Early Wars

[alancsilver]

For those playing on higher difficulties and go to war quickly, what type of units are you using to take down cities?

 

[No-Man]

Archers, at least three of them. And, obviously, a warrior. Even if the city has walls, in the early game, with three archers and a melee unit you can capture it without a problem.

A little later, but still in the ancient era, I will use a battering ram, an incredibly useful and often neglected support unit, two or three melee units and the three archers from before. Warriors with Battlecry and a battering ram are pretty deadly to city walls, even though they receive some damage attacking.

Then, in the classical era, I would use two or three catapults, which make devastating damage to the city walls.

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

You can begin warmongering with some 3 Archers and 2 Warriors, but it's unlikely you'll be able to wipe out more than one neighboring civ (maybe a CS). Maybe one or two more Archers, depending on the number of enemy units.

After that you can either go for Horsemen/Heavy Chariots or wait for Swordsmen, while you build a couple Battering Rams. Those are amazing, since they destroy the walls before the city (and thus the city won't shoot at you anymore). Or a Siege Tower, which allows you to directly damage the city (thus taking it much faster, though you may still get shot a couple times before that).

If you had Chariots, then beeline Stirrups and unleash Knights to keep the momentum. Though Swordmen are still fairly good until the Renaissance.

 

[Metecury]

What sort of army should one build up when the AI spams archers? Just build more then them?

 

[Siptah]

What sort of army should one build up when the AI spams archers? Just build more then them?

Horsemen or the normal counter for those. But I sometimes counter them with archers, since I often don't have/build horsemen except when I have dire need for them. I still thank that civ vi could experiment with some more units - but not filling the gaps between existing units. Instead, it could add some more to the rock-paper-scissors thingy by having a counter-archer unit with range, a anti-cavalry mounted unit, maybe even an siege unit that gets defense against ranged attacks and bonus against other siege units. I'm unsure if we need another anti-melee unit though.

 

[Mesix]

A good formula is to build 4 Slingers out of the gate (first four builds). Use them for scouting and barbarian hunting. Once you have finished Archery, you should have enough gold to upgrade all 4 to Archers. 4 Archers and 1-2 melee units can take down cities up to about turn 60-70. I generally build 4 Slingers and then a Settler before improving my capital. Getting the 2nd city out allows you to alternate between city improvements and building more units. It is also good to get an early trade route up and running. I generally build 1-2 buildings in each city plus a trader, and then have one finish off a District while the other builds more units. Once the district is complete, I switch. I build a 1-2 Spearmen plus a Bettering Ram from one city and 2-3 more Archers plus a Catapult from the second. This should be enough units until you reach the Medieval Era and upgrade to Crossbowmen.

Horsemen or the normal counter for those. But I sometimes counter them with archers, since I often don't have/build horsemen except when I have dire need for them. I still thank that civ vi could experiment with some more units - but not filling the gaps between existing units. Instead, it could add some more to the rock-paper-scissors thingy by having a counter-archer unit with range, a anti-cavalry mounted unit, maybe even an siege unit that gets defense against ranged attacks and bonus against other siege units. I'm unsure if we need another anti-melee unit though.

If there is an aggressive neighbor, building an Encampment between your city and theirs along the line of approach is a good tactic. 2 Archers and and Encampment with a walled city can hold off most early attacks from the AI.