stack size

[WuphonsReach]

Seige - # of seige depends on how strong they are compared to the defender. So I might take as few as 5 or as many as 10 as a base (enough to take down strong defenses within 2 turns of bombardment). Then you'll need (N * # of cities to be taken) that you can suicide against defenders to soften them up. If the seige units are weaker then the opposing defenders, I might have to suicide as many as 5 units to wear down the defenders. If I have strong seige units or strong city raiders, I might only suicide 2 units per city.

Raiders - Offensive units that are good at attacking cities. I will generally take N*1.5, where N is the # of defenders that I think I will come up against. Raiders should be a mix of land units and mounted units. With enough suicide-seige, your raiders should take very little damage, but they'll get the bulk of the combat XP.

Stack Defenders - Enough to protect the stack against counter-attacks as a base. A mix of units is important to counter melee, mounted, seige, or air attacks. Early game, this might be as few as 4 defenders, late game (huge/marathon) it might take 20 defenders.

Garrison troops - Enough to hold the city after I pass through. Similar mix of defender types as the stack defenders. As I push through territory, cities on the "new" front will swipe a few units from cities that are now well to the rear of combat.

...

Basically, you should have a stack large enough and effective enough that you can take a city within 2-3 turns of arriving outside the walls. One or two turns to bombard defenses down to zero, then you take the city on the next turn. If you have a really big power advantage, learn to take the city on a single turn.

If you can't take the cities quickly, then you should probably have opted for a slash-n-burn war where you simply destroy all tile improvements and attempt to cripple their economy.

 

[WuphonsReach]

Makes me wish there was an automate function for military units. Build lots of units and loose them upon the enemy!

If you alt-click on the unit in the build queue, the city will repeatedly build that unit until the end of time. You can tell when this is occurring because you will see an asterisk (*) after the unit name in the build queue.

...

In the modern age, I make use of guided missles. 6-12 guided missles can really hurt defenders, or an encroaching stack. I'll usually setup a 3rd tier production city or two to make nothing except GMs until the end of time.

A big use for GMs is when my attackers are up against stronger forces and I want to preserve my seige weapons. Rather then suicide 6 artillery, I just drop 6-12 GMs, which softens things up nicely before I attack with arty or raiders.

 

[lightsedge]

I meant automate in the sense that you can automate workers and exploration. Would be useful when you're really far ahead. Imagine:

• Automated destroyers vs. wooden navy rivals
• Automated tanks vs. longbows
• Automated airforce

 

[Gumbolt]

Hmmm this post is really stacking up. hehe

 

[Ronojoy1917]

wow someone actually built Guided Missiles

Is there something wrong with Guided Missles?

 

[Artichoker]

In general, how many units can you get away with having in a stack before warring. I think I may be building too many and by the time I feel safe my units are ready to upgrade. Another reason I am asking is because suleiman attacked me with a stack of 4 or 5. Is this normal?

Always count the enemy forces before you attack.

I'm assuming that you mean starting a war with Catapults. Of course, the actual numbers will vary, but I would say that counting the stack sizes of the first 3 battles you intend to fight, and adding them up, would be approximately how many units you need before attacking.

So, for example, if the first three battles feature enemy stacks of 8 units each, then you would want about 24 units. If you have the means to reinforce your stack in the meantime, you can delay adding those extra units until after you attack...but also remember to count the units that the enemy might add to his own stack in the meantime.

After 3 battles, it's often a good opportunity to sign some sort of peace treaty, hence the counting of the units involved in the first 3 battles.

 

[Gumbolt]

Always count the enemy forces before you attack.

I'm assuming that you mean starting a war with Catapults. Of course, the actual numbers will vary, but I would say that counting the stack sizes of the first 3 battles you intend to fight, and adding them up, would be approximately how many units you need before attacking.

So, for example, if the first three battles feature enemy stacks of 8 units each, then you would want about 24 units. If you have the means to reinforce your stack in the meantime, you can delay adding those extra units until after you attack...but also remember to count the units that the enemy might add to his own stack in the meantime.

After 3 battles, it's often a good opportunity to sign some sort of peace treaty, hence the counting of the units involved in the first 3 battles.

This is where spies pay dividends!!! Also espionage points too. If you can see all of the Ai cities you have an easy job working out numbers. Of course it does help building an army in the first place.

 

[JammerUno]

Is there something wrong with Guided Missles?

You can only use them once, so they don't really help in a sustained war effort, bombers/fighters are far superior. If you're gonna build units that can only be used once, go for nukes.

 

[Skallagrimson]

You can only use catapults once too in ancient warfare (for the first couple of 'em).