I have been playing CIV2 for 14 years now, but started CIV4 only last week, so I won't comment CIV4. Never played CIV3, either.
I have a number of issues with military units, and discussed them with Microprose's developers in 1996...
- archers and catapults attack from a stand-off point, so they should be allowed a "reverse-move" mode. i.e., "shoot from 2 squares away". Same applies for all artillery and tanks.
Ships are at sea, right? So how can it be that a ship will fire upon a land target, not kill the target AND SINK ??? This is ridiculous; if naval units are cat.2 (sea superiority) they should not be "sunk" from land (cat.1) units/targets.
I have edited my "rules.txt" file to better suit the historical characteristics of military units, and now the game is much more amusing.
MY QUESTION: in "rules.txt" I find names for barbarian cities, yet never come across a barbarian city once in so many years gaming... how come?
ALSO
Wouldn't it be nice if, when "finding"/corrupting enemy military units (or mercenary units early in the game), they "gave" us the required technology to build more?
Regards