What to Garrison Cities with?

[manu-fan]

Hi,

In Civ 4, it was all about Archers with defensive promotions. Now, in Civ 5, cities have their own defense, so it's not as critical. Am I also right in thinking that Archers are bad because the'd have to un-garrison to be able to fire (which you'd want them to be doing)?

I've been just using Warriors to garrison all my cities. Is that what you would recommend?

Thanks.

 

[Nanzook]

I prefer to garrison Archers above all then ballistic like weapons. The archers get a defensive promotional tree as well. The real bonus is the extra ranged attack.

 

[Monthar]

Artillery is good because it too can get the extra range promotion and, unlike the archers, can shoot over the forests, hills and mountains around the city as long as at least one of your units can see the target for them. Plus they start with a 3 tile range, so their extended range promotion takes them to 4 tiles.

 

[E66man]

Artillery is good because it too can get the extra range promotion and, unlike the archers, can shoot over the forests, hills and mountains around the city as long as at least one of your units can see the target for them.

The Archer line also can get the Indirect Fire promotion, but it's deep in there.

 

[Jenarie]

Don't think low level troops really add enough defense to be worth it for a garrison. That said I do like to keep troops in a few cities depending on my situation but it isn't for the extra city strength it is to come out and pick off barbarians before they destroy my improvements and to kill off any attackers before they can wear down the city. One horseman can cover several cities or if you want to actually keep a unit in the city then I like some sort of ranged unit because you can help kill whatever is attacking from safety.

 

[count23]

I've found garrisoning to be completely pointless, it's much more effective to seperate your troops from your cities and use the cities defences for fire support. Typically they can take out any barbarian unit that you have, and if the enemy has been able to get through your army to get to your city, chances are one extra ranged attack per turn is not going to help you.

When you attack and capture an enemy city though, it is a different story, chances are you're not going to be able to hold it for very long if an entire enemy army is approaching even if you garrison in the city (and you lose a unit for trying if they beat you back).

but that's all single player, not sure about MP.

 

[kamex]

I'm guessing any indirect fire unit. Not experimented with this much, not needed to, but archers, crossbows (and their replacements), cannons and esp. Artillery are best.

This is because they can inflict damage without leaving the tile and thus loosing their defensive bonus.

Still, I can't help but feel that defending a city by garrisoning a catapult is a bit lame and unrealistic...

 

[wurstburst]

I don't usually garrison troops in a city. The extra defense they provide for the city is very little. All that does is lose you a unit when the city falls.

Instead, place your units outside the city to engage the enemy troops from good defensive ground. If the overwhelm and take the city, that's one more unit you have to retake the city (and cause them to lose the unit they have in the city).

If your city isn't in danger of being taken, there's nothing better than a ranged unit (any kind) to add to the city bombardment. A city plus a ranged unit can normally hold off 2 or 3 units attacking if you concentrate fire and if they aren't too ahead in tech.

So, if your city is under heavy attack, garrison nothing. If you get a weak attack on a city, a ranged unit can take care of business.

Take all those units you would have garrisoned in a city. Form them up in little armies of 5 or 6 units and head them off to take an enemy city. Leave a few units scattered around your empire to deal with invaders. Offense is your best defense.

 

[stormerne]

One point forgotten so far: if you have Military Caste (Honor tree) then garrisoned units are -1, useful if you're having happiness problems. In that case, a scout would do! Otherwise, take the fight to the opposition and attack.

 

[LordTC]

Depending on your setup, sometimes a city is a best place for a unit, if you are being attacked. It's harder to counterattack your unit, and you have access to your roads to make sorties, and hit opposing units. With the high cost of roads, having units in defensive positions outside your cities often means they aren't very mobile.

 

[elthrasher]

I don't usually garrison troops in a city. The extra defense they provide for the city is very little. All that does is lose you a unit when the city falls.

Instead, place your units outside the city to engage the enemy troops from good defensive ground. If the overwhelm and take the city, that's one more unit you have to retake the city (and cause them to lose the unit they have in the city).

If your city isn't in danger of being taken, there's nothing better than a ranged unit (any kind) to add to the city bombardment. A city plus a ranged unit can normally hold off 2 or 3 units attacking if you concentrate fire and if they aren't too ahead in tech.

