What is the size of your invading army when you initiate combat. What do you put in your initial army? I usually start out with a nice group of 25 or so and I mix and match. I was curious as to what the recommended number of units you recommend.

1.

If sent early enough, it can totally disrupt an opposing civ, and then you can take them out with the next 2 or 3.

But that's only true if you attack early enough.

"You go to war with the army you have."
I like to have at least 10 units for my initial rush w/ reinforcements already on the way before I start my assualt.
I like to stagger my troops so I always have back up when an assault fails or if the enemy gets upitty and decides to try a counter attack.

Usually 10 axemen, which I march straight to the nearest enemy capital.

What is the size of your invading army when you initiate combat. What do you put in your initial army? I usually start out with a nice group of 25 or so and I mix and match. I was curious as to what the recommended number of units you recommend.


12 Praetorians 10 to hit the capital city and 2 to take out Iron or Copper mines. I usually leave the rest of the resources developed. Makes for a nice neat quick war.

I don't war with set numbers. I judge the strength of my opponent and adapt accordingly.

However many is needed to obtain my objective. Whether it be a specific number of cities (3 times as many units as the garrison + siege weapons) or disrupting their economy. Don't go to war hoping to obtain your objective, know you will beforehand. Scouting is paramount.

How large is your invading army

Hopefully large enough to get the job done!

I don't war with set numbers. I judge the strength of my opponent and adapt accordingly.

Agreed. There is no fixed number since there are a ton of variables involved.

The composition of armies varies (for me) too. Usually I'll have some mix of units - mostly attackers with some defenders (to either leave in cities or defend my attackers from counterattackers).

I attacked with 8 riflemen, 3 cannon and 3 cavalry last night (I am indian, attacking japanese). To the best of my knowledge the best they had was knights, catapults and musketeers. I didn't have any recon of their territory so I didn't know they had a ton of units. I also found out that they had grenadiers.

Anyhow, my initial attack was broken up and they busted in and pillaged some of my lands. But I kept it coming with cavalry, rifleman, cannon and grendiers of my own. I am now ready to begin my final assault on the city that I set out to capture in the first place. I have bombarded their defenses to nothing, and now I will send in the suicide cannon.

I really should have known better regarding the size of Japan's army. I also should have considered the combat I bonus that they start with, as I have faced a lot of well promoted older units.

I guess going to war with Free Religion and Free Speech doesn't help either :-) Ah well.

dowski

I usuallly use strike forces composed of 3-4 battleships 4-6 destroyers 2 submarines 4 carriers and 5 transports. And did i mention I go to war usually on modern era :). I love the role playin part with my strike force. What I do is hit'em hard and fast one coastal city at a time. Needless to say if his capital is founded on coast then it will be my first target :P

I don't war with set numbers. I judge the strength of my opponent and adapt accordingly.

amen.

unnecessary war also is often to be avoided, since it will be a significant expenditure on cash (and therefore research) and production. if a war will take too many resources, it is generally best to avoid it.

on the other hand, if some idiot decides to declare war on you, they deserve whatever they're getting.

In my war against Lizzy (I had Cossacks as Standard unit and she just longbowmen and pikemen at the beginning of the war) I started with 4 armies with 3-4 cossacks and 1-2 catapults per army (each aimed at a different border town).
In my war against Cyrus the persian however I just sent in two transports (and escorts) with 6 modern tanks and 2 mech infantries, for one because he had still WW2-Tech and for the other because he was already busy fighting against the chinese (the second superpower in the world, aside from me ;) ) and therefore I had to hurry to prepare an invasion force to not let fall all of his cities in chinese hands (and also knew, that I wouldn´t have to expect too much resistance, as Cyrus lost one city after the other against the chinese forces ;) )

Irregardless of the size of your invading army, Also make sure you have the home front WELL defended. If you leave your empire anemic, another Civ WILL attack you while all your troops are too far away to do you any good. I is really easy to thin out your defensive troops because you achieved a momentum and are steamrolling over your enemy(ies) and want to "finish the job", only to have that famous quote "OH ****!!!" roll off your toung as your long time buddy invades out of the blue (or black, as the case may be).

Yep,
especially if you invade a neighbor on the same continent it is a good idea to have a mobile defending force (things like knights or cavalry/cossacks) in your home territory as well, as it might happen that the enemy gets some of his forces into your territory without you noticing it in time, either because he used ships to ferry them or because they were hidden by the fog of war.
(I was glad to have it, as Lizzy was able to sneak 2 units into my territory which could have done some damage to the terrain improvements ;))

i dont usualy bother to have extra units defending my home territory when i am invading, specialy when i have nationhood and i can draft as many units as i need. Its not so much the size of the army as the preperations.
I usualy split my force into 2 groups of 2 stacks each (3-5 mixed units per stack). then i manouver my 2 armies into positions close to main the enemy cities but far enough away so that they cant see me. Then i declare war and move my 2 armies straight towards the 2 cities i have picked as targets. I then capture these cities within 3 or 4 turns so the enemy hasn't got time to prepare their defences. with 2 powerfull cities missing my enemy is at a severe dissadvantage and i can then win the war of attrition that follows without too much difficulty.
Ships are very usefull for positioning my armies before i launch the attack, even if they are on the same continent as me. Sometimes i have a fith stack as rienforcment if my enemy is quite strong.

