Emperor defense question

[athelious]

I play BTS 3.13 predominately CE, various financial leaders.

Recently made the jump from Monarch to Emperor and just got burned twice in a similar manner late game ~ 1800's.

Normal strategy for me is to take out a neighbor or two then go for the spaceship.

First game playing as Hannibal, Boudica as a neighbor. Not trusting her, I had ~15 rifleman, ~5 cavalry, ~5 cannons in each of the two cities bordering her. Pleased relations she attacks with 51 cavalry and ~10 cannons. Rolls my city with ease, I hit reset.

Second game, playing as Darius, Isabella as a neighbor. Trying to learn my lesson, I made infantry a priority, I was only even on research due to a recent war with Augustus (after I found out I had no oil) and the fact that no one would trade with me because "they feared I was too becoming too advanced". I had 20 infantry, 5 artillery, 5 cavalry + a mishmash of older units in each of the two border cities with Isabella. Pleased relations she attacks with a stack of eighty frickin one cavalry + ~10 infantry + some artillery and a spy to make my city go to unrest. Rolls my city in one turn, I hit reset. What really pissed me off is that she still had most of her army, the health of her cavalry were mostly .6 or 1.2 health as they retreated.

Do I need 50 defensive units in border cities on Emperor? Or are there more efficient methods for keeping the AI from wiping me out as I lean towards research to achieve a spaceship victory?

 

[Sjaramei]

Too much defensive units. You should have had more cavalry and cannons, as in preparing to invade her. (which should be the plan! what were you thinking leaving Boudica alone alongside your border! )

"The best defense is a good offense"

Think about this and adapt accordingly

And how could you lose to Boudica with so many rifles? Either you had promoted all to city garrison and got mauled by cannon fire or they were drafted?

Don't let her stand and fire outside your cities! Plan counter attack! Cavalry flanks cannons too so it should be easy to kill all those cannons protected by cavalry? (never happens in my games)

 

[slightlymarxist]

Bribe the AIs into fighting each other. Get them to sign trade embargoes against one another, make some friends and then some common enemies. You really can't duke out a peaceful win all alone on Emperor and above.

Not that I would know, I always kill everyone.

 

[50_dollar_bag]

Too much defensive units. You should have had more cavalry and cannons, as in preparing to invade her. (which should be the plan! what were you thinking leaving Boudica alone alongside your border! )

"The best defense is a good offense"

Think about this and adapt accordingly

And how could you lose to Boudica with so many rifles? Either you had promoted all to city garrison and got mauled by cannon fire or they were drafted?

Don't let her stand and fire outside your cities! Plan counter attack! Cavalry flanks cannons too so it should be easy to kill all those cannons protected by cavalry? (never happens in my games)

My favourite tactic is to declare then hit the incoming stack with all my siege and finish off with everything else.

I've played a few games on 3.13 emperor and what I've noticed is that certain AI's can be pretty relentless with units, even after destroting the intial stack they can conjure up another in quick time, Justinian has been the main offender that I've had to put up with. Especially if they switch to Caste System and workshop everything in sight.

 

[Boodler]

What really pissed me off is that she still had most of her army, the health of her cavalry were mostly .6 or 1.2 health as they retreated.

I can only add what was mentioned: "defend" with siege units, or at least have them available for an anti - strike.

And about the 0.6 - 1.2 str retreats: Extremely annoying, especially since I have a feeling odds were ~ 10 % for them to survive, AND when your pikeman is defending in forest, he will go down to similar strength from a single knight's attack, even though the pikeman's chance for victory is like 90+%.
Extremely annoying.

On a different note, I have noticed that siege units (especially cannons) have a really nice retreat frequency, I remember in the last game I just threw about 3-4 cannons for each city in an assault and not once with 20-30 % retreat chance they survived the assault and gained xp.
Maybe just a coincidence so further experience will be needed for clarification.

 

[oldsaxon]

Keep a regular eye on the 'power' chart - it'll give you an idea of the size of their army. As long as yours is close to theirs, you're OK... if you've got half their army, you should be building troops.

Once you're comfortable with a difficulty level, it's fine to be below the AI in power. While you're still settling in, you want to keep your armies as strong as theirs.

 

[vicawoo]

Riflemen don't win at 1 to 3 odds. Units withdraw right before they would die, so it makes sense so many cavalry are weak.

I guess keep better tabs on their units, and on diplomacy. Have her attack someone else, then backstab.

 

[Babibo]

As was said before, offence is the best defence. I would like to add that drill 3-4 infantries are usually better for defending than city garrison ones. 3 reasons for this :
- you can attack with them, not just defend
- you suffer less collateral damage
- your winning percentage is slightly lower, but you usually survive with more hit points (because of the first strikes). This last point is even more true when your opponent is technologically behind.

By the time I can build riflemen, my military city usually has at least 3-4 GG settled, which makes it possible to pump out Drill 3 riflemen all the time.

