My Defense Strategy

[Nero]

Revised 2 times on Tuesday, November 5th
Thank you all for your feedback, and I have noticed the errors I made. Corrections are directly below this message in bold.

I am using Rome as an example only, and am not referring to their abilities and advantages. I have removed the scout frm the strategy, realizing they have no initial benifit fortified; although i have removed the scout, fortifying the scout would stop it from interrupting your turn by being automaticly selected, the only other way i know to do this is to press wait, but that just waits till the end of the turn. Archers do not have a first strike, but they will fire at passerbys Thank you for calling this to my attention, I was mis-using the term "first strike". And finnally, creating a barracks makes all of the units you create veteran instead of regular, i find this extremly beneficial in most games I play. This strategy works just fine on all of the games I played on multiple difficulties. But it may just be me that it works for. Thank you all for correcting me, and I have revised the strategy below.

This is the Defense Strategy I use to protect my towns. Let me know any feedback, or if you like it so i can improve it (constructive critisism only please). Also let me know if i mis-used a term, or mis-spelled something.



Version 1: Inside a town
Note: Let us assume my capital city is "Rome."

Upon creation of Rome I will immediatly begin the construction of a barracks, and queue a long range unit (archer). During the construction of the archer and barracks. On completion of the archer, I immediatley fortify it. I then begin building a melee unit (pikeman, etc.). Now from my experience, when an enemy comes to attack my town, the archer will gain something of a first stirke (please let me know if this is correct). Upgrade units as much as possible to increase effectiveness.


Version 2: Outside of a town
Note: Version 2 works best on a hill
Note: I am assuming you will be using this on a hill


First you must find the area you want to defend. After you locate an area (preferably with a hill) build a fortress on the hill. Place a long range unit (preferably more than 1) on the fortress on the hill {From my knowledge this grants you the ability to attack passerby enemys}.

 

[Yzman]

Originally posted by Nero
This is the Defense Strategy I use to protect my towns. Let me know any feedback, or if you like it so i can improve it (constructive critisism only please). Also let me know if i mis-used a term, or mis-spelled something.


Note: Both versions of this strategy work best with an expansionist civ because of the scout you start with.

Version 1: Inside a town
Note: Let us assume my capital city is "Rome."

Upon creation of Rome I will immediatly begin the construction of a barracks, and queue a long range unit (archer). During the construction of the archer and barracks, I fortify my scout on Rome (which will later be replaced by an explorer). On completion of the archer, I immediatley fortify it. I then begin building a melee unit (pikeman, etc.). Now from my experience, when an enemy comes to attack my town, the archer will gain something of a first stirke (please let me know if this is correct). Later on in the game, I upgrade the untis as much as possible, and replace the scout with an explorer.

Version 2: Outside of a town
Note: Version 2 works best on a hill
Note: I am assuming you will be using this on a hill
Note: All units you place on the hill/fortress combo should be immediatly fortified

First you must find the area you want to defend. After you locate an area (preferably with a hill) build a fortress on the hill. Place a long range unit (preferably more than 1) on the fortress on the hill {From my knowledge this grants you the ability to attack passerby enemys}. Optional: Place a scout on the hill/fortress combo (and if possible, replace the scout with an explorer)

A few things.
1. When you say fortify scout, do you mean a troop you use for scouting or an actual scout? If its a real scout, fortifying helps you in no way.

2.Archers will not attack a unit attacking them first. They WILL however, shoot at units passing by because of their zone of control.

3.You should not build a barracks first. Build some units to scout your area.

4. After reading more, I think you are referring to a real scout. These help in no way except for exploring, fortifying them you just destroyed your advantage with them.

5. I think you should read some strategies from around here and find the faults in yours. These things don't work well and you will get killed higher than cheiftan.

 

[cracker]

You will have to dig deep to explain the logic of taking your most mobile unit "the scout" and looking at its defense and attack values of zero and then recommending that any sane person should fortify this unit in the towns or fortresses as part of a coherent defense strategy.

Because the scouts have no a/d points they have no military police powers and serve as no military deterent. In most cases, the AI players will view your scouts as wine grapes on the plate and will be more likely to attack any location that sports a scout in its entourage.

