how do you defend your cities

[kristopherb]

how do you defend your cities
i defend them with

anciet

archer
archer
warior/axemen

classical

longbowmen
crossbowmen

renaisonse

riflemen
geandear

modern

infantry
machinegun

btw all units are upgraded and have city garrison

 

[KinesongPayaso]

i defend my cities with warriors... yeah, the first military unit
most of my good military units are on the borders of my cities... so that, just in case they decide to wage war,, no one can get in

 

[jimbob27]

I tend to defend my cities with archers and axemen, pretty much all the way to the modern age

Its a decent tactic though, as I always like to have a roving stack of up-to-date mounted units to take care of anyone entering my borders. I defend my borders heavily so I don't usually need heavy garrisons as well. It also makes things quite interesting, when I mess up and actually loose some cities to the AI (yes, it can happen!).

 

[Stylesrj]

In this order:

and/or

Later on it's

with

When the time comes, and if I had the money

and/or

When Rifling comes around, I realise "oh crap, my Maceman on assault or longbowmen being built will take longer in my captured citites:

" but before Rifling, I mgiht have a few

lying around

Usually when I get rifleman and Nationalism, I draft units instead, earliest being Riflemen and staying there

Assembly line makes me go "Oh crap, my cities are taking longer now!

Finally after nearly conquering the world with Cavalry and Navy SEALs/Panzers/Tanks/Modern Armour and later Gunships, Robotics comes around and....

you guessed it, longer build times...

Yeah so that's my defences of a city, in the form of unit images from the ages

Also, one time I skipped Horseback Riding, so when it was the Modern Times and I was getting to Future Tech, I still had one turn left for Horseback Riding. Never needed it throughout the game

 

[Sidewinder00Q]

Always depends on the situation... Border cities usually have archers/longbowmen (2 of them) unless I'm expecting hostilities. (aka told them to climb a tree when they asked for that tech) Interior cites have what ever was the lowest cost unit to build, usually a Warrior, just to keep the people in line.

If I don't have a border city (If I'm on an Island by myself) I'll have one or two mobile stacks of units, one for each side of the island, and a huge navy. The Navy will help me see the enemy coming and I can preemptively ship troops to the cities most likely to be hit, or premptively declare war and sink his invasion fleet.

 

[Agarwaen]

like KinesongPayaso said Warriors keep defending my cities during all game, the unit is ussually the attack unit that conquered that city...
Only in the borders I put more units, but even then mostly an attack force.

 

[mutax2003]

You will need horseback riding if you plan to do a cavalry rush.

In this order:

and/or

Later on it's

with

When the time comes, and if I had the money

and/or

When Rifling comes around, I realise "oh crap, my Maceman on assault or longbowmen being built will take longer in my captured citites:

" but before Rifling, I mgiht have a few

lying around

Usually when I get rifleman and Nationalism, I draft units instead, earliest being Riflemen and staying there

Assembly line makes me go "Oh crap, my cities are taking longer now!

Finally after nearly conquering the world with Cavalry and Navy SEALs/Panzers/Tanks/Modern Armour and later Gunships, Robotics comes around and....

you guessed it, longer build times...

Yeah so that's my defences of a city, in the form of unit images from the ages

Also, one time I skipped Horseback Riding, so when it was the Modern Times and I was getting to Future Tech, I still had one turn left for Horseback Riding. Never needed it throughout the game

 

[wioneo]

if you want to rush cavs, you'll have to start before the AIs start hording rifles.

 

[Phyr_Negator]

Two stacks of freaks. After opponent waste all catas on city defenders I'm quickly moving fresh stack of longbows and other **** into city.

 

[Carl v.]

Siege weapons as catapults or cannons as part of the city garrison can be of significance. The perimeter of the city should be shopped, so suzi-cats or -cannons can inflict maximal damage on the hostile SOD. In a following unit to unit-fight, this could be the main factor making the defending units survive and the city successfully defended.

