vs ranged.

[Pim]

today i was playing a game with hiawata pangua king 6 civs. I attacked japan with my mohawks, rushed to rifles to DoW england. they had 3 cities and i conquered 1, signed peace because of happiness issues.
I DoW'd England again but my rifles didnt do any good: the 2 cities lizzy got lets were coastal and she had build something like 5 triremes and a ship of the line. Her cities were being defended by a couple of longbowmen(i guess 4). because of mountains and hills i couldnt reach the city quickly so all of her ranged unit tore my riflemen apart.
my question is this: how do i defeat her, what is the anwser to defeating a civ whom goes heavily on ranged units?
building a navy of my own has to be done from scratch, sending in more troops doesnt have much effect: i already send in 7 rifles in together and 2 of them died before reaching a city. I starting killing of the longbows but everytime i killed one i also lost a riflemen.

 

[DaveMcW]

It's normal to lose 1 unit/turn against ranged defenders. Start with more units.

 

[chazzycat]

1) what dave said

2) Sounds like the naval units are annoying, you should build a navy and take them out if that's an option. If she has mostly triremes you should be able to handle them. Removing the sea advantage is important when taking on Lizzy anyway. A few frigates should be able to clean that up and can help bombard the city too.

3) Bring along some cavalry or lancers to kill the archers.

 

[RedRover57]

You may want to consider waiting to finish her off until after you have artillery. It sounds like you need ranged support and need artillery for the 3 tile range and ability to shoot over obstacles (hills) with a spotter. Maybe attack another civ first then finish Liz off later? If you already attacked her once she should at least be weakened and not much of a threat to your own empire.

 

[chgrogers]

With one of my wins last night I made the mistake of doing Renaissance war with England. The moment that I got near her first city I saw the longbows. After much attrition I took the city and had to sit for backup. I have noticed if you send an attack force or continually threaten one city they will move units in for support. Using that continued pressure as feint and attack another city which is weakly defended. Then use the counterattack to mill away a few more units.

 

[FromBirth]

If you go with RedRover57s advice to come back to them later, if you have enough units I suggest you leave 1 or 2 rifles near her cities in the hills you mentioned to soak up some ranged attacks. Stand them side by side with medic promotions and you should be able to leave them there to gain loads of exp until you are ready to attack later (maybe some forts if onside your territory). You may be able to block her expansion this way as well, perhaps with one of the mounted units chazzycat mentioned left behind as well to pick of any attempted settler movement.

 

[Pim]

thanks a lot, so postphoning conquering her but keep on containing. I will try to use the advice.
I know losses are normal but lossing a riflemen against a late medieval army feels wrong, but quess ill have to learn to live with that.
Getting my own navy up and running feels like a big investment for little gain, i dont think i will use it much more further ingame(have clear landroutes to my other opponents) but good idea nevertheless.
I think i will try and go for artillery and more units in a later stage(i think i can reach artillery in 25 turns or so).