Hello everyone! :D This is my first posting ever on the CivFanatics! I have been a Civ fan since Civ I and have played Civ III since the first day of its release. I've waited until I've had plenty of experience before sharing my ideas. I don't know if they've been presented before, but here are my ideas on various warfare subjects...

WARFARE: Attacking & Defeating Enemy on Another Continent

You will find that war is a delicate science. How you proceed depends upon the shaping factors in your game. In this guide, i've been playing on Huge Map, maximum Civs (set to random). The specifics may vary depending upon what era you will wage the war. In this discussion, I will focus on wars waged during the modern era. I ALWAYS play as an Industrious Civ (Either Egypt or France) due to the insurmountable advantage of the Worker's production. These principles/ideas will work with any Civ.

What are your biggest challenges?

1. Established Civs. First of all, when fighting in the modern era, most of your competition is established. Most of the geography in the map should be fully occupied. Most borders have been established and your enemies have had time to develop their armies by now.

2. War Weariness. Most of your wars during this era are longer due to the Civs being established. The longer the war, the more War Weariness becomes an issue, especially if you have the Republic or Democracy as your form of government.

Penetration. You've got to get passed their lines of defense. It is even more difficult when you consider that you have to whether the storm of a serious counter-offensive whatever you do.

Culture/Nationalism. The worst thing is to spend money, time, and resources to capture an enemy city abroad only to have them defect due to culture from the surrounding cities, or revolting due to relatively large cities having large populations of loyal national citizens.

With all of this to contend with, why would one want to fight abroad in the first place? These wars tend to be longer than others and expensive. But, your strategy might be global domination. You might not like the enemy you're about to wage war against (someone may have been a thorn in your @ss and deserves a good annihalition). But the 2 most important reasons are:

(1) Resources. What's worse than discovering a new technology only to find that a key resource is NOT available anywhere within your empire??!!?? This alone may be reason enough to declare war.

(2) Booty. Did the enemy build a Wonder that you covet? Does he have bonus resources that make your mouth water? Consider what are some Booty you can come out with during your campaign.

(3) Competitive Position. Guerilla tactics always suggest that the key strategy depends on if you're currently #1, #2, or #3. If you're #1 in the world, you're attacking your weaknesses. You're always thinking "what would I do against myself to weaken me if I were #2?" In this case, you may be attacking #2 and/or #3 to make sure that they don't threaten your position. If you're #2, you obviously should target #1 in the world. You may decide to attack #3 if AND ONLY IF you feel that that would be less costly and that it would net in you having a better position than #1. If you're #3, then you're going after either #1, or #2 and you're trying to flank their position.

In either event there should be some sort of tangible gain for your efforts, even if that is seeing your nemesis beg for mercy!!!!

"If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail...."

What position are you in going into this war? Usually, I spend the entire game positioning to dominate the world. I say this being a player that is not a warmonger. I generally make a play for my own continent during the Ancient and Middle Ages, then leverage my Industrial strength for scientific supremacy (depending on the difficulty level) and diplomatic supremacy.

Things To Have Before War Begins

Here are some things you want to have in place before you wage your war:

1. Sufficient Cash Reserves. Because you may have to pop rush some improvements, or some military reinforcements, you want to have a considerable amount of cash reserves. I would suggest no less than 10,000-20,000 Gold in your treasury. I've had as much as 100,000+ Gold in my treasury before a campaign.

2. Infrastructure. Make sure that you've setup significant road infrastructures to your points of departure (see "Things To Do"). You also want to make sure your strategic resources are properly protected. If you completely own and control your own continent, then each strategic resource needs to have fortresses built on that tile. You don't need to have defensemen placed there, just make sure they are nearby enough to your resources if needed. If you don't own your continent, then your resources should be heavily defended with defensemen and artillery.

3. Wonders. Try to have built as many wonders to combat war weariness in your Civ. Teh more you have, the longer you can wage war without getting creative. Also, make sure that you have Temples, Cathedrals, Colleseums built in all of your cities. Where necessary and if possible, you may want to develop Communism so you can have the ability to build Police Stations to further combat War Weariness.

4. Decent Air Force. You should have a relatively strong air force. This means you should have a few Carriers (at least 2-3), and at least Bomber plains. Personally, I usually rush to get Stealth Bombers. This is because they go undetected and offset defense by Jet Fighters. If you can't get Stealth Bombers, then Bombers in volume are needed. At least 8 of your cities should have Airports built. Personally, I build airports in every city, due to their hidden strength as a transport (more on this later....).

5. Strong Naval Force. You should have a relatively strong naval force as well. This one is even more important than your air force. Imagine the time it takes to build and assemble a large army to ship somewhere. Now imagine that army being sunk on the way to its destination because you didn't have sufficient defense against naval attacks. OUCH!

6. Friends. At this stage of the game, everyone has friends and enemies. Make sure that if he pulls a few allies into the fray that you have a few key friends on your side as well. Wars in the late game are not always one against the other.

7. Kick @ss Army. First of all, your troops in the modern era should usually consist of Tanks, Modern Armor, Mechanized Infantry, Infantry, artillery and radar artillery, depending on what's available. Whatever it is, you want to have enough ground troops to make a significant penetration. Before you start the war, you should have enough troops to fill around 4-6 Transports. At 8 per Transport, that works out to around 32-48 units. Personally, i'm a planning freak, so I usually don't even ship until I have enough ground units for 2 points of attack, each with a minimum of 4 Transports. If you do the math, that's 64 units minimum. I usually break it down as follows:

8 artillery units (Artillery, or Radar Artillery since both have a 2-tile bombardment distance)
8 defensive units (usually Mechinized Infantry, although regular infantry will due also)
16-24 offensive units (ideally Modern Armor, or Tank as your primary offensives).

The idea here is not to be fair. When it comes to warfare, army size does matter. Depending on the strength of your opponent, you may want to have even more units. You may especially want to include another Transport for defensive and artillery units (4/4 splits).

It is important to note that, if possible you can use armies, BUT USE SPARINGLY!!! Armies not only take up boat space, but ARE HIGHLY OVERRATED! We're talking modern era, so keep that in mind when I say this. Modern Armor can attack 3 times. If you place them in an army, however, they only attack once. So, if you have armies, use them for defensive units. Stack 3-4 Mechanized Infantries into an army. That will be almost impenetrable if you always stack with artillery.

Now, this may sound like a lot to have, but again, we're talking about your late game. You will need these things to ensure victory (in other postings I can share ideas on how to get great position during the Ancient and Middle Ages).

"Before you strike the first blow, your enemy must be defeated in his mind...."

I war is won in stages and it is one on several fronts. It is not just about guns blazing, kill or be killed. Your enemy needs certain things to fight and defend during war.

Things To Do Before War Begins

Here are some things you want to do to your enemy before you set foot on his land:

1. Cutoff Ties to New Allies. Before you declare war, setup Trade embargoes with as many other Civs as will cooperate. Some may need to be bribed, but you don't want him trading for key resources once war begins.

2. Assess Enemy Resources. You want to consider where his strategic resources are coming from. These resources may be resources he uses to build his key military units, but may also include happiness resources. Plan to pillage his resource squares if possible.

