I believe the best way to beat heavy cavalry is with light, so it makes sense for AI to prefer them as that is what you'll use the most to attack. I of course see them using mostly heavy rather than light, but they do love Skirmishers which are excellent for early game terrain (less worked and grants more bonuses=chances)
Always interesting to hear other people's experiences. In my games the AI loves making stacks of skirmishers and light cavalry and sending them to conquer cities. I like them as counter units/scouting/field control, necessary and practical support units, but the AI tends to see them as their primary military body.
At first I had my thoughts regarding light cavalry, I wondered... why should I use someone weaker if I've got an stronger option? But once I looked into the bonuses and used them on the battefield I realized they were noticeably stronger under the right circumstances.
They're definitely great units. My question is whether their strength is properly reflected in the civ power ratios, or whether their power level is overblown. That is, do civs with skirmishers and light cavalry come off, on paper, as being strong and more capable than they are (which then leads to them declaring wars, etc), or is it an accurate reflection?
WTH is a spirit salad item though?
and why is it so funny? more importantly, why is spinach so low?
Spinach is great, but it's still just the bed on which the rest of the salad shines. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and green peppers add great body to salads, good flavors that aren't overwhelming. Onions, radishes, and red peppers, while tasty, are very pungent and need to be used more sparingly and with intent, compared to the other stuff where you can't overdo it. Avocado, chicken, salmon, the protein (or avocado fat) pieces which give the salad a weighty substance and build strength. And red chili flakes, a powerful flavor that you do not want to overdo. Too much would unbalance the salad completely.
It's science! Ish. Kinda. I had fun with it.
Not really, I mean how the game graphics and interface look so saturated in color, civ4 as far as I know does not let you modify such screen settings but maybe I should try some software that applies visual shaders, I've heard of some of them. Thanks anyway, the old terrain does look good might pick some assets from there to try them out
Oh, I see what you mean. Honestly I'm not sure. My graphic settings are "Medium" across the board. I don't think I use anything that applies visual shaders, at least none that were active at the time I took that screenshot.
Hi, I do not understand what you mean by power rating with the above figures? they do not match with the strength value of the units you refer to...
I don't know much about it myself, or how the AI uses it. My understanding is that when you have "0.8" strength relative to another civ, the power ratings of each civ's units are part of what contribute to that power rating. If taken at its simplest possible interpretation, for the sake of example, a civ composed of 3 militia (6 total power) and a div composed of 2 skirmishes (6 total power) would be at the same relative strength (ignoring city count, builds, and all other things that contribute to a civ's strength score). I'm guessing the actual system is more complicated than that.
I can say that I'm also a culprit in the "researching a tech from next age a few turns before the age switch happens". In my case it was for acessing a worldwonder-enabling tech and favors my odds in building it.
As for Mining, I can assure you that an Industrious leader with a lot of mines will see it as a real game-changing tech. Mining & Slavery will enabled your Industrious trait to activate, and you will go from 2
Mine (on my desertic hills, at least) to a whooping 5 !
That's huge, at least for me
I'm testing it out in my current game, and rushing mining might be a valid strategy in general.
In a new game, I first got woodworking so I can build militia, then went into the tech tree and clicked mining, and let the autopilot handle my research from there on out. So far:
* Researching Pottery meant I had access to Potter's Workshop, which helps economy.
* Bronze Working gave access to Autocracy, which reduced maintenance very early on, so easier to research from here on out
* Bronze Working also gave access to skirmishers, which upped my power rating a ton (and is what prompted me to start looking into the power ratings of units, since I was amazed at how big an impact they had on power ratings compared to other units of the era)
* Bronze Working also unlocks the Barracks, so my cities got bigger (so more production/commerce), power rating went up, and my units have the extra experience
I'm currently about 85% of the way to Weapon Smithing on turn 155, so not amazing progress overall. But I'm still in a decent spot in terms of expansion, militry, and city growing, despite not pursuing any of the food, economy, or research techs. Having some Storyteller Circles would definitely help things out, but not necessarily worth taking the 10 turn or so pause from researching Weapon Smithing. I think I might try to get that and a few other early techs between WS and Mining, if I get a lot of tech transfer to make them fast. But right now, overall, while blindly pursuing Mining, I don't feel like I'm lacking in any area of empire management.
