Conquests: Mesopotamia Campaign

[WacktheMedic]

So. I've been fighting as the Macedonians in the Mesopotamia campaign. I've secured the Balkan peninsula, and I'm fighting a war with the Hitties. Somethings' screwy with this. I built up a force of about 10 archers, 5 hoplites, and 5 horsemen. I attacked a Hittie city, with 4 defenders. Those 4 defenders killed 19 of my units, with one horseman escaping. They lost 1 unit. How does that happen? They were defending with 3 spearmen and an archer. I don't understand how they do it. I've faced similar losses in all my campaigns. 1 unit taking out 4 and taking only 1 bar of damage, 2 attackers defeating 7 of my defenders. Why?

 

[MAS]

Lets see.
Archers: 3/1/1 20 shield #10
Hoplites: 2/4/1 30 shields #5
horseman:3/2/2 40 shields #5
Spearman: 2/3/1 20 shields #4
You didn't say whether these units where regulars/veterans/elites
You also didn't mention whether your target was a size 7+ city or 6-. And whether it was build on a hill or flat land.
This is important, I can't comment on it without this information.

If the Hittie defender (I'm assuming its a spear) is in a size 7+ city on a hill and was fortified, its modified def will be 6.75 if on flat land in a size 6- city its modified def will be 4.05. Your attackers only have 3 attack.

One piece of advice I can already give is to not use hoplites for attacking, you could have build more horseman instead.

Also, I hope you attacked with all of these units in one turn, and not spread out over several turns, cause that will give the defenders chance to heal.

1 unit taking out 4 and taking only 1 bar of damage, 2 attackers defeating 7 of my defenders.

At most, 2 attackers can take out 2 defenders, if they killed more, it must have happened over multiple turns, why did you not act during your turns?

 

[WacktheMedic]

Lets see.
Archers: 3/1/1 20 shield #10
Hoplites: 2/4/1 30 shields #5
horseman:3/2/2 40 shields #5
Spearman: 2/3/1 20 shields #4
You didn't say whether these units where regulars/veterans/elites
You also didn't mention whether your target was a size 7+ city or 6-. And whether it was build on a hill or flat land.
This is important, I can't comment on it without this information.

If the Hittie defender (I'm assuming its a spear) is in a size 7+ city on a hill and was fortified, its modified def will be 6.75 if on flat land in a size 6- city its modified def will be 4.05. Your attackers only have 3 attack.

One piece of advice I can already give is to not use hoplites for attacking, you could have build more horseman instead.

Also, I hope you attacked with all of these units in one turn, and not spread out over several turns, cause that will give the defenders chance to heal.


At most, 2 attackers can take out 2 defenders, if they killed more, it must have happened over multiple turns, why did you not act during your turns?

The city was on a hill, with 6 pop. All the defenders were reg. I attacked in one turn, using the stack-attack thing. I didn't use more horsemen because I'd been successful with hoplites before, and I'd just secured a source of horses.
As for the 2 vs. 7. I was referring to having a group of 7 units sitting out in an open plain, and being taken out by first being attacked by those 2 units, then trying to kill those 2 and losing.

 

[MAS]

Still assuming the defenders where spears and they where fortified, they would have a modified def of 5.25

Assuming your own attacking units where all veteran. (something you still didn't mention)
A single archer archer would have 38% chance of winning and 62% chance of losing. VS a single one of those defenders
A single hopllite 21% win and 79% lose.
A single horseman 26% win and about 37% die and 37% retreat.

But it was a stack of defenders, every time a defender in the stack is hurt after one battle, for the next unit, a healthy defender will take over, until all defenders in the stack are equally hurt. There would also be a promotion for some of those defenders.

While I don't feel like calculating the odds of winning the whole battle, I think it is clear your results are not impossible.
Especially those hoplites, look at the attack/def values, not win/loss statistics gathered by your own flawed human memory. They have 2 attack, and 4 def, when attacking, only their attack value is used, not their defense. So its 2 attack vs 5.25 def.
you should have build more archers for attacking, and if your are paranoid, a single hoplite to defend the stack of archers, but then that hoplite shouldn't be used for the attack itself.
If you really don't like losing, add a large bunch of artillery type units (such as catapults) to your stack and bombard your target first before attacking.

As for the 7 units lost attacking the 2, Could it be that those where 7 defensive units with low attack values?