Most of the time i'm starting war with 10 Cavalry and 5 Canon... Fighting with Warrior/Axeman/Spearman is useless and waiting the modern era is too long so i use to start war with cavalry and canon. Most of the time, im fighting a civilization with ElephantWar and Catapult with an army of max15 units available.

I'm also doing religion war... i use to hate the jews and conquer them if they dont want to convert to my religion.

lol I thought it'd be more likely that's cause somehow Ghandi always ends up Jewish and outtechs the planet to an SS victory?

I don't war with set numbers. I judge the strength of my opponent and adapt accordingly.

This is the correct answer.

One of my last little wars I had to invade China near the end of the game to keep him from building the spaceship. I had something like 20 transports escorted by misc battleships and destroyers. For my initial landing I had 40 modern armor, a half dozen tanks that I couldnt afford to upgrade yet, 30 or so left over calvary and a few mech infs to hold the first city.

Once I secured the first city I rushed an airport then brought in more mech infs and stealth bombers. Took about 20 turns or so to wipe him off the map.

I had one start on an isthums with Alexander right next to me on a finger. Invading army: 1 warrior. Popped his trapped scout, entered his undefended city, no more Alexander. About 10 rounds later I took the warrior with a newly built one and invaded India. Army size: 2 warriors. Got Asoka's city, cost 1 warrior.

What is the size of your invading army when you initiate combat. What do you put in your initial army?

You need to define the age and units. The ancient age and the industrial age are both different... Still, the AI will throw what it has at you and then is left impetient. I would suggest a stack equal to the city you intend to attack plus units left as a defense guard. This may end in failure but it is a good guide. You need to look at the power graph as well. Once you start increasing your portion of the power graph, then it is time to attack. Reading those graphs are a big advantage to the serious player.

Power graph? Wtf is that?

Edit: oh, wait the bands of color, right. I never use those in games, I'll start checking it out!

My rule of thumb is my invading army is always to be as effective, FAST, powerful, and large as possible. As possible! No exceptions. I prefer just SWEEPING the enemy off the earth in a powerful sudden lightning war. I don't agree with the long, drawn out wars I often see in multiplayer.

And then after this Blitz is done, I sweep my army over to a new enemy, or settle down for a bit and enjoy the spoils of my quick victory! :)

If you can destroy and humiliate the enemy with one powerful blow, then do it. Only an idiot, an unlucky bastard, or a sadist would go slow.

As for a defensive army... personally if you need a big defensive army, you're either a peaceful builder, or a bad warmonger.

Early game, 4 archers is enough to decimate.. late game its about 20 units in 4-5 stacks if I have the tech lead. If I don't have the tech lead its 4 horse units pillaging in groups of 2. ;)

I invaded Arabian last night after Saladin declared war on me. After the war, the record said i had 58 Cavalry kills, not to mention other units involved

My rule of thumb is my invading army is always to be as effective, FAST, powerful, and large as possible. As possible! No exceptions. I prefer just SWEEPING the enemy off the earth in a powerful sudden lightning war. I don't agree with the long, drawn out wars I often see in multiplayer.

And then after this Blitz is done, I sweep my army over to a new enemy, or settle down for a bit and enjoy the spoils of my quick victory! :)

If you can destroy and humiliate the enemy with one powerful blow, then do it. Only an idiot, an unlucky bastard, or a sadist would go slow.

As for a defensive army... personally if you need a big defensive army, you're either a peaceful builder, or a bad warmonger.
Wow... that makes me a sadistic, unlucky, bastardized, idiotic, bad warmongerer.... ;)

I ALWAYS have a large defensive force, ALWAYS. Why? Not because of who I'm going to war with, No... it's his friend on my backside that decides now would be a great time to see if I have a tatoo there... I spend way too much time building up my empire to see it decimated cuz I weren't smart enough to leave some soldiers home...:D

As for the original question... there was a great thread awhile back... If the city you wish to take has 3 archers, figure what you'll need this way... Add one unit to what you see, make it the highest unit you think the opponent can build. An example: A city has 3 archers. The high new unit would be a swordsman. So: 3+3+3+6=15. Now, double that, so you have a total of 30. That's the firepower you need to bring to the party, MINIMUM. So if you only have archers, you would need 10. ( 30/3=10 ) I also add to that the new defensive contingent that will occupy the city, which for me would be at least 3 archers, preferably with the double city defense promotions.

Before catapults, I use new archers to attack to lower the HPs on the enemy units. I then use the appropriate unit with experience points. I NEVER use experienced units when they will be left exposed, or when defenses are maxed in the enemy camp. It's a good way to get your 16 of 17 point man killed. Once you have catapults, I bring as many as i can get. I had a recent battle with an entrenched Montezuma. Of the 20 or so catapults I brought, 2 were left after taking 2 of his cities... ( he had 20 plus units in the one, and 8 units in the other, all with 2-3 promotions... ) I had 8 macemen, 5 knights and some Cho ku no's (sp ???) also, along with longbows for defense. If you play with Chinese, the Cho ko nu (sp ???) is an awesome UU... ( you can use them like catapults because they do collateral damage... ) I didn't lose a single unit other than the catapults, and ended up dragging things out a bit to get a few of my units as many experience points as I could.

Collateral damage is king... You can have the crappiest units around, but alot of them with collateral damage can take down ANYBODY. Bombard units are way too powerful, and can make/break any battle. Having them is imperitive, as the AI knows what they can do and exactly how to use them, unlike all of their other units.

Tim aka...antracer