Promotions: Shock and Drill

[Kopernikus1979]

The 2 promotions Shock and Drill have the following abilities (from civilopedia5.com):


Drill:
+20% Combat Strength when fighting in ROUGH Terrain. (Hills, Forest or Jungle)

Shock:
+20% Combat Strength when fighting in OPEN Terrain. (NO Hills, Forest or Jungle)

What does "fighting in" exactly mean? When I attack a unit, do I fight in the tile I actually am or is it the tile the other unit is in?

Nick

 

[P-Zombie]

The fight always occurs in the defender's tile. So if you're on a hill attacking a unit on grassland, you're fighting in open terrain. If reversed (the unit on grassland was attacking your unit on the hill) the fight would be in rough terrain.

 

[Varanid]

so do they get a bonus if they're attacking from rough terrain? Because units attacking from rough terrain to open terrain seem to do well, and ones going from open to rough tend to get mauled.

 

[Renergy]

so do they get a bonus if they're attacking from rough terrain? Because units attacking from rough terrain to open terrain seem to do well, and ones going from open to rough tend to get mauled.

As P-Zombie said, it doesn't matter from which terrain the attack originates; the battle takes place on the defender's hex. So if your unit has DRILL, it will more easily attack units standing on rough terrain and it will also better defend itself when in rough terrain. Similarly for SHOCK.

 

[Rohili]

so do they get a bonus if they're attacking from rough terrain? Because units attacking from rough terrain to open terrain seem to do well, and ones going from open to rough tend to get mauled.

That's because units get defence bonuses in rough terrain and defence penalties in open terrain. Really, if you had bothered to look at the victory probability tooltip that pops up when you order a unit to attack, you would have known this.

 

[pickle]

Which do you prefer?
shock- means that you are better able to survive after attacking in open terrain
drill- means that you can kill units that are in the hills a lot easier

I started by upgrading both but that means that you need a lot of promotions before you get to march and blitz, so I tend to go up one line for a particular unit, this depends on the type of map i'm on but generally I go up shock mostly and drill with less units and station these in the good defensive tiles to protect the healing units and ranged

 

[AriochIV]

It depends on the situation. If you know that some units may have to stand in open terrain, then Shock can help them survive. I often give cavalry Shock promotions. But in most situations, a unit caught in open terrain is dead meat no matter what, and the key battles will be in rough terrain, both attacking and defending. So usually, Drill is the better choice.

 

[bonafide11]

I find the promotions in Civ V much more boring than in Civ IV. I guess once you upgrade some it gets better, but the first line of promotions suck.

 

[Kyroshill]

I go vastly in favor of rough terrain warfare, with limited exceptions. I figure 3 things:

1 - The AI pathfinder prefers to end turns on defensible positions (rough terrain)
2 - I always intend to finish my units moves in rough terrain whenever possible
3 - The promotions quickly nullify an enemy defenders terrain bonus


So that means most units will be fighting in rough terrain.

The exceptions... some horses and tanks... since I prefer for them to attack units who are left stranded on open terrain... so I'll take the bonii

 

[LordTC]

I find I like to have about 3 guys for rough terrain for every 1 guy for open terrain. Especially with cavalry type units where you have lots of movement, I find you can often attack with a unit appropriate for the terrain.

 

[Helmling]

I find the promotions in Civ V much more boring than in Civ IV. I guess once you upgrade some it gets better, but the first line of promotions suck.

My problem is that I hardly ever get past that first line. I just save promotions to heal the units later...of course, the patch will force us to use promotions right away so those days are almost gone.

 

[Louis XXIV]

Almost everybody seems to prefer drill, the logic being it's easier to attack enemies in hills. I always have archers with me, so I weaken them in order to attack. I usually go with shock to negate the flat terrain penalty. Once you get to shock 2, I feel actually confident standing in the open. It gives me much more flexibility.

But I recognize the disadvantage to my strategy. After the patch, with the weakening of the terrain penalty, I might have to reevaluate. Then again, I might be more likely to just have drill archers (I currently give them a promotion based on whatever city I'm targeting, with the reduction of archer effectiveness against cities, I'll probably get out of that habit).