Drafting/Disband ?= PopRush

[phunny_pharmer]

There are two ideas in this thread. First, draft/disband (d/d) vs poprush, and the efficiency of the d/d.

Despotism pop rush: 20 shields
Democracy d/d: 22 shields (infantry)

Despotism rush consumption: 1 or more citizens @ 20
Democracy d/d: 1 citizen per turn

Despotism rush penalty: unhappiness for 20 turns
Democracy d/d: unhappiness for 20 turns


Running over your enemies with newly-constructed machinery using either method: priceless.

There are some things that money can't buy and that Firaxis won't explain. For everything else, there's...


Seriously, it seems as if demo is better. Cash rushing and more efficient pop rushing? It seems almost disgusting to think that a democracy can rush, using human labor, more efficiently than a despot?

Shouldn't Firaxis implement some sort of rule that states that d/d conscripts will yield a maximum of 1 shield? This would eliminate the dual rush advantage of a democracy. After all, if one does disband an elite unit (why would you...) there should be more of an advantage than to simply d/d a conscript. Perhaps a solution could be:

conscript: 1 shield maximum
regular: 25% of cost
veteran: 33% of cost
elite: 50% of cost

Retooling experienced soldiers should be more effective, right?

Reply to one or both ideas...

[Aeson]

I think the % plan would be the best. I used drafting/disbanding in one of my most recent games very frequently. I had about 400 cities, most totally corrupt, and had to build aquaducts, marketplaces, in all of them, hospitals and mass transits in at least half. I built most of them with a combination of gold and (mech)infantry parts. I find it rather absurd that this is possible, and definitely wouldn't want to be treated in any of those hospitals, shop at those markets, or drink from those aquaducts!

[Aeson]

As a footnote, I find monarchy to be the best draft/disband government, especially in times of war. The ability to sooth unhappiness with the units you draft, combined with a complete lack of war weariness, means you can draft just about indefinitely.

In the game I mentioned there were cities which I drafted 20-30 units over the course of the game with no happiness trade offs, and very little score depreciation (which was more than made up for by the rushed builds). I just drafted whenever the city reached it's population limit. I had just about every city in WLTKD for the second half of the game.

[Arrian]

Yikes, that never even occurred to me. I won't be using it... and I don't see why Firaxis needs to change the game to prevent what strikes me as an obvious exploit. It would be a good idea to modify any tournament rules (such as CivFanatics HOF) to outlaw its usage, though.

-Arrian