Approach to War

[btaft]

I am still relatively new to Civ but am picking up speed (well ahead in my current regent game )

I was curious to how people in general approach war.

When war is declared, whether I do it or it is declared on me, I will typically take a defensive stance, protecting my property and conducting pillage operations on their border cities (and deep into the teritory if easily available), I may even try to take a border town if it is placed in the way of my defensive lines. After I accomplish these minor goals I will then ask for peace and............wait. Basically, I find the destruction of the infrastructure at such an early time can truely cripple the civilization (i.e. as you are advancing in techs/units/cities, your opponent is just trying to get back to where he was). You also do not use much in the way of units to accomplish this because you are not trying to seige any cities. Once a significant tech advantage is achieved (i.e you have knights and they are still on swordsmen), then it is time to finish it off and you still do not need many units and it does not take a lot of time.

The game I am in now I am playing the Arabs and I was attacked by the Mongols and the Ottomans. I allied with the Indians and I wreaked havoc on their infrastructure well into the BC timeframe. It was a pretty short war 10-15 turns and I only attempted to take one city. I just recently paid the Mongols a visit again and they are a mere shadow of what they once were

 

[Ginger_Ale]

What part of your game are you at? Ansar Warriors (replace Knights - they have 3 move) are great pillagers and quick attackers. If I were you, and I had iron and horses, start building Ansars so that you can absorb your nearest naighbor. Also, do you have a screenshot/save? That would help us. Good luck!

 

[Sid Monster]

Well I usually take a more offensive role when I'm at war. But first I build defensive units and protect my border cities, then just send all my offensive units into one or two cities. If I capture them, I usually try to sign a peace treaty.

I like you're defensive/pillage style two a war. I should try that.

 

[Crimso]

Pillaging during the early game can really hinder a civ's growth, but so does ELIMINATING THEM.

 

[Theoden]

When I go to war i usually crush my opponent completely as soon as I can, but republic sometimes forces me into temporary peace treaties to keep WW down. But pillaging might work just as well especially in AA.

Theoden

 

[btaft]

Pillaging during the early game can really hinder a civ's growth, but so does ELIMINATING THEM.

Very true indeed

I just find that I need alot fewer units to accomplish the end task if I am patient up front.

I did the initial pillaging with the Ancient Horsemen from the Statue of Zeus very early in the game. I am conducting mop-up work now with Ansar Warriors now with a handful of Ancient Horsemen. To give some idea about the impact. I am making Musketmen and the Mongols toughest defender is a Spearman! (I was even nice and gave them a few technologies....)

I have used 5 Ansar Warriors and 5 Ancient Horsemen to mop up four cities in five turns and then sued for peace and "made" them give me a fifth! (not to mention the claimed territory had two extra luxuries that I didn't have). I guess I could have finished the remaining two cities on the continent off but I may have a use for them later if I can give them some more technologies.

I have just entered the industrial age. Initial attack from the Mongols came about the middle of the Ancient Age. Its a game of patience but seems to be very effective. This is only on regent level. I haven't ascended beyond that point, though the present game I am in is like a cake walk.

 

[BkGreatWarnut]

I typically am defensive...especially in SP and only attack with very huge stacks. Otherwise I just try to win a big battle or number of battles to push the AI into a peace settlement.

 

[The Omega]

My approach to war is to focus all my efforts to smashing anyone who so much as said something that I took offense to in my last game, to the point where either A) To much war weariness i slowing down the production of my glorius armies, B) I'm able to convince them to give me everything they own for peace, C) I have decided that they're never going to be a threat again for the rest of teh game, D) They actually somehow *gasp* are beating my glorius armies, or E) Their entire country is in ruins, all their citizens have become slaves/sacrifices and my reputation is completely ruined with everyone else ! (Not that I really care what my victims, er, fellow world leaders actually think about me. )

 

[IbnSina]

My approach depends on my enemy and the stage of the game. Early in the game long wars can really hurt expansion, so I usually try to cripple my enemies by taking a few of their powerful cities quickly, and then making peace. They then fall behind in tech and wealth, and I can finish them off later in three or four turns. Later in the game, against powerful opponents, I frequently take up a strong defensive position and play for a high kill ratio. After my enemy has run out of saved-up units, I counterattack and clean up. I rarely pillage much - that territory I pillage will soon be mine!

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

My approach to war is several-fold.

1) Hunker down and reinforce the likely points
2) Have a strategic reserve(s) able to reach any point swiftly
3) Diplomatic screen and enlist allies or make very nice gpt deals that favour the neighbouring civs - heck I have even gifted 10-50 odd gpt to buy their non aggression and politeness+
4) Switch to war production, always with around 20%+ siege engines (or ships)

At this point I have ensured my short term survival and am now probably contesting heated exchanges, preferably with a good kill ratio otherwise falling back to a better position to achieve this (border towns are usually sited with defence in mind).

