don't armies just kind of Stink?

[freakboy]

I've played a few games to about 80% conclusion. And I've finally gotten to build an army.

It had 3 horsemen in it, and after rampaging around wiping out those smelly frenchmen, it finally got attacked and sacked.

My question to the Civ3 units out there is:

Don't armies kind of stink?

I'd be better off with my 3 horsement separate and saving the great leader to build a wonder. I only built the army to try and get the small wonders that let you build more armies, but if armies aren't worth it in the first place what's the point?

I'd rather split up the 3 units and use them separately to pillage, defend and redeploy than stick them in one stack indefinitely wherein I can never upgrade them?

What's the consensus?

Freakboy
AKA
Toolboi
AKA
Freakboy

 

[Malys Faisent]

Depends on what you are putting into an army. If you are loading it up just with horsemen, it is a waste, as horsemen already withdraw from combat when injured and function better when pillaging.

However an army of defensive units basically means your stack (the army and the other attackers...) is well-nigh indestructible, or an army of one move attackers (Immortals or swordsmen come to mind) will be able to take on cities without fear of lost units, since the whole army has to be destroyed for any of them to die. By the time you are conducting military campaigns in the Modern Age armies will make a huge difference...and if you didn't build one back in ancient times to get your Heroic Epic, Military Academy and Pentagon you are going to be hurting when the Zulus and their armies of modern armor start wiping out your mobile infantry, while your single modern armor units die fighting...

Just the stationing of an army on a border will keep the AI at bay. I've played many games where once I moved my army an AI attacked me, but centuries could pass while it was there and they wouldn't even think about it.

 

[Magnus]

if peaceful civ - send it back to build the wonder (however what are you doing fighting so much as a peaceful civ in the first place?)

if warlike - build the army - in almost any combat the army is trump - I use it to dislodge the most stubborn of units. And my armies always consist of 2+ move units. gotta be mobile!

 

[shirleyrocks]

Armies are awesome. Your first problem is that horsemen suck...whether they're in armies or not. If you get a leader early in the game, save him for a swordsman or knight army.

I'm in late game right now and I have my military academy cranking out armies. I have EIGHT Modern Armor armies (with the Pentagon). They just rolled right over the Greeks (who had Mech Infantry and Modern Armor)...put four to work on each enemy city and nobody on Earth can stand up to that.

 

[ApocalypseKurtz]

Armies are HUGE late in the game. I've never built one; only used the ones from great leaders. But stack up a mixture of Tanks/Armor and mech Infantry and you will have a unit winning A LOT of battles for you :tank:

 

[freakboy]

Ok,

That makes a lot of sense to me now. I'll now go on to stomp those bastard russians.

Freakboy

 

[Zippo]

Armies can be frustrating... for those of you who think armies are worthless, you can use the editor to allow armies to hold more than 3 units.

 

[Kiki]

I wish in an army if I have many units that have the ability to attack more than one in a single turn like tank/modern armor, the army can attack more than just once in a turn too. That made me not like the army that much when I load 4 elite modern armors into an army and not be able to attack more than once.

 

[jc011]

how do you unload units out of an army???

I once had a cossack army, It was okay, but i think it should be able to attack more than once.

 

[shirleyrocks]

Originally posted by Kiki
I wish in an army if I have many units that have the ability to attack more than one in a single turn like tank/modern armor, the army can attack more than just once in a turn too. That made me not like the army that much when I load 4 elite modern armors into an army and not be able to attack more than once.

Soren Johnson said they did that on purpose (not allow armies to make multiple attacks) for fear they would be too powerful. An army with 4 modern armors is already virtually guaranteed of defeating any enemy as it is.