"
Give me liberty or give me death" - Patrick Henry
Viva la Revolution!
Finally the time has come to revolt and fight your war of independence!
You first order of business is to write your constitution. You can read Wejer's analysis here: It's for the unmoded game but the analysis still applies.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=347785
What is your stance on slavery?
- "All men are free": +2 population per city. If you have alot of muskets/horses, free the slaves and use the extra population to make more military units.
- "Slavery": +50% production of raw goods. A huge increase in production...but is it worth keeping slaves?
What is your stance on elections?
- "Monarchy": Can trade with Europe.
- "Elections": +50% bell production. More bells mean more FFs which can help you in you revolution.
What is your stance on natives?
- "manifest destiny": +50% vs natives.
- "native rights": auto peace and strengthen relations. Do you really want to fight the natives and your king at the same time? I thought not.
What is your stance on religion?
- "separation of church and state": converts crosses into bells. This is usually the best choice. More bells=more FFs and better rebel sentiment.
- "theocracy": converts crosses into hammers. Situationally this can be better. If you need to build more ships or garrison cannon/cannon then this might be better.
What is your stance on land security?
- "right to bear arms": +2 str for colonists. If you had to start the revolution early and you aren't fully prepared this would help immensely. Colonists can't attack, but they can be stacked with your combat units to help defend.
- "controlled arms": +50% great general emergence. This is usually the best choice.
There are two ways to win the war against the king: kill all his troops or destroy all his ships. Leaders who are "resourceful" have a distinct advantage during the revolution. Increased experience gained means more promotions. And promotions mean more powerful units and some healing. I recommend saving your game prior to starting the revolution...if you aren't an experienced player you may need to reload and prepare some more before starting the revolution. There are many strategies for defeating the king's troops but lets discuss some of them:
The Winston Churchill
"
We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." - Winston Churchill
Please read Blind Side's post here to see the original post about this strategy (not specifically for the TAC mod)
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=449155
The goal of this strategy is to kill the king's troops as they land on your beaches. Your army will almost exclusively be Cuirassiers and Dragoons...Cuirassiers have 4 strength and dragoons start with a 30% chance to withdraw and a +50% against siege weapons. Also, all the land around your cities should have roads. The goal is to be able to move quickly to attack them on the beaches then retreat to the city in the same turn...don't leave any artillery next to your cities. This is an all or nothing type of strategy. You can't afford very many of the king's troops to survive the landing on your beaches or you will be overwhelmed (see last section to estimate the amount of troops needed).
The Daniel Boone
"
A zeal for the defence of their country led these heroes to the scene of action, though with a few men to attack a powerful army of experienced warriors." - Daniel Boone
The goal with this strategy is to take away two of the king's advantages: bombardament and artillery bonuses against towns. So you attack them in the wilderness! When building your civilization leave a gap between your coastal cities and your inland cities...this wilderness will be your battleground. Try picking a location where your wilderness can be mostly the same terrain type (probably forest or light forest). Make sure your inland towns can produce muskets and grow people at a reasonably fast pace. Native mercs are good units for this strategy. Empty your coastal cities because they will be overrun. Try to get the FF, Ethan Allen, to join your cause.
Just because a unit can be promoted doesn't mean it should be promoted. In the beginning of the game your scouts will gain promotions. You can save those promotions for when they are back in your colonies and made into soldiers. Some promotions are unique to mounted units and some are unique to infantry. At the least you can pick promotions like veteran which are useful both for mounted troops and infantry troops. When you pick promotions you should pick Ranger I-III first. Bayonet, fearless and charge are good upgrades but I prefer the veteran upgrades since I can use them against any type of troops.
The Armada
Here your goal is to defeat the enemy fleet. TAC dramatically increased the size of the REF fleet. In Civ4Col, the fleet shuttled troops back and forth from Europe. In TAC there are enough ships to transport the troops then stay off your coast. Considering the King's Man-o-war has a 14 strength and your ships of the line only have 9 you are at a distinct disadvantage. You need to be prepared to lose alot of ships. There are some things that will improve the odds for you
1. Rebel sentiment in excess of 50%. At 100% rebel sentiment your ships will have an effective strength of 13.5...which is pretty close to the man-o-war's strength of 14.
2. Add a naval port which gives your ships the upgrade of broadside...cumulative strength of 14.4
3. The FF, Francois Joseph Paul de Grasse, adds another 10%...cumulative strength of 15.3
4. Use Great Generals to upgrade your ships (be sure to remove all other units from your city before adding a GG to your ship or the other unit's will leach the experience).
5. Use a leader with the "resourceful" trait. Gaining experience 50% faster is a huge benefit.
The goal of the first three waves is to gain experience for your ships. You initial attacks should be with an inexperienced ship...that way your experienced ships can be assured of victory (some will win and increase your pool of experienced ships). The fourth wave will be very difficult and your ships will need all the experience you can give them. Coastal waters add 10% defense. So, try to attack the enemy fleet in the ocean and any ship not in a city should at least be along the coast to increase it's defense. You will also capture some Man-o-wars which, with your bonuses, are very powerful.
