How to Choose Among Similar Units ?

[SorvinoBackhand]

Please explain which is better and why:

Fighters vs Flak vs Mobile SAMs vs SAM Missile Battery (city improvement)

TOW Infantry vs Mech Infantry

Thank you.

[vmxa1]

Better for what? In general I will not build TOW, I will upgrade to them. I will build MI, if needed.

SMB are mainly useful to me if I expect to try for SDI. Fighters are better (IMO) than the Flak or Mobile Sams. I say that because, they have a range of 9 and can attack bombers without them coming for the city.

Flak vs Mobile only comes into play in terms of weither to upgrade or not. That is, you cannot build both at the same time. Once you get mobile sams, you lose flaks.

One more plus for jets is that they can be loaded unto carriers.

[Cerbykins]

TOW, as far as I can guess, are there to make sure those Guerillas you had lying around get a boost that makes them practical for the Modern Era. Hence upgrades as Vmxa says

As for air wars, I've rarely had any - but I DO know that the one time the AI was big on bombing, I did a little math, picked out where he was hiding the planes and blew them out of him

[Goethe80]

As per vmxa1, I almost never build TOW infantry. While there's some validity in the argument that a stack of 4-6 TOW will probably out perform a stack of 4-6 MI in defense due to the def. bombardment, I actually find the MI more flexible due to their additional movement and ability to run back into your city after killing off that unit trying to lay siege to your city. What TOW i have are invariably upgraded warriors/swordsmen/berzerks

As for the mobile sam / SMB / fighter comparison, I generally prefer the SMB for 'home cities' and will typically airdrop a couple of mobile sams into a newly captured city (after the rushed airport of couse). The AI doesn't seem to like bombing my units while they're out in the open, so I rarely escort my units with mobile sams. That said, the only time I use fighters are on aircraft carrier groups. If assembling a modern naval SoD (not that there's any non-modern naval SoD), I try to supplement it with 4 fighters or so, but that's also partially to provide air cover to my marines in the newly captured coastal city.

[Last Conformist]

I too pretty much never built TOW Inf. A Mech Inf defends better than a TOW supported by the defensive bombardment of another TOW against MA anyway.

I tend to rely on Fighters/Jet Fighters for aerial protection, but given the choice 'tween Flak/Mobile ws SAM Battery, I'll go for the former - they can easily be moved to face new threats, while city imps are static.

[Arnelos]

You guys are forgetting something... I love TOW Infantry for one very very excellent quality: HELICOPTERS. Deploying stacks of TOW Infantry into forward positions with the use of helicopters can be very very useful if you've already silenced any defending fighter cover in the area (a critical first step so your helicopters don't get shot down). TOW Infantry have a lot better defense than Advanced Paratroopers, which I almost never build.

Also, as previously stated, if you have enough TOW Infantry, they can actually be more effective at defense than Mech Inf, though the speed on Mech Inf generally makes them more useful if you're on the attack.

EDIT:

The main utility, however, is offensive deployment via helicopters to either chokepoints or critical tiles (uranium, aluminum, oil, rubber).

One unorthodox strategy I've used once was to deploy a stack of TOW Infantry and workers via helicopters to an advanced mountain tile (behind enemy borders). I had the TOW Infantry fortify on the mountain and the workers start on a fortress. The AI largely ignores the stack because it's already so well dug in. If he attacks with modern armor, he'll lose most of the time. When your own modern armor is advancing and reaches the mountain, they can use the tile to stop and rest any wounded units safely while healthy units press ahead. Once the front surpasses that tile, you can use your helicopters to redeploy the forward base again.

Having the small wonder that lets you heal in enemy territory helps a lot with this, of course.

What I haven't fully figured out is whether this strategy is worth the additional expense or whether I'd just be better off building more modern armor and just eating a few losses.

[Goethe80]

Speaking of the mob sam vs. SMB, whats the rate of fire like on the units? ie. how many aircraft do they try to shoot down each turn. And are their effects accumulative (i doubt it, civ3 doesn't seem to work that say, old-sch honor system of fight one vs one...)?

Oh, and Arnelos, where exactly are your forward positions? I'm assuming that they're far behind enemy lines? If it's just reinforcing captured cities, then I'd think an instant worker airfield would be more useful in allow you to airlift serious amounts of reinforcements in.

[Arnelos]

Originally posted by Goethe80
Oh, and Arnelos, where exactly are your forward positions? I'm assuming that they're far behind enemy lines? If it's just reinforcing captured cities, then I'd think an instant worker airfield would be more useful in allow you to airlift serious amounts of reinforcements in.

I just edited my post with that.

[Last Conformist]

Why would ones armour be heading for that mountain rather than the nearest enemy city? I'm not getting exactly what this stratagem is supposed to achieve.

[Cerbykins]

If he's thinking what I'm thinking, he simply means somewhere for the units to stop off as the line advances. Although, even then - the city is more use. But if the assault DIDN'T go to plan, then of course it always helps to have somewhere to escape to

Personally though, I've not found anything that whack good ol' arty and tanks

[Theseus]

I use Flak and Mobile SAMs to accompany SODs... especially in an IC invasion sans Marines.

[Arnelos]

Originally posted by Theseus
I use Flak and Mobile SAMs to accompany SODs... especially in an IC invasion sans Marines.

I use Flak and Mobile SAMs to accompany my modern armor stacks where possible as well. I also use them to station in newly captured cities where I have Mech Infantry or TOW Infantry on defense, but are not where I've put the bulk of my airforce.

[Arnelos]

Originally posted by Cerbykins
If he's thinking what I'm thinking, he simply means somewhere for the units to stop off as the line advances. Although, even then - the city is more use. But if the assault DIDN'T go to plan, then of course it always helps to have somewhere to escape to

Personally though, I've not found anything that whack good ol' arty and tanks

It's worth pointing out that a fortress on a mountain is a hell of a lot harder for the AI to take out than any city. The point is to have a forward "resting" spot for wounded units that is not as vulnerable to counter-attack in the event that the AI has a bunch of his OWN modern armor.

It also tends to soak up some modern armor that the AI uselessly sends against it rather than against your advancing modern armor stacks.

As I've said before, though, I too question its effectiveness versus just having more modern armor or using cities.

I normally only use helicoptered TOW Infantry to cut and then defend key tiles like strategic resources (especially oil and rubber) or perhaps a chokepoint if there is one.

[MotownDennis]

The most important feature of the TOW Infantry is that they do not require resources. Thus, if you are still resource deprived in the Modern Age, TOWs can help save your bacon.

[Arnelos]

Originally posted by MotownDennis
The most important feature of the TOW Infantry is that they do not require resources. Thus, if you are still resource deprived in the Modern Age, TOWs can help save your bacon.

Yes, having played "Future Age" games as I know from talking to F-P you have, that's one of the main reasons I love the TOW Infantry so much. That said, most of the people posting in this forum are those who play SP epic games only and the context from which this seems to be approached. From that context, you generally assume that if someone hasn't secured a source of oil by the modern age, they probably have larger problems.

In Future Age or Modern Age starts, however, especially in MP games, TOW Infantry are incredibly important, as MTD points out, because they require no resources and are a kickass unit to boot.