Kid_icoris
Chieftain
can anyone help me out, in civ3 i was a military genius, in cIV i suck, im always getting stomped in wars, i need some tips baaaaad 
Tips on War?
- Thread starter Kid_icoris
- Start date
Kid_icoris
Chieftain
everything, like on defending myself against blind attacks againts enemys, attacking effectively, raising or keeping cities, with blend of units to defend with and attack with lol everything lol
Collateral dmg units will help you on offense and defense...
I finally won a game on noble last night and could of won in every facit of the game except warfare...
If you want to wage war or prepare for it, just build a ton of units, and consist mostly of archers types... Then throw in a spear man... There aren't any units naturally good against archer types and they must earn their promotion to gain a bonus... The advantage to this is that you save turns building special units, and you waste their time building theirs...
Then stack a HUGE load of catapults in your cities that have great access for support... Stick at least two in every border city that is at risk...
Kamikaze the catapults first no matter what!!! They have a chance to escape even if they lose, and it will most likely cause collateral dmg to the stack making them easier to fight even if your units are weaker!!!
Also, if you find yourself in a lot of wars on your land, this might mean you're not paying close enough attention to your military power... The computer will gang up on you if they know you're a pushover... Even on nobel with about +10 points of friendship they'll turn on you if they see a weakness (and a need to gain land)...
The best defense is a good offense... Don't spend all your time building new buildings, make your core city pump out a few defenders while your little towns get started... Then pump out an attack stack just incase... If the computer see you with a stack potent danger in their area, they'll stack a lot more forces in their towns and less in your area wrecking havoc...
As long as your attacking force is alive, you're in good shape... For a good force, just stack a good mix of people that'll take care of melee, (crossbow or axemen) then a few to take care of mounted troops (spear or your own mounted), then follow it up with a stack of catapults!!!
Just go around their area and pillage what you can so you can promote what outdated units you have on your own bordering cities... Avoid direct fights unless they're about to cross your border... Don't let them get into your area or else you're going to end up paying for more than you bargain for...
Also, if you see your city built next to a hil, it'll be a good idea to intercept the incomming force before they take position on that hill... Even if this means moving all of your troops onto that hill to get one round of fighting done before you move back in... Cause once they're on that hill, it'll take you twice as much man power to dismantel their stack than normal...
Hope this helps
I finally won a game on noble last night and could of won in every facit of the game except warfare...
If you want to wage war or prepare for it, just build a ton of units, and consist mostly of archers types... Then throw in a spear man... There aren't any units naturally good against archer types and they must earn their promotion to gain a bonus... The advantage to this is that you save turns building special units, and you waste their time building theirs...
Then stack a HUGE load of catapults in your cities that have great access for support... Stick at least two in every border city that is at risk...
Kamikaze the catapults first no matter what!!! They have a chance to escape even if they lose, and it will most likely cause collateral dmg to the stack making them easier to fight even if your units are weaker!!!
Also, if you find yourself in a lot of wars on your land, this might mean you're not paying close enough attention to your military power... The computer will gang up on you if they know you're a pushover... Even on nobel with about +10 points of friendship they'll turn on you if they see a weakness (and a need to gain land)...
The best defense is a good offense... Don't spend all your time building new buildings, make your core city pump out a few defenders while your little towns get started... Then pump out an attack stack just incase... If the computer see you with a stack potent danger in their area, they'll stack a lot more forces in their towns and less in your area wrecking havoc...
As long as your attacking force is alive, you're in good shape... For a good force, just stack a good mix of people that'll take care of melee, (crossbow or axemen) then a few to take care of mounted troops (spear or your own mounted), then follow it up with a stack of catapults!!!
Just go around their area and pillage what you can so you can promote what outdated units you have on your own bordering cities... Avoid direct fights unless they're about to cross your border... Don't let them get into your area or else you're going to end up paying for more than you bargain for...
Also, if you see your city built next to a hil, it'll be a good idea to intercept the incomming force before they take position on that hill... Even if this means moving all of your troops onto that hill to get one round of fighting done before you move back in... Cause once they're on that hill, it'll take you twice as much man power to dismantel their stack than normal...
Hope this helps
Oh further more... Always attack their weakest link in the stack...
If you see 5 archers and one spear man in the stack they have...
Just use a mounted troop and lose purposely to lure out their spear man... Once that spear man is gone, the stack is vunerable to future mounted attacks...
It's not the size of the army, but the quality of the stack that counts... So if they're not balanced, they're screwed...
This way is lot better than saving one more expensive mounted unit while losing a ton of melee guys who'll most likely die to the swarm of archers...
If you see 5 archers and one spear man in the stack they have...
Just use a mounted troop and lose purposely to lure out their spear man... Once that spear man is gone, the stack is vunerable to future mounted attacks...
