How big is your military?

[King of Rasslin]

I bomb the roads to the enemy's capitol to prevent trade. It can be done by artillery, pillaging, or bombing. If you can accomplish this with land units, you have already won the war. However, air units can do this without going 10 turns into enemy territory. I use stealth bombers because normal bombers are going to die. I don't have a loaded carrier to begin with. I make 2 empty carriers and place them in range of an enemy capitol. If needed, I will make the bombers in my cities and base them in the carriers.

Yes, an ICBM will do the same thing, but I don't want to fight everyone. I have a difficult time managing an invasion of another continent. If you lose all your units, its a long way back to the mainland. I need carriers to attack other continents. If, in the occasion where my invasion is stopped (it usually is because of the distance from my cities) ALL of the artillery is going to be stolen and used by the enemy. I think loading a transport with tanks will be more effective than the artillery, and because stealth bombers can damage the enemy without worry of dying or of capture.

I try to get on top by the industrial age, and I usually stay on top. I have a huge attack planned for the modern age, just for fun

[La Fayette]

a good player finishes his game early, ...with a tiny army.

[King of Rasslin]

A good player finishes his game early with a huge army. But having a big army in the end is good too.

Also, the "Modern Ages" can begin in 1650 in some games. I can have 200+ turns left by the time I can make that army. Really, it is far from being too late unless you hit the modern ages in their actual real life occurence. Stealth bombers are really late, true. But you can't deny the power of an invincible unit.

[Txurce]

King, a good player may finish a domination game with a huge army. In any other sort of victory, the smaller the army, the more likely that the player has been applying his resources toward the type of victory he is pursuing. Put differently, once your military's role becomes defensive, a good player doesn't need a huge army. It takes distressingly little to limit an AI incursion to one turn.

Maybe your point is that it's more fun to build up a huge combined-arms force that includes all the modern weapons this game provides (including stealth bombers), and play around with them even after some sort of victory is in the bag. I can see that.

[Theseus]

Originally posted by King of Rasslin
If you lose all your units, its a long way back to the mainland.

Sure is.

[Txurce]

Unless it's Valhalla.

[King of Rasslin]

I don't play defensively, and I already have the top spot by the modern age, usually. But there is always the risk of losing to a really agressive AI, so killing off a computer or 2 even when not necessary is a good idea. Getting a huge empire and then playing defensively for the rest of the game is not very fun.

[Frostraver12]

hi i have learned that over the months that i have played civ3
that by the year 2050 you need to have a army that has over 300+ units. heres my army:
124 Modern Armor
65 Cavalry
211 Mec. Infantry
54 cities
my tip: always use the Babalonians!

[Odin]

On landlocked cities I usually have:

4 defense
1 Artillery
1 fighter jet
1 bomber
2 slow attack
4 workers

on the coast towns I also have:

3 battleships
2 AGEIS crusiers
1 distroyer
1 nuclear sub


I prefer the standard world map with 8 players that I have completly redone to give realistic terrain and resorce placement (Firaxis forgot the Minnesota Iron Range ). I usually have between 18 and 24 cities and I am a Builder.

[Hawk_2002]

Playing as German on a huge map 16 civs military size is:

~130 Mech. Inf.
~60 Modern Armor
15 Tactical Nukes
30 Cruise Missiles
10 Jet Fighters
5 Nuclear Subs
45 Destroyers
5 Battleships
> 40 cities in civ many with a population over 20. I think that average would be 18.

Game year is 2020.

To pay for it all i have had to cut scientific spending to nothing.

And its all droping fast, so very very fast... got serious problems, at war with everyone on the map, I had at one stage over 150 mech inf and 200 mod. armor and a lot more subs but its all going down hill.

[Theseus]

I don't play huge maps much, but my initial reaction would be that I would want many more military units in a warlike game.

I'm guessing you forgot to include your artillery... for a defensive war, they are critical (sometimes for offensive too, but required for defense in depth).

Settle the world down... concentrate your offensive forces for massive, overwhelming strikes on selected targets.

Screenshots are always good.

[Hawk_2002]

your right about the arillery, I would have started with about 75, it was about a 2/1 ratio for mech inf/artillery.. but they were all gone by about the 5 or 6th turn of the war, along with almost everything else... all that turned back the assults was me dropping some tactical nukes on the advancing troops and some cities..

has anyone found that in the wars, your navy hardly gets scratched but your army hammered?

will get some screen shots up soon

[Az]

my current game is Romans, Monarch, Large, medium continents, Wet, Temperate. The year is 1305 AD , I am researching Physics, and my government is anarchy, due to change to democracy. I am only the second strongest Civ in the world ( with the strongest civ on the other continent )

I have 28 cities ando only 55 units. I've brought down a single civ ,Babilonians, And humiliated two others in battle ( Germans, and Zulus) yet my army never exeeded 70 units. I don't waste units, I take over cities , and let them rest for a turn ( I have a single wonder , but it's Sun Tsu's war academy ) . The babyloninans were rated as having a stonger army than mine, and were much more advanced both culturally and scientifically . Now all they have is an Island city. You don't really need huge armies. In a strange way, The more Armies I have, the less they get to see any action at all .

[Lord Merciless]

My current game is on a larget, archipelago, max water map at Deity level. My civ is Japanese with about 40 cities. In year 1766AD, my military grows to something like:
252 MAs,
60 MIs,
10 Cruise Missiles,
13 Destroyers,
13 Battleships,
34 Transports.

[vmxa1]

Too many variables to answer that question. Map size, levels, how many civs. What type of victory are we going for? What civ am I this time. I tend to have two per city if not warmongering and the map is at least std or bigger.