What are your opinions on the "Horse Whispering" quests rewards?

[Bursk]

I like the rewards for this quest, but always find myself choosing the +1 food from stables option. Does anyone think the free Horse Archers is a good choice? I think it could be, but the fact that the Horse Archers start with 0XP is a bit of a bummer.

Maybe it would be better if they started with a small amount of XP, maybe 3 or even 5. This way, if you were at war/preparing for war, the free Horse Archers would be a fine choice.

 

[Yzman]

I used the free horse archers while I was in a war, came in real handy.

 

[Spearthrower]

This event just saved the entire game for me..... sounds over the top, but it's true.

Playing as Rameses of the Byzantines, I had Louis of India to the north and east of me. With random personalities on, I can only guess that he was a monty.... he had declared on me a number of times already, but this time his culture was 2 tiles from my border city and his first move of the war was to move in a god awful stack of axes and swords into my territory - the city was sure to be doomed but I got the final stable required and the horse archers rode straight into that city, bolstering the defense sufficiently to stop the AI from attacking.

 

[meatwad4289]

i did this quest two different times.. first game made no difference... second game... almot exact same scenerio as the guy above me except the AI was Alexander of the Byzantines, no random personalities. Always pleased with me... Always at war with me. We were on other sides of the continent, I was still building up my cities, so when war would come Id be able to handle any effect to my economy. He attacked sooner than i thought with only a handful of units. easily wiped out by city defense, I immediately built ALL military possible to create a stack. he asked for peace, i gave it to him, fearing he would bring another stack before I was ready, this gave me atleast 10 turns of stack building. sure enough, he declared wars 20 turns after peace treaty and attack withed 2 large stacks... 1 stack headed towards my Eastern Border, and another to my South Eastern Border. He attacked my stack on the east, then after his troops were eliminated, I moved them as quickly as possible to the South Eastern Border city, and was able to make it to the square infront of the city. blocking them from entering. eliminated them. After this i healed the units, and the flood of other units joined, I went to attack their north western border. as my ships could see the city only had a handful of troops. I sent my troops there, and a few spys out to watch activity outside my border. I seen 2 more larger stacks, heading to my eastern border, When i got in their NorthWest city radius, the 2 stacks took off in that direction. All of my troops were wiped out, as were most of theirs. Then out of no where my spies watching the Southeast border discovered a HUGE stack heading in. As my defense stack went and died on the offense i was screwed. Then I got the messagei Finished the quest.. Free Horsemen? YES!!!I put them and what ever troops i could gather in the city. Slaughtered them. Alexander asked for peace I declined. Generally asking for peace after such actions means he has no military or funding. I sent the horsemen into his territory and took his northwestern City. then asked for peace. We struggled with war, then peace for a longtime, it slowed us down. When I got optics, the other countries discovered liberalism. Then when war came with the others Alexander was my only ally. I was massively overpowered. I just got riflemen, which worked for the first wave, however... the second wave was infantry, the third Mech... IDK HOW THE AI GOT THIS FAR ADVANCED. I quit when it said "sueliman(?) has completed the Manhattan Project. "

 

[Bursk]

Hey, these responses have really surprised me! I was expecting a whole bunch of "You can't beat free food!" replies, but turns out I was mistaken.

How would you guys feel about the HAs you get receiving 2XP i.e. to reflect the fact that they are fresh out of your new stables?

 

[MrCynical]

I'm not that fond of horse archers, since they're crummy at taking cities, so I'd definitely take the free food rather that a bunch of units I'm unlikely to use. I'd have to be in a pretty desperate way military wise for a bunch of horse archers to be worth more.

 

[braindrain]

I'm not that fond of horse archers, since they're crummy at taking cities, so I'd definitely take the free food rather that a bunch of units I'm unlikely to use. I'd have to be in a pretty desperate way military wise for a bunch of horse archers to be worth more.

actually horse archers got a big boost in bts and are worth building/having now. they no longer have the -10% to city attack (still no city raider, i know, but...) and more importantly they have flank attack now. really handy when enemies show up with a bunch of siege engines!

i do agree that free food is hard to pass up though

 

[Antilogic]

Free food? Now I want to get this quest!

