Since the vast majority of advice here tends to be war before the age of machine guns, here are a view things I learned about war in the modern age.
Game settings: King, small map, Continents.
Setting the stage: Playing as the Americans, I had a small continent ("America") to myself, aside from Copenhagen on the tip of a penisula. We happily progressed alone, spamming a fair number of wonders, with four cities fitting nicely on our continent. We soon discovered navigation, and discovered all other civilizations on a massive continent ("Eurasia") to our west. The Iroquois, Germany, and Egypt remained (India and France being wiped out already). To the east, two other continents, entirely populated by city states. ("New America and Australia")
We proceded to leave Eurasia alone, while dropping three new cities in New America and Australia, and taking over Rio de Janero for their Aluminum. In the meantime, Germany and the Iroquois divided up Egypt, then Iroquois modern forces (Infantry and Arty) proceded to conquer Germany, giving the Iroquois a massive 25-30 city empire, and a modest tech advantage on myself.
Seeing where this was going, we started to build up the American fleet. Destroyers (4-5) at first.
Then we saw the Iroqoius with 2 Infantry, a Mech Infantry, and an Arty heading in transports towards New America...
We knew where this was headed.
Note one: If you ever see the AI with a LOT of transported troops...declare war first. Because they're coming after you. They never defend the transports well, but each will generally require 2-3 naval strikes to sink.
So we declared war. Starting building battleships. More Destroyers. Started bombarding the coast of Eurasia...
Note two: The AI naval intelligence sucks. But their land AI isn't too bad. Land based Arty is bad for your naval ships...target it first....
Eventually, we had a fleet of 5 DDs, 4 BBs, and a Carrier off the coast of Eurasia. We'd sit there, the AI would bring up forces (Mech infantry, anti-tank guns, SAMs, Arty), and we'd target it with our ships and kill it. If a DD got damaged, run it back to America to get fixed. The AI would NEVER challenge the fleet with naval action. Eventually, we'd land a single Calvary or Infantry to take a city we'd been bombarding. At first, the AI took it back without a problem. But then...we just kept wearing away the massive army they had. We never took a city with more than 1 land based troop....everything else was naval (and some fighter) support.
Note three: The AI doesn't build aircraft. This was truly amazing, but even though the AI clearly had oil and Aluminum, and the technology, they NEVER BUILD a single fighter, bomber, or Jet fighter. I saw 2 Helis...that's it. Loads of Mech infantry, anti-tank, ect.
After taking about 3 cities, the AI started requesting a White peace. (AKA, not "Surrender 1/2 your cities". We said noticed a few other things
Note 4: The AI actually defends its capital!. In scouting, we noticed the AI had 3 DDs, and a full ring of troops around its capital, even as the rest of the empire was being picked apart. Quite nicely programmed.
Note 5: Nukes... Worth it? We nuked the capital, and it only knocked the city to 1/2 strength (Although it was a -10 pop to a 27 pop capital). And at the cost of 800 resources for the Manhattan project, and another 600-800 for the Nuke.
Note 6: Finally, we got a surrender offer from the AI. They offered us....everything. 900 Gold. Every Strategic Resource. And EVERY CITY THEY HAD except the capital (About 15-18 cities remaining). We took the offer....and promptly went from about 5 happiness to -100 happiness... even with puppetting 1/3 and liberating 1/3 the cities.
Note 7: Are tanks remotely worth it? Both myself and the AI easily got Mech infantry first. They're the same strength, but Mech Infantry get defensive bonuses, and no negatives attacking cities. And don't require oil.
Note 8: About 1/2 of the way through the war, we started going red due to military upkeep. Modern units are EXPENSIVE to upkeep. Autocracy (-33% military costs) is worth it's weight in gold, and easily saved $60 a turn. (Buildings were still a major expense)
Note 9: Against the AI.... Subs aren't worth it.
Note 10: B-17's.... Ditto.
Note 11: There's quite a difference between a defense 40 city (No military upgrades like Walls, castles, ect) and a Defense 70 city, in taking it down. Those military upgrades....may be worth it.
