Need help with taking cities

[stormwriter]

I'm usually passive, but lately i've been trying to flex more military muscle. I don't think i'm taking cities in the most efficient manner.
I know that softening up their defenses with cannons/artillery is the way to go, but therein lies my question: Do i take one cannon/artillery at a time and attack? (after i've bombed their defenses down to 0%) I thought this was the way to go when my artillery utterly destroyed every unit in a city with collateral damage. HOWEVER, that was a city with weak/old troops.
So, i tried that technique in another city, and i did cause some collateral damage, but my unit died immediately afterwards.
In the past, i would just get pissed and grab my entire stack and attack the city.
So, i need some help here. I eventually take the city and wipe out the civ, but i lose a lot of troops in the process.

[finlandia]

Depends on the odds. If your attackers have an significant advantage, odds-wise, then I'd just send them in once their defenses are down. I do this with promoted cho-ko-nu vs longbowmen/macemen. If I don't have an odds advantage, say macemen vs macemen, I lead with one or two units with collateral damage abilities (often siege units) to soften up the defenders. You probably lose those siege units, but I just build them continously to account for this.

[Fried-Psitalon]

Most people agree that leading with a collateral damage "suicide" attack is the way to go - where people disagree is on what promotions you should give your siege units.

Some say the Barrage line for higher collateral damage when you attack; others say City Attack for a better chance of surviving (and thereby getting other promotions.)

Up to you; no right answer, but both work well. For myself, I tend to prefer Barrage unless my production is poor, but I've gone both ways.

I'd rather lose siege units in an expected manner than lose other units taking on a tough, unsoftened target.

[remconius]

The way to go against equal or more powerful units is to use "suicide" siege units. Give them Barrage I and II with their sole objective to do collateral damage. After bombing city defenses, send in 2-5 cataults until all the units are low on health. Then you mop up with your other units.

They arent really suicide untis. The fact that they die is a game mechanic to make sure they are not overpowered. You need to keep supplying more siege units to continue the assault. If they wouldnt die you would have an invincible stack of doom that would wipe through any opponent with ease.

[dopplex]

It seems that this happens to me every so often.. then I look and realize that I've been attacking across a river I didn't notice!

Ever since finding out about the alt mouseover for odds, I've done much better. I'll still suicide some collateral damage units if necessary - with the assumption that by doing so I ensure complete victory for the rest of my troops, and cause my enemy's losses to be larger than mine.

[dschur]

Make sure you have enough Siege units to make a difference, not just 1. You want the collateral attack to get the defenders low enough that you have a 2:1 odds advantage when your assault units go in.

When you assault, it seems to be ok to waste some weaker units softening up defenders, as long as you do succeed in wiping them out. I think promotions only go into effect the next turn.

When you have an almost guaranteed win, capitalize on the opportunity to get a promotion for a lower level troop.

Include a Medic unit in your stack. This seems to help a lot. Does anyone know if medic bonuses are cummulative when you have more than one?

edit: make sure you have enough period. Not just siege units. You want the attack to succeed in one turn when you commit. Think Powel doctrine, overwhelming force. Ensure that you have some garrison troops with the assault force. Fortify these when you start the siege on city defenses. This helps defend against counter attacks, and gives you some undamaged troops who can hold the city when you talke it. A single cavalry unit with 1 hp is not going to hold up against any kind of counter attack.

[Addled Platypus]

playing Mongols

its quite easy, even without seige weapons.

What ever you do make sure barracks is first in que
swordsman, city raider I & II

Three SM and three KH along with some rest have knocked out three ciites and counting. The next best promotion for a least one unit if you are going to continue war is healing other units.
2 swords men have heal 10%, helps offset the long recovery rates in enemy territory

Originally posted by dschur

Include a Medic unit in your stack. This seems to help a lot. Does anyone know if medic bonuses are cummulative when you have more than one?

It does seem cummulative in my ongoing purging of the Americans

[QuestGAV]

I thought I had read somewhere that medic bonuses were not cumulative. Otherwise, combined arms stacks with a group of medics would be very difficult to cause meaningful attrition on.

[Fried-Psitalon]

Medic = non-cumulative.