Spearman beats tank??? original story???

[capnvonbaron]

... not to mention there are frequent occurrences of spearmen beating tanks in Civ3 against tremendous odds. Obviously this was ignoring the fact that 99% of the time, the tank will win... but its just enormously frustrating to lose a modern armored vehicle to a band of guys holding sticks, especially at critical junctions where you NEEDED to crush that spearman but failed.

 

[bestbrian]

Battleships losing to Barb Muskets and Spears always chapped my a** in Civ II. Tried playing a game while on vacation a week ago. The ICS had me freaked out.

 

[kivanc]

u could kill multi units with 1 attacker in civ1 as well. when the defender lost, all units on same tile were killed AFAI remember. except units on cities and forts maybe.
i don't remember much but there were many more weird issues about combat of civ1.

 

[Vonreuter]

A Phalanx defending a city once defeated my Battleship!

 

[kivanc]

A Phalanx defending a city once defeated my Battleship!

maybe u ran out of cannon bullets?

 

[Etheric]

Well it was always the phalanx defeating bombers that got me.

Man those guys can throw their spears high.

 

[TheWilltoAct]

Well it was always the phalanx defeating bombers that got me.

Man those guys can throw their spears high.

lol!

 

[Koning]

There's even a smiley for it Ankward it hasn't been used yet in this topic!

 

[Koning]

A Phalanx defending a city once defeated my Battleship!

You must be joking, battleships can only bombard cities.

 

[TheWilltoAct]

Civilization 1 brosef, get in the game.

 

[DarkOpus]

A Phalanx defending a city once defeated my Battleship!

I still have nightmares about that 'plink' sound you'd hear when you were expecting the guttural 'boom' of victory.

 

[Jerrymander]

Civilization 1 brosef, get in the game.

And civ2

 

[TheWilltoAct]

Thanks, I knew civ1 for sure cuz that's what we're talking about and I haven't played civ2.

 

[Smellincoffee]

I think the actual "spearman v. tank" meme started with Civ3: because of the combat system, it was possible for a very lucky spearman (1.2.1) to route a tank (16.8.2, I think)



Since the spearman is the earlier exclusively defensive unit, and the Tank is one of the most powerful offensive units in the game, the idea that a spearman can route a tank has become a stand-in for every unlikely victory or defeat in the game. I don't know how many times it's actually happened: one of my tanks was defeated by an Impi, but the tank was down to 2 HP.

People love to complain about Civ3's combat system, especially when the odds do not go their way. Plus, memes are fun to spread on their own . That one's famous enough to get its own emoticon here..

 

[Jerrymander]

I think the actual "spearman v. tank" meme started with Civ3

Too bad, it didn't.

 

[kivanc]

@Smellincoffee
info of d-day: civ1 was published before civ3

 

[r_rolo1]

I think the actual "spearman v. tank" meme started with Civ3: because of the combat system, it was possible for a very lucky spearman (1.2.1) to route a tank (16.8.2, I think)



Since the spearman is the earlier exclusively defensive unit, and the Tank is one of the most powerful offensive units in the game, the idea that a spearman can route a tank has become a stand-in for every unlikely victory or defeat in the game. I don't know how many times it's actually happened: one of my tanks was defeated by an Impi, but the tank was down to 2 HP.

People love to complain about Civ3's combat system, especially when the odds do not go their way. Plus, memes are fun to spread on their own . That one's famous enough to get its own emoticon here..

The spear in civ III does not have to be so lucky as that : IIRC a elite spear fortified in a fully developed defenses hill city with the tank crossing a river had 40% chances of winning every hit point... if ( as a lot of people did and do ) offensive is pressed with very weakened tanks it is not that unlikely to see a tank going down in that situation. Oh, and the combat system of civ III also helps a lot with that

 

[Vonreuter]

Koning, it was Civ I, as somebody suggested above. I haven't played Civ II either - I jumped straight from I to III and then IV.

 

[azzaman333]

The spear in civ III does not have to be so lucky as that : IIRC a elite spear fortified in a fully developed defenses hill city with the tank crossing a river had 40% chances of winning every hit point... if ( as a lot of people did and do ) offensive is pressed with very weakened tanks it is not that unlikely to see a tank going down in that situation. Oh, and the combat system of civ III also helps a lot with that

Mostly it's people overestimating their odds of victory complaining that they lost because they maximise their odds.

 

[TheWilltoAct]

Or just the fact that we hate to see a loss happen, even if it's only a 1 in 100 chance.