How many units do you send to battle?

[VinManAgent11]

How many units do you send to battle during a war? Just enough or do you send little groups of troops over time? It doesn't have to be these two though, post whatever you want.

 

[dojoboy]

Generally, I try to have several stacks of 6 - 10 units for offensives against several enemy cities. I the late game, this number doubles, plus artillery & bombers are involved. I never send in a huge stack, not smart, especially in MP. One nuke would =

 

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by dojoboy
Generally, I try to have several stacks of 6 - 10 units for offensives against several enemy cities. I the late game, this number doubles, plus artillery & bombers are involved. I never send in a huge stack, not smart, especially in MP. One nuke would =

Of course, nukes only apply to the Modern Age. Meanwhile, a large stack is essential. Never piecemeal your attacks. Once you have initiated an attack, you must destroy the target. Otherwise, the defenders will be promoted, heal and be reinforced.

The actual number depend on the size of the enemy and the Age of the conflict. In the Early Ancient Age, usually 5-10; in the Ancient Age, 10-15; in the Middle Ages, 15-30; in the Industrial Age, 30-100; in the Modern Age, 100-200. Against a nuclear opponent, the numbers are about the same, only the tactics differ.

 

[warpstorm]

It depends.

It depends on a lot of factors. What era am I in? Why did I get into this war? How determined will they be on defense? What government form am I in? What conditions would it take for me to make peace? Am I under contract for 20 more turns? Etc.

In general, I don't like committing to a battle with less than 3 times the "fair fight" number of troops. I don't want a fair fight, I want a fight I'm likely to win. This means that I'm not going to attack in ones and twos, but rather in Stacks-O-Doom. Usually multiple stacks to pull the enemy into multiple directions.

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

Zach sums it up pretty good. I do not believe i piecemeal reinforcement either, btw. Group them so that each group can do serious damage!

 

[WillJ]

As others have said, bringing in little groups of troups over time is usually quite stupid. How many troops I send in depends on lots of things, mostly on what I can afford and what my target is (the larger the target, the more troops needed). And I usually like to be sure of winning beyond a reasonable doubt. I don't like calculating what # is "just enough" troops; I like sending in lots at a time so as to be fairly sure that I will get my target. I usually try to first deny my opponent of any important resources and hold on to that resource, then send in some troops to a small target (away from the real target) and let the AI do its counter-attack, and then send in my main force into the real target, for example a big city with lots of wonders. And also have enough troops ready to attack everything else in just a short series of turns so that the enemy won't be able to recover too soon; if I attack little bits at a time I probably won't get anywhere for awhile.

I guess my rule of thumb is to calculate how many troops are neccesary to be equal in strength (defense bonuses included) to the enemy's target (city, etc.), and then send in about twice as many troops as that, or more.

 

[flash9286]

just a huge attack forces made up of tanks and armys use armys to take out the top defenders and spare tanks to take out lower ones and then ship infantery in to gurad citys that way the war machine never stops or slow

 

[gugalpm]

In modern ages I don't group units... With railroads everywhere, why am I going to do this?
In other ages, I group like 6-7 or 15-18, in each enemy city

 

[Evincar]

Well, I tend to bring large groups of troops, so that the stack can't be easily defeated. But I also like to send some smaller groups once they've run out of offensive units. Those "commandos" can have functions such as pillaging a key tile, starving enemy cities, etc...

 

[VinManAgent11]

Originally posted by Zachriel


Of course, nukes only apply to the Modern Age. Meanwhile, a large stack is essential. Never piecemeal your attacks. Once you have initiated an attack, you must destroy the target. Otherwise, the defenders will be promoted, heal and be reinforced.

The actual number depend on the size of the enemy and the Age of the conflict. In the Early Ancient Age, usually 5-10; in the Ancient Age, 10-15; in the Middle Ages, 15-30; in the Industrial Age, 30-100; in the Modern Age, 100-200. Against a nuclear opponent, the numbers are about the same, only the tactics differ.

Jesus! 100-200? Do you how much you lose (gold) on military each turn?

 

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by VinManAgent11


Jesus! 100-200? Do you how much you lose (gold) on military each turn?

This is pretty typical for anytime after the Industrial Age kicks in. The core of your civilization needs to be productive and profitable in order to support large armies.

http://www.zachriel.com/gotm8/ad1834-Reports.htm

France, has a similar sized army -- but no Modern Armor. Germany is mobilized for war and is rushing the production of Stealth Bombers.

