"Groundshaking" Invasion Strategy

[bsorc]

It doesnt always work but i find it best to capture cities

To build a stonehenge and the oracle are very important to me to keep the culture booming, oracle to move a step forward (free tech)

Later I create 10 horsemen, 6 spearmen, 10 swordsmen, 7 catepults, few axemen and maybe some archers/longbowmen.

Make sure catepults are only promoted with Collateral Damage promotions.

Once they reach an enemy city. I use catepults to destroy defences, when the defences reach zero I attack enemy units with the catapults even though i know my catepults will not survive but they will weaken the city army immensely and then attack with the appropriate unit on weak enemy units thus taking over, then after the city is completely mine I will install two archers for defences and move on. I captured many cities but to go a next city i need to make atleast 4 catepults to use the strategy over.

Its time consuming but very effective.

 

[Powerslave]

Well, that's very good use of combined arms, but wouldn't ten axemen and a few archers accomplish the goal just as well, and get it done before you even finish the oracle?

 

[MrCynical]

The approach of using suicide catapults is the standard way to crack cities at that stage of the game. Your stack does seem a little overkill (or at least inefficient) for what you're doing though.

Catapults as you've said are a must. Swords you've got to do the actual attacking. A few axes are always worth having, if only to defend against melee units. Spearmen are needed to counter mounted units - but 6 is overkill for a stack this size unless you're enemy has only got horses and gone mad building mounted units. You don't really need more than three in most cases. A few archers as future city garrisons does have an argument for it, but I rarely bother - they aren't much more than dead weight in the stack, and I prefer an active form of defence.

The oddity in your stack is the ten horsemen (horse archers?). They aren't good to defend the stack - they get no defensive bonus, and the enemy can outmanouver them on roads in their territory. They aren't good for attacking cities - they're very vulnerable to spear counters, and can't get city raider promotions. The only real point to them in enemy territory is pillaging - which you aren't going to do if you're going to capture the city. Another batch of swords and axes would be more use to you than these mounted units.

 

[MrFrodo]

I prefer to not worry about Oracle/Stonehenge and go straight for the jugular with 10-15 Quechas/Axemen/Chariots/Immortals/etc. long before Construction is discovered. The exception might be if the closest enemies are hard to kill (Far away, have counters to your best units, protective, etc.) and/or I have Marble/Stone nearby.

But it certainly pays to bring catapults once your enemies have the counters to your early attacking units.

 

[Inspector Javert]

Yeah I use that stratagey too but I never brought the longbow men with me you may have just solved by early war problems, thanks a lot when the world is mine your death will be quick and painless.

 

[AfterShafter]

My strategy is as follows:

Build 200 war chariots with Ramses. Attack enemy cities with all 200.

It works very well.

 

[Supr49er]

My strategy is as follows:

Build 200 war chariots with Ramses. Attack enemy cities with all 200.

It works very well.

That's funny.

 

[Atwork]

Ideal diversity is dependent on what your rival is rolling with. The most effective formula for is to emphasize what your rival cannot counter.

I strongly disagree with Mr. Cynical: that the only point to horse units is pillaging. Once a garrison has been weakened by cats or other units, horse units are ideal for mop up jobs. Further, horse units get withdrawal bonuses and cause collateral damage to siege units, which can be vital depending on the situation. When I'm bringing a main attack force, I'm bringing it all, cuz ultimately you just never know how the battle will go or what match-ups you'll be left with.

 

[King of Town]

after shafter I was just going to make a new thread about that strategy

Horses are only useful to me in two ways. First and the most often used is as city defenders. If someone comes knocking my 50% withdrawl is nice to attack those cat's and treb's for collateral damage and survie. Second I use them as city attackers in three situations. A) I have no metal B) my UU is a horse unit, in which case I feel compelled to give them a starring role in my civ's history and C) if somehow I pop horesback riding really quickly. That 6 strength and immunity to first strikes is nice before cities expand too much.

 

[MrFelony]

I disagree with MrCynical as well, but only because I was recently converted to the HA rush. Horse Archers are, and just go with me for a second, the perfect counter to Sitting Bull. just think about it. Axes get killed by his UU, and axes just can't stand up against his protective archers, especially when he has his UB built. on the other hand, HA's are pretty good against both of them. just whip up a stack of 15-20, and he won't have time to build more than 2-3 spearmen and he probably wont have more than 2 or 3 already. with half flankingII and the rest Combat I+II and some with shock, they are good to go. and losses are much less than they would be with an axe stack, and the good thing is they are twice as fast so you conquer whatever civ you're fighting THAT much faster. and if you're using espionage, you can knock out the culture for an easy take down.

 

[thomson_2001]

recently i have found it more productive to just make 1-2 spy units per city i want to attack and use espionage points to take out all defense for one turn. means no wait to bombard (thus AI less likely to whip, build or move troops)

 

[King of Town]

for some reason the fact that they couldn't whip never occured to me, thats wonderful

 

[Littlewolf]

for some reason the fact that they couldn't whip never occured to me, thats wonderful

Yep, using a spy to revolt the city for one turn is great. I just tried spies instead of catapults. It's great to combine this strategy with using mounted units with 2 movement points that attack faster or retreat to safety after attacking. The only problem is that the spy sometimes fails: that kills the spy and you also lose those espionage points. What I do to prevent this is throw all my espionage points at one enemy, the one I am at war or preparing to attack. This amplifies your espionage supremacy over this enemy.

 

[mboettcher]

problem is early wars are the most expensive ones. I always try to use oracle to research code of laws and get a free religion to pay for this war. (oracle will give you a prophet soon for temple). The courthouses also help a lot with the maintenance on any cities you want to keep. Plus you get a very valuable tech to trade. I never even bother researching horseback riding. I just trade for it come the middle ages when knights are actually useful.
I agree with the whole not waiting for cats. Enemy cities early can be taken with city raider troops easy. No need for blasting the 20% defenses.

 

[CHEESE!]

Shouldnt this be in Strategys and tips?

 

[Fjordson]

That's funny.

you laugh, but for fun one game I made a stack of 100 prats, actually built them lol - they went on strike after raizing 6 cities

 

[rabidveggie]

Fools! While you waste your time on cats and war chariots I make 400 immortals through whipping with a charismatic leader! Bow down to my archer killing stack of doom, only to be foiled by three spearman in a city on a hill.

 

[bsorc]

Fools! While you waste your time on cats and war chariots I make 400 immortals through whipping with a charismatic leader! Bow down to my archer killing stack of doom, only to be foiled by three spearman in a city on a hill.

XerXes has arrived!.

The reason I take extra forces, you never know if he has more men outside city walls. Alexander wanted the copy the real alexander the same way. Destroyed his entire forces before he could claim title of The Great.