Please explain armies

[RobC]

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?)

I wonder if it might also sometimes be wise to hold off loading an army until you have better units. After all, an army of 4 calvary is far more powerful than an army of 4 horsemen. I guess it depends on how often you expect to be able to get new leaders and how long it will take you to develop the necessary technologies (and secure the needed strategic resources). Perhaps this would only make sense if you were on the verge of discovering a new unit-enabling technology...

[Stuie]

I'll probably be so conservative with my great leaders that at the end of the game there will be a few of them sitting around in my capital playing darts and having a whiskey.

Antony: "Do you think we should form an army."
Trajan: "Yes, but Caesar is waiting for that really special unit before he uses us...."
Aurelius: "or he may decide to have one of us finish building that Manhattan thing."
Antony: "Right then. Next round is on me. Another game of darts?"

[Crouchback]

So basically most combat is going to be one unit at a time as in SMAC? Ouch. Or else loading units that will rapidly become obsolete into a valuable and rarely formed army? Eek. Could be armies will be something I only use in the end game.

When I first heard Great Leaders could be used to rush wonders I thought, "how stupid is that?" Thanks for explaining why it may be the more attractive option Dan.

David

[Ralf]

I understand that creating armies is the only way to have 3-4 combat-units fighting together as one.

But what about just moving a stack of units, without having them fight as an army? Is it possible to create and move a stack of units anytime, for pure move-micromanage reducing reasons?

[player1]

Originally posted by Ralf
I understand that creating armies is the only way to have 3-4 combat-units fighting together as one.

But what about just moving a stack of units, without having them fight as an army? Is it possible to create and move a stack of units anytime, for pure move-micromanage reducing reasons?

If you attack a group of units on the same tile (not armies) will
all units be destroyed (as in Civ2)?
I hope not!
That was so annoying!

[player1]

Is a one per 4 cities a limit for great leadrers or armies?

[player1]

What's the cost of making army with War Academy?
Is it expensive?
I hope so or else it won't be practical to sacrifice leaders for making an army.

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Originally posted by Ralf
I understand that creating armies is the only way to have 3-4 combat-units fighting together as one.

But what about just moving a stack of units, without having them fight as an army? Is it possible to create and move a stack of units anytime, for pure move-micromanage reducing reasons?

No. You can load units into a transport, but otherwise there is no functionality for moving multiple units in a stack, at least none that I know of.


Dan

[Guest]

As far as rushing Wonders.....

Dan:

What 'exact' effect does your Great Leader have on rushing your Wonder? Does it add a certain number of shields to the total or does it reduce the cost to build or does it sped up production in that city, by say something like 50%?

[RobC]

Originally posted by player1
If you attack a group of units on the same tile (not armies) will
all units be destroyed (as in Civ2)?
I hope not!
That was so annoying!

I don't remember how it worked in Civ2, but in SMAC, there was collateral damage to the other units on the same tile, but they would not be destroyed unless they were already in the red...

[Cre8engr]

Originally posted by Jingo
THIS IS HOW I SEE IT. multiplayer.

if you have 1 legions (3-2-1) and 2 chariots (1-1-2) and your army attacks a city, the Legion, having the strongest attack, goes in and fights. multiplayer.

when he is exausted (hp in the "red zone") he steps down, DOESN'T DIE, and lets one of the chariots come up to fight. multiplayer.

the process is repeated until you win, or all your units are in red and die. multiplayer.

multiplayer.

Are [single player rules] you [single player rules] trying [single player rules] to [single player rules] insert [single player rules] sublimital [single player rules] messages [single player rules] Jingo?

[Cre8engr]

Originally posted by Stuie
I'll probably be so conservative with my great leaders that at the end of the game there will be a few of them sitting around in my capital playing darts and having a whiskey.

Antony: "Do you think we should form an army."
Trajan: "Yes, but Caesar is waiting for that really special unit before he uses us...."
Aurelius: "or he may decide to have one of us finish building that Manhattan thing."
Antony: "Right then. Next round is on me. Another game of darts?"

Trajan: "Have you heard what Hagan is up too?"
Aurelius: "I think he's perfecting his homebrew."

[Ilkuul]

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS

No. You can load units into a transport, but otherwise there is no functionality for moving multiple units in a stack, at least none that I know of.

Dan

Oh no. This is disastrous. I am devastated. So you mean if you have a lot of individual units in the endgame, you're going to have to move them overland ONE BY ONE in the same old tedious way as Civ2??

This is the one thing I had simply taken for granted was going to be put right in Civ3. I almost can't believe what I've just read with my own eyes. Please tell me Dan didn't say that...

[TechWins]

Oh no. This is disastrous. I am devastated. So you mean if you have a lot of individual units in the endgame, you're going to have to move them overland ONE BY ONE in the same old tedious way as Civ2??

I hope Dan just misunderstood the question or he isn't exactly sure and doesn't want to give a false answer of yes.

Maybe it is not neccasary for using stacked units because the 'go to' is fabulous. Actually I'm quite curious on how efficient the 'go to' commad? I'm referring to the 'go to' command of having your unit on a tile then clicking for it to go ten tiles away (example). Not the 'go to' command in the orders menu. One of the main reasons why civ2 became less fun as I played more is because of my continuously increasing frustration with the 'go to' command. So Dan, how well does the 'go to' command work? Please be honest with me because I'm going to buy the game either way, bad 'go to' or not, so a honest answer would be nice.

[Ilkuul]

Originally posted by TechWins
One of the main reasons why civ2 became less fun as I played more is because of my continuously increasing frustration with the 'go to' command. So Dan, how well does the 'go to' command work?

OK, it would be good to know whether "go to" really works. But you would still have to click on each individual unit and tell it to go to the same place as the previous one, for goodness sake!

PLEEEEEZE, Firaxis, put this right in the very first patch!!