Zones Of Control

[Mozenwrath]

Just a quick query about zones of control...
I read in the Civilopaedia that fortifying a unit inside a fortress gives it a "zone of control" meaning it attacks any passing enemy. However, in a recent game I built fortresses on my borders and put 1 musketman and 1 cannon in each hoping to be ready for any war. Sure enough, my neighbour declared war but as his units poured into my territory, they weren't being fired upon and they were right next to the canons in fortresses!!! Is this a bug or do only some units work?
Incidentally, what does anyone think about the usefullness of fortresses?

 

[D. Boon's Ghost]

It seems to me that the Zone of Control is sometimes quite spotty. I am not sure that the musketman gets a ZoC, but your units may just be missing their attack rolls (or whatever). Whenever a unit misses, you never see the results. Or if the passing troops are in a stack, you may never know that one of the many units has lost a hp.
Once you get calvary/or tanks, you will really see the ZoC in action.

As far as fortresses, I use them often.
They are great for an extra defense for your colonies, or to further bottle up map choke points. Also, when there are large spreads of unclaimed land that happen to have railroads (usually built by me to more easily get to a rival), I will build fortresses every 3-4 tiles to dissuade the AI from riding the rails.
Always remember, though, to never build a fortress and leave it unmanned - heh. I seem to fall into that trap alot.