(I just noticed that Yzman's post beat me into the fray and would second his assessment. You are welcome here and can learn alot but this attempt at strategy seems to be a really bad idea all around. You'd be dead in minutes on anything but the lowest difficulty level and with this strategy you might even die there.)

 

[Dragonlord]

Yzman and Cracker have already said it all... except for one addition: there are no 'long-range' units at this stage: the first one is Artillery, much later in the game. There is also no such thing as a first-strike capability in Civ3..

 

[Clown2TheLeft]

Scout?

Since when does Rome build scouts? I thought they were militaristic and commercial....

Rome: beeline for Iron. Build legionarry. Hunt your neighbors down and shred them. Build mass roads, as you're commercial. Umm.... at least they were last time I checked.....



Later!

--The Clown to the Left

 

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by cracker
You will have to dig deep to explain the logic of taking your most mobile unit "the scout" and looking at its defense and attack values of zero and then recommending that any sane person should fortify this unit in the towns or fortresses as part of a coherent defense strategy.

That's the version of history where Lewis & Clark decide to stay home in Washington. The result of this is that the Native America Civilization survives to Modern Times, stifling Euro-America's growth; Germany and Japan rise up and conquer Eurasia without American intervention; and America is subjugated after a short and nasty nuclear war. Finally, all Life on Earth is destroyed when Germany and Japan enter into a full-scale Nuclear War of Conquest.

Game over.

 

[lietkynes]

Originally posted by Dragonlord
There is also no such thing as a first-strike capability in Civ3..

that is not true. catapults/connon/artillery in town have first-strike bombard ability vs attacking units.

 

[Kafouille]

Nero , didi you play whit the Double Your Pleasure mod ??
Because in this mod scouts have a defence of 1 , archer can bombard, and ALL civs can build scouts .

 

[Nero]

No I did not play with the double your pleasure mod, but look above, I have noticed some errors and corrected them. I did not mean first strike, i meant that they fire at passerby's.

Sorry about the errors, but thank you all once again for correcting me.

 

[ducki]

There are so many caveats.

This strat _might_ have _some_ merit on a Huge map with less than the normal number of Civs at Regent level or Below.

Even on regent, if I screw around too long before making a settler and exploring the surrounding area a bit, I'll have a tough time beating the AI to the good land(rivers, bonus tiles, luxuries, goodie huts, horses, iron, gold).

I'm not a REXer, but I definitely start out Warrior-Warrior-Settler.
At Regent I can found up to 8 cities before _needing_ defense if Barbs are Sedentary. If Roaming or worse, I can have a spearman for every 2 cities if I have roads.

I don't normally start building barracks and defense until I have at least 6 cities founded and temples in most, unless I'm militaristic.


In a very specific set of circumstances, this strat might have value, but even so, I'd be more inclined to send out explorers and settlers to find and grab land and meet my neighbors so I can get some tech trading going.

As far as Fortifying on a Hill, that's a fairly standard strat, but if you want to take it to the extreme, figure out how many workers you need to build a fortress in ONE TURN - it's important, that.

Take said workers with two or three Spearmen/Pikemen into enemy territory(someone you are already at war with), but not too far in. Find a nice lone mountain or a mountain next to a river.

Build Fort, Fortify Defenders, send workers home if possible(You did build a road on your way, right?).

Then, just let the enemy come to you, hopefully generating a couple of elites or leaders. This can be a good diversionary tactic away from your real invasion force.

Don't forget to have backup if this is close to your border, though, as the enemy may beeline for your border towns if he's lucky enough to fell your defensive offense.

HTH

 

[Nero]

I never thought about using this in enemy territory. After thinking about it, it would be even more beneficial in enemy territory. Yes, I build roads along the way, i build roads to just about everything .

I need to add that I use this as a precautionary strategy, which at least for me works very well. I like to create defense first, in case I tick off an AI early on.

... I must say that, this being my first post, is a beneficial experience that is as we speak improving my gameplay. Thank you all once again for your input, and keep it coming!

 

[Yndy]

No offense Nero but this is not a strategy, it's at most a set of moves. I cannot comment on this further as it might require too much writing. Please explore the site thoroughly and only then venture to propose 'defense strategies'.

 

[Minmaster]

ok which idiot voted "yes, i like it"?