I have no idea how to place my defenses

[GarP2]

vmxa1/Imtoops: Thanks for your replies. I understand the principle of baiting the AI, but dont understand why it works, since the AI can also see any units that are lying in wait close enough to harm them.

As an example, an enemy regular spearman/settler combo just walked up to my vet knight last night on Monarch level (PTW unpatched). While a knight is not a powerful stack, 2:6 is pretty bad odds to risk a settler on. Since the AI does pretty well in some strategic situations, there must be some code to assess a developing situation. I was looking for some understanding of how this works so well in some situations and not others...i.e., where "the line" is drawn.

GarP

[GarP2]

As long as I'm on a roll (and on my lunch hour) I have another defence question. Is there a known bug with "air superiority" for fighters? I've had games recently where it didnt work. The enemy bombers bombed cities with my fighters set on air superiority and the fighters did nothing. The AI's fighters worked just fine, unfortunately.

GarPtoo

[vmxa1]

Yes a fix was made for air superiority, I am not sure if it did the job (I do not have that many planes).

[vmxa1]

Originally posted by GarP2
vmxa1/Imtoops: Thanks for your replies. I understand the principle of baiting the AI, but dont understand why it works, since the AI can also see any units that are lying in wait close enough to harm them.

As an example, an enemy regular spearman/settler combo just walked up to my vet knight last night on Monarch level (PTW unpatched). While a knight is not a powerful stack, 2:6 is pretty bad odds to risk a settler on. Since the AI does pretty well in some strategic situations, there must be some code to assess a developing situation. I was looking for some understanding of how this works so well in some situations and not others...i.e., where "the line" is drawn.

GarP

I think that proves the AI is not always using a well concieved plan. They send settlers out with a single unit all the time. It does not matter what the unit it, the human will take it down with number or tactics.
In my AU208 game, the babs are send a few calvs to the same area over and over. They are better units than mine, but they get whacked anyway. I hit them with cats and then an army. So why do they not send those units to a less well defended area, I don't know.
I do not have enough units to defend all over this well and can move that fast, so they could hurt me with a wiser plan.

[TheArsenal]

Originally posted by Rob_S
1 more thought on fortresses: if I'm going to build them then they are most useful in mtns. With all the defensive bonuses in such a position, then even obsolete units can hold out there until reinforced.

I've used forts seriously just once, on a mountainous choke point which separated me from the rest of my continent and few annoyed civs. I placed several cannons and defenders in them and they proved quite useful. The problem was when I expanded by war past the choke point, and didn't need the forts (I was afraid the AI would use them against me if I left them there), I couldn't pillage my own forts before pillaging the roads that ran through them. Irritating.

[GarP2]

Oops! I meant 2:4 odds in that last post. Still the same idea.

Sometimes the AI amazes me with how well it maneuvers, especially when attacking my cities. It explained a lot when I finally found out that it knew where all my units were. It seems to be pretty good at the old chess maneuver of double attack - making a move that threatens attack at 2 different points at the same time - used to force defenders to go the wrong direction or spread too thin. But maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

Thanks for info on the air superiority fix. I like aircraft, so I use them a lot, and am glad to hear it got fixed. My game computer is not the same as my web computer, so I have to firewall/virus protect it before I go online to get the patch, or set up a local network, but its more fun to use my time to play the game. This info will be an incentive.

Thanks, GarP

[johncmcleod]

Does the unpatched regular Civ3 have an air superiority bug? That's what I have and when I set fighters to air superiority they do nothing. People have told me to download the 1.29 patch. Where can I find this patch and does it fix the air superiority bug?

Off topic: Just out of curiousity, is the capital for the Ottomans Ankara? (I don't have PTW)

[GarP2]

Related question: If you load PTW does that also upgrade Civ 3 to the latest patch or do you have to do that separately?

Thanks, GarP

[Epistax]

Pretty sure Civ3 and PTW are completely different.

[Arrian]

GarP2,

There have been two patches post-PTW. So you install PTW and then patch the game. Many of us continue to use the 1.14 patch (first one) because the newest (1.21) hasn't been released in Europe and many of us are involved in PBEM/Democracy/Succession games that are using 1.14. Sir Ralph has explained how to do a dual installation such that you can pretty easily switch between 1.14 and 1.21 (I forget exactly where that explanation is here at 'poly, but it's topped over at central.masterzen.net).

-Arrian

[vmxa1]

Originally posted by GarP2
Related question: If you load PTW does that also upgrade Civ 3 to the latest patch or do you have to do that separately?

Thanks, GarP

Yes and no. PTW install will upgrade CivIII to 1.29f if it was not already. The patches after that are for PTW only and no more patches will be done for CivIII.