Hi guys. I have just started a game with only two opponents. I have Shaka and Monty as I do enjoy a little warring in the game. My question is this: I am pretty much sandwiched between the two and wondered which would be the more likely to attack, all things being equal. I ask this because I don't have an awful lot of units yet and would like to have my limited amount in the right place. Thanks guys.
Which way?
- Thread starter kkapalk
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Shimmler
Warlord
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Polisurgist
King
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Monty is stupidly aggressive, Shaka is smartly aggressive. Both will attack when their UUs are close to going obsolete, so expect to get swarmed by Jaguars in the Medieval and Impi in the Renaissance. I'd build up a good guard around my cities, let Monty attack and weather that storm while teching and producing higher-tech units. Get some mounted units to run down Jaguars who retreat, then once his armies have worn down, send them into his empire to pillage (this'll make up for your low income while pumping out units). Maybe take a city or two (no point trying to maintain diplo when these two are your neighbors), but focus on crushing his economy and production, and see if he'll give you some cities in the peace deal.
Use those cities to beef up your own empire, then be ready to do the same against Shaka.
Use those cities to beef up your own empire, then be ready to do the same against Shaka.
On the whole, I'd suggest going after Shaka first (before he gets to Impi) and then going after Monty afterwards. However, if you're playing as a Civ that has mid/late game UU(s), you may want to consider playing defensively (while spamming units) until they come online and then going on the offense.
Thanks for the help! Cmp, I think it may be a little late to attack Shaka before he gets the Impi. I chose a large map and have only just met him after a good while. Polisurgist, I didn't know the AI was clever enough to attack when their special units were on the point of becoming obsolete. I find that impressive. I am going to follow your advice and see how things turn out. I did actually only choose Shaka as my opponent and Monty just turned up as a random selection. 
I did meet Shaka in my last game on the king level, and survived his first attack. Then he came at me again shortly after the peace treaty expired. I couldn't believe the amount of units that swarmed at me. I had to abandon the game! This one will probably be similar, as he is once again short of money, which I assume is down to having numerous units.
Thanks again.
Kev
I did meet Shaka in my last game on the king level, and survived his first attack. Then he came at me again shortly after the peace treaty expired. I couldn't believe the amount of units that swarmed at me. I had to abandon the game! This one will probably be similar, as he is once again short of money, which I assume is down to having numerous units.
Thanks again.
Kev
You're lucky you didn't meet him earlier! He can get stupidly aggressive. This is on immortal difficulty, most of it got there about turn 50!
More came. Overall I lost my city, 4 composite archers and 4 jaguars, which is a nice army for turn 60. It was... wow.
Spoiler :
More came. Overall I lost my city, 4 composite archers and 4 jaguars, which is a nice army for turn 60. It was... wow.
Wow, how did you manage to lose 4 Compbows and 4 jags? That's a treasure trove of an army for when you're still working on iron working. I think if you just garrisoned your jags in all your forests and sprinkled the bows in there you could have held off any army.
I know! I thought I had a bit more time than I did - he had his army at the Songhai border - so I decided I'd get a CS on my side and eliminate a pesky barbarian encampment at the same time. 3 Jags went north, so I only had 1 jag and 3 CA's to defend. Built another CA before I lost the city, but couldn't save it. I had so much culture coming in that I could take the tradition +50% damage on bombardment as well as the honour +15% strength from adjacent units, but that wasn't enough.
Total attacking force was maybe... 2 catapults to start with, along with about 6 warriors and 4 archers. Later came about another 4 catapults along with about 5 impi and 2 CA's, and I just couldn't stop it. By the time my Jag's got back and flanked them, I had almost lost the city. That held it for a bit, but they had so much range there that my 3 CA's could only just kill the range. But my single Jag couldn't hold them off forever, so when he died, 2 of the CA's were in melee range. Then I had to choose between eliminating siege equipment or killing the Impis in melee range of my CA's.
Also Shaka beelines those impies like crazy! It was my first game next to Shaka, hadn't experienced his wrath first hand before
Stellarnight
Warlord
Yeap if you can do that, that is the best way to solve this problem.
I had a similar situation actually though part of it was my own doing.
Persia was forward settling me so i bribe the ever war hungry Shaka to war on Persia.
Shaka destroyed Persia and now he is right at my doorsteps with like what must have been a gazillion Impi. Bismarck was to my North and he was also war-hungry so i gave him 45gold per turn to declare war on Shaka.
Yea it was ultra expensive but the resultant war weakened both Bismarck and Shaka so much that i swoop in with my modern troops and destroyed both of them
Polisurgist
King
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Only if they're evenly matched so they'll wear each other down. Otherwise you'll just end up with Shaka or Monty with a double-sized empire.
The way he described it, they were the only enemies. If Shaka starts beating Monty, just start taking his vital cities. That way you have a severely injured Monty and Shaka, and they'll all DoW you anyway.
Polisurgist, spot on! The attacks happened exactly when you said they would! And indeed the Zulus did use common sense eventually, as their attack was getting nowhere. They agreed to peace, giving me gold per turn as well. I actually took a city off Monty and set up a couple of citadels next to it, and have accumulated a good sized army. But he still isn't interested in peace. I find this surprising as he is in no way winning the war. A good, interesting game, though.
Polisurgist
King
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Monty is dumb like that.
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