Nox Noctis

[Yaotzin]

The FF version is far too strong. Totally unbalanced. All the (already very large) advantages with zero of the disadvantages. No other religious wonder is remotely comparable.

I don't understand how people can not appreciate Nox Noctis. Just spam assassins and mages and you can murder anyone who comes into your borders no problemo. Svart with Nox Noctis and 'sins/rangers/mages with Sinister/Poisoned Blade/Shadowwalk/second forest promo is almost invincible. Huge attack bonuses, no retaliation, you move faster than them etc etc.

I suppose you can murder people pretty well with a chokepoint, but chokepoints aren't a dime a dozen, and if they bring along plenty of catapults or whatever, you're going to die pretty fast.

 

[avalonnn]

If you can beeline for the holy city, it should not be that bad, assuming that you have more units than your opponent. With the new rules, brining in an archery-heavy stack should be a particularly effective strategy. Axemen + Crossbowmen in combo. If Nox Noctis is a port city, you can bombard it with the navy, which makes the attack easier.

 

[kenken244]

The problem is that you do not know which city is the holy city

 

[MagisterCultuum]

It may not show up in in the main screen, but the religions screen will still tell you the holy city's name if you have the city on you maps.

 

[Yaotzin]

If you can beeline for the holy city, it should not be that bad, assuming that you have more units than your opponent. With the new rules, brining in an archery-heavy stack should be a particularly effective strategy. Axemen + Crossbowmen in combo. If Nox Noctis is a port city, you can bombard it with the navy, which makes the attack easier.

Shadowwalk my friend, shadowwalk. Now with added bonus of ignoring defensive strikes! Could work if the wonder is nearish to a border, but if it isn't...

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

I'll answer the original questions of the OP:

Question 1:

so how do you deal with the fact that you can't defend (and yes I mean defend, not attack) improvements once the wonder is built ?

Answer 1: You defend improvements by having units near your improvements, so that when barbarians or enemy units move over to your improvements and threaten to pillage them next turn, you attack and kill those units before they are able to.

Question 2:

Since the wonder forces you to always attack, even if perhaps you play a defensive civ, it seems to me that it does more harm than help.

Answer 2: The terms of the question are ambigious, so I can't give a straight answer. I think what you are saying is that a defensive civ is one that should be defending their territory rather than attacking others, and that the way to do so is to garrison soldiers in cities and chokepoints and let the enemy stacks attack the stacks, in order to take advantage of terrain, fortify and city bonuses.

However, that is actually only one of the possible ways in which you can defend your lands. If you build Nox Noctis, you are instead making the option of choosing and active defense instead. You are not forced to adopt such a form of defense, but to claim that "the wonder forces you to adopt a particular way of playing" is absurd, because nobody forces you to build the wonder in the first place.

 

[Sarisin]

I'll answer the original questions of the OP:

Question 1:


Answer 1: You defend improvements by having units near your improvements, so that when barbarians or enemy units move over to your improvements and threaten to pillage them next turn, you attack and kill those units before they are able to.

.

I think this works most of the time. The exception is when a unit with multiple movements like a Wolf Rider, Goblin Chariot or enemy Horseman is just on the edge of your Nox Noctis - the tile outside your border.

You have a choice:

1. Go outside your border and kill him, leaving yourself exposed to whatever else is out there and you might not see. or

2. Let him come on in and hope he doesn't go for that fat Town or Plantation. Then, kill him.

I have come over to liking the Nox Noctis strategy, but the key as someone said is that you don't have major chokepoints you can use. If you have those, I would say don't build this Wonder. If not, it can provide you with a lot of benefits, especially when you constantly have wars going on as the enemy most often sends its stacks into the teeth of your army defenders and doesn't know it.

 

[dannypytlak]

I am not sure about this, but isn't there an option for every single unit to choose to be visible if it wishes so?
I've built nox noctis only once and some time ago, but I could swear that there is an opt-out for being invisible (like declare nationality button).

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

sure there is now, but there wasn't in 2009 when the post above yours was written