Attack force

[STMO]

It is a balance to build up cities (buildings/wonders) and at the same time have a sufficient army.
Lets assume that we are around T100 and tech-wise close to Education.
What kind of force is sufficient to take a weak enemy city (defence 16-20)?
I normally go with 5-6 Composite bowmen and 1 warrior/scout/horseman. But maybe I can go with less? What do you do?
In a tech/diplo game it would also be beneficial to stick with archers until getting Rationalism (around T110), but is that enough?

 

[sufficiency]

It is a balance to build up cities (buildings/wonders) and at the same time have a sufficient army.
Lets assume that we are around T100 and tech-wise close to Education.
What kind of force is sufficient to take a weak enemy city (defence 16-20)?
I normally go with 5-6 Composite bowmen and 1 warrior/scout/horseman. But maybe I can go with less? What do you do?
In a tech/diplo game it would also be beneficial to stick with archers until getting Rationalism (around T110), but is that enough?

I like this OP

*cough*

Not sure what difficulty you are playing at, but 5-6 CBs.... I don't know.......

Spoiler :

Now that's an army

 

[Jelster]

12 CB's at turn 90 ?? Have you just got Unit factories rather than cities

 

[sufficiency]

12 CB's at turn 90 ?? Have you just got Unit factories rather than cities

I probably got at least 2-3 cb. off screen.

It's not that I played brilliantly. I found a faith natural wonder... I was getting+ 12 faith since turn 10 or something like that.... I founded my religion on turn 20ish and enhanced it by turn 48.
.. while running messenger to the God's. It was hilarious.

 

[Browd]

12 CBs and no melee? How ya gonna take the city?

 

[Zaimejs]

I was going to ask about the melee as well? Must be one tucked away, right?

That's so many archers. Is that the new rush strat? Composite them to death?

 

[sufficiency]

12 CBs and no melee? How ya gonna take the city?

Spearmen were coming!

 

[Browd]

Yeah, but will they be ... sufficient?

 

[STMO]

No other (maybe more serious) input to this thread?

 

[Cedbird]

I like this OP

*cough*

Not sure what difficulty you are playing at, but 5-6 CBs.... I don't know.......

Spoiler :

Now that's an army

LOL nice / funny

 

[Cedbird]

I used to always lag behind the Ai in military . Used to have the same problem trying to multi-task . You have to find your own strategy by trial and error were all different and brilliant at the same time . Just keep playing but I think this general rule helps us all . Now I always am number 4 at the worst but mostly 1 and 2 troop wise on Emperor .
Start off early pushing out troops . The old saying in dating or marriage is if you start doing it early don 't stop doing years later . Its true and it works in Civ in this case . First 30 or 40 turns I am popping out warriors and archers . Soon as Catapults and other good defense and attack weapons come out I grab at least one . I vary my army for defense / to catch the Ai slipping on a city or location I want .
But you have to give something up in most cases . You may not be able to build as many wonders but your tech and buildings should never suffer . That is how the game is won and lost . So you have to have defense ... or you lose , tech ..... or you lose , and buildings ... or you lose . Concentrate on that pick some great locations and settle them asap . Or take it from the Ai when appropiate . Don 't expand unless you plan on adding troops to properly defend from both enemies and backstabbs . More territory means more troops . But if your outech people than defending and Wonders are alot easier . I am almost ready to move up to the next level now . Starting to dominate Emperor !!! I am growing as a player .

 

[ahawk]

No other (maybe more serious) input to this thread?

A more serious consideration is what difficulty are you playing at? That'll change what you can expect from the AI in terms of resistance via its units and what not.

Just before Education, an ideal group for me (Emperor diff. normally) would be 4-5 CBs, 3 Catapults/Trebuchets, 2 Pikes, and 2 Horsemen or Scouts. The CBs will help keep your other units from getting attacked by too much all at once, while the 3 catapults will bring the city down quickly, and the 2 Horsemen or Scouts can be on hand to rush into the city and finally take it after other units bring it to zero. Now, you may ask, why the 2 pikes and why 2 of either horsemen or scouts. For one, sometimes the AI may take the city right back (especially if you stay on one side of the city and can't see the other, back side of it). That way, if they take the city the turn immediately after you took it, you can still take it back right away with another volley from the catapults and your last horseman or scout.

The 2 pikes I bring along to throw in front of the whole group should it appear the enemy is going to have units to counter attack you as you get in position.

But there's lots of other factors. A city which is on the other side of a river may have a low hp or defense value, but the river adds complications: trying to encircle the city will be harder, and any melee units attacking from the opposite side of the river will take a lot more damage. Also, a city nestled in between mountains, or with a bunch of hills around it, will be likewise very hard to encircle.

So, TL;DR --> The attack force needed to take a city is usually pretty situational. Assuming the city you want to take is in entirely open ground with no rivers, the force will be smaller by far than if the city is on the opposite side of a river from you. Or is between two impassable mountain tiles and has forest or hills for the only tiles you can get next to the city from. It varies a lot. Add to this if the enemy has the Great Wall, or if you have the Statue of Zeus, or if either side has a Great General, and things get even more complicated in terms of what you absolutely need at a minimum.

 

[sufficiency]

Well in this game I got 7 CBs (no cheating with Spain this time!) on Immortal difficulty. I am pretty sure I also had 3 Immortals, but one of them died. IIRC I lost at least one CB against Elizabeth in an earlier war.

No one is giving "useful" answers because it depends highly on the difficulty you are playing at, as well as the opponent you are trying to kill. In my case, Harun al-Rashid was wonder spamming (he had a delicious Petra in his capital, and he just lost a war against Hiawatha). So I knew that I could just forego National College (as seen from my pitiful bpt) and focus on killing him first.

After I dow'ed him I was met with little resistance, so I felt 7 CBs was more than enough to wipe him off the map, so I decided to start building libraries instead of more military units.