Most of the time, I have not given any of my units the drill promotions. I am not sure how first strike really works so I have not used it much. Maybe someone can clear this up for me so I can start using these promotions already? Also what units are good for these promotions?
How does first strike work?
- Thread starter Warspite2
- Start date
Dueck
Walrold
For each first strike a unit has that the other unit does not, that unit gets a "free" round of combat before the actual engagement begins. This round has the same odds as any other round, only in this round, the non-first-striking unit will not deal damage if it wins.
Each "first strike chance" basically gives your unit a 50% chance of having an additional first strike, each combat. So, a unit with 1-2 first strikes has 1 definite first strike, and a 50% chance of an additional first strike, to be determined at the beginning of combat.
Each "first strike chance" basically gives your unit a 50% chance of having an additional first strike, each combat. So, a unit with 1-2 first strikes has 1 definite first strike, and a 50% chance of an additional first strike, to be determined at the beginning of combat.
crocodiledundee
Chieftain
So can one of the civ-mathematicians clarify whether this is actually worthwhile as opposed to comat 1, 2 etc.?
Hans Lemurson
Prince
May I direct your attention to: Combat Explained, by Arathorn.
This has everything you ever wanted to know about the combat system, and more!
It has been determined that every first-strike you have counts as a round of immunity in combat. If you win the round, more power too you, if you lose it, no loss.
A first-strike will not improve your odds of winning by as much as a Combat promotion night, but it will improve your chances of winning with less damage.
The way that first-strikes improve your combat is similar to "jump points", which are discussed in that article. Let's say it takes you 5 hits to kill your enemy, and 5 hits for you to die (a 1:1 battle). When you have your first-strike, 2 things can happen: You deal damage, or you miss. If you deal damage, then your opponent will go down in 4 more hits. If you miss, then your opponent scores a hit on you that gets negated. Whichever way you look at it, the first-strike makes it so that it takes 1 more hit to kill you than your opponent by the time the fair-combat starts.
This has everything you ever wanted to know about the combat system, and more!
It has been determined that every first-strike you have counts as a round of immunity in combat. If you win the round, more power too you, if you lose it, no loss.
A first-strike will not improve your odds of winning by as much as a Combat promotion night, but it will improve your chances of winning with less damage.
The way that first-strikes improve your combat is similar to "jump points", which are discussed in that article. Let's say it takes you 5 hits to kill your enemy, and 5 hits for you to die (a 1:1 battle). When you have your first-strike, 2 things can happen: You deal damage, or you miss. If you deal damage, then your opponent will go down in 4 more hits. If you miss, then your opponent scores a hit on you that gets negated. Whichever way you look at it, the first-strike makes it so that it takes 1 more hit to kill you than your opponent by the time the fair-combat starts.
DarkFyre99
Prince
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2006
- Messages
- 419
my last game, I had a lot of luck with giving first strike to my field armor units. Drill III allowed my tanks (and later modern armor) to roll over the tanks, infantry, and SAMs the enemy sent out to halt my advance on their cities.
At least until the first 'Copters arrived. Then it became a meat grinder.
The ability to hit without being hit back means a unit with blitz can keep up the assault longer without having to stop and heal. My two elite tanks (Drill IV + Combat II) were downright scary. They sometimes took out enemy tanks without damage at all.
Of course, the counter for the first strike specialist is Flanking II. Fortunately for me, units with that promotion didn't show up until the end of the war, when it no longer mattered, since they were defending cities and I already had dedicated city raiders.
At least until the first 'Copters arrived. Then it became a meat grinder.
The ability to hit without being hit back means a unit with blitz can keep up the assault longer without having to stop and heal. My two elite tanks (Drill IV + Combat II) were downright scary. They sometimes took out enemy tanks without damage at all.
Of course, the counter for the first strike specialist is Flanking II. Fortunately for me, units with that promotion didn't show up until the end of the war, when it no longer mattered, since they were defending cities and I already had dedicated city raiders.
rodrigo_braz
Chieftain
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2004
- Messages
- 45
Looks like, in order to evaluate the impact of the drill promotion, we need to have an idea of how many rounds each combat takes, right? If there are around 20 rounds in a combat, a first strike doesn't make as much difference as it would if the combat involved, say, 5 rounds.
I understand that the number of rounds a combat takes depends on a lot of things and is not fixed. But does anyone have an idea? The game does not actually tell you how many rounds there were, right? Or does it? Is a round each of the attacks we see in the combat animation?
Thanks,
Rodrigo
I understand that the number of rounds a combat takes depends on a lot of things and is not fixed. But does anyone have an idea? The game does not actually tell you how many rounds there were, right? Or does it? Is a round each of the attacks we see in the combat animation?
Thanks,
Rodrigo
Whitedragon
Chieftain
- Joined
- May 10, 2007
- Messages
- 64
Actually, if you look at the combat log, you can see approximately how many rounds the battle took. It doesn't log misses, only hits...but you can still get the general idea.
ParadigmShifter
Random Nonsense Generator
If you get monarchy before finishing the Oracle with a protective civ, you can get protective longbows super early (like 1000BC). Give them maxed out drill and they are formiddable against axes and normal archers. Then when the enemy gets maces, they make fantastic defenders. When you get rifles, upgrade them and they are top banana.
In WOTM10 (Churchill) I had a longbow with 93xp (produced from just a barracks, no Great Generals settled or leading as a warlord), he was invincible for a long time against aggressive AI (3 civs camped outside the city all attacking constantly), there was just him and another longbow defending a city against 3 huge stacks, for hundreds of years. Until a samurai got the better of him and then that was that, end of game.
In WOTM10 (Churchill) I had a longbow with 93xp (produced from just a barracks, no Great Generals settled or leading as a warlord), he was invincible for a long time against aggressive AI (3 civs camped outside the city all attacking constantly), there was just him and another longbow defending a city against 3 huge stacks, for hundreds of years. Until a samurai got the better of him and then that was that, end of game.
