Help with middle-aged wars.

[Sryth]

Hey all, I've recently been playing this a lot on online but I seem to get killed around middle age. This is when we start getting our longbow men, catapults, macemen, etc. I can usualy dominate early game economic wise and early warfare(axemen,chairots,spears). I've taken a look at the war guides here on civfanatics but I just seem to blow the whole game around this era. Anything I can do to at least stay alive long enough to see the next era?

 

[Galileo44]

Welcome to CFC!

To your question:
I play multiplayer a bit, and i have noticed that one unit dominates middle-ages wars. That is the catapult. It is considered possibly the best strategy to have a ton of catapults. These units not only are great for knocking the defenses of a city down, but with enough of them you can take out any stack that your opponent throws at you. They may have 8 War Elephants, 12 Macemen with CR3, and 5 Crossbows as well as 5 catapults. Hit that stack with around 5 barrage-promoted cats, and it will be easy to destroy. The units will be at half strength, easy pickings even for outdated units. Learning to control the battle through an initial strike of catapults is very improtant to medieval warfare.

 

[Cam_H]

Sryth,

Just to echo Galileo44 ...

Welcome to CivFanatics!

Certainly I agree with Galileo44 that seige weaponary is vitally important during this time; Catapults - and if Warlords; Trebuchets - each play an important role in bringing down city defenses with their bombard ability, and then afterwards delivering collateral damage. You may be familiar with the phrase "suicide cats" - which are Catapults used with the specific intention of delivering collateral damage (after you've brought down the city defenses), with little chance of survival. Eventually you can reduce the enemys' units down to 50% of thier strength, and then your Macemen or War Elephants or whoever can go in and take the city. There's no doubt that Longbows fortified on a city in a hill can be a real pain to take out, so prepare for losses.

Try to take the city in the one turn - the last thing you want is letting the defenders get promoted and/or healed between turns.

In terms of being attacked, I would try to keep the diplomatic relations as positive as practicable with select neighbours. Be wary of adopting a religion of contrasting faith to a neighbour unless you're confident that they won't be any realistic threat to you. Consider trading with only your 'chums' and neutral civs if you must - and be wary of their relationships with each other; you don't want to have negative modifiers for trading with their worst enemy while trying to curry favour with another 'chum'. Be mindful of the varying behaviours of the different leaders (e.g. Alexander the backstabber, Qin Shi Huang the backstabber, Tokugawa the isolationist, Julius Caesar the backstabber, Isabella the religious fanatic, Napolean the backstabber, etc. ). Put a half-decent garrison in coastal cities and border cities, and even consider having some 2-move units on hand to be able to shoot over to problem areas. Have 'unit pump' cities to support the others. If possible, keep a few hundred in the reserve in case you need a couple of instant upgrades in response to a surprise attack.

I hope this is of some use. Enjoy!

 

[oyzar]

@ Cam_H i think this was for MP where totaly different strategies are in play. You cant get anyone not to attack you through diplomacy you just have to stop them from doing so by force. But as Galileo44 said catapults are very good. Trebutchets not so much so because they are soooo expencive... It is also important to keep up your economy through the game so you dont fall too much behind ofc.

 

[Cam_H]

^ ... quite right oyzar! Didn't click with the "online" thing. Thanks.

Oh well, if Sryth ever gives multiplayer away and instead opts to tackle the cheating AI, hopefully these tips will help!

 

[Sryth]

Hey, thanks for the fast responses. My original question is kind of aimed to both MP and single. On single, the highest settings im able to win at is warlord(yea I know, I suck) but im currently trying noble. I've played around with the agressive leaders(Alexander, Gengis, Tokugawa, Shaka), and seem to do a little bit better when it comes time for catapults, war elephants, macemen, etc.

Anyways, thanks for the advice guys, I'll play around with it a bit.

EDIT: I'd rather get a bit more experience through Single player before I take it to MP.