Drafting

[PibbZ]

I know there are several situations where drafting can be a very good feature, and maybe even a requirement on certain difficulties.

Personally im not very experienced with drafting and its good / bad sides in BTS (traits, benefits, promotions, unhappy people) all that stuff.

I would love to hear from you guys that use Drafting in creative / smart ways, and why you do it.

Please elaborate

 

[sabo]

I know there are several situations where drafting can be a very good feature, and maybe even a requirement on certain difficulties.

Personally im not very experienced with drafting and its good / bad sides in BTS (traits, benefits, promotions, unhappy people) all that stuff.

I would love to hear from you guys that use Drafting in creative / smart ways, and why you do it.

Please elaborate

When the AI comes by sea and lands next to a huge production city only guarded by two warriors is an excellent time to start drafting.

 

[Psyringe]

Drafting is a good way to strengthen the defenses when an attack catches you by surprise, or when the attacker comes with a force larger than you expected.

Drafting can also be an easy way to produce defenders in a city would suffer from "we demand better protection" unhappiness when you don't want to lose time for producing buildings. But it's not ideal since drafting causes unhappiness as well, albeit temporarily.

Also, drafting is an easy way to raise your power rating a little, when you fear that an AI might see you as an easy target to pick on.

I don't draft much in other situations - to build my army (when I need one) I prefer to use my military production cities. Drafted units are a) primarily defense units, b) have less experience than other units, c) reduce the population (which often means reduced production or commerce), and d) drafting causes unhappiness. This makes drafting a good backup for unforseen situations, but not a good way to field a whole army. I might however throw a few drafted units into my main army as expendables to soften up the enemy ... but I'd rather use siege weapons for that.

 

[PibbZ]

When the AI comes by sea and lands next to a huge production city only guarded by two warriors is an excellent time to start drafting.

I tend to be running Bureaucracy, or maybe even Free Speech, and by then (unless i am in a GA or got Cristo Redentor (sp?)) im genereally screwed if they catch me by surprise.

 

[vilemerchant]

Very useful in a high food city with the Globe Theatre (no unhappiness).

 

[RedRalph]

I find it useful when on a city conquering war, if you have overstretched and have run out of defensive units in your stack to hold cities you have captured whihc have a high risk of being counter attacked

 

[Ammar]

I tend to be running Bureaucracy, or maybe even Free Speech, and by then (unless i am in a GA or got Cristo Redentor (sp?)) im genereally screwed if they catch me by surprise.

I use nationhood for unexpected land-invasions pre-railroad (small windows). For real surprise landings it's only effective if you're spiritual or in an golden age or have the Christo.

 

[Ammar]

I find it useful when on a city conquering war, if you have overstretched and have run out of defensive units in your stack to hold cities you have captured whihc have a high risk of being counter attacked

But you can't use drafting before the city is somewhat assimilated. Doesn't that make this pretty useless?

 

[RedRalph]

But you can't use drafting before the city is somewhat assimilated. Doesn't that make this pretty useless?

No I mean draft from your own cities, send the units youve drafted to hold captured cities, thuse freeing up the offensive unit for more conquest

 

[LiberiGlacialis]

Drafting is good for fielding quick defenders or to amass a rather large army quickly. Military Production cities are better for units, as they churn out veterans w/out unhappiness. Drafting just gives you a general novice unit. They DO get any trait promotions, however...(Tokugawa's drafted gunpowder units get S1, CG1, and D1, for instance)

 

[Soneji]

I find the units that come from drafting useless. They are less experienced than a normally produced unit even without any promotions, so that large naval drop off large scale tanks you just saw... well by that point your done for anyway. You are also stuck with infantry as the conscripted unit.

Yes handy, but I can count on one hand how often I've used it..

 

[Arlborn]

I find the units that come from drafting useless. They are less experienced than a normally produced unit even without any promotions, so that large naval drop off large scale tanks you just saw... well by that point your done for anyway. You are also stuck with infantry as the conscripted unit.

Yes handy, but I can count on one hand how often I've used it..

Drafting already saved my back way many times. I prefer to draft and lose only one city, an try to recapture in a later time, then completely lose all without drafting.

 

[bonafide11]

I think Nationhood and Drafting are the most underrated features in the game.

 

[PibbZ]

I think Nationhood and Drafting are the most underrated features in the game.

Based on what?

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

Yes, please do explain as I've never used drafting in any version of Civ4. Come to think of it, i've never drafted a single unit in my entire history with Civ games (circa CivIII vanilla)

 

[nullspace]

Drafting is better with leaders that are aggressive or protective because the drafted units get the free promotions. And if you have a barracks and theocracy, drafted units start with enough experience for one more promotion. A rifleman with combat 1 and pinch or CG1 drill 1 and pinch, isn't too bad at all. Plus, some UUs are draftable, so drafting is a good way to get a lot of them very fast.

 

[BYC]

Drafting is one of the features that isn't used as much in lower difficulty or in single player.

In lower difficulties, the production rate is still high enough that drafting isn't needed unless for emergencies. I've definitely felt the need to use it in Emperor games when I just couldn't keep up with units in a big war.

I've definitely used drafting in multiplayer since humans are much more intelligent in wars and tactical movement.

 

[hoopsnerd]

I think Nationhood and Drafting are the most underrated features in the game.

Drafting OWNS if you have Sid's Sushi and Cristo Redentor. The trick is to build the Globe Theatre in your best food city (besides your GP farm) and use it as your "drafting city". You spread sid's sushi there for maximal food, and then each turn you draft another soldier.

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

^^^damn! that is powerful. A food city popping units faster than my best production city? Almost too good to be true. I play on noble, so it may not be necessary to draft, but I must employ this tactic in my next game.

 

[hoopsnerd]

^^^damn! that is powerful. A food city popping units faster than my best production city? Almost too good to be true. I play on noble, so it may not be necessary to draft, but I must employ this tactic in my next game.

Yeah, it works amazingly well, especially because there tends to be an "equilibrium" level where you can just draft a unit out of that city each turn and the population replaces each turn - provided you have horded enough sea resources. This is where how I build my defenders to garrison cities that aren't on the very front lines of the advance - and they also work really well as kamikaze units to weaken the toughest defender in a stack for your better promoted units. I play on Marathon speed so I think that makes the concept of Drafting a lot more powerful in relation to a Normal speed game too, because you get to draft up to 5 units per turn (one per city tho).