This is the most unrealistic....

[EricTheRead]

ok I need to vent... I really wanted to like this game... it was easy at the 1st 2 lvls and I thought.. hey as I progress this is going to be a fun game... sadly.. not. I made it to the 3rd dificulty setting and what I saw makes me want to throw the disk in the microwave (after spending $60 that's a big deal). Was playing a random generated npc game... spent 400 years fighting an npc (latest patch) while they had one city left... no "dugg in" and my forces were 3x strength. Yet I couldn't take the city (had them 3x1 in strength and 4x1 in troops.) I've now seen barbarians kill knights and musketmen kill apache's over and over. I really wanted to like this game (I haven't played the other 3) but thi s isn't fun... making the computer god at mid high lvl is just stupid..... The reason for posting this is because I need to vent and see if this had happened to anyone else since the last patch.... pissed beyond comprehension EricTheRead

 

[ainwood]

ok I need to vent... I really wanted to like this game... it was easy at the 1st 2 lvls and I thought.. hey as I progress this is going to be a fun game... sadly.. not. I made it to the 3rd dificulty setting and what I saw makes me want to throw the disk in the microwave (after spending $60 that's a big deal). Was playing a random generated npc game... spent 400 years fighting an npc (latest patch) while they had one city left... no "dugg in" and my forces were 3x strength. Yet I couldn't take the city (had them 3x1 in strength and 4x1 in troops.) I've now seen barbarians kill knights and musketmen kill apache's over and over. I really wanted to like this game (I haven't played the other 3) but thi s isn't fun... making the computer god at mid high lvl is just stupid..... The reason for posting this is because I need to vent and see if this had happened to anyone else since the last patch.... pissed beyond comprehension EricTheRead

Hold down the ALT key and mouse-over the unit you are attacking - you'll see the combat odds and a breakdown of defense bonuses etc. Attacking units with bonuses in cities is difficult - use catapults / cannon to bombard them to reduce their strength. Attacking using damaged units is a bad idea, too.

 

[onedreamer]

uhm, generally I fight NPCs in roleplaying games, but... to everyone their own !

 

[EricTheRead]

Ok, they had ZERO "dugg in" (don't know what else to call the # next to city) after bombardment. The odds were only giving me a slight advantage (approx 5%) so I figured.. ok so I need numbers because the computer is on crack and pumpkin balls take down rockets.... yet I lost again and again... as I said in my first post I really want to like this game but this is utter bullpuckey... MUSKETMEN CANNOT UNDER ANY SCERANRIO KILL MY APACHE'S!!!

 

[Watiggi]

Ok, they had ZERO "dugg in" (don't know what else to call the # next to city) after bombardment. The odds were only giving me a slight advantage (approx 5%) so I figured.. ok so I need numbers because the computer is on crack and pumpkin balls take down rockets.... yet I lost again and again... as I said in my first post I really want to like this game but this is utter bullpuckey... MUSKETMEN CANNOT UNDER ANY SCERANRIO KILL MY APACHE'S!!!

Let me get this straight:

You are attacking with a helicopter (strength 24, I believe) at a city defended by Musketmen (base strength of 9) whereby they have 0% city defenses?

*What are the odds of winning before you engaged?
*How many units did it take?
*Was the city on a hill?
*what level were the defending units at. ie, city garrison 3?
*did the musketmen have the bonus to gunpowder promotions?
*were you attacking with damaged units?
*what are your unit strengths when attacking?

I'm not sure of the exact figures, but a musketman, fortified, with a level 3 city garrison, in a city on a hill, with the gunpowder promotion (if they can get it), at full strength, could have a final strength of more than 20 (and that is being conservative). If it had city defenses, then it could be more. That competes with a helicopter.

The thing now in 1.61, if you are damaged you deliver less firepower than you did in 1.52. So if you are attacking them with damaged units, then that would compound it even more, maybe to the point where the musketmen may have the advantage.

Hold down the ALT key and mouse-over the unit you are attacking - you'll see the combat odds and a breakdown of defense bonuses etc.

How on earth do you do that. I have never been able get 'hold ALT and mouse over the target unit to see the combat odds' working. The only thing I have been able to do is to hold the right mouse button over the enemy unit.

Watiggi

 

[balthamael]

This isn't the AI cheating- the AI doesnt cheat in terms of battle odds.Bombard the defences, attack with your artillery/catapults/cannon to collaterall damage enemy units, then use you City raider units to atatck teh city, atatcking with weak units first to keep your veterans alive for future wars.

 

[EricTheRead]

Negative... I ended up attacking in waves (each square had different units)... and they destroyed almost every unit (that hadn't been in combat and only had the +1 promotion from the barracks) yet they broke my entire army while being so far off in tech that I really doubt I want to play at higher diff settings

 

[jpboia]

So that siege units can be totally effective, you must send them in direct attack, after you bombard the city's defences down to 0%.

That way, you will make collateral damage to the units inside the city. Only after that, you should send your other units to the city to take it.

If you have used your siege units this way, maybe you should build more of these units.

 

[Ravellion]

Could you post your saved game? This seems highly unlikely.

 

[Drogear]

this seems very vierd, plz ad a save of the game so people can see what you r rambling about.