3. Economic Warfare. Who is he getting fat off of? When you get trade embargoes, a few of the other Civs will not cooperate no matter what you offer them. These Civs most likely are in bed with your target enemy. They may be getting science, resources, etc. from them. This is another reason why you should plan to attack resources. Not just to stop him from building key units, but also, to cut off his money. He can't trade a resource he doesn't have access to! :evilgrin: :p

4. Weaken him. Does the target enemy have neighbors? Especially people who share the continent with him? They make for your best allies. Try to convince one of them to join you in a military alliance against your enemy. It may take you several turns to get to your enemy, but his neighbor can be there immediately. Let the neighbors battle it out and diminish his forces while you mobilize and amass yours. :conspire:

"Let the Battle Begin...."

Attack the Head and Tail of the Tiger

You should never just attack from one point. You must assess his land and find 2 points of attack. The attack points must not be adjacent. They must be far enough from each other to divide his forces, but close enough so that when your campaign ends, the cities you conquer should be adjacent to each other.

Your first point of attack will be called the "Head of the Tiger." This attack site should be close enough to some large city. You want to pick an area of his border that is near something you want, and near something he will defend. If you can, this site can be close to his capital, or close to some large city (usually the AI builds wonders in their capital, or in large cities). You can also select your attack Head by his resource placement.

Your second point of attack will be called the "Tail of the Tiger." This attack site should be closest to your prize. Whatever it is that you've identified that you want to gain from this war, mark that place as the "Tail of the Tiger." It is your primary target, and your secondary point of attack. (More later....)

You will divide your naval forces, air forces, and ground forces for these 2 points of attack. Whatever, you do, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH GROUND TROOPS AT THE HEAD & TAIL!!!!

Phase One: Air & Naval Campaign

Your first order of business is to send your air force. This air force is not your entire fleet. You must always leave some Jet Fighters and Bombers at home to protect your borders. Instead, build 3 Carriers. Each will hold 2 defensive planes (Jet Fighters) and 4 offensive planes (Bombers, or Stealth Bombers). The other plane types are unnecessary. You don't need Stealth Fighters. Everything you need is covered by either Bombers or Stealth Bombers.

You want 2 carriers to accompany your ground troops at the Head of the Tiger, 1 carrier at the Tail. Your carriers must be escorted by heavy naval escort. I would suggest exclusively building Battleships and Submarines (pick your favorite). I know other forms of ships may be cheaper, like Destroyers. However, the sheer power, both offensively and defensively of a Battleship outweighs all other options. Even if you do not have the productive power to produce several of these, make as many as you can. 5 Battleships is always better than 10 Destroyers, etc. You want to have several Nuclear Submarines as well. I prefer Nuclear Submarines, even if i'm not carrying Tactical Nukes because they have an extra unit of movement.
I send my Nuclear Subs out first , about 2 squares ahead of my Battleships and Carriers. This is to serve as a potential warning against enemy submarines laying in wait. You also want to spot enemy Battleships and Destroyers before they see you in radar without them knowing you're coming. The element of surprise is key and must be preserved for as long as possible. (Remember, up to this point he you may not be at war yet. He may simply be mad at you for all of the economic embargoes.)

About 2 squares behind your Subs will be your 2 Carriers and 2-3 Battleships. The Battleships and Carriers will be stacked on the same tile always, to hide your numbers from the enemy. You will lose 1 unit of movement on your battleships because of the Carriers, but that is OK. The key is defending your Carriers in the open sea.

About 6 squares behind your Carriers/Battleships are your ground troop Transports, guarded by about 2-3 Battleships, ideally. Again, to hide numbers, they should all be travelling on the same tile. There is no loss of movement with Transports & Battleships. Both have either 5 or 6 depending on what Wonders you have. Usually, I wait a turn or 2 BEFORE sending my ground troops. This is because you want to give your Air Force a turn or 2 to soften your enemy.

Now, I forgot to mention the Tale of the Tiger. Depending on its location and proximity to the Head of the Tiger, you may want to mobilize the forces you have for the Tale first. These forces should be positioned close to the Tale of the Tiger site. That is, the point where you will land your ground troops. But they must NOT be too close to your enemy. Park them at least 8 tiles away from your site. You do not want your enemy to accidentally discover your surprise fleet. Don't forget - ELEMENT OF SURPRISE!

To conclude Phase One, begin your campaign with an air assault. You first target strategic resources. Cut off his access to his ability to build key military units. That is, target Aluminum, Iron, Rubber, Saltpeter, etc. Bombard these squares until the roads are completely destroyed. If the enemy places defensive units on the resource tiles it will not matter. bombard the roads around the resources! The key is the enemy needs a road to the resource! So, if you can't get the actual resource tile, then bombard the squares around the resources. Next, target the cities themselves. If you're fighting with Stealth Bombers and have the necessary technology, perform Precision strikes, exclusively. This will destroy his cultural and happiness infrastructure! He will produce less when his citizens are unhappy. Set your Jet Fighters for Air Superiority to protect your Bombers and Carriers. If Bombers are destroyed, Air Lift others to your Carriers and keep on attacking.

You want to concentrate your attack at the Head of the Tiger. Don't bomb the actual cities if you can, and don't waste time with bombing military units at this time. YOUR FOCUS IS DESTROYING PRODUCTION POWER AND RESOURCES! If you need to, fall back a couple of squares into the ocean after your Bombers attack. This allows you to pull out of range of his artillery who may park on his border and take aim at your Battleships. At your next turn, move your battleships and Carriers back into position, wake up your Jets and Bombers and attack again. You can bombard with your Battleships as well. Just make sure you do not destroy all of his roads! Many people make the mistake of pillaging all of the enemy's roads. You fail to realize that these roads will soon be yours. Yes, its true that you cannot take advantage of your enemy's roads while he still owns them. However, once you capture a city, within that city's squares, those roads are now yours! You can then continue to move your forces forward at a much faster rate as you use your newly conquered roads! So keep your bombardments focused on key resources.

YOu also should bombard and destroy all land improvements related to production. I don't care if the enemy eats for now. I do care about how well his production is. So, bombard and destroy ALL improvements on Mountains and Hills. If he has any tiles in the area that give financial or production bonuses, bomb those as well. Don't worry about what the city will look like when you take it over. You will be pop rushing several of the things you need anyway, so you will have little use for their production value. Besides, your cities will not be too cooperative in the beginning, which negates the value of these production squares.

Phase Two: Land the Ground Troops

Now that the Air and Naval forces has weakened his production capacity, bring in the cowboys!!! Again, you are still attacking at the Head of the Tiger. However, you should not begin to move your forces from the Tail of the Tiger into position. Still keep them out of range. Move them about 5-6 tiles away from your target point so that when ready, they can move and land in one turn.

Now, the key principle here as you attack the Head of the Tiger is to focus your forces at the point of attack. The first city you target should be near the border or 1 square away from the border.

