The reasons I don't build them more often are:

(1) Amphibious Warfare is a low priority research item (I also seldom build Marines).

(2) I find other ways to repair ships and create veterans. I repair ships by putting them to sleep or I sail them into the nearest city, disband them, and build a more advanced ship. I create veterans by trolling the enemy shoreline and knocking off unwitting cannons and other easy targets or by engaging them in battle in the normal course of action.

Sometimes there is a window of opportunity for a battleship to support a period of conquest and I would be willing to rush Port Facilities for the benefit of either or both initial vet status and/or quick repair during such a period. But I think the necessary tech must be off my usual research paths too because I can't remember ever building Port Facilities in those cases.

My games don't seem to last long enough for Aegis to start playing a part but I intuit that Seeker has a good point there. If you are stacking some hefty units or freight filled transports with Aegis vessels you probably want to be extra secure that they'll keep the cruise missiles at bay.

quote: Originally posted by East Street Trader on 11-16-2000 08:45 AM I've never got round to trying out the marines' ability to attack from on board ship. Anyone know of circs where that is useful?

I've only used that feature a couple of times. But, recently, I've been playing on small maps which lend themselves to one large continent putting everything within reach of roads/railroads.

Amphibious Warfare is a modern technology that is available relatively early. You can use Marines in circumstances where you have researched Amphibious Warfare before your opponents have researched Conscription and Tactics, or have had time to deploy Riflemen and Alpine Troops. In these instances, you can use Vet Marines to attack shoreline cities, then capture and hold them. In other words, Marines can be used like real marines -- to serve as the first assault line and to defend beachheads.

quote: Originally posted by East Street Trader on 11-16-2000 08:45 AM I've never got round to trying out the marines' ability to attack from on board ship. Anyone know of circs where that is useful? Come to that not seen the AI do it either, and it does go in for marines quite a bit. That is a contrast with Alpha Centauri in which I always seemed to be attacking with vet marines (who get to be pretty near invincible I found - a weakness in the game in fact).

What about on maps where there are a lot of islands? Those situations seem pretty tailor made for Marines. There's a couple of Pacific WWII scenarios where Marines are pretty handy to have - when playing the Japanese I always built them just for amphibious assaults. However, in a real CivII game, I seldom see the AI building on a chain of islands; it seems to stick to large land masses... and you need faster units for conquest there.

IMO, the Marine is pretty pricey for a 1-move unit. Sure, it can attack and defend pretty well, but I think most of us prefer 2- or 3-move units for attack, and there are cheaper units like Alpines or Mech Inf for defense.

I also occasionally build port facilities, if the time and economy permits. (Like the occasions where my capital city can build either a port facility or a food caravan, or a very superfluous military unit.)

With the right combo of offensive and defensive units, you can rip through AI civs with well honed strategies as detailed on these forums. The AI always builds railroads in every square of his territory. (that always annoys me, I only build railroads for shield production and access/transportation purposes-- does anyone build railroads the way the AI does?)

To really make the attack work, I use the spy to knock down city walls, level the defense with artillery, then move your fast moving units to capture city and exploit the blitzkrieg!!!!!

For non-Railroaded civs or numerous island maps, I prefer the coastal bombardment/air bombardment then drop the paratrooper in. Works everytime and you get faster results. There is nothing more frustrating than the AI sub ambush on your transports carrying Marines.

I have never been able to build the Marines fast enough to put them on the wood ships. Marines are too slow. Strategy and positioning can make up for the increase defense advantage of Marines versus Rifleman.

Anyway, halfway through the game, it was becoming obvious that the Aztecs were pulling away in research. Add to that the fact that they were located on another continent/archipelago and developing a fleet of destroyers and I had no choice but to build port facilities.

One of the more dramatic turnaround victories in my distinguished (?) Civ2 career.