Building a naval port takes a long time. In the cities where you plan to build ships you need to maximize your production. Try to have a great wheelwright workshop and fill it with 4 expert carpenters. You need alot of lumber to feed that production so 3 lumberjacks are best or you'll need to transport lumber into the city. You'll also need alot of tools, muskets and cloth. So either have a robust production line or be able to buy what you need from Europe. You might want to have a couple ports away from the king's initial landing zone. That way if you lose your starting port city you can still produce ships. In my current game I have my starting city on the east coast of Florida and 2 cities on the west side of Florida. A great tool factory and a great arsenal really help getting tools and muskets...keep in mind they have to be built near a river and they reduce the food production in the city.
Regardless of your best efforts some troops are going to land before you can destroy their ships. So, you also need to be able to defend against the King's ground troops. On a conquistador/huge map I had 70% of the number of the REF's man-o-wars and it was overkill...you can probably do it with around 50% of the number of REF ships.
Other combat strategies and concepts
"
War grows out of the desire of the individual to gain advantage at the expense of his fellow man." - Napoleon Hill
Going to war with the natives and other players can be profitable, but there are potential pitfalls.
Natives
A leader who is a "conquistador" or "resourceful" will have an easier time fighting the natives. Going to war with the natives has the following advantages:
1. Your units get experience.
2. You can get native villagers from destroying a native village.
3. You gain a treasure from each village you destroy (normally the amount of the treasure is small...capital villages give more as do the villages of a "prosperous" native tribe).
4. You clear land for your settlements.
Disadvantages:
1. You might bite off more than you can chew. Even though your units are stronger than the natives, the natives have alot more people at the beginning of the game.
2. By attacking the native you will also piss off any of their allies...and those allies may declare war on you. You might not be able to take on multiple tribes/players all at the same time.
3. You might lose a city. Your reputation with the natives does get better once they raze a city. However, it generally isn't worth losing a city to attack the natives.
4. You will lose a few units. The war with the king will require all your combat power. You can't afford to lose too many units when attacking the natives.
Fortifications work very well against the natives and reduce the chance of being successfully raided. Also, I try to clear the side of the city I think the natives will attack as well as have roads around your city. This removes the native's combat bonuses for defending in rough terrain and allows me to attack them and retreat to the town in the same turn.
{I dare you to fight a war to extinction against any native tribe near your cities before 1600 on the map "TAC East Coast v.1.02" on explorer or higher difficulty...I double dog dare you!}
Other players
Other players will have a few defensive units in their towns and a stack of mobile forces. It's the mobile army you'll need to destroy. Once the mobile army is destroyed the enemy is easy to plunder or will accept your calls for peace. The mobile force will consist of a couple of cuirassiers, several cannon and maybe a couple of garrison cannon. To defeat this you'll need a couple of cuirassiers to counter their cuirassiers and enough dragoons to take out the cannons. If you fight the enemy stack at your city you'll need enough dragoons to take all the cannon out in one turn. If you fight the stack away from your cities you just need enough cuirassier to defeat their cuirassiers and a few dragoons to start taking out the cannon.
Some advantages of attacking other players:
1. Your military units gain experience
2. You can capture wagons and colonists when you attack them (it's a good idea to capture the enemy units before they have a chance to retreat into the cities)
3. You can capture cities (goods and colonists)
4. If you beat down another player that player wont be strong enough to start a revolution.
5. If you beat down another player that player can't get the FFs you are trying to get.
Disadvantages:
1. You can lose combat units
2. If you don't take out their mobile army, they will attack you and probably take over your cities.
3. While attacking another player you are vulnerable to attack. Your enemy's friends may decide to help them and attack you. If attacked while your army is away from your cities, you'll be hard pressed to defend yourself.
You need to be aware of the location of other payers and native tribes as well as their standing with each other (F4). This will help you determine whether it's smart to attack them and who may come to their aid.
The Plunderer {advanced strategy}
The Plunderer is an advanced strategy to beat down your opponents and maximize your benefits from them. If executed properly it not only gives you goods and colonists it also increases your rep with both the natives and the player you plundered!!!
To successfully execute the Plunderer strategy you will need a mobile army strong enough to defeat the other player's mobile army and at the same time be strong enough to defend your own civilization. Sometimes you have to take a calculated risk and leave your civilization fairly weak. If I have good rep with the local natives and good rep with the other players and I don't think they will join the player I plan to attack, I will leave my cities with minimal defense.
Executing the Plunderer strategy
1. First locate the enemy mobile army. You will need to know it's location and strength.
2. Don't waste any of your combat strength on the enemy towns until you destroy the enemy mobile army. You can and should capture lone colonists/pioneers and wagons.
