Intercontinental Warfare

[jag2k2]

Man I need some help on this.

There is no other way to say this, I just plain suck at invading countries that are across the sea. I have always had trouble with it but now I'm playing on Monarch and my strategies are flat ineffective. I usually concentrate on building a huge army with lots of catapults. Last night I shipped this huge force overseas using an armada of gallaleons and planted them next to a mid size city of my weakest opponent.

My entire army was gone in less than four turns and I had not even put a dent in the city defenses.

Is there a thread or something that talks about this phase of the game? Thank you.

 

[futurehermit]

You need many more units than you think you will because it takes so long to send reinforcements.

Make sure you invade with no less than say 60 units that are on par with the tech pace of the nation you are invading.

It also helps to pick your targets wisely. It's always easier to invade a backwards country.

Finally, remember that by the time you are engaging in intercontinental warfare the stack sizes become huge and you need a LOT of units. So dump off one huge stack and send your ships back to bring another huge stack asap.

The first phase of the war is often establishing a beachhead by taking 1-2 cities and holding it until you can get peace. Then bring in stockpiles of units until you feel comfortable going to war again. Airlifting helps if you've hit that stage of the techtree and sending in bombers is easy and helps a lot.

 

[madscientist]

Some tips on intercontinental war

1) Escourt Galleons with Frigates, it's worth the wait for getting teh needed techs. Frigates offer protection but can bombard city defenses without worry of counter attack (at least from lend).
2) USe spis to send cities into revolt before attacking.
3) Bring units with Amphibious promotion and attack the cities directly from the Galeons. They are no succeptible to counter attck.
4) Bring highly promoted CG II or CG III units to protect cities.
5) Use cats from Galleons for the collateral damage, they die anyway and collateral damage is independent of the seabased attack penalty.
6) Bring mounted or armored units to more agressively attack to countryside
7) Try several attack points, them reboard the Galleons to heal. The AI will send troops that way, and away from the "real" attack location.
8) Bring more than enough troops. Buoilt reinforcement and send empty Galleons back for them.
9) Agressive pursue combustion and Assembly line for transports and destroyers, even if you have rifles, cannons, and cavalry.
10) Your army should not be predominantly seige weapons.
11) capture one city first that can be counter attacked from only one direction. Meaning don't try to take the capital right away if the AI can send troops from 4 different directions. Taking to northern or southern city first that can be defended easily helps more.
12) Airports ar ethe best way to bring in fresh troops. Machine guns (especially 2 in a city) are one of the best ways to defend a recently conquered city pre-industrialization.
13) If there are several AIs on the target contanent, take out the weakest first providing there are no defensive pacts.

Hope this helps.

 

[jag2k2]

Excellent suggestions.

I especially like the idea of keeping my siege weapons offshore. I hadn't thoughts of that. I have also been neglecting the use of spies so I will try that as well.

I definitely was not bringing 60 units. I notice that as I build these large armies for continental invasion, my first invaders become obsolete by the time I have a sizable army (say 25 units or so).

I was afraid the answer would be something like "you need a larger, amphibious army" and to a certain extent I guess that is the answer. Thank you again.

 

[xanadux]

An overseas invasion usually does better if you beeline to a military tech that gives you an advantage. Steel is a pretty obvious tech here ... you get the benefit of both cannon and drydocks. One thing that can work is establishing your beachhead on a forested hill if there is one you can land at. Land quite a few hill defenders (it's good to have had spies here earlier so you have an idea of the military units and numbers you will face), plus some cannon and attacking units. Machine guns with drill are good. Grenadiers or Rifles with Guerilla promotions. A medic 3 unit will help a great deal.

Grab the most defensible terrain and let the AI slaughter itself against your stack. One thing about taking cities, if your opponent still has a lot of units, a newly captured city isn't the best place to defend from.

