I suck at war...

[teachingking]

Title says it all.

I can win deity level games via Tech, but that is about it. I absolutely suck at waging war. It seems my timing is always bad and my troops are never strong enough. Furthermore, when I try to wage war, I just find myself getting bogged down and falling further behind.

How do I determine what caliber of troops are going to be necessary to take down a city with 'X' amount of defense? Is there a general rule of thumb?

Also, how to time properly?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kb27787]

I have the same trouble...
(it's not the capturing city part... AI sucks against artillery and then planes with anti-air in general, but it's how to deal with the warmonger hate afterwards...)
Getting bogged down is also a major problem if you don't have hammers to spare...

 

[Moriarte]

Title says it all.

I can win deity level games via Tech, but that is about it. I absolutely suck at waging war. It seems my timing is always bad and my troops are never strong enough. Furthermore, when I try to wage war, I just find myself getting bogged down and falling further behind.

How do I determine what caliber of troops are going to be necessary to take down a city with 'X' amount of defense? Is there a general rule of thumb?

Also, how to time properly?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Approximately 3:1 kills a unit. Applies to cities and units. So, if you're facing a defence 30 city with a 7 strength composite - you're in trouble. Retreat or prepare to lose some units.

Try building an independent economy and play the diplo game well. That's the only way to win domination on deity.

 

[Bulldog Bats]

If you intend to hit the warpath, make friends further away. Keep the trading partners as long as possible. Also, look for the civs with the happiness WWs.

 

[Memoryjar]

IMHO (correct me, if I'm wrong please) :
Archers - until city strength = 15
Crossbow - until 24/25
Crossbowman - until 30/32
Artillery - I don't care about city strength.
After, I hope to have flight first. Sometimes rush Ballistics.
Since a recent times, I use to build siege weapons on Immortal and Deity. One or two, at first, to accelerate damages. After Machinery, I just upgrade my CB and build trebuchet, canon, waiting for artillery.

If you have same feedback for naval units, I'm interested. I don't use to go early naval warfare.

I'm looking for the penalty modifier. It decreases after some turns from major to minor. When it fajj to minor, I take the city. Before, I look at diplo screen, try to have DoF and check if I yet have a warmonger minus. After, it's just a choice between Domination (so I don't care about warmonger penalty) and other VC.

PS : I suck at war too.
PPS : Moriarte Iroquois Deity LP is wonderful to learn how to manage economy and warfare.

 

[Resipsa]

IMHO (correct me, if I'm wrong please) :
Archers - until city strength = 15
Crossbow - until 24/25
Crossbowman - until 30/32
Artillery - I don't care about city strength.

Those are good numbers but its somewhat flexible in regards to terrain. I keep Xmen going longer though by making a pikeman attack the city so it gets focused down. You get rid of your pikes and hopefully get a few more cities in the process.

 

[teachingking]

Thanks for the info.

What is the distinction between Crossbow and Crossbowman though? Did you mean Composite vs. Crossbow?

 

[Memoryjar]

I did.
I always forget CB means Composite and not Crossbowman.

 

[sschmalz]

Approximately 3:1 kills a unit.

Is this true? I've never paid close enough attention. Is this to say that a 9 strength unit at full health in range of a 30 strength city can die in one turn of city bombardment?

 

[Moriarte]

Check this article by Vexing if you want precise numbers.

 

[sschmalz]

Check this article by Vexing if you want precise numbers.

First observation in this article is that ranged units (incl siege?) have significantly higher defense against ranged attacks than their combat strength suggests, and I assume that stands for city bombardment as well. In other words, if the 3:1 ratio is applicable to melee units for example, then it would not seem to also apply to ranged units.

Secondly, this 3:1 ratio thing is over-mathing me, and I work with numbers for a living... It would really have to be simplified for me to totally grasp what I'm reading. Not that I don't believe it, I'm just having difficulty understanding how it applies. I can just barely follow along with the example of a 22.5 strength melee unit attacking a 30 strength city. Not to mention that example doesn't even help me, i.e. I'm really much more interested in the amount of damage a unit takes from city bombardment.

 

[Moriarte]

The kill ratio (2.7:1, according to the article) applies to city bombardment, melee and siege (etc), but, if Vexing is right, ranged units use their ranged strength as combat strength, when defending.

 

[sschmalz]

The kill ratio (2.7:1, according to the article) applies to city bombardment, melee and siege (etc)

Good enough for me. That's a pretty great rule of thumb. Thanks for referencing