When to unleash the armies

[Big_Time_Charlie]

I was wondering how and when people start to rely on military units to start wining the game?

I generally try to expand my cities and improvements and get as many wonders in early, as I find it tough to mount a decent campaign before "railroad". In nearly all my games I can never win by might until the old tanks and railrods have all been discovered.

Anyone try and regularly have success with military strategy before Industrialisation??

Cheers



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"It is a well known fact that a bird does not fly on one wing"

 

[duke o' york]

By "relying on military units to win the game", do you mean a total conquest of the world? If you have been relying on expansion so far then you must surely have noticed that one of the best ways to expand is to capture other civilisations' cities. Obviously it would be pointless to pound these cities into the dust as you can't take a city with a population of one, but the computer is entirely unaware that it is possible to buy the rest of whatever you are building and so once you have destroyed the two troops in its city, you can walk in and take the rest, with a cash bonus and sometimes the bonus of technology when they are further ahead than you.

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in vino veritas

 

[Magnus]

For me, conquest before railroads and howitzers can be done, but it is far from dynamic - basically I do it by city hopping, take a city, establish control, then gather forces there, and move up to the next city I can see - generally there are roads at this point, which help.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

I have never had a game reach the point of industrialization/tanks before the outcome has been decided. Any two movement offensive unit (in sufficient numbers) can typically do the trick given the technology of the time because attack strengths are higher than defense. The key is to use diplomats/spies to eliminate city walls (sometimes takes a lot of them) and to bribe cities (you get defenders, citizens and improvements included in the cost), especially once you take out the capital.

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DEATH awaits you all...with nasty, big, pointy teeth.

 

[Magnus]

TimTheEnchanter, I think Big_Time_Charlie was talking about military conquest, which I presumed to be by force, rather than by diplomatic action. Of course 80% of my conquests come in the 'insert coin' variety.

 

[Kev]

I'm with Tim in that I do consider diplomats and spies to be a part of my military effort - much the same way I consider engineers who help with road and rail building for my military. If you are able to take out a civ's capital with units by force, the remaining cities can usually be bought rather cheaply (unless the civ has the cash to move the capital or they are in democracy)

While some consider this "cheesy" or at least less than challenging, it is the best way to assimilate cities into your own civ by far and well within the rules of the game. You lose much less in the way of improvements and population in the target city and you will normally "inherit" built-in defenders. Combined with Leo's, this can provide a rock-solid defense.

When I do use my military, there are usually only a few times I'll go into all-out war:

1. Very early to clear a continent (like to use chariots, horsemen and elephants - the two-movement units that Tim mentioned).
2. If I have monotheism quickly (which I strive to do), Crusaders are good attacking units and I will use them to weaken or remove pesky civs that have not discovered gunpowder yet. In much the same way, if you are first to steam engine then ironclads will win just about every battle against defenders in coastal cities.
3. In the mid-game, If I am able to get bunches of cavalry units from Leo's then I may try some strikes. However, at this point the AI has uaually stolen or discovered gunpowder and built city walls everywhere as well. Often times it's better to wait unti:
4. Robotics. Once I have howitzer capability it's time to crush any civ left standing.

If you concentrate soley on military, it is quite possible to win the game by conquest quite early. Reading some of the reports from people playing GOTM #3, there are people who are winning the game before 1000 AD (and it's on emperor level as well - though it's on a regular-sized map and not a large one)

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Diplomacy - the art of
saying "Good Doggie"
until you can find a rock

[This message has been edited by Kev (edited April 24, 2001).]

 

[Magnus]

yea Kev!

In my civilzations the people ask me "you must be building all these marketplaces and banks to keep us people happy, and all these trade routes for scientific enhancement!" I tell them, no silly, its to fill the big fat wallets of my diplomats, so they can fill the big fat wallets of our fifth columnists, and then we get a kickback when the city is captured.

then I go vacation there.