Ironclads are useless !!!!!!

[anton_z1]

I believe ironclad is a completly useless thing. First of all, the only reason to research steel is to get railroads. When you get railroads it is only one tech away to get destroyers. Thus the question is why are ironclads even there. They were as useless in Civ V as they were in Civ III.

If anyone have a decent strategy for using them i would be glad to hear it.

 

[Chopperhead]

I only ever built 2 of them but then they cant even leave your territory so i stopped building them. IMO they are indeed useless in Civ4.

 

[Wlauzon]

I have played probably 50 games up to the point where I could build them, and so far have never bothered to build a single one.

A wasted unit, IMO.

 

[Dagoth Ur]

They look really cool though.

They're probably the most realistic unit in the game, since early iron ships were very poor at navigating open seas. The American Monitor (first iron ship) was lost in a storm.

 

[Viperace]

Do u guys feel that Ironclad is getting worse and worse from civ1 till civ4 ?

I remember that in Civ1, the AI Ironclad came to my coastal city and wreak havoc .Kill my spearman , no more units in city, city goes unhappy, revolt....
One ironclad caused three of my coastal city to go revolt

 

[PointlessAmbler]

Ironclads were kind of clunky and unreliable in real life, anyway.

...Not that making them like that is a good game design decision.

 

[damxam]

Destroyers need Oil to produce, Ironclads don't. I've had games where I had no access to oil, and I had to fight Destroyers with Ironclads. It's as painful as it sounds, but it's better than what happened initially when all I had was frigates.
So in this one case, I suppose I was happy to have Ironclads even if it was a lose or lose more kind of situation.

 

[Nemovadit]

Since there is an American civil war scenario in Civ IV this is probably one of the main reasons for the ironclad's existence... Damxam gave another, they can be of use, to some extend, when you don't have oil, or as interim (should we say placeholder?) naval units.

 

[QiZhe]

Well, one advantage of Ironclads in real life were that they were early tanks on water that could navigate up rivers. I don't think Destroyers usually sail up the Mississippi. Of course, that isn't really reflected in Civ.

 

[Meglomania]

Havn't built one yet myself either. I think the problem is that the Industrial age military units just go by way too fast, its the same for riflemen and cannons, no point in building / upgrading units to them when destroyers, artillery and infantry are just one tech away. Good point about not needing oil, but given that the tech that reveals oil tends to come before you can harvest the resource it gives some time to secure a deposit before you can use it, and making Ironclads in that timeframe only to have to spend to upgrade them seems very ineffective.

 

[Joh]

well they were mostly used in the American civil war to guard rivers weren't they? nation vs nation battles were still done by ships that could actually go into oceans, and the iron clads were mostly just the first building blocks for the modern day destroyers. So I think the game has them in a good position.

 

[Dragonlord]

Useless as stated - haven't built a single one yet!

Their worst feature is that they can only be used on the coast/in your territory, so the enemy can dictate the terms of the battle... junk!

Come to think of it, there could be one use for them, though: use them as picket boats on your water resources, so the enemy has to take them out before razing your fishing nets...

 

[VoxDei]

Destroyers need Oil to produce,

Or Uranium. In my current game all my oil is offshore and near AIs, and I don't have time to build unnecessary work boats when the AI is likely to pillage it anyway. Got Uranium very quickly after oil though, and my Uranium supplies are nice and safe in the middle of my territory. So while I'm not actually using any of the oil I've theoretically got access to, I've still got Destroyers.

And yes... I built a couple of Ironclads in this game before I realised they were slow, weak, unable to cross oceans and just before Destroyers. Won't happen again unless I really do have no other choice.

 

[walkerjks]

In real life, these were invented specifically for the American Civil War. They were ideal for coastal operations and had a nasty tendency to sink everywhere else. By the late 20th century, these were obselete for all purposes. Seems like the game got it pretty much right.

Along with the oil issue, they potentially act as a stopgap defense if you do not research directly from ironclad to destoyer, but instead get other techs between those two.

 

[mjsbx]

If you're technologically ahead of a civ you're at war with, they are good at keeping out invasions and reinforcements that come on galleons. otherwise........kinda silly.

 

[Brutus2]

One thing to remember is that Ironclads can be upgraded to destroyers but dont take as long to build and they keep their promotions.

If you are playing a Financial civ or have fair amount of income, you can start building Ironclads when you get Steel. Remember, to build destroyers I think you will actually need two different techs before you can build Destroyers, (one to reveal oil on the map, and another to build a well on the oil). So in the time it takes you to discovery the techs you need and get the oil wells hooked up you can have a few ironclads built (with promotions from barracks, aggressive, vassalage, theocracy), then as soon as the oil is hooked up you upgrade a few and have instant destroyers with no long build time.

In my current game, I am going for a conquest victory. All civs are on the same continent so I had not built any navy. I'm at war with Spain and my Cossaks are destroying her Conquistadors but then she starts sending over Caravels and Galleys to destroy my fishing boats. All my costal cities are now in starvation and I have no way to stop her. So, I have no choice but to roll out a couple Ironclads. Wooden ships are no match for Ironclads in battle and I win every fight and get some promotions. However the AI was smart at being able to use the higher movement points of her ships to out run my Ironclads or escape to sea when possible but I just placed my Ironclads on every sea resource and set them to sentry to guard the fishing boats. Problem solved. So at the very least Ironclads are good for guarding your sea resources.

Then as soon as my oil is hooked up I start upgrading them and now I have instant destroyers with promotions.

 

[incubuspawn]

I believe ironclad is a completly useless thing. First of all, the only reason to research steel is to get railroads. When you get railroads it is only one tech away to get destroyers. Thus the question is why are ironclads even there. They were as useless in Civ V as they were in Civ III.

If anyone have a decent strategy for using them i would be glad to hear it.

Ironclads rock. My only regret is paying thre cancer bills of the crew. Untill you can make a battleship every few turns, or a destroyer in same amount of turns as an ironclad... then your navy is sufferig if you do not spam out the IC. 20 turns to build 1 battle ship, 5 turns for 1 IC. guess what I am makeing till the Battleship can be made in less than 10 turns? Of coarse that may be more true in Civ3 than 4 . BUt I seriously doubt they are useless. IN fact If an IC has more difficulty against a destroyer this time around ......good.

 

[Pinstar]

Can Ironclads bombard? If so, how much % do the knock off each turn?

 

[Vizzini]

Untill you can make a battleship every few turns, or a destroyer in same amount of turns as an ironclad... then your navy is sufferig if you do not spam out the IC. 20 turns to build 1 battle ship, 5 turns for 1 IC.

If I can't punch out a Battleship or Carrier every 5 turns from the moment I get the tech for them, or a Destroyer in 3 turns, then I have seriously, seriously screwed up that city development somewhere in the past.

 

[Chopperhead]

I dont think they can bombard as they cant leave your territory