Artillery and infantry on the attack

[SuperDave9x19]

Originally posted by The Last Conformist

Pillaging/bombing normal tile improvements is a sensible strategy only when you're too weak to actual conquer the area, but not so weak as to be forced to a defensive stance, and still not in position to secure a peace treaty to rebuild your strength. I very rarely find myself in a such situation.

OBOY do i disagree totally.

I usually have two main objectives in any war:
1. Territorial Expansion (with usual caveats)
2. Stopping Enemy Production

Item number 2 makes pillaging almost a requirement. I had a situation where France (of all people) was actually dominating. I was slipping tech (still had at least 12 turns to go for RADIO yet I see "SETI" popups, indicating that enemies have Mech Infants and research labs) and slipping more by the year.

Me n da French was getting such that we had a stable border, and no issues. I was about to trounce Germany (I am Ottoman) and that bald wench declared war, for no reason.

Well, I don't do this to just anybody, as it is nasty. But this was her second polite declaration of war already. Enough is enough. Joan dies for this attack.

I had a single territorial rail point (critical attack juncture) 2 EAST of Paris. I dropped a few dozen Sipahi (Ottoman Uber Cavalry) on that point (instant rail 0 movement) and fan out. Within 2 turns I had pillaged ALL surrounding tiles to city.

By the time her hair was growing back and that ugly cue ball was coverred with stubble she was humbly "Allowing my Envoy to speak", ie begging for mercy. I had no MI, No armor and a few useless infantry in the area. My Sipahi wave left full greenery in every square within 3 of Paris in I believe 3 full turns.

Total 3 tile radius pillage...

Let her keep the lovely untouched city with it's now virgin, unproductive widerness surrounding it. If you mess up and take the city then they get a new city with ROADS. forget that. Leave her with NOTHIN!!

Objective 2 (disrupting Enemy Production) acheived.

On a paralell path, I swept thru a few cities with the Tanks, losing almost 3 to 1 to Mech Infantry, but SHE had no production base after my destruction around Paris. Therefore, I took the losses and made major strides.

Objective 1 totally acheived.

A MAJOR POINT NO ONE EVER BRINGS UP:

Use your Rails properly. Move stacks within friendly rail zones then move individual units into enemy terrain to attack. Once your attack scores a city, the formerly enemy territory is noW friendly, likely also with rails.

If you had moved your stack into enemy territory, ALL UNITS would have used a movement point that they could have saved by waiting for territory TO BECOME FRIENDLY.

 

[The Last Conformist]

I assume that was on a small map? It's a very rare situation in my games that pillaging one city to the stone age have any appreciable effect on a 'dominant' AI's total production.

Was Joan dependent on importing critical resources? That's about the only situation in which isolating the capital is meaningful.

I'm happy to believe you if you say it worked great, but it does read like you wasted dozens of Sipahi for no great gain.

When disrupting enemy production is the goal in my wars, I normally figure that's best achieved by annexing the country in question.

 

[bkwrm79]

I've often found pillaging in one area extremely useful when fighting a major adversary, where I'm unlikely to conquer the entire enemy civilization in a single war.

Using artillery to destroy enemy rail and road lines leading up to your border, everywhere but the axis you're attacking along, can provide enormous dividends in security by ensuring they can't reach your cities in one move, even with Cavalry/Modern Armor.

I've also found in the very early game that you can get tactical advantages by destroying enemy road systems. That tactical advantage can let you out-kill their units in border clashes by a high margin, letting you build up enough troops to actually take cities.