To Mobilize Or Not To Mobilize

[magnusmarcus]

I am currently playing as the Americans and recently built the Hoover Dam Wonder. Being Industrious this kicked me into a Golden Age which I thought may be too late to be of much use....Except I also decided to mobilize at the same time to find out if the effects would compound.. They do. Essentially all my core cities and (some that weren't) were pumping out a tank every turn. Combined with a lot of airports I was fielding 12-16 Tanks straight to the front lines every turn. My Best Producing City was Knocking out 210 Shields every turns (With IronWorks) at the end of the Industrial age. Needless to say I've found a new friend with mobilization.

 

[Bismarck]

I used to be skeptical of the mobilization option until a few games ago, when I was preparing for a war of elimination against the Zulu. I had already crippled them fatally by stealing 3-4 of their cities in a previous war, so now I just wanted to finish them off as quickly as possible (to avoid war-weariness and culture penalties).

I found mobilization to be a tremendous aid in this. My tank production increased 35-40%, allowing me to swamp the Zulus with numbers. True, I couldn't build temples in conquered cities, but then I had stronger culture than the Zulus, so I didn't really need to.

Moral: if you're going to be fighting a quick war of elimination vs. a culturally inferior enemy, then by all means consider mobilizing. It'll speed up your victory.

 

[peace_frog]

I don't think you can vote yes without making it conditional.

I like to use mobilization when I know I can get peace with somebody in at least a few turns, or when I am winding down a war. If I know I can exit within a few turns, the only negative is not being able to rush temples in newly captured cities. Unless the city is strategically crucial during the war (i.e. a needed supply line with RR to the front or a beachhead on a new continent), flipping during war is a manageable risk. You just don't want to leave too large a garrison in the city. If it flips during the war, just take it back. It will only have one defender in it. The chances are low each turn and the shield bonus will be applied to the temple once you switch back after mobilization. (although I'm usually starving newly captured cities so I'm not getting much shield output to be boosted anyway.)

Mobilization can also improve non-war oriented development. If you know you can switch out of it within a few turns, change all the production on your coastal cities to battleship. When you end mobilization, switch it back to whatever you want in the city. You then apply the shield bonus to the university/hospital/whatever you want to build. All of these strategies only work for short spurts of mobilization.