Civ Rev Tips: Rambo Edition
11 Sep 2008 19:42
David MarseillesDavid Marseilles

Civ Rev Tips: Rambo Edition

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WiiHD's Civilization Revolution tutorial was fairly well received, so we're going to begin to give you some more pointers to up your game play. If you enjoy this post, let us know with a comment, and we'll consider continuing the series. You can find all Civ Rev Tips, including Civ Rev Tips: James Bond Edition at our new Civ Rev Tips page.

Civilization Revolution is a complex game with different ways to win and many different successful strategies that depend on the civilization you're playing with, the civs you are competing against, and the situation you're in at the moment (as well as obviously, the difficulty level). There is no single strategy that will win you the game every time, especially in multiplayer against real people. There ARE however, some tricks that when used correctly, give you a much needed edge. Although WiiHD plays the DS version, these tips apply to all platforms.

Live for nothing, Or die for something. What's your call?

It's nice that Civilization Revolution is about more than combat. Exploration, Diplomacy, Research and City Management all figure in to a good strategy. But if you're playing a decent opponent, you're going to have to fight eventually. Below are some tips to make sure you fight well and make the most of limited resources. Even as a weaker Civilization, you can make sure combat goes your way by making certain the side with superior forces loses more than you do.

First, it's important to understand combat. Each unit has a base number for offense and another for defense (to see all unit strengths, check out the Units, Buildings and Wonders Guide). Warriors have 1 for offense and 1 for defense. If one warrior attacks an enemy warrior on plains and he isn't fortified or experienced, the battle is a toss-up (depending on the level of difficulty). Beyond that, your base numbers can be affected in many ways. Base facilities like a Wall can give you plus 100% defense. Terrain provides bonuses: hills give you +50% offense OR defense, if a regular unit has to cross a river or attack from a vessel, you lose -50% of your base number. Upgrades are a vital part of combat, and we'll spend most of this edition of Civ Rev Tips talking about them. Fortification provides a defensive bonus, and making armies combines the base numbers and experience of 3 units into a single super powerful unit. Naval support provides an nice attack and defense bonus, depending on the strength of the unit.

Armies are a vital part of combat in Civilization Revolution, but forming the right armies isn't as simple as it might seem. Yes, you can put any 3 units of the same type into an army, and have a unit 3 times more powerful than any of them alone. But what you want to get the most of as few resources as possible is to form armies that have the right combination and concentration of experience and upgrades.

As an example, let's say you make 3 archers at a city with no terrain bonuses without a barracks, and make an army out of them. Then you fortify the army. Once they are fortified, you have a defensive value of 12 ((2x3) +6 for fortification). Your city can be easily taken by a veteran horseman army plus a spy (to disable your fortification), a regular Knight army, and successive attacks of fairly weak units that still manage to do you damage. Now combine 1 elite archer with an engineer upgrade, another with a Leadership upgrade and another with a loyalty upgrade, in a city on a hill, fortify, wall the city, and place a defending spy in your city. You now have a defensive value of around 33. Without even taking into account naval support, you could potentially defeat a regular tank army with that setup. With archers. You could easily take down a single bomber, scoff at un-upgraded knight armies, and fight legions while simultaneously writing the Great American Novel. It's not easy to do, but it is doable, and WiiHD will teach you how if you keep reading.

Upgrading tips

All units you produce start as regulars. No bonuses. If a regular unit wins 3 victories, it will be promoted to Veteran and gain a +50% for both attack and defense. If you build a barracks, all units produced in that city will start out Veterans, and from Veteran, 3 victories will make you elite and offer you a single upgrade.

Factoid: Armies don't get as many upgrade opportunities as individual units do. An individual unit will continue to be offered upgrades every 3 victories until there are no more applicable upgrades to offer. An army will often be offered only one total, especially an army made late in the game.

The above factoid leads us to our first tip. Don't put together an army until you have to. If, for instance, you've got an enemy dumping tons of enemies on your doorstep, and you're able to control them with the armies you've got, take out their defensive guards with your armies, and use a singe offensive unit to take out their low defense offensive units as often as possible, so you can earn that one unit lots of upgrades.

An army with an upgrade like Lightning (extra move after attack) or Infiltration (+100% against an enemy city) is pretty powerful. An army with both of those upgrades is far more powerful. You don't need every upgrade in your army, but it is Very often to your advantage to get more than one.

Use your defensive units as offensive against weak enemy offensive units. Quite often, the enemy will still be throwing catapults at you even after you have riflemen. Use an individual riflemen against them once you have the chance (once you've taken out the defensive escort with an offensive unit). This will make getting upgrades a little easier for defensive units. Waiting to be attacked isn't the best way to guarantee a great defensive army. So even though you might be tempted to finish off the weak portion of an assaulting force with your knights or legions, consider using your defensive units if they are powerful enough, so you can upgrade them. An engineer upgrade can make your unit as powerful as if you'd spent 100 hammers on building a wall. And all it cost you was a little thought and 3 victories. Combine it with Loyalty and Leadership, and that defensive unit might never be obsolete.

Factoid: Armies will take on the experience level of the most experienced unit in the group.

The relevance is if you have 1 Veteran and 2 regulars, and you put them together, your whole army with be a veteran army. This doesn't help you make Rambo units, but in a pinch, it let's you build armies more quickly and more economically. The truth is, you don't need barracks in every single city. In many games, one barracks will do. If you upgrade a single unit with all the upgrades you think your army will need, then it's perfectly acceptable to pair him off with two regular units. The army will retain all the upgrades.

Factoid: Great Leaders are a type of Great Person. If you settle one in a city without a barracks, he will act as a barracks, making all units from that city come out as veterans. But DON'T settle him in a city without Barracks. Why? Because if you settle him in a city WITH a barracks, he will automatically offer an upgrade to every unit produced there.

Great Leaders are rare. AFAIK, there are only two, and sometimes you'll go the entire game without even getting one. When you get one, make the most out of it. Turn that city in a unit producing machine. You'll be able to quickly produce super-powerful armies without the need to win dozens of victories first. The advantage produced by the barracks/Great Leader combo is HUGE.

Don't be afraid to have some backup

Both your offensive and defensive units can benefit greatly from naval support. Galleons, Cruisers and Battleships all provide both defensive and offensive naval support, and can be absolutely vital in defending your cities and taking down enemy cities and holding down your casualty count. Even Rambo needs some backup sometimes.

Obviously, combining 3 ships into an army (err, navy) increase the amount of naval support you can get. Oftentimes you may be able to use the same naval support to make useless units, like leftover knights and legions and warriors, as well as defensive units, into powerful offensive units.

Imagine you've moved most of your offensive units out of your territory to attack a civ, then a completely different Civ attacks you. You've beaten back some of their forces, but they still have some tanks sitting there. Accompanied by the battleship army you left behind as a defensive unit, some usually offensively worthless units can be used to finish the job and take out those tanks. Naval support can also be used to make sure your defensive units get some upgrades in case the enemy isn't throwing catapults at you anymore.

Good luck, and remember, if you want to see more tip posts like this one, leave a comment (something along the lines of “Yo, Adrian!” No we're not confusing our movies - as far as WiiHD is concerned, all Stallone's characters are Rambo) and let us know. See all Civ Rev Tip posts.

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Click Here to Continue Reading Civ Rev Tips: Rambo Edition.

Also be sure to check out our last entry, Civ Rev Tips: James Bond Edition


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