No metals, no horses

[mammothskier]

I'm playing a Prince game as Cathy. There are no copper/iron nearby, a coiple of horses quite far from the capital and very close to Monty's borders. My neighbors are Monty and Izzy, so peasful coexistance is not really an option. I have tons of gold at the capital and decent hammers in my second city, but not much military options other then archers. Should I put a city next to horses and tons of archers there to defend it?

[Technocactus]

Heavy defences. And don't offend either of them. Then, when it reaches the gunpowder age, lay the smack down.

[Swedishguy]

Eh, why are there no one here?

[Shillen]

Tech to construction and kill them with catapults.

[Janus0]

Originally Posted by Shillen

Tech to construction and kill them with catapults.

Amen, brother.

[Swedishguy]

Originally Posted by Shillen

Tech to construction and kill them with catapults.

You guys are so smart, you know.

[vyapti]

Originally Posted by Shillen

Tech to construction and kill them with catapults.

I'm in a game now where I had no metal. I leveled his archers up with my chariots and gave up. Came back after construction and wiped up. I should have thought of that sooner.

[Wlauzon]

Originally Posted by vyapti

I'm in a game now where I had no metal. I leveled his archers up with my chariots and gave up. Came back after construction and wiped up. I should have thought of that sooner.

Chariots are pretty much worthless, I never build more than one or two just to run around with. About the only use I have really found for them is to make a bunch for automated pillaging, and that is rare.

[kniteowl]

Do you have Ivory? Elephants nearby? if you do Beeline to Construction and build War Elephants then walk all over your opponents LOL

[Elrohir]

Short term, build a lot of Archers and walls, and try to snag some horses if you can. If you do, get a couple chariots or horse archers to back up your archers.

In the medium/long term, beeline to Construction, and mass catapults. (Elephants too, if you have ivory) And by mass I mean mass, as in 20+ in a stack. Sieze a source of metal - either iron or copper will do, but preferably iron - and keep going, only stopping to get your economy back on track and catch a breather. Rinse and repeat, and once you get Cossacks, go on a rampage.

You could wait for Gunpowder or Longbowmen and Crossbowmen, but I wouldn't recommend it. Without expansion before then you'll likely be outnumbered and out-teched, you should move before then or you'll most likely lose.

[mammothskier]

I've though about cats, but axes/swords are soooooo much better for actual city capture after cats removed defenses and made their collateral damage.

I'll go with cats to get to iron or horses. There is ivory, although in a bad spot. It seems cats are the option.

Chariots are useless, IMHO, for anything other then pillaging/scouting (and I don't have horses).

So cats to get iron, swords/axes then.

[malekithe]

Originally Posted by mammothskier

I've though about cats, but axes/swords are soooooo much better for actual city capture after cats removed defenses and made their collateral damage.

Not really. A stack of cats is at least as good as, if not better than, a stack of axes at taking a city. Swords are better, yes, but have an easy counter.

[Elrohir]

Originally Posted by mammothskier

I've though about cats, but axes/swords are soooooo much better for actual city capture after cats removed defenses and made their collateral damage.

They can get City Raider, and leave collateral damage - what's not to like? It's good to have a couple good units to protect them, but catapults do a decent job of city taking, especially if it's just a quicky strike to capture an important resource.

[mammothskier]

Originally Posted by Elrohir

It's good to have a couple good units to protect them, but catapults do a decent job of city taking, especially if it's just a quicky strike to capture an important resource.

Axes/swords can defend themselves, cats can't, so defenders are the must. At this time I would have to defend with archers. In a city they are good defenders, in the open

Anyway, cats is the only option I have. I'm aftraid I won't be around until gunpowder.

[malekithe]

Originally Posted by mammothskier

Axes/swords can defend themselves, cats can't, so defenders are the must.

While defenders are indeed recommended, note that a catapult in the open defends itself just as well as an axe.

[kniteowl]

I say War Elephants and Cats are the way to go I mean, their 8 Str,are just as good as a Prat or a Mace Without City Raider and they have a 50% chance against spears so they have no real counter

[Gnarfflinger]

Cottage spam
stay small
don't research alphabet (delay the time before they can demand tech)
delay Currency (delay demand of Gold)
switch to Izzy's religion
Beeline Construction (Catapults, and maybe War Elephants)
Failing that, rush to Gunpowder...

[mammothskier]

Originally Posted by Gnarfflinger

don't research alphabet (delay the time before they can demand tech)
delay Currency (delay demand of Gold)

Thanks, I haven't though about these.

[braindrain]

build a crap load of archers and go cultural it would help if can share religions with monty and izzy to keep them happy...in my experience, if i lack both copper and horses, i usually have iron comming out the wazoo, so go construction and ironworking and build up your attacking force then

[Gnarfflinger]

Originally Posted by mammothskier

Thanks, I haven't though about these.

No problem, Always glad to help.