How big is your military?

[ChaotikVisions]

I'm a mix really, it all depends on where I start in the game. If i'm on an island i'll build maybe a defensive unit per city, and thats just to keep the pesky barbs off until i've colonized it all. But then as soon as I meet another civ I increase my military a whole lot, always wondered what the AI civs thought when I trippled my military after meeting them. I usually don't go for oversea warfare unless its necessary, just build up my cities.

However, if i'm on a large cont with other civs my military is the main prioriety, I try to pump out the best and fastest units i've got, to overrun my enemy. Once a wars over I stop building new ones though, and just fortify whatever offensive units i've got left in various citys, then repeat if another war. Wiping out all the other civs on your cont isn't always good i've found, since then you want be able to get there tech, thats also what makes being an isolationist so annoying now in Civ3, used to do it all the time in Civ2. But Civ3 is much more fun, especially how the AI battles.

It may not be totally amazing, but to see large forces come at you, and then retreat if too many die is pretty cool. Although, the AI doesn't always seem to structure its attacking force perfectly. One game the english sent 6 pikeman, 5 infantry, 4 riflemen, and like 5-10 other misc obsolete units at me. Guess I got the leftovers since the english had (suprisingly) been at peace for quite a while.

[God-Emperor]

Imperial Germany (Third Reich)
Army of the German Wehrmacht
God-Emperor

Navy (Kriegsmarine):
4 Navies which included 21 battleships each, 4 carriers each, 2 submarines each and 3 PT-boats.

Army (Wehrmacht):
4 army leaders including Barbarossa, Rictohofen, Rommel(created)and Hitler(created).
68 Marines
321 Infantry
120 Panzers
238 Modern Tanks
301 Mechanized Infantry
35 Radar Artillery
5 artillery guns
10 Knights
32 Cavalry
2 Spearmen

Airforce (Luftwaffe):
530 Fighter jets
320 Bombers
101 Stealth Bombers
50 Stealth Fighters
2 Fighters
3 Helicopters

MISC WEAPONS:
408 Cruise Missiles
38 ICBMS
5 Tactical Nukes

I hope all of you enjoy this. I spent over 1100 years just building up my military might and in 300 years, I had conquered 5 civilizations. This is my military campaign timeline:
England
France
Remaining 3 cities of Russia
Eqypt
Rome
Eqypt and Rome declared war after I attacked an eqyptian city. I knocked out the southern part of Rome and eastern part of Eqypt. Rome initiated a Nuclear attack on my capital Berlin and largest cities. Luckily I had defense and only one hit but did no damage on one of my cities. Berlin was hit once by Eqyptians. I hit Rome so many times that it was once the largest city with 35 and when I was done, it had 3. Thebes had 32 and after that strike, they had 1. Eqypt was in shambles and Rome surrendered and then declared war on Eqypt. I finished off Eqypt with Rommel and then attacked Rome. They were defeated in ten turns and thus the world was mine!

[star mouse]

Originally posted by PerpetualNewbie
Warriors -- 2 (where are they hiding? )

I hope you know how to find them ...

Switch the map to View By Units, and move the mouse pointer over each warrior. The map will show you where they are.

[Master Marcus]

Monarch, normal map+8 civs: around 1000 AD I have something like 75-95 military units ( including artillery ) and in modern late game around 175-200.

Monarch, huge map ( default 160x160)+ 16 civs: around 1000 AD 150 military units and modern late game 450+ ( already have 550 units, of course the game got very slow between turns ).

At this level, if you want to survive and expand through the AI I noticed the minimum units you must have - especially within a difficult game where the player is not among the leaders in the historigraph and the tech tree ( the AI declares war more often ): normal map, by 1500 AD ( Industrial, before tanks ) I must have at least 130-150 units, and huge 200+ depending of territory size and number of cities.

Since the AI always attack the weakest cities, it's crucial to defend EVERY cities with MORE than 1 or 2 units in order to avoid unexpected wars.

