Things I always do, advice requested...

[vmxa1]

Two gov switches for a non-religious civ is going to be very painful. If I can afford to take the hit for two switches, I have already won and don't need the second one.

[Gladi]

Bright Day.

Donegal- I know . But until not long ago I didn't know captured units don't cost anything. In the first five thousand years Ihave usually only as much workers as cities. Current game I have twenty-seven workers for thirty-six cities, just acquired eight from English . What do you think about that number? Should I make more Workers?

I play as Romaioi Empress Theodora. No strategic reason. Slavs, I think, are just dazzled by Constantinopolis.

I hear from every corner how Statue of Zeus is great (not that I disagrre). But I haven't really heard much on Knights Templar wonder. So what do you think about it?


Edit: repaired statistics

[vmxa1]

Workers sounds fine, more is rarely a bad thing, but if natives they have a cost.

Templar is nice to have, but is not a key wonder. It is a bit late to be a big factor and Crusaders are not all powerful. They will have a short life span as stronger faster units will be coming online.
The slow foot speed is what makes me not care about them.

[Gladi]

Vmxa1- you also sound like you do not care much about abiut medieval infantry, which is understanable. But crusaders are quite useful their defense is same as one of knight or pikemen. AND they can build forts. Now that can bu much for me. Especially when I besiege large (seven plus) city from which counter-attacks pour on me every turn. And thank you for all advices .

[vmxa1]

I am not fond of MedInf, but I will upgrade Swords to them, not build them from scratch. I don't like any units much that can't be Calvs or Mech Inf, except Ancient Calvs. They make them (medinf) better now that they can be guerillas, but I do not even care for them much either.
I am not saying they are bad, just that it is not my cup of tea.

Crusaders are solid when they hit the scene, but are not all that useful to me. The Templar comes with Chiv. I tend to skip this tech more often than not. It is dead with Steam. So that means it will not be around that long for me, if I even get it.
The race to steam is fairly fast in Emp and above, so that really makes it a short lived wonder for me.

Again, I am not going to be sending slow movers from some city way back in the core to attack cities that are probably far away.
Chances are I will be facing Musket and at least Knights, so they are going to find it hard going if they are in cities. Do they have use, yes. Am I happy to have them yes. Will I gear up to get them, no.

Forts, I have never built any fortress, so I guess they are not all that important.

I will add that in Monarch games the Templar is more useful, especially if you do get Chiv right away. So I would imagine as you drop down levels, it has more value.
Glad you are getting something useful out the the forum, that is what it is about.

[CerberusIV]

KT is worthwhile at Monarch if you have an army or two to put the crusaders in. Then the 2 move and bonuses really make them useful, especially as the first unit to storm a city to take out the toughest defender.

[vmxa1]

It would be a hard choice to make, to go with Crusaders in the army instead of Knights. That extra move for the knights is so powerful.
I did make an army of Crusaders in one game as I did not build any knights due to having Zeus. With those two wonders giving free units, I could not see building any until they were obsolete.

[ducki]

I had a game going where I didn't have horses and honestly couldn't really get to any to take them away from someone else - darn the RNG.

In that situation - granted, a special case - getting KT (as well as Zeus before) was incredibly important.

But yes, if I have horses, as nice as free-to-build units are, I'd rather have knights if I have to choose.

[CerberusIV]

The other benefits of crusaders are firstly they can be disbanded for 17 shields and second, if you are trying to be a peaceful builder for a while, they can be a significant contribution to your military power and deter an AI.

I don't think of them as slow knights, rather as stronger medieval infantry.