Why can't my catapults do any damage?

[seaofsorrow]

This is pissing me off, i have 3 catapults surrounding a city-state but only the first one to attack does damage? The other 2 do zero damage. Even the first one does very little damage, -1 to be precise, so i can't never destroy the city...

This is the first Civ game i've played and so far it has been a frustrating experience...

 

[Jade Falcon]

siege units cant take a city need a regular unit type too finish it off

 

[Soronery]

need a melee unit to capture it. BTW, never capture city states. It's better to ally with them.

 

[seaofsorrow]

It's better to ally with them even if they are in a really really good spot full of resources?

 

[Monthar]

Yes, because when you're allied with them, they give you those resources. Plus you gain other benefits depending on the type of CS.

Maritime provides food to all your cities.

Cultured provides culture to your pool so you can get new policies easier.

Militaristic provides you with random units at random intervals, depending on what techs and strategic resources you have available.

Plus if you keep attacking the CSs, they'll all end up declaring permanent war against you. Which can also make some of the AI players a bit more PO'd at you, especially those that have UAs that benefit from them allying with the CSs.

 

[aimlessgun]

You get the resources if you ally with them. Only take them out if they're militaristic.

 

[Buccaneer]

Not only is it better to ally with city-states but it is ludicrous to build any type of siege units for the offensive.

 

[stormerne]

Agree with all this. For a little more than the build cost (300) of your three catapults, four horsemen (320) would have done the job in a single turn, probably with a horseman to spare! But I'd not attack a city state, not even a militaristic city state, except to liberate it if it had been captured by another civ. They're all far more useful alive than dead.

 

[UknowsI]

Not only is it better to ally with city-states but it is ludicrous to build any type of siege units for the offensive.

Siege weapons are actually pretty good when you're not steamrolling, and they're useful all game long. Remember, the best offensive is defence

 

[Azedenkae]

I think the main point here is that the Catapults aren't really dealing any damage at all...

 

[stormerne]

I think the main point here is that the Catapults aren't really dealing any damage at all...

True. Although we don't know what era this is, and what the city state strength is. The symptoms are consistent with using obsolete units of which one has some useful promotions. The city state is probably on a hill too. But these things we don't know yet. A screen shot and more information would help us to help (instead of pontificating - which I'm very good at! ).

 

[Azedenkae]

True. Although we don't know what era this is, and what the city state strength is. The symptoms are consistent with using obsolete units of which one has some useful promotions. The city state is probably on a hill too. But these things we don't know yet. A screen shot and more information would help us to help (instead of pontificating - which I'm very good at! ).

*Nods*

That is my first thought, that the City-State wayyyyyyy out-teched OP...

 

[King_Course]

True. Although we don't know what era this is, and what the city state strength is. The symptoms are consistent with using obsolete units of which one has some useful promotions. The city state is probably on a hill too. But these things we don't know yet. A screen shot and more information would help us to help (instead of pontificating - which I'm very good at! ).

No, he has bombed the CS defence down to its minimum in the red, and he is trying to destroy it by keeping on shooting at it. His first Cata takes out the regeneration and the next two don't do anything. So he cant, he need a melee for the last attack to take the city.

Edit: And to the OP, play the game and learn as you go, take a citystate if you feel it's worth it. Like it's on a shore and you don't have any cities with a coastal line. Or if you think it just looks good. Many here have locked themselves into a min/maxing game and can't understand it can be done in any other way.

 

[nebux]

on my games it seems that city states get near resources unavailable on other places to settle. for example i was france and all the city states got near a wine. i got and puppet a militaristic one for a good wine to trade and let others maritime give me wine for being allies.
so yes if it's a city states near me that i don't really care i would puppet it.

 

[Danceofmasks]

I usually play large empire, so I don't care overly much about cultural CS either.
Usually, I don't bother attacking them, but if I capture one that an AI player previously conquered, I just keep it.

 

[THE_COW_IS_OK]

You get the resources if you ally with them. Only take them out if they're militaristic.

Early on, Influence upkeep is expensive compared to the units spawned (scout and spearmans lol)
Once you reach industrial+ area, Militaristic states becomes my No1 Type since influence cost doesn't scale with time, but units offered does.
I usually get artillery(1080G), Mech infantry and stuff for a mere 5GPT! I try to ally with all of then at this stage....

 

[EasyGoin]

You get the resources if you ally with them. Only take them out if they're militaristic.

Or in permanent war with you, or if you don't want to win via UN vote