Land ALL of your troops from ALL of your transports on one tile. Do not land on different tiles for offensive and defensive reasons. When you land your troops, you must realize that you will and must weather the first defensive stand on the ground. As soon as you land, especially if he has an established railroad network, he will send almost his entire ground force at you. That's the real reason why you brought the artillery. As his force attacks, they will first be smacked down by the automatic fire of your artillery forces. Your armies with the Mechanized Infantry will be attacked next. You may lose 1 or 2 defensive units here, but that's OK. Even if you lose all of the defensive units you shipped, their objective was to help you weather this storm. Your key is all the offensive units you brought with you for the Head of the Tiger. Once your turn begins again, attack first with your Air and Naval fleets. This time, focus on the cities you will be attacking! You want to try to weaken the units that will be there. Unlike before, they will not have time to heal this time. Upon completion of your air force attack. Move them down along the border to attack the area away from your point of attack. They will move up the coast line, destroying other key squares for your enemy as mentioned above.

Now that you've weathered his first ground assault, attack your target city, first with YOUR artillery, then with your offensive units. If you planned your attack with enough units, taking this first city will be relatively easy after the softening blows dealt by your Air forces. (NOTE: If you can, this first city can be a border city so that your Battleships can dock and heal if necessary. However, do NOT dock your Battleships until you have defeated the 2nd city at the Head of the Tiger. If the citizens defect too quickly, you may lose your Battleships!).

Phase Three: Attack the Tail of the Tiger!

SURPRISE! SURPRISE! Up until now you've been attacking solely on one front. Now, move in for the kill. Land your ground troops at the Tail of the Tiger and move your 3rd Carrier into position. Use your Bombers to attack scattered ground units and cities. If ther are any key resources that are worth attacking, do so. You will experience a softer resistence to this second attack site.

(NOTE: A key options you may want to use once you have landed your forces at the Tail of the Tiger is your espionage options. You want to view his Troop position! It is VERY expensive, but worth it if your spy is successful. You not only get to see all of his troops beyond your units' radar, but you also get to see City-By-City placement of those troops. This means you can note which cities are most and least defended and attack along least lines of defense.)

You should continue to attack aggressively along adjacent lines. You want to rush buying a Temple and a Colleseum as soon as possible (buy the turn after you capture it. Make sure that at least one production square has been used before you buy so the price can drop) You are now attacking on the ground from the Head AND the Tail. Your attacks are focused, concentrating your forces as much as possible. You will leave the artillery in the cities as defense. Your lines of attack should be such that your Head and Tail attacks are moving towards each other, sandwiching the enemy cities. Leave all of your artillery at the edges of your attack so that you are not hit from behind too fast. If possible this Phase should end with the Head and Tail meeting, which means that the 2 forces will conquer all of the cities between them leaving you with a chunk of cities adjacent to each other. Each city you take over you should immediately rush a Temple ASAP.

Phase Four: Bring in the Second Wave of Forces

Remember that first border city you attacked at the Head of the Tiger? After you conques the second city, you should do something interesting. You see, the question is this: after you rush the temple, what should you build next? More Happiness, like a Colleseum maybe? NO!!! you build an Airport! You remember how I always build airports in all of my cities? Well, once the airport is built on my enemy territory, I immediately airlift more units to this city! Each Airport I own on my continent can airlift one unit per turn. So, I can send several offensive and defensive units to this one city in one turn. In some games, I was airlifting 20 units every 2-3 turns! That's much faster than the shipping them. It takes too long. By air transporting the units, I can keep the pressure on and conquer more cities and penetrate even faster. With the units flying over, you should penetrate through his continent like a knife through butter. You can also Airlift bombers to this, or any conquered city and use them for defensive purposes. I like to airlift Jet Fighters to my conquered cities and run Air Superiority, because the enemy has a tendency of bombing you with his planes.

Conclusion: Finishing the Campaign

Continue to send over troops. Focus your citizen placement on food production and happiness. You can let the governors manage happiness and emphasize food and production over commerse. You want the city to grow eventually, so that you can have some of your own citizens in the city. That way, there is less of a chance of defection. You may lose a city here, or there and some money with it, but your enemy cannot withstand the full force of your campaign using this strategy. March through his continent until you own the whole damn thing. You may want to leave him with one city left just to enjoy his weak, furious behind for the rest of the game. Sometimes, he bails ship and sails to someone else's continent to seak shelter. Whatever, you have just masterfully destroyed your enemy in a campaign abroad and turned this Tiger into a purring Kitten! ;)

I welcome all comments, suggestions, improvements whatever. I am just so excited about this game I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks.

(Next up, The Impenetrable Defense)

Originally posted by RaMesh
Phase Two: Land the Ground Troops

Land ALL of your troops from ALL of your transports on one tile.



It is highly advisable to bring a settler along, land the troops on a hill (Preferably with a river next to it) and found a city. The enemy may throw hundreds of troops at you, so healing your weakened defenders ASAP is extremely important. Wither rush an airport (if you have units you can fly in) or Barracks (to speed healing) RIGHT AWAY!


Check the DS2 succession game thread - the French threw 100 mech inf (lacked Tanks) at us and lost 94 of them. Without the city defensive bonus and the healing.........

That's an interesting approach. Instead of attacking a city of the enemy's you plant your own city so you don't have to deal with the revolting issue, nationality, etc. But how do you deal with the culture issue? That city is a serious candidate for culture flip. And if you don't carve a section out for yourself, then the cities will just depose back to your enemy and all is lost.

I like the settler idea, but can you elaborate?

RaMesh: it is less likely to flip that the first city you take. And you will have sufficient force in it to keep it. Then, just raze the neighbouring enemy towns :D

I never had one flip as long as I kept enough troops there....

I find it easiest to use the newly formed city as a staging point to raze all the cities near it.. once that is done you have a nice base of slave labor to keep rebuilding the roads behind your armies as you march through there territory.

Originally posted by RaMesh
That's an interesting approach. Instead of attacking a city of the enemy's you plant your own city so you don't have to deal with the revolting issue, nationality, etc. But how do you deal with the culture issue? That city is a serious candidate for culture flip. And if you don't carve a section out for yourself, then the cities will just depose back to your enemy and all is lost.

I like the settler idea, but can you elaborate?

If the beachhead city doesnt have to produce military units, it can build spiffy culture things to keep the "people" happy. Also build practical things like a harbor, airport or maybe barracks. Keep shipping the mil units in from overseas.

Ship in settlers or workers to populate the city and work the land and get it productive ASAP. If you have extra cash, rush improvements.

In some cases, before deciding the time was right to start taking some cities, I have had 1 or 2 of their cities CF to me.

Has anyone had use for Marines or Paratroopers? Marines have the ability to land on a tile that is even occupied by an enemy unit. I can see this as a benefit in PTW, when an opponent might try to land a unit on every land tile on its coast, but i've never seen a reason to apply it in SP mode. Plus, both Paras and Marines are both slow moving and not as powerful as other options in that stage of the game. Has anyone seen a compelling use for these? Just wondering....

Marines

I've used them. They are a specialty unit inthat they can capture coatal towns directly from the sea.

Their movement points dont matter if you put them in a boat and have them capture a town from the sea. If you land tanks etc, the AI has a turn to respond. That can foil your invasion, especially of they have rail.

