Tip for an Axeman rush

[Betafor]

Have a Medic 1 warrior in your axe rush - sorry if this is old just thought of this, thoughts?

pro-
duh-not wasting a promo on a precious axeman
axe+warrior have same movement, so easy to keep up
warrior costs a WHOLE lot less, and you can build them pre-emptivley(before copper)
easily replaced

con-
almost no chance of upgrading to medic 2

 

[Cam_H]

I do the same thing more or less with Scouts.

I know it's popular to go with the Woodsman I + II promotions, but I tend to go with Combat I + Medic I as an early 'Explorer Medic' with two moves per turn 'to boot'.

Provided you don't run into Bears, a Scout fortified on a forested/jungle hill stands a good chance against Panthers, Wolves, and Lions, and you've got a reasonable chance of getting five XPs. If you spot a Bear in the distance, find another forested hill!

 

[Betafor]

what use is 2 movement, tho, unless u are chariot/horse rushing? axe can go 1 per turn.

 

[DrewBledsoe]

Only thing now, is that If I've an axe rush intended, then taking a few turns at 0% research, means all those city raider II warriors (promos gained against animals) are now CRII axemen, kinda guarantees you success

 

[Betafor]

I suppose that depends on your objective. For taking one city, maybe, but for going on a continent killing axe rush(i've done it before, but not above prince), you need the stability more than one extra promo(The CR2)

 

[Andrei_V]

I'd rather have an Axe with Medic. It would typically have a chance (by killing weakened units) to get promoted to March.

 

[checkraiser]

I'd rather have an Axe with Medic. It would typically have a chance (by killing weakened units) to get promoted to March.

Something I've always been curious about. Which is more valuable, march or medic II?

 

[DrewBledsoe]

There are loads of ways to do it (thats why civ is so replayable).

Since I only play marathon, huge maps, you've generally plenty of time to build a mass of warriors before you get connected to copper / iron, get all the warriors to 5 xp then retire back to cities, then gradually upgrade them whilst also producing new axemen.I've found this way you've a proper force with relevant promotions(say around 12-15 axemen) to go and take out at least a good part of one of your nearest neighbours land before they are anywhere near ready for it.

You'd need dozens to take out an averaged sized huge map continent, and the cost would have you bankrupt before you got anywhere near it on monarch or above (I would even bet it would on noble but I can't remember )

 

[Esox]

Which is more valuable, march or medic II?

Depends on how you wage war. I prefer March - it enables expeditionary units that can move farther into AI territory. Good for pillaging, and scouting if you don't have a complete map.
But I also like to have a couple with Medic II, to heal adjacent units when I separate my stacks to avoid collateral damage from catapults.

 

[Sisiutil]

I prefer to have a Spearman in the stack with Combat I/Medic I.

The Spear can ably defend the stack from mounted units, first off, so I recommend including a Spearman in a stack regardless of how you choose to promote him. But in addition, unless the attacker is a mounted unit, the Spear will almost always be the LAST unit chosen to defend the stack from attack because he's weaker (strength 4 rather than 5, and enemy Axes get a bonus against melee units like Spearmen). If you have a stack of Combat I or City Raider I Axes and one Combat I/Medic I Axe, the latter will get chosen to defend just because he has more promotions. Thus, your medic unit is more likely to survive to heal the other units if it's NOT an Axeman.

And as Betafor pointed out, you don't really need a Medic unit that moves faster than your slowest-moving attacker. I prefer to use fast-moving units for scouting and pillaging, and they benefit from different promotions (Flanking, Sentry, Combat) for those purposes.

As for Medic II versus March, I almost never split up my stacks, so Medic II is of limited value to me. Dispersed stacks just seems to invite suicide Catapult attacks that weaken all of my units rather than just a few of them. There also isn't usually enough good defensive terrain to go around. I'd rather ensconce my stack on one forested hill than have several units inviting attack out on open terrain.

If I'm facing a lot of mounted units, I'll often forgo March and give the Spearmen (and, later, Pikemen) Combat and eventually Formation promotions.

 

[Andrei_V]

Something I've always been curious about. Which is more valuable, march or medic II?

