How to Deal with a Powerful Empire?

[iamdanthemansta]

In one of my current games there are only three civs left including me. I'm the third biggest civ and I'm at war with the second biggest one which I winning. When I win the war my civ still will only be as big as the biggest civ. How can I prepare and fight a civ that's had that much time and size to get good techs and strong units? I'm also worried since they're the Illians so they'll probably go for Auric at some point.

 

[hipifreq]

When faced with what looks like impossible odds in an all-out war I would recommend:

A. Hole up your defenses along the border and go for the ToM

B. Hole up your defenses along the border and go for the AotL

C. Hole up your defenses along the border, pump to 100% and go for a culture victory

Just because you WANT a domination/conquest doesn't mean you can always get it.

Then again, never underestimate the ability of the "j" AI to trip over it's own cluster- of archers

 

[Marksman77]

What civ are you playing and whom do you want to fight?

 

[Angrenost]

Declare war on them, wait for them to move into your territory and kill them off using your roads and terrain to your advantage. Illians are more easily killed outside their cold areas (winterborn) anyway. When you think you don't have to wait anymore continue as usual.

 

[readercolin]

step 1 - get AoE damage units (mages w/ maelstrom, ritualists with RoF, chalid, etc.)
step 2 - get stack defenders - high strength units with lots of first strikes/defensive strikes - crossbowmen w/ blitz work very well here, as do illusionary units (gibbon and earth elementals, etc.)
step 3 - get your pwnage units - units with high attack, movement, blitz, etc.
step 4 - get healers - several units with medic 3, so they can cast heal once you're done attacking
step 5 - get blinding light/slow, and cast it on all enemy AI units

Now take and combine these guys, go forth, smash and burn all his cities to the ground. Don't bother worrying about capturing them - he's the last guy left, right? If you encounter a large AI stack, then fort up on a hill or something, cast AoE on them, blinding light/slow, and pick away at them. Once you've killed the primary stack, you can just mow down the rest of his cities with little trouble.

Alternatively, spam champions, or whatever you want to use until your stack is bigger than his... good luck with that one

-Colin

 

[Lgaard]

Declare war on them, wait for them to move into your territory and kill them off using your roads and terrain to your advantage.

I can only add, that building Nox Noctis (if you still can, but I assume Illians were not beelining for religious techs) followed by massive investment in offensive units (incl. catapults/cannons & assassins) will help much.

 

[iamdanthemansta]

Thanks for the advice. Someone asked who I was playing as and who the more powerful was. In this game in particular I'm playing as the Bannor and the more powerful empire was the Illians. I had just about finished off the Balseraphs when the Illians invaded. Since my main army was on the other side of the continent the Illians took a few boarder cities before I could move my army into position. My main problem in the war now is that while my army is more powerful then theirs in a small battle, I've managed to kill there heros and Van is closing in on level 20, they have a big economy and tech advantage so they seem to attack everywhere. While I was taking back some of my cities they launched a second assault and took my capitol. Now I can't decide if I should try to produce enough troops to secure any city I take, my army is already undersized since I didn't have time to build up before the war, or start razing there cities to slow down there production. To make matters worse I'm pretty sure they just completed the Draw but I am close to getting Righteousness.

I've never played as the Bannor before the crusade civic is interesting but in the end being in one for too long limited my development a lot more than I realized.

 

[FireBlaze]

Turn on crusade and swarm them to death. Also, bring fire. Lots of it.

 

[Marksman77]

He says he already is in crusade.

This is what I'd probably do (mind that I'm only an average player)
1. Retake the capital.
2. Think about the possible attack routes for the AI.
3. If possible make it so that it takes more time to reach you (destroy roads in neutral/enemy territory).
4. Do you have any mages? Any means to slow down enemy stacks or do collateral damage to them? Try to get some and for some time focus on destroying incoming enemy stacks, in the same time build up your offensive force. Good defense isn't necesarrily lots of units in all cities, more effective is some units in cities plus mobile force that can be pushed to endangered area plus some offensive units.
5. Do some pillaging along the border.
6. When you feel that you may assign some units for offensive without harm to your defensive capabilities pay Illians a visit. He's the last player, so it's more effective to raze his cities than to keep them. Also pillage for gold.


If they've really just completed the Draw it is a short term advantage for you. This ritual depopulates their cities and damages their units, right?

 

[Grey Fox]

Split them in half and eat them with a fork.

 

[Veqryn]

is it an AI or a human?
if it is human, and they have had all the time you've been at war to prepare to win, then you should be screwed
if it is AI, just toy with their stacks with your magic, while beating face in some other front... it may take a while but there is no way you can't beat an AI

 

[iamdanthemansta]

Just to update with the end of my little story. I got stomped by the Illians in the end. They just had too many troops. They were attacking in three different places and eventually overwhelmed me and killed my heroes. I tired to get Basium in for help but it was too late and they got a domination victory. I checked in world builder afterwords and the Illians had every one of 15 cities producing units versus my about 5 that were able to. I just couldn't get enough stuff out to compete with them.

 

[WCH]

Got a save from around the time you posted this thread? Would be interesting to post it and see if others can beat it... people like Veqryn who seem sure that the AI isn't so tough.

 

[zeph2k]

wow. i would love to be in an end game situation and think that the AI can "stomp" me. what version of FF were you playing? any mods or game settings?

 

[iamdanthemansta]

I'm not sure how well these will work since I was using patch H but then went back to g but here they are. The first save is a lot earlier than the second:
View attachment Crusade 1.CivBeyondSwordSave
View attachment Crusade 2.CivBeyondSwordSave