I typically engage the enemy elsewhere, wait a turn or two to let spare defenders respond drawuing them away from that coastal city next to the oil or gems or whatever. Then attack the coastal target with marines. When you get it, land some standard mil units to defend it.

With a transport of marines, some carrier or battleship support, and mabe 2 transports of mil units, you can sail up and down the coast in a flanking move with great success.

Some maps/empire layouts just dont favor their use, but others do.

Marines,

I think they are great, I like the use them to attack small islands that are poorly defended (especially one tile islands).

Looks like you like using air force, me too was a big fan of using bombers, but now, I think using tanks+Artillary is better.

I don't like the way bombers work in this version. I've only had 2 games so far that got to this level and those I won by just hammering away with tanks. As odd as it might seem, one of the best things to do is to attack their biggest cities. This means they lose the most by its loss, even if you don't take it chances are they've weaked it themselves by converting pop. to conscripts and/or production. I idea is to max. your gain and his loss.
Art. is very good def. though.

Marines are even more useful if you use them in this fashion:

1) take a small lightly defended costal city w/ your marines
2) pop rush an airport
3)next turn pop rush a barracks

This allows you to get a large amount of troops over to a continenent very quickly, especially if all of your cities on your main continent has an airport. This allows you to create a beachead w/o the AI being able to counterattack (w/o attacking defensive units in a city) & because the city is not very big, it has less chance of culture flipping on you

When attacking a strong AI opponent on the higher levels, bringing your own settler for a "secure" city is imperative.

Barracks, walls, airport in some order purchased right away (use the purchase a worker first trick to diminish the cost -- buy a worker for 80 gold and then change to your goal in the same turn and rush it for the remaining amount). 3 turns and it's nearly impregnable.

Razing the surrounding cities helps with CF problems -- after that you can capture and see whether they flip.

The ideal location for this first city is on a hill where you can get complete first-order culture all to your own -- i.e. at least two full squares between it and the nearest AI city. In some instances, this will give your artillery two chances to fire -- once during your turn and then once during their attack.

The two-prong attack, though, is a very good idea and I like the head/tail of the tiger imagery.

Arathorn

Arathorn:

yeah you can raze surrounding cities, & starve civilians but I have had cities flip to a civ that did not even have a city on the same continent, but i have never had a city under 6 flip (unless bordered by a large city), If you really want to get a good start on the improvements, also include some outdated units to disband for more shields (buy worker, change to improvement, disband units, buy improvement)

well if you got great leaders to waste...

rush a palace in that huge city you capture...

I don't think anybody ever got a city with palace flip.. right?

not practical at all but hey :P

ok now ..........waht about nuclear weapons? should u use them? and waht if the AI uses them on u, and what if the enemy (it will be more easier to hapend on PTW against someone else) sees ur invasion troops and sends in a nuke? all ur forces are killed in a second!, also sometimes otehr civs allie w/ ur enemy and end up w/a 3 front war......mmmh.......any answers?

No one has mentioned the strategy of cutting off the roads around the capital to prevent the invaded civ from using any resources. If the other attacks are on the head and tail, this strategy must be considered "castr*ting the tiger". Ouch.

I like to attack the capital first, with a bunch of very mobile units, then when the enemy civ swarms in to stop me, drop off a bunch of units at two important cities, as the article suggests. Very soon, the invaded civ will have thrown all his strong units at you, and will be forced to attack your tanks with long-bowmen since they can no longer produce units that require resources. It becomes a cakewalk then. I have a lot of luck getting leaders at this point, since my tanks are clobbering multiple bowmen every turn, and they will send in dozens of them. Give it a try.

So, if you cut off all of the roads/rails around the capital, it cuts off trade to all other cities for that civ or just the capital itself?

Sorry for the newbie question/slight thread-hijack here.

RaMesh; very nice article. Thanks.

What I try to do when going to war (and usually never until in Industrial or Modern age) is to get an ROP from my intended victim and gather forces around as many of his border cities as possible. At the same time, I'm loading up troops on the transports. If it takes me longer to gather the seaborne invasion, then I have more time to 'move' more troops into positions surrounding cities close to my border.

Then; the turn before I attack, I start to make demands that I know will be rejected (and relations go down a bit). On the turn that I attack, I declare war (take a relations hit because I am breaking an ROP while in his territory), and attack from three fronts (two seaborne invasions and my ROP city surrounding forces).

Fighting as a democracy allows me to have sufficient gold to rush build temples/libraries in newly conquered cities.

I try never to let a war go on for longer than three turns if possible.

Tom

Very nice article. Very good strategy too.

This strategy will really have a life of its own when multiplayer comes out with PTW and 2 human players battling it out. It'll have one of the best naval battle in civ history.

Imagine 2 players using the same strategy incidentally meet up in the middle of open sea...

just don't forget to breath while sinking each other's battleship :D

cutting off their capital by pillaging roads prevents them from using resources to build units or to trade to others.

Another strategy I found here is to send in Explorers just before the invasion to surround the capital. If the enemy's capital is near the coast, your explorers can be in position on every square surrounding the capital before he/she demands you get out. Just use the explorers to pillage the roads and Whammo! It usually helps to have a transport full of tanks ready to come in a few turns later to make sure they haven't rebuilt roads to the capital. But the explorers are fast moving and cheap so you don't mind losing some of them.

Tom:


ROP Rape? That's not a stategy, that's just bush league:nono:
And what's worse is that its not even necessary. Fight as a republic or Monarchy, fighting as a democracy is just asking for trouble. You don't really need a force inside their border, just invade on three sides from your borders or from the sea. A republic can stay at war far longer than a democracy so if you need a war just change governments.

If I have sea access to their capitol, I land there first. The initial turn may find the capitol at its least defended. Also, the enemy will usually have RR not roads so their entire military is within counter strike range. I try to cut off entire directions. IE, if there's only one RR in from the west, take out 2 tiles of RR and your western flank is much safer. Land all your forces together. In reality, splitting their forces is good, but in gameplay, you havent split them, but you now split yourself, so while you cant support your attacks, the enemy can go anywhere. I made the mistake of splintering off 3 MA to attack a weak nearby city and they were slaughtered. Raze the first couple of cities you take and clear enough room for at least 2 of your own. Use the enemy workers to build the city as large as you can while keeping enough workers to build roads between your new cities. I'll also disband 1 worker in each to cut the rush build for barracks and walls (in that order). make sure your cities dont touch the enemy borders and I think that'll drastically cut down on the possibility of a CF. use a few explorers to dash around cutting off more RR. if possible, have them end their turn on a mountain with no road/RR. The enemy will most likely kill them right away, but thats one less enemy unit to hit you on turn one, and they ended on a mountain, so they'll expend at least 1 movement just getting off the mountain the next turn. Above all else, protect your units, because it may take you many turns to get reinforcements while the enemy forces will hit you immediately after forming. As to the nuc option, i just tried it. Every nation on the planet but 2 weaklings declared war on me. Any one with a nuc used it on me. So i wouldnt recommend using nucs to soften up an invasion.

Love the article :goodjob: and I follow most of the lines, with some twists being:
- Surprise
- Speed
- Simplicity

Surprise is that my masses absolutely come out of the blue catching the enemy unprepared. So no trade embargos to make them annoyed or suspicious.