3. After the enemy mobile army is destroyed, capture each of his cities one by one. The goal here is to not lose any units...so heal up units between captures and use your own cannon to eliminate any fortifications. You have to watch your reputation with the local natives. Stop capturing cities if your rep gets too bad (see the explanation of the effect on native reputation explained below).
4. Don't capture his last town. If you do there is a chance for that player to retreat from the new world and you won't be able to give the cities back to him. Leave a small inland town...you want to capture the developed cities with alot of goods and a large population.
5. Bring in your wagons (ships if a coastal town) and remove all goods.
6. Once the unrest settles down remove all the population except one colonist (preferable a native or criminal) and move these colonists to your civilization. I have the remaining colonist work in the town hall creating bells and have the city produce political points.
7. Once you have captured all but one city and have fully plundered the cities turn them back over to the player you captured them from. Don't keep the cities you conquer unless they are right on your border. The REF is hard enough to beat...don't spit your civilization.
8. Entice the local natives to attack that player and raze the cities you've previously captured
The other players get expert colonists from the European docks just like you do. So, you'll get expert colonists with this strategy.
The player reputation effect: After you declare peace you start getting bonus reputation with the player for each city you give back to him (it is viewed as tribute and you get a rep bonus). So when you turn over all his cities the rep bonus you get is significantly greater than the reputation hit you take from declaring war. Over time the negative war rep will fade away and leave you with a strong bonus for giving the cities back to him.
The native reputation effect: When you capture another player's city you also get the negative native rep that city has (for "stealing" the land). When you turn the city back over to the player you lose that negative native rep but now the city is identified as being one of yours. So, now when the natives raze the city you get the bonus rep for "we have taken our revenge". You actually gain rep with the natives and you never have to attack them!
This strategy is advanced because it manipulates the reputation you have with the natives. When you first capture the cities you get negative rep with the natives...if this negative rep is too much you may trigger a war with the natives. So this strategy is only for players who are expert at managing native reputation.
Promotions
You should promote your troops based upon how you plan to use them in the future. Lets examine a few of the key promotions:
Veteran I: +10% strength
Veteran II: +10% strength
Veteran III: +10% strength
Veteran IV: +10% strength and +10% healing in neutral lands
Veteran V: +10% strength and +10 healing in enemy lands
Veteran VI: +25 Strength
Explosive I: +20% Settlement Attack
Explosive II: +25 Settlement Attack
Explosive III: +30 Settlement Attack
Surgeon I: +10 Healing units in your square
Surgeon II:+10 Healing units in adjacent square
Surgeon III: +15% healing units in your square, +15% healing for all units in adjacent squares, can heal while moving
Charge: +25% against siege weapons
Fearless: +25% against mounted units
Bayonet: +20% against gunpowder units
Explorer I: -1 terrain movement cost
Explorer II: +1 visibility range
Explorer III: +1 movement and can use enemy roads
Canister Shot I: +10% against gunpowder units
Canister Shot II: +15% against gunpowder units
Canister Shot III: +25% against gunpowder units
Ranger/Mountaineer/Swampfox all give huge bonuses but only in the appropriate terrain (at level III the cumulative bonus is 75%, they can move faster in the appropriate terrain and can attack multiple times)
- In general, if you want to increase the combat ability of a unit, you should upgrade the veteran upgrades first. Other upgrades help you in specific fights but the veteran will help you in all situations. Unless the natives are armed, the veteran promotions are the only offensive ones that affect your combat with the natives.
- For mounted troops, if you plan on using them to counter enemy cannon get charge. If you plan on countering cuirassiers then get fearless.
- Scouts should get Explorer I to increase their movement in the beginning of the game
- For cannon/artillery, if you plan on attacking cities or native villages get Explosive I-III. If you will use them against enemy troops get Canister Shot I-III.
- Any large army should have a "Surgeon"...preferably with surgeon III. The ability to heal a cumulative 25% for all units in your square and all adjacent squares while moving is significant. Try to not lose your surgeon.
Slowing down other players
Privateers and the shipping war
Privateers are a great way to slow down a player's economy without having to declare war on them. You can slow down their economy, steal goods and have a chance at capturing a ship! By controlling the sea lanes you can greatly limit the other players. Be careful, privateers are expensive and if you kill too many ships the other player's king will send them a frigate to protect the shipping lanes. Some people advocate promoting the privateer's movement; however, I prefer to increase the privateer's combat strength. My privateers can and do kill frigates. I only attack when the odds are in my favor and never when damaged. Privateers are so expensive I'd rather let a few ships get through rather than lose a privateer. I also have my privateers alternate on the player he attacks so it will delay a player's king from sending a frigate. Also, coasts give your ships a 10% increased defense. So try to keep your privateers along the coast until they've gained some experience.
Native intervention
If there is a native tribe that isn't close to me but is close to one of my rivals I may sell that native muskets and horses. Just be sure you won't have to fight them in the future. With the new weapons the natives are more aggressive and usually will fight with the players near them. Even if they don't fight the other player, you still have the profit from the sale. You can also try to bribe the tribe into attacking the other player.
