Combat Vs City Garrison Vs Drill

[rah]

Originally posted by Kaleb
Drill is most useful when you have a tech lead and are facing an enemy that has inferior units but superior numbers.

Enough swordsmen will eventually bring down your rifleman. Each combat your rifleman will get weaker. But if you have drill your rifleman will take less damage each round and hopefully survive for longer.

Other promotions may allow you to eliminate the enemy unit in fewer rounds which could have similar if not superior effects on survival length.

But yes, I will 99% of the time take almost any promo over city garrison since It's my credo that if the enemy actually gets to attacking one of your cities, your plans have failed. Don't get me wrong, I've destoyed massive SODs next to me cities, but the attack out decimating that stack is what defends the city, not city garrison promotion.

He who gets to use their seige engines best wins every time.

And I will build a couple of machine guns in border cities. But not many.

[Solomwi]

I've come to love machine guns as stack defenders. No matter how much siege the AI throws at your stack en route, a couple of machine guns in tow will protect your city attack units. They don't take collateral damage and outgun everything up to industrialism except CIII infantry/paratroopers and charge-promoted cavalry. With well chosen terrain, even a bare hill, they outgun those, too. Plus, they're cheaper than infantry.

[Blaupanzer]

Roger that. MGs are the best defenders for stacks until mobile AA.