What do you think are the best Military tactics?

[norman1994civ5]

Tell me what you think are the best military tactics. Either a military strategy or the way you set up your troops to take out cities and tough enemy units. Hopefully all of us will learn something new from each other that will help our game.

check out this video to see my tactics of taking out a city:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF40MV2wi7w&feature=g-upl

 

[Tabarnak]

Any ability to beeline a military tech and just before building units for upgrade is a great tactic.

I usually bring 75% ranged and 25% melee when fighting.

 

[Melchizedek]

The best military tactic is to be the Mongols.

 

[MisterBoomBoom]

Indirect fire first and foremost.

 

[agonistes]

My strategy:

1) have more troops
2) have more artillery
3) don't lose troops*

For cities:
1) bombard
2) attack

If I lose even one unit I get very pissed (at myself). Normally.

Current game I was Egypt (on giant earth map), friends and Dpact with Theo. I had a 10+ city empire, Persia was 5+ (I think). Theo is at war with Carth/Greece. Persia declares on Theo. Germany and Rome then declare on Theo.

Apparently, once the Dpact kicks in on the first attack, it doesn't apply to secondary aggressors. So the pact put me at war with Persia (who had expanded to Arabian Penninsula), but not Rome/Germany. So I declared on Greece, Rome, Germany, am now at war with 4 civs, 3 on my border.

For the med sea, I just put a few ships out to sea (2-3), and bombarded, because Theo has a nice fleet. I fortified one musket at the Dardanelles. To the east, Persia had 3 cities closely grouped. I had ranged fortified on hills, muskets in front of them, and a few lancers/knights.

I lost two units to bombardment, but I was willing to sacrifice them to take out Persia's artillery. The three city placement allowed two cities to bombard a single unit = I had to cut down on Persia's ranged power. So I would use xbows to snipe Persian trebuchets, then send in a knight/lancer.

Mind you, the goal of my assault wasn't even to take a city, but to deflect Persia's assault away from Byzantium.

If there was anything to learn in the example, its that enemy artillery should be targeted first (unless enemy cavalry is running amok among YOUR artillery). I gave the example to show one of the rare times I was willing to lose a unit. I could have just held my defensive position on the hills, but I was impatient. You could play an entire game and not lose a unit.

The siege strategy is always the same, surround and bombard like heck, then send in a melee.

 

[PostConsumerWat]

great generals can turn the tide of a conflict nicely.

leveling up ranged units can be a treat with an extra attack and plus 1 ranged.

 

[budweiser]

Get thar the fastest with the mostest men.

 

[smallfish]

Target Paralysis - presenting the opposition with too many targets to handle, requires one to quick surround before proper reinforcements can come in... and have a weak unit or two in the mix as well.

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

 

[Denounced]

Always have an awareness of the surrounding area, your flanks, defensive and offensive positions. Pay close attention to the terrain bonuses. Like chess, position your units so that they can not only cover each other (position/strengths/weaknesses) but manoeuvre without getting in each other's way. Flexibility and timing are key. Make sure that you dictate where the battles take place. Never be afraid to back off a little to regroup/heal up. If only a single unit is badly injured, rotate him out from teh front line. Have your reserves ready to replace injured units. Try to set ambush points, lures and traps. Use diplomacy to bribe others to fight for you. Denounce before declaring war, make sure its a civ that has already denounced a few others or been denounced by a few others. Ask your friends to fight with you. Be aware of diplomatic penalties. Be sure not to have an enemy or potential enemy city in the middle of your own empire. Build so that your cities and units cannot easily be cut off by enemy troops and borders.
Thats all I can think of right now for military tactics.

 

[krc]

Get thar the fastest with the mostest men.

The actual quote from Nathan Bedford Forrest was "I got there first with the most men," but the ungrammatical misquotation is better known.

 

[slapshot2119]

Decoys - bring 2 or 3 melee units to the opposite end of the target empire than you plan on attacking from. Move them 3 tiles away from their city and to good defensive positions, (optimally across a river and on a hill, forested or jungle.)- Fortify. The AI will split his attack between attacking these 2 or 3, which they will outnumber but not be able to finish due to defensive bonuses, leaving the other half of his force way overpowered against your main force.

 

[Avatan]

On defense just like offense: scouts.

They will let you know when and where the enemy arrives and let you place your troops accordingly. Necessary.
On offense you can also use them to ZOC fleeing troops or make ranges waste their turn shooting it. After middle age not so much since they'll get one shot to oblivion.

