forts, airbases, musketman, serfdom and other useless stuff

[LincolnOfRome]

Swordsmen are much better than axemen at taking cities.

 

[MilesBeyond]

Swordsmen are much better than axemen at taking cities.

Assuming the city's defended by Archers, sure. But Swordsmen are only marginally better at taking Archer cities than HAs, and HAs are far more versatile and manoeuvrable. I mean, yeah, CR III Swords are pretty awesome when it comes to sacking cities, but it takes them quite a while to get there. Not so with Horse Archers, who are also able to run about pillaging improvements.

 

[Vidar]

Triremes: Useful in the rare MP game where galley warfare is a threat, but otherwise lackluster. You'd think these would be good vs barb galleys, but the rules of the game dictate that you're better served using workboats and warriors to defeat barb galley spawns; barb galleys come too soon to realistically get MC on a consistent basis. Wars in the galley/trireme era are rare and when they do happen, often enough you can just insta-shuttle forces between 2 cities without exposing the galleys anyway. They have occasional uses but not often. I use airships considerably more often than triremes.

Triremes have their use in one very specific situation: You build two of them before Optics and put them at each end of your empire. Once you get Optics you upgrade them right away and send one in each direction. That way you can circumnavigate (spelling?) faster then you could if you had started building Caravel after Optics.

 

[MilesBeyond]

Triremes would be a lot more useful if they were on BW. I don't see why they're not.

 

[Imperator Knoedel]

Triremes would be a lot more useful if they were on BW. I don't see why they're not.

IIRC they were back in Warlords. Why they changed it, I don't know.

 

[Nicol.Bolas]

how about
overseas colony


Mehmed in this game got a full island for himself, bigger then his homeland, and then he gave them independence.
The following screenshot also proves ironclads are not useless:

Spoiler :

 

[SyntaxError]

how about
overseas colony


Mehmed in this game got a full island for himself, bigger then his homeland, and then he gave them independence.
The following screenshot also proves ironclads are not useless:

Spoiler :

In this case only 0.6% of the time.

 

[elmurcis]

Triremes have their use in one very specific situation: You build two of them before Optics and put them at each end of your empire. Once you get Optics you upgrade them right away and send one in each direction. That way you can circumnavigate (spelling?) faster then you could if you had started building Caravel after Optics.

This is what i do almost always to get that +1 movement bonus as fast as possible (nice thing that can upgrade ship inside culture borders make it so sweet.. still.. isn't strange? somewhere many km away from coast... ship suddenly change from trireme to caravel.. even don't need any harbor or whatever)

 

[AdamCrock]

Forts are usefull to build cannals via 2 water bodies. They can also serve as a good paratroopers base on some island close to shore (or as a missile base), ships can repair their damage there not thretened by imminent attack form subs. Forts can be build on resources to connect them to Your trade route (if the resource is outside of Your city work zone)

Mustkets are sometimes useful on slower game speeds or when You need a speedy defense by draft.

Serfdom is useless to me so I agree (usually got all the tiles impreved already).

Airships got very impressive range and can be used to scout an enemy (or "patrol" the seas) if espionage is bad or switched off. That's one good use for them

 

[Pisskop]

(Almost) Useless to me:

-Explorers
-Ironclads
-Enviornmentalism
-Pacifism
-Supermarkets
-Grenadiers (unless I don't have rifles)
-Whale
-Torodial artic shores (ai and their landgrubbing)

Others are limited to specialized situations.

 

[Nicol.Bolas]

(Almost) Useless to me:

-Explorers
-Ironclads
-Enviornmentalism
-Pacifism
-Supermarkets
-Grenadiers (unless I don't have rifles)
-Whale
-Torodial artic shores (ai and their landgrubbing)

Others are limited to specialized situations.

pacifism:

how about chaining GA?

 

[MilesBeyond]

Pacifism is a fantastic civic but only in a peacetime SE - i.e. it's a bit niche.

 

[Nials]

(Almost) Useless to me:
...
-Whale
...

Why do you consider Whale useless?

 

[Pisskop]

Whale is hard to get, only good for a relatively brief period, and provides limited benifit in terms of food and hammer. I have never founded a city for the sake of whale alone, and as often as not its found around marginal land. I don't value it highly, although on rare occassions I trade for it.

pacifism:

how about chaining GA?

Yup. Already been said. its niche. I don't often play for culture wins, and if I'm in a serious culture war I'd as soon go to war, even to raze offending cities.

Organized religion or free religion serve me better for peace.

 

[AdamCrock]

whale gets obsoleted which sucks ! Many pharmaceuticals are based on a whale fat haha !

 

[TheMeInTeam]

(Almost) Useless to me:

-Explorers
-Ironclads
-Enviornmentalism
-Pacifism
-Supermarkets
-Grenadiers (unless I don't have rifles)
-Whale
-Torodial artic shores (ai and their landgrubbing)

Others are limited to specialized situations.

Whale is less preferred than other resources but you'd always want them if you can get them. Optics isn't THAT late.

Pacifism is really really really really really really really out of place on that list and is one of the better civics in the game. You can make a case that some of the other things on the list aren't so great (though grenadiers are situationally very useful), however pacifism even being considered for such a list is factually incorrect . Granted, you do need a religion for it but it's easily competitive with the other religious civics and very often the #1 option.

 

[digitalcraft]

What do you do when you lack Copper, Iron or Horses? Even then, Archers can be more efficient defenders.

reroll. : P

 

[Nials]

Whale is hard to get, only good for a relatively brief period, and provides limited benifit in terms of food and hammer. I have never founded a city for the sake of whale alone, and as often as not its found around marginal land. I don't value it highly, although on rare occassions I trade for it.

A 3/1/2 tile I would say is decent, not fantastic, but certainly at least decent. That's assuming a lighthouse, of course, which might not be worthwhile if it's the only coastal tile you're going to work.

It of course also comes down to what types of map you play. On an Archipelago or similar water-heavy map, you're going to want Optics sooner rather than later. On a Pangaea, you're probably going to delay it for a very long time.

One nice thing is that the Market boosts it by giving another +1. Not bad as it tends to be a somewhat common build in many games.

 

[Rusty Edge]

Whale is less preferred than other resources but you'd always want them if you can get them. Optics isn't THAT late.

Pacifism is really really really really really really really out of place on that list and is one of the better civics in the game. You can make a case that some of the other things on the list aren't so great (though grenadiers are situationally very useful), however pacifism even being considered for such a list is factually incorrect . Granted, you do need a religion for it but it's easily competitive with the other religious civics and very often the #1 option.

Wouldn't you agree that nukes are more useful than Pacifism? I promise not to bring a Historical argument this time.

 

[Redcoat1]

I find Muskets very useful in circumstances where I have the quick cash to upgrade them to Riflemen. An instant stash of Riflemen has powered through many Cities and enemy positions. Course playing British, I really like Riflemen.