Attacking a City - One Stack or Two or More?

[aaronlk]

I'm wondering if it is best to have all of your attacking units in one stack or to use two or more stacks when attacking a city in multi-player?

I'm trying to reduce the impact of collateral damage by spreading the units thin.

In multiplayer you get hit by much more collateral damage than in single player.

This is for stacks that are immediately adjacent to the city you are attacking.

The downside of this, is that if you have the city surrounded with small stacks (for instance stacks of 2-3 units), then it is much easier for the attacker to smash the small stack, even if they have inferior military units (they can attack it once to wound everyone, and then clean up on the second round, leaving only one of their military units exposed outside of the city to further attack).

My conclusion is that One Big Stack is the best.

Perhaps with a backup behind it, so that you can constantly bring it a new good defending unit (if you are playing multi-player with simultaneous moves turned on, and your opponent attacks you in waves, instead of attacking you all at once).

What do you think?

 

[ahandac]

In

Perhaps with a backup behind it, so that you can constantly bring it a new good defending unit (if you are playing multi-player with simultaneous moves turned on, and your opponent attacks you in waves, instead of attacking you all at once).

What do you think?

i agree with that,esp with some elephants behind,when you see HP low ,add one

 

[Chrono285]

But isn't it better for their units to come out and attack you? If you're assaulting a city, they get all kinds of defense bonuses. If they attack you, you get those bonuses. There's probably an ideal stack size, bigger than 2 but smaller than 8 that balances 'artillery safety' with 'safety in numbers'.

 

[BARBEERIAN]

I find it usually better to throw everything into one stack (unless the enemy is really weak). More units to defend against cats just eats up collateral damage more easily. Keep a few of those defense units with an unused promotion, and after the enemy cats you, promote those units for the quick heal. I also advise using a Great General to get a unit with Medic III in that stack, it heals your units a disgustingly large amount per turn.

Also, assuming your playing Ancient, once you get Crossbows give some of them as many drill promo's as you can. It makes them take alot less collateral, plus they'll take out cats faster.

 

[automator]

I mix it up if I'm going for an overly defended city.

I'll surround the city with stacks of four-ish units to reduce its abilty to create units, as well as restrict units from other cities from coming in. As you seige the city, you can bring in other stacks until you have enough to defeat the city.

 

[jimbob27]

If you make the stack big enough, then half the units will absorb the collateral damage, and you'll still have a lot of healthy units underneath which can do the attacking.

Fireaxis's attempts to get rid of the SOD have failed. All it's done is encourage me to build stacks 3 times as big.

 

[Phyr_Negator]

Well, in the beginning you can use multiple stacks, cuz there is no catas, but then... your stack must be INSANELY HUGE, something like 30 or so units to be really effective.

 

[Pantastic]

I always use a single stack for attacking a city, multiple stacks is just asking to get defeated in detail. Typically a stack is 12-20 units, though in the late game, especially attacking another continent, I might use something really big.

 

[Ace4nyC]

I mix it up if I'm going for an overly defended city.

I'll surround the city with stacks of four-ish units to reduce its abilty to create units, as well as restrict units from other cities from coming in. As you seige the city, you can bring in other stacks until you have enough to defeat the city.

Just bring 5-10 "Artilary" units with you smash cities defenses to 0 and send artilary to do collateral dmg. and mop up with city raid 2+ units and thenwhatever is left is good as dead. It does not make a difrance if its one or two three stacks. Only difrance between "Besiedged" city and normal invasion is that besieged city your starving it out and collapse the econmy of the enemy. while waiting on reinforcements.

 

[King Jason]

They should just put a cap on stack sizes. Sure it would kind of suck. But it's too easy to roll through a civ with one gigantic stack - despite cats. As an above poster put it - the attempt to rid civ of SoD has pretty much failed. An inherint cap on the amount of units that can occupy once space is all I honestly see working, if one really desires to get rid of the SoD concept.

That cap could perhaps be lifted in certain tiles, such as city tiles. Plus you could add cap-increasing bonuses to certain things. Such as forts allowing for 2+ more units to fit in the space, Or "land transport" units, that can load in land units. the transport themselves would only take up one "slot" in the space, yet would carry units within them. They could be weak, as to require the need to protect them. So say the stack limit was 8 (random), and transports could hold 3 units, if you had a stack with 4 transports and 4 units (to defend them) you'd essentially have 16 units in total, but 12 of them couldn't assault until being "unloaded" to their own space.

Anyway, excuse the tangent, to answer the question - I just use one stack. Unless the enemy is weak, then I don't bother and just cascade my units all over their territory until it's mine.

 

[Phyr_Negator]

Yesterday i managed to obliterate stack of approx 15 cannons+ 30 r so rifleman/grenadiers. One my city was razed but capital managed to hold only due to nationalism draft and my superiority of Infantry. Cannons did VERY little effect even wiith third promo of collateral(capital was with two GG, pentagon, west point and heroic epic so catas get three promos).
It was mentioned that in later game stacks of attackers become really massive. Well, I agree that SoD-preventing measures fail utterly, spawning strategy of catamassing and zerging with siege masses.
Still, it is rather effective to send along with main attack force small raiding parties like axeman/spearman/archer that can pillage enemy territory and prevent their effective destruction by RPS system.