What can be done about AI CC that can one shot kill an Archer?

[Sun Tzu Wu]

I was playing Montezuma, wiped out one Leader, took very long time to the next, Cleopatra. In this case her core cities' City Centers could all one shot kill my Archers. I was building Catapults, but they would take a long time to get there, so I had planned to take her Capital with Archers. That's not feasible with her one shot killing my Archers, unless my supply of Archers is huge and they can at least take one shot at her Capital before they die. What would you do?

 

[AlazkanAssassin]

Capture all the non-core cities, pillage the improvements (not districts) of the core cities, kill all units that leave the core cities into range of your archers, and wait for reinforcements to arrive.

 

[CaiusDrewart]

Yes, if the city is destroying Archers in one shot I would not attempt to siege it without better troops. Pull back a bit out of city range and keep farming Cleopatra's units for experience (get those double attack promotions!)

Your catapults will get there to finish the job eventually. They should be able to take down the wall very quickly and then your Archers can move in again.

 

[gatorsurgeon]

If that city can one shot archers, then it will chew up a bunch of your catapults as well. Do as mentioned above and take the small cities and pillage around the core. Forget catapults. Build a couple seige towers and rush to Stirrups and get some Knights. Seige towers mean you don't need to worry about using ranged units to attack cities. They are the single most overpowered unit in the game and they never become obsolete.

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

Since you said they can one-shot Archers, I'd say the city defenses should be in their late-50s to early-60s.

I've Knight-rushed a city with 52 defense, and 4 Knights and a Ram (Siege Tower didn't make it in time, and I had a Ram close by from an earlier war) did it.

In your case, bring more (and be prepared to lose some). You can chip away the city health with Archers once the walls are down and you sieged the city. Alternatively, wait for Cavalry, which are more powerful and you should need less.

 

[Sun Tzu Wu]

Thank you everyone for the responses!

I was just shocked that a City Center was powerful enough to one shot kill my Archers. Since Archers have 15 melee strength, the City Center ranged strength had to be strength 45 or more (30+ strength difference is an instant kill).

Can anyone explain city center and encampment district strength, both offensive ranged ability and defensive strength? I'd like to understand how an AI city can become this strong so early; I recently unlocked Catapults and had just finished wiping out my first victim. It was Deity level, but I'd never experienced having Archers one shot killed by a CC before (on Deity level).

It wasn't too long before I could unlock Crossbowmen, but I probably wouldn't upgrade Archers until I had the -50% upgrade policy. 200g per upgrade is a lot; 100g per upgrade with this policy is more reasonable.

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

Maybe it beelined Castles? China and France get extra bonuses with this tech. Then it built Medieval Walls because they were available and you were "threatening" them (y'know, warmonger penalties and all).

I thought ranged units used ranged strength to defend against ranged attacks, though.

 

[Sun Tzu Wu]

Maybe it beelined Castles? China and France get extra bonuses with this tech. Then it built Medieval Walls because they were available and you were "threatening" them (y'know, warmonger penalties and all).

I thought ranged units used ranged strength to defend against ranged attacks, though.

I was wondering too, whether Cleopatra's capital had Medieval Walls. Is there a way to tell which class of wall an enemy city has?

Now that you mentioned it, I'm not positive that Melee strength is used on defense against ranged weapons. Certainly units lacking a ranged attack use melee strength for all defensive actions, since they don't have a ranged strength. I will check this out in a more appropriate thread.

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

You can hover the cursor on the city, and it will display the buildings there. It works for other districts too, though I don't know if it get automatically updated if it's in the fog of war, or you need visibility to update it.
Or you can conquer the city first and check later