Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[sercer88]

Using few defensive units would be great, but, (as I have played a few games in debug mode just to see how the AI plays) the AI somehow "knows" which city of yours is the least defended and make a beeline for it, then the next worst, and so on.

Also, I have a feeling I know what the answer to this question will be, but I'm not sure. Can the AI research techs faster than 4 turns? If so, then I really don't see the reason for it, or, for that matter, making the minimum research time 4 turns for any player (especially for Accelerated production.) Or, do the AI just trade techs as soon as they get a new one?

 

[Aabraxan]

Using few defensive units would be great, but, (as I have played a few games in debug mode just to see how the AI plays) the AI somehow "knows" which city of yours is the least defended and make a beeline for it, then the next worst, and so on.

Even if it does "know" this, the AI is terrible at capitalizing on it. Besides, I'd rather fight a war in AI territory than my own, wouldn't you?

 

[Marsden]

Plus, a good defense tip is don't have ROP's with anyone as they saunter about your country and pick an undefended city to take to declare war. If you do need a RoP, seal your border so they can get in. I've had AI use my railroad to instantly attack a city way away from the border. I retook it right away, but the RoP makes the AI's eyes bigger than its stomach and it bites off more than it can chew, so to speak.

 

[sercer88]

I usually don't care about the small, underdeveloped nations attacking me (it can definitely be annoying, though), but it is the large, powerful nations who I cannot get a right of passage with, because they don't like me enough.

@Aabraxan:
How can you fight a war in the AI territory if you weren't well enough defended in the first place? To do that, you need enough defenders, then pour in the offense.

 

[Aabraxan]

@Aabraxan:
How can you fight a war in the AI territory if you weren't well enough defended in the first place? To do that, you need enough defenders, then pour in the offense.

Use offensive units to kill AI units before they get to your territory. In other words, go on the offense first. What's the old saying, the best defense is a good offense? I'm not saying that you should never, ever, ever build any defensive units. But if you can keep the AI backpedaling, you won't have to worry about defending so much.

 

[GRAEMIKE]

Tanks for the input people! This game will take me quite some time to tire of, I suddenly notice the clock and "shoot, where'd the time go!" Lots to larn!!

Mike

 

[sercer88]

What about late in the game, when railroads are abundant, should I still primarily focus on offense, stacking offensive units in my border cities?

 

[Aabraxan]

What about late in the game, when railroads are abundant, should I still primarily focus on offense, stacking offensive units in my border cities?

There's a great deal in this game that is situation-dependent and your results may vary. While reading the following, bear in mind that I'm a regent/monarch level player. There are many players on these boards better than I. That said, I'd say yes. By the time I get to railroads, I usually own my continent. At that point, I rail my continent and put a stack of artillery and a some offensive units in my capital. Use navy to control the seas. If any ships from an AI with whom I'm at war get on my coastline, I race over to the coast and ping them with artillery. If they get any units on land, I kill them. In AI territory, you won't be able to use its railroads if you're at war. Use combat settlers to push back cultural boundaries. Bombard their cities & units with artillery & bombers.

 

[TimBentley]

You should probably have enough defenders in your border cities to avoid losing too many units in their initial attack. Of course, it's likely you're starting the attack and their ability to attack your cities will be diminished. Your offensive units can kill the slow units and the fast units that survive attacking. But yes, focus primarily on offensive units.

 

[sercer88]

Alright guys, thanks for all the info and much needed tips!

 

[gmaharriet]

Oh, I thought that this was short rushing. OK, well if short-rushing isn't what I thought, the following is an example of what I meant:

Eg. If I have a town producing 10spt and I'm building knights there. I let it start on the knight but after 1 turn I temporarily switch to a musket to rush an additional 50 shields and then switch back to a knight to let it complete the build on the second turn. This costs 200g and two turns. If I have less money available (or if the sims don't work out quite so neatly), I leave the build for a few turns. I don't rush the first part because you pay double and all those 40 golds add up and I also try to use of many of the shields as possible from the final turn's production.

Has this technique got a name?

Well, certainly the rushing of the musket and then switching back to the knight meets the definition of short-rushing. I'm not sure that what I said is the only way to meet the definition. I learned how to do it from Bede, Scoutsout and Whomp, and that's what they told me. (Golly, I had to have it explained to me about 20 times before I finally understood!!! )

My understanding is that you can also combine short-rushing with pop-rushing. Since you can only use half of your town's population for pop-rushing, if you want to rush, say, a 50 shield unit, but have only a population of 5, you can't kill 2 1/2 citizens for the unit, but you can kill one for a worker (leaving pop 4) and then 2 more to complete the unit. I don't generally do pop-rushing anyway, but did have to learn to do that in a 100K culture SG, using feudalism for the government.

 

[eragonfreak]

you know those really cool unit downloads? How the hell do you get them in the game?

 

[Turner]

My only difference with Turner is that I sometimes play with minor allies in this war.

No difference there. I usually dogpile the AI whenever they declare on me. I have a use for allies, and I do use them every chance I get. And call my crazy, but I remain loyal to them. At least, as long as the MA is active.

you know those really cool unit downloads? How the hell do you get them in the game?

The thread you d/l'd them from should have instructions on how to put them in the game. If not, ask in the thread. There should also be some kind of tutorial as well in the Tutorials section.

 

[Aabraxan]

If an unit in an army promotes to elite, can it draw a leader?

 

[Marsden]

Nope. I'd be cool, though.

 

[Turner]

Yeah, it would be. But I kinda like the balance of having to carefully choose which unit to put into an army, instead of just blindly loading them up. Oh, I do do that, but only when desperate.

 

[Aabraxan]

I don't ordinarily put elites into armies (though I have put elite* units into armies), but in my current solo game, I had units promote to elite after they were in the army.

 

[GRAEMIKE]

When in an army, do spearmen/pikemen defend and archers shoot at the 'rush' and swordmen fight, as a team. Or is it all one to one, one at a time?

Wondering how to build a good army, whom to place in it.

 

[Abegweit]

When in an army, do spearmen/pikemen defend and archers shoot at the 'rush' and swordmen fight, as a team. Or is it all one to one, one at a time?

They fight on at one time.

Wondering how to build a good army, whom to place in it.

Use good attacking units, preferably fast ones. They should all be the same speed at any rate. Otherwise the fast ones will be slowed by by the others.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

I sometimes use a technique where I disband an obsolete unit in a city for a few shields, short rush a musket, then finish with a knight, for a knight in 1 turn!

I usually do that in 20K games, or when I really want an improvement fast, because I don't much like leaving obsolete units around...