 

[Spearthrower]

Hey, these responses have really surprised me! I was expecting a whole bunch of "You can't beat free food!" replies, but turns out I was mistaken.

How would you guys feel about the HAs you get receiving 2XP i.e. to reflect the fact that they are fresh out of your new stables?

Normally I would agree - all that extra food..... but believe me when I say, without those 6 horse archers, I would've lost a couple of cities!


They should definitely come with at least minimal promotions, it's a poor hammer ratio really.

 

[Bast]

I love the +1

 

[Lark]

I think it could be worthwhile to postpone researching the obsoleting techs so that you can build a few more horsemeat-producing stables. I just wish I'd thought of that when it mattered.

Has anybody ever used the middle choice - the free sentry promotion for mounted units?

 

[GoodGame]

The free food is a great, and is my choice unless I'm warmongering. Sentry is fairly useless except in a few units per stack, though good for avoiding bad situations.

 

[Antilogic]

I only create 2-4 sentry units on land for the entire game, typically with a double-Flanking chariot or a horse archer that survives early combat. I'll assign one to each of my invasion stacks, but I don't need all my mounted units with that benefit.

The only benefits I would seriously consider using is the free food (preferred) or the free horse archers (depends on the strategic situation and my military strength).

 

[PibbZ]

If you are fighting a few wars now and then, the Sentry promotion might have a mission aswell. Remember, every horse archer you create afterwards will get the sentry promotion.

If you are able to use your cavalry to get some XP, lets say Combat I, II, III or so, you can save them for a later promotion to Gunship.

Gunship with Sentry can be very useful, and if you manage to get Combat IV on it aswell, the next promotion will be Blitz, making the Gunship even more useful.

Thats how im thinking, always way ahead of me

 

[Mountain Wumpus]

You can't beat free food!

 

[Brancaleone]

Yes you can, free units when the enemy is 1 tile away from your capital!

 

[Antilogic]

If you are fighting a few wars now and then, the Sentry promotion might have a mission aswell. Remember, every horse archer you create afterwards will get the sentry promotion.

If you are able to use your cavalry to get some XP, lets say Combat I, II, III or so, you can save them for a later promotion to Gunship.

Gunship with Sentry can be very useful, and if you manage to get Combat IV on it aswell, the next promotion will be Blitz, making the Gunship even more useful.

Thats how im thinking, always way ahead of me

I'm not following your first part of your post--why do you need more sentry units, exactly? The bonus doesn't stack, so I don't keep more than what I need around. In the Modern Age (where gunships are relevant), I use aircraft to do recon, which is far more effective than wasting a bunch of promotions on your gunships. You can get to Combat IV and Blitz at the same rate if you avoid the Sentry, right? In that case, you might be better off with the food.

 

[Johan^^]

The +1 is just so nice, so unless your really in need of units fast for defending ... I´ll say go with the food

The sentry promotion is a joke compaired to the other options

 

[PibbZ]

You can get to Combat IV and Blitz at the same rate if you avoid the Sentry, right? In that case, you might be better off with the food.

True, but the Sentry promotion doesnt come at a cost of either. I like having fast Gunships with extended visibility for pillaging and picking off wounded units. Ofcourse, aircraft recon can do the same for visibility, but Gunships are more mobile.

 

[Lurking Liu]

Sentry has its uses... The promotion is absolutely free, and it applies to all Mounted units you build from there on out. So your future Elephants, Knights, Cuirassiers, and Cavalry will also start with Sentry at 0xp cost. Hey, who knows... Maybe you'll get the Mighty Knights Quest (or whatever it's called) in the Medival Age. All Knights starting with Flanking I and Sentry for free is pretty okay.

That being said, I normally take the +1 Food bonus as well, since that usually lets me turn a Windmill into a Mine or similar. The free units are great if I'm at war--even if I'm already winning. I like having an extra six units of chaff to throw into the thresher instead of my good units that I used hammers to produce and promote.