Teach me how to war

You would have had equal success (and near equal tech investment) and a more rounded army by just sending in x-bows instead.


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Aea said:

You would have had equal success (and near equal tech investment) and a more rounded army by just sending in x-bows instead.


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I don't think you would have a more rounded army.

I've been using my catapults and trebuchets enough that they have leveled up quite a bit without being destroyed by the time I unlock cannons. Then you're not building a large amount of siege units without any experience.

I've got a healthy mix of all types of units that will be experienced and I think that's the benefit to utilizing them all.

Problem is Siege is just a one-trick pony. I suppose in SP it's okay because you can avoid losing them, but against a competent player your siege units are not going to have free-reign to attack cities unless you've got them massively beat militarily anyway.

X-Bows are less effective against cities sure, but they can be just as useful on the field as in a siege.

The non-siege missile units are handy to bring along to deal with non-garrisoned defenders too.

Lukelbs said:

Totally disagree.

I'm playing on Emperor and just smoked The Ottomans by sending a front line of Impis (I'm the Zulus) to fight off their guys and destroy resources followed by a 3 or 4 Trebuchets and 2 Composite Bowman to start the takeover. At the time I was the third strongest military and they were either first or second.

If you put early siege units like Catapults and Trebuchets in danger they are really vulnerable but once the land is cleared and they can settle for attack without taking damage they are very useful.

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Play on a higher difficulty and not a good melee civ such as Zulu and you'll find otherwise. Even as Zulu you need a good amount of CB/XB to support your melee or else they will die quickly. Siege units can't fill the support role due to the inability to move and attack the same turn.

isau said:

Here are a couple of other tips.

- If you are okay with cheese, go with Liberty as your policy tree. Try to get Pyramids (for the increased Worker speed). When you invade a developed neighbor, bring a few Workers with you. Your units can pillage tiles, and your Workers can then fix them again in one turn. Then you can Pillage again. Due to Pyramids + Liberty policies you can repair improvements in one turn so it is very efficient healing. Yes, its possibly an exploit, but it works well. Also, Denmark (a civ most people dog on) is excellent at this due to units being able to pillage without expending move points.

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If I'm not mistaken, the worker policy in Liberty allows you to repair pillaged tiles in one turn alone (you don't need Pyramids). In addition, Denmark's pillaging UA only applies to melee units and not ranged.

Building the previous unit type and having a stockpile of gold so when you get a new tech you can upgrade units.

Usually my offenses are built around composite bowmen, X-bowmen, artillery, bombers. You can get these very advanced by the end of the game if you constantly war. UU are often very good too.

You dont necessarily need to attack and take cities. On diety its often good to war to strangle them and force them to make units. The game favors a defensive style of play even if you on the attack. Many rounds of ranged attacks from well placed units will grind down the AI. This can lead to very high kill ratios. Often well above 30:1.

When taking the cities should not take unnecessary attacks from the city. Units with 3+ range are best for this. Either you don't commit into city range or you commit everything in, It can be a good idea to chose the unit you sacrifice if you are definitely goner lose something. A musketman with shock 1 for example.

Warring very early can be beneficial. Ive gone to war on like turn 3/4 before get a diety AIs second settler. War has many benefits not just taking cities. Good luck

pollock said:

When taking the cities should not take unnecessary attacks from the city. Units with 3+ range are best for this. Either you don't commit into city range or you commit everything in, It can be a good idea to chose the unit you sacrifice if you are definitely goner lose something. A musketman with shock 1 for example.

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Sometimes it can be good to take unnecessary hits from the city. Because, it will give your units more XP and allow them to level up faster. The American Minutemen are good for this. Because of their mobility, the front line units can be swapped out, for healing with units 3 moves from the city. Even over rough terrain.

I had a really good long siege with the first rank of Minutemen, second rank Cannon, and third rank healing Minutemen. On the second rank I leave one space for my GG and a Medic Minuteman. This way I can change out units and absorb damage on a continual basis. Great for XP.