How to take down big cities?

[phatlip]

A promotion that increases the unit's chance of retreating, I think

Thats it.

Has anyone else noticed that the battles seem to very one the side of the AI? I'm using several cavalry to take down one of their - when attacking.

When i attack cities i have a 3:1 loss, when they attack its more like 1.5:1

Is this me not getting the correct promotions, attacking over poor terrain - or just the way it is?

 

[Cu Chulainn]

No idea. I just finished a lengthy campaign vs Russia (finished em just before they got Cossacks, phew!) only losing about 5 units the entire war. I am incredibly lucky but really the only secret is to never attack a town getting any bonus and don't let them have any strategic resources.

I don't know what the worry about longbows is, I never once saw them defeat my rifles or cavs, when I got infantry it got even easier. The only thing I ever had to worry about was the rather effective guerilla warfare they were waging on my smaller stacks with grenadiers.

 

[Robben]

I found Grenadiers very effective against longbowmen - you just better have them promoted, like someone said. In my last game I had quite lots of gold and my units were built with two promotions in the start (another from some wonder?) I realized in my situation it was actually smarter to build pikemen instead of grenadiers - pikemen get City Raider (+20%) option as first promotion, Grenadiers do not. So, I built pikemen and promoted them twice as City Raiders, then upgraded them to Grenadiers by paying the required gold... Very effective and fast way to build units to take down cities! Then I just hammered the city defenses with my catapults and the grenadiers handled the rest.

Edit: And of course, the difficulty of the battles depends on the level you are playing. With easy level you can probably capture enemy capital by sending in few cows. Longbowmen with tougher settings do cause trouble as they get good defensive unit bonuses in addition to other terrain etc. bonuses.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Okay, I played and pillage doesn't seem to be a good idea. It took quite awhile for them to starve, and they were producing units like mad (They have Heroic Epic - I looked in the editory). Just a waste of time, especiallly considering the city would be mine eventually.

I'm thinking the only valid tactic is to have a huge stack of offensive units and hope it is enough.

 

[remconius]

If you sacrifice a few siege units you shouldn't need to lose any other units.

Basic Technique to take over cities:

The army
Make sure you bring mixed arms, in order to counter any unit the enemy might have, spearman for mounted units, axemen against melee, swordsmen against cities. Bring several siege units per city you plan to capture. Build units with barracks, and +exp civics. Promote each unit for the opponent you are up against. +archery, +melee, city raider, etc. Promote some siege units with collateral and city bombardment or double collateral.

The attack
1. Move your units next to the city. If the enemy has siege units make sure you're stacks are not too big to avoid collateral damage.
2. Use your siege (with city bombard) to attack city defense to 0 or at least below 10%.
3. If you have enough siege units, you can continue, otherwise end turn.
4. Attack the city with your high collateral damage siege units. Yes, just barge right in. They will probably get slaughtered, but your goal is not to win but weaken multiple units.

That they die is a game balancing concept to avoid them being overpowered like civ 3. Basically what you are doing is swinging the odds in your favor. Going up against 10 units with 9 power might be impossible, but after 5-6 siege weapons they should be around 1-3 power and it's just a mob up.

5. Move in your land units, countering whatever is in the city where possible to help the odds more.

You should be able to take the city with minimal losses. Just heal up, replace siege units and continue

 

[Ephor]

I just build nukes.

But yea, conquest can be a pain during the turn of the 19th century unless you already have stacks and stacks of siege and the latest and greatest strength unit. Once the ICBMs and stealth bomers get discovered, though, it's on.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Nice summary Remconius.

The funny thing is that I have riflemen, which are 1 step above the first "gun" units, Musketmen, and I still have catapults. Cannons don't come until later in the tech tree with steel and by that time I have Infantry/Marines (I forget which exactly).

Catapults *suck* at collateral damage vs. rifles.

 

[remconius]

Yeah, I think they intentionally built in a kind of natural cease-fire period when rifles are invented and another one around infantry. You can continue to fight, but it might make sense to take a break and resume once you get your cannons.

 

[CitizenCain]

Thats it.

Has anyone else noticed that the battles seem to very one the side of the AI? I'm using several cavalry to take down one of their - when attacking.

When i attack cities i have a 3:1 loss, when they attack its more like 1.5:1

Is this me not getting the correct promotions, attacking over poor terrain - or just the way it is?

It's something you're doing wrong. Next time, before you attack an enemy unit, click on the tile you're attack and hold that for a little bit, and you'll see a combat odds display in the bottom left, giving you not only the odds of winning, but a breakdown of everyone's bonuses. That should give you a better idea of what's going on.

 

[ytsejam02]

Can any of the ships reach the city for bombardment? I've annihilated coastal cities with boads, especially in the time period it looks like you're in.

At any rat,e if you can, stack a bunch of ships near them and bombard the hell out of them!

 

[Bob1475]

Definitely bombard with naval units - you won't get collateral damage but you can knock down the defenses. Personally I would scout out the other cities to see if he has them similarly protected. Leave his capital for later after you get promotions - key here is to get the right promotions and you need to beat up on somebody before taking on Mongols!

 

[MeteorPunch]

You can get the same effect as bombarding with ships just using catapults. I would use ships (frigates), but I didn't have the tech yet.