How is an army not a combat unit?

[lcorinth]

First, let me say that I'm pretty new to Civilization III, but that it has quickly taken over my life. I would like to get more sleep, but Sid Meier has invaded my life with his electronic crack.

Second, I have given a quick skim, but do not know if the answer to this question is buried somewhere in the forums. I would look if I had more time, but as I said, there is electronic crack to smoke... I therefore apologize if this post is redundant.

So, I was playing CivIII last night (I'm England), and one of my elite units converted to a great leader. So, first chance I got, I built an army. FIRST, I thought you could make armies out of any military force, so I stacked some Ancient Cavalry in the city with the leader (whose name was something like Bocerius, or Brian Boru, or something...), and then I made an army.

Well, the cavalry didn't become part of the army, but, oh well, I thought. I've got an army.

Problem is, when I went to attack with this army, I got a message saying "Only combat units can attack."

Wha?

I thought an army was a combat unit...

So, it appears I have an "army" with no attack capability, no defense, and one movement per turn... How is this useful?

And, how is it an army?

And, how can I make an army in the future that will actually be able to fight, and not just carry a flag around like a bunch of football supporters?

I still managed to destroy the Spanish, but if I'd known I was going to waste my leader, I would have used him to rush production of something.

Thanks for your help!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Hmm, are you sure you actually loaded the cavalry into the army?

You have to load each individual unit into the army by pressing 'L'.

Otherwise, I'm flummoxed.

 

[thetrooper]

When you use a military great leader (MGL) to build an army you see the new unit in the city you built it. This unit has no combat value. Once you fill the army/load units (e.g. Ancient Cavalry) into the army unit it will have a combat value. My guess is that you didn't load units into the army.

Edit: c-monkey beat me.

Flummox - that's a new word for me

 

[lcorinth]

Oooookaaaay... So, you build the army first, and then you "load" units into it?

See, I'm so new at this, I can never figure this stuff out. I thought you put the units into a city, and then you build the army, and they come together automatically.

So, I can still load units into this army, correct? And they have to be the same kind of units? Do they have to be the same experience level (i.e. Veteran or Elite)?

Thanks again.

 

[thetrooper]

Oooookaaaay... So, you build the army first, and then you "load" units into it?

Exactly!

So, I can still load units into this army, correct? And they have to be the same kind of units? Do they have to be the same experience level (i.e. Veteran or Elite)?

If that army is still alive - yes you can put units into it. You can mix any kind of units into the army, but I prefer fast attack units (ancient cav/knights/cavalry). Reg/vet/elite doesn't matter.

Oh and I see a small number in your postcount:

Welcome to CFC lcorinth!

 

[lcorinth]

Yes, this is post #3 for me. Thanks for the welcome.

The army's alive and kicking. But there's no one left on my continent to fight. I wiped out the French hundreds of years ago, and now the Spanish. So, I'll have to load these guys onto a ship and send them off somewhere, if I plan on using them again.

Thing is, I was thinking about becoming peaceful, now that I have the whole continent to myself. Actually, two continents, plus two nice little islands. I discovered an uninhabited continent a few hundred years ago, and have been meaning to settle it, and, you know, develop economically and culturally... Still, I might be able to use that army at some point.

Can I hold onto it until I have more technologically advanced units to load into it? Or, will it remain of its age, a medieval army forever?

And, to pester you all further with more, unrelated questions, is there any point to disbanding military units? What happens when they're way out of date, and you can't upgrade them?

 

[thetrooper]

Army: if you haven't loaded any units into the army, you can save it for better units. It will not remain of its age.

Disbanding: disband in a city for shields. If you disband them outside a city you won't get the shields. You get 25% of the initial shield cost IIRC. This is a nice strategy for reducing the cost of courthouses and marketplaces and such...

 

[Rik Meleet]

Can I hold onto it until I have more technologically advanced units to load into it? Or, will it remain of its age, a medieval army forever? -> If your army is still empty and you don't need to use it; leave it empty. When new wars start; load your best units in them.

And, to pester you all further with more, unrelated questions, is there any point to disbanding military units? What happens when they're way out of date, and you can't upgrade them? -> Disbanding obsolete military units costs about 1 gold per turn per unit less (depending on total amount of your units / free unit support / type of Government and some other things). Gold that could be seen as wasted.

 

[Theoden]

For your army-related question you might find everything you need to know about armies here

For your second question:
If they are obselete and cannot be upgraded and you are paying support for them under your government, you would better disband them unless you want to use them for:
- a glorious assault on an enemy city, ensuring either the death of an enemy or the death of a unit that costs you
- military police to kepp citizens happy under non-capitalistic governments

edit: crosspost

 

[lcorinth]

Keep citizens happy! Ha ha!

"We love the great leader! Life has never been better! All hail the great leader! (Nervous sycophantic laugh)"

 

[fe3333au]

Hi lcorinth and welcome to CFC

One thing about an army is that if you want to transport in a ship the army will require Number of Units + 1 space available in the ship ...

So in your current game ... I would transport the 'empty' army and fill it on the shores of another continent where you think battles will occur ...

Also the units in an Army can never be upgraded ...

Regarding the disbanding of units ... I have disbanded units that have been produced by wonders and non-upgradable units ... I have always disbanded them in a city so the shields assist city production

Regards