Forts

[Binnor]

Does anyone actually use forts? I always find in my games that by the time my workers have finished a fort the frontline of the war has moved (normally into enemy territory!), thereby defeating the purpose of building the fort in the first place. Just wondering whether anyone used them and if so maybe you could provide me with some tips.

Also does a unit gain the defensive benefit of a fort if the fort is in enemy territory?

Cheers

 

[denyd]

The only times I build forts are on choke points where a city won't work (mountains/bad terrain) to cut off the expansion of an AI or when I'm keeping a scientific pet and have him placed where he won't grow. Other than that, my workers are usually too busy road/railing, chopping/irrigating/mining and cleaning up polltion to have time.

 

[fret]

IMO the fort is at the very bottom of the Civ 3 usefullness league table. Nothing comes close to their pointlessly useless, too much effort for not enough gain existance.

 

[swordwiz]

At the end of the game, when your workers have nothing to do, you can rushbuild 1 turn forts

In a Always war, you might need them, even if they are slow...

 

[KaNick]

They are good in defensive wars for creating "kill zones" there is a succession game with a good example of this. I would dig it up if the search function was up (not the google one )

 

[ongwin]

I usually build forts around the perimeter of my borders which are in contact with a hostile civilization and station 2 defensive units per fort there. This way they cannot trespass into my territory and if they happen to suddenly declare war, they would have to break through the line first before reaching any of my cities, by then more defensive units would have arrived.

 

[truckingpete]

Well it depends....but mostly...no...if they shot arrows or attacked when a unit went by then i would...

 

[Biral]

I was at war with America, and they had maybe 10 guys coming towards a small choke point. I didn't want them to get through that choke point because i had a strategic resource in the city near that choke point, and i didn' thtink it would be wise to let said army get through and possibly spread out, so i put a few guys right on that choke point and rushed a fort, not one guy got through limited use in general though.

 

[dmanakho]

IMO the fort is at the very bottom of the Civ 3 usefullness league table. Nothing comes close to their pointlessly useless, too much effort for not enough gain existance.

100% agree... Fortress is useless but new players probably should experiment with them. I did, but then figured that it's just a waste of time.

 

[Pook]

I agree with the chokepoint ideas expressed above. There is also some usefulness in a barricade (double the work to produce a fort, extends a Zone of Control to slow down passing enemies). In a post a few months back, I described a game where I was "a mouse between two cats" on a long thin continent. Too cover my back while at war with my southern neighbor, I built an 8-tile-wide 3-tile-deep line of barricades on my northern border, and most importantly put railroads into all of my barricades and destroyed all roads for two tiles to the north of them. (Yes, I build loads of workers, and yes, they would have had a lot of spare time otherwise.) The moment my northern neighbor declared war on me, their units had a two tile trek through "no man's land" to attack fortified units in barricades while under a withering artillery bombardment, with cavalry waiting to pick off the 1-HP survivors. Even when a Stack Of Doom broke through- so what?? I built another line of barricades 1 tile further back and continued pummeling them. They didn't have a chance.

 

[Theoden]

Well it depends....but mostly...no...if they shot arrows or attacked when a unit went by then i would...

Any unit in a fort has Zone of control so they do attack passing enemy units.

I only use forts if I am being attacked by a neighboor. I never use them in offensive wars because the front is far ahead when they get finished a few turns later.

 

[dmanakho]

I agree with the chokepoint ideas expressed above. There is also some usefulness in a barricade (double the work to produce a fort, extends a Zone of Control to slow down passing enemies). In a post a few months back, I described a game where I was "a mouse between two cats" on a long thin continent. Too cover my back while at war with my southern neighbor, I built an 8-tile-wide 3-tile-deep line of barricades on my northern border, and most importantly put railroads into all of my barricades and destroyed all roads for two tiles to the north of them. (Yes, I build loads of workers, and yes, they would have had a lot of spare time otherwise.) The moment my northern neighbor declared war on me, their units had a two tile trek through "no man's land" to attack fortified units in barricades while under a withering artillery bombardment, with cavalry waiting to pick off the 1-HP survivors. Even when a Stack Of Doom broke through- so what?? I built another line of barricades 1 tile further back and continued pummeling them. They didn't have a chance.

Is there any way to get rid of the fort?
If i had all those lines of defense as in Pooks sooner or later i just would love to clean my terrain.

 

[Theoden]

Is there any way to get rid of the fort?
If i had all those lines of defense as in Pooks sooner or later i just would love to clean my terrain.

You can pillage it or bomb it with a bomber or artillery. Thats the only way

You can just pillage. That is the only way except using a bomber or artillery to get rid of it that way.

No you dont get defensive bonus for forts in enemy territory

 

[BassDude726]

Because I'm a huge dork, I like to build Maginot Lines in my territory using forts and infantry. I usually end up having a whole buttload of extra workers because I like to cover my entire territory with Railroads as soon as possible, and you can build a nice line of forts from coast to coast through your territory fairly quickly with that many workers. I like to do that because I have a paranoia of the AI invading amphibiously. Its happened only very rarely, and I've never heard of the AI invading at two points at once, so I figure dividing my territory with a strong defensive line is a good way to keep them from overrunning my whole nation. I usually do it by keeping my capital on one side, and my Forbidden Palace city on the other, so if one falls, then I at least know that I'll have a region fairly uncorrupted.
I know it's a waste of time, but I have fun anyway.

 

[BassDude726]

And I dont think they're completely useless, I think it's a safe bet to build a fort where a resource is and put a defensive unit on there, so an enemy can't park one of their own on it and deny you access. That absolutely infuriates me when it happens, so I usually fortify resources outside my territory so that I can guarantee possession of it once my borders expand.

 

[general_kill]

In OCC(one city challenges) forts might come of use. Since the enemy can use units with 3 movements in the late medieval and industrial age, forts may be useful to protect your city from one turn rushes.

 

[denyd]

Actually the most useless item it the Outpost. Rather than build outposts, just send that worker to checkout what's over there.

BassDude726: I think you'll find that one of the major weak points of AI warfare is the poor ability to manage warfare across water.

 

[Pook]

BassDude726: I think you'll find that one of the major weak points of AI warfare is the poor ability to manage warfare across water.

Totally agreed. I have yet to see the AI mount a reasonably competent amphibious invasion. I think the designers took a brain scan of the commanders at Gallipoli and encoded it

 

[dmanakho]

I know it's a waste of time, but I have fun anyway.

Yep, the only single reason to build all this is for fun, otherwise there is no better way to waste time than this

 

[Dell19]

I'm always paranoid that the AI might be able to use my forts so I rarely build them in standard games but recently playing a scenario with increased production and locked alliances it was beneficial to use a fort as it gave me a place to protect my core cities and resources although I guess I could have just build a city there...