Civ Diploma
Chieftain
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2008
- Messages
- 25
I've tried going to war before, but never been successful.
How do you win a hard war?
How do you win a hard war?
What's the best way to win a war?
- Thread starter Civ Diploma
- Start date
That's an impossible question to answer since every campaign is different. That's why this is a called a "strategy" game, you need to be able to respond to the conditions that are in place at a particular time. There's no general approach that will fit all situations.
PibbZ
Paladin
Add more units, take advantage of terrain, and use lots of siege weapons 
Other than that, its a hopeless question to answer
Other than that, its a hopeless question to answer
azzaman333
meh
You have to have a better army. Whether this is through weight of numbers, superior units, or better tactics, it doesn't matter.
TheMeInTeam
If A implies B...
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2008
- Messages
- 27,995
As fast as possible. The faster you get the cities hooked up and put infrastructure in the more the war does for you.
While the above is true, if you want something that will actually help you, you'd better put a little bit more effort into your question and be more specific. Otherwise just read the war academy because it's pretty helpful.
While the above is true, if you want something that will actually help you, you'd better put a little bit more effort into your question and be more specific
. Otherwise just read the war academy because it's pretty helpful.I think I can rephrase your question. I think what you're really asking is, "what are some fundamentals of warfare in Civ IV?" I know you're having trouble asking specific questions because you don't even know enough of what's going on to formulate a good question.
Bit of a Catch-22, no?
Well, let me give you a few ideas. Hopefully, these might give you something to go on. With more experience, you'll be able to ask better questions.
1. Capture/Destroy resources. If this is an early war, find their heavy metals (bronze,iron working) and capture or destroy them. You must also cut off trade if they are trading for these resources (blockade or convince others to stop trading with them). The critical resource for a modern war is Oil. By cutting off these resources, your opponent will be unable to produce most of the powerful units that can oppose you. This, by the way, requires scouting ahead of time to find them. It also may require spys to destroy resources deep behind enemy territory.
2. Capture/Destroy critical cities. Find the city that has the great generals, the massive production, and so-forth. My experience is the AI loves to settle great generals in their capitals. Take out this city and the power of his troops will drop. This also requires scouting/espionage.
3. Prepare your borders. Station sufficient defenses in your borders. Don't put improvements on the side of your city facing an enemy unless you're strong enough to defend those too. Instead, build forts (or use forests if you don't have the tech yet) and station troops there. Let the enemy give you experience, and waste his own troops in a futile frontal attack, then turn the tables in your counter attack to destroy him.
4. Create a Military Production city. Have this city *only* build military units. Even during times of peace.
5. Learn how promotions work and use them. Don't be afraid to use Vassalage and Theocracy
6. Get allies to attack your enemies.
7. The AI does a horrible job at predicting where you will move your units, especially if it is "abnormal" movements. If you have some riflemen with Woodsman III, for instance, the AI will be unable to predict your 2 square forest moves. Naval assaults are also hard for the AI to predict.
8. Be willing to sacrifice siege units.
9. Tech lead is helpful, but not sufficient (usually).
10. Build the Statue of Zeus. If your enemy has it, make the war fast, or make a point of capturing the city with the Statue of Zeus quickly.
-- SJN
Bit of a Catch-22, no?
Well, let me give you a few ideas. Hopefully, these might give you something to go on. With more experience, you'll be able to ask better questions.
1. Capture/Destroy resources. If this is an early war, find their heavy metals (bronze,iron working) and capture or destroy them. You must also cut off trade if they are trading for these resources (blockade or convince others to stop trading with them). The critical resource for a modern war is Oil. By cutting off these resources, your opponent will be unable to produce most of the powerful units that can oppose you. This, by the way, requires scouting ahead of time to find them. It also may require spys to destroy resources deep behind enemy territory.
2. Capture/Destroy critical cities. Find the city that has the great generals, the massive production, and so-forth. My experience is the AI loves to settle great generals in their capitals. Take out this city and the power of his troops will drop. This also requires scouting/espionage.
