how to make and use the best military possible?

[Toshiro126]

A multi-part question. Feel free to answer all or some:

what are people's strategies for building their armies? lately I have been checking the (rankings? is that right?) page that shows how your civ ranks against other civs. I normally play on monarch/epic/continents default number of civs. I am almost always last in military size. so my questions (finally!)...

1) do most people have one (or more) cities to JUST pump out soldiers constantly? or do they have all the cities share some of the burden?

2) do you have to be first or second in number of soldiers to crush a lot of opponents, or is possible to have the fourth or fifth largest military and still do a good job of crushing your enemies?

3) what about size of navies? do you build ships to try and stop the enemy from landing in the first place? or do you allow them to land so you can blow them all away and gain the experience points for your units?

Curious to know what people's opinions are!

 

[Moonsinger]

what are people's strategies for building their armies? lately I have been checking the (rankings? is that right?) page that shows how your civ ranks against other civs. I normally play on monarch/epic/continents default number of civs. I am almost always last in military size. so my questions (finally!)...

I rarely check the rankings. I have always been last in military size too...so there is really no point in checking. I normally play on deity/marathon according to the HOF rules.

1) do most people have one (or more) cities to JUST pump out soldiers constantly? or do they have all the cities share some of the burden?

I have a couple cities with barracks to constantly produce front-line troops. The rest of my cities share the burden of producing policemen to keep my people happy.

2) do you have to be first or second in number of soldiers to crush a lot of opponents, or is possible to have the fourth or fifth largest military and still do a good job of crushing your enemies?

Yes, it's possible.

3) what about size of navies? do you build ships to try and stop the enemy from landing in the first place? or do you allow them to land so you can blow them all away and gain the experience points for your units?

Usually, there are a couple of transport ships in my entire navies.

 

[Pantastic]

One city pumping out soldiers will get you an OK military, but for later wars it won't be enough. I like to get several production cities, plus some commerce cities with decent hammers (usually lots of cottaged grass and some mined hills) so that I can produce a ton of units when needed. The main problem with one city pumping out units is that you're either producing units with just one promotion or you're wasting most of the effects of vassalage or theocracy. Also, one city can't quite only produce solidiers, it will need some time for things like the heroic epic, west point, factory, plus health and happiness buildings.

Generally by the time I'm first in number of soldiers, I'm so far ahead in game that I will probably be starting a new one soon. The AI generally has higher number of soldiers than me because he keeps half a dozen or more units in every city, while my cities range from 1 in safe areas to 3 on scary borders. What you need is enough troops to hold off the horde of guys they'll send against you at the start, that doesn't need to be a huge number by the power chart.
In my latest game, I was about 4th or 5th in military strength, ended up at war with 4 civs at once, and after years of fighting had a number of veteran units and 2 additional cites.

I usually make a navy big enough to protect my fishing boats, the problem with stopping landings is that you need a ton of ships patrolling all around. I usually play Pangaea, Terra, or Lakes maps, though, where navies aren't all that key.

 

[Moonsinger]

I usually make a navy big enough to protect my fishing boats, the problem with stopping landings is that you need a ton of ships patrolling all around. I usually play Pangaea, Terra, or Lakes maps, though, where navies aren't all that key.

I usually play Pangaea too. I used to have a lot of navies to protect my seafoods, but I realized it's cheaper to rebuild fishing boat than those lousy galleys. With the best of luck, those galleys have about 30% chance of sinking an enemy ship of the same type which mean I need at least three ships against each enemy ship. That's way too expensive.

 

[Toshiro126]

Originally posted by Moonsinger:
With the best of luck, those galleys have about 30% chance of sinking an enemy ship of the same type which mean I need at least three ships against each enemy ship. That's way too expensive.

That was one of the reason I asked that question. It seems like ships of equal types, the defender usually has the advantage, unless the attacker has two or three promotions. I have the worst luck with naval battles. I'm like the George Custer of the high seas!!

 

[Pantastic]

Nah moonsinger, the trick with Galleys is that they only can crawl along the coast, so what you do is stick 2-3 of yours in a coastal square where they can't go around (or on a food resource) and let them attack you where you get the +10%. I often just wait for caravels though, a pair of caravels will rip galleys to shreds and you can ignore enemy caravels since they can't pillage.

 

[Toshiro126]

Caravels can't pillage huh? Guess I should have read the manual a little more...

 

[Moonsinger]

Nah moonsinger, the trick with Galleys is that they only can crawl along the coast, so what you do is stick 2-3 of yours in a coastal square where they can't go around (or on a food resource) and let them attack you where you get the +10%. I often just wait for caravels though, a pair of caravels will rip galleys to shreds and you can ignore enemy caravels since they can't pillage.

For some reasons, when they attack me, they often win too. Like Toshiro126, I have had the worst luck with naval battles.

 

[Toshiro126]

I do manage to win those battleship vs caravel battles though...

 

[Neonanocyborgasm]

A multi-part question. Feel free to answer all or some:

what are people's strategies for building their armies? lately I have been checking the (rankings? is that right?) page that shows how your civ ranks against other civs. I normally play on monarch/epic/continents default number of civs. I am almost always last in military size. so my questions (finally!)...

1) do most people have one (or more) cities to JUST pump out soldiers constantly? or do they have all the cities share some of the burden?

2) do you have to be first or second in number of soldiers to crush a lot of opponents, or is possible to have the fourth or fifth largest military and still do a good job of crushing your enemies?

3) what about size of navies? do you build ships to try and stop the enemy from landing in the first place? or do you allow them to land so you can blow them all away and gain the experience points for your units?

Curious to know what people's opinions are!

I have tended to follow the advice of the civ4 experts and dedicate some cities to units, others to gp, commerce, etc. However, in times of war, I may convert every city to build units, especially when I'm desperate. There's no way to count how big militaries are. The military advisor in C4 doesn't tell you, like in C3, your strength against your enemies'. If you want to find out, send out scouts/explorers/spies. The graph screen doesn't help you. Most of the "power" is based on cities that are controlled, not military units.

I try to build navies to intercept my enemies, especially if I have a lot of coastline. If you let them land before destroying them, you're forced to constantly chase them on your own turf, which is a drag.