Does the AI never attack armies?

[Dr. Dr. Doktor]

I do not know this to be absolutely certain but I am pretty sure. If my premise is correct then load Cavalry, Cossacks (preferably), Panzer or Modern armor into your Army. It then has a movement of three. The army is unable to pillage; so have a group of your mobile explorers (pillagers) stacked under the army. Then venture into enemy territory and start pillaging his hinterland, especially to prevent his access to strategic resources and luxuries. You can also use your obsolete armies in this way but they are not as mobile. I have never yet seen an AI attack an Army so do not worry about losing it.

The suggestion that the AI will never attack your army might also be used in a more defensive manner. Usually the AI will focus his attack on a single objective and stack umpteen amount of units together and singledmindedly go for one objective: a city, or more likely a strategic resource. Figure out where he is heading and place your army there. Will he attack? I do not know.

By the way, has anyone seen the effect of loading the very mobile explorers into an army and can it be done?

If someone has any suggestions on how to husband your forces I would very much like to hear some suggestions. I am very frugal and do not like to senselessly fritter away my boys.

 

[BillChin]

The AI will attack armies, but only if it has a lot of troops to throw at them or gets into one of its moods. It is silly to load Explorer units into an army. A Knight or Calvary is much more useful. Pillaging is good in selected situations, such as cutting off key resources. Taking cities, preferrably several cities in a few turns, is more effective.

The AI is also reluctant to attack infantry. Fast units can retreat vs. infantry armies, so tank armies are more effective. The AI will attack units on hills or mountains, if there is a chance of destroying them. Keep exposed Calvary (no infantry support) on hills when in enemy territory to better their odds.

To conserve forces, always travel in pairs or big stacks. Attack with overwhelming force. Retreat wounded units so they can heal up instead of sending them forward. Make use of bombard units, catapults, cannons, bombers, artillery. Once railroads are laid down, artillery units are a tremendous defensive asset. All artillery can converge on one spot and fire on any turn.

Armies are most important when establishing a beachhead in a D-Day style invasion vs. a competitive opponent. The AI may throw 50 or 100 units at the beachhead and a single army can often save the day.

 

[Dr. Dr. Doktor]

I now know it to be true that armies are not invulnerable to AI attack. However, the army (cossack) was really worn down after AI battleship bombardment. (this is the first time i have seen the AI actually bombard units) Is it programmed to only bombard landscape improvements and armies?. So my experience is that the AI will in fact attack armies but only after they are worn down to a considerable degree.

I have not seen the AI attack a Pentagon upgraded elite mech army. The AI had maybe 30-50 mech and armour units going directly for one city. Then i pushed the super army into the city and now the AI diverted its lumbering forces to attack another city. I can see why armies are good for invasions because then the AI will have one choice of city only. Unless it wants to build transports and sail its army to your homeland.

So to sum up: The AI will attack an army if either it is worn down (the army) or the AI only has only one choice on its target list.

After some experimentation i found out that yes they are (especially if they are loaded with modern armor which can attack three times in a turn) very usefull in attacking cities; and you can save a lot of units in this way. Though it breaks my heart to see an army destroyed in an attack. But I was getting greedy when that happened.

I also found out that you cannot load explorers into armies. You can load paratroopers into armies but that is even sillier because you cannot paradrop nor helicopter-drop them. An army apparently does not have the 'foot unit' flag checked, even though the army leader seems very much to be walking on his own two feet! Would be nice with a paradropable army. (has that 'J' bug been removed in the newest patch, doesn't work for me)

Apropos D-day; I wonder if marines in an army can amphibiously invade. Probably not.

I also found out that the most effective use of an ICBM is to nuke the AI's psycho-stack of units which destroys maybe 3/4 and leave the rest as easy pickings. Prepare for a retaliatory strike though.

Bombers and artillery is king if one wants to conserve forces. What is even better is that the AI hands over anywhere between 1 to 3 artillery units per conquered city.

 

[allhailIndia]

Originally posted by Dr. Dr. Doktor
Bombers and artillery is king if one wants to conserve forces. What is even better is that the AI hands over anywhere between 1 to 3 artillery units per conquered city.

I almost doubled my no of cannons and artillery after one invasion, even when the enemy was throwing rocks(catapults) against my Cavalry


Surprisingly, at lower levels, I have no recollection of my armies being attacked by the AI

 

[rdomarat]

Originally posted by allhailIndia
Surprisingly, at lower levels, I have no recollection of my armies being attacked by the AI

Last night, my swordsman army was attacked by the AI in the year 200 AD. The army was down to 3 HP in total, and the AI threw about 4 horsemen (all it had) at my army. I was smart enough to have retreated to the mountains and got lucky and survived the attack.