Guerilla warfare with chariot archer and scout!

[gopher666]

Disclaimer I: I haven't been keeping up with this forum for a while, but wanted to rekindle my connection with this place after endless hours of Civ5. Hence, I haven't been able to backread. If something similar has been posted to death, I apologize. Also, I hope this is the right subforum. If not, my bad; hope a mod can move it.

Disclaimer II: This requires a fair amount of XP, and might thus be more entertaining than useful.

Playing through a marathon round as Korea, I suddenly stumbled upon something quite fun. With a chariot archer (upgrades: Logistics, Range, Indirect Fire. Total cost 210 including prereqs) and a scout (upgrade: Scouting) I've found I can suddenly employ some pretty sneaky tactics. I'm running the scout behind enemy lines to spot targets. As soon as I find something I can often move my chariot in range with ease, ideally behind cover. What follows is usually a grisly death, depending on the target.

The scout's obviously in some amount of danger, but a scout with basic upgrades is small potatoes, after all. The vastly experienced chariot's safe as houses, though.

Now, I realize the investment on that is fairly steep. In my case, the chariot just ended up like that with two neighbours constantly trying to invade me. To my delight, it's rather exhilarating to pick off enemy units like this. Surprisingly, though, it's turned out to be rather effective.

I felt the need to share this with the one group I know obsesses even more over this game than I do. Hope it was of interest. Anyone have similar experiences?

 

[Callonia]

A chariot with logistics promo? Wow I don't think my chariots ever lived that long O.o Congrats.

 

[strijder20]

If you like this, play Mongolia.
Instead of one Chariot Archer being able to shoot safely from a distance, you've got a dozen Keshiks being able to shoot safely from a distance

 

[gopher666]

I regularly have chariots survive extremely long. My chariots don't die, they retire whenever the AI seems to have gotten LS and trebs. Frankly, I find them amazing defensive units early game, and useful harriers against far stronger foes later on. Having a fast unit able to pick off a couple of HPs each round and subsequently retreat is a pretty nice addition to an army. Of course, they get smashed like a mosquito, but they never (and I do mean never) cease being a little useful.

My play style is ridiculous tall build (often one city for at least half the game), and my military strategy is usually turtling until I get tech to bite back. Add to that the fact that I often replace archers for chariots for defense, and that my puny military invites half the world to invade me, and a chariot gets logistics, range and indirect fire before you know it. 'course, it helps that I usually play on marathon.

strijder20: Hee hee. I've tried them. I enjoyed. My only problem is Keshiks require Chivalry, which is a bit late for my tastes. But they're great fun, indeed.

 

[The Pilgrim]

Chariot archers do not retreat after taking shots. That's their main weakness, which makes them pretty much useless unless you play as Arabia/Mongolia or marathon.
You can (and should) adopt similar tactics with siege units. Due to favorable upgrade path they stay relevant forever.
But have fun with CA while you can. After release of G&K this party will be over.

 

[gopher666]

After release of G&K this party will be over.

How so? I haven't really kept up to date about G&K features, aside from the really obvious.

 

[joncnunn]

How so? I haven't really kept up to date about G&K features, aside from the really obvious.

HP go from current 10 points to 100.

It's also thought that neither melee nor ranged units will do 10 times as much damage as current, but that ranged is decreasing more than melee.

I'm not sure who much of those is true other than the obvious case of when your unit is currently only inflecting the minimum 1 HP damage, and people have been known to keep CAs around for a long time rather than upgrading to Calvary just for those minimum shots.

 

[gopher666]

HP go from current 10 points to 100.

It's also thought that neither melee nor ranged units will do 10 times as much damage as current, but that ranged is decreasing more than melee.

I'm not sure who much of those is true other than the obvious case of when your unit is currently only inflecting the minimum 1 HP damage, and people have been known to keep CAs around for a long time rather than upgrading to Calvary just for those minimum shots.

Aww.

Oh well. At least my mid-to-late game regular cries of havoc will be all the easier.

 

[theguy8882]

Chariot archers do not retreat after taking shots. That's their main weakness, which makes them pretty much useless unless you play as Arabia/Mongolia or marathon.
You can (and should) adopt similar tactics with siege units. Due to favorable upgrade path they stay relevant forever.
But have fun with CA while you can. After release of G&K this party will be over.

Arabia can't employ this that well because the Camel archer doesn't have much movement. Never the less I do enjoy the Camel archer even if it is slower then the keshik.

 

[Silverfuturist]

Arabia can't employ this that well because the Camel archer doesn't have much movement. Never the less I do enjoy the Camel archer even if it is slower then the keshik.

Roads! Defending on a road network with camel archers enables all of them to shoot and move. When attacking, build a road to the enemy to give camels more keshik-like movement. Pyramids and Arabia go well together.

 

[The Pilgrim]

Arabia can't employ this that well because the Camel archer doesn't have much movement. Never the less I do enjoy the Camel archer even if it is slower then the keshik.

All units pale in comparison to keshiks. So let's just leave them alone.
I'll take 'move one hex, shoot and retreat' over 'move 3 hexes, shoot and die' any day.
CA (the camels ) are stronger than keshiks at both regular combat and range combat. Although few of them can accidentally die (you'll need some backup and melee units as well) you can still use the same tactics very very effectively, if you know what you're doing - terrain, ZoC and such.

 

[theguy8882]

All units pale in comparison to keshiks. So let's just leave them alone.
I'll take 'move one hex, shoot and retreat' over 'move 3 hexes, shoot and die' any day.
CA (the camels ) are stronger than keshiks at both regular combat and range combat. Although few of them can accidentally die (you'll need some backup and melee units as well) you can still use the same tactics very very effectively, if you know what you're doing - terrain, ZoC and such.

As i said I really like the CA. I once had three CAs on top of hills raining down a barrage of arrows onto a siamese city while my melee units slowly marched through the jungle. What I'm trying to say is the CA is a fun and powerful unit.

 

[The Pilgrim]

As i said I really like the CA. I once had three CAs on top of hills raining down a barrage of arrows onto a siamese city while my melee units slowly marched through the jungle. What I'm trying to say is the CA is a fun and powerful unit.

Indeed. More so with logistics and range.