newb, please help!

[Gibsonpaul]

ok, here's the situation; in my current game I'm playing as the Greeks. I (was) doing pretty well, with the highest culture by far and discovering techs well before any other civilization. Then all of a sudden my southern neibghors (rome) declare war on me. They start invading me with knights and swordsmen, I figgure its no big deal, I mobilize and start cranking out riflemen like no tomorrow. However, the romans are schooling me! could any of you offer any suggestions as to why or how this is happening?
thanks

 

[ivory]

They envy your advancement, and feel threatened by it. For good ways to counter their aggression, read up in this forum and the Stategy Articles forum. Were you on good terms with the Romans before, trading a lot etc.? Not that that doesn't changes anything now, I had them gracious at one time, but they attacked anyway!
And welcome to CFC.

 

[Ville]

You should have 3-4 defenders/city

 

[Gibsonpaul]

ivory: thanks for the welcome. Yes, I was on fairly good terms with the romans beforehand, but I can't fault them for attacking. What I'm really wondering is why riflemen are unable to defeat swordsmen and knights in battle. Is this some sort of mistake in the game that was fixed in a patch (I'm downloading the latest patch now)

 

[LedZep]

Hey men, in Civ, even a spearman can fight off a modern armor. Like Ville said, have 3/4 defenders in each city. Also a good idea is to have a nice little cavalry unit in there too, so when you see an undefended offensive unit (such as archer, knight, etc...) you could attack him with your fast moving offensive unit and then go back into the city before the end of the turn.

 

[ivory]

Yes, you should use the latest patch as it introduces a few extra features and fixes many small annoyances. And no, that doesn't include battles. That is all about the RNG, the Random Number Generator, which determines which of the two fighters will lose a hitpoint at the next blow. Most perceive it as a good thing that occasionally the weak overpower the strong (in the game). When the war continues you will find that on average the stronger unit will win more battles. Also check out the Combat Calculator which will give the odds in percentages.
And if you have riflemen now, research Replaceable Parts and upgrade to infantry asap. They are much more powerful.

 

[blahz]

I'm guessing that it's the lack of defenders per city.

 

[elpadrino87]

This may seem like a stupid question, and I hope you're not offended by it, but do you fortify your riflemen in your cities, or do you just move them there? Make sure their fortified, because they will get a defense bonus during battle.

Also, what units are you using to attack the Romans with? In the many wars that I've fought in my games, I find it best to not just wait and let the enemy come and attack your cities. Your military advisor says "The best defense is a good offense" when you click the disband button is true. Build some offensive units to attack Roman units in your territory, so that your defenders in your cities can have a break to heal. If you have researched Military Tradition and have saltpeter & horses, then I suggest building Cavalry, so that when you attack roman knights, they can't retreat. If you're using riflemen to attack, try not to do that unless it's absolutely necessary. Their attack rating (4) is not as good as cavalry's attack rating (6).

Another thing: Do you have any other neighbors on your continent? If so, try asking for a military alliance against the Romans. They'll probably ask for some techs or gold (one or two techs ought to be enough). To do this, though, you need to have an embassy in the neighbors capital(double click the star next to your capital to establish an embassy if you havent already).

And one last thing, try to come up with a goal for this war: Do you want to just defend yourself from Roman aggression? Do you want to expand your territory a little by taking some roman cities? Or do you really want to show Caeser who's boss in this area of the world? It's best not to constantly change your strategy and goal(s) during a war, unless a very good opportunity arises. You need to decide if you want to actually get something out of this war, or if you just want things to go back to the way they were before those roman a$%holes chose to declare war on your cleary more sophisticated civilization.

 

[Beanzy]

I had a similar problem in a recent game. The Indians were doing relatively well against my riflemen with their elephants, so I got a band of cavalry to wipe 'em out. By the time they could regroup against my counter-attack, I had upgraded to infantry and the battle was mine. Just make sure you have at least three defenders in your border cities (prefferably 4) and have a unit of more advanced offensive units to counter-attack.

 

[billindenver]

Are you using your riflemen to attack? If so, that isn't the best way to go.

Riflemen defend at 6, but only attack at 4. Use cavalry to attack at 6.

Also, are you using veteran units? Build barracks in the town that is building the riflemen. Conscript riflemen will get beaten pretty regularly by knights, and occasionally by swordsmen.

Also, if you've got riflemen, most of your cities should have aqueducts, and so should be size larger than size 6. Cities larger than size 6 give a defensive bonus.

 

[Kaiser_Berger]

If you really want to solve the problem before it starts, try to maintain your military at a level which is as much if not more than your enemy. The AI will try to push you around if your army isn't as strong. Even if your technology is superior, if they still have superior numbers they might attack. Another way to try to avoid conflict is to trade with them more and maintain good relations with them. And, finally, if nothing else appeals, be the first one to strike, and don't look back until they're gone.

 

[Grille]

Yeah, you should be aware of possible attacks by neighbours in general anytime, whether they're gracious or not (you may feel safer when they are busy at war elsewhere or if you pay large gpt).
So you want to build up a decent military and have a larger garrison in border cities. Barracks and walls (for towns that don't grow fast) should increase your protection.
You could also place a number of bombardment units. 3-5 cannons per (border) city help to defend during ai's turn and steal off enemy hitpoints during your turn. Later, you will upgrade them and could use them as well for mainly offensive objectives, due to better range.
Then, you might place a defender on certain tiles like mountains & hills on your territory that are next to your border cities, just to prevent that your enemy occupies them. Let there only be space for your opponent to rest in the open, thus increasing the chances of successful counter-attacks.
In fact, you can defend your border cities so heavily that the ai does not attack there at all, but tries to move offensive units into your main territory, thus losing initiative.
In a current game w/ 3 border cities, England (they had twice as much territory - guess their strenght) moved in about 10 cavs and other stuff each turn (they didn't attack although they could have). At least 30% suffered fly-by shooting every turn and then were red-lined by arties before I finished them with my attackers. By the time, I got exactly 7 leaders from my cavs.

 

[Darkness]

Originally posted by Ville
You should have 3-4 defenders/city

Why?

That's only viable in bordercities. If you have 3-4 defenders in every city you waste a lot of money (paying for the units).

You need to defend your bordercities well. The other cities can do very well with just one defender... Just make sure they're good defensive units...

 

[Grille]

Originally posted by Darkness


Why?

That's only viable in bordercities. If you have 3-4 defenders in every city you waste a lot of money (paying for the units).

You need to defend your bordercities well. The other cities can do very well with just one defender... Just make sure they're good defensive units...

Yep, and I guess leaving core cities w/ just one defender, but garrisoning border like mad will let the ai try to get to that core. Somewhat similar to the ai-ping-pong situation, but I wouldn't call it an exploit.