I bet as sune as someone wo can play the game he/she would point out the real situation in the game your playing

 

[DrewBledsoe]

I'm not sure of the exact figures, but a musketman, fortified, with a level 3 city garrison, in a city on a hill, with the gunpowder promotion (if they can get it), at full strength, could have a final strength of more than 20 (and that is being conservative). If it had city defenses, then it could be more. That competes with a helicopter

Watiggi

This is all true in game terms, but probably deserves to be in the "so stupid its funny" thread..the guys on the hill getting a terrain bonus for being attacked by helicopters...just think about it..

I keep getting this mental picture of the helicopters having wheels like my 2 year old nephews pedal car , and the guys pedalling them up the hill

I apologise if this already happens, but in any attack from the air surely defenders shouldn't receive any terrain bonus..

 

[Watiggi]

This is all true in game terms, but probably deserves to be in the "so stupid its funny" thread..the guys on the hill getting a terrain bonus for being attacked by helicopters...just think about it..

I keep getting this mental picture of the helicopters having wheels like my 2 year old nephews pedal car , and the guys pedalling them up the hill

I apologise if this already happens, but in any attack from the air surely defenders shouldn't receive any terrain bonus..

Hehe, nice mental image

But I see it as the more hills, the more caves. I start thinking guerilla warefare tactics and/or the tactics that they use in Afghanistan (in the mountains that you see on TV).

To me, a musketman (which in some ways is just a person with a 'gun') can hide from the helicopter or any aircraft for that matter. I don't have a problem with the defensive bonuses it gets in this situation. It all flies out the window though when the combat engine requires a winner or looser. If the helicopter can't kill the musketman, then it dies (or withdrawls?). That ain't right, but it is a game though, so I'm cool with it.

 

[Appers]

I had a similar problem in a game last night, actually. Noble difficulty, small map, and it'd stuck me on a continent away from anyone decent. So I'd made 12 cavalry and 6 cannons for an invasion on Saladin on a continent nearby, who was muzzling in on my score.

So, on the first city I saw he had 3 longbowmen. So I unload 3 of the cannons and blast the defenses down to 0 with them and some frigates. Next turn, I move my cavalry onto a hill nearby and attack the city, each time the odds giving me 70-80%.

Um, 4 cavalry later and not a single lowbowman has been scratched. They honestly took out all 4 without losing even 0.1 in health.

(Next turn I cannoned them down to soften up and took them out with some more of my cavalry with ~90% odds, by the way.)

I'm pretty sure cavalry (15 strength, plus quite a few combat 1s) shouldn't need to attack pre-damaged longbowmen (8 strength including bonuses) to stand a chance. But hey, I went on to take out 3 cities with the same group so I'm not complaining.

 

[Watiggi]

If you went on to take out 3 other cities, then I would say that it was bad luck.

Numerous times I have had it so that I had ~50% odds of winning with seige and come off winning many times in a row. Then I will loose a ~96 percenter. Heh. Luck of the draw I guess.

Could there be a possibility that the combat odds calculator is off?

 

[Appers]

3 cities... with cannons weakening all the units to hell in them. When all the enemies are at 3 strength even the tougher battle rules this update have to cough up the win. I learnt my lesson from last time.

 

[MrPaladin]

Yer it took me a while to learn what unit is best to attack what type of city given its defence and the defenders...

its gotten to the point that I'm a great warmonger... and I'll take the exact units that will be needed to take a city and my last fella will topple the city, then I walk the others in to heal...

about the only stupid mistake I still make is I get outside the city, I set all my melee units to defend and for a few rounds I bombard defences... then after the defences are down I send in the artillery type units to do colateral damage, after that the game has other units I need to tend to and I'll acidently END THE ROUND!!! while my sleeping melee units are sitting outside a weakened city!!!

 

[Sir Janus]

Negative... I ended up attacking in waves (each square had different units)... and they destroyed almost every unit (that hadn't been in combat and only had the +1 promotion from the barracks) yet they broke my entire army while being so far off in tech that I really doubt I want to play at higher diff settings

In the above, and in previous postings you seem to imply that this is something to do with difficulty settings. As far as I am aware, difficulty levels do not affect combat resolution. There again, I am often wrong. Perhaps somebody could confirm?

 

[troytheface]

i disagree. I say if u can't figure out how to take a city on the third difficulty level u should indeed throw away ur disk. As a matter of fact if the game becomes anything other than totally predictable in so far as combat than quit.
I would first complain a bit and refuse advice and refuse to learn how to use siege equipment as well.

 

[zeeter]

As far as musketman vs helocopter, it happens. You need to suspend your belief a bit here. They're just numbers and pictures, not real choppers and muskets. If you had a real chopper that got shot down by a musket then I'd be alarmed.

I agree with Troy (except for the sarcasm...). It sounds like the poster isn't playing the game right. I had an easy time of it on the first two levels, as well. Moving up to level three is a bit harder, but as someone else noted the combat odds don't change based on the level.

What I don't get is that you've got choppers, but no tanks? You've got oil for the chopper, and aluminum is pretty common in the game. Where's all of your tanks, broh? BTW: Choppers can't take cities. I assume they can attack a city, but they can't take it. Ground troops need to do that.

Yeah, I kind of find this scenario hard to believe.

 

[Vladesch]

I usually need odds of 90%+ to win attacks on enemy cities. At 70% I lose more often than not. Id like to believe its just bad luck, but it keeps happening.