How to capture a city?

I'm pretty new at civ III and for the life of me i can't conquer a city if its defended by more than 2 or 3 units. So far im playing in the ancient era and I've attempted 3 times to capture a city using a swordsman, archers, and spearmen. each time i've invaded ive brought in 8 to 10 units and this last time brought in a catapult(would've brought more but the terrain wouldn't allow me) perhaps im to used to civ 5 but i really need help.

 

If you can get one cat there you should be able to get more-they can all stack with your army. If you've got swordsmen those should be your main attackers. The more the merrier-10-12 at least. 6-10 cats too-they won't do as much as you like but redlining as much of the defense as you can is the key-then you commit the swords.
Archers won't do as well-a last ditch attempt at a redlined spearman, maybe. And of course your spearmaen are for defense only. And hopefully you are attacking spears or swords-not a phalanx or another 3 defender. But a good siege train and a concentrated stack of swords is the key. Good luck.

 

Make sure you build a barracks. It is a little expensive but it's worth it because you will produce veterans instead of the three hitpoint rgular.

Also, make sure you are on chieften difficulty because they other difficulties make your sucess lower.

 

Bombard the City.... build those Catapults.

 

On my newest attempt i brought in 4 catapults and they all missed. I think i should mention I'm attempting to invade greece wich has hopilites. should I wait till i can bring in midevil infantry? I'm also playing on monarch which is kinda embaresing since i can play immortal on civ5 with no problem.

 

It is difficult to take a city unless you can bring technologically superior units, a stack of artillery to soften up the defense, and/or overwhelming numbers.

Defenders always have an edge with the various defense bonuses (from city size, city improvements, terrain, fortification), so you will always lose quite a few more attackers than your opponent will lose in defenders unless you have much more technologically superior units or you soften them up with artillery.

Keep in mind too that defenders in a city with a barracks will heal fully by the next turn if they survive an attack, and failed attacks against them earn then promotions to veterans and elite, so they actually get tougher if they survive until the next turn.

 

Keep pounding away,,,,, you will get it eventually. 10-15 catapults would be better 4 - you should get at least a 50% hit/miss ratio at some point. Swords are good attackers if no Medieval Infantry yet - add a few horsemen.... "Tora, Tora, Tora".

 

One thing that cannot be overcome is hatred by the pRNG gods. If the gods be against you, you're toast! believe me I speak from experience. (also - Hoplites are a bad choice for early wars. I need cav armies to take them out.)

 

Hoplites in a town especially if it has geography on its side make a tough nut to crack in the ancient age bombard as much as possible and hit with lots of swords you will loose lots but should cap the town off eventually.

Oh and theres no need to bring spears as swords defend just as well.

 

Well after reading everyones advice I learned a few new things about civ3 and now realize that I should just hold off my invasion. I'm in the process of out tech'ing them so I think I'll just dig in and wait.

 

It sounds like waiting until you have Medieval Infantry would be a good idea. Hoplites are the equal to Swordsmen without any bonuses. If they're on a hill, they get a 50% bonus, if the city has walls, another 50%, and since they'll be fortified, that's 25% more... so you are looking at a 75% to 125% bonus - a strength of 5.25 to 6.75 versus your 3. That's a big difference. Generally, if I'm warmongering in the ancient age and can fight someone other than Greece, I prefer to.

The difficulty levels between Civ versions are not necessarily comparable to each other. In my opinion, Civ5 is definitely the easiest Civ for the difficulty levels. I found it pretty easy to run over the AI in my first game at level 5 (can't remember if that's King or Emperor), whereas in Civ3 I mostly win on Monarch, and in Civ4 I usually win on Noble. So, going down a few levels and still struggling isn't too surprising.

Against a couple regular Spearmen on flat land, without walls, 5 Swordsmen should be enough to guarantee victory, and 3 would have fairly good odds. But you're facing a tougher opponent.

 

You may have read this somewhere, but it bears repeating. Stack your units, unlike Civ 5. Make sure that your whole attack force arrives, and attacks from the same square on the same turn. You will see the AI trickle in troops, and attack in onsie-twosies; don't follow their lead. If you spread out your attacks, your enemy has a chance to heal (if the target city has a barracks) or move in reinforcements. Make a stack, bombard first, then attack.
Other tactical suggestions: look for rivers, and make sure that you're NOT attacking a city across a river. If you can get your forces up on a hill next to the target city, even better.

 

Note that attacking from a Hill tile only helps in that your defence bonus is increased on counterattack.

 

Biggest problems attacking cities:

-Greek Hoplites (masters of defense well through the mid-middle age era and guarantor of enemy golden age as soon as you attack them)
-Cities on hills (defense bonus)
-Attacking across a river (huge defense bonus)
-Cities with walls *or* over 6 population (defense bonus)

It's most fun to attack with better units, but barring that you can bring a big-a** stack of catapults--most of which will miss--and a big stack of attackers. Or find a better way to expand your empire until the advantage is yours.

The healthiest defender is shown on the city, so if you keep track you can get a count of how many defenders there are (although archers or warriors can be "hiding" under hurt Hoplites or spears) and how healthy they are. If the city has a barracks the defenders will fully heal each turn, so you generally have to pound them down and kill as many as you can in one turn or it's a loser's battle.

So in short, your options are:
- Don't attack now
- Bring a big-a** stack of catapults and attackers and try to kill all or most defenders in one turn.

 

At a tactical level I have learned recently that artillery (incl. catapults) is the key to succes. Also the advice given above, about building barracks to produce veteran units, is not to be underestimated. Crossing rivers is simply NO GO!!!

On a strategic level you may want to cut off their supply line by stacking a few defensive units on the other side of the city. You will typically need to insert them from the sea side, so prepare well. Also you may want to distract possible reinforcements and counter attacks by landing a small attack force in the other end of their land a couple of turns before your main invasion. With a bit of luck the AI will relocate it's units to that spot, giving you a couple of turns to deal with your main target without interference.

But again: ARTILLERY. You can't get enough. Red their bars, and you can smack them with even low rate attack units.

Oh, and bring a number of defensive units to 1) defend your newly captured city, and 2) to defend the artillery for one turn, untill you can move it into the city.

Good hunting.

 

As said, the more catapults you have, the better. And if you're playing with the Byzantines, don't forget your fire-triremes can bombard too. Plus, they're transports