What to do with excess military?

[tigerden27]

I'm fairly early in a game (before Gunpowder) and I've just vanquished my sole enemy on the continent. I misjudged taking his last two cities, so I have a decent amount of extra military about. (Usually I try to time it so that I take the final city with just enough military might.)

So what do I do with this military. They are primarily offensive melee units (macemen, etc...) and siege (catapults). So they really wouldn't make good defenders. Some of them are in the 20s with promotions, so those I would probably keep those. I figure the few horse-archers I still have will make good skirmishers, if an AI tries to establish a foothold. (But I really don't see that happening.)

What are the costs associated with keeping a military just sitting around?

Do I get anything from disbanding them?

I know this depends a bit on Civics, but assume I only have the military Civics early in the game plus Organized Religion. I plan on switching back to OR from Theology in the next turn.

 

[Breunor]

Check your fnancial advosor. It will tell you what you pay for military. If you are paying too much, disband some.

Or, as you siad, you can sometimes change civics. The military is very expensive if you have pacificm.

Usually, you get a certain number of free units. Above that you will be paying for them. Assess how much you need your military, and disband some if it isn't needed.

Also, if you start moving up technologies, it may be better to have a few good upgraded units than more older/weaker ones.

Breunor

 

[cleverhandle]

So what do I do with this military. They are primarily offensive melee units (macemen, etc...) and siege (catapults). So they really wouldn't make good defenders. Some of them are in the 20s with promotions, so those I would probably keep those. I figure the few horse-archers I still have will make good skirmishers, if an AI tries to establish a foothold. (But I really don't see that happening.)

I would certainly keep siege units around as invasion defenders just as you do with horse units. The AI, while still far from perfect at invasions, is at least smart enough to hold off invasions until it has a somewhat suitable stack and you'll want siege units to wear those stacks down. Gone are the Civ3 days where an AI would send a transport halfway around the world to drop off a single spearman in the 19th century. In my current game, I was invading Rome with a quite substantial invasion force when Caesar sent over his own - dropped off eight units, mostly cavalry, right next to a city. One turn away was another invasion fleet with 3 full transports of mixed foot soldiers and artillery. I had 3 artillery, a few tanks, and a few infantry in range so I was just barely able to wipe out the stack, and I had a nearby fleet that sunk the follow-up transports. But I definitely needed the troops, and would have been hard-pressed had I been playing Civ3-style where I would send nearly every unit in the empire forward to the frontlines.

As for the Macemen - if those have City Raider promos, they're one of the most valuable units in the game IME. Macemen upgrade to Muskets/Rifles/Infantry/MI's, all of which have high strength values but none of which can naturally take City Raider. In every military game I've played, I've gained a huge advantage using a squad of City Raider Rifles/Infantry upgraded from old Mace units. I would keep at least 8 of them around, if not more.

Now, if you really do own your whole continent and it's still pre-Astronomy maybe you're willing to take the chance of disbanding the units and rebuilding modern ones later in the game to save on maintenance. That's a judgment call and maybe not a bad move, but I definitely wouldn't underestimate the value of the troops you already have.

 

[dh_epic]

Sometimes you have to disband them or suicide them. But, for sentimental reasons, I upgrade all but the most inexperienced units.

A lot of people complain about the upgrade costs, but I still think we're getting off cheap. Having several advanced and experienced units in a single turn is well worth the cost of the upgrade. It's just a question of planning on having that much money, or slowing research down a few turns to pull it off.