War

[Dactyl]

One thing has become very clear to me. War is not to be taken lightly in Civ4, and the AI is smarter. I was playing the Arabians and I was on a small continent with the Japanese. I was much larger than them and I had already flipped one of their cities. I decided that it was time to finish them off, so I sent in a mixed force, as I'd learned one has to do, and I took a city. I was feeling pretty good about myself until I saw that one of my own nearby cities that I had left defended with two archers was under attack. The Japanese took the city without much trouble. So, I had gained a city and lost a city, and my attacking forces had been so depleted in the taking of the Japanese city that I couldn't really mount an attack to take my own city back.

In Civ3, I didn't worry too much about cities on my borders, even when I launched an attack. The AI rarely mounted a vigorous response, choosing instead to reinforce failure by trying to take back the city it had lost. Now it appears that you had better have city walls on cities near your borders and that you'd better have a force sufficient to resist counterattacks.

[vmxa1]

Fun huh?

[Dactyl]

Ultimately, yeah, after I picked myself up off of the floor.

[MortVader]

Oh baby this sounds great. I hate to wait, aaaarrrrggghh..

[Jon Shafer]

Yep, the AI is much smarter in Civ 4 than in any previous Civ game. Getting the kill ratios against the AI from Civ 3 with a SOD of Cavalry is not going to happen this time around.

[The diplomat]

war is very different and more difficult in civ4 than it was in civ3. I also find war more historically accurate in civ4 than in civ3. Siege weapons are a must when attacking cities. With city walls, castles, and the right defensive promotions, defenders can get some serious defensive bonuses that will render them almost immune to attack unless the attacker comes prepared with siege weapons to knock the defender's bonuses down a notch. Of course, if the attacker is smart and does come with lots of siege weapons, then the attacker will have some strong bonuses with which to capture the city.

I have fought some epic battles where both sides had large stacks and would fight back and forth over several turns trying to take a single city.

[Footie Mad]

Yeah especially trying to attack someone takes very careful planning and alot of resources, I have almost always made the error of trying to bite off more than I could handle and ended up with troops overstretched and isolated. Also the enemy will come after your iron, has happened more than once that they've crippled my ability to reinforce the invasion and thereby forcing me to either weaken myself by dividing my troops or sue for peace. This game is good.

And the pillaging to, I have learnt the hard way that you must leave units at home to guard your land otherwise your entire infrastructure will be smashed to pieces.