Army Composition

[maxcavsm]

When you are able to create an army, is it better to fill it with three regular or veteran units (do they level like normal units during fights; I can't remember, but I think they do).

And what about the elite that usually accompanies the creation of a great leader? Should you put him in the stack?

Is it a good idea to put a mix of offensive and defensive units in? Right now, my two armies on my archer rush scenario as the Chinese are a swordsman army (early), and a cavalry army (now). Seems to make the most sense, as I have yet to have an opponent who has actually attacked an army of mine...

Thx.

[vmxa1]

I would not have any regulars, so that is not an issue. If I were to have some and that is the type of unit I wanted in the army, then, it is fine.

Because units can get promoted all the way to elite, while in armies. This means that you can get vets out of them very fast.
The issue would be, wil then be in a tough fight soon or not? If not, slap them in, otherwise yo may wish you had those extra hit points.

I tend to put teh elite* into the army first. Exception would be if it was able to be upgraded now or very soon. Knight and I just got Chiv, then in it goes as I will have a long time to wait for Calvs.

I would not mix units normally. Exceptions would be very early AA and I may have no other units available. Also for obsolete armies. Say I had a horse army with 3 units and now I can stick in a 4th unit. I may slap in a rifle, if that army is not going to do anything but sit on captured towns.

Or even a mech inf really late into a calv army and it will be used on rails only.

[vmxa1]

Re: Army Composition

Originally posted by maxcavsm

Is it a good idea to put a mix of offensive and defensive units in? Right now, my two armies on my archer rush scenario as the Chinese are a swordsman army (early), and a cavalry army (now). Seems to make the most sense, as I have yet to have an opponent who has actually attacked an army of mine...

First if you are playing with NoAIPatrol, you could get an inadvertant attack. Second as long as your armies are at full health, they are probably safe, until bombers.

At least the calv army. So a sword army is fine to add any unit that you want as it will not slow it down. Best to put you best attacker so it will be the one used most often.

Calv army should not get anything other than a calv, if ou want to use it outside of rails as it would lose its movement, unless you had a 3 move unit.

If it is going to be defensive in use, then the move may not matter. You could even put in a tank and give up the extra move and the tank will be a better attacker and defender.

Of course never mix any amphip army or it will lose it special ability.

[TomVeil]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but victorious armies cannot produce GLs. As a result, units that are already tapped out (5*'s) and units that are far away from GL creation (conscripts & regulars) are the best to put into an army.
If you get a GL when you're on the losing side of a war, though, it might be better to just create that army right away rather than wait for the ideal unit combination.

[joncnunn]

Well, the first rule for armies is always use the same speed units in a given army.

The second rule for armies is almost always have the same type of units in a given army.

The third rule for armies is avoid using elite units that aren't starred.

And the fourth rule, is that the second and subsequent armies generally should only consist of units that can't be upgraded.

And the fifth rule of armies is that offensive armies are better than defensive ones.

For your first army, it's most important to get it out and win so you can build Small Wonders than to wait for non-upgradable units.

In my current game, I have 5 armies of 4XCalvary and 2 armies of 4XTow Inf. The first two armies from MGLs, the other five from my Miltary Academy city which kept pumping out armies until I hit the limit. Why Tow Inf and no Modern Armor, you ask? Well, I have no AL and so Tow Infs are my units with the highest offense rating.

And why not wait and steal it? Well, the easyist sources of AL are all currently owned by my favorite luxary trading partner since the beginning of the game. (2 on my landmass, 1 on another island)

[vmxa1]

Exceptions are what make rules, rules. So be aware that you may encounter some very good reasons to make a defensive army.

I sometimes will have to make my first two armies all defensive to try to handle large counter attacks on invasion towns.

[joncnunn]

I prefer to hit such units on light terriagn with my own fast offensive units that don't stick around to be hit.

In my own game, my northern neighbor lost his mind when he reserached Rocketry dispite the large luxary and resource trades we have going on. (2 of his luxaries for 4 of mine + Iron)

He sent 2/3rd of his "mightly" tank force : 2 units onto a mountian tile next to one of my cities plus two bick stacks of infs onto grass in the same direction, with his entire guerrlia force (2 units) with them.

