Need help with wars

[w2w2w]

I was never good with wars on civilization infact the only thing I ever conquered was a barbarian city on the settler difficulty. I only use soldiers for the civic which gives for every soldier in the city (thats the only good idea I know early in the game to avoid mad citizens). I am usually far more advanced than other civilizations but even so I still cant conquer a nation and I dont want to be a warring civilization otherwise I cant build wonders quickly and research techs. how can I still be able to be good at wars and still be able to be successful.

 

[wickedcherub]

I flippin' hate wars. Will do anything to avoid going to war. Even if I can tell that going to war and taking a few choice cities will set me up for the most beautiful space race victory ever I won't do it. I like building and teching too.

In the case where someone declares war on me and I can't help it, I freak out and get my husband to save me. And I notice that he saves me in 3 or 4 turns then manages to take over that civilisation before I've had time to make a hot chocolate

First thing I notice is that when he wants to take over a city, he brings in seige weapons. So if you've got a city that's run out of things to build, or is only building unnecessary things (like markets in cities that don't make commerce) build seige weapons. Catapults, trebuchets, cannons! Lots of them. Cannons are especially great. They all take down a city's cultural defence and they're able to do collateral damage too.

If you're far more advanced than other civilisations your army would be awesome. Just build units whenever you can, and use all the money you're making to upgrade them when you want to go to war.

Anyway, if you want to win a space race, you won't have to war often. Same with a cultural victory. So you don't really need to be very very good at taking over civilisations anyway!

 

[AutomatedTeller]

in civ, not warring means missing out on some of the most interesting parts of the game. I can see not wanting to, but you miss out on all the promotions, using great generals, the essence of combat.

Best way to be good at war is to make your 2nd or 3rd city dedicated to building only soldiers and things that support that - forge, factories, power plants, barracks, stables, drydocks, airports, heroic epic and west point. Build no wonders or research buildings there (other than heroic epic and west point) and only enough other buildings to keep your citizens happy and healthy.

If you are a builder, eventually you'll have a large enough army that you'll say "huh. What should i do with these guys?" and you'll go attack someone.

When you do, make sure you bring a lot of seige weapons (5+ cats/trebs/cannons) to batter down the walls and inflict collateral damage and some units good at taking cities (axes/swords/maces/tanks with city raider, for instance), plus some units to defend against counterattack (spears/pikes/rifles/war elephants to defend against horse attacks, archers/melee units with combat promotions, crossbows). Make sure you have archery units in your border cities (they are cheap and they are effective at holding cities)

Cities in Civ IV are critical - taking them is hard, but getting one is very helpful.

If you can't take cities easily, try pillaging important resources, like iron, copper, horses and ivory.

 

[Shafi]

I can understand that you dont like to war, but the fact is even for a space race / or diplo win it would benefit you at times to go to war because if not your expansion is going to be stifled at some point.

I always find that i cant get all the cities i want or have a big enough empire unless i go to war, in many games i start out with peaceful intentions but then go to war because .... well i guess the world aint big enough for all of us

But seriously, you can start by building units and making sure you stay on top of the power ratings, that way theres much less chance of the AI declaring on you, and if you feel like it later on you can try going to war.

Since you are way ahead in tech you shaould have a easy time of it with war.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

But unless you are ahead by a ridiculous amount, you'll need to do it right, which means seige weapons. Unless you are up by a lot (axe vs. warrior, knight vs. archer, infantry vs. lb, armor vs. musket), you'll lose a lot by just attacking a core city with a culture defense of 60 or 80%.

 

[GenerallyGreat]

I was never good with wars on civilization infact the only thing I ever conquered was a barbarian city on the settler difficulty. I only use soldiers for the civic which gives for every soldier in the city (thats the only good idea I know early in the game to avoid mad citizens). I am usually far more advanced than other civilizations but even so I still cant conquer a nation and I dont want to be a warring civilization otherwise I cant build wonders quickly and research techs. how can I still be able to be good at wars and still be able to be successful.

Here's a simple and foolproof way to win wars if you are advanced in techs. Get rifles and cannons while your foe still has longbows. Take 10 of each and sit them in one stack. Move to an enemy city, take down their defenses with the cannons using the leftovers to cause collateral damage. Clean up with your rifles and move on to the next city. Repeat until your enemy dies or capitulates.

 

[wickedcherub]

Here's a simple and foolproof way to win wars if you are advanced in techs. Get rifles and cannons while your foe still has longbows. Take 10 of each and sit them in one stack. Move to an enemy city, take down their defenses with the cannons using the leftovers to cause collateral damage. Clean up with your rifles and move on to the next city. Repeat until your enemy dies or capitulates.

What if you have to wage a war *before* steel huh?

 

[GenerallyGreat]

What if you have to wage a war *before* steel huh?

A dozen chariots or axes ASAP. Elephants/maces with catapults go alright too.

 

[wickedcherub]

A dozen chariots or axes ASAP. Elephants/maces with catapults go alright too.

Or you know, a husband that will wage a war for you so that you can build wonders in peace.

 

[Grey Fox]

Or you know, a husband that will wage a war for you so that you can build wonders in peace.

The majority of the people here probably are the husband. Or the boyfriend, or more likely just the boy

Anyways, the key to war is Timing. Attack on your terms.

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.

A key to most warfare in Civ4 is as already been said, siege. Build lots of them because they tend to be used up. I'll say a good ratio is about 2/3rds siege units, or at least 50% in earlier wars. Once you can draft, a good idea can be to mainly build siege and draft your soldiers (Riflemen are most bang for your buck when drafting). Draft in size 6~ cities with good food surplus, try to have a few to alternate between so they don't get overloaded with unhappiness.
And have the Globe Theatre in one of the cities, you can draft in this city every turn.

