how the #$#@ do you build an army??

verbrilli

Chieftain
Joined
Feb 25, 2002
Messages
4
first post.

i can't for the life of me figure out how to build an army with a leader. yes, i do have the leader. the manual doesn't explain how to add or take away units from the army. it says something about being in a city but when i activate the leader in the city and press (B)uild army there is nothing in the army. does there have to be a barracks? does it cost a number of shields? i'm looking specifically for the keyboard commands i guess, and this mysterious "adding and subtracting units from the army" info.
 
Well if you put a unit over the same spot where the army guy is, then you can load your unit on.
 
hmmm. i'm sure i tried that. does it immediately prompt you or something? i'm still working on the original patch from the orig. cd. should i upgrade the patch. it shouldn't make a diff.

take for instance though, that i've got all my units in a city. if i activate the leader there and build an army, shouldn't something happen? i've done this several times and nothing happens. the army is just the leader with 0 attack and 0 defense. i can see no option for adding or subtracting units...


still confused:(
 
No, it doesn't prompt you. Once you have your army in a city, move three units (I recommend like units) into the city. On each one's move click the load icon at the bottom center of your screen.
 
You get to pick what units go in your army. It's just like loading a ship. You can press "L" or click the load button while the unit you want in the army is active in the same square as the army. You can put 3 in an army until you build the Pentagon, then you can put in 4.

Note that armies move only as fast as the slowest unit, and they gain no special abilities other than they can now blitz under 1.17. Armies simply allow units to attack and defend together. Further, fast units can lose the ability to retreat, if it comes down to the last unit in your army.
 
thanks. missed the "L" command as it's listed alphabetically under "U" in the key commands. anyways that's great. i want to go kick butt in New York.

But armies aren't always advantageous for say a group of horsemen?

would a leader be better spent hurrying a project you think?
:)
 
Er, I forgot a biggie: you can't take units out of an army. You're not supposed to, anyway. Horsemen upgrade all the way to cav. Personally, I'd recommend throwing swordsmen in an ancient army.

The rush wonder vs. build army is an old one. IMO, if you like to have wars, built an army with your first leader and make sure it wins a battle in order to get the Heroic Epic small wonder. That increases your chances of getting more leaders, which is worth it to me even if you don't really like armies. However, sometimes you have the chance at a really nice wonder such as Pyramids and Great Library... Sistine Chapel is a favorite of mine, too, and worth maybe even saving a leader for. Generally you want to use leaders as soon as you can, because having them hang around makes it impossible to get another (or, according to some, drastically reduces the chances of another). A common strategy is using your first leader to rush a Forbidden Palace.
 
is it possible to upgrade units within an army? if yes, how do you do it?

If its not, then would do you do with for example a swordsmen army when you move up in time?
 
Heh, these things seem so easy to explain, but I leave so much out.

No, you can't upgrade units in an army. Swordsmen don't upgrade under standard rules anyway, which makes them prime army units. Disbanding armies gets you 100 shields, so that pretty much finishes most improvements up until the industrial period. Armies only cost as much to maintain as a single unit, so those obsolete armies are a cost effective way to squelch resisters or act as police.
 
One more thing!

It's a bug, but there is a way to remove units from your army under 1.17. Stack the army with the same sort of unit that you want to remove. Press "j" for stack movement and move the units away.

Example: You have an army with 4 tanks in it. You move it to a stack of tanks and right click and activate a tank. Press j and move the tanks away. The army is now empty. Note that moving the empty army around may cause a crash.

And another thing!

After building the Pentagon, you can add another unit to old armies.
 
Actually, an army counts as a unit in its own right... so a fully loaded army costs 4 or 5 gold support, depending on if you have the Pentagon or not.
 
Handy to know that disbanding an army get's ya 100 shields, thankx for the info.( 2 for forbidden palace) after the military academy ofcourse:goodjob: :nuke: :goodjob:
 
You can't hurry small wonders.

And Beam is most likely right on the support issue, I should double check better.
 
Do you guys realize that you may have missed the simplist thing being that they didn't have enough cities
 
no, i had many more than 4 cities, but that's a good point. sometimes it's the simplest things. for me, being relatively new to the game, i wasn't in the habit of looking at the little icons down in the center of the screen. However in my defense, the manual never ties the "L"oad function to armies in a clear way. it talks about ships being loadable, but never armies. a bit of an oversight, but with a game this complex there's bound to be a few.

anyways, having formed the army of swordsmen as recommended i'm extremely happy as they are kicking a$$. i find the army to be a real powerful tool for conquest. particularly i guess given the attack value of swordsmen. thanks for the help.

:king: :love:
 
Top Bottom