Waging War - need hellp

[Dwarven Zerker]

Recently the Zulus decided to wage war rather than remove their troops from my territory. This advanced my war plans by about 10 or 15 turns, so my military is a little on the small side.

I'm taking the war to him with my Immortals and Knights (Musket Men to defend) taking on his Longbowmen and Impis. Fortunately for me he doesn't have access to iron. But going after his towns with fortified Impis and Spearmen I'm losing about 1/2 of my troops. I figured I'd be winning about 2/3 of my battles. I've generally been attacking with 1 or 2 knights, 3 or 4 Immortals with 1 or 2 Musket Men in a stack. I open my battle with the Knights and try to finish with my Immortals. Is there something I can do differently to increase my success?

I'd really like to hear what general principles people use to attack towns and cities before artillery becomes useful, especially when the defenders have similar strength to the attackers.

 

[phizuol]

Lots and lots and lots of knights. You'll be taking a lot fewer losses and as long as you take the city in one turn your knights can heal up inside. The key is overwhelming force so there can be no doubt of your victory. If you look at your units and are unsure of a victory then you don't have enough units. =) Remember to produce enough units to replenish your losses AND defend your newly conquered cities.

When you use overwhelming force not even lucky combat results can save the AI.

 

[Dwarven Zerker]

That's what I was prepping for when I switched to Democracy spent 4 turns restablishing order. Turn one Mr. Zulu Man drops three archers in my territory. I, being the nice neighbor that I am, ask him to leave. He being the evil meanie he is says, "Eat hot wood!" since he only has horses. I tells him, "Bring it!" and send my limited Knights and Immortals in.

Three agonizing turns later my production resumes and I'm stuck waiting for my banks and cathedrals to finish or waste 25+ shields switching to knights. I figure I'll just wait the 2 to 4 turns to finish current projects and switch. I guess I should just sit back on defense for a bit and then bring in the Mighty Stack o' Death Knights!

 

[zak]

Actually, I would say lot's of immortals. They have the same attack as a knight, and knights can't retreat against Impis and they are not going to defend in a stack containing musketmen. Your cities can produce 2 immortals for every knight, so keep churning them out. Playing Persia, you can often skip chivalry and go straight to military tradition.

I also wouldn't bother with many more musketmen. If you're already taking cities, there probably aren't many more attack forces the zulu have. Again, it's 2 immortals for every musket.

 

[[GoD]Toxic]

I agree with zak, just keep building immortals.

I also use the overwelming force tactic... But you can also send a skrimish group in aganinst another city, in another direction, before you send in your main force and take over the city you want. The Ai will send all of its attack force against the skirmish group giving you time to take the city and settle in

 

[Henry_X]

But you can upgrade knights and they do prevent Impi's from escaping...

When I don't have enough units to attack cities I just occupy territory, in between his cities. Possibly on mountain , with some defensive units and I run small raids from there on any unit in the open.

If I attack a city I "make sure" I got it , having enough troops near it to take 2 cities. I just hate when an ally comes along and takes city that I 've softened up for him.

 

[Shillen]

I also use the overwelming force tactic... But you can also send a skrimish group in aganinst another city, in another direction, before you send in your main force and take over the city you want. The Ai will send all of its attack force against the skirmish group giving you time to take the city and settle in

I second this one. Usually I'll send a small stack of units right in next to their capital, preferably on a mountain or hill, with both offensive and defensive units. The AI will build up its defenses inside the capital. Meanwhile I take my main attack force, usually two forces actually, and start dropping all their core cities surrounding their capital. Because of the stack near their capital they don't defend the outer cities well. I take the capital at the very end with my combined army. Besides the distraction this tactic is good because from my experience the capital is the most likely to culture flip, but if it's the last city you take it can't.

 

[Arutha]

... 'pults !

Granted, pults and canons work a lot better vs units in the field than vs cities, but a big stack of catapults *will* lower your losses. It's a matter of what your war objective is.

If you want a speedy conquest, razing cities, then accept your losses.
If you want to capture cities and are not in a hurry, then 1) use a big ol' stack of pults (they all missed their shot this turn? wait for next turn!) 2) let your units heal (never attack with a hurt unit).

Last tip, use the terrain to your advantage. Take a detour if need be, but avoid having your army stand on flat ground. Move from moutain to hilltop, from forest to jungle. Don't attack from behind a river but have the ai do it.

 

[Tassadar]

phizuol is right, use knights in stack of 12 and mass attack. If you micromanage your size 12 cities corectly, you will be able to produce knight in 3-5 turn per city, so dont stop production until they are erase from the map, take their land and ressource.

 

[wilbill]

Originally posted by Dwarven Zerker
That's what I was prepping for when I switched to Democracy spent 4 turns restablishing order. Turn one Mr. Zulu Man drops three archers in my territory. I, being the nice neighbor that I am, ask him to leave. He being the evil meanie he is says, "Eat hot wood!" since he only has horses. I tells him, "Bring it!" and send my limited Knights and Immortals in.

Three agonizing turns later my production resumes and I'm stuck waiting for my banks and cathedrals to finish or waste 25+ shields switching to knights.

The first turn of Anarchy might not have been the best time to be kicking the Zulus out. I know it's tough to watch them roaming around your territory, but starting a war at a time when you may have zero production for as much as 6 (or is 8 the max?) turns isn't great leadership.
Also, you might want to look at the timing of of your government change. Try to time your revolutions at a point where you've just finished a bunch of improvements so you're not faced with waiting for them to finish or wasting shields when you come out of Anarchy.
Shaka might have attacked anyway, but he might not have. I'd rather fight my wars when I want to instead of letting the AI dictate the timing.
BTW - sounds like you've making some good moves to pull the situation out. G' luck.

 

[Dwarven Zerker]

After two hours last night I pulled things around. Judicious building of many knights racing to the front turned the tide. I took Zimbabwe and three or four other towns. Eight more towns and Shaka will be a small period in the footnotes of time. I was starting to have problems with WW but hooked up 3 luxuries from the other continent when I discovered navigation. The only entertainers I employ are in Zimbabwe. Life is good in the Fremen (Persian) empire. The Fedaykin are marching through Zulu cities with impunity.

@Wilbill - Thanks for the advice on timing revolutions. I goofed that one. But being only my second Civ3 game I'm doing pretty well. I've learned the lesson which I intended this game for anyways. I'll be going up to Monarch or Regent (whatever is harder than Warlord) in my next game.

Thanks for all of the advice everyone!