Trebs and Cats

[Ming]

Yes, the AI seems to love Castles and the cities that don't have them, the walls are usually falling in a single turn anyway. Once you have steel, the only purpose for trebs is waiting for the extra cash to upgrade them and if you're not doing that, you're just wasting the unit maint cost for them.

So true... After steel, any tribs that I can't afford to upgrade (yet) go along for the ride... being used after the cannons until they get up 10 experience points (usually triple city raider) and then upgraded to cannons once I can afford to.

[rah]

For me there's no need to wait for them to get 10 experience points, as soon as I have the money upgrade. They'll get to 10 quickly enough.

[Blaupanzer]

Like your brother, I tend to promote the more experienced ones based on limited funding. Thus, I often run up the experience of a potential promotee, thinking if he dies as a treb (or swordsman), then he saves me the promotion cost. Also use such folks for occupation duty and try to jumpup promote if the enemy comes from the flank or somehow circles back. The AI is not subtle, but it is very deadly, mostly to itself and to my obsolescent units.

I get rid of obsolete units (ones I'll never promote) unless they move 2. Then I use them to ride worker stacks to provide a rearguard in case we have to run. (Have you picked up that I'm paranoid about the enemy showing up in odd places?)

[rah]

Oh, I always promote more experienced first. But If I have the money and need the units I'll upgrade less experienced ones.

I'll keep a few obsolete units back in the safe areas, but if that city isn't doing anything better I'll waste a few turns to crank at least one modern unit for each city since I'm on the paranoid side myself. If there is shoreline, paranoia is necessary. But I am always amused when the transport show up on surprise and only seige units unload because the AI thinks they can still kill units. Needless to say you have a few turns to reinforce.

[Ming]

Yeah... later in the game, when I see archers or axeman or chariots protecting the back cities, I will usually dedicate one of the back cities to create some more modern units for defense, disbanding the older units when the newer one arrives. In most cases, it will never really matter, but I just feel better about it

[Blaupanzer]

It will never matter is my thinking too but I still provide up-to-date units to rear areas "just in case."

One "in case" was Joao showing up with 16 caracks in my rear during the "we're all learning Steel" period. My guard frigates and emergency galleons took out 4 of them when they appeared. He still landed a combination of 24 grenadiers, musketmen, cuirassiers, and trebs in my "1 good and 2 obsolete units per city" area with 5 of my major cities within 2 moves of him. The fastest units in my main armies were more than 3 moves away. Fortunately I was spiritual, so we went to slavery and paid 2 to 3 citizens each for 8 new units in that area and upgraded a couple more from the treasury. (I didn't think the draft from Nationalism would provide enough units with the limit at 4 per turn.) We lost and regained one city, but it was touch and go for a minute. That's the stuff that makes your blood run and makes it fun.

[Ming]

Yeah... FUN

I try to keep a mobile squad in the back that can respond to those kind of attacks. But sometimes, you get caught cutting it a little too thin.

[rah]

I wish there was a better paratroop option so that same paranoia could be felt in inland rear cities .

[ybrevo]

Hi again!

Since I started this thread, I have experimented a bit with mixed stacks of trebs and cats. My guinea pig was Pacal, and it was like carving through butter with a knife. My city attack strategy against his longbows backed up with a few melee and a single elephant from years gone past was this: Sacrificing 3-4 cats doing collateral damage, then the trebs to open the way for the swordsmen, musketeers, pikemen etc.

But on the bottom line, I was surprised how effective trebs are attacking cities compared to the cats. I was really enjoying it - but soon they are history. In about 35 turns the cannons roll in ...

ybrevo

[Ming]

Yeah... once they have longbowmen, cats aren't really effective anymore. Tribs on the other hand...

And Cannons = TOAST!

[rah]

Actually I'll keep the cats for bringing the walls down faster since they don't last more than one or two attacks vs longbowman. You usually lose that first trib to the quad promoted longbowman anyway.

[Ming]

If I'm close to cannons, I like to bring my extra cats along to not only bring the walls down faster, but to save some of the tribs that I plan on promoting. I use some cats first, and then the tribs, lossing less tribs that I plan on promoting to cannons. It's a good way to get rid of the cats since I rarely spend the big bucks needed to promote them to cannons.

[rah]

and hate spending the maint. on them since their value has suddenly been greatly diminished.

[Ming]

And since you are doing it all in the same turn, it's not like the units they lose to will have a chance to use any promotion they might get in the process

[rah]

But there's still the WW issue. But if that civ is going to eliminated in the near future, that's not a problem either.