Units/Armies - stacking? (Rookie Question)

[DrClarke]

So I purchased the game yesterday. I am really simply thrilled with it. (Only thing I've ever played that was close was Alpha Centauri and CTP).

One problem I'm having that I don't seem to be doing properly.

Stacking units. If I read the book right I can't stack units unless I have a leader? I don't get a leader unless he's an elite (or veteran) unit that has survived some battles?

I'm confused and unsuccessful with stacking units.

How does one get several units to be 'stacked' as a whole to attack as a whole?

[Todd Hawks]

Civ 3 works like Alpha Centauri, i.e. you can't stack units like in CTP.

When you get a leader (win battles with elites just like you described) you can build an army with that leader.

In this army you can load (=stack) up to three units.
The attack or defense value of that army is the same as of the individual units in the army. The only thing that changes ist that the hitpoints of the three units combine i.e. your army can get more damage before beeing destroyed.

Another thing is stacked movement which just allows you to move units together but you can't attack as a whole with this.

Note: - Leaders are very scarce. The most I got in one game was 3.
- After putting units into the army you cannot pull them out of it again.

For further help you should look in the Civilopedia under "Leader" and "Army".

[Willem]

Good Luck! The whole Leader/Army thing is one of the most poorly documented in the game IMO. It took me a while to figure out how they worked. As for the odds of getting a Leader, I've been reading that it's 1/16, with 1/12 if you have Heroic Epic, and maybe less still if you're a Militaristic civ. Not sure how accurate those odds are, but they're close enough to show you that they're rare. The most I've read about is 8 in a game, with someone playing a Militaristic warmongering game. Usually I've only heard of 3 or 4, which has been about it for me as well, at least so far.