 

[Zachriel]

Here's the Domestic Advisor for the same year, 1834AD. Unit costs are 247gpt, but income is 682gpt -- plenty of room to grow the military still.

 

[Syiss]

Late modern age with large enemys I try to have at least 10 MA's to a city, unless the civ I'm attacking is far behind in tech and only has infantry still, then only 6-8. I like to either destroy the civ in a couple turns, or have destroyed enough of them by the time they will talk to me that they will give me anything I want and more for peace.

 

[thoxic]

First of all,when I am at war I always use war-time economy.
I take 3 or 4 armies with 15 boats(frigate/ironclad/battleships)
and 6 bombers.I had 1 settler and 3 workers for roads and
railroads.For the first or the second turns of war I am just concerned by the enemy offensive units.Once its first waves
pushed back I can attack several metropolis in the same turn.
It prohibits the Ai from counterattacking.Once its offensive
armies destroyed,the AI strategy is DEFENSE for some turns.
If you are not trying to eliminate your enemy definitively
then after signing peace treaty Ai will try to take back its cities.
There can be no peace until disapearance of its civilization.
So one word:ELIMINATION!!!

I'm producing veterans units until war is not finished.And
when I've finished there is still an opponent to punish
At the end of the game my military cost is HUGE !!!
not far from 3000 credits-a-turn.

--------------- A good AI is a dead AI -----------------------

 

[Tassadar]

My prefered invasion force is;

1.- 4 carrier full of bomber

2.- 2 carrier full of jet fighter

3.- 3 transport full of panzer + sometimes 1-2 full of marines

4.- 3 other transport for constant panzer supply.

And my recipe; bombard like hell and walkthrough with panzer. I dont care about defender because compare to panzer they move way too slow ( 3 move for panzer and1 for defender. )

 

[thoxic]

Hop I made a mistake
My military costs is only 1500<=>1700
Too much corruption when too much towns

 

[Park Ranger]

How many units?

If defending, everything I can spare.

Offensively: well, numbers depend on what's available, the tech level of my opponent, the cultural strength of my opponent (need extra units to suppress flips), and whether my target is terrain, one city, or a bunch of cities. To take a city I use approx twice number of defenders for similar offensive units, at least two defensive units, and after metallurgy, about 1-2 bombard unit for each defender.

I stack units regarless, but on offensive 1 big stack, maybe 2, on defense several stacks of mixed units, so AI's invaders get worn down by bombard/horse when they try to move past. This needs a lot of defenders, at least 2 per stack and stick to hills/mountains. Never let arty get captured.

 

[joycem10]

the number of units you send out also depends upon map size, obviously a lerger map will enable you and your oponents to field larger armies.

 

[billindenver]

Originally posted by Zachriel


Of course, nukes only apply to the Modern Age. Meanwhile, a large stack is essential. Never piecemeal your attacks. Once you have initiated an attack, you must destroy the target. Otherwise, the defenders will be promoted, heal and be reinforced.

The actual number depend on the size of the enemy and the Age of the conflict. In the Early Ancient Age, usually 5-10; in the Ancient Age, 10-15; in the Middle Ages, 15-30; in the Industrial Age, 30-100; in the Modern Age, 100-200. Against a nuclear opponent, the numbers are about the same, only the tactics differ.

I agree with Zachriel, but I don't always follow his advice because I get in a hurry. It never fails that if I attack with small groups, I get screwed, but I don't always remember that. Like he said, too few units and all you do is promote the defensive units and make your life harder.

Numbers depends on what you've got though. If attacking spearmen in size 6 cities with horsemen, you definitely want more than 5. In the same situation but attacking with knights or swordsmen, you can probably get by with 5.

If you a planning a war (I mean, it isn't thrust upon you by the AI), I'd definitely wait til you can attack with a LARGE stack - at least 10 units in Ancient, and more in later ages.

 

[SirJethro]

Also, never forget: Just as important as the stacks of military are the STACKS OF WORKERS! Connect those roads, lay down rail. And do it on the very same turn that you gain the ground. That way, you can more quickly move injured units back and healed units to the front.

Don't let yourself get strung out too far beyond your supply line. The reason that Hitler and Napoleon are not leaderheads in Civ3 is that they made that mistake.