Hello everyone! 
This is my first posting ever on the CivFanatics! I have been a Civ fan since Civ I and have played Civ III since the first day of its release. I've waited until I've had plenty of experience before sharing my ideas. I don't know if they've been presented before, but here are my ideas on various warfare subjects...
WARFARE: Attacking & Defeating Enemy on Another Continent
You will find that war is a delicate science. How you proceed depends upon the shaping factors in your game. In this guide, i've been playing on Huge Map, maximum Civs (set to random). The specifics may vary depending upon what era you will wage the war. In this discussion, I will focus on wars waged during the modern era. I ALWAYS play as an Industrious Civ (Either Egypt or France) due to the insurmountable advantage of the Worker's production. These principles/ideas will work with any Civ.
What are your biggest challenges?
1. Established Civs. First of all, when fighting in the modern era, most of your competition is established. Most of the geography in the map should be fully occupied. Most borders have been established and your enemies have had time to develop their armies by now.
2. War Weariness. Most of your wars during this era are longer due to the Civs being established. The longer the war, the more War Weariness becomes an issue, especially if you have the Republic or Democracy as your form of government.
Penetration. You've got to get passed their lines of defense. It is even more difficult when you consider that you have to whether the storm of a serious counter-offensive whatever you do.
Culture/Nationalism. The worst thing is to spend money, time, and resources to capture an enemy city abroad only to have them defect due to culture from the surrounding cities, or revolting due to relatively large cities having large populations of loyal national citizens.
With all of this to contend with, why would one want to fight abroad in the first place? These wars tend to be longer than others and expensive. But, your strategy might be global domination. You might not like the enemy you're about to wage war against (someone may have been a thorn in your @ss and deserves a good annihalition). But the 2 most important reasons are:
(1) Resources. What's worse than discovering a new technology only to find that a key resource is NOT available anywhere within your empire??!!?? This alone may be reason enough to declare war.
(2) Booty. Did the enemy build a Wonder that you covet? Does he have bonus resources that make your mouth water? Consider what are some Booty you can come out with during your campaign.
(3) Competitive Position. Guerilla tactics always suggest that the key strategy depends on if you're currently #1, #2, or #3. If you're #1 in the world, you're attacking your weaknesses. You're always thinking "what would I do against myself to weaken me if I were #2?" In this case, you may be attacking #2 and/or #3 to make sure that they don't threaten your position. If you're #2, you obviously should target #1 in the world. You may decide to attack #3 if AND ONLY IF you feel that that would be less costly and that it would net in you having a better position than #1. If you're #3, then you're going after either #1, or #2 and you're trying to flank their position.
In either event there should be some sort of tangible gain for your efforts, even if that is seeing your nemesis beg for mercy!!!!
"If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail...."
What position are you in going into this war? Usually, I spend the entire game positioning to dominate the world. I say this being a player that is not a warmonger. I generally make a play for my own continent during the Ancient and Middle Ages, then leverage my Industrial strength for scientific supremacy (depending on the difficulty level) and diplomatic supremacy.
Things To Have Before War Begins
Here are some things you want to have in place before you wage your war:
1. Sufficient Cash Reserves. Because you may have to pop rush some improvements, or some military reinforcements, you want to have a considerable amount of cash reserves. I would suggest no less than 10,000-20,000 Gold in your treasury. I've had as much as 100,000+ Gold in my treasury before a campaign.
2. Infrastructure. Make sure that you've setup significant road infrastructures to your points of departure (see "Things To Do"). You also want to make sure your strategic resources are properly protected. If you completely own and control your own continent, then each strategic resource needs to have fortresses built on that tile. You don't need to have defensemen placed there, just make sure they are nearby enough to your resources if needed. If you don't own your continent, then your resources should be heavily defended with defensemen and artillery.
3. Wonders. Try to have built as many wonders to combat war weariness in your Civ. Teh more you have, the longer you can wage war without getting creative. Also, make sure that you have Temples, Cathedrals, Colleseums built in all of your cities. Where necessary and if possible, you may want to develop Communism so you can have the ability to build Police Stations to further combat War Weariness.
4. Decent Air Force. You should have a relatively strong air force. This means you should have a few Carriers (at least 2-3), and at least Bomber plains. Personally, I usually rush to get Stealth Bombers. This is because they go undetected and offset defense by Jet Fighters. If you can't get Stealth Bombers, then Bombers in volume are needed. At least 8 of your cities should have Airports built. Personally, I build airports in every city, due to their hidden strength as a transport (more on this later....).
