[GS] Mid game war help

[RaidandTrade]

I’ve had a decent start as Alexander with Sweden and Spain conquered and am now looking westward. I’ve got Bombards and muskets mainly with some crossbows ready to upgrade in a couple of turns.

(I’m on Emperor and On-line speed FWIW).

Looking at the map, I’m seeing two problems with the upcoming battle and wanted to get some advice:

Spoiler Map :

Problem 1: Loyalty

If I take Kwila, it’s going to flip due to pressure so current thinking is to burn it to the ground and march through to Heidelberg. Alternatively, wondering if I should go for Mbamba then Kwila to get the citizen count up to counter the pressure and then go for Heidelberg.

Problem 2: City Strength vs Bombards

Bombard strength is only 55 which could do for Mbamba but I’m actually wondering if the attack on Heidelberg is even feasible against Defense of 69 or whether my units are going to get smashed before doing any significant damage to the walls. I have 2 generals so can potentially move and fire in the same turn.

Thoughts or suggestions appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[RaidandTrade]

For the curious, attacked Kwila and brought it to nil health but didn’t take it. Kept a field cannon close by to keep its health down. Figured I’d get a few cities low and take all in one turn to counter the loyalty issue.

Dutifully went to work on Mbamba but by then they’d got cavalry so City Defense up to 72. It was tedious. Move into range with GG and fire then get slammed by city and retreat to heal. Got the walls down to about a third health then lost first bombard as the crossbow army garrison did what the city alone couldn’t.

Congolese Cavalry Corps were battering my troops left and right and the replacement bombards were too far away. In the meantime, Heidelberg’s City Defense leaps to the mid 90s and Germany has Armies on patrol when I’ve just got to Corps.

By this point I was also at war with Russia in order to condemn their heretics in my lands. Spain’s two cities couldn’t generate enough faith to fight the wave of religious units and Russia had already converted everyone else except Spain so had to unconvert myself and keep Spain Catholic.

What a mess. Restart.

Conclusions: Need to be further in front in science and not as far behind in culture for mid game city conquest.

 

[Haig]

Saw this too late for giving advice, but I always like to read these gameplay stories anyway..

France is good for getting lots of culture and then getting to form corps and armies with their garde imperiale.

America is also fun for combine of culture and warfare.