Week old MP preview on Yahoo! Games

[Nikolai]

Surfing the net, I came over this little multiplayer preview of Civ4 on Yahoo! Games' site(didn't even know such a thing existed on Yahoo!). While it contains almost nothing new at all, I noticed this little info, that I can't remember having seen:

In Civ IV, your best city defense unit early on isn't the spearmen unit, like it has been in every other Civ game to date, it's the archer unit. Spearmen are only really useful against cavalry in Civ IV.

That's going to be weird; not using the spearman for city defence!

[Robert]

in civ3 the earliest city defense unit was the waroir (warrior?)

[LordShiva]

I'm not sure I like the simplified "Strength" rating.

[Nikolai]

Originally posted by CyberShy
in civ3 the earliest city defense unit was the waroir (warrior?)

Not for me. I just used my warriors to explore the immideate sorroundings and such, and built spearmen ASAP.

Oh, and here's what they say about the warrior:

Meanwhile, warriors occupy the bottom-most rung of the military ladder, like they have in previous Civs. Warriors do have an important role, though, especially in the dangerous new world of Civ IV. That's because in addition to roving bands of barbarians, there's a new threat to keep in mind: wild animals. The Stone Age was a dangerous place for man, as wolves, lions, bears, and more roamed the land. The presence of these beasts in Civ IV means that sending out any unescorted settlers or workers can be a very dangerous proposition, especially since the animals seem to home in on easy prey. Thankfully, you can group a warrior with a worker or a settler, thus ensuring that the worker or settler is protected.

Note the group part, that's a good improvement, although already known for some time of course.

[Modo44]

Originally posted by Nikolai
Not for me. I just used my warriors to explore the immideate sorroundings and such, and built spearmen ASAP.

And you play on what difficulty level, if one may ask?

[Nikolai]

I'm, as I've said numerous times before, not particualry good at games, mostly mediocre. And I want to have fun when I play, not doing machoschistism. So I never play higher than Prince(or whatever they decided calling the third level) and the second easiest.

[Modo44]

So, let me tell you, not all players use lots of Spearmen. Really, Archers do have their uses as defensive units in Civ3. I can only say kudos to the makers of CIV for making it more visible.

[GeoModder]

The pre-release info on CivFanatics mentioned the archer thing already ages ago, Nikolai.

[arkammler]

It is from Gamestop

[Nikolai]

I must have missed it then.

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by Modo44
.... Archers do have their uses as defensive units in Civ3.

Of course! The Rhye's of Civilization mod has had archers as defensive-type units for a LONG time. Spears are multi-purpose (equal attack & defense, higher cost).