5. Strong Naval Force. You should have a relatively strong naval force as well. This one is even more important than your air force. Imagine the time it takes to build and assemble a large army to ship somewhere. Now imagine that army being sunk on the way to its destination because you didn't have sufficient defense against naval attacks. OUCH!
6. Friends. At this stage of the game, everyone has friends and enemies. Make sure that if he pulls a few allies into the fray that you have a few key friends on your side as well. Wars in the late game are not always one against the other.
7. Kick @ss Army. First of all, your troops in the modern era should usually consist of Tanks, Modern Armor, Mechanized Infantry, Infantry, artillery and radar artillery, depending on what's available. Whatever it is, you want to have enough ground troops to make a significant penetration. Before you start the war, you should have enough troops to fill around 4-6 Transports. At 8 per Transport, that works out to around 32-48 units. Personally, i'm a planning freak, so I usually don't even ship until I have enough ground units for 2 points of attack, each with a minimum of 4 Transports. If you do the math, that's 64 units minimum. I usually break it down as follows:
8 artillery units (Artillery, or Radar Artillery since both have a 2-tile bombardment distance)
8 defensive units (usually Mechinized Infantry, although regular infantry will due also)
16-24 offensive units (ideally Modern Armor, or Tank as your primary offensives).
The idea here is not to be fair. When it comes to warfare, army size does matter. Depending on the strength of your opponent, you may want to have even more units. You may especially want to include another Transport for defensive and artillery units (4/4 splits).
It is important to note that, if possible you can use armies, BUT USE SPARINGLY!!! Armies not only take up boat space, but ARE HIGHLY OVERRATED! We're talking modern era, so keep that in mind when I say this. Modern Armor can attack 3 times. If you place them in an army, however, they only attack once. So, if you have armies, use them for defensive units. Stack 3-4 Mechanized Infantries into an army. That will be almost impenetrable if you always stack with artillery.
Now, this may sound like a lot to have, but again, we're talking about your late game. You will need these things to ensure victory (in other postings I can share ideas on how to get great position during the Ancient and Middle Ages).
"Before you strike the first blow, your enemy must be defeated in his mind...."
I war is won in stages and it is one on several fronts. It is not just about guns blazing, kill or be killed. Your enemy needs certain things to fight and defend during war.
Things To Do Before War Begins
Here are some things you want to do to your enemy before you set foot on his land:
1. Cutoff Ties to New Allies. Before you declare war, setup Trade embargoes with as many other Civs as will cooperate. Some may need to be bribed, but you don't want him trading for key resources once war begins.
2. Assess Enemy Resources. You want to consider where his strategic resources are coming from. These resources may be resources he uses to build his key military units, but may also include happiness resources. Plan to pillage his resource squares if possible.
3. Economic Warfare. Who is he getting fat off of? When you get trade embargoes, a few of the other Civs will not cooperate no matter what you offer them. These Civs most likely are in bed with your target enemy. They may be getting science, resources, etc. from them. This is another reason why you should plan to attack resources. Not just to stop him from building key units, but also, to cut off his money. He can't trade a resource he doesn't have access to! :evilgrin:
4. Weaken him. Does the target enemy have neighbors? Especially people who share the continent with him? They make for your best allies. Try to convince one of them to join you in a military alliance against your enemy. It may take you several turns to get to your enemy, but his neighbor can be there immediately. Let the neighbors battle it out and diminish his forces while you mobilize and amass yours. :conspire:
"Let the Battle Begin...."
Attack the Head and Tail of the Tiger
You should never just attack from one point. You must assess his land and find 2 points of attack. The attack points must not be adjacent. They must be far enough from each other to divide his forces, but close enough so that when your campaign ends, the cities you conquer should be adjacent to each other.
Your first point of attack will be called the "Head of the Tiger." This attack site should be close enough to some large city. You want to pick an area of his border that is near something you want, and near something he will defend. If you can, this site can be close to his capital, or close to some large city (usually the AI builds wonders in their capital, or in large cities). You can also select your attack Head by his resource placement.
Your second point of attack will be called the "Tail of the Tiger." This attack site should be closest to your prize. Whatever it is that you've identified that you want to gain from this war, mark that place as the "Tail of the Tiger." It is your primary target, and your secondary point of attack. (More later....)
You will divide your naval forces, air forces, and ground forces for these 2 points of attack. Whatever, you do, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH GROUND TROOPS AT THE HEAD & TAIL!!!!