Speed means that only fast units go to war. Pity for the artillery and air units but they are simply to slow. In the first and second wave of attacks the main goal is to take out as many crucial resources and ports as possible. Razing also helps in speed.

Simplicity means large stacks of a limited number of units rather than a complex mix with multiple. It is also killing speed.

One of my favorites are enemy units in the open. Hardly any defense bonus and with fast units it is a matter of attack and retreat.

The Tiger approach works well indeed, leaving the enemy confused about main and secondary attack. I usually make the secondary attack well defended and prepared to be stormed by the enemy taking out their offensive units in the process.

OR ...
WAtch for a space to open up on your desired continents map due internal warfae between nations. Then build a city, rush some cultural improvements and an airport. Having already built an airport in most of your major production cites, it's then just a matter of transporting dozens of tanks and Inf (mech Inf later) onto the continent and crushing your opponents ... with the added advantage that you can attack his cites, and he can't attack yours.

I'm guessing someone else has mentioned this, but I can't be bothered reading the rest of the posts ...

Ultimately ... I think the best way to wage warfare is to wait for opportunites to arise then take advantage of your opponents. Always look to attack the strongest nation by forming alliances with other smaller nations. Then you can attack from more than one side. Take out the major centres of production (the capital included if you cannot isolte it) and wear him down.

Make sure you have plenty of settlers on hand to occupy the land as you destroy their cites, and if it's executed properly, there should be little need for elaborate plans, stages etc. Just attack in force, exhaust the enemies attacking forces, then methodically elimate their cities and establish your own.

Do not attack enemy cities if they have a substantial defensive advantage over your attacking units ... or your position of strength could be easilly eroded. In that case you need artillery and air back-up to weaken the cities units before you attack with ground units.

I'm not sure what it's like on easier levels, becasue I only play Deity, but long wars are never good. The unhapiness on Deity is extreme ... so look for the quickest way to eliminate the enemy ... normally by throwing enormous quantities of tanks at the problem. Forget about research, culture and science when at war. Think only about producing enough units to end the conflict ASAP.

I have a question for RaMesh.
It has been rumored around this board that AI knows where all your units are all the time, I'm wondering if you have ever had your "tail of the tiger" force attacted while waiting to invade 6 ot 8 tiles away?

Have you invaded with your "tail of the tiger" force only to find all his cities defended by 5 MI each?

Just wondering....

The "Capitol Isolation" strategy (mentioned a couple of times in this thread) is widely misunderstood, but still a very powerful tactic. How does it work? By severing all roads to an enemy's capitol, and destroying a harbor and airport if present in the capitol, you have effectively isolated the enemy capitol from the rest of the world. What does this accomplish (and what doesn't it accomplish)?

In Civ 3 all foreign trade passes through the capitol. If the capitol is completely severed from the international trade net, the enemy cannot trade for any luxury or strategic resources. By isolating an enemy capitol, you deny that entire civ the fruits of its foreign trade - it's like securing an instant trade embargo against the enemy from all other civs. When combined with some pillaging of local luxuries and strategic resources, you can often bring a civ to its knees pretty quickly.

However, in Civ 3 local trade (i.e., natively controlled resources used by all cities connected via road) does not pass through the capitol. Isolating the capitol deprives the capitol city itself of the local supply of luxuries and strategic resources, but does not deprive any other city in the empire these resources so long as a viable road and/or road-harbor-airport connects the individual city to the resource. (It is this point that is widely misunderstood.)

As an example of these concepts: In the late industrial age, the enemy civ has local control over a rubber resource, but must import oil from a trading partner. After you successfully isolate the enemy capitol, the AI civ will still be able to build infantry in all of its cities (other than its capitol) by using its local supply of rubber, but no cities will be able to build tanks, since the successful capitol isolation deprived the civ of its means to import oil.

The Capitol Isolation strategy is very powerful against a civ that has to import a fair number of luxuries -- instant civil disorder!

Catt:

Thanx for the info on trade routes!

The capital network always recieves an ICBM when I have to fight a modern war, followed by any uranium, rubber, and aluminum resources. This prevents the enemy from building modern units after my initial attacks. If I have any ICBM's or Tactial's left then I target luxuries & largest remaining cities.

While i agree with the happiness factor of building a temple first my second culture improvement is a library b/c it is much cheaper to produce than a cathedral or collessum

RE Finishing the Campaign

It's far better to completely kill off your victim as if you don't on occasion cities will flip back after you have signed a peace treaty (especially if they had a lot of culture) which can be anoying and compel you to declare war again ):

I have reduced very large and wealthy civs to one city on a small island and still had their former capital flip back (city had 3 military units and a cathedral). Once they are dead the cities cant flip back... ( :

I turn off the resawning feature so that when I am done with a civ it stays dead!

Thanks for the great post on Capital isolation, Catt.

Stalin and Ramesh
Im a major newbie, Ive only played civ1 a couple of times before I got this game. Ive nver made it 2 the nuclear phase and only to about the first technology of the modern age. I havent bin able to get nukes. can u give me any ideas on this?

Ramesh and Stalin

Ive never made it to nukes. the farthest Ive gotten is fission. my best civ is supposedly America but Im a major newb so Im not very good. can u give me any ideas on this??

Cjtheman:

Since you are a newbie I will assume you are playing on chieftan.

The problem with chieftan is you have to do all of the reasearch because the AI is handcuffed in reasearching. You have two basic strategies to employ

1) warmongering: Conquer the world

If you opt for this you will want to concentrate on military tech, Iron working, Horseback riding, & chivalry. One variation of this Strategy is to rush a civ that has a near starting location very early w/ warriors & archers. Another is to wait until a tech advantage window opens. Knights & Swords v. Spearmen, Calvalry & inf. vs. Pikemen/rifleman, Tank/ MA vs. rifleman/infantry
The idea here is build up your army, invade & conquer! Some infanstructure is needed though but building everything for your cities is not necessary. The favored gov's for this strategy are either Monarchy, Republic, or Communism.

2) The building (peaceful) stategy:

Build up your empire, becauase of the AI handicap you should be able to expand more rapidly than the AI's. Build as many wonders as you can, after the ancient age you should not lose a wonder to an AI civ. Every city should have a library + university (that is not completely corrupt) Only go to war if you need to expand further. Several ways of winning with this strat: cultural, spaceship, diplomatic, or you could adopt a warmongering strat late in the game! The building Strategy favors a Democratic government (just make sure that you fight short wars)

Experiment with placing your FP. There are differing opinions on keeping your palace in place & moving it so you might want to try that too.

Learn to manage happiness better & use workers more efficiently. Experiment with different CIV's (each has strong & weak points)

Read more strategy articles & search the forums for topics you need more info on.

thanx alot right now Im playin a game wit greece and Im attackin the iroquois on another continent
it aint goin great
but I normally play as a chielftan so the AI hardly ever have anything more advanced than I do

Sorry for the delayed responses. Had to step away to attend to some business, but i'm back.


