Discarding Unit Cards

By pixellius, in Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game

Hi !

I can't seem to find in the rulesbook if it's possible to discard unit cards in the game ... Is it possible to do so? There are no rules that say I can or can't. I even searched the PDF rulebook (using the search tool) and still didn't find the possibilities. I want to play "fair" with my friends.

Thanks!

I don't think there is, though you'll find that having those extra cards will come in handy if you get into lots of battles... You can only replenish those cards a maximum of 4/turn, and you'll be losing probably 2-3 in an even battle.

Granted I've only played one game so far, but I found that if you become unpopular (i.e. near victory) you become a target of multiple attacks pretty quickly, and your unit deck can get heavily depleted. With metalworking, however, even that little strength 1 unit can have some punch at the right time, and makes for a good sacrificial lamb when you're the defender.

You cannot discard unit cards.

As a general rule of thumb, rulebooks tell you what you *can* do in a game, not what you *can't* do (they will usually only say that you cannot do something if it contradicts another rule, or to clarify). So if you can't find a rule for it, you can't do it.

I can certainly see why you'd want to discard cards, as you are forced to randomly them during a battle.

I thing, you shouldn't look at them anyway. You can only look at randomly selected units when at battle. (But we sometimes allow to look at a unit card, when a player take them from a pile - when a player builds them)

"Sorry sir, but you can't know what troops you have at your disposal until we commit to the fight"

XD

Then again, the argument could be made that you know what troops you have, but not what their mettle is...

That being said, it is very easy (and in my opinion often useful) to sacrifice a couple of "1" units in fights with barbarians. Had a couple of surprised opponents that I sacrificed my own units, but no issues :-)

It says in the rules on page 23 under the sub-subheader "Tip 2" that it is dangerous to have too many units. I interpreted this as a caution not to buy too many since you are not able to discard the least desirable.

You should be able to check your own unit stock pile. But when battle occurs you draw at random.

The rules state that you have to randomize before battle, so it is oke to look in the deck during the game. You may know what you have, but not what you bring into battle.

Of course you can look at your units stockpile during the game, so long as you draw at random prior to a battle.

If all your units are evenly ranked, then when purchasing more units, you would want to a type that is currently weak in your hand (since you have reduced the number of weak units of that type left and at the same time reduced the number of stronger units left of the other types [assuming they are strong of course]).

However, if you have an alternative strategy (such as researching a tech that will upgrade a particular unit type), then you are better off purchasing them. Especially as the upgrade is free, making it cheaper to produce low-ranked units prior to upgrading (as suggested in the rules).