Mecca

[Captain_Jack]

I have played a few games with Arabia as my neighbor. They are always hostile and I have ended up attacking Mecca several times. It has always been a bloodbath. Has anyone else had the same experience as me, namely that is way more difficult to lay siege to Mecca than other cities?

 

[tjs282]

I'm not sure that it's anything specifically about Mecca/Arabia: attacking any AI-capital will (almost) always be bloodier than attacking a 'normal' AI-city of the same size, because the AI (nearly) always stuffs its capital — and also its GWonder-towns — with (a lot) more defender-units than it puts into a 'normal' town (which normally only get 2-3 permanently stationed defenders).

Playing even just at Emperor-level, when I've built Embassies, I've sometimes seen up to 8-10 Spears in their cap. Once out of the Ancient Age, bombardment-units (preferably Trebs or better) become almost essential for sieging/capturing AI-capitals.

 

[Captain_Jack]

Thanks. I was fixated on taking the town and built ten cannon. That did the trick.

 

[Lanzelot]

Moderator Action: I have moved the thread into the General Discussions forum, as I think it is not exactly GOTM-specific.

 

[Jivilov]

Main trouble with bombard units is they slow down offensives to a crawl. Better to have a stack of fast units like Knights or Cavalry, with one or more Armies of same.

OTOH in Industrial Age or beyond Artillery is practically indispensable for taking out Metros, even with Tank Armies. In a recent game on Emperor Hiawatha was already cranking out Modern Armor while myself (as Inca), Gandhi and Joan were still in Industrial Age. Yet with four Armies and lots of Artillery (along with help from my allies) I captured the Iroqouis UN city and destroyed three others. Unfortunately I split my forces; the RoP with Gandhi was due to expire and I feared he'd cancel it, leaving my guys isolated in enemy territory. One Army and five Arty (out of about thirty or so) were recalled to home territory as a precaution which probably blew the opportunity to take the last Metro between my forces and Hiawatha's capital. Once that attempt misfired and my capital got nuked the game was over (I'd also failed to produce ICBMs after Hi did the Manhattan Project, thus forfeiting retaliation).

Long story short, Artillery with its superior range and firepower is worth waiting for. Cannon or less not so much. Then again, it depends.

EDIT: Since Satellites and Aluminum are required for ICBMs there was no way for an Industrial Age civ to retaliate . Gimme a break folks, just got back to Civ after a couple years' hiatus.

 

[justanick]

Well, trebuchets and cannons are mostly useful for defending. They are good to wear down units that entered your territory(or just adjacent to it). They help your offensive units beat them with minimal losses. Your offensive units become elite units and eventualy they produce a leader to create an army. With armies then you can take cities well.

 

[Jivilov]

Agreed, although personally prefer devoting shields to offensive units. Conquests has many variables which lend themselves to different strategies.

EDIT: In a current game on Emperor as Lincoln have used Trebs against Pikes and Muskets in towns and Cannon against Muskets in cities. Both did so well in reducing defenders few Knight or Cavalry were lost in separate wars against Hannibal and Pachacuti. Think I'll add some Cannon to the siege train before heading for the Incan capital.

Happy gaming folks!

 

[Theov]

capitals are always better defended than other towns and cities get a def bonus over towns.
So yeah, capitals are almost always hard to conquer.