some civ's are weaker than other, i'm pretty sure now.

[Nicci]

i asked/mentioned this before: do some civ's have a bonus when it comes to the outcome of a battle? i'm pretty sure some do. right now i'm in a game with the france. my 10th or so in a row and again and again fights end absolutely against the odds. over and over again. it's not very rare that it takes 2 swordsman to kill 1 swordsman of my opponent! a pikeman needs at least 3 knights to be killed in a city of 5! etc. etc.
bi the way: i play civ3.

 

[Tomoyo]

You just got cheated by the pRNG.

If any civ has a bonus it wouldn't be France though.

 

[Nicci]

well, that's my point. i keep loosing against the odds with france . . .

 

[Tomoyo]

Are you sure the odds are that much for you? Check a combat calculator or something.

 

[magritte]

Are you being really careful about modifiers? Since a swordsman's only 50% stronger on attack than defense, it's quite often going to take two swordsmen to kill one if the other is fortified, across a river, or in forested or hilly terrain. If two or more of those factors is favoring the defender, don't be surprised to need 3 or 4. Pikemen and knights are even closer. With the knight's tendency to retreat when it's losing a battle, it isn't that surprising to need 3 knights to take out a fortified pikemen.

Finally, there's a LOT of randomness in the combat, and sometimes you will have streaks of awful luck. I just played a game with the French and I didn't notice anything unusual about the combat results.

 

[biggamer132]

I played a pretty good game as France a month or so ago. Although I beat up on the AI in three wars, I would lose a good number of infantry to guerillas and such when I was fighting Spain, although I still razed Madrid and about 6 other cities. Just the luck of the draw.

 

[El Loco]

Im the ottomans against France and it takes 2 Siphai (8 attack) to kill one musketeer on grassland(5 defense).

 

[Tomoyo]

8/13 is only like 0.615, and the Sipahis can retreat, and the Musketeer gets a 10% bonus, and what were the experience levels of your sipahi? Was the Musketeer fortified?

 

[El Loco]

unfortifeid on grassland would be 6 defense it still doesnt at up.

 

[El Loco]

Could you give me the link to the combat calculator pliz, having trouble finding it.

 

[shadow-walker_]

http://www.safalra.com/other/civilization.html there ya go

 

[El Loco]

thanks mate

 

[juballs2001]

combat is very confusing, as i find as the ottomons as saphai, i am losing the majority of the time to even pikemen which i understand gain the bonus with the fortification and all that jaz, but still it gets pretty unbelieveable gotta love this fight , always happens to me with other strong vs weak units as well

-Juballs

 

[ukrneal]

That is why the slower attacking units that can shlepp along catapults and the like can be so powerful. If you bombard the pike first and knock off a couple of points on the unit, you'll have a MUCH easier time of it. Otherwise, I'd say you need to be at least 2:1 in unit numbers if attacking a fortified town with fast units. Even more would be better. If you attack 4 units with 5-6 units, you're not taking enough and need to wait a few more terms unitl you have sufficient numerical superiority.

Also, if you are attaking with regulars against veteran or elite, you'll probably need more like 4:1 or 5:1 to take a city.

 

[morchuflex]

http://www.safalra.com/other/civilization.html there ya go

For some reason, Safalra's probability calculator does not give the same probabilities than another, much more detailed calculator I found somewhere on these forums, written by David "Bomber escort" Cole.