Early warfare you just need more units than your target.

If your goal is mainly to defend yourself, your best method is to befriend your neigbours. And don't try to befriend everyone in the world unless that is actually possible. It's better to know who will be your likely enemy, than to be unsure. Beware of the aggressive leaders like Shaka, Montezuma etc.

 

[LeHam]

In war in CivIV, I have found it better to play smarter, not harder, or not just building tons of units.

Make sure you're ahead in tech. Even a slight advantage like Cannon versus Knight or Musketman can mean the difference between victory and defeat. A more advanced unit can hold out better against older ones. Also remember that the 10% extra strength unit upgrades also have more punch with more advanced, stronger units.

However, a well-trained older unit can still beat a more advanced unit sometimes, so be careful! This is especially true for units that can get city defense bonuses. Longbowman with +60% defense on a city tile along with 25% fortification bonus and a large culture bonus can beat the ever-loving snot out of a Rifleman grunt.

Always be sure to bring lots of siege weapons! They can also be used as suiciders, especially true for catapults. The collateral damage component is very good for suiciding, and the taking away of culture bonuses by bombarding a city also dramatically increases your chances of capturing it.

Also keep in mind that if you can't hold on to a city you've just captured; for example, it will be taken over through influence or riot within a few turns; it is better sometimes to just raze it to the ground and burn it.

Now, sometimes the AI will be dumb and just hide in its cities with tons of units. What do you do about this? You go around pillaging all their surrounding land, especially improvements built to harvest resources like Iron. You will get extra money and you might just lure the enemy out of their stronghold. Even if they push you back, they will be much weaker than before.

Also, putting all your units into one stack isn't always a good idea. Collateral damage units can deliver a beating unto your stacked units. Because of this, it can be better to send in multiple stacks of three or four units each.

Also be sure to have a variety of units. Axemen can take out melee units; Swordsmen can take out Archers and attack cities well; Spearmen can defeat mounted units effectively. Etc.

Also take advantage of terrain bonuses. When besieging a city, it is best to hide out in forests or on hills, because they give a defensive bonus. This way it is harder for the enemy to retaliate against your invasion force. Using this strategy along with the proper unit promotions can be extremely effective against your foes.

Do an "aggressive defence" maneuver. If it seems inevitable that a particular rival civ will declare war on you, don't just sit around on your butt and let him/her start it first! I'm not saying to declare it first before they do, BUT, what you can do is move numerous stacks of powerful military units near their borders. It will sometimes discourage them from declaring war on you, because they may overestimate your strength. On the other hand, it might just piss them off.

If you want to declare war on someone, try and provoke them into doing the first move. Demand items from them time and again to provoke them, or some other method. While your doing this, make friends with their friends, and when the civ you want to attack declares war on you, their former friends may become their foes. This helps you in that they may not be as likely to attack you.

Once you get into a war, always try to be on the offensive. If you are always on the offensive, you can eventually whittle down their forces to nothing.

Don't think you can win? The enemy won't accept a peace treaty? Assuming you are only at war with one civ, there is one strategy I have noticed that seems to work, although I'm not sure if it's really effective. I try a last-ditch attempt at striking one of their most important areas, like a city with high production or pillaging all their improvements around their biggest cities. Even if I would still lose in the end, if I do enough damage, it seems, in that one attack, the enemy will allow a peace treaty, albeit for a price. However, peace treaty is better than no peace treaty. . .

These are some strategies I have noticed to have worked, although the last one is a bit sketchy.
try them out. Experiment with your own strategies, as well, and find what works best for you.

P.S. I have only been able to win as high as the Noble difficulty, so these might not be as effective at the higher ones.

 

[Shafi]

i tend to use a two fold method for defence. Longbows / Archers within the cities and mounted units close to enemy borders. so that at the very instance i am declared upon i have a mounted force ready to hit an run the invading force.

Note - More often than not i am the declarer rather than the declaree but i have found this method useful in those rare situations where i am declared upon.

Also when most of my army is away conquering i dont want to be caught with my pants down so i leave mounted units scattered along my borders.

i play on noble so i dont know if it is effective too far beyond that.

 

[Continental Op]

In my games I plan on declaring at someone at some point, but usually I get declared myself before that happens. At that point my army is just about ready, and sometimes the one that is attacking me is not the guy I was aiming for in the first place, so usually this is ok. But still I wonder, if you are not going for the early rush and waiting for the catapults, how is it that so many of you can actually pick your opponents and the time to do it? Am I just waiting too long?

 

[w2w2w]

wow thanks a lot

LeHam about that capturing an important building tactic I found that using spies and machine guns can make them starve and kill them off like that instead of using brute force in which when they are weak I use my tanks

Thanks A lot every one

 

[LeHam]

Exactly. Exactly.

A war of attrition, by pillaging all their improvements, not only starves the cities, but also:

1) Limits the kinds of units they can create, i.e. Frigates instead of Battleships.

2) Lowers production, so they can't even build those units as fast as they would be able with all their improvements like mines.

Oh, and if their roads are gone, their units can't regroup fast enough to pose a threat. You can tip the battle to your favor just by destroying a few roads. Or at least buy some extra time.

Also remember that the AI will not move its workers out of its cities even if you leave just one or two units nearby. This way, even if you have to retreat for a few turns, you can still prevent them from rebuilding as fast. You might wanna use really fast units for this, though.