It's not the size of the army, but the quality of the stack that counts... So if they're not balanced, they're screwed...
This way is lot better than saving one more expensive mounted unit while losing a ton of melee guys who'll most likely die to the swarm of archers...
Well, in Civ IV, you have to adapt to your oponent. I've noticed that some civs have different styles of building units.
The best city defense in early game to my knowledge is the Archer. In Civ III, the archers were the pure offensive units that sucked at defense. In Civ IV, however, your archers are your key defenders. They are the equivilant of Civ III Spearmen IMO.
If they're built in a city with barracks, I usually equip them with city garrison. Remember that Archers also are born with extra defenses in cities (and hills as well).
If your opponent is using a lot of mounted units (ie, Chariots or Horse Archers), add Spearmen. Spearmen are also good for defense. Combine them with your archers if possible. However, if your enemy does not use a lot of mounted units, you can probably forsake spearmen as a defense.
Because mounted units do not have any defensive bonus, it's usually unecessary to send Spearmen to attack Horsemen. Just use whatever you got convenient.
Remember that Spearmen have a full 100% bonus against mounted units! That means their power is doubled!
Swordsmen are once again your major city attackers. They receive a bonus when attacking cities. Keep a few of these in your army when you march off to war, because these guys will be leading the attack (following the catapults, of course. But catapults are relatively later in the game). Try to send one and a half to two swordsmen per city defender. That means that if a city is defended by 4 units, send 6-8 swordsmen (not in the same stack, though!) Remember that this varies depending on the defenders.
However, when attacking things not in a city, it is best to use Axemen.
Axemen gain a big bonus against Melee units. That means that their power is increased when attacking "normal" units (swordsmen, axemen, etc.) So these are your units that will intercept enemy attack forces. These guys will also clean up after your swordsmen if they fail to take out a city completely.
Mounted units I tend to use to pillage the enemy's road system. Because they don't have good defense, they should avoid combat whenever possible. I use them by sending them ahead of the main attack force and wreaking havoc. It's not usually a good idea to stack mounted units at all because of their vulnerability. If you want two to attack the same unit, just put them in adjacent squares.
I actually haven't found mounted units very useful in my gamess, so I'm probably not the best to explain them. Somoene else could do this better than me.
And catapults...those are REALLY important. Usually about ten catapults can carry a good-sized city to 0% city defenses, but the collateral damage helps! Have a lot of catapult units! Maybe twenty or something around that area in the ancient age. After the city defenses are gone, bombard the defenders!
Basically, learn from your enemy. See what they build, and adapt to that. If they build melee units, build axemen. If they build mounted units, build spearmen.
Okay now for attacking...
Try dividing your "stack of doom" from Civ III into smaller stacks. Make this division a neat sampling, like having tiny version of your larger stack.
For example, if you had a stack of 5 swordsmen, 5 axemen, 5 catapults, and one spearmen, you could divide it into:
1) 2x Swordsmen, 1x Axemen and Catapult
2) 1x Swordsmen and Catapult, 2x Axemen
3) 1x Swordsmen and Axemen, 2x Catapult
4) 1x Swordsmen, Axemen, Catapult, and Spearmen
OR you could have specialized batallions, where you have one battallion that is devoted to attacking cities, one that is devoted to attacking melee units, etc. But be sure to keep them close together, to cover for the others' weaknesses.
I find that it helps to plan your attack by using the "Strategy" layer. To do this, while zoomed in click on the little globe button on the top right of the minimap. Then click the "strategy layer" button on the top left of the minimap. Click "New Line" above the minimap, and use it like a painbrush to paint your campaign strategy directly onto the map. When you zoom back in, the lines will stay visible.
Remember that I'm no a Civ 4 pro. That's just what works for me in the Ancient Era.
The best city defense in early game to my knowledge is the Archer. In Civ III, the archers were the pure offensive units that sucked at defense. In Civ IV, however, your archers are your key defenders. They are the equivilant of Civ III Spearmen IMO.
If they're built in a city with barracks, I usually equip them with city garrison. Remember that Archers also are born with extra defenses in cities (and hills as well).
If your opponent is using a lot of mounted units (ie, Chariots or Horse Archers), add Spearmen. Spearmen are also good for defense. Combine them with your archers if possible. However, if your enemy does not use a lot of mounted units, you can probably forsake spearmen as a defense.
Because mounted units do not have any defensive bonus, it's usually unecessary to send Spearmen to attack Horsemen. Just use whatever you got convenient.
Remember that Spearmen have a full 100% bonus against mounted units! That means their power is doubled!