3. Prepare your borders. Station sufficient defenses in your borders. Don't put improvements on the side of your city facing an enemy unless you're strong enough to defend those too. Instead, build forts (or use forests if you don't have the tech yet) and station troops there. Let the enemy give you experience, and waste his own troops in a futile frontal attack, then turn the tables in your counter attack to destroy him.
4. Create a Military Production city. Have this city *only* build military units. Even during times of peace.
5. Learn how promotions work and use them. Don't be afraid to use Vassalage and Theocracy
6. Get allies to attack your enemies.
7. The AI does a horrible job at predicting where you will move your units, especially if it is "abnormal" movements. If you have some riflemen with Woodsman III, for instance, the AI will be unable to predict your 2 square forest moves. Naval assaults are also hard for the AI to predict.
8. Be willing to sacrifice siege units.
9. Tech lead is helpful, but not sufficient (usually).
10. Build the Statue of Zeus. If your enemy has it, make the war fast, or make a point of capturing the city with the Statue of Zeus quickly.
-- SJN
thadian
Kami of Awakened Dreamers
I would like to expand from SJN. Before going to war, look at your opponents power level by pressing F9 and you will see where you actually are, in terms of how the other AI's view your power.
Then use military advisor - you need to know WHAT your enemy has, and build your best units that get bonuses with it. Nationhood is good, so is slavery and theocracy. in a city with size higher than 6 you can draft a unit, then whip one and generate 2-3 units a turn for a few turns.
Think about the units being used against you. If their horses are 2 spaces away from a town then you might want to send in a few "pawns" to sit on their hills, while horses of your own pillage the improvements that let them build better units - you can also find out which roads give them best mobility and cut them off.
Now, think about how you need to win. Are you being attacked by a powerful foe? Send out the troops, in a convoy. your outter units can be used to hinder enemy mobility which can buy you a few turns in your own borders. If you have the great wall, you actually WANT to fight in your own borders. Are you the aggressor? Before you go to war, set up 3 or 4 stacks built with units that counter what your enemy HAS - this is your invasion force. Start building the counter-unit to what your enemy is building. This is your "response" force.
Decide your goal, and about how long you want to be at war. If you want a quick war, capture 2-3 quick cities and end the war. heal and replenish your troops then declare again - this helps with pesky replenishment issues.
NEVER overextend yourself beyond your means. You will figure out what your economy permits but it only takes that ONE city capture to plumet your ecomony beyond your means to repair.
Use siege weapons - and use them often. Use them until they can't attack again at all, even if that means sitting there a few turns. This gets you the most Great General points. Build diplo triangles by negotiating trade-cancels with AI who you plan to war with. Use espionage to influence religion and civics. It can be amazing when the world turns a blind eye to your warmongering.
Lastly, decide if you want to fight for peace or war. Fighting for peace usually involves more buildings and less troops - ironacly there can be more war as your weaker but the battles will be on your own terms. Aggro wars consist more of capturing areas you can hold, and razing what you can't. If you don't actually BENEFIT from a vassal, just kill it. sometimes they are more trouble than theyre worth.
Then use military advisor - you need to know WHAT your enemy has, and build your best units that get bonuses with it. Nationhood is good, so is slavery and theocracy. in a city with size higher than 6 you can draft a unit, then whip one and generate 2-3 units a turn for a few turns.
Think about the units being used against you. If their horses are 2 spaces away from a town then you might want to send in a few "pawns" to sit on their hills, while horses of your own pillage the improvements that let them build better units - you can also find out which roads give them best mobility and cut them off.
Now, think about how you need to win. Are you being attacked by a powerful foe? Send out the troops, in a convoy. your outter units can be used to hinder enemy mobility which can buy you a few turns in your own borders. If you have the great wall, you actually WANT to fight in your own borders. Are you the aggressor? Before you go to war, set up 3 or 4 stacks built with units that counter what your enemy HAS - this is your invasion force. Start building the counter-unit to what your enemy is building. This is your "response" force.
