Maginot Lines

[funxus]

About charging settlers/engineers:
You can only charge one enigneer per square at the same time, otherwise only one of them will store the work made by both.

(except something that takes as long as the original job...)

It is possible to do it even then, if you activate the unit before it is his turn.

 

[ElephantU]

Too much "micro-timing" involved; set him to work Transforming a Mountain (nothing else takes that long) and wake him after desired number of turns. A Work Chart is helpful too...

 

[Boli]

OK my thoughts... I do like the many of the ideas expressed here and have indeed used many of the variants myself but it all depends on the terrain.

I use a defensive screening wall to contain the enemy civs until my settlers catch up, all those horsemen/chariots and archers fortified in forest are a perfect screening tactic to harass the enemy civ and keep them from expanding by killing of all their settlers. Pulling back to recharge and gaining vet. Status.

This is a risky manoeuvre because I will start to loose out as they become more advanced and I’m still on the hut popped units so I choose the place and fall back to a more defensible location and fortify permanently. Unless I have enough resources to wipe the enemy out completely I have to bite the bullet and make a stand with staggered fortified units replaces by small cities (called FORT xxxx) and that stands as a reminder to me that they build walls and units and such.

This line is a fluid affair and I will gladly shift it forwards by a few cities slowly engulfing the enemy civ. With luck you have forced them into a corner and they will be easy pickings. And I’m not even a conquest civ I prefer the spaceship approach but my territories I NEVER stops expanding. At least one of my cities AT ALL TIMES builds settlers/engineers/boats to “spread the word”

I have built the full line though and tend to do more often when I'm well ahead in tech and got democracy; then you'll need fortresses if you want to fortify your units away from your cities it helps with the unhappiness. This sort of line though is more a something that happens whiles I rush buys factories and wonders before I start to build the “grand Invasion fleet”.

All the time my borders are always well defended with a wall of units - just in different ways of securing. A Maginot line will fail eventually because it is too slow to react though I have built the 3 vet. Mechs + spy + two vet howitzers + one tank in fortresses built up so they are all on hills (engineered ground) on a 20 square border and even behind that was three air bases with a squadron of five vet stealth fighters in each. And you know what happened? They landed in ships at the other side!

Now my Maginot lines are more fluid and always changing. If you see a chance take it! Vet Fighters stationed in “border towns” now remain my primary form of defense.

~ Boli

 

[BKA]

-Off topic-

Ahh Boli, this info is going to secure me a high position in the Polit Bureau.

 

[rponton]

For my defensive lines I use all spies. The are cheaply made, draw no support, and never make unhappy citizens. Also the can see further than normal units. The other nice thing is that after you build a good bank roll, you can quickly open the whole line send 20+ spies into another civ and buy the whole thing up in a few turns. Such fun!

 

[mardukes]

ahhh...so you actually sacrifice turns of work for the immediate build! I thought it was an exact timing thing and never felt like figuring out how many turns each process takes.

 

[harperbruce]

Originally posted by Hawkster
I like blocking choke points (ie narrow points) rather than whole borders especially early in the game to prevent AI from settling land I want - spies are no problem esp if you fortify spies in your cities - any enemy attempt using a spy is likely to get caught. Don't forget having lots of units fortified on your borders costs!

Yeah; and add onto that the problem with unrest caused by distant troops during Democracy governments. They can be garrisoned no further than three squares from their home city...1 square beyond the city boundaries.

OTOH, garrisons come in very handy during a defensive war...provided you can build enough manpower to fill the fortresses and keep them filled. That would require a few cities near enough to the front line city to churn out units, and a transport network to get them there fast.

Overall, the chokepoint method you use is probably the best, along with a reasonable defensive level in coastal cities to deal with landings from abroad. Build the city on the far side of the chokepoint, and you can serve as an early warning system of intent. Build on the near side, and you should make sure to put the chokepoint inside your city boundaries, so that you could post standing garrisons there without taking a happiness hit.

 

[harperbruce]

Originally posted by The Mass Leader
But most usually, I just leave the monarchy when i discover communism. The royal shield remains there until the industrial age, when it is replaced by the red flag with a sickle and hammer.

I keep communism until my techonology starts to enter the Future tech s. Then, I just change for Fundamentalism.

If a Republic is a bit rare, can you imagine a democracy? I do not remember even once in the lifetime choosing Democracy.

Do you play a purely military game or Bloodlust, or go for spaceships and Alpha Centauri? If you playing for the military wins, then your strategy works out. Shooting for Alpha, though, always requires more science development, and that works best in Democracy...which means light armies. Ol' F2, the Military Advisor, gritches constantly (if I bother consulting the Council), but I try to constantly keep ahead on the advances that will push me to space.

That's not to say that I neglect my defense. My development is simply broader than a purely military focus.

 

[harperbruce]

Originally posted by Eli the Lich
I never buid fortress in civ 2...

It depends on circumstances. I had the Mongols driving me up the wall one time (I've never liked the Mongols since!), coming across a 2-square isthmus. I kept my defense stiff enough to hold him back while I built up to Fundamentalism, kicked off the revolution and converted, then churned out Fanatics to man a chain of 6-8 fortresses I managed to get built across that neck. The silly AI, like an obedient drone, kept on knocking on the door; I kept spitting out defenders to fill the forts...while I slipped diplomats around the coast and bribed off his nearby cities. I was eventually able to seize control of the far side of the isthmus, and after that hammered the Mongols into the dust. In this case, fortresses were not just handy, but vital; and indeed, they're key to the whole chokepoint theory of Civ2 warfare...as well as having practical use to Real World generals in times of need. (Funnel the attackers into a tighter and tighter area, preferably on the low ground; then slaughter them.)

 

[Sarevok]

I dont like mass entrenchments like the maginot line, im nore of a statinc befense guy with ww1 tactics.

 

[MikeLynch]

I have been known to use the method when necessary. In one game, immediately after I founded the 255th city, all the AI started ganging up on me. I guess they didn't appreciate not being able to found any new cities.

So I used a sort of fusion of all the ideas in this thread -- defensive land units, spies everywhere, and tough naval units at strategic points (and surrounding my capital, which was coastal). Eventually one or two civs got sick of losing their units to bribery and gave up, which shocked me, as I always believed the AI to be unreasonably stubborn.

One of my favorite things to do is play on Earth and colonize all the Americas, but leave the rest of the world to AI chaos. When I do this, I surround ALL of North and South America in naval units spaced apart by their view range. It's not the best way to stop nukes, but it's an infallible early warning system, and it looks cool. But it's tough to maintain, no doubt.

 

[cameramano]

Harperbruce... there is a reason you don't like the Mongols. They have the "purple advantage." I always play as the Mongols or Souix becuase then the AI plays fair to my tech progress.

As for forts, I can't remember the last time I built one. I just use cities on chokepoints (with walls). Unless it is a mountain bottleneck, I suppose.

I'll use a screen to keep out AI spies/dips with a counter-strike force in the wings for a real offensive.

 

[harperbruce]

Originally posted by cameramano
Harperbruce... there is a reason you don't like the Mongols. They have the "purple advantage." I always play as the Mongols or Souix becuase then the AI plays fair to my tech progress.

No; I don't like the Mongols because they're an over-aggressive pack of granite-headed, two-square-building, attack-you-at-every-turn nimrods. Take it from another Michigan man; any tech advantage they have can be overcome with good play.