Marines- are they good in Civ 4?

[Cabbagemeister]

I have definitely been unable to airlift tanks. This was in a city that had an airport that had been used like 5 turns previously to airlift a gunship. Is there some turn length you ahve to wait (>1) before you can airlift again? I was also unable to airlift Mech Inf, and (bizarrely) a Hindu missionary. The guy was just wearing a robe and carrying a stick; you wouldn't think he would be too heavy...

[DeepO]

Cabbagemeister: once moved, you'll have to wait a turn before airlifting a unit. Are you sure this was not the problem? If you build a tank in a city with airport, you hould be able ot airlift him immediately.

And Quillan: true of course: only one airlift to a city, not necessairly to an airport.

DeepO

[Krill]

Originally posted by DeepO
well, yes, but nukes come later and are more of a last-ditch attempt. Marines serve a similar purpose a bit earlier on in the game.

Plus, I like them because they are fast too: from war declaration to gaining half someone's territory can be done within one turn... any land war will take many turns even with RR-crews.

DeepO

So, similar to what you could do with Civ 3 then? One person destroys one half the empire, the other person destroys the second half?

Oh, and how many marines are required to break a city with 10 infantry this time DeepO?

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Krill
Oh, and how many marines are required to break a city with 10 infantry this time DeepO?

65 will do the trick just nicely, and leave enough room to threaten multiple cities

Navy is vastly more important this time: in the GS-Lego situation, Lego would have been lost if we were able to break through the blokkade. But the 'trick' we used of landing artilleries in a freshly created city to bombard a stack in the same turn won't work. Neither will galey-chaining those artilleries over +15 tiles to get there in the first place work. I'm looking forward to naval battles in a demogame, it is something I've got very little experience in.

DeepO

[DeepO]

BTW, such an all-out marine war can truely cripple someone's economy. Coastal cities normally make up over half of your economy, razing them is kind of a super-pillager technique.

DeepO

[art_vandelai]

The best thing about Marines is the +25% modifier vs. gunpowder units. That includes mechanized infantry. A marine attacking a mech inf. is almost equal, combine it with some bombardment (carriers/bombers/artillery) and some defensive units, and it's one of the best late game units out there.

[Cabbagemeister]

Originally posted by DeepO
Cabbagemeister: once moved, you'll have to wait a turn before airlifting a unit. Are you sure this was not the problem? If you build a tank in a city with airport, you hould be able ot airlift him immediately.

Yeah, that was the problem. I didn't expect this restriction to exist.

Boy, they're really nerfed the whole "instant response" thing, haven't they? Infinite rail gone, airports can only airlift one unit/turn, a city can only get one unit/turn airlifted to it, airlifted units have to move, wait, airlift, wait, then move. Even loading and unloading units from transports in a city takes a turn now.

I like these changes a LOT.

[Arrian]

Paging Theseus, paging Theseus: please report to the Marine thread. Paging Theseus...



-Arrian

[Strollen]

Originally posted by art_vandelai
The best thing about Marines is the +25% modifier vs. gunpowder units. That includes mechanized infantry. A marine attacking a mech inf. is almost equal, combine it with some bombardment (carriers/bombers/artillery) and some defensive units, and it's one of the best late game units out there.

Actually Marines don't get a 25% gunpowder bonus, infantry do.
Still the modified value of infantry against a marine is 25 vs a Marine strength 24, pretty much a fair fight.

What makes marines valuable is there +50% against artillery, and machine guns. Machines guns have a big advantage against infantry +50% so Marine are the Machine gun counter. Against tanks really nothing does good defending against them until gunships come along.

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by Arrian
Paging Theseus, paging Theseus: please report to the Marine thread. Paging Theseus...



-Arrian

[Arrian]

Heya, FP! How goes?

Strange to see a marine thread without T, eh?

-Arrian

[Quillan]

I'm pretty sure that I've sailed the transport into the port city, and been able to take a full move with the transported units from that point. What I cannot do, is load in one port city, move to another within the same turn, and unload.

So far, I've airlifted infantry, mech infantry, tanks, modern armor, artillery and workers (YAY!), and even a missionary or two.

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Quillan
I'm pretty sure that I've sailed the transport into the port city, and been able to take a full move with the transported units from that point.

No, in reality you're unloading on the next tile. You will be able to move e.g. infantry on tile next to your city (which seems like a normal move in enemy territory), but tanks only move one.

Also, if you would attack straigth from the boat when you just entered port, units will get the amphbious penalty.

DeepO

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Cabbagemeister
Yeah, that was the problem. I didn't expect this restriction to exist.

Boy, they're really nerfed the whole "instant response" thing, haven't they? Infinite rail gone, airports can only airlift one unit/turn, a city can only get one unit/turn airlifted to it, airlifted units have to move, wait, airlift, wait, then move. Even loading and unloading units from transports in a city takes a turn now.

I like these changes a LOT.

Infinite rail is gone?

[Krill]

yup. every unit can only move 10 tiles on rails, regardless of its total movement points.