I wish I could build marshes instead of draining them

[pi-r8]

Marshes are the best natural defense tile in the game. They're stronger than a fort on a hill, maybe even stronger than a citadel. You just need a seige unit to put behind the marsh. Evemy units are forced to stop on the marsh because it's rough terrain, however they still get the open terrain penalty there. And the seige unit can still hit things behind the marsh, not getting blocked by it the way they get blocked by forests or hills.

In my current game I have a city positioned behind a marsh, with mountains and the coast blocking off any other way of approach. This city is completely invincible to enemy attack! I wish I could put a marsh like that in front of every city.

 

[belengthy]

Never thought of them like that, but you're absolutely right. I'm going to have to think twice when I'm about to drain them. Luckily you can stick a TP on them without having to do that.

 

[r_rolo1]

I think you just described the reason why we can't build marshes

 

[Ahriman]

Seems accurate; invading through marshlands is a pretty foolish thing to do.

The game is specifically designed so that terrain matters more. One of the single best design decisions they made was to force units to stop moving after crossing a river without a bridge. That massively improves rivers as a natural barrier.

 

[Bibor]

Marshes are the best natural defense tile in the game. They're stronger than a fort on a hill, maybe even stronger than a citadel. You just need a seige unit to put behind the marsh. Evemy units are forced to stop on the marsh because it's rough terrain, however they still get the open terrain penalty there. And the seige unit can still hit things behind the marsh, not getting blocked by it the way they get blocked by forests or hills.

In my current game I have a city positioned behind a marsh, with mountains and the coast blocking off any other way of approach. This city is completely invincible to enemy attack! I wish I could put a marsh like that in front of every city.

Just beware of grasslands that lurk in marshland blocks (overlapping hex textures makes them harder to see), or your artillery units will get PTSP from watching "it came from the marsh".

 

[Ahriman]

Just beware of grasslands that lurk in marshland blocks (overlapping hex textures makes them harder to see), or your artillery units will get PTSP from watching "it came from the marsh".

Yeah, I've had that happen.... ;-)

 

[Uranus Reamerz]

So what you've really discribed is Marsh = Moat more or less

 

[Bibor]

So what you've really discribed is Marsh = Moat more or less

Yes. Moarsh. >.<

 

[Tyrael]

Terrain matters a bit too much. Between a bonus on hills and a penalty on flatlands (no neutral terrain which is confusing) you can have a huge strength disparity. Also, if two equal armies are on opposite sides of a river on flatland, the attacker is favored. I can't support any system that allows that to happen. I'm not sure why a charging army is at an advantage when both are on flatlands without a river involved either. Shouldn't the odds be even or favoring the defender a bit?

 

[Slowpoke]

I wish I could SEE marshes -.- I swear I can barely tell the diff between them and grasslands.

 

[alpaca]

Seems accurate; invading through marshlands is a pretty foolish thing to do.

The game is specifically designed so that terrain matters more. One of the single best design decisions they made was to force units to stop moving after crossing a river without a bridge. That massively improves rivers as a natural barrier.

This. I've been able to hold off vastly superior AIs until they got gunships by putting artillery (and some lancers) behind a nice river and simply wrecking any unit that set its food on my side of it. I use it a lot to drain AI armies before attacking them for real.

 

[bryanw1995]

I wish I could SEE marshes -.- I swear I can barely tell the diff between them and grasslands.

turn all details to high and you can see them just fine

 

[QuixotesGhost]

One of my favorite moments in Civ 5 came when I was trying to rush English Longbowmen with my French Knights across marshes. It turned out just like the Battle of Agincourt.

 

[ShaqFu]

Luckily you can stick a TP on them without having to do that.

"When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a trading post on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, Lad, the most productive trading post in all of England."

(Sorry, couldn't resist)

 

[dexters]

One thing they can vastly improve is to show terrain def bonuses and penalties on the mouse over, instead of just showing yields.

 

[civnoob13]

One thing they can vastly improve is to show terrain def bonuses and penalties on the mouse over, instead of just showing yields.

i love that idea. So simple.