Defending Cities?

[Polish]

Do cities actually do any better with units inside?

I have seen some very powerful units in cities just evaporate when the city is attacked. I am starting to think that I would be better off sitting in a woods or on a hill outside the city and making them at least fight both the defending unit and the city--that way they can support each other. Just curious if anyone has done any investigation.

I had better luck attacking a city with a Siamese elephant inside it than attacking the same elephant alone--the city+elephant combination was MUCH easier to kill! Doesn't seem right.

 

[Dünamünde]

Do cities actually do any better with units inside?

I have seen some very powerful units in cities just evaporate when the city is attacked. I am starting to think that I would be better off sitting in a woods or on a hill outside the city and making them at least fight both the defending unit and the city--that way they can support each other. Just curious if anyone has done any investigation.

I had better luck attacking a city with a Siamese elephant inside it than attacking the same elephant alone--the city+elephant combination was MUCH easier to kill! Doesn't seem right.

They do help. Marginally but you have to garrison the unit, by it just being on the city tile, there is no bonus to city defense. I always leave the city if I know it is about to be captured.

 

[Dünamünde]

Do cities actually do any better with units inside?

I have seen some very powerful units in cities just evaporate when the city is attacked. I am starting to think that I would be better off sitting in a woods or on a hill outside the city and making them at least fight both the defending unit and the city--that way they can support each other. Just curious if anyone has done any investigation.

I had better luck attacking a city with a Siamese elephant inside it than attacking the same elephant alone--the city+elephant combination was MUCH easier to kill! Doesn't seem right.

They do help. Marginally but you have to garrison the unit, by it just being on the city tile, there is no bonus to city defense. I always leave the city if I know it is about to be captured.
I always try to have a ranged unit in the city, since it does not look like the units STR has any impact on the benefit to the city's defense.

 

[Rathelon]

Garrisoned units only add a little extra defense to the city, and they are killed if the city is captured. The only thing I generally put in my cities is a worker, so he doesnt get captured when enemy units are nearby. My fighting units are always in the field.

 

[Polobo]

As said the defense bonus is only marginally helpful; the real advantage is that the unit in the city cannot be killed unless the city falls. Ranged units and civilians can stand there and attack/support even if the city is being surrounded. If the city falls it is likely that the unit in the city would have died long before anyway so the negative really isn't that terrible in many situations. If the city is a lost cause, however, it is probably better to just get out of the way.

 

[wurstburst]

The only time I put a unit in a city under attack is to retreat a damaged unit (since they are safe from counter attack, as long as the city doesn't fall) or to put a ranged unit that can't stay in the open without dying (since they are generally weak).

Whatever bonus their is to having a unit in a city seems to be so small as to be negligible. The cost of losing the unit to a city falling makes it a bad move for the most part. Much better to put the unit on a hill or forest and defend there.

 

[bryanw1995]

the city adds btwn 20-25% of the combat power of the garrisoned unit to it's own power. however, as mentioned the unit has to remain garrisoned in there. usually I'll put an artillery piece in there, unless the enemy comes in with overwhelming force you can usually hold them off with the new/improved city attack power + the artillery piece. another option is to use a mounted unit b/c they can attack out of the city, return, and re-garrison.

 

[Slowpoke]

Siege units in a city are probably the best defense The last story link in my sig has a pretty redicilous example, but even unexperienced siege units typically have more ranged attack than melee's strength.