This is my first posting ever on the CivFanatics! I have been a Civ fan since Civ I and have played Civ III since the first day of its release. I've waited until I've had plenty of experience before sharing my ideas. I don't know if they've been presented before, but here are my ideas on various warfare subjects...WARFARE: Attacking & Defeating Enemy on Another Continent
You will find that war is a delicate science. How you proceed depends upon the shaping factors in your game. In this guide, i've been playing on Huge Map, maximum Civs (set to random). The specifics may vary depending upon what era you will wage the war. In this discussion, I will focus on wars waged during the modern era. I ALWAYS play as an Industrious Civ (Either Egypt or France) due to the insurmountable advantage of the Worker's production. These principles/ideas will work with any Civ.
What are your biggest challenges?
1. Established Civs. First of all, when fighting in the modern era, most of your competition is established. Most of the geography in the map should be fully occupied. Most borders have been established and your enemies have had time to develop their armies by now.
2. War Weariness. Most of your wars during this era are longer due to the Civs being established. The longer the war, the more War Weariness becomes an issue, especially if you have the Republic or Democracy as your form of government.
Penetration. You've got to get passed their lines of defense. It is even more difficult when you consider that you have to whether the storm of a serious counter-offensive whatever you do.
Culture/Nationalism. The worst thing is to spend money, time, and resources to capture an enemy city abroad only to have them defect due to culture from the surrounding cities, or revolting due to relatively large cities having large populations of loyal national citizens.
With all of this to contend with, why would one want to fight abroad in the first place? These wars tend to be longer than others and expensive. But, your strategy might be global domination. You might not like the enemy you're about to wage war against (someone may have been a thorn in your @ss and deserves a good annihalition). But the 2 most important reasons are:
(1) Resources. What's worse than discovering a new technology only to find that a key resource is NOT available anywhere within your empire??!!?? This alone may be reason enough to declare war.
(2) Booty. Did the enemy build a Wonder that you covet? Does he have bonus resources that make your mouth water? Consider what are some Booty you can come out with during your campaign.
(3) Competitive Position. Guerilla tactics always suggest that the key strategy depends on if you're currently #1, #2, or #3. If you're #1 in the world, you're attacking your weaknesses. You're always thinking "what would I do against myself to weaken me if I were #2?" In this case, you may be attacking #2 and/or #3 to make sure that they don't threaten your position. If you're #2, you obviously should target #1 in the world. You may decide to attack #3 if AND ONLY IF you feel that that would be less costly and that it would net in you having a better position than #1. If you're #3, then you're going after either #1, or #2 and you're trying to flank their position.
In either event there should be some sort of tangible gain for your efforts, even if that is seeing your nemesis beg for mercy!!!!
"If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail...."
What position are you in going into this war? Usually, I spend the entire game positioning to dominate the world. I say this being a player that is not a warmonger. I generally make a play for my own continent during the Ancient and Middle Ages, then leverage my Industrial strength for scientific supremacy (depending on the difficulty level) and diplomatic supremacy.
Things To Have Before War Begins
Here are some things you want to have in place before you wage your war:
1. Sufficient Cash Reserves. Because you may have to pop rush some improvements, or some military reinforcements, you want to have a considerable amount of cash reserves. I would suggest no less than 10,000-20,000 Gold in your treasury. I've had as much as 100,000+ Gold in my treasury before a campaign.
2. Infrastructure. Make sure that you've setup significant road infrastructures to your points of departure (see "Things To Do"). You also want to make sure your strategic resources are properly protected. If you completely own and control your own continent, then each strategic resource needs to have fortresses built on that tile. You don't need to have defensemen placed there, just make sure they are nearby enough to your resources if needed. If you don't own your continent, then your resources should be heavily defended with defensemen and artillery.
3. Wonders. Try to have built as many wonders to combat war weariness in your Civ. Teh more you have, the longer you can wage war without getting creative. Also, make sure that you have Temples, Cathedrals, Colleseums built in all of your cities. Where necessary and if possible, you may want to develop Communism so you can have the ability to build Police Stations to further combat War Weariness.
4. Decent Air Force. You should have a relatively strong air force. This means you should have a few Carriers (at least 2-3), and at least Bomber plains. Personally, I usually rush to get Stealth Bombers. This is because they go undetected and offset defense by Jet Fighters. If you can't get Stealth Bombers, then Bombers in volume are needed. At least 8 of your cities should have Airports built. Personally, I build airports in every city, due to their hidden strength as a transport (more on this later....).
