war before tanks?

[Evil_Eric_4]

Just curious how many of you go to war voluntarily before you can build tanks.

I can see it if you need a resorce but I still would rather trade for it.
Going to war early seems to be too costly and I fear falling behind in tech if I dont consentrate on developement.

Getting dragged into a war is one thing but to do it on purpose seems counterproductive (before tanks -bombers etc.).

One more thing-
When a war breaks out I always send some "observers" .
In one game all the AIs ganged up on Egypt (I was also at war with them due to an MPP)However all I sent was a few ships to watch.Well when I saw that the one city that I wanted(it had rubber-I had none)was about to fall I contacted Cleo and offered
peace and a small lump sum of gold and she gladly handed it over to me
2 turns later Egypt was no more.I had their best city without firing a shot
The money I gave them did them no good.
BTW does the civ that took their last city get their gold?
not that it matters as Im sure she spent that cash.

[Boracks]

When one of the 'feeding frenzies' breaks out, I generally send a few 'observers' as well.

In my case they consist of settlers and military units (read: real estate agents and lawyers ). After all, when cities fall, their culture is zero so they revert to one square radius, freeing up a lot of land that is now 'unclaimed'. So I claim it.

I love those early 'world wars'.

[Wrong_shui]

I use to wait till the modern tiomes in civ2, but...

Playing regent, I have just spent from 600AD to 1000AD planning and preparing for an attack on an island of 15 babalonian cities.

In 5 turns I had took them all.

It was fun.

Im still running equal with everyone in the tech race.

[Evil_Eric_4]

Yea I thought of this as well--
next time Ill send settlers too

In retrospect I should have offered a resorce or lux since Id have gotten it back in 2 turns anyway.

[Venger]

I go to war when I no longer can tolerate a neighbor. In my current game, this was WAY early. I can succesfully wage war at any point - but it helps to have something like a legion or knight. Cavalry is a very potent offensive unit (3 move is really too high though for this unit, especially in light of mechanized infantries 2 move)...

War is what you make of it. For the record, I destroyed Egypt and Greece before tanks, and had only 10 cities left to conquer when I finally got 10 tanks to help finish the last 3 turns of their conquest. Knights and especially cavalry were invaluable in the conquest, as was the Legion.

Venger

[Evil_Eric_4]

Venger--

Did your research suffer or were you better off in the long run?

[Special_Olympic]

Of course I do. If I get Iron I might do a swordsman rush on the civ next to me at the beginning. If that goes well, I might attack the next civ in line and try to gobble most of it up.

After that I'll build tech and culture until I have Knights and then cavalry... Then I might have more wars if it seems advantageous.
It's possible to have wars and still lead in culture and tech pretty easily.

[Evil_Eric_4]

(read: real estate agents and lawyers ).

Good one LOL

[mr.buddylee]

I usually play India or Japan, and in every game I've played, I start a war with someone soon after I get my special unit (war elephant or samari). I usually pick on whoever I think is weakest and least liked by the opposing AI.

I have Monarchy, and my cities are all usually above 6 before I start, and I just keep churning out my special unit and hope I can destroy them before they get gunpowder.

If they get gunpowder while we're fighting, I'll generally try to block their access to saltpeper if possible, and keep going or if I cannot block their access to saltpeper, I try to get another AI to join the fight and keep them busy.

I prefer going to war early because their culture is lower and their defenses are much weaker. They still have their warriors and spearmen running around and I usually have a nice advantage over their units and my units don't require any special resources to build, so I can churn them out no matter what resources I currently control.

I don't get another advantage like this until I get tanks, so that is generally when I take over my next neighbor

[Venger]

Originally posted by Evil_Eric_4
Venger--

Did your research suffer or were you better off in the long run?

Hard to know with just the single game experience, but I currently have half of the score graph to myself, so I guess it didn't hurt too bad!

The key is to be a Republic as early as possible to maintain high levels of research...

Venger

[adaMada]

I normally time my wars for the introduction of a new unit that puts me ahead of everyone else. This means that I'm willing to go to war with a ton of knights, but don't generally encourage it -- instead, I like to wait until calvery, mass build/upgrade, and crush a civ or two while they're still on their first or second calvery. I perdict that getting tanks will be similar for me, as I'm playing as the Germans primarially for the Panzer, which I hear is equally good.

One other thing to consider, though, is that early game wars seem to be useful -- the AI is so worried about expansion, most cities are protected w/ warriors (or a pikeman or two at most). I am playing on cheifton, so I can't say that this doesn't change at higher levels, but even so... ultra early game wars can be very efficent when it comes to eliminating another civ a bit too close for comfort...

Just my two bits...

-- adaMada

[Ray K]

Re: war before tanks?

Originally posted by Evil_Eric_4
Just curious how many of you go to war voluntarily before you can build tanks.

I can see it if you need a resorce but I still would rather trade for it.

dude, no way!

My capital city build queue:
Temple (rush-build)
Archer
Archer
Archer
Archer (start war with neighbor)
Archer
Archer
Archer
...

My captured cities build the defensive units. I don't worry about the opponent techs because I keep making new friends about trading techs every time my border expands

My attack waves start with Archers, then Swordsmen, then Longbowmen.

vini, vidi, vici.

[Evil_Eric_4]

I always play as the Americans or Germans so special units is not an option.

Maybe next game(post patch that is)Ill try being more aggressive
early on.

Ive just always been a builder so maybe its time to try a different aproach.
Thing is Im up to monarch level now and the AI seems to be real tech monsters and they freely trade these techs amongst themselves.
If Im forced to build units instead of say Libraries the next thing I know there is some civ entering middle ages while Im still researching code of laws.

Plus Im kinda lazy

[Ghengis Brom]

Calvary movement vs. Mechanized

Originally posted by Venger
I go to war when I no longer can tolerate a neighbor. In my current game, this was WAY early. I can succesfully wage war at any point - but it helps to have something like a legion or knight. Cavalry is a very potent offensive unit (3 move is really too high though for this unit, especially in light of mechanized infantries 2 move)...

War is what you make of it. For the record, I destroyed Egypt and Greece before tanks, and had only 10 cities left to conquer when I finally got 10 tanks to help finish the last 3 turns of their conquest. Knights and especially cavalry were invaluable in the conquest, as was the Legion.

Venger

I think the Firaxians mave taken into consideration that on broken terrain with no roads a horse is going to move faster then a vehicle.

Ex. A Hummer and a calvaryman arrive at the bank of a river. At it's deepest point the river is say, 12 ft. The mechanized infantry can't cross, it would be completely underwater at 7 or 8 feet of depth. The calvaryman just urges his horse on, swims across the river and keeps on going while the Hummer has to travel up or downstream to find a shallower place to cross.

Me at work ----->

[Morganstern]

Like EE4, I mostly avoided wars prior to tanks in Civ 2, and did most of the fighting after obtaining them. That approach just never presented itself in my first real Civ 3 game. The land grab is just too important, even in mid-game. When first the Iroquois and then the Russians constantly violated my territory and made silly demands, my Americans had little choice but to go to war. There was some Histograph loss during the wars, but in the end I'm back in the lead with a strong position.