Game settings: King, small map, Continents.
Setting the stage: Playing as the Americans, I had a small continent ("America") to myself, aside from Copenhagen on the tip of a penisula. We happily progressed alone, spamming a fair number of wonders, with four cities fitting nicely on our continent. We soon discovered navigation, and discovered all other civilizations on a massive continent ("Eurasia") to our west. The Iroquois, Germany, and Egypt remained (India and France being wiped out already). To the east, two other continents, entirely populated by city states. ("New America and Australia")
We proceded to leave Eurasia alone, while dropping three new cities in New America and Australia, and taking over Rio de Janero for their Aluminum. In the meantime, Germany and the Iroquois divided up Egypt, then Iroquois modern forces (Infantry and Arty) proceded to conquer Germany, giving the Iroquois a massive 25-30 city empire, and a modest tech advantage on myself.
Seeing where this was going, we started to build up the American fleet. Destroyers (4-5) at first.
Then we saw the Iroqoius with 2 Infantry, a Mech Infantry, and an Arty heading in transports towards New America...
We knew where this was headed.
Note one: If you ever see the AI with a LOT of transported troops...declare war first. Because they're coming after you. They never defend the transports well, but each will generally require 2-3 naval strikes to sink.
So we declared war. Starting building battleships. More Destroyers. Started bombarding the coast of Eurasia...
Note two: The AI naval intelligence sucks. But their land AI isn't too bad. Land based Arty is bad for your naval ships...target it first....
Eventually, we had a fleet of 5 DDs, 4 BBs, and a Carrier off the coast of Eurasia. We'd sit there, the AI would bring up forces (Mech infantry, anti-tank guns, SAMs, Arty), and we'd target it with our ships and kill it. If a DD got damaged, run it back to America to get fixed. The AI would NEVER challenge the fleet with naval action. Eventually, we'd land a single Calvary or Infantry to take a city we'd been bombarding. At first, the AI took it back without a problem. But then...we just kept wearing away the massive army they had. We never took a city with more than 1 land based troop....everything else was naval (and some fighter) support.
Note three: The AI doesn't build aircraft. This was truly amazing, but even though the AI clearly had oil and Aluminum, and the technology, they NEVER BUILD a single fighter, bomber, or Jet fighter. I saw 2 Helis...that's it. Loads of Mech infantry, anti-tank, ect.
After taking about 3 cities, the AI started requesting a White peace. (AKA, not "Surrender 1/2 your cities". We said noticed a few other things
Note 4: The AI actually defends its capital!. In scouting, we noticed the AI had 3 DDs, and a full ring of troops around its capital, even as the rest of the empire was being picked apart. Quite nicely programmed.
Note 5: Nukes... Worth it? We nuked the capital, and it only knocked the city to 1/2 strength (Although it was a -10 pop to a 27 pop capital). And at the cost of 800 resources for the Manhattan project, and another 600-800 for the Nuke.
Note 6: Finally, we got a surrender offer from the AI. They offered us....everything. 900 Gold. Every Strategic Resource. And EVERY CITY THEY HAD except the capital (About 15-18 cities remaining). We took the offer....and promptly went from about 5 happiness to -100 happiness... even with puppetting 1/3 and liberating 1/3 the cities.
Note 7: Are tanks remotely worth it? Both myself and the AI easily got Mech infantry first. They're the same strength, but Mech Infantry get defensive bonuses, and no negatives attacking cities. And don't require oil.
Note 8: About 1/2 of the way through the war, we started going red due to military upkeep. Modern units are EXPENSIVE to upkeep. Autocracy (-33% military costs) is worth it's weight in gold, and easily saved $60 a turn. (Buildings were still a major expense)
Note 9: Against the AI.... Subs aren't worth it.
Note 10: B-17's.... Ditto.
Note 11: There's quite a difference between a defense 40 city (No military upgrades like Walls, castles, ect) and a Defense 70 city, in taking it down. Those military upgrades....may be worth it.
