What's the weakest unit a tank can lose to in 1.61?

[Solver]

Well, as said, if you are facing a near-dead unit, that might give you 100%. And you can always face near-dead enemy units, even if you're even in tech and numbers.

[Dis]

though often I don't even bother to look at the percentages when I know I'm going to win. Only if I think it'll be close, do I check the percentages.

They aren't exactly realistic. After all, what commander would have access to know his chances of winning? Would Eisenhower have landed on Normandy if he knew he was going to lose? He didn't know he would win either, but he knew it was at least possible.

That being said, the feature doesn't bother me. You don't have to use it after all. And it helps balance out the ridiculous combat results.

[anhalibut]

Originally posted by Dauphin
I thought they deliberately did round the apparent 100% to an actual 100%.

I ask the question, has anyone here lost a battle where the odds stated were 100%, but clearly weren't?

I think I've won all battles at 90% or higher - except for one I lost at 90 or 91%.
I've lost so often when the odds were in the 80's that I pretty much write off a unit that is attacking with combat odds in the 80's.
I often find combat aggravating, but it's a huge improvement over CivIII.

[Virtual Alex]

Why such an big improvment over civIII?

[rah]

You guys must not fight enough. I've lost quite a few 96-98% battles. Annoying, but 00 does get rolled every now and then.

[mkorin]

In order to test the %s, I logged 1000 combats in a spreedsheet and found the %s to be pretty accurate in the long run. Thus, 99% will mean you will win 99 out of 100 times, but there is a chance of loss and in theory it could even happen twice in row. Remember statistics are long term, not short term. If anyone is interested, I'll post the spreedsheat.

Mike

[Blake]

I've won not one but two Catapult defending against Horse Archer battles. That's 99.1% odds in favor of the horse archer. One of the battles, the catapult's victory was flawless. I bet the AI blew a fuse after that happened .

I have indeed won at least one 0% battle.

And lost at least one 100% battle .

[iapetus556]

Originally posted byTokyo Sexwale What.....? People in tanks have firearms, how the heck would someone with a spear or sword get close enough to stab them?

Originally posted by Badtz Maru
We're talking about a full-strength primitive unit - thousands of guys with spears/swords/bananas. The defenders will run out of bullets eventually. Also, the small arms carried by tank crews are usually not very long-range weapons, so hundreds of archers with terrain advantage could get close enough to rain arrows on the tank crews with little danger to themselves.

Alternatively, rather than thousands of guys, just a few sneaky ones.

WWII commandos would sneak up on guards and knife them. A rifle is not much use if you don't see the other guy comming.

In the case of a tank, you could:
* Overwealm them with numbers, as Badtz suggested.
* Hid in the bushes/ trees (Ambush Promotion) and jump out when they drive past, and spear the driver before he gets a chance to draw his pistol or close the hatch.
* Sneak up on them at night while they are sleeping.
* Find a tank that has got stuck in rough terrain, or broken down, and ambush the crew while they are too busy trying to fix it to notice you.

Or maybe the attacker just got lucky, and the defender's gun jammed. (I read a post on another forum a few months ago by a guy who's friend was murdered. The guy was just minding his own business, when some nut pulled a knife and attacked him. The victim (this was in America) drew a gun, and fired four shots, two of which hit the attacker. Then his gun jammed, and the other guy managed to stab him. The attacker survived his wounds; the victim didn't).

[Badtz Maru]

Originally posted by iapetus556




Alternatively, rather than thousands of guys, just a few sneaky ones.

WWII commandos would sneak up on guards and knife them. A rifle is not much use if you don't see the other guy comming.

In the case of a tank, you could:
* Overwealm them with numbers, as Badtz suggested.
* Hid in the bushes/ trees (Ambush Promotion) and jump out when they drive past, and spear the driver before he gets a chance to draw his pistol or close the hatch.
* Sneak up on them at night while they are sleeping.
* Find a tank that has got stuck in rough terrain, or broken down, and ambush the crew while they are too busy trying to fix it to notice you.

I read a very well written story on some Civ4 forum (not sure if it was this one or another) which described very realistically a battle where a unit of spearmen destroyed a unit of tanks (as I recall, it was a night-time ambush by an elite spearmen unit). I'd like to find a link to that if anyone has it.

[DrSpike]

Not sure about the tanks, but crazy rolls will always happen if you try enough times. I remember losing a small stack of axes to one unfortified (and non-upgraded) axe on hills in a MP game. I calculated afterwards that my odds of losing were some smallish fraction of 1%.

It's funny, that was almost 6 months ago and it still pisses me off thinking about it.

[Prussia]

If you ever get ripped or upsetted on Multi-Player it sucks more than Single, because somebody in the world is looking at their computer and rolling on the floor laughing at your misfortune.

[Arrian]

I lost a 99.6% battle the other day. It happens. Then again, I've won a number of low-odds battles (the best being something like a 12% chance of victory - a catapult attacking a city).

-Arrian

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

I recently beat a fortified rifleman in a city with a damaged cannon. (I was trying for collateral damage so my other, better units could mop up) The odds weren't quite 0%, but close.

I'm happy when I get a withdraw in those situations - I was chuckling when my cannon actually won

[Solver]

The low-odd battles I win are usually with siege weapons. Probably because I still attack with siege if the odds are low. Given how statistics are indeed long-term, it just makes sense to win a 15%-chance battle now and then. Heck, 15% means you'll win one in six of those!

[rah]

Yeah, it's fun when you attack with an obsolete unit attempting to nick a stronger unit so you can finish him off with less danger of losing and then the obsolete unit wins.