Can't win wars without Catapults.

[ym123]

I can't seem to win any war without Catapults, My Swordmen/Horse Archers always die against Normal Archers.
And Whenever I watch a let's play the player can win the first war without using any catapults.

My Settings:
Normal Speed
Random leader
Random Terrain
Map: Pangea
Difficulty: Noble

Any Ideas ?

 

[georgjorge]

The basics are: make more of your units (Axemen/Swordmen/Horse Archers) and make them sooner. If you have 10 Horse Archers by 1000 BC, with some more still being produced, you will have no problem taking down 2-3 Noble AIs with that.

Keys to getting more of them sooner are:
- researching the tech which enables your units early (so no detour to Aesthetics or Currency first if you need Horseback Riding)
- heavy chopping of forests when you have the tech
- heavy whipping of cities when you have the tech (if you have enough food, otherwise slow-building can work as well)

Note that after the AI has Longbows, you will indeed need siege units (Catapults/Trebuchets) to progress unless you have a technological advantage (such as Military Tradition or Rifling). But before, on Noble, you can progress without them.

Good luck!

 

[Izuul]

Assuming you've chosen an appropriate rush unit for the situation and difficulty level and also have a good target, you are probably failing because you are either 1) attacking too late, and/or 2) not producing enough units.

Considering it's Noble difficulty almost anything should work, even regular chariots. I'm guessing you need work on the finer points of building an early economy, knowing which techs to research and which to skip, and then how to get an army built quickly (typically whipping and chopping with Bronze Working).

 

[DrCron]

You could upload a save file right before you start your first war, and we could tell you what's missing in your strategy. It's usually easier to identify the issues on a specific game.

But it's probably what you've been told: you need more units earlier. On noble if you have horses you can defeat your closest neighbor with a chariot rush (8 of them could be more than enough if you start really early). Build 2-3 cities and then start building lots of units and attack, don't give your enemy time to build up a defense. On noble you should attack before they get bronze working, so they don't have spearmen.

 

[ym123]

The basics are: make more of your units (Axemen/Swordmen/Horse Archers) and make them sooner. If you have 10 Horse Archers by 1000 BC, with some more still being produced, you will have no problem taking down 2-3 Noble AIs with that.

Keys to getting more of them sooner are:
- researching the tech which enables your units early (so no detour to Aesthetics or Currency first if you need Horseback Riding)
- heavy chopping of forests when you have the tech
- heavy whipping of cities when you have the tech (if you have enough food, otherwise slow-building can work as well)

Note that after the AI has Longbows, you will indeed need siege units (Catapults/Trebuchets) to progress unless you have a technological advantage (such as Military Tradition or Rifling). But before, on Noble, you can progress without them.

Good luck!

Assuming you've chosen an appropriate rush unit for the situation and difficulty level and also have a good target, you are probably failing because you are either 1) attacking too late, and/or 2) not producing enough units.

Considering it's Noble difficulty almost anything should work, even regular chariots. I'm guessing you need work on the finer points of building an early economy, knowing which techs to research and which to skip, and then how to get an army built quickly (typically whipping and chopping with Bronze Working).

Yeah i don't get my units early enough by 1000bc,
i normally have a couple of chariots and if i got my bronze/iron city early enough 3/4 swordmen/Axemen. ( i don't go for horseback riding because it takes solong to finish)

You could upload a save file right before you start your first war, and we could tell you what's missing in your strategy. It's usually easier to identify the issues on a specific game.

But it's probably what you've been told: you need more units earlier. On noble if you have horses you can defeat your closest neighbor with a chariot rush (8 of them could be more than enough if you start really early). Build 2-3 cities and then start building lots of units and attack, don't give your enemy time to build up a defense. On noble you should attack before they get bronze working, so they don't have spearmen.

I'll try to upload it today


Thanks.

 

[lymond]

As mentioned, especially by Iz, you are probably missing some details really due to lack of experience. Details that really have little to do with combat itself. Some overall guidance about the game would benefit you. Conquering on Noble is very very easy once you learn a few things.

For one, it's clear that you are teching Iron Working which is bad. You can trade for it later after Alpha, which is always a good beeline at this level. Try to put more focus in your tech path. Learn what techs AIs will always tech. And do not tech archery either early.

If you have copper and horse nearby, you have all you need to take out your neighbors early, and if any of those are in your cap's BFC, then you are golden.

So if your goal is early rush with axes or chariots, then make that your focus. Get your worker first. Depending on starting techs, get your food tech and then bronze working. No copper>AH. Teching from that point goes toward normal priorities like Writing>Alpha. And avoid that early religious crap.

Whip and chop out your units. 2pop whipping axes is nice for overflow into the next axe. You should be able to get out 4 to 5 axes in a matter of a few turns, which should be sufficient for the first wave.

It's highly likely that if you focus on this straight away, you will be facing AI warriors for the most part. Eventually, AIs will get archers but you can take them on as well. Look to catch AIs off guard (moving out settlers). If a city appears to have too many archers at a certain point, divert to another city. AIs will move their units around so you can pick them off in the field.

Choking is another nice option. Steals workers, pillage improvements, and make sure they don't hook up metals/horses.

Lastly, Horse Archers are a nice way to run the whole map on Noble, so can focus on that tech early if your goal is simply to run conquest/domination as fast as possible on a noble/pangaea map. Not a tall order to win the game in the BCs. So you might take out an AI or 3 with axes/chariots while using the gold earned to tech HBR. Then switch to Horse Archer production.

Your timeframe for first attack with chariots or axeman, should be more like around 2500 to 2000BC, maybe earlier depending on access to resources.

 

[SnipedSoul]

Get 1 food tech (preferably agriculture), bronze working, and the wheel. Hook up copper and chop/ 2 pop whip axes until you've at least taken the enemy's capital. At that point, you can look for another target or switch to cottages/libraries to do some research.

Don't build any wonders, don't build a second settler unless the city site is extremely strong with tons of forests or food. Mines take too much time and worker turns to become productive for an axe rush, in my experience. You need to whip and chop to hit the enemy ASAP. A barracks is questionable unless you have the aggressive trait or your copper requires a second city. In that case, you can build a barracks in the capital while waiting for copper to be connected.

Building a road toward the enemy can greatly speed up a rush as well. I also like to imagine my workers telling my foe that the road is just meant for trade routes.

A very strong tactic is to send workers to the new cities to continue chopping out units. This has the advantage of making the new cities productive right away, producing units close to the war front, and allowing your older cities to transition out of unit production and into something that will help your economy recover.

If you want a good leader to practice axe rushing, pick Stalin. I think he's the only AGG leader to start with mining. Either of the Chinese leaders are good as well as they have agriculture and mining, so you can go bronze working and the wheel right away.