With your military...

[Englishman]

.... do you have set way in which you build it up in each game?

e.g. I always aim to have:

*3 Mech Inf,
*2 Modern Arm,
*1 Rader Art,
*1 Stealth Bomber/Jet Figther,
*1 Marine
*1 Paratrooper
and a ICBM in each city by the time I'm at the end of the modern era. Before I discover flight I only keep 3 spearmen/musketmen/infantry and a catapult/cannon/artillary, then adding the others mentioned above as I get the required techs.

Do any of you have set style in which you build your military?

 

[God]

Most of cities have 1-2 mech infantry and i have another 100 or so modern armor hanging around to take somebody out. i also usually have 20 ICBMs, and a few bombers and ships.

I also keep 5 units of my UU, and i call them "ceremonial troops". For example, i kept 5 war chariots around through the whole game, just for the sake of having them, no real reason.

 

[RufRydyr]

i like to have 1 mech inf. in each city in modern era. they are good for defense and come from upgrading other units. mostly i build modern armor. 300 or 400 is never too little. arty are handy for bringing cities to their knees. 10 battleships and 4 aircraft carriers with bombers can decimate an enemy navy.

 

[Shink]

I try to keep 2 defensive units per city in the ancient era and 3 once I get monarchy. On offense, I just go with what I feel like I need - I don't like to keep a bunch of offensive units around because of the high tax strain it causes. I usually keep about 20 around for defensive purposes and crank them out during a war as needed. Then, after the war is over, I use the non-elite units to build up the infrastructure of my newly conquered cities.

Of course to utilize this strategy, I have to make sure I have a very strong unit producing empire with a lot of large cities. That means early on in the game I am very aggressive. I will expand until I hit another civilizations borders and then get ready to go to war with them. Placement of the Palace & Forbidden Palace are also very key to use this strategy.

One more very important key is to try to obtain naval dominance. My navy usually consists of (on a standard map) 3 transports, 2/3 carriers, and 15-20 battleships. I will only keep enough bombers to fill my carriers (8-12).

 

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by RufRydyr
i like to have 1 mech inf. in each city in modern era. they are good for defense and come from upgrading other units. mostly i build modern armor. 300 or 400 is never too little. arty are handy for bringing cities to their knees. 10 battleships and 4 aircraft carriers with bombers can decimate an enemy navy.

Amazing. One defender per city and a zillion tanks! I'm the opposite - three mech infs per city - four or five per city in a border-zone, and an 'offensive-defence-squad' of a dozen modern armor and a dozen arty (standard map). There's usually a token Navy and Airforce - depending on the threat.

 

[Englishman]

Like Cort Haus I play a defensive game mostly, although i do keep a large navy, normally comprising of x number of battleships and A/Crusiers stationed along the coast. I also try to keep 10 or so subs with tatical nukes along the top and bottom of the map ready to counter attack if i get hit first.

 

[The Last Conformist]

In cities subject to no direct enemy threat, I typically has one up-to-date defender and one old on. So I'm may have one Musketman and one Rifleman, and when I discover Replaceable Parts I exchange that Musketman for an Infantry.

Frontier cities if possible have multiple up-to-date defenders, of course. I usually also keep a decent-sized mobile reaction force during peacetime; perhaps a dozen Cav during the early industrial period. The AI, for some reason, can't comprehend that I can very quickly enlarge my army in case of war, which means it sometimes starts suicidal wars. Still, this effect is less bad in SMAC, where I sometimes found myself seventh on the military power graph and still able to fight off coalitions of the four or five nominally strongest factions.

 

[Old Fox]

I aggree with the Last Conformist. I also find that AI cannot seem to comphrend my ability to react to even a massive invasion. I only LOOK weak.

I usually have a couple of token defensive units in my cities and a few attack based units wandering around free. I usually post them near to a potential threat.

I've been able, as the "weakest" civ, to hold off a coalition of the entire other 7 civ's and gain ground over 20 turns. You would think that would gain you some serious respect regarding your military abilities, but noooooooo.... this is civ, they only get more pissed off at you for not capitulating.

I have changed my tact lately though, as I have found that it is economically good in diplomatic relations to have a stronger military due to the better negotiating position that you have.

Plus, you don't get attacked as often...