Can somone explain to me the concept of attacking/defending? How are the chances of success and so forth worked out - and how does the unit's attack and defence attributes contribute to this?
7/10 times when I attack an enemy town with a spearman (2/1) with something much more advanced, such as a Mustketman (4/3) I fail.... How is this possible? What kind of bonuses does fortification give?
I am relatively new to Civilations 3, and I have not played the previous 2 either. Can someone with extensive knowledge or experience please comment and/or explain the concepts :) Thanks.

Haha strange how over 18 views and not a single replay ;P

Read up on combat in the Civ III InfoCenter on this site - it's all there!

its all a ratio.

Attack of 10 versus defense of 5 is a 66% chance the attacker wins 33% chance the defeder wins each roll for dealing 1 hp of damage (**** the last percent :) )

No! No! Use the civulator. It's ever so spiffy-keen and it makes me happy when people use it.

http://www.columbia.edu/~sdc2002/civulator.html

Heh, eventually people will get sick of seeing this link and tell me to shut the hell up about it.

Xerxes

Shut the hell up about it! ;)

But seriously- nice calculator! A lot of fun, and can be very useful if I doubt my odds.

The problem with the spearmen versus a musketman is that the spearmen was inside the city, and probably receiving bonuses from either it being a city (population 7+) or having the Walls improvement. I believe both of these give the defender a 50% bonus. Also, the terrain on which the city is located gives a defence bonus as well. Grass is only like 10% but montains are like 100%. These all have to be taken into account if you want to calculate yr chances.