 

[Big Boss Man]

Im new but i'll offer my advice . Great tips so far guys . Before i get to the over seas invasion phase of combat my army will hopefully contain some veteran units . Yes we pumped out a few early archers for the drill promotion and tried to level them up . During peace time we prepared cross bows so they can start with drill II ( 8 xp points ) . We have teched up to get rifles and now spend cash to upgrade them cross bows to drill riflemen . We will deploy over seas on defensive ground first and see who comes to greet us .
Time to scout their copper , iron , ivory , and such and pillage it . Our main thrust will be two port cities . The head and tail of the tiger if you will . Frigates can blockade any other ports left . Our navy will pound um to zero defences so we only have to bring cats or cannon to coll. dam defenders and mop up with drill rifles . Hope this was helpful

 

[xanadux]

Other possibilities:

Quick strikes on coastal cities. Best if you have spies and EPs for dropping defenses, but if you have combustion I think 6 destroyers work too. Takes a lot of pre-combustion ships to drop defenses. Unless an AI is preparing an invasion force, coastal cities are not usually highly defended. With spies to drop defenses, you can often capture a coastal city with a relatively small force. Post engineering, if you land, any AI mounted unit (other than elephants of course) within 6 squares will be able to attack before you have a chance to do anything. You can move in the same turn you Declare war with your transport ships, take the city that turn, raze it, sacrificing the unit that captured the city. The AI will send units to kill it, but will not know what you are going to do next, and you can then move your force on to the next coastal city. With a large enough force, and with transports, you can even raze two cities in one turn with the same taskforce.

Disadvantage ... amphibious penalty.
Advantage ... enemy has no time to concentrate it's forces, and you can cripple him by destroying cities without having to face the bulk of his military might. Obviously works best against empires with a good amount of coastal cities. Won't get you very far against an AI with 15 cities and only 2 of them coastal.

This can be a good tactic against a stronger opponent, even a more advanced opponent when you need to take him down a notch. AIs often also get a lot of their commerce from coastal cities, and by taking them out you may be able to tech to an advantage before continuing inland.

 

[johncross21]

I like to research astronomy reasonably early then explore

If i find another continent with a free tile I settle it. I defend it with walls, castles, long bows and keep on excellent terms with the neighbour (don't expand the borders too much).

if its a good site might build ironworks, heroic epic, academy

I had excellent results with a peninsular in BTS using statues wonder (extra hammers from water)

when I've cleared my own continent and buildt a land army, ship them in at leisure. that might be 200 or 300 years after first landing

 

[madscientist]

I like to research astronomy reasonably early then explore

If i find another continent with a free tile I settle it. I defend it with walls, castles, long bows and keep on excellent terms with the neighbour (don't expand the borders too much).

if its a good site might build ironworks, heroic epic, academy

I had excellent results with a peninsular in BTS using statues wonder (extra hammers from water)

when I've cleared my own continent and buildt a land army, ship them in at leisure. that might be 200 or 300 years after first landing

This is another good approach although I would never build a national wonder in a city that I cannot get emergency troops to real fast.

 

[lilnev]

I find the galleon age difficult -- I'd usually rather wait for Combustion.

Sometimes you can get Open Borders with someone else on the target's continent. That allows you to make a couple of trips with your galleons/transports and then attack overland rather than amphibiously.

Even better, try to bribe two civs into fighting each other. Once they're bled down, you can sweep in and claim cities easily.

peace,
lilnev

 

[dot]

I'm not sure whether that has been posted yet. Just looked over the posts briefly. A good way for Naval Invasion or Amphibious Warfare is the Sirian Doctrine. You'll find it in the paragraph under the fourth screenie!

 

[UncleJJ]

If you can get open borders with one of the nations on the other continent that will let you land a stack of troops and send your ships back for more before you declare war. That can save on the number of galleons.

If you can befriend one of the nations on the other continent, bribe them to help you in the war. They can keep a lot of the spare troops the target nation has occupied making your task simpler. Once you've established a few cities on the other continent you'll probably have to make a colony in BtS anyway as maintenance gets so expensive after 4 cities. Your Colony will help with conquest of other cities including ones you want to keep (holy cities and multiple wonders)

 

[seizer]

Stack defenders become very useful if you are attempting an intercontinental war. That usually means drill-promoted archery or gunpowder units, however don't forget to include some anti-cavalry units since most cavalry ignore first strikes. Apart from that, it might be worthwhile to land on a plot with a defensive bonus and stay there for a few turns to draw out enemy SoD. If they chose to reinforce the city instead of attacking, the collateral damage from your siege will be all the more powerful, allowing you to take out almost their entire army in one go.