What should I do with my obsolete Swordsmen?

[e_a_olson]

I've got 28 obsolete Swordsmen, and I can produce Knights. Should I disband the Swordsmen for shields in the cities in which I am building Knights, or should I keep them around for fodder?

 

[fret]

If you are using PTW, you can upgrade them to Medieval Infantry and then to Guerillas.

If your using vanilla Civ 3 then I would either send them to war now or disband them in cities to gain the shileds bonus.

 

[smallmoskito]

make the kamikaze units... send them to war, use them to redline the defender, you don't care if you lose them right?

 

[collin_stp]

Upgrade them to medieval infantry, and attack another neighbor. If I had that many left, I would have turned my sights straight for another neighbor , it is best to use them up attacking. If you don't want to waste the gold, they can still kill a pikeman, or a knight, just not very efficiently, but much more efficient than disbanding them for shield production. Just my 2 euro cents.

 

[e_a_olson]

Originally posted by fret
If your using vanilla Civ 3 then I would either send them to war now or disband them in cities to gain the shileds bonus.

I am... so I guess I'll go harass the Iroquios.

 

[mbrown]

You can use them to occupy enemey cities.

You can use them as "bait" to attract more powerful enemy units, such as knights or cavalry".

You can upgrade them

You can disband them.

 

[Turner]

Originally posted by mbrown
You can upgrade them

As he said he's playing Vanilla Civ3, he can't. Unless he's modded it or playing a mod.

I'd use them as cannon fodder...

 

[AdHHH]

Remember to keep the Elites, upgrade the rest to Medieval Infantry

 

[nullspace]

As long as you're not paying a lot of maintenance to keep them around, obsolete units work fine for military police, quelling resistors, and preventing cities from flipping. But if you're a republic or democracy and they cost you gold every turn, disband them.

 

[whitecow]

Since your playing Vanilla use them as kamikazi units. Even if they have 1 hit point through them at a pikeman maybe they'll win maybe the won't, but it is better then disbanding them because if you are lucky they might capture that city that you really want.

 

[Chieftess]

Use them for resistence control too. That way, if the city does flip, you're not losing good units.

 

[MachDelta]

I like to use my obsolete units as police during wartime, and then disband them after the war to boost production in the newly captured cities.

 

[JMK]

What to do with 28 obsolete swordsmen?
I see 5 possibilities:
- Go to war NOW and try to get something out of these 28 units.
- Disband them for sheilds in city where you really need them. (I wouldn't disband swordsmen to build knights! disbanding a swordsman will bring you 7 shields, building a knight would request 70 shields). I wouldn't recommend disbanding units unless your tresory is low, because AI will notice that your Military is getting weak.
- Keep them for future resistance control or 'culture flip suppression'.
- Keep them for future war time; and disband them to rush something while the city is under resistance. (3 swordsmen would make a Wall).
- Upgrading Swordsmen to Medieval Infantry would cost you 20 Gold. I would not upgrade Swordsmen to Med Infantry unless I am planning a war against Pike.
Keep in mind that 28 Swordsmen during the Middle Ages can still make some damage!

 

[TomOC]

Here is another use. I sometimes use them as a decoy. I send them toward an enemy city, away from where my primary attack will be... sometimes sending them around enemy lines via galley's and landing them deep in enemy territory. I try to fortify them on a mountain. This makes the AI send troops up to attack the invading swordsmen, opening up a window for my mighty knights to attack! If the AI does not send troops up, the swordsmen have a field day pillaging the enemy's countryside.

 

[troytheface]

i agree with the decoy suggestion out of all options. The AI ALWAYS attacks ur weakest units. I would divide my sword into two stacks of sword and enter enemy territory at two different invasion points and let ur opponents rush to attack them...while ur REAL invasion stack hits TRUE target cities.

 

[viper275]

Use them in wars now. According to the official strategy guide for vanilla Civ3, the Pikemen have a defensive bonus versus mounted units, making swordsmen surprisingly effective attackers in the early Middle Ages.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Use them as cannon-fodder. Might as well get something out of them.

 

[1337]

I always have leftover swordsmen. What I do is, later when they become obsolete, throw 'em on a transport and attack the enemy with them. Sure they cant beat riflemen but bring along some good people and you'll wip them and you don't have any swordsmen troubles anymore.

 

[1337]

Besides swordsmen aren't all that bad. In another article a basicaly got that attacking is also part chance. If you have 30 or so obsolete swordsmen like i usually do then through them in with your assault if possible. You might take something out.