What is a good Army size?

[Kerosene31]

It depends if you want to have a large enough army to keep the AI from DOWing you, or just to defend yourself.

If you want the AI to stop thinking you are weak, watch the military advisor screen and make sure your army doesn't fall behind your neighbors.

 

[headcase]

You can press F9 at any time to compare your "number of soldiers" (which admittedly can be misleading) to the best and worst. A small protective civ can get away with less, especially against the weak AI, but the smaller the army, the more wars you get.

 

[Captain_Jack]

My last game I won a science victory on Emperor without building more than 2 warriors and an archer. Didn't even upgrade them.

That has never been my experience. I have graduated to Emperor and it is a race to build enough defensive forces to withstand the first early, senseless, and brutal attack. I generally don't pay tribute, but even if I do the attacks still come.
I like the idea of a standing army 1/3 or 1/2 that of the biggest rival. One thing I do think is vital is to have an offensive force in addition to good city defense. Unless I bring an army into enemy terrritory I can never secure peace on halfway decent terms.

 

[mbbcam]

The post that you quote dates from August 2011. I can't remember when the last patches and updates were, but I think quite a lot must have happened to the game in the intervening period. The earliest versions of the game (before the expansions came out) were notable for AI aggression, but the last version not so much. Where you settle can make quite a difference (settling towards an AI quite often triggers aggression) and some AIs are just naturally aggressive whatever you do. The Huns, the Zulu and Montezuma are always a pain.

 

[Browd]

Moderator Action: This is why necroing 7 year old threads is dangerous. What was relevant to the vanilla game (2011 vintage) is not relevant to a G&K or BNW game, with the result that replies can either be based on misinformation or can spread misinformation, to the detriment of vanilla, G&K and BNW players alike, who may not be able to tell what advice is relevant or correct for their game. Thread closed.