Are Chariots too Cheap?

[MasterDave]

You don't need to take the cities in your rush, just cripple or even eliminate opposition. In multiplayer someone is going to quit 90% of the time if they lose a second city or capital to chariots early on.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Blaupanzer


Roger that. The key unit in Civ1 prior to the middle ages was the catapult. The chariot was a great unit for making your opponents miserable, but the cats were the killers.

I remember using the Cat as a nutcracker, but the Chariot was available very early, and could quickly take down or knock back a couple of opponents before Mathematics (for Cats) came online.

[Jon Miller]

I thought the superunit of Civ1 was the Legion.

Jon Miller

[Blaupanzer]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
I thought the superunit of Civ1 was the Legion.

Jon Miller

The legion was the praetorian of Civ I. However, we are discussing here units available to all civs. Any civ can do a chariot rush, not just the three (two?) that have a special unit associated with chariots.

[jbp26]

Originally posted by Blaupanzer


The legion was the praetorian of Civ I. However, we are discussing here units available to all civs. Any civ can do a chariot rush, not just the three (two?) that have a special unit associated with chariots.

in the historical sense yes. but in civ1, the legion was not anything close to how dominant it is in civ 4. i barely ever built them. chariot were deadly because they were so fast and cheap. catapults were nasty too, but by the time they were available, your chariots had already established your empire.

[DaveV]

A quote from the Civ1 FAQ (the last paragraph has stuck in my mind after all these years):

Begin with your science at 100%; develop bronze, wheel, iron, math, writing, navigation, magnetism (optional), then stop and set taxes to 100%, and science 0%. You now have all the tech you'll ever need, so don't waste money on research. (And be sure not to develop gunpowder!)

Build lots of phalanxes, chariots, legions, catapults, ships, settlers, and diplomats. Let me clarify that: by "lots of ...", I mean "infinite numbers of them". A dozen ships might be enough, but you can never have too many chariots.

Use the "goto" command to simplify moving them around. Attack at all times. Build no Wonders, build no caravans; never stop building spears and swords, and never stop using them. Ignore all treaties and entreaties, but make peace whenever possible (peace might protect your units from attack until you break the treaty; and you just might collect some tribute). Don't worry about your losses, just keep attacking; a bloodless turn is a waste of time.

When you capture a city, sell all its improvements and starve the city down to a manageable size.

When you invade by ship, build cities on the new landmass. If they survive, the military units they build will be helpful. If not, so what? You have more where they came from!

Best result: I beat twelve other civilizations, and conquered the world by 900BC (I finished the game in one evening, without staying up late!). If the last reincarnation hadn't been in such an inconvenient place, I would have done it in 1200BC. Most of the time, however, conquest is complete by 400BC.

You can always play Despotic Conquest, regardless of the world you find yourself starting with, and you can always win without using any of the many ways to cheat. When you choose any other strategy, you are deliberately risking a loss in order to make the game more interesting. Winning the same way all the time is boring. If you don't lose sometimes, you are doing something wrong.

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by jbp26


in the historical sense yes. but in civ1, the legion was not anything close to how dominant it is in civ 4. i barely ever built them. chariot were deadly because they were so fast and cheap. catapults were nasty too, but by the time they were available, your chariots had already established your empire.

I had legions pwning the map in Emperor..

Of course, I was a young kid and not to good at the game.

JM

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Blaupanzer


The legion was the praetorian of Civ I. However, we are discussing here units available to all civs. Any civ can do a chariot rush, not just the three (two?) that have a special unit associated with chariots.

What are you talking about?

JM

[Blaupanzer]

JM, keep up. In Civ IV, any civ with horses can do a chariot rush on its neighbors.