Rolling through medieval empires?

[Ludvig]

Hey!

tldr:
Ever since the update where cavalry can't use siege towers I'm struggling with late classical/medieval warfare.

I would prefer to not wait for bombards and muskets because I want to keep rolling over enemies. I couldn't get an early tech advantage this game so I currently have to grind through walled cities with crossbows in them. Is tech advantage or churning out cheap units the only two ways to wage a war?

Just a single city cost me a lot of units despite having crossbows, knights and swordsmen with a siege tower. The ai kept oneshotting units. Should I just hope I get niter, muskets and bombards ahead of the ai or is there a way to fight a war in this era with tech parity?

Any tips would be appreciated!

 

[OnThePath]

I honestly still use Knights. The fact is if they've built medieval walls then you haven't got any good answers, you've failed the timing push.

But against ancient walls Knights can still brute force their way through. Their mobility makes it easier to; pillage districts to lower the city CS and farms to stay healthy, get a siege going and cycle units in and out.

The thing to remember is that the wall's damage mitigation decreases as they are damaged, so it never takes as long as it first looks.

But mostly, Knights are in a good position in the tech tree, very near to education and requires apprenticeship and therfore currency. You can get all of your infrastructure and if you see an opportunity for conquest, or a good pillage war you can jump on it

 

[Archon_Wing]

Don't use swords, but use pikemen, since those have higher strength. Helps if you take Oligarchic legacy.

 

[Ludvig]

Big thanks to both of you!

I missed the timing push in my last game as well but Polish hussars and Mohkta with better healing in a city nearby allowed me to bruteforce my way until I got to bombards. I'll be sure to try pikemen in future games, I sometimes almost forget about the anticav line but it's really helpful if you're short on niter as well.