Decide your goal, and about how long you want to be at war. If you want a quick war, capture 2-3 quick cities and end the war. heal and replenish your troops then declare again - this helps with pesky replenishment issues.
NEVER overextend yourself beyond your means. You will figure out what your economy permits but it only takes that ONE city capture to plumet your ecomony beyond your means to repair.
Use siege weapons - and use them often. Use them until they can't attack again at all, even if that means sitting there a few turns. This gets you the most Great General points. Build diplo triangles by negotiating trade-cancels with AI who you plan to war with. Use espionage to influence religion and civics. It can be amazing when the world turns a blind eye to your warmongering.
Lastly, decide if you want to fight for peace or war. Fighting for peace usually involves more buildings and less troops - ironacly there can be more war as your weaker but the battles will be on your own terms. Aggro wars consist more of capturing areas you can hold, and razing what you can't. If you don't actually BENEFIT from a vassal, just kill it. sometimes they are more trouble than theyre worth.
thadian
Kami of Awakened Dreamers
Onward: Don't forget to keep troops posted at "waypoints" throughout your kingdom. I often use calvary on hills so that if i am declared on or see barbs or something pop up, i often use them to go where i am threatened - marines are good for this late-game as well.
Navy: Blockade your enemy trade routes to cause the enemy to build more ships, paying higher maintenance costs, and reducing the ammount of ships coming to you as well as denial of working water tiles and trade routes by water.
Navy: Blockade your enemy trade routes to cause the enemy to build more ships, paying higher maintenance costs, and reducing the ammount of ships coming to you as well as denial of working water tiles and trade routes by water.
zenspiderz
Just some bloke..
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2006
- Messages
- 1,496
There are innumerable different tactics and strategies to employ for different situations.. So this is difficult quesiton to answer.
But I suppose ultimatily winning the war comes down to leverageing an advantage over your opponent.
Broadly this means a:-
production advantage can be leveraged by swamping the opponent with more units
A technological advantage can be leveraged by fielding units that are superior one on one.
Also just using what you have more intelligently than your opponent. Easy to do with an AI opponent.
EDIT - you could also try slipping down a difficulty level. lol
But I suppose ultimatily winning the war comes down to leverageing an advantage over your opponent.
Broadly this means a:-
production advantage can be leveraged by swamping the opponent with more units
A technological advantage can be leveraged by fielding units that are superior one on one.
Also just using what you have more intelligently than your opponent. Easy to do with an AI opponent.
EDIT - you could also try slipping down a difficulty level. lol
First I'm guessing you like Rome. Their UU is so powerful its almost like going down a difficulty. Praetorian fear no armies! A mighty stack of praetorian can take cities like no axeman can!
1. Dont be afraid to burn their cities to the ground, over expansion early in the game can cause serious damage to your economy and you will be unable to support that stack as you go. (Try not to burn holy cities as they are good $$$ and cause serious diplo problems.)
2. Before going to war see what everybody thinks about your newest victim. If he has lots of religious allies close at hand the war could really go badly if they decide to join in. Either start the war when your sure its safe or bribe them to have hostilities with neighbors.
3. Using your generals properly. I like to attach my first general to a Preat and build him up with Raider to take cities fast and earn good XP for new generals. I tend to attach all the later to my major military production city and create troops that are feared. Remember the earlier you start a successful war the more generals you will have to make godlike troops. If you have enough production to skip Bureaucracy in your capital
and have Vassalage and Theocracy you can really start producing some insane troops with 11+ experience by the time your around macemen. These supertough troops will be key to winning later battles. (if you lose this city the game is pretty much over)
4. Whip and chop and whip! if your citizens are happy you are NOT DOING A GOOD JOB! Whip those suckers into shape and whip your army like crazy! when you start your war hurry for courthouses and whip them into all your newly conquered lands fast to support the cities.
