Tips on capturing a city?

[zeta]

Hey,

I have some trouble capturing enemy cities early on. I usually start my first war in classical era. I build 4-6 archers and a few melee soldiers, but it either takes forever to capture because of its large defensive bonuses or my units die trying to get that city. Should I start wars later on or are there some tactics to get cities at the beginning?

 

[Funak]

Hey,

I have some trouble capturing enemy cities early on. I usually start my first war in classical era. I build 4-6 archers and a few melee soldiers, but it either takes forever to capture because of its large defensive bonuses or my units die trying to get that city. Should I start wars later on or are there some tactics to get cities at the beginning?

The problem with archers is that by the time you get a big enough army to attack with them they are fairly outdated. I usually use siege-weapons, but I don't really see a problem with archers/compbows. One thing to keep in mind is that cities don't have indirect fire, so picking cities that are poorly located for defense, where you have highground with your ranged units and so on is a valid strategy.

 

[Enginseer]

You could use catapults... since they were basically unappreciated in the vanilla version because the city's defenses were too never too high to be worth it.

 

[zeta]

You could use catapults... since they were basically unappreciated in the vanilla version because the city's defenses were too never too high to be worth it.

I would, but the main problem is the lack of iron. If I don't have any in my territory, I try to make a deal with the AI, but usually they are so stupid that even a fair deal doesn't suit them.

 

[Funak]

I would, but the main problem is the lack of iron. If I don't have any in my territory, I try to make a deal with the AI, but usually they are so stupid that even a fair deal doesn't suit them.

What's a fair deal? In my last game I payed an ai 2 luxuries and 4 gpt for 3 units of iron, it's fairly steep but I wouldn't say it was unreasonable. I used it to buy 3 iron and capture the nearest city with iron.

 

[Der_Zorn_gottes]

If attack a bit sooner, it becomes much easier. Until Mathematics, cities have only range 1, so only a garrisoned archer can fight back.
It is possible to conquer a capitol (or CS) with just two archers (and one melee, but it can even be the scout), on immortal. I guess it won`t work on deity, since there would be an archer most likely.