capital isolation stratigy from war acadamy

[nyboy10128]

I was wondering if any body has tried this strategy. The author says that if you destroy all (rail)roads leading to a civ's capital, it won't be able to use it's resources to build new units. From what I've read this would only apply to resources it gets from other civs. Wouldn't resources within it's cultural borders still be available as long as they have (rail)roads connecting them to the civ's (rail)road network? Of course not to the capital since all (rail)raods have been destroyed, but at least to the other cities within the civ.

My other question is if a civ has a trade agreement with another civ and you destroy all (rail)roads to it's capital. Does that civ get penalized for breaking an agreement- either a rep hit or war declared against it?

Sorry if this is to basic of a question. I'm just on warlord.

 

[Globetrotter]

Crippling the roads/RR that lead to the capitol will just prevent the AI to trade luxury/strategic resources, as all trades should pass by the capitol city.

However, if a city is still linked to that luxury resource, the resource will still make a citizen happy in that city.

As for the strategic resources, all cities linked to that resource can still produce units, even if the capitol is isolated.

In other words, isolating the capitol will stop the resource trading.

 

[DaveMcW]

Originally posted by nyboy10128
My other question is if a civ has a trade agreement with another civ and you destroy all (rail)roads to it's capital. Does that civ get penalized for breaking an agreement- either a rep hit or war declared against it?

Yes, they get a rep hit.

 

[Yndy]

They get a rep hit if they are human

This translates that you will lose your rep if the AI will nuke your capital because I cannot imagine that the AI is programmed to try to disconnect your capitol with arty or bombers.

The useful thing here is that you decide to use a nuke against an AI you should target their capital to break their trades so the nuke really is a first strike weapon.

 

[wotan321]

Yes, I use this strategy along with the "Two ends of the Tiger" (or whatever its called) strategy you can find at the War Acadamy. You divide your forces in two groups, one to dig in, one to pillage. You land the digging in group far from the capitol on a mountain or hill and dig in for the counter-attack. A few turns later, you move in your pillaging forces to cut the capitol off, and once that is done, just mop up. This "capital isolation" strategy really cripples the enemy to the point of being unable to fight back.

Of course this is less useful against Civs whose UU doesn't require resources, but it still eliminates their happiness and economic bonuses the resources would give. Its very effective.

 

[planetfall]

I have tried it and not as effective as imagined. As others noted it only blocks trades. If civ has rubber and you cut off capital, only the capital can't build units that need rubber. Other cities can build rubber units.

It might be more helpful before the Modern Era.

== PF

 

[MadHatter]

Originally posted by planetfall
If civ has rubber and you cut off capital, only the capital can't build units that need rubber. Other cities can build rubber units.

I guess you'd just have to land on the rubber and cut it off as well. Is it enough to land on it or do you have to destroy the roads on it as well?

 

[zagnut]

If you are at war with the civ and you land on their resource or luxury then you have cut them off from that particular resource or luxury. If other cities have that r or l and they are connected by road/rail then the city you are attacking will still have that r or l in its resource box. Since you landed on the r or l you might as well pillage it because if you move off it on the next turn then the city gets its access back.

 

[battle ship]

to bad no one uses this much but you realy dont need to land troops and risk geting killed and it takes some turns at times just make a fleet of one carrer some battleships and alot of other ships heck i did it with two carrers thats 10 or more bombers not sure what the stats are for how many they can carry but bombing with over 8 bombers and the bombing worked good but bombing only works good in big numbers.

 

[Phantom Lord]

You need to raze eight squares if the capital is not placed at the shore, you have to raze two times if the tiles are railroaded, four to five times with a unit-protected radar tower on a tile.

So if it's simply railroaded you need 16 hits, with a suggested 50% chance to hit you need 32 bombers or 8 carriers full of bombers to do it in one round. If it takes longer the AI will probably counter attack your ships or have troops running around on the tiles you want to raze.

If the capital is connected to other cities by harbour or airport, these have to be destroyed too I think - please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Yndy]

Originally posted by Phantom Lord
If the capital is connected to other cities by harbour or airport, these have to be destroyed too I think - please correct me if I'm wrong.

You're right. So we're back to my 'nuke 'em' option.

 

[Txurce]

One pre-nuke option is to use explorers, who can be positioned both to pillage the roads to the capital, as well as to pillage local resources. The AI doesn't consider them intruders, so you can take your time setting them up. Obviously, you would need quite a few if you're going to cut off the capital. But pillaging local resources is very easy with this tactic.

 

[battle ship]

Originally posted by Phantom Lord
[B
So if it's simply railroaded you need 16 hits, with a suggested 50% chance to hit you need 32 bombers or 8 carriers full of bombers to do it in one round. If it takes longer the AI will probably counter attack your ships or have troops running around on the tiles you want to raze.

If the capital is connected to other cities by harbour or airport, these have to be destroyed too I think - please correct me if I'm wrong. [/B]

your talking about a one turn cut off i dont no were you got these stats from but i had no such porlm cuting the maincity off in only 2to3 turns and the great thing about these carrer is that you can use them to realy help behide the lines but you better have the seas under your power or your going to have to face a 100 AI battle ships and how in the world did they make so many but at the time i was not having to bomb railroads i was bombing roads

 

[Thoth]

Originally posted by MadHatter


I guess you'd just have to land on the rubber and cut it off as well. Is it enough to land on it or do you have to destroy the roads on it as well?

Landing (or stationing a military unit) on a square will deny the square's use to any city that may be able to work the square. In order to deny the use of the resource you must pillage the roads/railroads on the square (or all of the roads/railroads leading to the square)

 

[Phantom Lord]

Originally posted by Thoth


Landing (or stationing a military unit) on a square will deny the square's use to any city that may be able to work the square. In order to deny the use of the resource you must pillage the roads/railroads on the square (or all of the roads/railroads leading to the square)

If you're at war landing is enough but pillaging is better, because your landing unit(s) may get killed.

@battle ship: These stats only result from personal experience, they're in no way official or even calculated.

I personally only cut the capital if it's absolutely necessary, eg if there's a space ship in the capital. Otherwise I deal with ressources and smaller cities first and try to wear my enemy down in constant battle, making him lose his modern units and leaving him unable to build new ones. A spaceship in an enemy capital means you're facing a strong enemy and taking too much time to cut the capital could result in severe backfire. So I cut the capital and I cut all roads/railroads leading to the landing spot of my troops in a two tile parameter, otherwise the AI would attack my troops before I can even move them.

I remember an attack on a 40 MI/ 40 MA stack I had landed at the shore. It took about 15 minutes (fast computer, no unit animations) before it was over. The AI obliterated my forces outright with hundreds MI and MA. In the meantime I did the dishes and decided never again to land invasion troops on a spot connected to the AIs railroad network.

 

[Teflon]

Of course using your fast but obselete military units to go in and pillage your opponents strategic resources a turn before you move in and pound him to oblivion is also quite handy.

It makes a hell of a difference if you're facing infantry instead of tanks, modern infantry and god knows what else because you've occupied all the rubber and oil resources owned by your enemy.

Eagles may soar, but weasels dont get sucked into jet engines.