[Qilue]

I've only just started playing again (last completed game was patch 1.16f). I generally play an isolationist pacifist builder style.

The following is from memory.

Egypt, Monarch, huge map, normal water, warm, 5 billion, max land, continents, 8 civs, diplo/cultural victory disabled.

Around 70 cities.

4 carrier battle groups, each with 6 battleships, 6 carriers, 2 AEGIS cruisers, 12 jet fighter, 24 stealth bombers.
2 invasion forces, each with 8 battleships, 2 AEGIS cruisers, 10 transports, 16 marines, 8 radar arty, 8 mech inf and 40 MA.
2 ismus defence forces (Rome and Germany), each with 30 radar arty, 8 mech inf, 30 MA.
About 30 coastal cities, each with 2 battleships, 4 mech inf, 2 radar arty and 2 jet fighters.
About 40 workers for pollution cleanup and improvement adjustments after global warming.
Some MA for coastal raids that beat the battle ships.
Some radar arty for any enemy ship stupid enough to stay close to my coastline.
Some cavalry saved for pillage raids.
Some explorers also for pillage raids.
2 mech inf for all other cities just in case of betrayal.
100+ MA in case Otto or Julius got stupid and declared war.

This game was memorable due to the poor start and awful terrain of the continent I had to myself. It was about 40% jungle, 30% plains, 10% desert along with a lot of mountains and a few grassland squares until I cleared the jungle.

Space race victory with a score of 8485.

[Theseus]

Qui desiderat pacem, preparet bellum.

[Arrian]

It's funny... if you're a builder, you often end up with a huge military, because there are viable threats out there. If you are an early warmonger, you can often get by with a much smaller army late in the game. Control of one's own continent allows the deployment of all offensive troops overseas (or in ships on the seas), thus reducing the total number required.

-Arrian

[Master Marcus]

Originally posted by Arrian
It's funny... if you're a builder, you often end up with a huge military, because there are viable threats out there. If you are an early warmonger, you can often get by with a much smaller army late in the game. Control of one's own continent allows the deployment of all offensive troops overseas (or in ships on the seas), thus reducing the total number required.

-Arrian

Yeah, I totally agree with your first statement - and although I only partially agree with the rest ( a successful oversea invasion requires a LOT of units especially on normal+++ maps ), it reminds me how destined to warmongers Civ III is: the points system mostly based on territory, and we builders like me stucked to play at Monarch ( some others stucked at Regent and Warlord ) because not viable at Emperor-Deity unless you're an early warmonger. Civ III is the first TBS I won't master at the highest diff levels ( unless altering too much through the editor ).

So far the 3 patches have "upgraded" the AI even more where we can see even more gaps between the levels. For me, Warlord is a child's play like a tutorial with no fun at all; I easily beat Regent which is still a reasonable challenge; but I barely win at Monarch: in fact I'll win after a hard challenge if I'm French, Egyptian, Greek or any civ at least Industrious or Commercial ( the best attributes for my gameplay style ), otherwise I'll lose more often. As for the few Emperor attempts, well...ignominious defeats even with a good start like aside a river on grasslands with cows.

[Ultraman]

I've een reading this thread with some interest, seeing how different army sizes can be. I'm finishing a game at Regent level, huge map size, 16 civs. At the peak of the game, I was forced to fight the no 1 and no 3 civ, plus a weaker one (I was no 2 at the time).

My army was about 50 MA, 30 MI, 8 Marines, 2 Paras, 4 Destroyers, 1 BB, 50 RA (all captured!), 2 Jets, 8 Stealth Bombers (all captured!). Against no 3, they were outnumbered about 3.1, and about 4.1 vs the no 1 civ. Both civs I might add, had hordes of MA and MI. I remember the Aztecs had at least 100 MI and 182 Immortals, plus lots of other infantry and mobile units, but for some reason, only 20-30 Tanks, no MA.