5. Don't be afraid to start a war early just to steal some workers this can seriously cripple a neighbor and if you attack soon enough he will not have any friends to give you -diplo for attacking a friend. he will also send his troops to their death trying to kill you and can give your men valuable experience and get you a GG sooner than later.
6. Do not underestimate spearmen the AI loves to make lots of horses and if your enemy has access to horses he will make a bunch of mounted units. A few spearmen in your stack can help minimize damage done to your preats which you will need for taking cities.
1. Dont be afraid to burn their cities to the ground, over expansion early in the game can cause serious damage to your economy and you will be unable to support that stack as you go. (Try not to burn holy cities as they are good $$$ and cause serious diplo problems.)
2. Before going to war see what everybody thinks about your newest victim. If he has lots of religious allies close at hand the war could really go badly if they decide to join in. Either start the war when your sure its safe or bribe them to have hostilities with neighbors.
3. Using your generals properly. I like to attach my first general to a Preat and build him up with Raider to take cities fast and earn good XP for new generals. I tend to attach all the later to my major military production city and create troops that are feared. Remember the earlier you start a successful war the more generals you will have to make godlike troops. If you have enough production to skip Bureaucracy in your capital
and have Vassalage and Theocracy you can really start producing some insane troops with 11+ experience by the time your around macemen. These supertough troops will be key to winning later battles. (if you lose this city the game is pretty much over)
4. Whip and chop and whip! if your citizens are happy you are NOT DOING A GOOD JOB! Whip those suckers into shape and whip your army like crazy! when you start your war hurry for courthouses and whip them into all your newly conquered lands fast to support the cities.
5. Don't be afraid to start a war early just to steal some workers this can seriously cripple a neighbor and if you attack soon enough he will not have any friends to give you -diplo for attacking a friend. he will also send his troops to their death trying to kill you and can give your men valuable experience and get you a GG sooner than later.
6. Do not underestimate spearmen the AI loves to make lots of horses and if your enemy has access to horses he will make a bunch of mounted units. A few spearmen in your stack can help minimize damage done to your preats which you will need for taking cities.
Jewman
Prince
dont be stubborn like me.
just because making him ur vassal means hes gonna look ugly once u conquer the whole continent and hes in the middle of it doesnt mean ushouldnt.
making enemy (who declared war on u and is now losing) capitulate as soon as they want, with a hefty gifts from them to u, is oftentimes good especially when u know ur going to get attacked by somebody else or u want to focus an attack elsewhere.
just because making him ur vassal means hes gonna look ugly once u conquer the whole continent and hes in the middle of it doesnt mean ushouldnt.
making enemy (who declared war on u and is now losing) capitulate as soon as they want, with a hefty gifts from them to u, is oftentimes good especially when u know ur going to get attacked by somebody else or u want to focus an attack elsewhere.
EweezE
Dog Soldier
I've tried going to war before, but never been successful.
If you are specific and include a SS or save you will probably get the exact answer you're looking for. To such a general question, I will give one bit of advice though. Be the one that declares war! You choose the who and when for the war. Use the preemptive strike to raze or capture a border city with your cavalry (or 2 move units). Capturing workers with the preemptive strike is nice, but is most rewarding *early* in the game. Move the SoD in headed towards the 2nd city using terrain to your advantage wherever possible. Rejoin the stack with your cavalry if wounded, or pillage with them as necessary. Sometimes this means all you have to do is capture that 2nd city and they will capitulate to you... War is over in around 10 turns via capitulation. Use a Great Artist if you've got one handy to culture bomb the new surrounded city when it comes out of revolt. Doing so will steal land from the encroaching vassal cities' borders and render them somewhat useless, rather than your new city. Pick next enemy, reinforce SoD and cavalry, repeat.
Jerrymander
Epistemologist
Have more troops than your opponent, but preferably a tech lead. Riflemen vs Macemen is not a fair fight.
