Are wall miners a necessity?

[True God]

Do you need them in wars or general attacks for loot? Or without them do you get held up for long at walls? I'm in EA age and sometimes use war elephants in wars.

 

[Persia]

No, especially if your troops decide to be stupid and destroy additional walls while ignoring the open hole right by them. I've found that the time you "waste" by having your archers and cannons focus on a piece of wall is minimal, at most you take a couple seconds to break one open.

 

[Quovatis]

Depends on your strategy. Sometimes you definitely will want them.

 

[snowleopard]

Never used them. I don't think you need Wall Miners if you have other ways to attack the base.

 

[Quovatis]

Level 15 walls with Saladin wall university research + level 6 Indian coalitions will definitely need engineers. It depends on base and strategy.

 

[Navalis]

Nothing in this game is a necessity... I suggest playing with and without engineers/sappers and finding out how successful you are.
For raiding I generally bring at least one or two to have a reasonable chance at reaching the oil refinery.
Right now I use one in my regular army but that comes and goes. Just find out what you like and have fun with it!

 

[vincentdang4]

It is like quovatis said, you generally can get by without wall breakers, but there will be bases that give you fits. I didn't I upgrade them until I started seeing bases with near max to max walls during wars. Then I really regretted not upgrading them. It isn't a high priority unless you are seeing said bases, or need them to loot oil though.

 

[Manifesto]

Your army has something to do with it but your opponent has more to do with it. If you're EA and going up against other GP or EA bases, strong footmen or cavalry (or elephants) can get the job done. However if you're up against a well developed EA or IA base, engineers will be necessary.
Also, if you're into quick 'hit & run' attacks using raiders, then 2 or 3 engineers are a good inclusion.

 

[Gundolin]

Most of my Alliance does not use Wall Miners. Punching through or over IA and EA bases Walls is fairly easy.

However, I personally like to use a single Wall Miner for the initial attack just so I can better place my first rally spot and keep the army together when attacking the TC. With a wall Miner I can put the entire army where I want it and hit the TC, with out the miner my rally spot is a bit more chaotic after punching through the walls and often my troops get too deep into the center. My EA army is usually all shooters and cannons. If others are using cavalry or infantry it might be different.

 

[AbbyVille]

Put one in your roster, you don't need to use it on every attack but when you get to use one it's worth it.

 

[Mountainking]

It is a very useful unit and some bad ass bases can be broken down with a well placed wall miner. I especially like to use them on bases with tough walls, double wall designs, or bases with mazes to route my units the way I want.

 

[Navalis]

Good point! I have seen them blast right through double walls. Definitely a time saver!

 

[Rorchach]

I think they're good to invest in, I don't use mine a lot but it's nice to have them for certain occasions.

 

[The Huns]

Two times I use wall miners:
1) Sometimes I'll use one to punch a hole for my donated troops to pop a Forbidden City.
2) Some times on maze bases with high walls I'll use one so I can rally inside without losing my Supply Vehicles.

EDIT: As someone above said better to give up 4 troop space for when you need one than to not have one when you need it.