Are Destroyers almost useless?

[werdhertz]

Are Destroyers useless?


Ive been trying to figure out ways to make Destroyers more useful... They come so close to Battleships that they seem to be outdated almost instantly. Are they just there to be a lower shield-cost Battleship? Or are there any decent strategies to use them for?

[aaglo]

They can be used as/for:
-cheap escorts
-sea hunters (for sole transports)
-disposable raw materials for far-away bases
-increasing the sea power

[Lucarse]

I use them as follows :
A cheap way of increasing Naval Presence (sight)
SubHunters to keep battleships safe (higher movement rate).

I usually have them darting about looking for lone easy pickings or for large enemy formations/subs.
They find em, i kill em. blubb,blubb,blubb.

[vmxa1]

The price is what makes them useful.

[Randolph]

They're great if you have a tech lead. There's no point in building expensive battleships if your opponents are only going to be using Ironclads for the near future (Even when the computer catches up it generally takes some time before they get they’re army/navy up to snuff). You can quickly create a real sea presence, at a reasonable price. I tend to build allot more of these than battleships. Since they’re no railroads in the sea you can’t have concentrated naval presence everywhere, so it’s nice to have cheap ships around for quick response.

[pvzh]

Destroyers cannot see subs, but subs and AEGIS can see. If they could it could be a great unit.

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by pvzh
Destroyers cannot see subs, but subs and AEGIS can see. If they could it could be a great unit.

If destroyers had all the capabilities of other units, there wouldn't be a use for the other units.

Subs also make great "covert" pickets, just as obsolete frigates/ironclads do. Destroyers are the workhorse of the sea.

[shan24]

I use destroyers for a number of reasons:

1/ when i have a tech lead and there is no benefit in building more expensive battleships when all i need are cheaper destroyers to take out the enemies weak naval units

2/ as 'naval scouts'.... ie they serve the same perpuse as the cruiser in civ2 by covering large tracks looking for enemy units.

3/ blocking high food production tiles- i'll station a destroyer on a high food producing sea unit near an enemy city to hinder their growth

4/ to block off and control chokepoints... ie why use a battleship when a cheaper destroyer can be used to maintain this control. particularly useful when an enemy city with a harbour has access to a small number of sea tiles and you want to prevent them from launching naval units.

5/ i also use destroyers as escorts to accompany my transports and aircraft carriers... ie they absorb the initial damage.

hope this helps.
S

[Allemand]

Too bad Firaxis called them destoyers. They have the characteristics of cruisers.

I don't see any reason to build them, as the build cost is still too close to that of a battleship while they have no advantage over the battleship. And the maintenance cost is the same, of course. Give the destroyer the ability to see subs and it's a good build.

[tinyp3nis]

I don't just think that destroyers have a place in the game, I think the role they have is more important than battleship. Much cheaper but as fast as battleship and if destroyer gets to attack battleship it's 12 vs 12.

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by Allemand
Too bad Firaxis called them destoyers. They have the characteristics of cruisers.
...

Since (in my universe) they don't represent 1 destroyer but a destroyer/cruiser based task force/flotilla, it doesn't matter much what they are called. Just as battleships represent a number of ships based on a core of battleships.

[notyoueither]

It would be great if some units had an upkeep cost greater than 1 gpt. If BBs had a cost of 2, the DD would be much more useful.

tinyp3nis had an excellent point as well. The 12 vs 12 when the DD attacks the BB in MP will be a great equalizer for players lagging in production. Keep the DDs in port and dash out to blast marauding BBs. Every edge counts in MP.

[vmxa1]

The DD have more movement than BB and can cover transport better to get to a location faster. Not a bad deal and they are much cheaper.

[The Pioneer]

You should've ommited the "almost" from your title. I only build a couple destoyers at most in my games. Usually I'll wait for better naval units to come along beofre I expand my Navy.

So long...

[bongo]

The low price means that you can afford to loose some of them. They are good scouts for your battleships.