Which units in an army?

[willphase]

All,

Which units do you put in an army - or do you avoid them all together?

When I first played the game, I put some offensive units in, but then afterwards I thought that most cities have more than one defending unit in there - and your army, although it's very unlikely to lose because of it's large hit-points, will only ever be able to take down one unit each turn - so it's better to leave offensive units out?

Then I thought I'ld try putting an army with three defensive units in it - but then it means that if an enemy comes at you with enough firepower they can batter your army down because it'll be defending over and over again in the same turn.

So nowadays whenever I get a great leader I always use it to rush a wonder, and only convert my GLs to armies to open up the option of building a military academy.

What do you all think?

-Will

 

[shdwlord]

I usually put my best offensive units in an army. Cavalry works great for this, it keeps its 3 movement rate, and can take out a fortified infantry. I have only made an infantry army once, and that was because I didnt have horses. I used it offensively too. Mixing offensive and defensive units in an army cuts down the options that you have, you are limited by the slowest unit in the army. Keeping the same types of unit in an army basically results in you having a 15 health unit, 20 health if you build the pentagon. There aren't many situations where a defender can stand up to that unless they are way ahead in tech and your army is obsolete. Just remember, 1 unit, whether an army, or single unit, can rarely take a city. Even with armies, you still must bring stacks to achieve your objectives.

 

[smallstepforman]

Use Armies to take out the best defender. Think of them as reusable expensive instant-gib machines. With 1.17f and multimove units, you can attack multiple times. Armies are my first attack units, but you still need support units to mop up.

 

[Allemand]

My first army is usually 3 knights. It gets the needed victory to build the minor wonders, then it hangs around for awhile before I disband it. On disbanding, I get 100 shields which is a pretty good deal.

 

[erix]

I always put tanks in armies. I put them in transport and try to get my enemies coastal cities. Specially the ones with harbors to hinder their trade ability.

 

[Buecephalus]

I like putting legions in armies. While their movement is slow, they are very balanced attack/defend-wise. I always try to field at least one offensive army in a game, and then I usually use my GL's to build J.S. Bach, Sistine, etc.

 

[BillChin]

Put all the same speed units. Do not mix fast units and slow units. Do not put in bombard units (catapults, cannons, artillery). Be careful sending in offensive armies into heavily fortified positions (e.g. 7+ pop city on a hill). The odds are with the attacking army, but a loss can be catastrophic. Make sure the first army wins an easy battle to enable the Heroic Epic before sending it into a meat grinder (fortified defenses).

Defensive armies are great for establishing beachheads or defending key cities. One downside of Ancient Age armies is that they can not load on to ships until Galleons arrive (four spaces). Spearmen, Pikes and Muskets are weak because there is no upgrade for units in an Army.

Good units for armies:
3 Swordsmen, nearly invincible in the Ancient Age
3 Knights
3 Calvary
3 Riflemen
3 Infantry
3 Tanks, great for beachheads against Calvary counter attacks
3 Mech Infanty

3 Modern Armor is overkill though now that Armies have multiple attack capability it is ok. If a player is at this point, it doesn't matter much anyway. Some folks mix 2 Modern Armor with 1 Mech Infantry, but again at this point in the game it is all frosting.