Battle System is SCREWED UP

[Jahi]

i was really annoyed when an Egyptian knight took out my veteran infantry in a city size 12. this happed twice with the result of loosing my city to a few sword wielding units.

fortunes of war or not, you give me a bolt-action springfield 1911 or mauser in an urban setting and i'm gonna show you some dead knights.

[Frugal_Gourmet]

I haven't had any of thse problems you speak of...

So far, the units seem perfectly balanced to me.

(with the exception of those irritating invulnerable bombers).

However, if you are losing unrealistically, maybe you have the level set to higher than Prince? Just like in previous Civ's, the computer gets better combat odds at levels above Prince.

[Wexu]

Re: I haven't had any of thse problems you speak of...

Originally posted by Frugal_Gourmet

(with the exception of those irritating invulnerable bombers).

They're fixing the bomber problem right now.

[Executor]

Re: I haven't had any of thse problems you speak of...

Originally posted by Frugal_Gourmet
However, if you are losing unrealistically, maybe you have the level set to higher than Prince? Just like in previous Civ's, the computer gets better combat odds at levels above Prince.

I think Dan or Soren said that the AI does NOT get a combat bonus at higher difficulty levels. And if I remember correctly, the AI didn't get any combat bonuses in Civ2 either. I played a lot of Deity games in Civ2, and I definitely didn't notice any.

[Cougz]

New strategy for Nukes??

Are nukes now a greater strategic element in a war situation? In most of my civ2 games I used them more as deterant, unless I was twice as big as all the other civs combined AND had SDI everywhere...

Do we know if using nukes will turn every civ against you (wouldn't be pretty in a 16 civ game) or do your allies go with it... what happens?

Has anyone used a nuke yet in civ3?

[Pyrodrew]

Firaxis removed more power than they put back in....making more powerful/modern units less significantly powerful in Civ3.

Exactly. The battle system really NEEDS to be fixed. The defenders have too big of an advantage.

Has anyone used a nuke yet in civ3?

Someone said they dropped one on a group of knights... ground zero... and not 1 knight even died. It still gets all the other civs mad at you tho. I haven't heard anyone say it's any good. Hopefully they will fix this in the patch.

[Fidel]

i like the combat system. good choice of terrain and good battle preparation really keep odd results low. i WANT some odd results because otherwise my cossacks would just steamroll to berlin (they took hamburg and bremen, though)
combat system is great

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Pyrodrew
Exactly. The battle system really NEEDS to be fixed. The defenders have too big of an advantage.

That just means you have to choose your battles carefully, and you must learn how to concentrate your forces. Gone are the days when you could spread out a line of chariots and keep advancing.

This is a good thing.

Though the system could use some fine tuning by reintroducing Firepower. It makes sense that an armour unit does more damage than a warrior unit

[Fidel]

warriors = mujahedeens. keep them able to inflict SOME damage

[Pyrodrew]

I think some misinterpreted what I wrote...

Though the system could use some fine tuning by reintroducing Firepower.

That's all I'm asking for... something to slightly balance things. The pendulum swung from favoring the attacker FAR TOO MUCH to favoring the defender FAR TOO MUCH. See Valant's post above.

[Regault]

I have to agree with the sn00pster. I'll be attacking a small town on plains with a swarm of my best attackers of the time and not do any damage to the single spearman guarding it.
It actually gets worse, since the spearman will automatically heal at the end of the turn due to the barracks. He will likely go up levels.

And yet, the computer is perfectly able to steamroller the musketman defending a city of mine with archers.

Both my brothers have had the same experience in their games.

A combat bonus to the AI might not have been intentional, but it's there as a bug nonetheless.

And they really need to tweak the artillery. Having to deploy stacks of six to do one hp of damage to the defender is ridiculous.

This game really needs a way to combine forces without needing armies.

[Zanzin]

Combat.....is definately different from civ2 and ctp1/2.

I think the thing here is that everyone is confusing "weird" for "different".

Once we all get used to the changes, what happens in combat will be seen as the norm.

Although the whole ancient vs modern unit thing is a problem

[Grim Legacy]

Originally posted by Regault

And yet, the computer is perfectly able to steamroller the musketman defending a city of mine with archers.

Hehe. I've quickly learned to see the problem with these situations in Civ3. The crucial question you'll have to ask yourself is: "What was I thinking putting a sole defender in my city?"

In addition to having barracks and three of the best veteran defensive units in the majority of my cities, my continent is also guarded by a selection of fast or strong units as a free standing offensive army. I need it to bring justice to infidels who build their camps on my borders.

[Garth Vader]

One easy fix which would go a long way to helping this would be to make it possible to move units out of armies. Plus make it easier to get armies.

[Yohan]

Ok, combat is definitely tougher probably because, as mentioned earlier, unit stats are so similar in the earlier ages, and defenders get so many potential bonuses which makes attacking a big risk. War should be entered into carefully with a definite plan of attack. None of this "oh I think I'll attack here, or maybe here" stuff. You have to apply overwhelming force and be decisive and selective about your targets. I like it.

On the other hand, there has GOT to be something that Firaxis can do about the warrior vs. tank syndrome. This has been a problem since the original Civ and is still rampant in Civ3. I've had battleships attacking ironclads and losing. WTF?!?! Maybe if I saw it once, ever, that would be reasonable. Flukes do happen after all. But 3 times??? Yes, I've seen this happen 3 times.

I don't understand what the big deal was with firepower and why it was removed. I think it did a reasonably good job of fixing the warrior vs. tank problem, although it didn't eliminate it. Flukes should still be allowed to happen, though not as often as they do now. I would say put firepower back in, but that's such a huge change in the combat system that there's no way Firaxis would even consider making such a major alteration to the game dynamics. Oh well. Maybe pumping up the attack/defense ratings of the modern units would help?