Please explain armies

[Jason Beaudoin]

Cooool! I'll keep that in mind.

[Stuie]

Hey Dan, can you unload units from an army and load others?

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Originally posted by Stuie
Hey Dan, can you unload units from an army and load others?

At one point you could; however I think in the final release it was changed so that once an army has left the city in which it was created, you could no longer swap units in and out. I think the point of this was to prevent the use of armies as transport units that you could continue to utilize throughout the course of the game. This also means you have to think pretty carefully about what you want to accomplish with your army (and for that matter, your Great Leader -- do you really want to make an army, or would you be better served by rushing a wonder?)


Dan

[Pembleton]

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS

You always need a Great Leader to build an army, unless you've built the Military Academy (Small Wonder), then you can build armies without them. The catch here is that before you can even build the Military Academy, you need to have an army that has been victorious in combat.

I'm probably misunderstanding something here as the previous paragraph is confusing me.

From what you've said before, it seems quite difficult to get a Great Leader unless you are a militaristic civ. According to the last sentence you can't build a Miltary Academy until you have an army that's been victorious. But you can't build an army in the first place unless you have a GL, which is difficult to get unless you are a militaristic civ.

This seems to put the the militaristic civs at a huge advantage because it seems they are the most likely to have GLs *and* the Military Academy while those who aren't militaristic will have neither for a long time, and must fight without armies against armies which isn't fair.

[Stuie]

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS


At one point you could; however I think in the final release it was changed so that once an army has left the city in which it was created, you could no longer swap units in and out. I think the point of this was to prevent the use of armies as transport units that you could continue to utilize throughout the course of the game. This also means you have to think pretty carefully about what you want to accomplish with your army (and for that matter, your Great Leader -- do you really want to make an army, or would you be better served by rushing a wonder?)


Dan

Ouch!

I guess that makes sense considering how powerful the armies seem to be - there need to be some limitations. Thanks as always for the quick response... now get back to work!

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Originally posted by Pembleton


I'm probably misunderstanding something here as the previous paragraph is confusing me.

From what you've said before, it seems quite difficult to get a Great Leader unless you are a militaristic civ. According to the last sentence you can't build a Miltary Academy until you have an army that's been victorious. But you can't build an army in the first place unless you have a GL, which is difficult to get unless you are a militaristic civ.

This seems to put the the militaristic civs at a huge advantage because it seems they are the most likely to have GLs *and* the Military Academy while those who aren't militaristic will have neither for a long time, and must fight without armies against armies which isn't fair.

It's designed to allow people to play to the strengths of the Civ they've chosen. So militaristic civs will have an advantage in creating armies, yes, but they're still not exempt from the "one army per four cities" rule, so they don't really have *that much* of an advantage.

The other thing to consider is that to truly take advantage of your militaristic abilities, you're going to be cranking out units and trying to get armies as quickly as possible; this means you can't really emphasize technology or culture, which makes it harder to gain new units, as well as to keep your own cities happy and on your side. And, because a militaristic civ is less likely to have much of a culture value to speak of, when they conquer cities, the chances of that city rebelling and reverting back to its former nationality are pretty high. It's a tradeoff.

Dan

[Pembleton]

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS
It's designed to allow people to play to the strengths of the Civ they've chosen.
It's a tradeoff.

Thanks. Sounds fairly reasonable and it looks like it was playbalanced reasonably in playtesting until someone possibly finds an exploit that needs to be patched.

[ajbera]

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS

At one point you could; however I think in the final release it was changed so that once an army has left the city in which it was created, you could no longer swap units in and out. I think the point of this was to prevent the use of armies as transport units that you could continue to utilize throughout the course of the game.
Dan

Can we upgrade units that are in armies?

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Originally posted by ajbera


Can we upgrade units that are in armies?

That's a good question, and one that I don't know the answer to off the top of my head. I suspect no, because that would allow you to circumvent the "can't swap units in and out" restriction of armies.


Dan

[Stuie]

Hey Dan! How about a screenshot with an army in it? Preferably with the army selected so we can see what it looks like in the unit box. Just wishful thinking....?

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Originally posted by Stuie
Hey Dan! How about a screenshot with an army in it? Preferably with the army selected so we can see what it looks like in the unit box. Just wishful thinking....?

Hmmm.. I smell a "Screenshot of the Week" somewhere...



Dan

[sekong]

Then can we disband an army? If we can, then we have a "detour" to upgrade the army, right?

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS


That's a good question, and one that I don't know the answer to off the top of my head. I suspect no, because that would allow you to circumvent the "can't swap units in and out" restriction of armies.


Dan

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Originally posted by sekong
Then can we disband an army? If we can, then we have a "detour" to upgrade the army, right?

I'll have to look into that. I'm not sure if disbanding makes the entire army go away (including the units that make up the army) or if the units become individuals again. Even if you could, you'd still need another Leader to make a new army and put those units back into it, so it wouldn't be an especially useful thing to do, unless you REALLY like those units


Dan

[sekong]

COuld you check it then ? Thanks.

Of course we will do it after we have Military Academy, then we don't need a GL to form new army.
BTW, does the Great Leader bring special bonus(liking moving faster) to the army? I remember long time ago
you were toying about it. Any update about this?

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS


I'll have to look into that. I'm not sure if disbanding makes the entire army go away (including the units that make up the army) or if the units become individuals again. Even if you could, you'd still need another Leader to make a new army and put those units back into it, so it wouldn't be an especially useful thing to do, unless you REALLY like those units


Dan

[Jason Beaudoin]

When armies are defeated in battle, do they die all at once or individually... unit by unit? I would imagine that if they pool their hit points together, they act as one unit, right?

Also, is it better to mix and match units in an army?