Catapaults: Overpowered Much?

[lutzj]

The only way to win in the demo, as far as I can tell, is to rush catapaults and get a quick domination. They can be combined into armies as well, giving you 30 attack vs/ cities - a huge amount at that point in the game. Does anyone else find them too powerful?

 

[sigmakan]

Just make sure you have some defnsive units with them. 1 defense makes them prime targets for a counter-assault.

 

[DS_Legionary]

I use my early warrior armies to defend my cats. Has worked pretty well so far. Only downside is if you dont have a city nearby the enemy then travel time is horrible.

 

[caketastydelish]

Cats are easy to take out if you take out there defenses. They are solid attackers, but suck at defending. If you know that secret, they shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Ferrum Rex]

if you lose to a veteren hopilite army a couple of times, catapaults won't do much good. Tip don't save Alexander for last, you'd be betting on luck otherwise.

also in one game when conquering the greeks i recieved the tech democracy. Allowing me access to pikeman. i was able to give one the leadership bonus(+100 defense when with another type of unit).

 

[Helmling]

I don't play aggressively, but it seems like when I get Feudalism I have an absurd military advantage over the pipsqueaks bugging me at that phase of the demo. If you rushed Feudalism, wouldn't the speed of those units allow you to overrun the others?

 

[dshirk]

You will only see the 30 attack when playing on the easiest level. Up at king (when the easy level bonuses are eliminated) a catapult army fresh off the factory floor only has a 12 attack value (4 attack each). You can definitely increase it's value from there, but only through experience, upgrades, etc.

And yes, Feudalism owns. Although an experienced archer army defender is still a tough nut to crack without a spy leading the way. English longbowmen firmly entrenched in a city are another story entirely.

 

[caketastydelish]

You will only see the 30 attack when playing on the easiest level. Up at king (when the easy level bonuses are eliminated) a catapult army fresh off the factory floor only has a 12 attack value (4 attack each).

I don't like that. The game should get harder on the higher difficulty levels by the AI getting smarter. Not your units getting worser. While in terms of raw gameplay, the change in difficulty would be the same, whether you make it harder by decreasing the power of units, or by increasing the thought of the AI, it just seems like the "cowards way out" for game developers to do it that way.

It would be like a chess simulation where on the higher levels, the simulation is just as smart, but you start out with less and less pieces. If the power of my catapults decrease on the higher levels, the Ai's should decrease also. Otherwise, your increasing the difficulty by giving them an unfair advantage, not making them any smarter.

 

[Ferrum Rex]

so far the ai has preformed well actually. Remember your assesement is based on an aspect of military only. Nevermind that its most likely put like that to force the newer players to think of new strategys.

 

[dshirk]

The AI does get smarter and more aggressive at the later levels. It's the player that gets assistance in the early levels, and the AI is hamstrung a bit to make it easier on the beginners.

 

[lutzj]

Good points dshirk and FR. Besides, I'd rather Firaxis take the "easy" (no offense dshirk) route to difficulty and spend the extra time on bug fixes/gfx anyway.

 

[DS_Legionary]

I don't like that. The game should get harder on the higher difficulty levels by the AI getting smarter. Not your units getting worser. While in terms of raw gameplay, the change in difficulty would be the same, whether you make it harder by decreasing the power of units, or by increasing the thought of the AI, it just seems like the "cowards way out" for game developers to do it that way.

It would be like a chess simulation where on the higher levels, the simulation is just as smart, but you start out with less and less pieces. If the power of my catapults decrease on the higher levels, the Ai's should decrease also. Otherwise, your increasing the difficulty by giving them an unfair advantage, not making them any smarter.

I don't know if you noticed, but when attacking with a unit you see a little bonus that says either Cheiftain or Warlord with 100% and 50% respectively. This mean your unit is getting this attack/defense bonus. In essence it is your units that are overpowered. By ramping up the difficulty your bonus lessens. Your units are getting "worser" they are becoming normal.

 

[caketastydelish]

I don't know if you noticed, but when attacking with a unit you see a little bonus that says either Cheiftain or Warlord with 100% and 50% respectively. This mean your unit is getting this attack/defense bonus. In essence it is your units that are overpowered. By ramping up the difficulty your bonus lessens. Your units are getting "worser" they are becoming normal.

Well in that case, its all good.

 

[saintdestroyer]

You should try playing as france, i rushed the whole games with cannons, heh! ^^

 

[lutzj]

You should try playing as france, i rushed the whole games with cannons, heh! ^^

Now I know what it feels like to live in Australia or South Africa and get new games a month after everyone else...