How to conquer island scenarios

[way2hot2becool]

Introduction
Large islands and continents of a friend or foe cannot be conquered easily unless you have a land route from your territory; to theirs.

First Step- Establishing a land base

Every large landmass comes with a few strong civilizations and a LOT of weak ones. Essentially, you will not need a land base to conquer a weak enemy, but large civilizations come with plenty of money to support an enormous army, and a sizeable production. To overcome these, you need to make an extremely strong land base, either by settling neutral zone or by taking the land of a weak enemy.

If you have to create your base by settling neutral zone, make sure you get a zone where you can make a tidy profit on the side, either through luxuries or by resources.

If you are conquering a weak enemy, you may want to note that a land base must not be too large for two reasons; first, you need to concentrate your defensive forces in one area instead of spreading them and making them vulnerable. Later, if possible, you can expand your land base, but at the time being you want to get about 3-4 cities, ideally along the coast.

Second step- Fortify

Your land base does not need to be extremely productive, but you do want it to have plenty of culture to prevent it from going to the enemy via culture. Therefore, build a library, and if possible a Temple. After your territory has expanded, you have to start a conveyor belt of ships to that base. You want to fortify areas where the enemy soldiers will most likely come through. If you can support a MUCH larger military, fortify soldiers on the border, ideally 2-3 per square. Also, accompany them with a bombarding unit, such as a catapult/cannon/artillery/radar artillery.

Remember, you cannot afford to lose any cities, so fortify 5-6 units in each city.

Last step- Conquer

Now that you have created a land base, start bringing in attack units. Be sure to bring in enough units to conquer all the cities AND fortify the cities you have acquired. Remember, if you spread out your units, they become more vulnerable. Therefore, send out raiding parties consisting of 10-20 attack units. It may seem a lot, but you will see that strong civilizations will relentlessly attack your units.

Good Luck.

 

[Tomoyo]

First Step- Establishing a land base

Every large landmass comes with a few strong civilizations and a LOT of weak ones. Essentially, you will not need a land base to conquer a weak enemy, but large civilizations come with plenty of money to support an enormous army, and a sizeable production. To overcome these, you need to make an extremely strong land base, either by settling neutral zone or by taking the land of a weak enemy.

Sometimes, there are no neutral zone or weak enemies, so you have to settle in enemy terrtory or land your invasion force on a mountain next to an enemy city, and capture it (or raze and replace) and make that the base. You don't really need a base before the war.

If you are conquering a weak enemy, you may want to note that a land base must not be too large for two reasons; first, you need to concentrate your defensive forces in one area instead of spreading them and making them vulnerable. Later, if possible, you can expand your land base, but at the time being you want to get about 3-4 cities, ideally along the coast.

I think you mean strong instead of weak. Weak enemies should not be able to conquer your land base anyway.

Second step- Fortify

Your land base does not need to be extremely productive, but you do want it to have plenty of culture to prevent it from going to the enemy via culture. Therefore, build a library, and if possible a Temple. After your territory has expanded, you have to start a conveyor belt of ships to that base. You want to fortify areas where the enemy soldiers will most likely come through. If you can support a MUCH larger military, fortify soldiers on the border, ideally 2-3 per square. Also, accompany them with a bombarding unit, such as a catapult/cannon/artillery/radar artillery.

Fortify on the front? Doesn't work. Wastes too many resources and falls easily, since, once there is a breach, the rest of the line becomes useless. Tried and proven, sorry. Hole yourself up in the cities. Much more effective and cheap.

Remember, you cannot afford to lose any cities, so fortify 5-6 units in each city.

...that the AI can reach in once turn.

Last step- Conquer

Now that you have created a land base, start bringing in attack units. Be sure to bring in enough units to conquer all the cities AND fortify the cities you have acquired. Remember, if you spread out your units, they become more vulnerable. Therefore, send out raiding parties consisting of 10-20 attack units. It may seem a lot, but you will see that strong civilizations will relentlessly attack your units.

You can accompany the attack units with defensive units to prevent them from getting attacked. If your attack units are too fast for your defensive units, they shouldn't be getting attacked anyway because they should be able to reach the enemy city in one turn.

My main problem with this article is that you don't need a land base. At all. Especially one that spans multilpe cities. If you can get one that spans multiple cities, that sets off an alarm that says you're playing on too low a difficulty level, especially since there is neutral territory on a different continent.

At least this article is coherent and makes sense, I'll give you credit for that. Also, I'm sorry if I sound a bit mean; I don't usually praise articles anyway.

 

[502nd PIR]

I noticed you forgot about a major part of modern warfare. Air supperiority (i probably misspelled that). German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel once said, "The struggle in the air would decide the struggle on the ground." If you can control the air, you can usually win a war. Also, i agree with Tomoyo about the number of cities in your land base. But yea, this article does make sense. Well thats about all I have to say. Good luck and farewell comrade.

 

[WackenOpenAir]

Sorry, this "article" is ehm, how should i say it nicely..... Oh well, it ain't that good.

Just load 15 boats with strong units, sail back, get 15 boatloads more and run over those civ's. It really is that simple

If you can't bring enough force in one boatload to feel secure with your units there, make sure your first load includes a 2 defensive units and unload them on a coastal mountain. If you want to be even more sure (you are attacking a SID ai with 500 units for example) unclude an Army with defensive units inside, it will never be attacked.

 

[rysingsun]

If you want to be even more sure (you are attacking a SID ai with 500 units for example) unclude an Army with defensive units inside, it will never be attacked.

never say never ... if it's the only stack on the continent it may very well be attacked. a funny exploit is to try really hard to keep one unit on the continent that cannot be reached in a turn (much like the empty city exploit) to distract them from attacking the army. ive done this before by accident and was frustrated to watch a couple hundred troops chase after a worker.

gratz wacken on 2000 posts

the article is legitimate on the lower and medium levels. on sid i would say ... hmmm ... usually not.

 

[andis-1]

Bah, just wait for marines. Once you have them, you need several destroyers and carrier full of bombers. Use destroyers to redline city defenders, kill'em with bombers, and send the marine to occupy the empty city. Then bring all your transports in the city, unload, and conquer all enemy cities. You can wipe out whole civilizations in one turn with that tactic.

 

[andis-1]

never say never ... if it's the only stack on the continent it may very well be attacked.

No, it wont. Once I blocked a penisula with a swordsmen army while enemy had cavalry, and plenty of them. This penisula was the only way they could use to attack me, and though they could have easily killed the army, they didn't even try to. AI is just that stupid...