 

[JakeIL7]

Defend rapidly (roads, bridges, mounted units) but attack slowly (melee first with indirect fire behind). Scout your flanks.

Of course, if you are the Mongols, you get the chance to simply run around each city taking pot shots whenever you like. And if you are the Huns, just defend your battering ram until it gets to the city.

 

[norman1994civ5]

My strategy is like many, Build your army till it is ranked number one. Then take all your troops. Half of them being troops like catapults. I forget what there called lol. and then take down the cities until your happyness is low and take a break.

 

[Civsassin]

Often times, I'll sit my army just outside of enemy territory and declare war. Melee up front, horses on the flanks, and ranged in the rear. I'll pick apart the enemy army to weaken it up before I go in for the attack. I will usually pick a city that will give me a strategic advantage - a rally point to access the other cities. I will often ally a CS for that purpose as well. The attack will follow lines already discussed.

 

[curwen]

concentrate ....
1) try to have only 1 front (except if you have enough units to have 2 but remeber when it will be time to upgrade that will be twice as costly). Except when it is a walk in the park having 2 armies is to costly/dangerous.
2) destroy enemy army before attacking city.. or sell the city you just conquered to prevent it to be taken back and save the unit who took it ...
3) in general kill armies outside of city range... better kill them inside YOUR frontier (make healing your units faster)
4) scout ... +1 vision is the main reason to get scout or mounted units. you can get the +1 from start if you build barrack and armory.
5) never attack when you can defend (so much easier to defend)... only attack when IA start to retreat
6) if you ever start naval operation build a corsair and use it asap so get the biggest fleet and upgrade them.
7) you should nearly never lose a unit.... (1 every 2 cities taken is bad)
8) late game get the air superiority ... get fighter or sam and IA will lose his bomber while you hold ... then attack ... or better conquer the city containing them.
9) CS on the front line should be on your side
10) pillage enemy territory when you have nothing better to do (specialy with last movement point of mounted unit... they more see the enemy retreat and pillage ... or just pillage when the melee is on)
11)use all your units ... if you cannot you have to many of them (time to start going to next city). Range should always fire or move to be able to fire on next turn ... melee are either taking city or fortifying to protect the other units ... or pillage/ move to next target/move to be in place for next turn. Regenrating unit (jaguar and upgrade janissary ...) should finish enemy units as much as possible (they should get the most experience to become your more powerful units and destroy an enemy unit every turn)


at deity level .. cheat (= use fortress)... you cannot dream to field an army the size of the IA so use the fact that he ignore them and use it as a minefield.
and yes you will always be the weak dog ... everyone has an army bigger (and often more modern) than yours ... but you have units with experience so use them (unit with rough country advantage should always fortify there ... the rare one which have plain advantages should fortify there UI does not understand(=take into account) experienced units... jaguar can kill swordmen or longswordmen while defending on forest with 2/3 advance)

remember when you fire at a unit you give it experience... brand new IA units will heal at 5/10 xp (I.E. 3 to 5 range attack... the 1st time) ... so fire to kill or choose another one ... or take into account that it will be near full health at his turn.

 

[patsfan454]

peace through superior firepower

 

[Ventus]

Yeah, indirect fire is great, yet sadly it applies only to Artillery and Rocket Artillery (unless you're playing Vanilla). Anyways, I always try to have different types of units. Usually 50-60% of my army are ranged units. Composite/Xbow first, then switch to Canons/Artillery. Then 25-35% are melee. Rest is mounted.
It can vary depending on Civ special units. So if I play as Russia then army of Cossacks swing through the opponent units. Of course I'm using a melee first to injure a unit to take full advantage of Cossacks.
I think this is also what should be taken in mind: UU abilities.

BR

 

[Raiki]

Best tactic? Stick them with the pointy end.

More seriously, I love love love driving the slaves before the army (translation: putting captured workers on the front lines) in order to soak up opponent melee attacks. A unit that takes a worker can't attack again that turn, so it's vulnerable to a counterattack from my units on my turn. Bonus? If you kill the unit that just captured the worker, you can start the whole process over.

Other than that, my best advice is to keep your forces focused. An army that's too spread out loses far more troops than an army that functions as a cohesive unit.

~R~

 

[norman1994civ5]

(translation: putting captured workers on the front lines) in order to soak up opponent melee attacks. A unit that takes a worker can't attack again that turn, so it's vulnerable to a counterattack from my units on my turn. Bonus? If you kill the unit that just captured the worker, you can start the whole process over.
~R~

I have never heard of this strategy. Pretty hilarious actually. I must try this some time.