combat system... is it broken or what??

[mzprox]

So far i'm quite dissapointed in this game, but i dont want to list my reasons only pointing on one:
small summary of my game:
b4 declaring the independence my army was around 80 soldiers/cannons, the king had an army of 200 (not counting ships). i had 5 developed colonies on one island, getting 50% rebel force was quite hard as it seems they are counting into the population too. (bad idea imho.. this seriously limits or army size ((max army~= the civils when all colony at 100% rebel)) )
ok the battle started, they attacked my biggest colony it was defended by all type of military (cannons, dragoons and soldiers), i had fortress. it was bombarded but my defense was still around 100% when in a combat round out of ~ 20 battle i have lost 17... i have expected the opposite result .
i think it's more than just bad luck.. defending the colonies just doesnt working.
Cannons totally useless for defending (either passive or active defend), they are only usefull when attacking a settlement... it does it very effectively... Too bad that only the king has to attack a colony.. :/

So..how am i supposed to do it...
considering the win/loss ratio i would need 2*the king's army's size, but then i would need much more settlement, which is of cource an option but i wouldnt like that type of game. in old col i could win with 1 settlement on hardest difficulty (and there is ooc in c4col, i wonder is it doable at all..)

i'm quite angry because i did great effort to get this military, then i see them destroyed so easily.. like i never had a chance

 

[Andvare]

I think it's because the REF has artillery (compared to cannons), and that all boom-boom get a bonus on attacking settlements.
Make sure you have enough weapons and horses to make your citizen dragoons (or soldiers, depending on your founding fathers) so you can take the battle to him.
That, or sacrifice a town to counter attack with your own cannons.
The REF has better boom-boom, but you have terrain benefits, sorta like attacking natives.
Think of it as you are the native, and they are the invading Europeans (poetic justice in my last game, I had destroyed all the natives.)

 

[6-Star General]

What's funny is that I expected the opposite comment from you. My experience has been that my troops *destroy* the incoming troops, at least when I'm attacking on the open field. I watch the percentages, and the actual percentages of victory are much higher.

 

[Polobo]

You pretty much need to have more (or build able to produce domestically) cannon than they have artillery. Let them have a few colonies as it will tie up around 4 defenders each. The big unknown if whether you can take out their dragoons. I had 2 cannon, 4 soldiers and 0 dragoons to their 20 or so soldiers but they had 4 colonies so I was able to kill all 20 without taking losses since the defenders wouldn't attack.

As for the army; having a standing army really doesn't cut it. You get a couple of turns before the troops land and every colonist that isn't actively firing a gun before then should be in a colony doing something productive. Just have your guns and horses nearby on wagon trains to equip them right when you declare.

 

[mzprox]

I have tried to take advantage on that the enemy comes in waves. i have thought i could eliminate each wave, but my wining percentige was 30-60% and even on 60% I was constantly losing. So i stoped attacking them because that way they just win by bigger numbers.
And ofc i had lots of horse and gun in wagoons, my colonies were connected so i could send help etc. but when i loose 17 unit/turn (and it was only the third) while i1m standing in my fortress.. i just had to give up

Edit: i havent said yet but this was on governor difficulty and i may have waited too long to declare independence , so it's possible that the king would have had less army. but my main point is that defense should mean something, in my experience the attacker seems to have the advantage

 

[misterslack]

Don't defend with cannons and soldiers, ATTACK with dragoons. Always attack, never defend. The king gets zero defensive bonuses in the new world, so don't hesitate to attack into forests or mountains. Dragoons with a high rebel sentiment destroy REF troops. Attack then return to the city to heal a turn while fresh troops attack the next REF wave. Get Dom Pedro so all of your goons start with veteran 1. Use great generals to create super medics in each of your front-line cities to speed up the healing; promote all other units straight up the veteran line. It's not nearly as bad as the numbers make it out to be.

 

[dalgo]

Yes attack is the way to go. I'm currently fighting my first war now and the King landed 16 ground troops 8 turns in a row. I attacked and cleaned them up with Dragoons each time for losses of 2/4/6/2/6/4/6/2 troops. ie he lost 128 to my 32. They never even had a chance to assault my colonies. And I got 3 GG's.

Lets hope my streak continues for his remaining 300 + units!

 

[mzprox]

Yes attack is the way to go. I'm currently fighting my first war now and the King landed 16 ground troops 8 turns in a row. I attacked and cleaned them up with Dragoons each time for losses of 2/4/6/2/6/4/6/2 troops. ie he lost 128 to my 32. They never even had a chance to assault my colonies. And I got 3 GG's.

Lets hope my streak continues for his remaining 300 + units!

Yes, by now i know how to do it, i even have a topic about my "great victory" (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=293022)
but i still think that the game mechanism is bad, since defense should not be totally meaningless

 

[niidel]

Don't defend with cannons and soldiers, ATTACK with dragoons. Always attack, never defend. The king gets zero defensive bonuses in the new world, so don't hesitate to attack into forests or mountains.

Very true. And what's better - usually you even get bonuses for attacking to forests, hills etc (At least with a few upgrades, which should be rather easy to get). In fact, the actual combat against the REF was one of the smallest problems in the game - I find it relatively easy (Assuming that you always attack THEM and don't let them attack you).

 

[obsolete]

I believe the manual tells you that your cannons get defensive bonuses in your settlements (with proper upgrades?). Buwahahha....

 

[The_Dwarf]

So..how am i supposed to do it...

If you want to play in a defensiv way you have to make sure that the King wont come with many artillery. This is possible by manipulating what he gets by building certain units almost exclusevly for which the King builds the counter units and much less artillery.