War Strategies

Browd said:

Used to be worse before the G&K expansion. Under the old 10-hit-point scale, even the lowliest warrior or archer inflicted a minimum of one point of damage, or 10%. Surround a GDR unit with 10 archers and watch it die in one turn. Silly, really....

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And how many times will Archers be able to survive long enough to completely surround a GDR? How likely is it that a civilization is still producing Archers when GDRs are present?

Zone of control makes the prospect of surrounding any unit unlikely at best, unless the unit in question is garrisoning a city. Moreover, how likely is it going to be that a civilization in the Future era doesn't have ANY units to support a GDR against a swarm?

Moreover, Archers have been long out of production by the time GDRs roll around.

Pointing out how broken it is that Archers can THEORETICALLY swarm a GDR successfully is like saying that the Great Library is broken because it can THEORETICALLY be used to bulb some expensive Modern/Future era tech like Nanominiaturization. I mean, it could, but how likely is that?

mintcandy said:

And how many times will Archers be able to survive long enough to completely surround a GDR? How likely is it that a civilization is still producing Archers when GDRs are present?

Zone of control makes the prospect of surrounding any unit unlikely at best, unless the unit in question is garrisoning a city. Moreover, how likely is it going to be that a civilization in the Future era doesn't have ANY units to support a GDR against a swarm?

Moreover, Archers have been long out of production by the time GDRs roll around.

Pointing out how broken it is that Archers can THEORETICALLY swarm a GDR successfully is like saying that the Great Library is broken because it can THEORETICALLY be used to bulb some expensive Modern/Future era tech like Nanominiaturization. I mean, it could, but how likely is that?

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i think browd was just trying to illustrate the point that the 10 point system was rather ridiculous and that theoretically a group of archers could kill a gdr. for example in before the G&K update i went to war with japan that was fielding archers and spearmen against my musketmen. i only had a few units while japan had large numbers of archers that cost me dearly since i could not easily or quickly replace my losses.

Compound bows are THE classical unit for conquest. Against the AI, you can win a classical war and seize cities on any difficulty level with a combination of CBs and warrior/spearman. My preferred ratio is about 4 (CB) to 1 (melee/mounted). Use mounted units to clean up enemy archers and siege, but they aren't strictly necessary in a classical war. Seige units aren't necessary until trebs or possibly even artillery if you have ungraded crossbowmen with range and/or logistics.

gunslinger6792 said:

i think browd was just trying to illustrate the point that the 10 point system was rather ridiculous and that theoretically a group of archers could kill a gdr. for example in before the G&K update i went to war with japan that was fielding archers and spearmen against my musketmen. i only had a few units while japan had large numbers of archers that cost me dearly since i could not easily or quickly replace my losses.

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Yes...that's how I took it...as a THEORETICAL possibility....but my example with the Crossbow was "real"...

I had my Crossbow take a potshot at the Ironclad and it did do some damage...which is ridiculous....though I suppose if you really wanted to go to an extreme, you could argue that maybe the Crossbow managed to jam up the rudder, or wreck the antenna, or kill the captain, or something ...

Dogmouth said:

Compound bows are THE classical unit for conquest. Against the AI, you can win a classical war and seize cities on any difficulty level with a combination of CBs and warrior/spearman. My preferred ratio is about 4 (CB) to 1 (melee/mounted). Use mounted units to clean up enemy archers and siege, but they aren't strictly necessary in a classical war. Seige units aren't necessary until trebs or possibly even artillery if you have ungraded crossbowmen with range and/or logistics.

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I've had a great deal of success with egyptian war chariots or indian war elephants.. hun horse archers should be mentioned too, but they're kind of the 'obvious' one, the former I think are largely overlooked for domination.

One strategy which I enjoy, with gandhi or ramses, is to beeline the wheel and start massproducing the chariot UU. I send it over to a neighbours capital and declare war, meanwhile I've taken honour and got the 50% increased experience and free great general. I just sit outside his territory accumulating experience, bringing new units over as they are produced. Eventually I have about 5 chariot UU's with march, that's when I decide to plant my second city, 3 hexes away from the AI's capital, use my free great general and the other great general I've inevitably earned at this point to drill a hole from my second city right in front of my neighbours capital. At this point the chariot UU's have no trouble taking the city with no losses, as they can shoot while healing 20hp per turn (thanks to having march and being in friendly territory) .. plus I'll have a couple already with the double shot promo on them. This puts you in a strong position, because you'll generally have lost zero troops, you'll have earned a highly upgraded mobile ranged army and another civs capital.

Btw - if this sounds a little like the Town Center push of Age of Kings fame.. that's exactly where I got my inspiration for it.