How much do you use forts?

[The Last Conformist]

My perhaps best use of a fortress was on an Iron Mountain tile just within my border. I was at war with way too many AI's during the Ancient Age in that game, and they all loved to throw troops at the couple of Elite Numidians fortified in the fortress atop that mountain. Best of all, the Numidians survived till the neighbouring AI turf was finally annexed.

 

[Affirmative]

I rarely use them. Like others said, they take way too much time to build, and aren't usefull for the constant warfare most experience. However, I have used them to protect choke points, and occasionally to protect an odd resource.

 

[LordKestrel]

I generally build a few throughout the Middle Ages on key resources, and then once I've industrialized and railroaded my land, I wall it off with forts. You'd be amazed how few times you get attacked when every border square has Infantry in a fort.

 

[Xerol]

I'll usually build them whenever I run out of things for my workers to do, and they really help boost the power of slightly obsolete defensive units(rifles before rubber is found, for example) to be effective as a good defense. I'll usually also surround my capital and other important cities with 8 defensive units and fortifications.

 

[JonathanValjean]

I have used a fortress only one time in my approximately 60 games played.

 

[Hygro]

I played a game where they were essential as my military consisted of 3 musketmen, 14 swiss mercenaries, and 6 knights while I had about 30 cities, no railroads, and war at two very far away fronts. Man that game was FUN!

 

[Pongui]

I'm currently playing at the nexus of a pangea full of shameless treachors. I think they've all lost rep so bad with each other they just don't care about breaking treaties. They've been wasting each other non-stop, variously, via my railroads. But when these scoundrels started dashing armies through my core, I grew nervous and built forts along the hard points of the border, workers filling in the soft gaps. About ten-twenty turns later, the wars subsided, and the sneak attacks on me began.

Maybe better to defend the cities only, and let others fight across one's empire.