in battle / no resources help

[web25]

im playing the greeks for the 1st time and have no strategic resources. the aztecs are right next to me and i want their iron which is about 6 tiles from my border city. im already researching banking and astronomy trying to get to nationalism. im also in a golden age.

should I just defend until i get rifleman or try something else?

i got about 4 other civs in a war against them also.

i was stationed in a mountain with 5 hoplites to defend against their knights, i was getting killed even with the mountain bonus.

the greeks are fun though im killing it in tech and trying republic.

 

[Puppeteer]

Sure you're getting killed, but at 20 shields per unit. If you lose no more than three hoplites for every knight killed, you're still ahead on the shield vs shield battle. And fortified vet hoplites on a mountain: I like your odds. Also, if you get a stack of hoplites on that iron, they might have to stop making knights.

Riflemen suck at offense for their era. Let the hoplites drain their resources, then take ground with bowmen. Or even archers if you have to.

Are there horses within reach? You'll want those for cavalry if you're resource fortune changes with gunpowder.

 

[web25]

i have horses, but no saltpeter.
i retreated back to my territory and they stopped attacking. i did weaken them, no knights after awhile.
they have 5 iron sources, i dont think ive seen that many for one civ on a standard map. they are loaded with resources.

 

[justanick]

Your situation is actually kinda comfortable. Hoplites donnot need resources and are very efficient, more efficient than musketman. Longbowman are cheap and efficient attackers and can be supported by trebuchets. You just are lacking good units to fill an army up with once you get a MGL.

 

[Lanzelot]

If they have 5 deposits of iron and you are not able to conquer one of them by force, can't you simply buy one let's say for a tech?

(And iron is not that important in the early game! What do you need it for? Medieval Inf and Knights? -- Longbows can replace those, as justanick already pointed out.
Iron becomes important only in the industrial age for building railways. And by that time you should have conquered enough of the world to have some iron somewhere.)

 

[justanick]

Unless playing the greek having iron for pikemen is valuable. But mostly when playing the dutch for swiss mercenaries.

 

[web25]

I was only a few techs away from getting steam, so i didnt iron and coal which were only a few tiles apart. In the early game i tried to get a settler there but i had to go through 4 tiles of jungle, by the time i got there, thr aztecs built a city.

They werr attacking me with knights and longbowmen, i didnt even have horses. I attacked their nearest weak city to claim some horses. I was just in a bad spot on the map, top right corner.

 

[CommandoBob]

Can you post a save game?

 

[web25]

Ya next time i play, im almost completed it now.