Elite foot first?

[theDragon]

OK, now if you are attacking with a stack of any offensive unit, and you have four total units of the same type but one elite unit, which do you send in to hell first?

So send in a Veteran unit first, or the one Elite unit first?

[Solomwi]

Conventional wisdom says send the vets in and protect your elite by saving it for the weakest defender, the better to keep him alive and trying to spawn a leader for you. I've had situations, though, where I have to take a certain town this turn, have a feeling it's going to be a near-run thing, and don't feel great about my vets' chances against the top defender. In that case, I'll often send in the elite as a mini-city buster.

[vmxa1]

Much depends on the units and the game needs. Am I in a place where I cannot afford to lose even a single unit right now?

Are my units much stronger than thiers or the other way around?

So if I feel I must win this with no loss, I will use the elite, otherise not, unless it is a lock.

[Tattila the Hun]

Elite*'s fight first. I've had plenty of games, where Cavalry units have lasted well into the modern days, as elites. They're more likely to escape with the last of their strength.

[Solomwi]

Absolutely, Elite*'s get treated like really good veterans. I will hold them back a bit if there's an upgrade coming, but that's just for my own sentimental reasons. Nothing like having that first horse unit that popped a leader growing up to become the storied "Lucky 13th" Cavalry with glorious tales of their exploits spanning the ages.

[nbarclay]

One of my favorite times to use elites, if I'm willing to risk them, is when a defender has already killed one of my attackers without getting promoted and is thus guaranteed a promotion if he kills another. Using one of my elites under those conditions reduces the odds of the defender living to get that promotion.

[Addled Platypus]

Originally posted by Solomwi
Conventional wisdom says send the vets in and protect your elite by saving it for the weakest defender, the better to keep him alive and trying to spawn a leader for you.

really?

I have never had such luck

I will do more with my armies

[Solomwi]

Well, all you're doing with what I said, Platypus, is increasing your chances of eventually getting a leader by decreasing the odds of that elite failing, thus, in the long run, increasing the number of elite victories you wind up enjoying.

[eris]

My favorite thing to do with elite units is to hold them back during attacks on cities and have them wait until the counterattack arrives. The attacking units are often on terrain with poor defense bonus values, and are not fortified. That's the cue for whatever elites are available to do their thing and start praying to the RNG for Great Leaders.

As someone mentioned before, finishing off the wounded is grisly fun, too, as well as being another good source for Great Leaders.

Thankfully, my luck with the RNG isn't quite as bad as my luck when rolling dice. Otherwise, I wouldn't play Civ at all. Well, yes I would, but I would grumble even more.

[Hermann the Lombard]

Originally posted by eris
As someone mentioned before, finishing off the wounded is grisly fun, too, as well as being another good source for Great Leaders.

It's like sending in the general in Rome Total War: you don't want to risk him but you want to promote him for--ahem--valor, so you wait until the enemy routs and send (and his bodyguards) to harry the fleeing. Blood sport.

I had great luck leader farming in the AU506 game, ending up with 7 or 8 armies to go with the Forbidden Palace. [I built the Heroic Epic and the Pentagon (I think) myself, and the game was over before the Military Academy was available.]

[Brent]

I send in first whoener the game activates first. Not very strategic of me, eh? Y'see, I want their wives for myself...

I send in unit after unit, whichever gets there first, until someone succeeds. If they're dishonorable enough to lose, they deserve to die.

I don't care how many of my units I lose, as long as I eventually eliminate all of theirs. I tend to let my cities build too many anyway. And I never upgrade. Civ2 Leo's shop rules!

I'm a little more strategic when I happen to get an MGL. I normally never retreat or allow units to heal, but basically after every conquest of a city I send my army back to the nearest city that was already mine to heal. I avoid using an army to defend a brand newly conquered city if I can. Other units, whoever gets there first is likely to defend, but unit type does make a difference sometimes. Particularly movement rate.

However, I'm probably not careful enough about which units I put in my army in the first place. I slap together the best I can do as quick as possible.

[Addled Platypus]

Brent

and the same theory applies tio the higher difficulty settings?

how often do you conquer entire civs ?

[Brent]

Who needs higher difficulty settings? All that does for me is disband my units when I've got no money and am losing more, which is always. But I may come around eventually... like if I make a habit of coming to this section of the boards. I normally play on the largest sized map with only one opponent, and admittedly I don't always conquer them completely. Domination and Culture work for me in those cases.

[theDragon]

Wow! I think that is the first time I have heard an Apolyton member ever mention that they play with only ONE computer. That is amazing... and to be honest... I never thought to play a game like that. EVER. I mean, RTS games I used to do it all the time, but Civ? Can't say I'd want to play with only one other civ. But.. Hey Whatever floats your boat, keep under the deck!

[Brent]

It's even possible to start a game with no oponent, but somehow I doubt it's meant to be that way. Maybe you're supposed to go for domination or culture that way? Let's just say I'm Gaming Impaired...