Shouldn't Mech Infantry be "Armor"

[MDPhillips]

I just built an invasion force using tanks and gunships to go against an civ that had Mech Infantry defenders - because of the gunship bonus against armor. Then I come to find my gunships getting wiped out because the Mech Infantry is categorized as a gunpowder unit. The gunships are great for pilaging improvements because of their range - I'm trying to keep the guy from beating me in the space race - but at the end of the turn they are vulnerable to the Mech Infantry.

Even the description of Mech Infantry in the Civilopedia describes them as being armored. What's the deal?

 

[Eternalsteelfan]

No, it's more along the lines of APCs which infantry deploy out of. Unlike armor, infantry can hold ground and get defensive bonuses.

 

[Jarrod32]

Basically, you can think of mechanized infantry as infantry units that use trucks and transports to move around. They are indeed gunpowder units - which means that they are resourceless to build. Cutting off oil (or having your oil cut off) doesn't matter...these units can still be built.

They (along with SAM Infantry) are pretty strong against gunships. Mech Infantry are the strongest unit outside of Modern Armor. You need Modern Armor or Mech Infantry of your own to beat them...though tanks with the "Pinch" promotion could be effective. Even a "Pinch" promotion on your gunships is going to come up a bit short of being effective against Mech Infantry.

Also remember...as a 'gunpowder' unit, Aggressive civs get a free Combat I promotion on these...and a City Garrison II or III Mech Infantry is the ultimate city defender.

 

[zeeter]

The reason that choppers aren't as effective against mech as armor is that an armored unit can't fire into the air as effectively as a bunch of guys with machine guns. The machine guns on a tank can fire up somewhat, but they're kind of like those ones in the arcade where theres a stop-point. Think of mech as, like someone else said, personel carriers. The soldiers can get out and spread out, unlike a tank where your effectiveness is only within the tank. So with mech you have more (quantity) firepower spread out and with armor you have more powerful firepower that is inneffective against air units plus the choppers can focus their fire on a smaller area.

 

[Lockesdonkey]

What we have, with Mech Infantry, is a case of a bad icon for the unit represented. What it SHOULD be like is that tank thingy (presumably a fighting vehicle similar to a Bradley or Stryker) with an infantry guy poking his head out, and one or two Jeeps or Humvees with an infantry guy poking HIS head out.

 

[MDPhillips]

No, it's more along the lines of APCs which infantry deploy out of. Unlike armor, infantry can hold ground and get defensive bonuses.

Thanks for all of the responses . . . it all makes sense. It was just a bit of a shock to see my gunships being toasted by Mech Infantry when I expected to be blasting away at them. What I ended up doing is sacrificing tanks with the collateral damage promotions until the hit points were low enough to start winning. I've also just discovered the joy of attacking coastal cities with a bunch of marines escorted by enough battleships to wipe out the city defenses.

I'm playing the GOTM and decided I needed to take out a rival who was going to get a space race victory on me. He is only two components away from launching. I did't want to hassle with taking out once of his cities that is on an island, so I razed or captured all of the rest of his cities but one - and that one I totally pillaged the fat cross around the city down to no improvements or roads - love those gunships for pillaging - I don't think he is a threat any more. He even gave me one of his techs and a pile of gold to make peace.

 

[Older than Dirt]

Last I heard the difference between a US armored division and a mechanized infantry division was mainly that the armored division had (seems like it was about a third) more tanks in it and of course both have integral self-propelled artillery. Tanks should never operate alone. A lesson that the British were slow to learn in North Africa during WWII.