1. Which promotions do you love, and with which units?
2. Which do you hate?
3. What is the overall best/worst promotion?
I'll answer number three. I think the best non GG promotion is one that I just discovered. It appears rather stupid on the surface, but really, it unlocks some remarkable possibilities.
Here's the situation, I have discovered flight, but I don't have oil (again). The AI is behind in techs and is therefore utilizing mass cavalry charges. My counter is to build paratroopers, and as Japan I get c1, cg1 and fs1 for free. My military city starts with 17xp. So I start experimenting with different paratrooper types. I've got medics, cg/fs city defenders, guerillas, rangers, c4 pinch, c4 formation, etc...
I build 80 of these buggers while planning a massive first-strike assault on a constantly unneighborly neighbor that will capture every city (including one with oil) within paradrop range +1. I have to capture all of these cities so that when I capture the particular city with the oil, I'll have complete control of the culture between that city and my borders. Otherwise, I'll simply have an culturally-isolated city with oil that can't establish a supply line to my cities (and building an airport in the newly captured city would take too long). I'm monitoring my other neighbor's progress in researching flight. I know that I have to get oil the moment he discovers flight because I believe he will immediately upgrade his massive fleet of airships and DOW me.
So, while I'm prepping my paratrooper assault, I accidently give one of my c4 guys the commando promotion (I have never used this promotion) and swear. I wonder, what the hell am I going to do with a guy who can go three spaces on roads? Then I notice that my neighbor has just built railroads and so I start wondering if the commando promotion works for railroads too.
It does!!!
I only have time to build about a half-dozen of these guys, but their capability is amazing. When I launch my attack, this small squad of paratrooper commandos drives 10 squares within enemy territory and is able to attack (something a paradrop can't do). The potential tactical uses should be readily apparent to any civver. They can now do anything that a paratrooper can do (cut roads and resources, camp on hills and forests, etc...), except that they can go twice as far and can immediately attack (no 1 turn wait). That's power. An organized first strike with an army of commando's would entirely cripple an enemy civ. You could capture all of his workers, cut all his resources, kill all his mines, and even capture his poorly defended backline cities before he could even respond, and there would be no way for an opponent to defend against this because your opponent cannot mass a defence in any single city, but would have to spread out his defence force evenly, thereby weakening his ability to defend. The attacker can simply choose which city he wants to capture. Perhaps the defender's only viable option would be to mass produce machine guns that might stop a gunpowder commando, and then spread them around liberally.
Unfortunately, you cannot paradrop and then go an additional 10 squares, but you can paradrop and go an additional 5 squares on rails and 2 on roads. Hence, it's redundant to give paratroopers the commando promotion, unless of course, you are paradropping across water and want them to go additional squares. Hence, it's better to give infantry and marines the commando promotion. Especially marines because they nullify the potential machine-gun defense strategy.
The main problem, then, becomes the cultural defense bonus of victim cities, hence commando's would need spies to lead the charge a turn ahead of the scheduled invasion.
But, all things considered, a commando raid is unstoppable.
That makes it the most powerful promotion.
2. Which do you hate?
3. What is the overall best/worst promotion?
I'll answer number three. I think the best non GG promotion is one that I just discovered. It appears rather stupid on the surface, but really, it unlocks some remarkable possibilities.
Here's the situation, I have discovered flight, but I don't have oil (again). The AI is behind in techs and is therefore utilizing mass cavalry charges. My counter is to build paratroopers, and as Japan I get c1, cg1 and fs1 for free. My military city starts with 17xp. So I start experimenting with different paratrooper types. I've got medics, cg/fs city defenders, guerillas, rangers, c4 pinch, c4 formation, etc...
I build 80 of these buggers while planning a massive first-strike assault on a constantly unneighborly neighbor that will capture every city (including one with oil) within paradrop range +1. I have to capture all of these cities so that when I capture the particular city with the oil, I'll have complete control of the culture between that city and my borders. Otherwise, I'll simply have an culturally-isolated city with oil that can't establish a supply line to my cities (and building an airport in the newly captured city would take too long). I'm monitoring my other neighbor's progress in researching flight. I know that I have to get oil the moment he discovers flight because I believe he will immediately upgrade his massive fleet of airships and DOW me.
So, while I'm prepping my paratrooper assault, I accidently give one of my c4 guys the commando promotion (I have never used this promotion) and swear. I wonder, what the hell am I going to do with a guy who can go three spaces on roads? Then I notice that my neighbor has just built railroads and so I start wondering if the commando promotion works for railroads too.
It does!!!
I only have time to build about a half-dozen of these guys, but their capability is amazing. When I launch my attack, this small squad of paratrooper commandos drives 10 squares within enemy territory and is able to attack (something a paradrop can't do). The potential tactical uses should be readily apparent to any civver. They can now do anything that a paratrooper can do (cut roads and resources, camp on hills and forests, etc...), except that they can go twice as far and can immediately attack (no 1 turn wait). That's power. An organized first strike with an army of commando's would entirely cripple an enemy civ. You could capture all of his workers, cut all his resources, kill all his mines, and even capture his poorly defended backline cities before he could even respond, and there would be no way for an opponent to defend against this because your opponent cannot mass a defence in any single city, but would have to spread out his defence force evenly, thereby weakening his ability to defend. The attacker can simply choose which city he wants to capture. Perhaps the defender's only viable option would be to mass produce machine guns that might stop a gunpowder commando, and then spread them around liberally.
Unfortunately, you cannot paradrop and then go an additional 10 squares, but you can paradrop and go an additional 5 squares on rails and 2 on roads. Hence, it's redundant to give paratroopers the commando promotion, unless of course, you are paradropping across water and want them to go additional squares. Hence, it's better to give infantry and marines the commando promotion. Especially marines because they nullify the potential machine-gun defense strategy.
The main problem, then, becomes the cultural defense bonus of victim cities, hence commando's would need spies to lead the charge a turn ahead of the scheduled invasion.
But, all things considered, a commando raid is unstoppable.
That makes it the most powerful promotion.