Swordsmen are once again your major city attackers. They receive a bonus when attacking cities. Keep a few of these in your army when you march off to war, because these guys will be leading the attack (following the catapults, of course. But catapults are relatively later in the game). Try to send one and a half to two swordsmen per city defender. That means that if a city is defended by 4 units, send 6-8 swordsmen (not in the same stack, though!) Remember that this varies depending on the defenders.
However, when attacking things not in a city, it is best to use Axemen.
Axemen gain a big bonus against Melee units. That means that their power is increased when attacking "normal" units (swordsmen, axemen, etc.) So these are your units that will intercept enemy attack forces. These guys will also clean up after your swordsmen if they fail to take out a city completely.
Mounted units I tend to use to pillage the enemy's road system. Because they don't have good defense, they should avoid combat whenever possible. I use them by sending them ahead of the main attack force and wreaking havoc. It's not usually a good idea to stack mounted units at all because of their vulnerability. If you want two to attack the same unit, just put them in adjacent squares.
I actually haven't found mounted units very useful in my gamess, so I'm probably not the best to explain them. Somoene else could do this better than me.
And catapults...those are REALLY important. Usually about ten catapults can carry a good-sized city to 0% city defenses, but the collateral damage helps! Have a lot of catapult units! Maybe twenty or something around that area in the ancient age. After the city defenses are gone, bombard the defenders!
Basically, learn from your enemy. See what they build, and adapt to that. If they build melee units, build axemen. If they build mounted units, build spearmen.
Okay now for attacking...
Try dividing your "stack of doom" from Civ III into smaller stacks. Make this division a neat sampling, like having tiny version of your larger stack.
For example, if you had a stack of 5 swordsmen, 5 axemen, 5 catapults, and one spearmen, you could divide it into:
1) 2x Swordsmen, 1x Axemen and Catapult
2) 1x Swordsmen and Catapult, 2x Axemen
3) 1x Swordsmen and Axemen, 2x Catapult
4) 1x Swordsmen, Axemen, Catapult, and Spearmen
OR you could have specialized batallions, where you have one battallion that is devoted to attacking cities, one that is devoted to attacking melee units, etc. But be sure to keep them close together, to cover for the others' weaknesses.
I find that it helps to plan your attack by using the "Strategy" layer. To do this, while zoomed in click on the little globe button on the top right of the minimap. Then click the "strategy layer" button on the top left of the minimap. Click "New Line" above the minimap, and use it like a painbrush to paint your campaign strategy directly onto the map. When you zoom back in, the lines will stay visible.
Remember that I'm no a Civ 4 pro. That's just what works for me in the Ancient Era.
I'm not a huge fan of using swordsman to wage war... They still die a dime a dozen... Unless you're using the roman UU...
It's also been said the city raider promotion don't work as it is intended...
If you ever wage war in the beginning of the game, the only way you'll win before catapults would be to totally take yourself out of any tech race and build an army 3 times the size to win... Just not very economical...
A good war is waged when your army has the advantage and a 1.5 : 1 kill ratio... Something in the lines of siege + new age units...
Example would be riflemen before anyone gets them... If they're fighting anyone, most likely they won't be strong vs them from natural bonuses... With the help of bombardments and collateral dmg, you're probably way better than 1.5 : 1 if you play your cards right...
I wrecked havoc with a stack of 10 - 15 units, totally claimed 5 cities without the stack dying... Lost maybe half of them, mostly catapults...
The worst part of a war to gain land, is the security you have to leave behind... If you ever stop pumping out units (pick the right civics!!!) during a war, you'll have to make a lot of pit stops...
"Strike when the iron is hot..."
You have to keep pounding it if you want the most out of the war... So keep pumping out archers to take the new cities as your main force rolls along... Then quickly pump out replacement units (especially catapult type) ASAP to keep the onslaught going!!!
It's also been said the city raider promotion don't work as it is intended...
If you ever wage war in the beginning of the game, the only way you'll win before catapults would be to totally take yourself out of any tech race and build an army 3 times the size to win... Just not very economical...
A good war is waged when your army has the advantage and a 1.5 : 1 kill ratio... Something in the lines of siege + new age units...
Example would be riflemen before anyone gets them... If they're fighting anyone, most likely they won't be strong vs them from natural bonuses... With the help of bombardments and collateral dmg, you're probably way better than 1.5 : 1 if you play your cards right...
I wrecked havoc with a stack of 10 - 15 units, totally claimed 5 cities without the stack dying... Lost maybe half of them, mostly catapults...
The worst part of a war to gain land, is the security you have to leave behind... If you ever stop pumping out units (pick the right civics!!!) during a war, you'll have to make a lot of pit stops...
"Strike when the iron is hot..."
You have to keep pounding it if you want the most out of the war... So keep pumping out archers to take the new cities as your main force rolls along... Then quickly pump out replacement units (especially catapult type) ASAP to keep the onslaught going!!!
