Useful Fortresses

[rpodos]

Don't forget, fortresses also act like barracks, and quicken healing.

R

[Willem]

Re: ZOC

Originally posted by Mikel
Could someone explain to me ZOC? I find that my units in a fortess will not always attack the enemy as they march past. Do your units need to be fortified? I used this set up of a fortress in every other square but not a single shot was fired as the Egyptians headed over my borders and razed my cities (2 infantry, 2 cavalry, and 2 artillery in every fortess).

ZoC doesn't really work very well in the game, sometimes they take a shot, sometimes they don't. I find usually they don't. And even if they do, it's only good for 1 hit point of damage. So I wouldn't worry about it, you're not missing much. Your best bet is to sentry a Catapult , or other bombard unit in them. At least they'll be able to take a pot shot at anyone passing. IMO, ZoC is useless and needs some definite reworking in the game.

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
Sorry, my imagination isn't what it used to be...

Could someone post a pic of their use of fortresses in their game please

These fortresses are used to protect resources, and the forward fortress provides a haven for cannon.

http://www.crowncity.net/civ3/Defense.htm

In this example, the fortresses create an impregnible barrier.

http://www.crowncity.net/civ3/MaginotLine.htm

[Skanky Burns]

Thanks Zachriel, good examples

[Ethelred]

ZoC doesn't really work very well in the game, sometimes they take a shot, sometimes they don't. I find usually they don't.

Thats a bit of an illusion. They do take a shot every time they can. You only see the hits.

For some reason Firaxis decided not to show the misses on zone of control attacks. A mistake considering how many people think the units are trying to fire. The same for coastal defenses. You never see the damn things fire even when they take a hit on one of your own ships so they seem even more worthless than they really are.

I set up a city with two fortresses as redoubts in one game. It was my only city on the Japanese continent and I wanted to keep it as a landing zone if I ever went to war with them again. Never got to see the forts in action because the Japanese never went to war with me again in that one. I never picked on them either as it was more convenient to fight the Romans and then the French.

[Worthingtons]

I once had a massive line of Fortresses when i had a WW1 Type war. I'm not sure whether it was really the best idea, but the situation was i had a ton of defense units (Infantry when I upgraded) but not got tanks yet. I didnt want the Japs getting into my mainline and start playing havok pilliging. I also kinda hoped i'd get a WW1 situation but it didnt really work.

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by Rothy
I once had a massive line of Fortresses when i had a WW1 Type war. I'm not sure whether it was really the best idea, but the situation was i had a ton of defense units (Infantry when I upgraded) but not got tanks yet. I didnt want the Japs getting into my mainline and start playing havok pilliging. I also kinda hoped i'd get a WW1 situation but it didnt really work.

WWI didn't work very well in real life either. If you want to attack with infantry, you need a lot of artillery stacked with infantry. Big stacks.

It's still fun to build lines of fortification. And I'm sure it helped keep out enemy pillagers.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Zachriel


WWI didn't work very well in real life either. If you want to attack with infantry, you need a lot of artillery stacked with infantry. Big stacks.

It's still fun to build lines of fortification. And I'm sure it helped keep out enemy pillagers.

It's especially fun when you have some colorless units hanging out in the fortresses, along with the regular troops. If the Fortresses are set up in such a way that any interloper has to pass by a couple of them, then it's open season on any stray Settlers trying to pass through your territory.

[Ãœber KruX]

i tried that once, fortressing up a long border, but somehow america's borders expanded OVER the fully loaded fortresses and they kicked me out of my own defences.

another reason military occupation should be allowed.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Ãœber KruX
i tried that once, fortressing up a long border, but somehow america's borders expanded OVER the fully loaded fortresses and they kicked me out of my own defences.

another reason military occupation should be allowed.

Or a reason you can't play one dimentional strategies and expect everything to go swimmingly.

Salve

[Willem]

Originally posted by Ãœber KruX
i tried that once, fortressing up a long border, but somehow america's borders expanded OVER the fully loaded fortresses and they kicked me out of my own defences.

another reason military occupation should be allowed.

If you have colorless units, you can still hold onto the fortresses, even though your regular units get kicked out.

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by Ãœber KruX
i tried that once, fortressing up a long border, but somehow america's borders expanded OVER the fully loaded fortresses and they kicked me out of my own defences.

another reason military occupation should be allowed.

It is allowed. For the shortterm during war, you can station your troops anywhere. For the midterm, you can capture cities. However, for the longterm, you'll need culture.

Examples:
Roman forts on the frontier: They built cities to feed these forts.
Medieval forts: Built near towns.
Civil War forts: Built around cities.
WWI forts: Structured around railheads.

Towns are required to build and supply forts throughout history.
Longterm health of forts requires investment from the center of the civilization. When the civilization is in retreat culturally, then the forts are often abandoned.

[dunk]

Originally posted by Willem


If you have colorless units, you can still hold onto the fortresses, even though your regular units get kicked out.

How does one create colorless units other than the Privateer?

[Willem]

Originally posted by dunk999


How does one create colorless units other than the Privateer?

Just create a unit, or use an existing one if you like, and give it the Hidden Nationality ability in the editor. To copy a unit, just grab the Civ3MultiTool. There's also some unit graphics available over at Civ Fanatics you can use, if you don't want the unit to look like one of the current ones. There's one I really like, done by a guy named Dark Sheer, called the Bandit. It's a horse unit, like the old west outlaws. He's done a very nice job with it.