Best units for city defense Industrial and later?

[Ieldra]

In my earlier games, I've always used siege units for defense, but then I noticed I'm paying for the +200% against cities and rarely use it. Now I'm using Archers/Crossbowmen, but those lose range when I upgrade them to Gatling Guns in the Industrial Era, and I dislike that.

What units are best to use for city defense in the Industrial Era and later?

 

[toulose420]

I keep some artillery in my territories and then usually sprinkle in a cavalry or two and maybe a rifleman and that usually does the trick.

"I gave him a favorable peace deal"
"oh?"
"yeah, I let him live."

 

[Bulldog Bats]

I still think ranged is the way to go for the most part, since you can hit them from further away without having to expose. You have to transition from from the archer line to the catupult line before you need them, so that in the later age, you can upgrade to cannon/catapult, and either use the under-promoted crossbows for meat shields.

 

[Memoryjar]

Gatling guns. Let 3 to 4 of them around you city is a good option, better on hill/forest/jungle. Later machine gun are strong, never have to use Bazooka.

 

[Bulldog Bats]

The problem is that ranged units can take them down without coming into their range - thank god AI is stupid. I would imagine in multiplayer the attacker would sit back and take them out.

 

[JeSuisNapoleon]

The best defensive mix if units as far as I can tell:

One cannon / arty in a City. If coastal, adding a galleas/frigate is recommended. This would allow 3 ranged attacks from the city and both units are 'protected' by the city and wont take damage unless they leave. They can leave of course, but its wise to move the arty on roads so you can setup/fire more quickly.

Outside the city: Cross bows upgrade to Gatlings. These are superb defensive units with some ranged backup (in the City), The upgrade path since BNW is excellent, and goes all the way to modern bazooka units. It is possible to have range promoted (or attack x2) Gatling units and it carries to machine guns as well. with the right terrain, this is all you need on defense until air units become a reality. On flat terrain, it might be a good idea to have some extra infantry / cavalry units, but even then, only if Shaka is right next door.

Once air units enter the theater, you will want iether a couple of fighters, or AA guns. Destroyers can work as the third AA unit. I prefer AA guns because they work as infantry too, but Fighters can be better for coastal cities because they can attack naval units.

I find that when I am playing peaceful, with 4 cities, 8 units is about right until I need either a navy or an air force. If you have an early navy then 12 might be the right number, the extra cost is easily offset by cargo ships vs caravans. These are minimal estimates, you could easily have more.

 

[myclan]

Gatling/Machine Gun in the front if you are not suffering great pressure, Rifleman/GWI if enemy is really strong, and always artillery behind

 

[Scarpa]

Railroads + a few Artillery works for me when I'm playing a turtling type game. Otherwise I go and hit the enemy in transit since the AI is far too stupid to handle that. In those cases gatling/machine guns are amazing if used with complementary terrain.