5) Identify enemy key resources/luxeries and try to pillage
6) Beat off the attackers and gather a growing stack with a good amount of siege weapons
7) Carry the battle to the enemy, preferably an attack that can threaten 2 cities at once, also looking to shorten my front while extending theirs + resource grab!

 

[rysingsun]

my approach to war:

very few defensive units. maybe, 5 or 6.
lots of fast units which must counterattack anything that enters my territory.
alliances.

for units the progression tends to be warrior --> horseman --> knight -->cavalry --> artillery -->tank. somewhere in all this there will of course be a UU.

usually my games are over before advanced armor is available but if not then of course that gets appended to the list.

notably missing from my list are air units, ships, infantry. i build such things in very limited numbers but they do not define my military.

 

[Renata]

Amass overwhelming offensive force, then attack attack attack until they're all dead.

<--- see title; that says it all, really.

 

[Pook]

In ancient times, I'm defensive unless I see an opportunity. If I've got a weak neighbor in the ancient age, I'm happy to crush them. Otherwise, I'm building infrastructure. In ancient war, speed kills. I prefer horsemen and knights to swoop down quickly on my enemies, and to be able to retreat when damaged.

Even if I've played peacefully in ancient times, eventually, I know I'll have to go to war to win the game. In modern war, I prefer the withering fire of 30+ artillery to soften up my enemies. My dream scenario is to build a line of barricades 2-3 deep all conected by railroads, fortify my units inside the barricades, use my artillery to destroy all roads on the enemy side on the barricades, and wait for the Stack Of Doom to appear. It is highly gratifying to take out a stack of 30+ units in 3 turns or less, using artillery to soften them and cavalry to pick off the 1HP survivors. At that point I can shift to offense. I typically find that the AI has "shot their bolt" with the Stack Of Doom, and has little in reserve. The war ends quickly and decisively.

 

[Fifty]

When you are first starting out it is very easy to develop bad habits with regard to waging effective war, because war is so easy on lower levels. Whatever strategy you adopt, you will be happy later on in your civ career if you start meticulously planning wars now. Plus, its quite fun to destroy your enemy with a much smaller force and quicker then you would be able to if you just did the standard "unit flood" approach.

 

[Dragonsbain]

early in the game if an other civ is close I wil try to wipe them of the map to give me more room to expand into but usually I just expand expand expand, then when (or if ) I get swordmen I wil try to wipe out weaker civs with about 4 unit per city, once I get knights I am almost always at war.

 

[onedreamer]

My approach to war equals to conquest. Pillaging is worthless, risky and even counter-productive. When I conquer a city I like it all improved and not pillaged

Your defensive stance might work at Regent level (I never played that low level) but not at higher levels, because at high levels the AI generally has many more cities than you have, not to mention more resources/luxuries (that you want/need desperately!! ) and pillaging his border cities won't serve you anything, they will keep coming from the inner cities, will kill your pillagers, and then proceed to pillage YOUR borders.

So when a war is started, I build up a well balanced group of fighters (of course I already had built it if it was me to declare), and then march on his cities with Iron, then on his capital, then on the next capital, etc etc... until when the world will forget they ever existed

 

[Volstag]

I'm constantly analyzing the military/strategic/diplomatic situation. I generally start planning a war long before I declare. Invariably, I will give myself a list of strategic/tactical goals. Once my forces are in order, I'll declare war and, basically, conduct a blitzkrieg -- and remain focussed on my objectives. Once my initial objectives are attained, I'll see if there's anything else I want to go for (this will depend on my strength, my enemies strength, etc). If I can easily take more, I will do so. If it's going to be a significant scrap, I'll hold my position and begin the process of arranging peace.

If war is declared on me, I'll again analyze the current situation. If I can go 1 on 1 and win, I'll do so. If my enemy has a military advantage, I'll attempt to arrange an alliance against my foe. Ideally I rope one of my opponents (bigger) neighbors into the fray. I find that they'll usually spend more time fighting each other than lil' ol' me. If I'm in a good position militarily and geographically (my opponent is within striking distance), I'll examine his territory and see if there's anything vital I can take away from him (resources, luxuries, great cities, etc). If there's no immediate threat to me, and I'm not really prepared for a full blown war, I'll generally let my opponent and my allies duke it out -- then ask for peace once my allies have gone their 20 turns, or they've declared peace themselves.

-V