Useless army

[epics]

I heard here that the armies are wonderfull etc. I never had a chance to use one so I didn't know. Lately I had a leader so was thinking "Let's try". And so I did. Three veteran infantry walking through enemy's territory. Let's try how it works. So I attacked 11 population city, was figting against one vet infantry. Guess what was the result... it was, hmmmm, not very successful for me. In fact I lost my army and the AI's infantry didn't get any shot, not one HP lost!!! Can you imagine that?! I say pretty ****** man !!!!! From now, **** the armies

[CerberusIV]

Next time you want to attack veteran infantry put three tanks into your army and do some bombardment beforehand. That should produce a better result.

[Arrian]

Infantry are not an attack unit, unless you bombard the hell out of the unit you are going to attack.

6 attack, 10 defense, 1 move. Infantry armies are really, really hard to kill, so I occasionally build them to protect a stack of artillery + attack troops.

Armies are much more useful if you put attackers in them. In the ancient age, I like swordsman armies. In the middle ages, Knight armies and Cavalry armies are very powerful.

In the industrial age, infantry for inpenetrable defense, Tanks as "nutcrackers" for heavily defended AI cities. For really good balance, I've had 3xTank + 1xMech Inf.

But nothing beats the 4x Modern Armor Army.

-Arrian

[Arrian]

By the way, an infantry unit fortified in a size 11 city has a defense of 17.5 against your attack of 6. Them's not good odds.

-Arrian

[Chemical Ollie]

In some recent games, I sometimes ended up with more armies than I could use (8-10). An army will often prevent the AI to attack at all, but don't count on it: In another game I lost a couple of infantry armies to hordes of attacking cavallery.

[Abdul-Aziz]

Arrian is right. The best units use for attack are (in different ages):
Horseman - Knight - Cavalry - Tank - Modern Armour
Also you can use:
Swordsman - Bowman - Longbowman - Medieval Infantry - Guerilla

[badams52]

Also when I played recently, the AI seemed to think an army of 3 cavalry is to strong to attack unless he has tanks so he won't even attack your army. So you can use the cavalry army to defend weak units, defend other cavalry when on a pillaging resources run, etc. My guess is other armies get this same benefit depending upon the units the AI has. I've never seen the AI attack an army of MI (though usually by that point I have UP)

[pedrojedi]

I like the army of explorers. Sometime I will try making an army of workers or settlers. I shouldn't work, but if it does, it will be plenty of fun, hehehe...

When attacking infantry in industrial age... Bombard. Bombard like you never bombarded before. Go there, be happy, and make some big black holes on the ground, level the AI's terrain down. And then begin counting pieces of city afterwards.

[vmxa1]

I use armies like Arrian and one more thing. They are great to use to sit on a city you just took. I love old calv armies that are now unable to go against MA/MI, but they can sit on that large pop and pacifiy them. The AI often will leave that city alone, it will not come after it with a couple of infantry units. If they come with a real army, send your army.
Do not get mad at the army, it was miss used. A large city is not to be attacked with just anything.

[Daz]

Yep, someone said "nutcracker" and thats just what the army is. You will not take a city with just one army (at least not as fast as you would like and not until tanks or MA). The army is there to kill that Elite Infantry or Elite MI without you loosing 3 or 4 Cavalry or Tanks. After you get rid of the best defender, single units can ussually do the job.

[The Mad Monk]

Does it make more sense to mix units within an army, or to use a "pure" army with single units or another army to handle defense?

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Does it make more sense to mix units within an army, or to use a "pure" army with single units or another army to handle defense?

I normally use pure armies, but I make both infantry armies for defense and cavallery or tank armies as nutcrackers. Ancient swordsmen armies are well balanced.

[Arrian]

TMM -

I'd say it depends. Theseus, whose opinion I respect, loves mixed unit armies. I typically use "pure" armies of swords, knights, cav, tanks*, and modern armor.

* - as I noted above, I've had 3xTanks and 1xMech Inf armies. That made sense to me because 1) I had just gotten Comps and was a ways from Synth Fibers; and 2) Tanks have a relatively weak defense (8) and adding the Mech Inf dealt with that w/o slowing the army down.

As China, I have formed 2x Rider armies, awaiting Mil Tradition to add a Cavalry for added punch. That way, I still have a "pure" 3-mover force. I think I even added a MA to such an army once.

In my current game, I did make an army with 2 legionaries (one vet, one elite who generated the leader for the army) and 1 vet med inf. I liked the added hitting power of the med inf. leading the charge, but with 9hp of 3-defense backing him up. Once I get the Pentagon, I'm sure I'll add an infantry. I try not to mix slow-movers and mobile units.

I could definitely see a 1xImpi + 2xhorseman army being useful, if one was inclined to play the Zulu. But horseman are most useful in hordes of individual units, and their usefulness pretty much ends with the advent of feudalism. Sure, I keep elite horsemen around to finish off beat up longbowmen and such hoping to get more leaders, but armies don't generate leaders. Therefore, a horseman army has a very limited shelf life. The only shorter one I can think of is an archer army.

Armies are occasionally useful in combat, but the truth is they really aren't that big a boost. Their value, IMO, is limited to allowing construction of the HE to increase you chances of getting leaders, and the "nutcracker" role to help reduce casualties vs. well-defended cities (though artillery is more effective to do that job, you just need a lot of it).

-Arrian

[vmxa1]

I do not mix units in an army very often. When I do it will be of necessity. Even then, I would like to at least match speeds. IOW, no 1 move units with 2/3 move units.

[Abdul-Aziz]

Yeah, I also like to have specific armies - defensive and ofensive...