 

[MrFelony]

"The best defense is a good offense"

Think about this and adapt accordingly

Don't let her stand and fire outside your cities! Plan counter attack! Cavalry flanks cannons too so it should be easy to kill all those cannons protected by cavalry? (never happens in my games)

I agree. I find that the best way to counter an enemey with 20+ cavs is to have your own stack of untis decimate theirs as they enter your boarders. that's in part why i love cavs myself. I usually get them on emperor a decent time before other get rifles (or better than musketmen) and you can just pound an enemy's stack with them. also are you playing with Agg AI on? I never see stacks like that except in a few games on emperor. now, do you have all 20 infantry going against the mere 10?? or is it more like 2-3 infantry vs that stack? if those are all the troops you have defending, then you must be pretty low on the power chart (as mention about watch it).

also, manage your relations. I know a low of people on here fear the AI, but i tend to trust AI's that i've been friends with most of the game. what can i say, i like taking risks

 

[weimingshi]

Theres no such thing as too many defenders, my general rule is if i am runing 70% science and still has a profit, build more units, if I am forced down to 50 science, i have too many units. of course thats just a very simple rule, other factors has to be taking in. as for power chart, a comfy position is 2/3 of the highest guy.

 

[weimingshi]

Dont be fooled by power chart too much though, it counts number of units, but not quality of units. If you have warriors or axemen still sitting around and they are too costly to upgrade, disband them and replace them with either cavs or rifle.

 

[carl corey]

I think you must have been pretty low on the power graph, or you didn't care too much about starting other wars, that's why you got declared on. On Emperor one of the most important things when you go to war is to see what the others are doing; at times I payed good techs for AIs to have their own war and let me deal with my enemy without fear of being backstabbed. Enrolling AIs on your side of the war will also help. All these mean that by the time you get to Rifles/Cavs/Infantry the world should be pretty divided, with you being the worst enemy of as few AIs as possible. And frankly, if I don't trust a neighbour they won't make it to rifles/cavs: catapults are still awesome even though they can't kill, so couple them with the attacking unit of your choice and go kick some pixels.

All in all, the best defense is ofense PLUS diplomacy. No matter how good you are you'll find it difficult to deal with 2 AIs at once early in the game, so make sure you don't have to. 1 vs 1 is usually a human victory even with fewer forces. And offense means you are the one choosing targets and guiding the war where you want it to happen. You might want to pillage the roads leading back to your cities and rebuild them once you capture new cities. That way the AI won't have a move advantage on you and everything will happen at your own pace.

 

[athelious]

I had never seen an AI SoD with ~100 units before 3.13 either. I am only playing on a normal size map. She had been at war much of the game and just got industrialism. Also she could see into my city from hers to know that I was stockpiling infantry. Maybe she wanted to get rid of obsolete units, maybe she kept on building until she calculated that she could beat my city. Even though she was pleased she was mad that I had declared war on her friend Augustus. I probably should have known something was up when she voted in the AP to give the oil city back to Augustus which I defied (I had wiped him off the continent but he still had an island city far way).

I joined her war with Tok every time she asked all game and shared religion with Isabella. Maybe the moral of the story is that you just can't please some women.

I like the idea that I should have had more cavalry to route her artillery. This would have prevented her from wearing down my infantry. I did throw 5 artillery at her stack but with the combined total of ~100 units it didn't seemed to phase them much.

 

[zagata]

you always say you do not have religion and wonder why I do - income, relations, happy workers. i did not realize that you went to war so late in the game. i thought you finished people by the time cannons are out. i do not upgrade my military until war is declared - but by this time, i have so much cash and high production, i can turn the ai right around in and even get paid for stopping a war. btw, i'm moving up levels...maybe my strategy will no longer work.

 

[oyzar]

Defense for defense doesn't work.. Due to the nature of colleteral the only defense is to attack... Or with some leaders you can avoid fighting altogether.

 

[Gliese 581]

Dont be fooled by power chart too much though, it counts number of units, but not quality of units. If you have warriors or axemen still sitting around and they are too costly to upgrade, disband them and replace them with either cavs or rifle.

I've always been under the impression that different units contribute different amounts of power. As in building an axeman will bump your rating a little higher than building a warrior. Anyone in the know about this?

 

[oldsaxon]

I've always been under the impression that different units contribute different amounts of power. As in building an axeman will bump your rating a little higher than building a warrior. Anyone in the know about this?

That is true. If you want to see this, upgrade a dozen archers to longbowmen (or better) in a turn. Your power rating will rise.

 

[kcmarkwell]

sounds like you arent expanding / producing enough before attacking. techs are important but land / production are more important when going to war. by the 1800s you should be a lot larger than any rival via population and production by earlier conquest.

 

[sveint]

Sword and Shield

Some good defensive units, alot of strong counter-attacking units

 

[xanadux]

If your neighbor is pleased with you and they attack is for one of 2 reasons usually:

1. Your power is much lower than theirs and they see you as an easy target.

2. They have nowwhere to expand to.

In case 1, you should have kept your power higher.

In case 2, you should know they will attack before long, and build more units.

Solution to both cases is to build more military, specifically more siege units, and when the war comes, be the attacker with your siege units, not the defender.