How do you kill an immortal SoD?!

[popejubal]

This is really a question for all levels: WHat's the use in attacking an enemy stack with Siege in your territory?
If you attack with Siege, the enemy will gain promotions, sit down to heal, and then rape you anyways. And it lets them open up a second front against you by making their attacks roughly simultaneous, not staggered.

I also recently discovered that you get more XP when you're in your own territory - even if you haven't built the Great Wall!

I'm going to use both halves of that information to my advantage. I like attacking an opponent enough to give them a Great General (as long as I get enough of a return on my investment to make the assault worthwhile overall) since the AI generally settles the GG in a good production city. I like getting a Great General without bumping up my points required for the next. I like getting my own Great Generals too.

Also, you get to heal quite a bit faster when you're in your own territory, so you can attack with the siege, run the units back to a city (if they survived) and then attack again with the same siege units just a couple turns later. Just a few siege units sacrificed will make the rest of the stack a piece of cake to run down with about 0 further casualties on your own side. Building the Siege units under Theocracy or Vassalage is a big help since 5 XP gets two promotions and you're not going to get more than 1XP per battle no matter what the odds are.

Last thought on Siege units. Catapults are better than Trebuchets for attacking in the field. Trebuchets are better than Catapults for attacking cities. Cannons are better than either - especially since Cannons ignore City Walls/Castles. Anybody know if Castles/City Walls make Cannons and Artillery bombardment rates slower, though?

 

[Malician]

Assuming you're killing him 6-1, and you have 30 units, he's got 180 units.

I never ever wanna play immortal now..

Edit: Honestly, I used to have army problems too. Some cities are just good for nothing but buildings units or wealth, and if you pump units in those cities instead of racking up unnecessary buildings, you'll do fine. Heroic Epic city should always pump units.

 

[6K Man]

I don't play Immortal, but as has been noted, you'll want some siege and flanking units. A stack like yours composed of just 1-2 unit types has too many vulnerabilities when you are at tech parity, and even when you have the tech advantage, as your example shows.

But if you do have a tech advantage, I recommend nukes as good SoD busters.

 

[Learningciv]

You had 30 units, that is far too few in the rifleman era.

Tech slightly slower, build more units.

30 is plenty

Taking advantage of tech advantages is key.

Also worth noting I have never seen a stack of 180+ AI units who are medieval.

 

[mirthadir]

It is quite possible to take down AI SoD, the best exchange ratios I've managed have been with CG I/ Drill IV MGs on a hill against Shaka. In general you can beat an enemy SOD by using collateral damage, flanking damage and high defensive multipliers, CR abuse, nukes, diplomacy or avoidance.

This first two have been covered quite well. Toss some cannons at the SoD and then mop up (though I prefer flight based collateral). Toss some mounted units (preferably flankering II in your own territory) and kill the siege and hide behind walls.

The next are actually superior, but are more situational. Most AI SoD are high on crap promos and bring few good city defenders. Leaving a sacrificial city open to to an enemy SoD often lets the AI waltz in and become bait for your CR troops. Most dramaticly a CR III cannon hoses non-CG rifles with ease. Even a strategically place neutral territory fort can allow you to make kill zones for your CR troops.

Tac nukes are the most hammer efficient units in the game, bar none, at killing AI stacks; ICBMs are close. Two tac nukes and the entire SoD is pretty much toast. Scouting and sub based premption go a long way. A nuke monopoly is the most powerful military monopoly in the game.

Avoidance is far more complicated, but makes use of the fact that the AI SoD tends to be a slow leviathan. Prior to engineering you can match the move rate of the AI SoD in its own land by running HA, chariots or maybe even knights with spies in the time it takes the AI SoD to take down the walls on you border city you can take 3 cities; if the AI SoD chases you inside its own territory you can split and run. This works best if you control the AP and can vote in peace when you secure a temporary advantage. In a like vein naval transport gives you back equal mobility along the coast and can allow you to trade some crappy border tundra city for an enemy cap/shrine replete with wonders. The best shot is, of course, to decimate the AIs transportation network, and the only real way to get a mobility advantage after RR. Spies, choppers, and missiles work well at pillaging down tiles. A good carrier/sub force with paratroopers/marines can handily trap an enemy SoD 6 moves away from the action by which time you have blitzed half the enemy's interior.

Diplomacy is often the cheapest answer. Get a war started between your target and someone else, somehow. Then the SOD is busy eslewhere and you can roll through.

 

[De Begerac]

I don't play Immortal, but as has been noted, you'll want some siege and flanking units. A stack like yours composed of just 1-2 unit types has too many vulnerabilities when you are at tech parity, and even when you have the tech advantage, as your example shows.

But if you do have a tech advantage, I recommend nukes as good SoD busters.

Hehe, I love your thinking, but then I have been playing way to much World in Conflict recently.

Cyrano