Mobilisation?

[wisecat]

Mobilisation good or bad?
From one point it allows for production overdrive to pop out scores of units
From another point if you mobilise you can not carry out peaceful building behind the front lines
BTW, which improvements are classified as "military" and are any wonders included? - in my last war I could not mobilize, because together with combating some neightbors, I was racing with some other civs for Hoover Dam completion.
Any help, suggestions, personal experiences?

[HugoHillbilly]

Ive used war moblization once, and you are able to build military improvements under it (barracks, sam sites, coastal fortresses, harbours, etc). I dont know about wonders, conceivably you should be able to build the Heroic Epic, the Military Academy or the Pentagon or something, but I dont know for sure. For sure you wont be able to build the Hoover Dam though, although I think if you are building the Hoover Dam in a city then switch to War Mobilization that city will still build the Hoover Dam. This is similar to the rule that if you are building a Tank then suddenly loose your oil the city will still continue building that Tank.

[Terramantian]

In my personal experience, mobilization is bad. Okay, I'm playing as the Germans, trying to be advanced scientifically while conquering the world. Midway through the game, I declare war on the Babylonians, the second largest civ in the game. I set mobilization to war-time and start turning out units and military improvements. Then, several turns later a lot of my cities went into revolt. (I was a Democracy, because I hadn't discovered Communism yet, but I made sure to have tons of luxury resources, and all the happiness wonders. And it was to the point that production would be 0-1 and there would be a food shortage if I took off enough workers to keep them content) In a few turns I could have taken their last cities, but not without the new units from the revolting cities, and if I wasn't mobilized, I could've rushed a few temples and been on my way. But I couldn't do that unless I signed a peace treaty.
Anyway, just my experience. This was one of my first games, so maybe you can control it better, but I hardly ever use mobilization now.

[dexter4dxm]

i think it depends on what kind of war you will be waging. if you are doing little wars here and there, i don't see the point of mobilzing, however i do think it can be usefull for large wars against someone who is at least as powerful as you, especially if you are on the defensive and things aren't looking too good.

[Der PH]

If you want to throw masses of units out to the world, mobilization is the thing you need.
I tried it in my last game and it was great.

But DON'T start an offensive war as a democracy!
I hate those bl...y pacifists, singin: 'All we are saying is give peace a chance!'

[Matthevv]

I have just switched into mobilization in my current game. The boost to production is useful, and I can put out enough troops to overcome the Persians, who have been making war against me for hundreds of years. However, when I capture their cities, I can't build temples and cathedrals to keep them happy and prevent them defecting back. This is a big drawback. I could raze the cities and use the extra production to produce settlers to rebuild them as mine, but what effect would this have on the other Civs attitude to me? Another possibility would be to sue for peace after I capture a city, then try and get them to declare war again. The last peace treaty lasted one turn, as they declared war when I told them to get their troops out of my territory.

[Fidel]

mobilization is essential for some massive defensive wars fought against well armed powerful coalitions. if you are on the plains, get ready for massive tank battles so better gear up. once you are on their soil you have to aim for the capital since you cannot rushbuild temples so take the capital and raze it and the border cities you occupied will be yours. conscripts are pretty good for quelling resisters, freeing your elite units to push forwards....

[Terramantian]

If you have your cities advanced enough, you don't need mobilization. I personally prefer a strategy of building your cities up until you decide to start conquering. (in civ II, this was when you had Fundamentalist gov't + espionage ) In one game I was playing like this, I had enough tanks to take over a civ in 10 turns. And I never have a lot of cities...maybe ten of my own, and then whatever my culture brings to my side. And some of the cities were still building improvements or wonders.
Again, just the way I play. I can never be entirely militaristic, so I don't like mobilizing. Whatever works for you, though...