Give me a reason to build forts...

[Kwik E Mart]

I never seem to build them...anyone build them consistently? If so, how do you employ them effectively?

 

[Tabarnak]

When you are close to a victory and only have few units.

For example, cultural victory with 1 or 2 cities. Put forts everywhere in case you gonna be attacked. Put units in there and fortify. The brainless AI will have no clue how to go through.

In multiplayer, forts are powerful.

 

[neilkaz]

I've built forts a few times, but how do you fortify in them unless fortifying and healing? I've tried and had the unit killed and the fort taken and then have to deal with a fortified AI unit.

 

[King Patrick]

Never had to build a fort in Civ V. In Civ II, as Rome on an Earth map, I once corked the Zulus off in Africa for several centuries by building a fort in the Sinai.

You could use a fort to block off a choke point, I suppose, but I prefer to block those with cities & refusing Open Borders if at all possible.

 

[fmlizard2]

I build them fairly often in chokepoints (usually narrow mountain passes or isthmuses near a border city). I even did a Citadel (settling a great general - +100%) once to great effect next to a very aggressive Rome on a crucial mountain pass tile. My rifleman was absolutely heroic standing in that thing.

They can also be a last-ditch way to maximize your forces cheaply if you are being invaded and are out-gunned. Be careful not to station them directly next to your city though - as a previous poster mentioned, if the fort gets taken, all of a sudden your city is under attack against a fortified foe.

 

[robvollman]

1. You have workers with nothing to do, and you don't want to delete them because you're researching railroad, and you detest units standing idle.

2. Build it on a resource hex into which an AI city is about to expand. Often they'll leave the fort rather than tear it down and build the appropriate improvement.

3. Empty forts can act like a magnet, pull the AI out of position by building a fort in a useless place.

4. They actually can be useful in key locations where you don't want to build cities, and there's no better defensive terrain (forests/hills). Like in the Arctic or the middle of the desert.

5. You want to write the word ASS in the desert or Arctic in big, bold letters.

6. There are specific locations where Barbarians spawn repeatedly. I don't think they can pop up on a fort. This is especially true on one-hex islands.

7. In long drawn-out campaigns sometimes there is a key location that is a clear hex where you often have units healing, that's a good spot for a fort.

 

[LamaGT]

i once built them as a defensive line, basically i was blocking the ferocious mongolians which were on a peninsula.
They served they're purpose

 

[fmlizard2]

They can also be sweet in a cultural game when you:

1. Don't want to build more cities but want to protect your borders. Popping a city in this case to block a chokepoint hurts your win chances.

2. Have massively expanded borders from all the culture but not enough population to work the tiles - forts don't need to be worked, and are the only way to productively use a non-resourced, non-worked tile.

3. Probably have a mediocre army and only desire to defend what is yours. They can be a nice force multiplier your workers can build, so you can save cash and hammers for generating what you need to win.

 

[Legal_My_Deagle]

I built one once to see what it looked like. Does that count?

 

[chazzycat]

good suggestions here. I might build my 1st one next game.

 

[Kwik E Mart]

1. You have workers with nothing to do, and you don't want to delete them because you're researching railroad, and you detest units standing idle.

2. Build it on a resource hex into which an AI city is about to expand. Often they'll leave the fort rather than tear it down and build the appropriate improvement.

3. Empty forts can act like a magnet, pull the AI out of position by building a fort in a useless place.

4. They actually can be useful in key locations where you don't want to build cities, and there's no better defensive terrain (forests/hills). Like in the Arctic or the middle of the desert.

5. You want to write the word ASS in the desert or Arctic in big, bold letters.

6. There are specific locations where Barbarians spawn repeatedly. I don't think they can pop up on a fort. This is especially true on one-hex islands.

7. In long drawn-out campaigns sometimes there is a key location that is a clear hex where you often have units healing, that's a good spot for a fort.

Winner! (seriously, there are a few good ones in there)

 

[Kwik E Mart]

just played my daily lunch time session and discovered a great use for a fort - my ruins promoted scarcher just got whacked! would have been nice to have a fort to run to......gonna miss that little sucker...

 

[slobberinbear]

Agree with the prior posters re: chokepoints and desert/tundra.

Combining the chokepoint fort with a nearby city (with Oligarchy) is brutal on attackers. Brutal.

 

[PScirocco]

Does the fort still functions as a resource-gathering improvement like in civ4?

I play on emperor, and I still don't get attacked enough to warrant its use.

 

[Callonia]

I build forts alot, their value went up alot alot compared to civ 3-4. Mainly due to one unit per hex. I can't remember but I think units in citadels can finish fights without losing even one hp.

I vaguley remember a fortified mech infantry swatting down alot of attack gunships on a while having it built on a hill.

 

[illserveu]

Well, fort will have effect INSIDE your border, no matter how far it is from the city. So the tiles that 4 tiles away from cities are useless (unless they have luxury or strategic resources), you can build Fort there and have your defensive army there.

The forts is very effective indeed. 2 Rifles were failed to destroy my Cannon fortify there. So in conclusion, if you don't have important work for your worker, and there're tiles away from cities, build Forts there. Who know when all other Civs DoW on you at the same time?

 

[Bibor]

"Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man." - George S. Patton, Jr.
"Use fixed fortifications to abuse the monumental stupidity of the AI." - Bibor Kiraly

There

 

[tomplum68]

I built a line of forts once across a long border I had with a warmongering France. They had a slight tech edge so it helped beef up my units, repell their eventual invasion and then set up the counter attack nicely. They are definitely situational. I usually dont build them.