In the past game and current game I've played I've been Napoleon and Cyrus. The major differences that affected me in this game were
A. I have production capitals on both circumstances but I was able to build a commerce city in the Cyrus game. I've been able to keep up in tech unlike the Napoleon game and that has been huge. In the Napoleon game I fell way behind in technology which crippled any attacks post gunpowder and in spite of the musketeer. I'd say if you're conquering or trying to wage war you need at least tech parity to do it successfully otherwise you're a sitting duck.
B. I've targeted resources in the Cyrus game as part of my conquering and this has been essential pre gun powder. once the opponent gets gunpowder targeting military resources isn't as effective. The exception is of course horses. In the Cyrus game i conquered the only source of the #2 (Ethiopian) of iron taking huge losses but after that happened, they didn't have a source of Iron and thusly couldnt build knights, Pikemen, Macemen, etc etc. Without those units they were sitting ducks for my Knights, Macemen, X-bows, etc etc. Towards the middle of the war they got oromo warriors but due to the terrain it took 10-20 turns for them to build 1 in most of their cities. I simply overwhelmed them with knights (which oromos are pretty poor at defending against due to the immunity of first strikes.
C. Using espionage to drop the defenses. This is something I'm doing more and more often now to accelerate the speed at which i conquer. Throwing a city into revolt is just like bombarding the city but it takes 5 turns for it to be cheapest and it requires some basic coordination of massing your forces for an attack. Often times the points for the mission can be achieved off of basic espionage point creation and just weighting it towards your planned victim of attack.
D. Concentrate and settle those GG units. Playing CHM/IMP you'll get a gross amount of GGs flowing in. I much prefer to settle GG units over attaching them though because there is little risk of losing them and they yield a potentially great long term benefit from the time they are settled. having greater experienced units is key when you have neither the numbers nor the tech to take on the opponent.
E. Find cities that either have GGs settled, Holy Cities with Shrines, or some kind of resource within it's boundaries and go after it. The Holy Cities with Shrines is ridiculously helpful if you're buringing through gold to finance the war. The immediate pop from the shrine might be enough for you to stay at war just long enough to turn the tide while it also makes it harder for your opponent to fund their war.
A. I have production capitals on both circumstances but I was able to build a commerce city in the Cyrus game. I've been able to keep up in tech unlike the Napoleon game and that has been huge. In the Napoleon game I fell way behind in technology which crippled any attacks post gunpowder and in spite of the musketeer. I'd say if you're conquering or trying to wage war you need at least tech parity to do it successfully otherwise you're a sitting duck.
B. I've targeted resources in the Cyrus game as part of my conquering and this has been essential pre gun powder. once the opponent gets gunpowder targeting military resources isn't as effective. The exception is of course horses. In the Cyrus game i conquered the only source of the #2 (Ethiopian) of iron taking huge losses but after that happened, they didn't have a source of Iron and thusly couldnt build knights, Pikemen, Macemen, etc etc. Without those units they were sitting ducks for my Knights, Macemen, X-bows, etc etc. Towards the middle of the war they got oromo warriors but due to the terrain it took 10-20 turns for them to build 1 in most of their cities. I simply overwhelmed them with knights (which oromos are pretty poor at defending against due to the immunity of first strikes.
C. Using espionage to drop the defenses. This is something I'm doing more and more often now to accelerate the speed at which i conquer. Throwing a city into revolt is just like bombarding the city but it takes 5 turns for it to be cheapest and it requires some basic coordination of massing your forces for an attack. Often times the points for the mission can be achieved off of basic espionage point creation and just weighting it towards your planned victim of attack.
D. Concentrate and settle those GG units. Playing CHM/IMP you'll get a gross amount of GGs flowing in. I much prefer to settle GG units over attaching them though because there is little risk of losing them and they yield a potentially great long term benefit from the time they are settled. having greater experienced units is key when you have neither the numbers nor the tech to take on the opponent.
E. Find cities that either have GGs settled, Holy Cities with Shrines, or some kind of resource within it's boundaries and go after it. The Holy Cities with Shrines is ridiculously helpful if you're buringing through gold to finance the war. The immediate pop from the shrine might be enough for you to stay at war just long enough to turn the tide while it also makes it harder for your opponent to fund their war.