Stalin006 & Cjtheman316,

ok now ..........waht about nuclear weapons? should u use them? and waht if the AI uses them on u, and what if the enemy (it will be more easier to hapend on PTW against someone else) sees ur invasion troops and sends in a nuke? all ur forces are killed in a second!, also sometimes otehr civs allie w/ ur enemy and end up w/a 3 front war......mmmh.......any answers?


As mentioned before in this thread, be careful with Nukes. Nukes have extreme public relations impact and can quickly change the course of a war, or even the game. Even allies you've nurtured for thousands of years can turn on you if you abuse nuclear warfare. Also, there are environmental considerations with the random changing of topology after the launching of nukes (although the effects and reparcussions are not as drastic as real life).

My humble advise is broken into 2 phases: pre- and post- Satellites. Satellites is the technology that allows the creation of ICBM, the most deadly and convenient form of nuclear warfare. You can launch an ICBM at any city or tile in the game without need of transportation. Just aim and fire. If you or other Civs have this technology and therefore, the ability to potentially build ICBMs, then exercise the greatest caution in using ICBMs. I wouldn't say to not use them because they can be very devastating, especially when aiming at enemy capitals and their other largest and most productive Civs. First of all, many city improvements and garrisoned units will potentially be destroyed. IN many cases, the city population will be cut in half! The surrounding city tiles will instantly be poluted and all roads and railroads destroyed. So, in one turn, you've decimated an enemy's city. It may take them 100 years to rebuild that city, which is a major hit.

However, as mentioned before, you have to consider the counter attack. Sometimes, the entire world will suddenly declare war against you. If other Civs can potentially build ICBMs, then the counter attack can reap the same damages on yourself as well!

Post-Satellite Considerations

I'd take the following tips into consideration before using a single ICBM:

1. Military Strength. How strong are you? Do you have the production might and infrastructure to take on the world? Do you have the most superior naval and air force than your competitors? This will mean that you can whether the storm and defend against attacks at home and in lands you've conquered.

2. Resource Dependence. Do you currently trade for key strategic or happiness resources? If you do, I wouldn't do it, especially if you're using either a Republic or Democratic gov't. If your trading buddy declares war with you, losing those resources may cripple you. Further, if you're not a Civ with the Religious trait (like Egypt, my favorite), then switching governments will cripple you even further. Don't forget, in the Modern era, your cities are large and more mature, which means that Anarchy is a true nightmare!

3. Workers Out of Work. Usually by the time you're waging Modern Era wars, you'll have a ton of workers "out of work". A handful of workers will be on duty cleaning up polluted squares, but the rest will be twidling their thumbs fortified on some square waiting for the employment market to bounce back (especially after 9/11 and the recession we're..... oops, we're talking Civ not real life. Sorry, I digress :crazyeye: ). This is important because, let's say a counter attack nuke gets through the cracks and hits one of your cities. Having these workers is key to getting a city's surrounding infrastructure back together and even adding workers back to the city's population to make it grow again. (IN the rare occassion where i've had a counter attack nuke land, I was able to get the city back up and running in about 3 turns!)

3. Nuclear Defense. How strong is your military defense? Being that we're talking about post-satellite, have you discovered "Integrated Defense" and built the Strategic Missile Defense small wonder? Do you have SAM Missile Battery improvements built in all key cities?

If you pretty much meet the above conditions, give or take, then give it a go! I've had a game where I built around 20 ICBMs (I had a monster city with Iron Works, Factory, Mfg Plant, Solar Plant spitting them out in like 3-4 turns!). Once I used the second ICBM everyone declared war on me! Well, needless to say, everyone got a little "ICBM" tough love from me! I launched every one of them on the most powerful of the other civ's biggest cities. Through espionage, I caught a couple of ICBMs in production and sabotaged them a turn before they were built! It was then excited by the Fourth of July display that happened next. I watched as my Nuclear defense system kicked in as 5 ICBMs were short out of the sky! That was cool :cool: to see. Anyway, that's that.

Pre-Satellite Considerations

Pre-Satellite is a little different and easier to manage. Your nuclear weapon is the Tactical Nuke, available with the discovery of Space Flight. The nuke must be phycially delivered via Nuclear Submarine and even then, Tactical Nukes have a pretty limited range (6).

Usually, i've found that using carefully orchestrated Nuclear Warfare using Tactical Nukes can be usefull and fun! Several have mentioned the Capital City isolation strategy and have thoroughly explained its virtues (Thanks, Catt! :goodjob: ), but I find it much more fun to implement this strategy with a good Ol' T Nuke! Get the same results in one turn!

As for the back lash, it is much easier to manage before Satellite is discovered. You just have to have a defense in place that can look out for approaching enemy Nuclear Subs (see my post on "The Impenetrable Defense" coming soon....). The strength of your naval force should determine the likelihood of something sneaking through the cracks. I try to keep several Nuclear Subs patrolling the Coast and seas near my home continent to make sure noone is trying to get through, and Battleships are always at the ready to blow subs, battleships and transports out of the water.

In all, nuclear warfare is cool and such a rush! But exercise caution in your use. The above should be a start to a guide in considering if and when to use it.

DaDoo,

well if you got great leaders to waste...

rush a palace in that huge city you capture...

I don't think anybody ever got a city with palace flip.. right?

not practical at all but hey :P

Regarding having a city with palace flip.... No. However, its been proven that a city has flipped even when its had the FP! Sucks major. Coracle was happy for a week bashing Civ III after someone verified this. :rolleyes:

Stalin006,

As for your point about a PTW opponent using a Nuke on you when you land.... that's interesting. I'd have to look into it further, but we all know different strategies will have to be employed when playing against human opponents (again, my thread "The Impenetrable Defense" is best suited for PTW games, or very persistent AIs). I can't imagine a player landing enough troops for me to even consider bombing my own country. The psychology of it is even crazy, even if you could quickly rebuild the tiles they landed on. I personally always build plenty of Artillery/Radar Artillery and Cruise Missile and keep them home so that, in case someone gets through my naval/air defense, they are still doomed. Then my super stack of MAs or Tanks always mops up what's left.

Remember, I said that I usually prefer to land my troops on a tile that's adjacent to a city, or I don't do it. That's with the Head of the Tiger. This way, the Artillery I bring along and any other 1 MP units can attack on the next turn. If I land, the opponent (AI, or human) will also have to consider the damage it will do to its own city. So, its not that cut and dry. I can see plenty of cases for and against. What do you all think of that?

Cjtheman316,

While I wanted most of this thread to focus on the Modern Era, you seem to need foundational help. Conquering Abroad, and warfare in the Modern Era will be an exercise in futility if you don't have the core understanding of how to nurture your Civ to be strong once you reach this era, or even to reach the era at all! Its like getting to the end game in chess with your King, a rook and a few pawns, while your enemy has almost all his pieces. What's the point. My suggestion to you is to peruse the Strategy boards at CivFanatic and also at Apolyton. The War Academy here at CivFanatic is very organized and very good info is there. This should get you started. Focus on learning and understanding how to develop your geographic infrastructure (strategic city placement, terrain development, resource acquisition and control, etc.) and your city infrastructure (key improvements, happiness, etc.) With this knowledge, you should be in better positions to last longer in the Modern Era, or even make it there at all.

