Useful promotions?

[vendur]

It really depends. If you're making them come to you, and you're suffering something like a 3 on 1 attack plus bombardment, then yes, Drill can be vital for defense since you will need both the Drill bonuses and the terrain bonuses. The unit might not survive attack, even then.

When you're the one attacking, then it's a different story. Drill lets you attack entrenched units better, while Shock allows you to survive attacking units in open terrain, which is the best time to attack them.

Or you can use Horsemen and then retreat them behind Drill units. That works, too.

Oh, come on now. The computer is terrible at using terrain defensively. Simply dont attack entrenched positions, unless they are archers/siege engine, in which case you can usually wipe them out with minimal damage regardless.

 

[filorux]

For ships I've found no need for anything other than the land bombard option so far. I usually build my triremes up to 30 exp by skirmishing with barbarians. They get upgraded to frigates when the tech is available and then use them against coastal cities (and cities 1 hex inland too) until they have 60 exp. Then I pick the extra range which is very useful. Then upgrade to destroyers which gives a free indirect fire promotion and that is nearly as good as a battleship, 3 tiles range, indirect fire (hills in the way are so annoying ) and 40% more damage.

Couldn't agree more. Consider this - typically if you build 2 triremes you will have a naval numbers advantage all game long (if not absolutely, then certainly in each specific engagement). This is good enough for me to skip targeting promos. In fact, in the couple of immortal games where I found that I was significantly outnumbered in navy, guess what the AI did with its advantage? Squandered it by fleeing all of its ships to the north or south pole, where I cornered it with two frigates and picked it apart one ship at a time. I'm not sure if I was more surprised at the fact that it basically gave away all those ships, or that it had that many in the first place. The bombard promos simply ensure that your destroyers remain relevant longer. If the game drags on, there is a point where they will only be bombarding cities for 1 damage every 6 shots or so, however.

 

[HermannLombard]

I usually split my forces, half drill, half shock in case I need one promotion over the other.

Have you noticed that the unit you need is always at the other end of the line?

 

[Roxlimn]

Oh, come on now. The computer is terrible at using terrain defensively. Simply dont attack entrenched positions, unless they are archers/siege engine, in which case you can usually wipe them out with minimal damage regardless.

It's different when you're playing at the higher difficulties. The large unit numbers the computer gets means that you are forced into defensive fighting, which prioritizes Drill for defense and either Horsemen or Artillery for actual unit killing. This works remarkably well when you're suffering a monstrous unit disadvantage.

When you're at par or at advantage, it doesn't work the same way. Using that paradigm only slows you down. Less risky, ultimately, but slower, so not without its disadvantages.

When attacking with numbers on your side, you may need to remove entrenched units to allow the rest of your army to pass and take more cities. Having Drill on that unit allows you to take the position with minimal losses. Having Shock minimizes losses from bombardment, so you can literally just walk right up to the city and take it - sometimes without even using Siege.

 

[vendur]

It's different when you're playing at the higher difficulties. The large unit numbers the computer gets means that you are forced into defensive fighting, which prioritizes Drill for defense and either Horsemen or Artillery for actual unit killing. This works remarkably well when you're suffering a monstrous unit disadvantage.

When you're at par or at advantage, it doesn't work the same way. Using that paradigm only slows you down. Less risky, ultimately, but slower, so not without its disadvantages.

When attacking with numbers on your side, you may need to remove entrenched units to allow the rest of your army to pass and take more cities. Having Drill on that unit allows you to take the position with minimal losses. Having Shock minimizes losses from bombardment, so you can literally just walk right up to the city and take it - sometimes without even using Siege.

the computer does not "hide in the trees" for any sort of tactical advantage. It's pretty rare to even see trees anywhere near cities after turn 100 or so, cause the computer usually chops them all on the higher difficulties. The trees are usually on the outskirts of their territory. Your logic about bombardment really makes no sense because: bombardment is a joke on the higher difficulties. It's pretty low priority on the "what am i worried about list". It really sounds like you got it all backwards. You use drill for unit preservation/attrition, and shock for when you just want to do maximum damage to a unit. ideally, you want to one hit killl everything in melee with your siege/melee units, especially on deity/immortal, and make your weak archer-type units the most unnattractive to attack and hopefully survive an attack if needed.

 

[alpaca]

I should like to add that, despite the tool-tip not showing it, that promotion bonuses do count when attacking cities. The attack strength for your unit shows it, though. I'm not sure if flanking bonuses count, too, but shock/drill does depending on the terrain the city is on.

 

[Roxlimn]

vendur:

I'm only guessing. I haven't played Immortal and it sounds like I never will because I don't think I'll like the way the game plays at that setting.

That said, at King, the AI does station and fortify its units on hills and it does leave banks of trees around. I've observed an AI vs AI battle take on forever with Longbows vs. Landsknecht. Despite Elizabeth being twice the size of Bismark, Longbows don't get Indirect Fire, so Bismarck was using the trees to screen fire and attack Longbows once they got into the foliage.

Based on what I'm playing now, I use Shock so that my troops survive Artillery shelling long enough to actually get past the flatland to attack his Artillery.

 

[tibbles]

Ooh, I'll have to remember the M and B keys. I wanted a force melee attack for ranged so they wouldn't plink at something to capture. Wasn't aware it was already implemented.