Early war advice

[cbucks]

So I usually play immortal and deity. My question is what is the best way to take a Capitol by turn 100? I know composite bows are the way to go, but should I beeline them and forget catapults? What sort of tech tree should I be using? Should I only found two cities or go for three? I know a lot if these are map dependent, but just assume a "standard" start. Thanks in advance

 

[Makavcio]

I usually completely forgo siege units until cannons. In some special cases where I have good access to enemy cities, I happen to build trebuchets. Siege units are simply too vulnerable and awful at fighting enemy armies to waste hammers and also frontline space on them.

And with tech choices, I usually go rather for science and culture, build a bunch of archers and when I have enough of them ready, I research the tech and upgrade my units. This way I save a lot of hammers (archers are much cheaper than CBs) and I have a quite useful army early on.

Moreover, you can train your archers against your worker farm, aka a city state. Move in with a group and just bombard without actually taking the city. It will take some time to upgrade them, though they will also be earning great general points. Just make sure they stay alive.

 

[Illianor123]

Play the Huns, build horse archers, rams, and horsemen. Clear the continent by T100.
Or build archers. Build NC. Upgrade to Comps.
3-4 cities. Ignore siege.

 

[Japper007]

Most of what I was gonna say has already been posted.

But here are some tips:

Try to forward settle the AI, it'll probably trigger your war for you (so no "Declare War" diplo penalty!) and you can then use it as a forward defense. Fight them to a standstill and then just keep pushing into their territory.

Also watch out that you don't have any close early aggression neighbours (Atilla, Montezuma) as they may DoW while you are in the middle of a war and can probably put up a good defense if you go after them.

And don't try rushing AI factions that have an Ancient/Classical era UU or, worse still, two (Alex'll rip you a new one). If this is the case be patient until Machinery (crossbows).

 

[tschukki]

Depends heavily on who you are, where you are and who/where the target is. Attila 8 tiles from a flatland civ will do the job quickly. Brazil 20 jungle tiles from russia or greece will need some time to prepare an xbowrush

 

[renton555]

For early war, try 2 city honor with a civ that has a decent early UU. Especially arabia or mongols because then you can focus on chariot archers, which can be used to take at least the first capital before they upgrade to amazing keshiks or camels.

 

[59saintdane]

Why no siege units? They're not hugely weaker than the corresponding ranged units of their era, and you can always use the ranged units to prevent enemy armies from getting to catapults/trebuchets. Besides, they do a ton of damage to cities.

 

[tetley]

Siege units don't benefit from terrain bonuses, which makes them harder to position and get some experience. Still, I don't avoid them altogether. With some coddling, you can sometimes get Range on one, and Range on a treb can be enormously helpful. Later on you'll be able to put logistics on artillery and that's a killer.