The Modern Era in Civ III is slightly anti-climatic, because it is a little under-developed. Also, by the time you get to the Modern Era, you should already know what type of victory you're positioning for. The strength of your end game here depends on learning the stuff that will get you there in the first place. Good luck! :)

I read the article and it was very good. However, being an ex-Marine, I have some familiarity with Amphibious Assaults :)

The way I execute an Amphibious Assault is slightly different. I always attack at no less than 3 coastal points and as many as 6 points simultaneously, using a minimum of two stacks (two transports) of units in each attack. This may be a one or two pronged attack, but, the targets of the prongs are always ajacent. I always use either Marines or 2/3 move units for my attack. Marines are best used to break a coastal city into which you move you transports with your 2/3 move units with which you mount an immediate attack, in the same turn, on the next inland target. This also saves you the problem of having to weather the first offensive barrage before you can attack. I always bring along at least 3-4 defensive units per stack of 16.

When I plan my attack, I target an area that is defensible and hold-able...I don't want to lose it right back to the enemy after I'm done. Usually this is a peninsula, island or an area with a natural division such as a neck-down in the continent. This gives me a foothold on the Continent from which I can launch further attacks later, after this war is over. Usually, my wars are not to eliminate someone, it is to gain a foothold on a continent where I need to expand to gain access to something I don't have...resources, land, etc. Once I gain a foothold on a continent, then I can launch a combination attack....land/sea assault :) against anyone on that continent.

I strike cities right away, and always coastal cities. I try & have a sizeable navy force, but, don't need naval superiority right away because by taking his coastal cities, I can repair while he can't and I'll eventually break his Naval force. (PS I LIKE submarines & Battleships)

I never rush build, I build up my invasion force, and then continue building up creating a pipeline with which I constantly reinforce my invasion force.

Along with my invasion force, I always bring a lot of settlers...about two per city. After I take a city, I starve it down to one or two foreigners and then add two domestic settlers to get the city back to a reasonable production strength of 5 to 6. I never expect my conquered cities to help me in any way on the invasion in which they were captured. I also make sure that at least one city has a harbor. If not, I buy one right away.

After my initial strike, I begin taking my un-injured units and begin pooling them against my next targets...usually inland. I always use two & three move units because they have the retreat option. With the retreat option, you do two things: 1) You save units by not dying when you fail to win; 2) You stand a much better chance of creating a great leader because the units get to attack much more often and gain more experience. When I do get a leader, I get him off the continent right away. I never use armies.

As this plan advances, I usually end up with two forces who leap-frog each other across the continent. One resting, healing & quelling resisters while the other instigates new attacks on the next target.

I don't ever target resources or cities....they'll be mine in a minute, I'll want to use them :)

I always send captured workers to the rear and re-do all the terrain that the AI has mis-managed and to ensure that there is roads/rail all the way to the front lines.

Technological superiority will ensure that you will win every time with this strategy, but, if you are only slightly behind you can still win most of the time through sheer numbers. The most important thing to do is to keep your pipeline going and keep reinforcing. It ain't over 'till it's over (to quote a famous catcher), keep reinforcements coming until you're done.

Once you're done with your objective, then bring in more settlers and re-populate the larger cities.

Spyder
aka Myron Trueheart,
Guildmaster of The Chosen Few

Fun thread, and it looks like I'm the only one who actually likes using the Paratroops.

First, in multiplayer games a large stack of paratroops in a border city/airfield can seriously worry a human opponent. Against humans and AI alike they are very usefull for diversionary raids, just drop them away from the main attack area and see how many troops the enemy sends off to greet them. Also, they're not bad defensive units, if you can find some strategically important tiles it may take quite a few units to dig them out. As an alternative or supplement to merely bombing improvements, they will require the enemy to send workers AND military units to repair the damage. Scatter small stacks of them around the country side while your main invasion force moves in and watch the confussion as the enemy tries do decide whether or not you plan on using them to attack the 10 cities you just landed around :)

As for marines... Love 'em, but Spyder has pretty much coverd that side of it. Personally, I use them for any amphibious invasion, nothing says "I declare war" like taking over 4 or 5 coastal cities in one turn before they even know where you plan on attacking.

Also, a side note for the general concept you posted. It also works well against neighbors on the same continent. They'll expect the main attack over the land border, but what about a few transports full of Marines right up their tail... err, as the tail :)

The two pronged approach is the one that is most effective. Your point that you need to force the enemy to face down two fronts is on the money since the AI has a tendency to stack almost all of its invasion/defense forces into one group. By splitting your invasion force in two you can occupy the AI in one place and wreak havoc everywhere else. Seems the AI can't compute being in two places at once.
Marines are very effective when capturing the less defended coastal cities because the AI does not get a chance to reinforce.
As for paratroopers, well, they can provide a nice distraction for the AI and draw units away from an attacking force. they can also be used to provide advance views of where ground troops are if placed on mountains as far inside enemy territory as possible. They have very weak attack and defense capabilites, so they can be used to sabotage improvements and create general havoc.
Nukes are dangerous because you can have every civ on the board turn against you if you use them too quickly. If you plan on nuking the capital (which starves the AI of resources) then make sure to get as many other civs in alliance with you before you launch an ICBM. Without a strong alliance you could find yourself in a very nasty and protracted war.
As for capturing cities, I prefer to raze everything I come across unless the city has a great wonder. Culture flips happen far too frequently, so be sure to bring along enough settlers to fill the gaps your troops create. Trust me, building a ton of small towns is far easier (and cheaper) than trying to keep the peace in cities in full revolt.
Personally, I also try to build factories and high-end power plants in every city as soon as possible so I can produce mechanized infantry and modern armor units as quickly as possible. That means you will be busy moving workers around cleaning up pollution, but if you build recycling centers and mass transit then you'll be fine.
Like I said, it takes time to build that kind of infrastructure, but once you do you will be so happy you did. Right now I am in the late stages of a game and am outproducing my primary rival -- the Persians -- because I can outproduce him on a grand scale. Along with the draftees I accrue on each turn, I am also producing between nine and 12 modern armor units per turn. Yes, with all of the production improvements in place you will garner a mech or m/a unit per turn in high pop cities. Once again, I cannot stress enough the importance of building factories as soon as possible.
For me they key is to get a healthy tech adavantage then simply outbuild the other countries left on the map until i can overrun them with units they can't even build yet.

For me the key is to get into the industrial age to set up for a win in the latter stages of the game. I like long games, so sue me.

Anywho, keeping healthy established foreign relations is key for me. This way I can boost my economy through a realistic representation of trade, economic development, military buildup and infrastructure development. But once I hit the Industrial Revolution, lookout.

First off, build Leonardo's Workshop so you can improve your military at half the cost. Build the Hoover Dam to dot your map with hydro plants, and as soon as you can build factories in every city you control. Trust me, sacrificing military buildup in the short run pays off in the long tenfold, especially when you find yourself able to build your space ship about 10 times faster than your nearest competitor. Remember, the reason the United States turned the tide in WWII was not just because of its immediate military strength, but because it had a manufacturing base capable of outproducing both the Japanese and Germans at the same time. By the time the US landed at Normandy the German war machine was literally out of gasoline, its factories were kaput and the US was churning out enough tanks to run four blitzkriegs of Poland. Trust me, follow the mid-20th century model of the US if you enjoy a long game.

