Early Game attack --- decimated

[TyranusBonehead]

Normally when I play CivIII, I don't like to go to war, I generally try to beat my opponent by growing my civilization and outscoring. In an effort to try to improve as a player I tried an early military strike against a neighboring city. I created a stack of warriors and spearmen (6) and moved onto the city. The game promptly went through the battle sequence in which I lost all 6 attackers and the AI didn't lose a single one. What gives? I was playing German against the French, I was German.

What do you guys think of early game attacks? I simply meant to stir things up, and possibly take the neighboring city but I obviously did something wrong. Also, why was the AI practically invulnerable? Thanks.

TB

 

[thetrooper]

Warriors are useless. Try the same approach with archers/horsemen/swordsmen and spearmen for defense. Veterans all of them of course.

 

[RegentMan]

I'm sure that they had spears defending their city. Warriors vs. spears are a . Archers would be better. Also, try not to attack across rivers. That's a very easy way to lose a battle. Cross the river, then attack.

Civ choice doesn't have anything to do with a battle's outcome...

 

[gunkulator]

Try a militaristic civ if you want an ultra early war. They start with Warrior Code which means you can build archers right away. 5 or 6 archers at the beginning of the game will usually devastate a neighboring civ. The trick is finding your neighbors. For that, expansionist civs are best. So give the mil/exp Zulu or Mongols a try.

 

[TyranusBonehead]

RegentMan+++

You are correct, I did notice that a spearman was occupying the city square, not sure how many were there, but it was there possibly as the strongest unit in the stack. Thanks for the advice

Also, I wasn't sure if Civ choice affected battles, but thought I'd mention it. Thanks again.

 

[TyranusBonehead]

I will try the Mongols on the next game

I went with a safe cultural/commercial game with India.

I'm impressed at how quickly I'm moving through the tech tree at this point. Playing @ Warlord level against the Ottomans. So far so good, building cities as fast as I can and have already come into contact with the Ottomans, and established good relations.

 

[RegentMan]

You could also use a combat calculator for awhile until you get a knack for predicting battle outcomes. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but I'm sure it can't be too hard.

 

[RegentMan]

I'm impressed at how quickly I'm moving through the tech tree at this point. Playing @ Warlord level against the Ottomans. So far so good, building cities as fast as I can and have already come into contact with the Ottomans, and established good relations.

If you're doing well on warlord, then move up to regent next game. Don't be discouraged by losses; it is better to lose a few, then master a new level than it is to stay and play the same boring level and winning all of the time.

 

[Khan_Asparuh]

Hi,
try to use some catapults, even with warriors it may work. It's cool with archers too.

 

[Tomoyo]

They've tried the "Catapult rush" before. Didn't work. Catapults apparantly don't come early enough. Archers/Swordsmen are the best unit to rush with. If you use Swordsmen, build many veteran warriors to upgrade before you get iron.

 

[Chieftess]

You could have built 2 warriors for each of those spearmen, and still had the 1 attack. If the city was on hills, then their defenders have .5 or so more defense early on (warriors/spearmen). A warrior rush is risky, since you have to hope the AI doesn't have bronze working. I like doing archer rushes with about 8-15 archers. I might set up 2-3 cities, and pump out a few archers.

I defeated a Sid-level AI once like this -- stuck on an island with another AI and no resources (only room for 2 cities before the AI pinned me in). By the time I defeated them, though, the other AI was globtrotting with Modern Armor. (I was in the middle ages).

 

[Marcus Cicero]

I would agree with many here, the Warrior Rush, just plain doesan't work, unless you are extremely lucky, or have an exceptionally large amount of vets.

I would go with an Archer/Horse combo if you can, or get a UU that is befitting early combat, like the Jag, or Bowman.

 

[gunkulator]

For an early rush, the only unit you can build in quantity quickly enough is the archer. Since you are likely to have a small empire, getting iron or horses is a real gamble. Best to stick with a sure thing. Neither swords or horses can be built at the start anyway. Yes, you can upgrade warriors but at 60 gold per upgrade, you won't be able to do many.

 

[sennomulo]

I'm playing a game right now as the Celts (also on Warlord, since I just got the game last week after about a year of not practicing) and I had a pretty successful military campaign in which I defeated the Ottomans in the late Ancient Age. I was on a northern peninsula of a continent with a 3-square choke point and a big chunk of jungle above it. Desperate for all the room I could get, I closed off the choke point with some warriors as soon as I could and started building cities as fast as I could in the area I had claimed. My capital was on pretty good terrain for production, so I built a barracks there and when I got iron I started cranking out Gallic Swordsmen and declared war just as I finished the Statue of Zeus. With the GS rush I was able to destroy their 10 cities or so before my second Ancient Cavalry came out of it. Now I've got the whole continent to myself and lots of new room to expand.

 

[Randy]

I have found that if you can find the AI's only city before they send out their first settler, you can most of the time take that city as you second city.

the key is to only build warriors send all of them at the target city. If it goes bad an you are losing the AI will almost alway make peace before their offence can get to your city.

 

[Huzzamaster]

Legionaires for the Romans Are great for an early game war! Good on attack and defense, they are all you need to build! You also get your golden age fast!

 

[planetfall]

You had archers, use them not warriors. Warriors are only good for emergency and police action.

Are your archers vets? Build barracks.
For a stack of 12, a better mix would be 2 cats, 3 spears, 7 archers.

PF

 

[Total War]

I usually wait until I can build swordsmen before I decide to make a full invasion on an enemy.

Archers do come in handy when I need to use them, though. If an AI starts a war before I get Iron Working and/or swordsmen, I usually pump a few archers and make them beg for my mercy