So, if your city is under heavy attack, garrison nothing. If you get a weak attack on a city, a ranged unit can take care of business.

Take all those units you would have garrisoned in a city. Form them up in little armies of 5 or 6 units and head them off to take an enemy city. Leave a few units scattered around your empire to deal with invaders. Offense is your best defense.

Yeah, this is the way. In my current game I have 37 cities (and counting). To try to garrison all those cities would be a massive waste of money, hammers and time. My first plays through I liked the SP that gives happy from a garrison (Military Caste?), but since then I've come to realize that that really isn't at all efficient.

 

[Bibor]

On what to garrison the answer is pretty simple: melee units. Don't be fooled, foot units (including mech. inf.) can make a significant boost to city .

Ranged units make superb city defenders, but not as garrison. Your ranged unit (say artillery) becomes invunerable as long as the city stands.

When to garrison is a better question. If you're under naval attack and have no nearby ranged units available, it's a good idea to garrison a non-ranged unit because they can't fire at ships anyway.

If you're defending a city from a land-based attack, the garrisoned unit steals a very valuable hex that could and should be filled by a ranged unit instead. Exception to this rule if the city has very few attackers and if the new, higher city gained from garrison makes the enemy hesitant to attack.

Military Caste with scouts, due to unit upkeep costs, is always a horrible idea. When in peace, use your standing army for city garrison, with the fastest ones (cavalry, tanks) being garrisoned in the cities farther away from enemy borders. Just remember that you loose this happiness bonus as soon as a war breaks out.

All this somewhat changes with the introduction of long-range bombardment (fighters, bombers, missiles etc.) as high city diretly affects how badly you damage the attacking aircraft and how much punishment your city can take before its reduced to rubble. It's entirely possible that a city with a Military base and a garrisoned mech. inf. will do more damage to aircraft than they will do to the city.

 

[Tabarnak]

One point forgotten so far: if you have Military Caste (Honor tree) then garrisoned units are -1, useful if you're having happiness problems. In that case, a scout would do! Otherwise, take the fight to the opposition and attack.

This. And if you lose a city with a unit in it, you lose the unit as well. But hey, its only a scout.

 

[Tabarnak]

Military Caste with scouts, due to unit upkeep costs, is always a horrible idea.

.

Always, hmm no. Well i find very useful to keep scouts in cities while my main army go defend or attack ennemies, while i keep happiness bonus from Military Caste.

And money should almost never be a problem in later stages, even with a very large army. If you do have problems, bring your big army in foreign cities and capture/pillage them.

 

[elthrasher]

The Giant Death Robot adds +30 to your city's defense. Park one of those in each city and you're good to go.

 

[strategynoob]

Still, I can't help but feel that defending a city by garrisoning a catapult is a bit lame and unrealistic...

Might I remind you of this highly realistic, historically accurate engagement where that very tactic held off an entire army of knights?

Spoiler :

 

[/solar/]

Might I remind you of this highly realistic, historically accurate engagement where that very tactic held off an entire army of knights?

Building on cows is also vital to this strategy.

OT: most of the time the unit I have garrisoned is whatever is damaged.

 

[Botzarelli]

Garrisoning units does mean that you can't rush buy a unit in that city without moving your garrison out.

 

[Monthar]

...When to garrison is a better question. If you're under naval attack and have no nearby ranged units available, it's a good idea to garrison a non-ranged unit because they can't fire at ships anyway...

Ranged units can attack ships. What they can't attack is embarked units.

 

[Nunya]

Ranged units can attack ships. What they can't attack is embarked units.

Actually they can. Only instead of right clicking the embarked unit you have to use the "ranged attack" icon from the list of possible orders.

As for garrisoning, it's generally best to stick in a ranged unit. City attacks are rather weak so the extra damage from a ranged unit's attack is usually higher than than the extra damage from having a unit garrisoned.

That is if you want it for defensive purposes. If you want it for Military Caste it doesn't matter much what you garrison. But note that you're getting 1 hapiness at the cost of 3+ gold. Might even be as high as 9 gold if the game is long enough. Even a Stadium, the worst happiness building, gives 4 happiness for 6 gold so it's much more efficient.

The main purpose of Military Caste as I see it is to make the army you'd have anyway useful during times of peace and for short bursts of extra happiness that make it easeir to annex conquered cities.