GooglyBoogly
Freakamongus
F. If you can drag another civ into the war, it is often best that you do so, even if it requires a decent bribe (unless you have clear superiority). The other A will soak up some of the WW, and it will help end the war sooner - also you will get a relationship boost with that civ for the joint war-effort so it will be easier to do the same thing again later down the road.
I think to understand the basics of sound military strategy I would recommend running a Boudica Game.
It is fairly obvious that the following ideas will come to the front.
A. Always (or as always as is reasonable) build cities on Hills. Dun gives Guerilla 1 which boosts hill defense.
B. For your archers, instead of going CG 1 CG 2, you should find that Guer 2 is more useful as it gives a higher defense and the vastly useful double movement in hills.
C. For your UU, you typically build some CR on your swordsmen, but you start with Geur 1, so Guer 2, Guer 3 looks really nice. Ups your defense on hills (so if you can post up on hills outside of a city, and gives you massive boosts to hill attack and + to withdraw, which our huge).
So these relatively unique advantages, and especially as you are charismatic, mean you'll learn more about promotions than if you just say went with Praets.
The game plan is simple. You're strong early on, and you need to have established yourself before Rifling, when much of your power dissipates.
So that's the whole plan, war and expand and try to conquer as much as possible as early as possible, and ride all those established cities to victory. Coincidentally you will have to deal with the unique challenges of managing a large empire, but it's worth it.
It is fairly obvious that the following ideas will come to the front.
A. Always (or as always as is reasonable) build cities on Hills. Dun gives Guerilla 1 which boosts hill defense.
B. For your archers, instead of going CG 1 CG 2, you should find that Guer 2 is more useful as it gives a higher defense and the vastly useful double movement in hills.
C. For your UU, you typically build some CR on your swordsmen, but you start with Geur 1, so Guer 2, Guer 3 looks really nice. Ups your defense on hills (so if you can post up on hills outside of a city, and gives you massive boosts to hill attack and + to withdraw, which our huge).
So these relatively unique advantages, and especially as you are charismatic, mean you'll learn more about promotions than if you just say went with Praets.
The game plan is simple. You're strong early on, and you need to have established yourself before Rifling, when much of your power dissipates.
So that's the whole plan, war and expand and try to conquer as much as possible as early as possible, and ride all those established cities to victory. Coincidentally you will have to deal with the unique challenges of managing a large empire, but it's worth it.
Going to war is not an easy thing. it takes planning and practice.
You have to do a lot before you start. At a minimum you will need to do all of the following:
1. send in spies to see what you opponent has. They don't have to perform missions, just wander around and inspect the enemy army.
2. pick a city that you are going to capture. this will be based on the intelligence your spies provide. I prefer to pick the "low hanging fruit", which means grab the easiest city.
3. you will need siege weapons. lots of them. you if plan to take the city out in one turn, you will need enough seige engines to blow down the cities defense value (it's culture) and then bombard the units in the city. If the cities culture value is 50, then you will need enough catapults and trebuchets to reduce that to 0, plus you will want some extras to attack the city. I prefer enough of these to blow down the defense PLUS one seige engine for each garrison unit in the city.
4. build a force of your best units capable of capturing the city, add 50% for losses. here's an example, assume walled city built on a hill is defended by a longbowmen with CG2, a spearman CS2 and a warrior (no xp). All units are fully fortified. the longbowman's strength 17.7, the spearman is 12.8 versus mounted units and 8.8 versus everything else and the warrior checks in at 4.5. the total defense strength of the city is 31 if you attack with foot soldiers and 35 if you use mounted troops. So your minimum attacking force-NOT INCLUDING SIEGE ENGINES-must have a combat strength of no less than 47. It must also physically outnumber the defender by at least one unit.
