I need help!

[ATL Jones Bro3]

Ok really, im getting frustrated now. I hate to sound like a whiner, BUT THE GAME CHEATS!!! Im on multiplayer, I have a Archer Army. Here comes a legion unit. I say easy upgrades. I have 15 defence against their 4 attack. I lose my pure gold city to the legion. I get angry for a while, i say stuff happens and move on. Later in the game i reclaim the city and put in a pikemen army. Cant remember defence but its somewhere in the 20's. So here come the a nice lookin warrior army. Still in the game by arabs. Well they attack me and the warrior army beats my pikemen army, I GET VERY ANGRY. I try to move on but im still mad. Then, I have this incredible city with 2 whales, gems, and dye right by me and i have modern infatry in their. Guess what happens? Can you? A FRIGGIN RIFLEMEN UNIT TAKES T HE CITY AND ONLY LOSES 1 GUY!!!

I shut off my game afterwards. Im fine now i just need help. Is that a bug or somethin?

 

[OpticalDelusion]

Ok really, im getting frustrated now. I hate to sound like a whiner, BUT THE GAME CHEATS!!! Im on multiplayer, I have a Archer Army. Here comes a legion unit. I say easy upgrades. I have 15 defence against their 4 attack. I lose my pure gold city to the legion. I get angry for a while, i say stuff happens and move on. Later in the game i reclaim the city and put in a pikemen army. Cant remember defence but its somewhere in the 20's. So here come the a nice lookin warrior army. Still in the game by arabs. Well they attack me and the warrior army beats my pikemen army, I GET VERY ANGRY. I try to move on but im still mad. Then, I have this incredible city with 2 whales, gems, and dye right by me and i have modern infatry in their. Guess what happens? Can you? A FRIGGIN RIFLEMEN UNIT TAKES T HE CITY AND ONLY LOSES 1 GUY!!!

I shut off my game afterwards. Im fine now i just need help. Is that a bug or somethin?

No bug, it happens -shrug-
We don't see it in our favor as often, since most of us don't throw low attacks to the high defense areas. I have seen low defense cities hold back huge attacking forces before, in my favor, so it does go both ways.

I think it's also our nature to remember the annoying bad things clearer and more often than the times we get really lucky ourselves.

 

[ATL Jones Bro3]

Man your right i still remember it like it was 1 minutes ago. That game was the most frustrating i ever played. I ended up winning Tech. Victory but that was just amazingly annoying.

 

[Apolex]

Was it the same guy that kept doing it to you? Because maybe they had the Oracle. It will tell you whether an attack will work or not. That's the power of that wonder - you can attack much greater strength armies and call it off if the Oracle says it will be a disaster. If it doesn't, then the player can go ahead and attack.

 

[ATL Jones Bro3]

IF they had oracle it would tell them not to attack. My defence is each situation was EXTREMLY better than theirs

 

[Apolex]

Yeah, I think that's the thing though. Normally you would never attack. But even if you did, there's a SMALL chance you could win. With the Oracle, I think it tells you whether or not that's the case. If it tells them they are going to lose, then they cancel the attack. The person can wait to attack until the small chance turns up (and the oracle lets them know). Then they could attack with the inferior force and win.

Did they hang around your city for a couple of turns before attacking? If so, they may have been canceling attacks until a good roll came up (as told by the Oracle). But if they just walked right up and attacked and won, then you just got screwed. That sucks when it happens.

 

[ATL Jones Bro3]

Ohhhh i see what ur sayin ok... But accually no. Everytime they'd just come up on me a attack. I was thinkin, "WHATS GOIN ON!!" I kept gettin owned by inferior units.

 

[caveman42]

victory...i smell victory!!

 

[dk1421]

Don't forget - they get more bonuses from attacking you when on a hill. Also, was a boat nearby to give them added boost?

I understand being frustrated. In fact, I would have probably shut it down before you did (or hand the game off to my hubby to finish). I've had some weird stuff happen to me too (more often in the higher level games than lower; hence I play lower levels more often as a result) but nothing like that!

 

[Kadazzle]

Yeah, on the higher levels my superior units generally lose even though they have 3-6 more strength then the unit they're facing. I expect that though, that's why I bring lots of armies.

 

[jayhawklaw]

Was it the same guy that kept doing it to you? Because maybe they had the Oracle. It will tell you whether an attack will work or not. That's the power of that wonder - you can attack much greater strength armies and call it off if the Oracle says it will be a disaster. If it doesn't, then the player can go ahead and attack.

I doubt it was the Oracle. I would think that wonder would have been obsolete by the time he was rolling out modern infantry, but maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Boomsie]

The game messes up. I mean, I'll be playing with some uber strong rifleman army ready to destroy anyone attacking me, they're attack is somewhere in 10-13, my defense is somewhere in the 30's, and they kill me. Lost? A great general and an army with pretty much every defense bonus. The game's number system doesn't really work. I mean, it'll go like for me against the comp. I had a british galley and I took out an aztec cruiser. Really. It just happens.

I mean, their number sometimes seems like it's there for show, while you're thinking "I got 3 times as much power, my win!" The game will be more like "Eenie Meenie Miney Mo..." and chooses them or you. Very random. Might have to do with scratches though. Iunno, I have this problem every game, me having an unstoppable force getting crushed by some force 3-4 times less powerful than my force.

So yea. Sometimes it'll happen in your favor, others it won't. I usually reload after a big loss, say some Ninja/Blitz/March/Medic Tank Army losing to a rifleman unit (not army) even by attacking from a hill with naval support (It actually happened to me, and I was british which gives me: Naval support doubled, and no river) because I mean, it's just unfair you know? I'd rather start 20-30 turns before I got that tank rather than have and lose it like that, so that way I can rebuild it. Besides, I have a good memory for what the comp does in the turns. I remember where they'll go and what they'll do.

So you just have to deal with it and move on, or save before an attack, if it turns out really bad, reload.

 

[Smirk]

It doesn't explain anything in this case but I believe there is a hidden component and some not too subtle components that determine the outcome. For instance does a 60v30 battle have the same probability as a 2v1? Also even with similar numbers I see more success when I have naval support.

It could also be a case of labeling, we may not be seeing the actually numbers involved. It would be better programming to display the data that is actually being used and less error prone too, but we've seen problems like this in the past in Civ4 and elsewhere. This is apparently not how Firaxis codes.
Notably I have seen some problems with the english ships, turn after turn of winning out on the sea versus my superior ships. But all in all it ebbs and flows. I usually try to bring superior units and numbers, but sometimes thats not possible and I've seen wins and loses. Usually in the middle age period with catapult armies versus heavily fortified archers and pikemen.
I think humans are less likely to initiate a high probability loss than the AI, so they'll have those upsets and humans would just never do such a silly thing.


In the OP's cases I seldom build an army if thats the only defender. Its much safer to have 3 archers defending than an archer army. Its of course better to have the army and then some singles, or just multiple armies. The latter is easier with a good road system in place to move units to where they are needed.

 

[dk1421]

I always try to save before I fight. The few times I forgotten, I've regretted it and had to restart 20 turns earlier (from an earlier Save).