Couple questions i havent been able to find an answer to

[Blaupanzer]

AusSpyder and Zenn-La, welcome aboard. Folks here can give you lots of advice and most of it won't be contradictory (unlike the rumored "any two economists" who can hold up to five separate opinions by themselves). We do debate strategies occasionally, but the basic stuff we agree on is generally similar.

A good place for you to start is in Vel's Strategy Guide, which covers major decision points and the related options. Also, do read your manual where it describes the screenshots, such as the city screen and your advisors -- the F1 to F10 keys. This will help with the basic interface screen that is surrounded by a ton of icons meant to provide you avenues to additional information. Learn what some of this stuff means and come back to ask specific questions.

The initial learning curve is a bit daunting, but this is not Oracle Database Administration or real rocket science. The Civilpedia (red button in the top right corner of the main screen) explains whole bunches of stuff once you've got a few basic terms under your belt.

[Supr49er]

Originally posted by AusSpyder
Is there anything wrong with promoting everything that comes out of my military city with combat 1, 2 etc

I tried making woodsmen promoted units cause i was sending them to an area surrounded by Forrest, but they lost there usefulness after the one battle.

City raider was good for my swordsmen, i would promote a ton and just capture cities with them till they all died and then replace them with knights

and I always give tanks the more first strikes ability's, and archers/machine gunners the city defense upgrades.

but yeah, typically i stick with combat

If you build Axemen for instance, give some CR (City Raider), some Guerilla, some Woodsman, etc.
Don't give the exact same promotions to all your units.
Keep an eye on what the AI is building and what promotions, then build counter units.

And Welcome to the Forums.

[Nikomakkos]

When building an army for conquest, I give my swordsmen or macemen the City Raider promotions. That's a given. But I think it's best not to promote units right away, but wait until they get action and you can see what you need. Usually I end up giving axemen the Combat promotions, unless if faced with a serious foe - then I have to give them specialization promotions like shock or sometimes even cover. But those get obsolete, so I only use them in dire situations.

If you use those specialist promotions (shock, cover, pinch, charge, formation) I'd recommend trying to make ultra specialized units by NOT giving spearmen shock, but formation if possible, and giving axemen shock. (Shock gives a bonus against melee units, and axemen are what you use against melee units). That way your stacks get more powerful. This only works for defense though, because the defender gets to pick which units fight each other. For offense I recommend using catapults to soften up the defenders or try to mostly attack units inside cities, with City Raiders. Once your units have City Raider III the bonus gets huge.

I only use the Woodsman for scouting warriors (or scouts) encountering animals and barbs. It's really nice to have a Woodsman II warrior racing through the forests scouting away. Except maybe in special circumstances if there is a really strategic spot with forest or hill - then I might give it to an axeman.

[Blaupanzer]

Guerilla promotions (incr effectiveness on hills) will be useful in selected circumstances all game -- defending mines or hills adjacent to cities (ours or theirs). Even invading forces (the so-called "stack of doom" (SOD), can end up on a hill by advancement or next to an enemy city. Guerilla 3 permits more effective attacks into hills.

Woodsman promotions, as with guerilla, at level two permit a unit to move 2 even in enemy territory as long as the second move is from forest/jungle to forest/jungle (or hill to hill in the case of guerillas). Both types of terrain tend to be reduced all game long. Woodsman 3 promotion is healing related, which can be a big help inside or out of the woods.

[Zenn-La]

Originally posted by Supr49er
Better to read the threads.

Welcome to Apolyton Zenn-La.

Originally posted by Blaupanzer
AusSpyder and Zenn-La, welcome aboard. Folks here can give you lots of advice and most of it won't be contradictory (unlike the rumored "any two economists" who can hold up to five separate opinions by themselves). We do debate strategies occasionally, but the basic stuff we agree on is generally similar.

A good place for you to start is in Vel's Strategy Guide, which covers major decision points and the related options. Also, do read your manual where it describes the screenshots, such as the city screen and your advisors -- the F1 to F10 keys. This will help with the basic interface screen that is surrounded by a ton of icons meant to provide you avenues to additional information. Learn what some of this stuff means and come back to ask specific questions.

The initial learning curve is a bit daunting, but this is not Oracle Database Administration or real rocket science. The Civilpedia (red button in the top right corner of the main screen) explains whole bunches of stuff once you've got a few basic terms under your belt.

Thank you both, that was very helpful Blaupanzer.