Invisible Military Academy

[Purple]

F7 gives you the location of completed Great Wonders, but how can I locate my Small Wonders?

I don't remember exactly where I built a Military Academy, but I must have, since it's not available for building now. It would be nice to use it to create armies, if only I could find it. Looking at each city individually didn't reveal it, so I'm wondering whether I missed some qualification or simply didn't look hard enough.

[jinif]

The two requirements are: Have a victorious Army, and have discovered Military Tradition. I don't know of any way to find witch city has small wonders though.

[The Eliminator]

So after you build the academy, you have to have a victorious army, and THEN you can build leaderless armies?

[HalfLotus]

Quickest way I can think is go to F1 screen and shift+click on build orders until you see the city that can build an ARMY.

Maybe sort by shields as its probably near the top of that list.

[Zanzin]

Originally posted by The Eliminator
So after you build the academy, you have to have a victorious army, and THEN you can build leaderless armies?

Works like this. You need to have had at least one victorious army and have discovered military tradition, and then you can build the military academy. Once you build the academy, then you can build "armies". The unit that gets churned out isn't a leader, but an "army" and you can then load 3/4 units into it.

[Skanky Burns]

And never attack using an army until you have loaded some units into it
Someone tried that, not knowing why he never won

[Allemand]

I always rename my important cities. Military academy is called West Point. Then there is Irontown and Horseville. They get lots of protection.

[vmxa1]

Yes seeing the army icon in the city is the tip off, but why build additional armies? They can only attack as one? I might see it for defense as it will be harder to kill.

[Allemand]

Armies are good for attacking tough cities, and the AI is reluctant to attack them. The downside is they repair very slowly and they can't be upgraded with more modern units. It's a very expensive but effective way to make war.

[The Eliminator]

Hey thanks Zanzin.

I really like Allemand's idea about changing names. Makes total sense!

[Bambul]

I find armies very useful after I get tanks. Not for making tank armies though.

I put 4 cavalry units in each army, giving me a low attack (for the time), fast moving, hard to kill unit. I leave some Cav around as shock troops but armies really bring my Cav back to life, seeing as their upgradability stops there.

Plus, seeing as I would lose many Cav to attrition trying to take out Infantry/Mech Inf I may aswell put them into an army, give them a longer life span and increase their usability.

Finally, when they are of no more use to me, they disband for 50 shields a pop! Really nice for all those high corruption cities.

One more thing. Back a while ago I heard that leader-created armies would have special bonuses (I would have guessed higher movement, more HP, etc). It is obvious now that this is not the case, but had Firaxis ever stated that this was going to be a feature at any time in the past, or was it just me? Whilst I very highly doubt that it would ever actually become a feature, it would make leader created armies more powerful and be an incentive to do so over using leaders to rush buildings (especially so after your first army).

[notyoueither]

Try putting 4 Elite Mech Inf into an Army.

Takes 19 hits with no units lost. Yes I checked this; ran an Army to 1 hit left, all 4 units still there.

This Army picks any 1 unit anywhere, in any terrain and says *you are dead, say your prayers*.

Or defensively, stack 4 Elite Mech Inf in obvious place for AI to attack (bait). AI attacks with determination. You will likely lose some of your Mech Inf as they defend 1 by 1. If they had been united in an Army, you would not lose any until you lost them all.

It is expensive, but then Armies are most useful in situations with large numbers swirling about so the cost is not a huge issue in the end.

Downside is that you can only transport this unit by ship. I can imagine the ticket lady at United, *you want how many 1000 tickets? Is this a crank call? Try PanAm.* No Airports for you.

Salve