I think it's March. Medic II works mostly right after capturing the city, for 1 turn or so, while your stack is split into two. If you have 2 Medic units, you don't even need it.

March works all the time, while the stack moves from city to city, and cannot be compensated by whatever number of Medics you have.

 

[alpha wolf 64]

The reason I use scouts as medics is that they have value for the entire game, until the red cross, so they can go with my cavalry and tank attacks.

 

[Watiggi]

Does the March promotions work with the Medic promotion to also heal all the units in the stack while it's moving or does the March only affect the unit and the other units have to stop to heal?

I am not a particular fan of March, unless there is some sort of quicker healing there. A unit, on its own (ie, a Keshik/Immortal rush), with March, injured, in enemy territory, takes a while to heal (I think it's 0.3 strength per turn or something). As such the unit can get picked off easily. I usually like my units having Combat promotions and after Combat III, I gave them March but they got picked off quickly behind enemy lines. Combat III, March and Medic is good (taking the Combat route first), as they can heal quickly in enemy territory quickly. But then, I found out how powerful Combat V is. I have never looked back since: Combat V March units are great on their own in enemy territory (they have both 50% increase in strength and also heal quicker in neutral and enemy territories. March allows this quick healing, strong unit to heal on the run too). Now they only need Commando...

 

[Andrei_V]

If you have large enough stack, you can just 'cycle' the units. The healthy ones attack next city, the rest rests for healing. Then march to another city, if you have a Medic+March in your stack.

Units that did not participate in the previous attack are now healed and can attack. The injured ones rest. And so on. March from city to city without need to stop for healing.

Also, March works when you load/unload units to the sea transports.

 

[Dairuka]

If I have horses; I like to use a single Chariot to hunt down Barbs in the early game. Once he hits 10 XP, I give him Medic II, return him to the home base, and then do the same with another Chariot.

These Chariots usually last me until the very end of the game.

 

[Pantastic]

Does the March promotions work with the Medic promotion to also heal all the units in the stack while it's moving or does the March only affect the unit and the other units have to stop to heal?

March and Medic are completely seperate, march affects one unit, medic affects the stack. A unit with march and medic always heals at the medic rate, but an ordinary unit in his stack only heals while stationary (edit). If you have a unit with medic but not march and a unit with march but not medic, the marching unit will heal at the medic rate while moving.

 

[Watiggi]

March and Medic are completely seperate, march affects one unit, medic affects the stack. A unit with march and medic always heals at the medic rate, ...

Yep. I already found that out. Thanks

If you have a unit with medic but not march and a unit with march but not medic, the marching unit will heal at the medic rate while moving.

That, I didn't know. Nice to know. Thanks

There seems to be posts in this thread that either point out or imply that a unit with March and Medic, in a stack, can heal all units at the same time, whilest on the move. Thanks for clarifying it for me. I didn't think that could/would happen.

I tell you though, the Medic III promotion is going to be interesting: Combat VI, March and Medic III would be cool - especially for a lone mounted unit.

 

[Pantastic]

Right, you want a medic in your stack for your marching units but it doesn't help non-march units when they're stationary.
Also, I fixed the moving/stationary mixup.

 

[Calavente]

as for heal :
I think a unit can heal while in moving a naval unit :
the land unit transported is not moving from the second turn ?
the boat can even go to neutral lands without losing heal turns.
it is even best if the damaged unit mounts in the boat from a newly conquered city or n the turn of the damage, effectively losing the less turns.

ie : entering in a galleon after a battle may be useful to go to the second/third next battle site, even if the trail is a bit longer than by land as your unit can heal while moving even without march, and can heal without being attacked by the opponent. (especially if the galleons are protected by attacking naval units)

can somebody confirm this?
may naval units have to medic I promotion?

 

[Andrei_V]

Yes, you can heal using naval units. They all can get Medic after Combat I. Yes, units heal while the transport itself is moving, since the units aren't. Yes, loading the damaged unit from the captured city onto the fleet with a Medic boat makes sense, unless you have Medic II in the stack.

There can be more damaged units in the attacking stack, of course, but if the stack has Medic (especially with March) on its own, they'd better stay where they are.