5. and then add a garrison for after you have taken the city. your garrison must be capable of holding the city AND suppressing any rebellions. I like to use (city size/3). Round up. Your garrison should include 2 spies and 2 missionaries if you have a state religion. there's no point in capturing the city if you cannot keep it, protect it and work it into your civilization.
6. build some cavalry units to pillage the countryside (i.e. destroy the improvements you don't want). i hate workshops and windmills, so I routinely pillage them.
7. build two smaller forces to cover your flanks; and
8. deploy extra spies in your home territory.
9. Take the city you want quickly and then consolidate your gains. Hold on for ten turns, then make peace with you enemy. repeat the procedure.
It's "OK" to win a small war, wait, win another small war, wait, win another small war and then finish your victim off at some later time.
Hoonak-Demon Warlord of Burbank
You have to do a lot before you start. At a minimum you will need to do all of the following:
1. send in spies to see what you opponent has. They don't have to perform missions, just wander around and inspect the enemy army.
2. pick a city that you are going to capture. this will be based on the intelligence your spies provide. I prefer to pick the "low hanging fruit", which means grab the easiest city.
3. you will need siege weapons. lots of them. you if plan to take the city out in one turn, you will need enough seige engines to blow down the cities defense value (it's culture) and then bombard the units in the city. If the cities culture value is 50, then you will need enough catapults and trebuchets to reduce that to 0, plus you will want some extras to attack the city. I prefer enough of these to blow down the defense PLUS one seige engine for each garrison unit in the city.
4. build a force of your best units capable of capturing the city, add 50% for losses. here's an example, assume walled city built on a hill is defended by a longbowmen with CG2, a spearman CS2 and a warrior (no xp). All units are fully fortified. the longbowman's strength 17.7, the spearman is 12.8 versus mounted units and 8.8 versus everything else and the warrior checks in at 4.5. the total defense strength of the city is 31 if you attack with foot soldiers and 35 if you use mounted troops. So your minimum attacking force-NOT INCLUDING SIEGE ENGINES-must have a combat strength of no less than 47. It must also physically outnumber the defender by at least one unit.
5. and then add a garrison for after you have taken the city. your garrison must be capable of holding the city AND suppressing any rebellions. I like to use (city size/3). Round up. Your garrison should include 2 spies and 2 missionaries if you have a state religion. there's no point in capturing the city if you cannot keep it, protect it and work it into your civilization.
6. build some cavalry units to pillage the countryside (i.e. destroy the improvements you don't want). i hate workshops and windmills, so I routinely pillage them.
7. build two smaller forces to cover your flanks; and
8. deploy extra spies in your home territory.
9. Take the city you want quickly and then consolidate your gains. Hold on for ten turns, then make peace with you enemy. repeat the procedure.
It's "OK" to win a small war, wait, win another small war, wait, win another small war and then finish your victim off at some later time.
Hoonak-Demon Warlord of Burbank
If your fighting a large empire of 10+ cities have 1-2 settlers in the rear guard.
Reason for this is if you capture a city surrounded by culture you will find it hard to keep unless you can raze other cities around it. I often like to raze border cities. Unfortunately the Ai in BTS is very good at rebuilding cities you have razed. Capturing a capital is always worth it.
End of the day the purpose of a war is to expand your borders. If you raze 5 cities and the Ai builds five cities in their place you have just wasted a lot of time and resources while your other neighbours have teched ahead and amassed large number of troops.
Have a goal. Have good numbers over and above what you need to acheive your goal.
Be prepared for what the Ai will throw at you once you declare war.
Reason for this is if you capture a city surrounded by culture you will find it hard to keep unless you can raze other cities around it. I often like to raze border cities. Unfortunately the Ai in BTS is very good at rebuilding cities you have razed. Capturing a capital is always worth it.
End of the day the purpose of a war is to expand your borders. If you raze 5 cities and the Ai builds five cities in their place you have just wasted a lot of time and resources while your other neighbours have teched ahead and amassed large number of troops.
Have a goal. Have good numbers over and above what you need to acheive your goal.
Be prepared for what the Ai will throw at you once you declare war.
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