 

[Solver]

I always defend very lightly. One Warrior or Archer in inner cities. Cities that would be targets in case of a war get defended by two Archers or an Archer and a Warrior early on. Cities that Barbarians roam nearby get two Archers, maybe three.

But as the game progresses, I hardly ever upgrade my defenses. In fact, I often finish the game with my first cities still being defended by Archers, like my capital having just an Archer and a Warrior. If there's a war, I upgrade selectively where the AI attacks. Of course, if there's a land war with an equal or stronger enemy, I will garrison the most likely target city heavily, but most of the time, it's possible to get away with minimal defenses at most cities.

 

[sydhe]

Ancient: Warriors, unless I start off with hunting, then Archers and/or Axemen
Medieval: Macemen
Renaissance: Grenadiers and Musketeers
Modern: Infantry

I do like to upgrade, especially near my borders.

 

[General Failure]

It depends on my money, situation and city placement.

Border cities get a decent garrison, with the most modern defending units, 2 - 4 depending on situation and location. Cities on a hill get 2, important lowland cities 4.
Core cities tend to be underdefended with only 1, maybe 2 units. I keep a mobile force behind my border to attack any intruders that might get through.

If I expect a war, and I can afford it, as many units as possible will be upgraded. The ones with high promotions come first. Cities that I expect to be attacked get a beefed up garrison. Against a strong attacker, this can be as many as 6 - 8 units.

If I am isolated, no barbarians, I tend to focus on my navy, to catch any invaders before they land. It's easier to sink galleons than to take out a stack of infantry/cannon.

I tend to keep a mixed force in my border cities, since this makes them more difficult to take.

General Failure

 

[Reprisal]

Medieval to Early Renaissance: two Longbowman, a Crossbowman, a Pikeman, one or two Catapults with Barrage upgrades, and a couple Knights with Flanking I and Flanking II.

This is obviously best case scenario, but it tends to work well-enough. I usually have the catapults lying around after getting Trebuchets.

 

[drkodos]

I'm addicted to the Power Graph and am an admitted upgrade junkie. This compels me to do whatever possible to generate large sums of coinage to keep my city defenses pimped-out with the latest cutting edge, techno units in each era.

 

[General Failure]

I'm addicted to the Power Graph and am an admitted upgrade junkie. This compels me to do whatever possible to generate large sums of coinage to keep my city defenses pimped-out with the latest cutting edge, techno units in each era.

I suffer from the same addiction. I just can't stand the sight of warriors in the city when I am in the modern era.... I want Mech. Infantry. I want Jet Fighters...and ooohhh, those Modern Armor sure look nice... Me want...

Unfortunately, I usually lack the cash necessary for this kind of military spending.

General Failure

 

[AfterShafter]

Lightest I can get away with in any era. Outdated units in non-vulnerable cities (I love gifting my few extra warriors to buddies I play with when the modern era hits). I have more important things to do with my gold income than unnecessarily upgrade units.

 

[Zink]

my inner cities just have my starting units throughout the entire game.
border cities get 1-2 up-to-date defender units generally, unless theres an agressive civ next to me. in that case i stack 3-4 defenders, 2-3 collateral damage units and a few good attackers.
if my borders are along the ocean i stack 1-2 larger forces in reach of those cities to come to the rescue if i do get invaded.

 

[Tee Kay]

depends. usually i don't build too many archer units since they are practically useless beyond city walls. Normally I keep 1-2 archery in inner cities while in border cities I keep 1 archery and 2-5 of other types of units (usually 2 anti-melee, 2 anti-cavalry and 1 mounted) or more depending on the size of the opposing army.
From renaissance on though I use rifles and grenadiers backed up with cavalry. But then I rarely defend at cities but I would rather send a raiding party of a few mounted units/melee out to attack AI stacks in the open. Maybe my method is flawed, but that's the way I play.

 

[vyapti]

I've had more problems with pillaging than SODs. I keep anti-horse & melee units on my borders more than archers--and siege if I expect to be attached.