5. Strong Naval Force. You should have a relatively strong naval force as well. This one is even more important than your air force. Imagine the time it takes to build and assemble a large army to ship somewhere. Now imagine that army being sunk on the way to its destination because you didn't have sufficient defense against naval attacks. OUCH!
6. Friends. At this stage of the game, everyone has friends and enemies. Make sure that if he pulls a few allies into the fray that you have a few key friends on your side as well. Wars in the late game are not always one against the other.
7. Kick @ss Army. First of all, your troops in the modern era should usually consist of Tanks, Modern Armor, Mechanized Infantry, Infantry, artillery and radar artillery, depending on what's available. Whatever it is, you want to have enough ground troops to make a significant penetration. Before you start the war, you should have enough troops to fill around 4-6 Transports. At 8 per Transport, that works out to around 32-48 units. Personally, i'm a planning freak, so I usually don't even ship until I have enough ground units for 2 points of attack, each with a minimum of 4 Transports. If you do the math, that's 64 units minimum. I usually break it down as follows:
8 artillery units (Artillery, or Radar Artillery since both have a 2-tile bombardment distance)
8 defensive units (usually Mechinized Infantry, although regular infantry will due also)
16-24 offensive units (ideally Modern Armor, or Tank as your primary offensives).
The idea here is not to be fair. When it comes to warfare, army size does matter. Depending on the strength of your opponent, you may want to have even more units. You may especially want to include another Transport for defensive and artillery units (4/4 splits).
It is important to note that, if possible you can use armies, BUT USE SPARINGLY!!! Armies not only take up boat space, but ARE HIGHLY OVERRATED! We're talking modern era, so keep that in mind when I say this. Modern Armor can attack 3 times. If you place them in an army, however, they only attack once. So, if you have armies, use them for defensive units. Stack 3-4 Mechanized Infantries into an army. That will be almost impenetrable if you always stack with artillery.
Now, this may sound like a lot to have, but again, we're talking about your late game. You will need these things to ensure victory (in other postings I can share ideas on how to get great position during the Ancient and Middle Ages).
"Before you strike the first blow, your enemy must be defeated in his mind...."
I war is won in stages and it is one on several fronts. It is not just about guns blazing, kill or be killed. Your enemy needs certain things to fight and defend during war.
Things To Do Before War Begins
Here are some things you want to do to your enemy before you set foot on his land:
1. Cutoff Ties to New Allies. Before you declare war, setup Trade embargoes with as many other Civs as will cooperate. Some may need to be bribed, but you don't want him trading for key resources once war begins.
2. Assess Enemy Resources. You want to consider where his strategic resources are coming from. These resources may be resources he uses to build his key military units, but may also include happiness resources. Plan to pillage his resource squares if possible.
3. Economic Warfare. Who is he getting fat off of? When you get trade embargoes, a few of the other Civs will not cooperate no matter what you offer them. These Civs most likely are in bed with your target enemy. They may be getting science, resources, etc. from them. This is another reason why you should plan to attack resources. Not just to stop him from building key units, but also, to cut off his money. He can't trade a resource he doesn't have access to! :evilgrin:
4. Weaken him. Does the target enemy have neighbors? Especially people who share the continent with him? They make for your best allies. Try to convince one of them to join you in a military alliance against your enemy. It may take you several turns to get to your enemy, but his neighbor can be there immediately. Let the neighbors battle it out and diminish his forces while you mobilize and amass yours. :conspire:
"Let the Battle Begin...."
Attack the Head and Tail of the Tiger
You should never just attack from one point. You must assess his land and find 2 points of attack. The attack points must not be adjacent. They must be far enough from each other to divide his forces, but close enough so that when your campaign ends, the cities you conquer should be adjacent to each other.
Your first point of attack will be called the "Head of the Tiger." This attack site should be close enough to some large city. You want to pick an area of his border that is near something you want, and near something he will defend. If you can, this site can be close to his capital, or close to some large city (usually the AI builds wonders in their capital, or in large cities). You can also select your attack Head by his resource placement.
Your second point of attack will be called the "Tail of the Tiger." This attack site should be closest to your prize. Whatever it is that you've identified that you want to gain from this war, mark that place as the "Tail of the Tiger." It is your primary target, and your secondary point of attack. (More later....)
You will divide your naval forces, air forces, and ground forces for these 2 points of attack. Whatever, you do, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH GROUND TROOPS AT THE HEAD & TAIL!!!!
