Help! New to Civ, but this dosen't seem right....

[vaderson]

everyone else kicks my butt constantly! I had 4 horsemen fortified in a city and an Eqyptian swordsman (1)! came and killed all four and took the city. What's up with that? My units just don't seem to damage oposing forces any more than 1 hit point. Any help out there?
Thanks!

[DiamondzAndGunz]

Ok, sounds like you need lots of help. I recommend you check out the War Academy for lots of tips.
http://www.civfanatics.com/civ3academy.shtml

Now, about your 4 horsemen... Horsemen have a defense of 1. Swordsmen have an attack of 3. They have a pretty good chance of beating horsemen, even when the horsemen are fortified. Now, if your horsemen had attacked the swordsmen, the chances of them winning would have been a bit better, since they have an attack of 2, and swordsmen a defense of 2.

check out the Civ 3 Combat Calc so you can calculate the chances of units winning.

Check out the FAQ here

Also, feel free to post any other questions here.

[Beamup]

Units have different roles. Horsemen, as noted by DnG, have stats of 2-1-2 (attack-defense-move) so they are fast attackers, not defenders. Spearmen, on the other hand, are 1-2-1 - they are defenders. Pay attention to the stats units have and make sure you're using them in a way that takes advantage of their strengths.

[n8mac]

Also, using defensive bonuses in your strategy. Look at the terrain in the game under the civilopedia and note the defensive bonuses. Cities give defensive bonuses too, more the larger they are. But remember, it is chance that wins, so control the odds.

[Inventor_of_Mac]

its like tis this is how u colculate the winnner...4 example:if a knight attacks a spearman a spear man is 2 defense-a knight is 4 attack and wut u do is combine those like this:2+4 =6 so knight has 66% chanse of winning(4 out of 6) got it? dont u have the instruction manul book??

[elpadrino87]

It certainly helps to have defensive units defending your cities, but sometimes thats not enough. It's good to have cities size 7 or larger, because of the added defense bonus. Or build a town wall for smaller cities. Or if you want, put a catapult or any other artillery piece in cities. Definitely try the first two, and if you can, the third one as well if your defensive units aren't too advanced compared to the enemy.