Playing the Iroquois at Monarch level, I was comfortably in first place after a couple of wars. But the Russians, in fifth place out of eight, had stayed out of all wars and had six spaceship components built in 1804 (with only 12 cities). Moscow had to go. Fortunately, it was only two tiles from the water.
My invasion force consisted of the following:
Two settlers.
Two workers.
Eight artillery.
Eight tanks.
Twenty mechanized infantry, almost all conscripts, drafted from cities that had got bigger than 20.
Five transports, and two battleships for escort.
All 40 units went ashore at the same time, two tiles from Moscow. The Russians declared war, but 20 mech infantry can't be killed even with all the tanks on a continent arriving by train.
Next turn, I built a city and used a worker to add population so that I could rush a barracks. The artillery bombarded Moscow, two tiles away, while the mech infantry spread out into every workable square around the city. As soon as the airport and barracks were destroyed, Moscow was cut off and could not get new or strong defenders. Moscow foolishly attacked the beseiging forces weakening its defenders. After a couple of turns my tanks finished the city off.
I think this same tactic works further from the coast, but you have to use the extra settler to build a second city two tiles inland.
Conscript mech infantry lose some battles, but they are dirt cheap, and when they win they often get upgraded. They are now the core of my late-game army.
When the AI invades, it uses tanks, which are more expensive to accumulate since they can't be conscripted. I haven't seen the AI use conscripts for invasions, nor have I seen it land a really enormous force on one single tile. Perhaps this approach will make it possible to win at Emperor or Deity.
My invasion force consisted of the following:
Two settlers.
Two workers.
Eight artillery.
Eight tanks.
Twenty mechanized infantry, almost all conscripts, drafted from cities that had got bigger than 20.
Five transports, and two battleships for escort.
All 40 units went ashore at the same time, two tiles from Moscow. The Russians declared war, but 20 mech infantry can't be killed even with all the tanks on a continent arriving by train.
Next turn, I built a city and used a worker to add population so that I could rush a barracks. The artillery bombarded Moscow, two tiles away, while the mech infantry spread out into every workable square around the city. As soon as the airport and barracks were destroyed, Moscow was cut off and could not get new or strong defenders. Moscow foolishly attacked the beseiging forces weakening its defenders. After a couple of turns my tanks finished the city off.
I think this same tactic works further from the coast, but you have to use the extra settler to build a second city two tiles inland.
Conscript mech infantry lose some battles, but they are dirt cheap, and when they win they often get upgraded. They are now the core of my late-game army.
When the AI invades, it uses tanks, which are more expensive to accumulate since they can't be conscripted. I haven't seen the AI use conscripts for invasions, nor have I seen it land a really enormous force on one single tile. Perhaps this approach will make it possible to win at Emperor or Deity.
