The 2nd war - help?

[Endure]

Howdy folks,

I'm seeking advice on what to do after your first war is fought and over with and you want to start your 2nd war. Having read some of the strategies on here, and browsed the forums, and played numerous games of civ, I've become pretty good at the first war (be it an early rush or a little later) and knocking out the closest AI (maybe even 2 depending on locations). My problem is that as we move out of the early game (swords/cats - sometimes even earlier), I never know when to go back to war again. I always have a reason not to be it a tech reason (Oh, I'll have riflemen in 20 turns - I'll wait till then), or I don't feel like I have a large enough army to crush the AI quickly. Hence I'll start building up an army, but by the time it's built, I'll be close to another military tech and delaying yet again.

I just find that most often in my games, I get that early war out of the way, but then just endlessly settle down into teching, building, etc and never really get around to fighting another war unless the game lasts to the modern age or the AI forces me into one and won't accept peace in a reasonable amount of time.

I know the "perfect" time to go to war is right after you get a new military tech that gives you an advantage over the AI, but again, by the time I build enough of the new units I've found another reason to wait.

I know I'm rambling abit here - my apologies - but I guess I'm wondering when those who are striving for conquest/domination victories feel comfortable launching their 2nd, 3rd, etc wars. What their economies are like, techs relative to the AI, how many units roughly they have, etc.

 

[FlyinJohnnyL]

You've got to change your philosophy a little bit here. You have to plan, ahead of time, when you want to fight your next war if possible. You don't want to go "oh I just got Rifling, I think I'll fight a rifle war." You CAN do that and be successful, but it's not optimal.

Instead, you want to decide much earlier. "Okay, I just got engineering. I'm gonna beeline chemistry(?) for Grenadiers and kill (fill in victim here)." So once you get engineering, you gotta start pumping out the trebs, preparing for war. Also, go ahead and get your defensive units for the stack built. Then, when you get chemistry or whatever tech it is, you can start building grenadiers. Now sure, as you are preparing for the war, you could start researching chemistry for cannons.

So it seems you're problem is, you would then hold off on the war to wait to get cannons. Don't do this! Stick to your plans. You will start sending in cannons as reenforcements after the war begins if needed.

The other thing to remember is, a tech lead is good, but all you really want is at least equal military footing. If you see someone in 1000AD still defending with archers for some reason (never would happen, I'm just saying), then go whack 'em with swords. Know which defenders are tough for your offense to bust through. That's the most important thing.

 

[whitelaughter]

Yeah, been there.

Two things that worked together to break me of the habit - favourite units, and mass upgrades.
If a new tech let's you upgrade a large slab of your units, then it's a great time to attack (pretty obvious). You can even reduce your tech rate to get the gold for upgrading.
Secondly, there'll be units you fall in love with. For me, that's cavalry. If I've got Cavalry, I'll want to use them. Just experiment with all of the units until you find the ones that *you* consider awesome, and when they turn up - sack! Pillage!

 

[Draknith]

Another tool that I use is always keeping at least one standing army.

In the early game I will try to just stay alive with all the barbarians, and keep my cities fortified and functional. As the game progresses however I will try and build 1-3 army groups that can be used as a defensive force, or for an offensive. If I have the cash I'll just upgrade units when the new tech comes, or just build the newer units and replace them in the army groups. The old units I'll use for reinforcements, border patrol, or my favorite, gifting to my newly founded colonies!

I will generally use my forces in an offensive means if I either have a desire to capture enemy lands, knock down an opponent's score, or recieve diplo bonuese for allying with another in a war. As long as you keep somewhat of a standing army that's ready to engage you should be fine.

 

[Joshua368]

Also there is an opening in the early renaissance that is the easiest place to war in the entire game other than shooting far ahead from the AI in tech. Steel for cannons. Cannons decimate medieval defenses, and if you beeline it after liberalism you can easily reach it before the AI has grenades or rifles. Mass-build trebuchets beforehand to upgrade instantly. (they upgrade cheap)

If you have spare time, you can research Military Science for grenadiers as well. (assuming Beyond the Sword) If you're signifigantly ahead and the AI doesn't have chemistry or replaceable parts parts, you may choose to go for rifles instead. But even if there's no time, cannons + maces do a great job ripping through medieval defenses.

 

[hexem3117]

I would suggest just not holding back your plans.

Pretty much around the beginning of the Renaissance age I'm at war about half the time, unless I've decided I want to take a more peaceful route to victory. Key to doing this for me is to have a few really good stacks filled with units. Pretty much any units will do, but a good mix of siege, offensive (city raider macemen--->riflemen are amazing), and defensive units are necessary. Though there ARE many exceptions to this rule, knocking down city defenses and then throwing your siege (cats, trebs, cannons, etc.) against a city will bring down those defenders to a level at which you have fairly good odds of capturing the city with a fair number of units, regardless of what they are. <---this is assuming that they are not heavily outteched...for example a spearman attacking a city with a longbowman=bad idea.

Basically don't be too timid; keeping active and up on your enemies will put you in a position to constantly have them running scared. Later in the game if your early/mid game wars went well you should be set up where you can coast ahead in techs and have a significant production advantage for units over your enemies.

Also, what Joshua said is great advice, as usual. Macemen/cannons absolutely pwn.

Sorry if this was a bit incoherent...I graduated from college the other day and I'm having a bit of, how shall I say, fun, if you know what I mean