Lord Tirian
Erratic Poster
My personal impression is that ranged units are in most cases a lot better than melee units. Nowhere is this as obvious as in city sieges - I'd rather have 3 archers and a catapult than 3 swordsmen and a catapult (apart from the unit actually taking the unit, of course).
This is partially because city counter-attacks are very strong and combined with their ranged attacks, they can decimate melee attackers with ease. This isn't necessarily all bad, but it's lopsided and seems to affect the threat from barbarians as well (which love melee units).
I have the impression that this is the general consensus (ranged is too good on the offence), but, of course, it's interesting what the discussion spawns.
Personally, I think changing city combat would go a long way towards fixing this (the interplay on the field seems to be okay, apart from the AI being a bit stupid):
Finally, if I remember correctly, city strength doesn't factor into military strength at all. If you have strong cities and gold reserves, that can cause a major derail in an AI attack.
This is partially because city counter-attacks are very strong and combined with their ranged attacks, they can decimate melee attackers with ease. This isn't necessarily all bad, but it's lopsided and seems to affect the threat from barbarians as well (which love melee units).
I have the impression that this is the general consensus (ranged is too good on the offence), but, of course, it's interesting what the discussion spawns.
Personally, I think changing city combat would go a long way towards fixing this (the interplay on the field seems to be okay, apart from the AI being a bit stupid):
- City strength should scale less with population, boost defence buildings to match (hey, a reason to build castles apart from Neuschwanstein!)
- Less overall strength, more hit points for cities - this encourages melee attacks while penalising ranged attacks
- Give siege units some sort of "cover" promotion for free, at least against city ranged attacks - they get chewed up too easily.
- Give cities an automatic counter-attack against ranged fire (possible? might be too much)
Finally, if I remember correctly, city strength doesn't factor into military strength at all. If you have strong cities and gold reserves, that can cause a major derail in an AI attack.