This strategy will force you to play nice with the AI for quite a while, but this will also allow you to lay rail lines all over the map while developing an infrastructure that will allow you to build battleships, tanks, mechanized infantry and modern armor at an astounding rate. The payoff comes in the modern age when you find yourself able to produce as many as 10 or more veteran (you do have the Art of War don't you?) units every turn to add on to draftees you are pulling out of your larger cities. Once you install nuclear power plants, you are on easy street, because if you play your cards right, you can have an economy that is pumping anywhere from 150 to 1200 per turn into your coffers.

So here's the breakdown:

1. Just get to the industrial revolution with solid relations and a high culture score. I have found high cultrue generally prevents overt aggression in most cases. Then begin building factories in every city you can.
2. Build Leonardo's Workshop and the Hoover Dam ASAP. Beat the AI to these two very important wonders and you will get an incredible advantage when it comes to building guns.
3. Keep enough workers around to keep building rail lines in every nook and cranny of your empire. You will need every shield you can get your hands on and the workers will be handy for pollution outbreaks.
3a. In the case of pollution, if you can keep a good 40 workers (either slaves or homegrown) around you can control most pollution problems in one turn. Do it and save yourself the trouble of waiting for sqaures to become available again. Also remember to micromange the cities every turn to maximize the production levels. When a square gets cleaned up, make sure that it gets worked again immediately.
4. As soon as you can, build cleaner running power plants and get those nuclear plants up and running. Unlike the real world, nukes here only go in to meltdown if you let a city go into prolonged unrest.
5. Build recycling centers and mass transit. They lower pollution levels to two per turn if both are built. Trust me, they remove a ton of hassles.
6. Churn out the military units and build an invasion force allowing you to run a classic two front (read: two enemy) war if need be.

On a side note:

I prefer to build a gigantic navy to coinide with my ground forces. I like to have about 20 to 30 battleships at the ready and at least five aircraft carriers. This way I can ring my empire and repel transports and marauding vessels. Trust me, nothing beats a state isolated from the riff raff in this game.

Any thoughts guys? Similar experiences, anecdotes, feedback, strategies? Anywho, I love this site.

Hi all,
I dont get the it?
When I make an oversea assult in the ages ramesh speaks of, it goes like this.
(I only attack if theres a reason.. so the civ Im planning to attack is most likely in power lead and strong!)

Build up an army...... HUGE!
Build up some subs and a few battle ships.. recon the oversea route...
Build airports (lots and lots!!) in cities and on non used tiles as many as possible!!!
load a settler and rest workers in a transport.
Turn 1 of invasion.
Go to coastline (I supose you have a specefic destination) unload settler at the spot you want the city and scatter workersaround the settler as possible. This should be far from enemy cities as possible best in non railed hills if possible.
Turn 2 build
1 Setup city.
2 Build airport with worker
3 Build radar with worker.
Now all you got to do is fly in the army, 1 airport can take 1 troop.
So the number of the invasion troops will be desided by airports on homeland.
Wupti you have the entire force on your enemies land.
A bonus is that the new build airport can also get the entire Airforce you have in 1 turn!
Moreover you can fly in reinforcements as they are build in the homeland....

The only thing about this is you have to transport artillery the oldfasioned way....

Now all you gotta do is bomb and spread death!

HAWK

RaMesh's conquest strategy better work...

While I am all in favor of massing one's forces before an attack, the army that he describes is enormous.

In the article he recommends attacking with -

shield cost
------------------------------------------
8 radar artillery 960
8 mech infantry 880
16 modern armor 1920
4 transports 400
3 carriers 540
6 jets 600
6 stealth bombers 1440
------------------------------------------
Total 6740 shields

Plus an unspecified number of battleships and nuclear subs.

A complete starship only costs 3200.

Nice tactics but only thing i think your lacking is more aircraft carriers, I personally mass produce about 5-8 carriers and even more battleships, depending how my day is going, but I have my carriers to prevent the enemy from nuking my whole damn established beachhead and wasting it all in one blow so i always make suren i ahve a few destroyers outside my little box of carriers to watch for subs, and if i see other battleships the next turn i simply callin another battleship or bomb the hell out of the ships, but i don't like to bomb the ships simply because they have thier ways of downing my aircraft, even if they are stealth so normally i go Sea to Sea combat, but the thing what i do with my battleships is just send them out each with a destroyer as they serve as not only a rtillery platform, but as shore reconnassince to, i personally will leave a battleship or two behind with eh carriers should them enemy try to pull some crap with any other ship so i can sue my battleships and own them at sea. only thing though i think this game always has a way of pissing me off for is when i'm fighting britain and they send out a few ancient frigates againest my battleship and they ACTUALY HURT MY BATTLESHIP! the whole ideology of a british frigate doing damage to a battleship with more than 10" inches of Clas A steel and somehow by the power of god himself, make that lil british cannon fire a cannonball traveling at about 200 miles per hour, actually do damage to the hull of that battleship, and yet so far this is the only way i found how that whole thing is possible.....


But back to the article, i normally use aircraft as a primary destroyer of land units and i take some faster units like tanks and just move them in the city once the aerial bombing of that city is done to try and conserve my forces for the next invasion that will go onto who ever the hell pisses me off or whoever i hate the most, and occasionally i'll pick the strongest person on the map, even if i am not already just to have some fun.

Now i never been a fan of destroying strategic resources even though i know it is vital for a quick war but to maximize my fun in the game i take out all thier forces before i start bombing thier resources to stop them from building anymore, sometimes i don't even use bombing on them resources since usually by the time i think about bombing that resource is usually when i have control of the land already or am a turn away form doing it and in any which case i don't.

However if i am facing a world power, i do not haste and will bomb all thier vital roads, area's, radio stations, forts, unescorted forces, and all resources with strategic resources being the first to go, the next thing is i try to bomb the hell out of a city usually with precision strikes to help evade the trading ways of a city to the motherland or other people.

But i am always sure to pack at least 10 modern tanks and a few mech infatry before going, but i usually mass fill my 5-10 tranports with marines and modern armor, as a matter of fact i'll tell you the roder in which i do the following in.

1. bomb the enemy back to the stone age.

2. bomb the major cities or look for a beachhead.

3. set units on that square, either it be a city or a normal square, but always sure to do the bombings first before landing, and since i'm in enemy territory i bomb all roads to my city or beachhead.

4. continue bombing the enemy back to the stone age and begin major assaults on the cities.

5. By the third turn the enemy is devastated by the sheer force and is usually taken out completely about 5-20 turns later and removed from the game, then i begin to feel sorry for who else is on that continent and I will have to kick off of the continent anf if not the game......it's a cruel world in the games play, but i usually like to be isolated on an island or islands with resources rather than owning a continent and i was never a fan of sharing continents so usually about 50 turns into the game i begin invasions on my neighbors and start taking land before they grow strong so that i may flourish my country.

however though i usually never use artillery as an offensive platform , but I will use it if it's within range or if the enemy decides to bring thier ships in for a tour of my country, I usually welcome them with Harpoon missiles then.