Religion Interesting...

[kmedlinnc]

So...in the year 1406 I finally found Islam as the Americans.

The Brittish are to my east with one city smack dab in the middle of my territory, the French are to my North with a few cities along my northern borders, and the Egyptians are to my west with some mountains and unsettled desert in between.

Brits found Taoism or whatever religion gets the Ying Yang symbol.

The French are Islamic, and the Egyptians are split between Islam and Hinduism.

So...I figure in a nasty little ploy I'll just gift away divine right to the Brits and sneak my missionary into their isolated city in the hopes that it will just revolt.

The city converts, The Brittish close their borders to me. Two turns later the city revolts. The revolt is squashed and the city remains Brittish.

The next turn the Brittish declare war on me!

(okay...I wasn't THAT surprised).

I have more money than anyone in the game (I think) because I buy off all my friends and get everyone to declare war on Brittain.

Problem is...all these troops start raiding through my lands and NEVER ATTACK ANYONE!!! In fact, as they pass by enemy cities, they get converted or something.

I end up losing one of my border cities and suing for peace after 200 years of open conflict.

So I have a few questions:

1) Why weren't my "allies" attacking Brittain?

2) What was going on with the unit conversion?

3) Is anyone else longing for the days when the phalanx could take out a tank?

4) Can anyone explain the new combat system to me?

Combat used to be a blast. It's so abstracted in this version that I cannot figure it out.

I thought I had a pretty balanced force:

2 axemen with +2 City Raider
2 Longbow with +20 combat
2 war elephants
1 musketman
3 macemen

For 3 turns I attacked the same town with this force and kept reinforcing them and healing them.

The strongest thing in the town was a maceman.

I took out their crossbows, longbows, musketman, by my count that town lost 1 unit per attack.

For 3 turns I kept hammering them this way, that's like 12-15 units sitting in that town if I kept killing them off!!!

I NEVER conquered the city. I kept getting repulsed, fresh units with upgrades were getting rebuffed by weaker units over and over again.

Catapults were brought in to soften up the defenders...everything I could think of but I couldn't get that city.

Thoughts???

I think if a phalanx killing a tank is broken and required fixing, then 10 upgraded units not being able to take a town with far fewer units over the course of 3 turns is equally broken.

[snoopy369]

I'd say that only half of those units are well equipped to take out a city, however. 2 longbows are pretty much useless, they're much better for defending cities; war elephants are useful against mounted units, but it sounds like they don't have mounted units. Musketmen, similar to longbows, are better off at home.

Macemen and Axemen are good attackers, though if they have musketmen, especially with bonuses against melee, you may not have much of a chance.

Catapults are definitely a plus. Their city, if it's a major one, may have +60% or more to defenders ... and catapults can take that down. I had a much easier time in my second war when I brought cannons; they destroyed the city defenses and then once that was done if there were any left over they took out the defenders as well.

It takes some getting used to ... check out my first game(s) http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...hreadid=140770 if you want, you'll see me having not dissimilar problems at first, but eventually I figured out how to eat the AI alive (and with a stronger defensive force this time around, too - the Japanese were weak compared to me and backwards technologically, yet I couldn't take them out because of my lack of appropriate units; the Indians, I took out even though they probably had more units than me and certainly had more technology.)

Honestly, it's not all about 'balance', it's about 'appropriate units for the situation'. You can have 1 of every unit available, but that's not what's needed, when you are facing a force of entirely horsemen; a pack of war elephants will do that job far better. It's about owning a balanced enough force to be able to bring the right set of units to the job.

[asleepathewheel]

each time a unit survives, it gains xp. then it can be promoted which makes it stronger AND heals up partially. You absolutely have to throw everything at a city the first round, otherwise they have a chance to become very promoted. Of course, the same thing can be done by you, I've had a heavily fortified town survive massive attacks and every unit get promoted at least once. fun stuff.

Kill on the first attack, don't piecemeal it.

Also, don't count of longbows to do any worthwhile damage other than mopping up.

I ususally use at least a 2-1 ratio of attackers to defenders, with a longbow or two as cover (and to remain as garrison when I move on)

build more of an army before attacking and you'll be ok

[Verenti]

The problem was you were waging war on the British Empire

[Arnelos]

I generally use crossbows as cover, not longbows.

Longbows are ideally used for city defense and holding hilltop locations. I find crossbows to be FAR more useful as cover for a stack because they get +% against melee attackers (and axemen and macemen are most likely to be what the enemy throws at your stack).

You also have to take spearmen/pikemen along, since chariots, horse archers, and knights are popular counterattack units.

Point is, longbowmen are pretty worthless for stack defense unless you just so happen to be on a hill. I'd far rather take crossbowmen, which will ALWAYS get their +% against melee attackers and supplement them with pikemen to stop knights.

[kmedlinnc]

Thanks for the tips!!!

I thought I had a good mix (anti archery, etc.) but I suppose focusing on the offensive parts makes more sense rather than counter battery.

Just for fun I played a game on the lowest level. In 1892 when I finished my first ICBM the Brits got their just due... New York, Boston & Atlanta all nuked cities in England and I followed it with tanks, mechanized infantry, and gunships. There wasn't much of a war....

Difficult is better!