here i come once again!!!

[rusting]

hi,
It has been only a day since i have started the game and i would like to have some doubts cleared. If it has been asked before or there are articles available, then i am sorry for not reading it. First let me put forward my game to you.
I have started the game as German on an island. I have, as company, england with me on the island. I have researched some tehnologies important being writing, bronze, map etc. and i have abt 609 gold in my tresurey. By the timei got comfortable with the game and built a second city, eng had built 5. I built and army of archers and spearmens and succedded in capturing 3 of eng 5 cities except london and nottingham. now i will ask my doubts.
1) When i try to capture any of the remaining 2 cities of eng, no matter who i send i always get defeated. so, how do i improve my units? my military advisor says that compared to them my army is strong?

2) i explored the whole island which constitues only 1/4th of the mao but am surrounded by water from all the sides. PLEASE TELL ME HOE DO I BUILD HARBOURS, i am stuck at that point.
Thats it for now..;.if i have anymore questions will ask for help

 

[DanGo]

Don't build spears for offense.
1)You can't be ALLWAYS defeated. You have to make sure you have enough units to capture the city. It is also a random value of all of the battles (maybe someone will post it, I don't know it exactly).
2)You don't need harbours to build boats. You just click "Change production"
and then "Galley".

 

[HellboundHeathcliff]

1) As DanGo said, make sure you send a big enough stack of units to overcome the random number generator screwing with you.

2) A city/town must be adjacent to a salt water coastal tile AND you must know mapmaking to be able to build a harbor. You can build ships without a harbor but they won't be veterans.

 

[vmxa]

It sounds like this is one of the early levels, if so then you should not have 1 city, while they have 5. That is what you see at sid, warlord.

If you have more towns and developed them, you will research faster and have better units to attack with (well you will need resources).

Since archer were enough to take down 3 towns, I would expect the other two have make it to city size. This give extra defensive bonus. If they also have walls or on a hill it will be harder to win battles.

They could be across a river as well, so avoid attack from the direction. After that you will need number, unless you know math and can bring cats along. Better still some swords.

In any event sheer numbers will do the job, unless they already have pikes.

 

[Breunor]

Rusting,

I think you should probably concentrate on expanding and building more cities. By the time you have that many techs, you can probably build more cities. The more cities you have, the fewer your opponent can build.

Early in the game, concentrate on building a few military untis to scout; after that, concentrate on settlers, workers, and a few military units. If you find a good city to build settlers, it pays to build a granary. On any level below Emperor, with a reasonable start, you should have more cities than your opponent.

A reason you have trouble with your wars is that:

There is a big benefit to defeeding, and
Your opponent has more cities, therefore more production.

If you get enough cities, you often make one a military production center. Build a barracks there. A unti build from a barracks, a veteran, is much stronger than one built without.

Only attack with offensive untis, swordsman (you need iron and Iron Working), cavalry units (need horses and Riding), and possibly some artillery. An attacking stack can have some defenders, but don't attack with archers or spearmen.

Your military advisor will tell you how strong your military is realtive to another power. You will either be 'weak', 'average', or strong. Experienced players can attack even when badly outnumbered, but try to get at elast even. Always attack in force. When you lose battles, it actually can promote the enemy units to higher experience levels, who can heal. Attack with enough force to eliminate the enemy forces.

Try that and see how it works!

Best wishes,

Breunor

 

[DanGo]

Breunor, why attacking with Archers isn't good? 2/1 strength is enough on chieftain. When I was playing on Chieftain, I could usually take a capital (if I just discovered it, and we are still in the first 20 turns) with 1 archer! Probably if you have Map Making you and your opponents are advanced enough so if you want a city 4 archers are good (maybe too much)! If you want more than 1 city you need 4 archers and 4 swordsman. With this army in Ancient Age you can take easy 4-5 cities (on Chieftain).

 

[DanGo]

Sorry for the double post, for some strange reasons the site doesn't allow me to edit .
I don't mean: "Probably if you have Map Making and you and your opponents are advanced enough so if you want a city 4 archers are good (maybe too much)!
I meanrobably if you have Map Making you and your opponents are advanced enough so if you want a city 4 archers are good (maybe too much)!

 

[Breunor]

Breunor, why attacking with Archers isn't good? 2/1 strength is enough on chieftain. When I was playing on Chieftain, I could usually take a capital (if I just discovered it, and we are still in the first 20 turns) with 1 archer! Probably if you have Map Making you and your opponents are advanced enough so if you want a city 4 archers are good (maybe too much)! If you want more than 1 city you need 4 archers and 4 swordsman. With this army in Ancient Age you can take easy 4-5 cities (on Chieftain).

Whoops, I've been playing too many MODS where the archers are usually defenisve units.

Sorry about that -- yes, enough archers can get the job done. Some people view an 'archer rush' makes a lot of sense.

Indeed, if you don't have horses or iron, its archers and artillery!

Thanks for straightening this up!

Breunor