CaiusDrewart
King
When I first read descriptions of all the military policies, I was very surprised that almost none of them made units fight better. Instead, they almost all either make armies cheaper to produce and maintain, or make war more profitable (by doubling pillaging yields or reducing war weariness, eg.)
Once I have my units already built, however, policies do almost nothing to increase their efficacy. Here's the complete list of policies that make you more effective in combat against other civs:
Bastions: +6 city defense strength, +5 city attack strength.
Wars of Religion: +4 combat strength when fighting Civs with a different religion.
Logistics: +1 movement when starting in friendly territory.
National Identity: 50% less combat penalty for being injured.
That's it! Two of those, Bastions and Logistics, are only helpful in a defensive war. Wars of Religion is obviously situational. There's so little here! And note that not a single policy makes your units generate experience faster! (Except Survey, but that doesn't really count.)
Why not jazz up military policies by adding ones that increase the effectiveness of your army, and encourage certain kinds of tactics? You could have something like:
Amalgame: 50% more experience gain for units fighting alongside a higher level unit.
Pincer Movement: Flanking bonuses are doubled.
Sappers: Melee units have +10 strength when attacking cities.
Schwerpunkt: Heavy cavalry units have +10 strength when they move 3 or more tiles to attack a unit.
Skirmishers: Light cavalry ignores ZOC.
Trench Warfare: Melee units get +10 strength from fortifying.
I realize that a lot of these kinds of bonuses are contained in the promotion trees, but it just seems lame to me that the military policies offer almost nothing in terms of making your army fight better. If I already have a large army, I have basically no interest in military policies, except the ones reducing maintenance cost. I think policies like these would make military slots much more interesting while also encouraging tactical play.
Once I have my units already built, however, policies do almost nothing to increase their efficacy. Here's the complete list of policies that make you more effective in combat against other civs:
Bastions: +6 city defense strength, +5 city attack strength.
Wars of Religion: +4 combat strength when fighting Civs with a different religion.
Logistics: +1 movement when starting in friendly territory.
National Identity: 50% less combat penalty for being injured.
That's it! Two of those, Bastions and Logistics, are only helpful in a defensive war. Wars of Religion is obviously situational. There's so little here! And note that not a single policy makes your units generate experience faster! (Except Survey, but that doesn't really count.)
Why not jazz up military policies by adding ones that increase the effectiveness of your army, and encourage certain kinds of tactics? You could have something like:
Amalgame: 50% more experience gain for units fighting alongside a higher level unit.
Pincer Movement: Flanking bonuses are doubled.
Sappers: Melee units have +10 strength when attacking cities.
Schwerpunkt: Heavy cavalry units have +10 strength when they move 3 or more tiles to attack a unit.
Skirmishers: Light cavalry ignores ZOC.
Trench Warfare: Melee units get +10 strength from fortifying.
I realize that a lot of these kinds of bonuses are contained in the promotion trees, but it just seems lame to me that the military policies offer almost nothing in terms of making your army fight better. If I already have a large army, I have basically no interest in military policies, except the ones reducing maintenance cost. I think policies like these would make military slots much more interesting while also encouraging tactical play.
