I don't take advantage of promotion options...

[Theben]

Drill 4 crossbows are superior to any horse w/promos preknight in conducting assaults on bombarded melee defenders.

Actually I can't count how many times I've lost a lone crossbow attempting to reinforce a spot by a raiding Horse Archer.

And CR swordsmen still outperform Drill crossbows in city assault. At 2/3rds the cost, swords are better in most every way.

[Ming]

It all depends what you are using them for... Mounted units serve their purpose, crossbow and long bow serve their purpose, and city raiders serve theirs...

Which is just more proof that combined arms is the way to go. A good mix of units can do anything you need them to do

[TriMiro]

I learned to use Drill in OCC. I play mostly defensively, trying to get Space Race victory. This means that I am ahead in Tech, however, horribly outnumbered in units. This is the time when Drill Rifleman/Infantry/Mech Infantry is the only way to go. Particularly true for Mech Infantry.

[Hauptman]

Do not, I repeat DO NOT underestimate the power of march.

When you get swarmed and things are lookin real nasty, by the end it's my march promoted units that come out lookin pretty. As generally they can attack every turn without stopping to heal they get lots and lots of xp. My first general unit gets promoted to march first then I worry about other promos.

Late game, when my unit city can crank units with 4 or 5 promos out of the gate, combat3 + march artillery is insanely good at stopping the SoDs dead in their tracks. Mainly because since my numbers will be smaller beeing able to use those few units every turn helps.

[Dis]

It all depends what you are using them for... Mounted units serve their purpose, crossbow and long bow serve their purpose, and city raiders serve theirs...

Which is just more proof that combined arms is the way to go. A good mix of units can do anything you need them to do

The main problem I have with combined arms (on offensive) is their best defender always defends. So no matter what unit I choose, their appropiate counter is always chosen to defend. It's frustrating as none of my units seem to have good odds.

And yes I realize that I'm just proving combined arms works- for defense. As the ai was using it.

[wodan11]

The main problem I have with combined arms (on offensive) is their best defender always defends. So no matter what unit I choose, their appropiate counter is always chosen to defend. It's frustrating as none of my units seem to have good odds.

And yes I realize that I'm just proving combined arms works- for defense. As the ai was using it.

Several things you can do here. Depends on the situation which is best, but they all will work.
1) Send in mounted units promoted with max chance to retreat. They'll damage then retreat.
2) For air, send in fighters on a mission to the city... they'll fight the defending fighters. THEN send in your bombers.
3) Send in siege. Yeah, they'll die against those MGers or marines, but they'll collateral the OTHER units. Meaning you'll have good odds against them now from YOUR other units.
4) Just sit back and *look* at the defending stack. The AI never really balances well and it doesn't really intelligently realize what your force mix is. (In other words, if the AI saw you buiding 99% mounted units, then it should build >90% pikes etc. But it doesn't do that.) What this means is that the defending stack only *superficially* seems to be balanced. Almost always it has one strong unit against a type. Kill or wound that one strong unit and you will have cracked the nut. All that means is that your first attacking unit is almost always going to die. e.g., bad odds against everything, but look, he only has one pike. It's a strong pike promoted with Formation. But, kill or wound that one, and none of the other units have Formation. So, bite the bullet, and realize that it's war. Those are the kinds of decisions that generals have to make in real life. Loose the battle but win the war.

[Ming]

So, bite the bullet, and realize that it's war. Those are the kinds of decisions that generals have to make in real life. Loose the battle but win the war.

True enough... some people seem to think that if they lose a single unit, they did something wrong. You are going to lose units. Some times, you are going to have to sacrifice some units, either some collateral damage units or attack units when hitting a strong opponent. It happens and is to be expected. Just keep a stream of replacement units coming so your offense doesn't stall.

It's war, units die

[trev]

I give nearly all mounted units flanking 1 and 2 first, primarily so they retreat from battle and inflict collateral damage on cats etc. Several horse units can weaken attacking siege units sufficiently they cause minimal collateral damage when used, increasing the survival chance of defenders immensely. A catapult used suicidally also weakens the other units in the AI stack, together they will help save cities with few defenders against larger SOD's, with attackers weakened, city defenders with CG promotions work well.

[Blaupanzer]

Rah, true both times about the drill 4 crossbows on assault. But if you wait for siege before serious conquest as I usually do, many crossbowmen will have that many promotion ops before knights are available. Thus, if you are going asieging, skip other promos for the crossbows and keep adding drill promotions. While I add the mounted promotion to spears, pikes, and a limited number of axemen/swords pre-maces, I don't usually use them on crossbows.

[rah]

I usually give the mounted promotion to them just because they are immune to first strike. I hate it when a single combat horse takes out my drill crossbows.

[Dis]

I used to use flanking for mounted units, but it doesn't seem to withdraw enough for it to be worth it.

As the post above mentioned, I go for sheer strength now in an effort to "crack that nut" It is true the ai does this. It will often have one or two strong promoted units then lots of units with no promos or units that can't "defend" (mounted units etc.)

I know all about sacrificing units. As I like to do most of my warfare before cats. At least my first expansion. Second expansion I may use knights or wait for cavalry and just use the tech advantage.

[wodan11]

Flanking is an odd promotion to me. It works better the *less* chance your combat odds are.

[trev]

The advantage of flanking is the odds of win or retreat are never much less than 50% regardless of the strength of the defender, so always a reasonable chance of survival, go combat 1 and 2 against pikemen and your chance drops drastically to where it is not worth the attempt. In a scenario where attacks can come from multiple corners of the map, a defending army strong in horses can get there quickly and if flanking used, a lot will survive to the next battle with a point gained for a retreat or up to 5 points for a win, so promotions on the combat line can come as experience gained.

[rah]

And if you eliminate all the enemy's seige units, their stacks are nowhere near as dangerous. I do like having a couple of shock mounted units for those couple of spearmen that are in the stack. Once they've been neutralized the rest of your mounted units can have fun.

[Lord Avalon]

Flanking is an odd promotion to me. It works better the *less* chance your combat odds are.

At Flanking II you get immunity to first strikes as well.