Oh boy. Well, it's turn nine. I declared on turn seven, fended off a stack of 35 on turn eight.... Now I'm facing a stack of 94. It's gonna be bloody.
Actually I've stopped to think about tactics, and thought if any of y'all were around in the next few hours you could help me think.
He has: 14 artillery, 44 cavalry, 20 infantry, 6 tanks, 5 SAMs, 5 marines. On the hill SE of Carthage.
I have: 42-45 infantry (depending how thin I want to stretch the anti-american cities; though only about 35 at full or nearly-full health), 25-30 lesser troops (mostly rifles/grens/cavs), 21 artillery, 19 cannons, 9 catapults.
Last turn he only brought seven artillery, so I holed up and played defence -- spread that collateral damage around enough and it won't hurt much. If he attacks the same way this turn that he did last turn (artillery first but not knocking down culture -- it's still at 60% -- then waves of cavs, then others), then I think that that strategy might work again. But if he wises up and knocks down the culture first, I'm not sure I like the prognosis. Artillery die but do collateral, waves of cavalry mostly die but badly damage my infantry and kill some, then his infantry/marines/SAMs/tanks win most of the last 40 fights against my weaker or wounded units. Ugly, and he still has most of his best troops for next round.
Or I could attack. 80 of his units are subject to collateral damage, so they'd get tagged about 4 times apiece (at the cost of all our siege equipment). Then our infantry sally forth and ... probably fight even against his better defenders for a bit, then win most of the last 30? So that has us killing less than half his army, at the cost of our siege equipment, our fortification bonus, and the good health of our remaining troops. I just don't think fighting uphill against those numbers works out.
I could just hit him with catapults and cannons, and then play defence. They make lousy defenders (if we reach the point where a cannon is chosen as the best defender, the fight is lost anyway), so may as well use them on offence, right? And the hope would be to soften up some of his numbers enough that I can win more fights with minimal damage, so some infantry could take a couple of cavalry before becoming wounded and lame. Ride higher on the nonlinear curve that defines combat, so to speak. This is the option I'm gravitating towards, I think. With the option to use the artillery offensively as well if it looks favorable.
Or, radically, abandon the city, planning to retake it next turn. Advantages vs. a straight attack: he wouldn't be on a hill, and I could give the artillery CR2 promotions. It wrecks the buildings, and the GE that's close to spawning there, and there's some uncertainties -- culture from his existing cities would (I think) swallow it, so I could only move one tile away, at which point he could attack me in the open field if he chose to. And it gives up the fortification bonus that most of my men have now, and the chance that he'll be dumb enough (again) not to bring down the culture before sounding the charge....
Thoughts?
Actually I've stopped to think about tactics, and thought if any of y'all were around in the next few hours you could help me think.
He has: 14 artillery, 44 cavalry, 20 infantry, 6 tanks, 5 SAMs, 5 marines. On the hill SE of Carthage.
I have: 42-45 infantry (depending how thin I want to stretch the anti-american cities; though only about 35 at full or nearly-full health), 25-30 lesser troops (mostly rifles/grens/cavs), 21 artillery, 19 cannons, 9 catapults.
Last turn he only brought seven artillery, so I holed up and played defence -- spread that collateral damage around enough and it won't hurt much. If he attacks the same way this turn that he did last turn (artillery first but not knocking down culture -- it's still at 60% -- then waves of cavs, then others), then I think that that strategy might work again. But if he wises up and knocks down the culture first, I'm not sure I like the prognosis. Artillery die but do collateral, waves of cavalry mostly die but badly damage my infantry and kill some, then his infantry/marines/SAMs/tanks win most of the last 40 fights against my weaker or wounded units. Ugly, and he still has most of his best troops for next round.
Or I could attack. 80 of his units are subject to collateral damage, so they'd get tagged about 4 times apiece (at the cost of all our siege equipment). Then our infantry sally forth and ... probably fight even against his better defenders for a bit, then win most of the last 30? So that has us killing less than half his army, at the cost of our siege equipment, our fortification bonus, and the good health of our remaining troops. I just don't think fighting uphill against those numbers works out.
I could just hit him with catapults and cannons, and then play defence. They make lousy defenders (if we reach the point where a cannon is chosen as the best defender, the fight is lost anyway), so may as well use them on offence, right? And the hope would be to soften up some of his numbers enough that I can win more fights with minimal damage, so some infantry could take a couple of cavalry before becoming wounded and lame. Ride higher on the nonlinear curve that defines combat, so to speak. This is the option I'm gravitating towards, I think. With the option to use the artillery offensively as well if it looks favorable.
Or, radically, abandon the city, planning to retake it next turn. Advantages vs. a straight attack: he wouldn't be on a hill, and I could give the artillery CR2 promotions. It wrecks the buildings, and the GE that's close to spawning there, and there's some uncertainties -- culture from his existing cities would (I think) swallow it, so I could only move one tile away, at which point he could attack me in the open field if he chose to. And it gives up the fortification bonus that most of my men have now, and the chance that he'll be dumb enough (again) not to bring down the culture before sounding the charge....
Thoughts?
buildings is also a good idea if we don't have them built in a given city.
