castles

[kendric]

I have 2 questions on castles
1)Why are they so late in the tech tree. You pretty much get gunpowder at the same time which nullifies them.

2)I put a wall and a castle in a city and then gave it to the computer(via diplomacy). I then got a muskateer and a longbowman and had them both get the combat stats for attacking that city. The terrain tile bonus did change based on wether or not it was gunpowder but it wasnt 100% (50% for wall , 50% for castle) Anyone know why? (it was something like 60-70%)

Thanks

[Provost Harrison]

I've never bothered building either due to their relatively short lifespans...especially the latter...

[Shr3dZ]

Tanks arent considered gunpowder units..... am I missing something ?

[MattPilot]

Its not against "gunpowder units"

Its against "gunpowder based units" - the difference is big

In the units.xml, you can specify if a unit is subject to walls or not.

So armored & helicopters are all included.



I usually build castles to get +1 culture - they never go obsolete so you can always build them when nothing else is available.

Other than that, i usually rush build them if the city is otherwise useless (only has a strategic resource, but no good terrain around it to develop).

[Sarxis]

Castles should come earlier. Nuff said?

[Krill]

Castles can come earlier. Prioritise the techs that enable them, instead of other techs such as gunpowder. Voila, Castles will have a longer life span...

[Tiberius]

Yeah, like anyone is prioritizing Engineering to get Castles earlier

[Shr3dZ]

So walls and castles are useless to armored units, helicopter units, artillery units, and gunpowder units? Ah ha! What about recon units!?

[Dinner]

I don't build them unless I really need to defend a choke point.

[Proteus_MST]

If you have a big technological lead and most other civs are backwards people castles might be useful for quite a while

[Mace]

Castles could come earlier, like with Construction or Feudalism...I personally will have to play more to figure out where I stand...it sure seems like Castles have a short lifespan.

[Henrik]

Castles should come earlier really... Either that or make them work against gunpowder units as well and call them fortresses (tracee italienne style thingies, a case could be made for such 17th century fortresses having an effect even on rather modern units).

[MattPilot]

FOrtresses didn't stop with the gunpowder age.

During the independence war the americans still loved to build fortresses. They were pretty useful, until someone invented the "rifled" cannon. But even after that, they still built them - they were used in the american civil war too.

[Krill]

Point is though, that you can get to castles early, if need be. If you don't need them, then don't prioritise them. Make a decision, dedicate resources to getting to Engineering, and don't expect to have everything within easy reach.

And Tibby, I suggest you think about what Castles can do in MP, combined with the extra increase to road movement. And then there is the Hagia Sophia, 50% worker speed increase...a useful tech for those playing builder, and trying to defend their keep, no?

[Tiberius]

First of all, this is not my name, neither here nor in real life.

Second, when I saw your first reply I thought it was a sarcastic, even disdainful one. Apparently I was wrong. I didn't realize that you meant it seriously. Sorry.