How do Armies handle damage?

[Theseus]

Last point:

And again, that's why I am such a fan of starting Armies of with 2 Swordsmen*, and later bolstering with a Musket or Rifle, and finally an Infantry. The Swordsmen* are useless and non-upgradeable anyway, and they're only worth 5 (?) shields each if disbanded... this way, their 10 hps go to a VERY worthwhile cause.

Same thing with Cavalry*... put 2 in an Army, bolster with an MA, and then later another Cav if I have any left, or an MA.

Hmmm, just thought of another good one... 2 Cav* + 1 MI... you give up the 3 move capability of the Cavs, but you get one helluva escort for a Tank attack force.

[Catt]

Originally posted by Theseus
... how did you know Egypt would build mixed-unit Armies though?

I didn't know for certain until I tried it. But in order to increase the odds of it occuring, I let Cleo start with: 1 army, 1 MI, 1 tank, 1 cavalry, and 1 longbowman, all on one tile; a similar mix of units plus an army on another tile; and a city with a coupla musketmen as defenders. Sure enough, Cleo used those empty armies to build mixed-unit armies at her first opportunity! (Although, even though I gave her the Pentagon (I think) she only loaded 3 units into her armies -- probably waiting to produce more longbowmen to add ).

And I agree that the HP-sharing is a nice compromise on the upgrade / no-upgrade army units issue.

Catt

[DeepO]

Oh, it is no exploit, as the AI seems to be using it a lot, that was not what I wanted to say (sorry 'bout that). But it isn't really intuitive, I hope you'll agree to that. And the mechanic gives some strange results which you'll have to be very observant for to spot...

DeepO

[DeepO]

Theseus, would you think that the best use of mixed armies is to use formerly offensive ones as modern defensives ones? Or is it just a way of using things you can't upgrade anyhow?

I mean, it would be possible to have a 2 rifleman, later 'upgraded' with an extra MI army, but none of the examples you're using come to this. Is this coincidence?

DeepO

[Theseus]

LOL... something in Civ3 not intuitive?? I don;t mind really... it's fun to figure things out.

In terms of uses and configurations of units and Armies:

* I like to use non-upgradeable units this way.

* I like to keep units of the same speed together.

Thus, Swords with Longbows, Muskets, Rifles, and Infantry. No Marines thus far, because Armies can't do amhibious assaults, and I otherwise haven't use them much for land attacks. (also, as a Marine, I can't put one my bro's in the ARMY!)

Cavs with Tanks, although preferably MAs. As noted above, MIs for a fastmover offensive defense.

The one exception would be a possible addition of an MI to a defensive M-U Army, even a slowmover, as you note.

Lately, though, my play style has been heavily dependent on Swords, so I almost always end up with Swords as the base of my slowmover Armies, and without the Musket / Rifle addition there's a long period when the 2 Swords Army is too weak, which is repeated if I try to wait for MIs instead of poppin in an Infantry.

When I next play a predominantly fastmover style, I can envision starting Armies with 2 Rifles, and later adding an Infantry, then an MI... that's mofo defense. Probably only 1-2, though, as, duh, that's in fastmover games. I like the Cavs/MI combo idea... can;t wait to try it.

[Ekanata]

How about movement point ?

If the damage taken isn't spreaded to all army member, then practically they're fighting one by one. Therefor it's possible when the army start losing, the fast member can hold the enemy letting the slower member to retret, and later retreating themself.

Therefor, in scenario full army of Tank attacking army of 2x Infantry + Cavalry, both Infantry will fight first and later the Cavalry. Since Cavalry has higher movement than Tank, will the defending army be able to retreat ?

And in scenario army of 2x Tank + Cavalry attacking single Modern Armor, will the presence of Cavalry nullify MA's ability to retreat ?

[DeepO]

Re: How about movement point ?

Originally posted by Ekanata
And in scenario army of 2x Tank + Cavalry attacking single Modern Armor, will the presence of Cavalry nullify MA's ability to retreat ?

Well, you make a valid point, but might want to choose another example: a MA will not retreat from any other fastmover, so it won't retreat from a tank.

A better example would be if a horsemen makes retreat for impis impossible in an army consisting of 2 immortals...

DeepO