army or wonder?

[Darth Sidious]

I currently am playing the (non militaristic) french on diety on a regular sized map.

I am just done razing my first opponent with swordsmen, it is about 500 BC. It gave me 2 leaders, the first one i used to build the forbidden palace in the capital i took over (cuz it had a good position for being a second capital and it had the pyramids, lucky me)

3 other tribes are busy building the sistine chappel, i have no other wonder yet, and since i have started at about the same time and the AI cheats, i do not expect to win this without using the leader.

Is it wort using the leader for this wonder, or should i use it to get an army to help me raze the next opponent when i have knights?

I don't know the value of an army, cuz i never had one yet. I did fight against 2 in the other game i played though, and i i beaten them without too much difficulty (legionares vs swordsman army)

[korn469]

Darth Sidious

i would go with a wonder for the following reasons

*you can't unload units from an army, so if you put swordmen in your army then it will be obsolete once the industrial age rolls around
*except in a few select circumstance high mobility units outperform an army because their retreat ability provides a similar outcome to what an army does
*a wonder which provides a constant bonus will benefit your empire much more than an army that you might never use

[Darth Sidious]

yah

I do understand that one army is not worth a wonder by FAAAAR

but the point is that i need one army in order to build that militairy academy or whatever it is that will enable me to build more.
Then again, i just got back to peace again so it probably would hurt my already bad reputation pretty damn much to get that army a "victorious amry"

thanx for you advice.

[korn469]

Darth Sidious

even if you do build an army to get the military academy then each army you build cost 400 shields, or the same as 3 modern armor...i'd take 7 modern armor over 3 modern armor in an army

[Darth Sidious]

ok clear !

I didn't really notice the insane prize yet.

*starts building his chappel*

[notyoueither]

korn is right.

Unless you have 156 Modern Armour. Then, what is 1 more rat to the pack?

Armies give you some different capabilities, not much, but a little.

I torture myself over whether to rush that Wonder or get the MilAcad. I usually go for the Army, just to add to the flavour (options).

Salve

[CB2034]

I usually build one army so I can build the heroic epic (or whatever its called) after I build that I usually get about 5-6 leaders in the next 100-200 years.(I do a lot of warmongering)

[kailhun]

Originally posted by CB2034
I usually build one army so I can build the heroic epic (or whatever its called) after I build that I usually get about 5-6 leaders in the next 100-200 years.(I do a lot of warmongering)

Ah, I wondered why I couldn't build this. Hm, so you have to waste an army to be able to build the HE. Nothing the editor won't solve.

Robert

[The Hun]

I've heard that it is better to use the first leader for an army so you can build the HE. The HE will open the flow of more leaders to use to your ends. However, I have yet to get one leader and I am on my 5th game. 2 of 5 games I played a Mil Civ. 5 of 5 games I played on Warlord to Electricity.

-Craig

[Grumbold]

You have to attack A LOT to get military leaders. In my early regent games, playing Militarist Rome, I got between 1 and 3 leaders per game in destroying two factions. When I started playing the tournament games I was far more aggresive seeking early victories against all my opponents. Despite being pacifist civs the leaders were more common just because of the sheer number of battles. I'd build an army and the epic if you plan to be a complete warmonger but ignore it if you don't irrespective of what your Civ abilities are.

[Arrian]

If I'm AT ALL concerned that the AI may beat me to a crucial wonder (Sistine qualifies), the leader goes to build the wonder. Only if I have a lock (or think i have a lock) on building the wonders I feel I must have do I make an army, for the heroic epic, and thus (in theory) more leaders.

However, in my latest game I got 4 leaders w/o ever making an army. #1 - Forbidden Palace, clearly. #2 - Theory of Evolution. #3 - Universal Suffrage. #4 - Hoover. I was playing the Egyptians.

Armies themselves are of little use. The only thing that matters is more leaders to use on wonders. The question is whether using one of those precious leaders so that you can build the heroic epic and thus get more later is worth it. It's hard to tell.

-Arrian

[TinCow]

I personally do one of two things with my first leader: Build an Army or build the Great Library. If the GL has already been built, or I can get it by building it faster than other civs, then my leader goes into an army. I do this because the only Great Wonders that I have found that I really feel like I can't live without don't occur until the industrial and modern ages. Building the Heroic epic gives me a better chance of getting more leaders by the time I have the tech to build these bad boys. Besides, using that one puny leader to make one puny army also lets me build the Military Academy and the Pentagon later on to satisfy my perfectionist instincts.

[Willem]

Originally posted by kailhun


Ah, I wondered why I couldn't build this. Hm, so you have to waste an army to be able to build the HE. Nothing the editor won't solve.

Robert

Sorry, it doesn't quite work that way. You have to have a "successful" army before you can build the Epic. And there's nothing in the Editor that will change that, I tried. But that probably means that all you have to do is waste some Barbarian in order to have a successful Army. I haven't had one yet so I don't know if that would count.

[Darth Sidious]

i c, i c

so no combat value is armies.

Well, this was a pretty early war that gave me 2 leaders as you could see in the first post.
I just killed my neighbour as soon as i had about 12 swordsmen, and i immediately went for ironworking and an iron hill. so that was pretty early.
Perfect strat i think, the AI is so slow with getting iron, just don't try it when your only neighbour has hoplites....

anyway, at the moment i had this leader, i wasn't really in a position to make "bonus" wonders like HE since my best city had about 9 production.

Also, with the hapiness **** on diety, the sistine is pretty damn important i think.
To me it is the most important one together with the pyramids in early game.

[GeneralTacticus]

Originally posted by Willem
Sorry, it doesn't quite work that way. You have to have a "successful" army before you can build the Epic. And there's nothing in the Editor that will change that, I tried. But that probably means that all you have to do is waste some Barbarian in order to have a successful Army. I haven't had one yet so I don't know if that would count.

Actually, you can change that in the editor, assuming you have the patch. If you don't you'll have to download it, otherwise, then uncheck the box on the HE that says 'requires a victorius army'.