I keep my army generally lean by leaving all cities undefended! I keep a single MI on a continent to protect it. Everything else goes into the fight. Battered units are used to pacify conquered cities until they are back to near full strength. By rotating my forces, the enemy is always faced by fresh veteran and elite units.

I find artillery damn useful to take his units down a peg before an attack, but given their tendency to miss in my experience, about a third of the time, artillery must be massed to be effective. Given the masses of enemy my boys were faced with, 50 RA was sometimes just enough ....

Naval units are generally good only for bringing troops across and to deny his ability to do the same. Air units I generally pass on.

[Thrawn05]

Well, during the early stages of the game, I'm more busy being a builder. I do keep about two units in each city... generaly. I do have offensive units (about 1 per city) for counter offensive moves.

By the late industrial age, I perform a massive arms build up. This is the general rule of thumb:

Industrial Age (for each city)
4x Infantry
2x Tanks
4x Artillary
2x Fighters
2x Bombers

Mondern (for each city)
4x Mech Infantry
4x Modern Armor
4x Radar Artillary
4x Jet Fighters

I'm not big on a navy, and don't build any until Destroyers are available, but I do have plenty of ships in gulfs I control. Ready to be deployed if need be. Usualy, two carriers fully loaded, 3 transports (not loaded), 6 Subs, 3 Nuke Subs (with nukes), 6 to 8 Destroyers, 10 Battleships and a couple of AEGIS cruisers to backup my subs.

On a standard game on a standard map... I have about 125 units on average. This value is of course, subject to change. If I don't have any MPPs, I build up heavly to defend myself. If I have a lot of close buddies, I slack off and build useless improvments.

[Arrian]

Originally posted by Master Marcus

Yeah, I totally agree with your first statement - and although I only partially agree with the rest ( a successful oversea invasion requires a LOT of units especially on normal+++ maps...

Not if you're way ahead. Last night, for instance, I was finishing off a game as the Chinese (Monarch/Normal/8). I had crushed the four civs that started on my continent with a horse/sword rush. At the end of it, I was using Riders, and was down to maybe 10 offensive units. Then I went peaceful, built up, and when I decided to win, I quickly churned out about 30 Cavalry, 15 or so infantry, and enough galleons to hold them, and sent 'em over to the other continent to face the AI's knights, longbowmen and musketmen. I was marching along like Sherman through Georgia when I got the domination popup.

I see your point about large or huge maps, where civs will get big enough that you need huge numbers of troops. But not normal maps. Once you get big enough, rich enough, and smart enough (tech), you can bat the AI around like a cat toying with a mouse.

-Arrian

[TheEvilCheater]

God im not much of a warmonger but on a standard map in the modern times i have over 100tank and 100mech infantry with probably 3 carrier groups which constist of 5 ships. And usally a good air force. I usally quit around turns take forever. And it gets really bad in the modern times when world wars happen

[King of Rasslin]

I base my military on the civ closest to me in strength. I strive to have 4 defensive units for every city I have, mostly concentrated on the border. For every size 6 or smaller city he has, I want to have 5 offensive units. For every size 7-12 city he has, I want to have 7 offensive units and 4 bombard units. For every size 13+ city he has, I want to have 12 offensive units and 8 bombard units.

Seriously, a fortified mech infantry in a size 13+ city has over 40 defence. Regular infantry have almost the same defence as a modern armor's offence. You need so much power to take down a city of that size.

In the rare situation where I am the #1 civ and everyone hates me, I want an army bigger than the combined armies of my 2 closest rivals.

[King of Rasslin]

Oops, forgot about the minor detail of having a navy! I try to have 2 carriers loaded with stealth bombers, 8+ battlecruisers spread across the world, 2 or 3 loaded nuclear subs, and about a dozen transports at my continent. Also, I might have a loaded transport or 2 outside of an island, ready to strike if war should ever break out.

[Txurce]

King, what is your goal in this game? It doesn't seem like it's domination, since your troops are ready for war, rather than making it. And for any other sort of victory, why would you research stealth?

[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.