I had 20 Tanks [14 on the mainland], the above seven armies [all but one of the Tow ones on the mainland], something like 9 Mech Infs [7 on the mainland], left over 8 Ancient Calvary, and around 25 Tow Infs outside armies. Oh, and 5 Bombers. Needless to say, the MA said I had the strong army. [The other forces are guarding the two city landmass with rubber, including a unit on the rubber itself.]

I wiped his entire offensive force out the same turn I told him to leave or declare war. (After first signing an MPP with the country they had; my southern neighbor.)

On his turn, they obliged me by bombing one of my cities, bringing my southern neighbor in on my side. And on my turn, I took two of their cities (raized the non-useful one no resources and too close to one of my cities) and captured the other one. Looks like his lone Knight won't get upgraded.

And so it looks like I'll be taking his AL by force after all.

On the original topic, my 4Xcav armies work very well against inf. In that attack the last round, they could kill an inf in a city (flat terraign) and get back to baracks the same turn. (Needed because they all got heavy damage; ranging from just outside the red zone to suriving by a mere 1 HP; starting at around 17.)

The Tow Inf was esstiental in taking the city across a river. It got redlined.

[Egbert]

I agree with everything vmxa1 said.

Sometimes you really do need defensive armies, particularly when you are expecting a massive attack in some particular place. Defensive armies are extremely useful in intercontinental invasions.

That said, if playing at Chieftain or Warlord there are a couple of things I will do a little differently. At the lowest levels I build only offensive armies because the AI can't launch big attacks. An offensive army can handle Chieftain/Warlord counterattacks. (At Deity I will have defensive armies).

At the lowest levels I will not put elite units into an army (except for Ancient Cavalry which has a star for creating a Great Leader). The reasons are that I do not need the extra clout but I do have a shortage of elites because there are not many enemy units to give me promotions. (At Deity I will put elites into armies because I want those armies as strong as possible because they will be working very hard).

Also, when playing at the two lowest levels, I will not put a fourth unit into an arm. A three unit army is plenty so I don't see the need to pay the maintenance on the fourth unit. (I build the Pentagon just for culture). I hardly use the armies anyway. I prefer to use the elite Ancient Cavalry and Elite Knights in the hope of getting more Great Leaders. I want four armies so I can build another small wonder for culture. At those levels AC and Knights are always useful (late in the game they will probably be my only elite units so I might be using Radar Artillery to soften enemy Pikemen for my elite AC. That would be absurd at Deity).

[realpolitic]

No Defensive armies

I absolutely agree with the same speed crieteria, all my armies are offensive, I can't imagine how someone could get the same milage out of a superdefensive unit, but I've seen some brillant ideas on these boards, so please tell me if I'm wrong. I attack more cities then I have my cities attacked, and don't always know where the defensive army would be needed.

[vmxa1]

I don't know about mileage, but here is the main scenario for one or even more defensive armies.

I land on a hill with my stack and a settler. The AI leaves me alone if it before bombers as I have an army in the stack.

I found my town, they send 200 or more units at me. If I rush a barracks my defensive armies get to fully heal each turn. I will surely kill a lot more units in C3C with a defensive army than 3 or 4 seperate units.

This is life on Sid, masive stacks come roaring in and you need to survive a few turns. By then I will probably have more leaders and can make some offenisve armies, if I did not bring any.

[realpolitic]

Good idea, I've tried life at Sid as Summerians, haven't done so well, sounds like your "defensive army" is much more effective than an offensive one would be. Are you using bombarding units to shore it up?

As for speed, I learned that trick from a WWII game where I was to group units together. Not being an "expert" I didn't know what the opimumum synergy was, but since the speeds ranged from 5 to 80 mph, so I grouped them by speed. The 80mph were too lightly armored to be effective, I'd move them close to the AI, then retreat eighther to a useless area while other units attacked cities, or an ambush.

Even when the choice is armys that can move from 2-4 tiles, it adds up quickly.

[vmxa1]

Normally I will no bring any bombardment units. This is because I have only so many ships to use. One thing I learned is that if yu can have only enough to hold on during the first round or two, it is beter to not bring them.

If yo have say 10 cannons, that could mean losing as they can only do 1 hp each. If yo uhave 10 less defenders, some units will have to fight when they are down to 1 or 2 HP's and could die.

I have hd it gt down to just a few units left with no damage. If I had less of them, I would have lost the town.

The barracks means my units are at full strength and many will be promoted.