Recon in Force

For the early conquerors, what sort of force is used in your early conquest efforts? At the outset, with a city or two and a couple of warriors searching, do you

search in one direction to keep the forces concentrated?

search in a few directions, but move the extra forces to only one front?

Scatter and search in every direction, avoiding conflict?

 

Follow up question is -- what kind of early force should arrive at the enemy for a successful conquest? Granted, “it depends”, but I’m wondering if a lone archer from a hut can be successful at the very early stages, or if two horse can do it, or if more units should be taken together.

 

I try an discover as much as possible without early conflict. I can defend well early, but I just can't seem to build up a strong enough army on the harder levels to make early war worth while.

 

I too try to discover as much as possible while avoiding conflct. But if a hut gives a horse (ADM 212) or better a chariot (312 iirc) then it will go to war (it's easier to take a city when it's only defended by a warrior than a phalanx !)

And when a war occurs, I try to have only one front (which, at the beginning, means only one civ).

 

"It depends" is the correct answer. I usually fan out in all directions to explore the most territory in the least time. I used to go in one or two directions only, but it always seemed like the direction I did not go in had all kinds of good stuff in it, so now I just fan out!

As to early war, If I have enough troops, its bye bye AI! But more often I don't, so its time to make peace and establish trade relations. If I get to an AI city early enough with two horsemen or chariots, I will take a shot at the city, but with just one archer, its pretty risky. even if you win the battle, the archer cannot capture the city and that lets the AI will rush build a new unit and hammer your archer.

I prefer to let the AI build up the city than bribe it with a dip. That way I get a useful city right away, instead of having to build or rebuild the city infrastructure.

Until I started playing GOTMs, with the "fast finish" bonus, I used to build up my empire by "peaceful means" until reaching mobile warfare and robotics, than shift into Blitzkrieg mode.

 

I immediately search for a new city location after founding my first city. Then, I fan out in different directions with any units I can find. Whether I go to war depends on the geography and relative postions of our two civs at the moment, and on the other civ's attitude and profile.

 

Even though there is a general consensus, I'll add a couple quick points.
Early warfare, which I think of as pre-gunpowder or about 1000 to 100 BC is virtually unwinnable unless you have an AI civ close at hand. My first few plays I attacked just about everyone --- and had my rear end handed to me on a silver platter. So what I try to do is scatter to the winds, hoping I get a horseman or chariot to increase my range. I usually never pop a hut until I've got at least one phalanx in my cities.
In general, I agree with Ace -- peaceful co-existence at first, get the high tech weaponry ASAP, switch to Comm or Fundy gov't, and charge.

 

One trick you can try early on - if there is a hill or mtn next to the AI capital and you have an extra archer nearby, dont accept the peace treaty offer and fortify the archer next to the city. Keep a horse or chariot close enough to move into the city in two moves, like up a river or on a corner spot. Sometimes you can tempt the only defender to come out and try to knock you off. Once that flag drops (which means there are no other defenders in the city) move in and bye-bye civ.

 

Good idea about the archer -- I use that trick later in the game with musketeers/riflemen, but I'll admit I underuse the archers. One question: will the AI send out all the defenders if there are multiples inside the city?

 

I think that the definition of early may make a difference -- at the outset, I think we’re looking at city defense of a warrior. Later, it may be a phalanx, or even two, maybe only a second warrior -- I’ve seen two warriors make attacks out of the same city (and killing my horse in the process), but I have yet to see three do so.

My mind set for early warfare & conquest is contact & assault within the first five-ten techs or so. If the peaceful civs opt for a civilized development path, they may have nothing but warriors for defense -- so a horse could have a 50-50 chance of killing the defense (but would probably be too wounded to survive the counter attack). Similarly, an archer could attack & survive, take wounds, but be at risk of dieing in the fast build/counter attack as well. I figure most ai’s will have bronze working in their first five techs & upgrade their defense accordingly. (Hmmm this looks to be an ai cheat mode science & strategy cheat check agenda item.)

Once the ai has bronze working, the defense should be phalanxes, so the offense will need to be elephants, or at least vet chariots/archers. Even so, what is the number of troops for a good campaign -- will two units per city be enough? Or should the forces be increased to a level of three?

 

I would try to go with three, if you are not just contact-assaulting. You should have some idea from first contact if they have Bronze or not - the tech trade usually happens before the peace offer. Also remember the AI needs time to build the phalanxes after getting the tech. Same with archers and warrior code (which they all seem to go for early too). It helps to study the civs characteristics (Aggressive/Expansionist/Civilized) to get a feel for what techs they would pursue early and what defenses they would keep in cities. Try a few random games and peek in their cities with cheat mode...

 

Usually I explore as fast and as much as possible!

When meeting another civ either I have enough units to assault, then I usually do not make peace but put the units on high defense terrain and wait for them to sneak attack me. It usually works, doesn´t damage your reputation and often leaves a new town undefended!

But fast exploration sure is fun and a great strategy.

 

I never, ever explore. I just send out settlers full time, expanding my empire, not just my sight. I usually meet up with an empire on the way, and when I have gunpowder, I hit em hard.

 

I move in all direction to cover as much ground as possible. I need to know what or who is out there as I build my empire. All the time avoiding a conflict but building an army to take care of any.

 

Sure don't have much luck ,Old an Slow with early conflict and usually avoid it!
[dance]

 

It's all about the cav... Find our oponent, fix their location, and destroy:die:

Form a rapid reaction group to be dispatched where ever need after your scouts find something.

 

Cav? Cav is early?

 

Cav = mounted units in general whether on beast, charriot, or vehical.