CIVPhilzilla]

Honestly say I have not buildt any of those. Gap between destroyers and battleships is to short for destroyers to be of much use, at least to me. I don't use much infantry in combat ruling the need for helicopters out. Plus I am always America and F15 is much better than stealth fighter. Can do everyhthing a stealth can do, but is available much earlier than it.

 

[CIVPhilzilla]

I wish there was some kind of attack helecopter like the old helecopter in Civ 2. Man that thing owned everything in its path.

 

[Zoke0]

Originally posted by CIVPhilzilla
Honestly say I have not buildt any of those. Gap between destroyers and battleships is to short for destroyers to be of much use, at least to me. I don't use much infantry in combat ruling the need for helicopters out. Plus I am always America and F15 is much better than stealth fighter. Can do everyhthing a stealth can do, but is available much earlier than it.

Actually The F-15 has one up on the stealth fighter. It can do air superiority missions were as the stealth fighter is just like a cheap stealth bomber. I know the civlopedia says that the S. Fighter can do Air Superiority, but that is false.

I play as the Americans too!!!

 

[DasScoot]

Units I never use (sticking to mostly modern, I rarely fight wars earlier than that anyways):

Helicopters; don't see much point
Marines; I only use these when there's nowhere at all to land my troops, last time that happened was when I invaded a 2-tile island city.
Destroyers; what can I say, I like big ships
Cruise Missles; don't like spending time building units that die the first time you use them. Actually, the only time I use artillary at all is when I capture it, I generally stick to Stealth Bombers. Art. just isn't fast enough for my tastes.
Stealth Fighters; again, don't see much point.
Tactical Nukes; I stick with ICBM's unlimited range.

Paratroopers are pretty weak, but I build a few of em cause I think they look cool. And sometimes dropping a few on a mountain can keep the AI distracted from your main force for a while. Also useful for attacking poorly-defended islands.

 

[lord_wellington]

I am a big fan of the tactical nukes. I put them on my subs and hide them under my BBs in a picket line off my coast. It protects the sub, keeps the missles from being destroyed if the AI does a first strike against my ICBMs, and lets me see subs trying to sneak past the picket.

On the stealth fighters, does anyone know if the stealth is better? I would bomb the Americans with F-15s and they would constantly pick the B2s out of the air. The next turn I started with the stealth fighters and the F15s were nowhere to be seen. I did intel and they were still in the city but never went after me.

On Cruise missles the thing that no one has brought up is why waste the gold to support a unit that dies the first time you use it and has zero chance of killing the target, only weakening it?

 

[Sarevok]

Helicopters: You should see my airborne invasions...

Steath fighters: they blow, never use them

Destroyers: who are you kidding, i mass these things.

I dont use:
Longbows
Catapults
Horsemen
Archers
cannon
Chariot
Galley
Caravel

 

[scoutsout]

I personally favor horsemen over swordsmen, preferring speed and retreat ability. I should note I play Civ III, which has no upgrade path for swordsmen...

I have been in situations where I built the Great Library, only to find I'm sharing a continent with just one other Civ. The Great Lighthouse and a few galleys are the only way to really enjoy the full benefit of the GL...

 

[DaveMustDie]

I used to never build Marines after trying to take some cities with Modern Infantry and Armor. Then I realized the Marines usefulness in taking out light enemies outside of the cites or stopping them from pillaging your improvements.

In the pre-modern area I usually stay away from most units besides spearmen and the occasional horsemen.

 

[Sarevok]

i use marines for amphibious attacks, that is all.

 

[MajorFallout]

Originally posted by apparition
How effective is a fighter screen? I'm being hit by bombers at the moment.

Very effective, if you know which cities they always seem to bomb alot. Just load the city with 4-8 fighters, and set them to air superiority, and watch them take out 80-90% of the bombers as they fly over. You can easily wipe out his force of bombers in that base or carrier in 1-2 turns.

As for helicopters; there is a good use for them, but only in war time. And that is to use it's ability to view certain terrain or ocean squares off your coast or over your mainland. That way you can free up your fighters to tear up enemy units on the ground or in the air.

 

[MajorFallout]

Cont...
Of course Jet fighters against 4 propeller bombers are extremely effective, usually taking out nearly all bombers that come over your city. The trick is to have enough fighters to take on all the bombers that pass over the area.