makeing travel networks with engineers

[marthinwurer]

what i usuly do is get like 3-4 engineers to go make a network of rail roads leading to the combat front from my industrial cities. it works awesome!

tell me more tips, please

 

[ceaserhall]

This forum is filled with great tips and strategies. Dig in!

For myself, I'm pimping diplomats and spies. They are great units to build--especially for their abilities to subvert cities away from rival powers and still keep the peace. I subverted about 7 fundy Viking cities and various units without starting a war, without altering my reputation and without the apparent notice of the viking leader. I kept my 'home' continent clean of rival cities by using the same method. (And I learned it here.)

Oh, and rival units bribed by dips/spies are NON, not supported by you. Saves you a bit of money as the game progresses.

ceaserhall

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

Oh, and rival units bribed by dips/spies are NON, not supported by you. Saves you a bit of money as the game progresses.

Just to clarifiy: That's only if you bribe them when they are closer to a foreign city than to one of your own.

 

[ceaserhall]

Thanks for that detail. I hadn't noticed that, but I will now.

ceaserhall
'want spies with that?'

 

[marthinwurer]

i made this about engeners and roads, not spies and diplomats!!!!

 

[Ace]

You have the right idea about engineers, but you need more. Try using 20 or 30 engineers to lay track across a plain or grassland stretch. With about 30 engineers, and a road already in place, you can lay track over 10-15 hexes in one turn.

 

[ceaserhall]

Try this for fun and profit:

load a transport with a couple of engineers and a spy (sorry). Send them out looking for goody huts. You might pick up a few good mercenary units and/or a good city site. If that be the case, you'd have an engineer to build a city, an engineer to make improvements, and military units for exploration and defense.

ceaserhall
"hmmmm...spies..."

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

You have the right idea about engineers, but you need more. Try using 20 or 30 engineers to lay track across a plain or grassland stretch. With about 30 engineers, and a road already in place, you can lay track over 10-15 hexes in one turn.

Very true. 3 engineers can only road/RR one square per turn. If you want to use these guys for blitzkreig tactics over undeveloped terrain, you need to be able to RR the entire path from your current position/railnet into the AI target in a single turn so the AI does not have a chance to pick off your engineers.

 

[marthinwurer]

thx ace, but the thing is, i dont usuly have the production. thats why i use 2-3 people instead

what realy bugs me is that when i get to a forest square and i have to wait a turn

 

[Ace]

When your laying tracks in a hurry, a good trick is to build a city on the bad terrain. It may not be a "good" city, but it is an instant RR on a hill, forest, swamp/jungle or mountain hex. If you do not have a road in the bad stuff, beforehand, there is no way to avoid the one turn delay, but by building a city you can avoid the wasted engineer time in building a RR.

By the time you reach RR and explosives, you should have enough cities to support 30+ engineers. Even in democracy, most cities can support one engineer. The engineer is the unit that provides the "glue" that holds your empire together. It is the source of new cities, creates the roads and RRs that link your cities together, and improves terrain to maximize resource production.

 

[KnightTemp]

Since you need lots of engineers (and I agree with you, I like to do the same sort of thing), I assume you've tried the trick of getting diplomats/spies out to other civ's settlers / engineers and bribing them? If you have Leo, then the settlers upgrade - if you don't, gift the Explosives tech to the other civ so they build the engineer ready for you to bribe.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[ElephantU]

Settlers and Engineers are the most expensive units to bribe, but if they are unsupported they save you a couple foods every turn you have them, which is invaluable in an OCC game.