best time to attack

[cgrecu77]

What is the best time to attack with a civ that lacks early UU (like the french). I like playing Louis XIV for Ind. + culture, but their UU, the musketeer comes too late.

I'm playing monarch and my only chance is to attack in the early game because otherwise I can't get more than 3 cities on a standard pangeea (maybe 4 if I'm lucky).
However, usually I like to attack with catapults and maceman - AI can't defend against them before feudalism and even after that I can still capture one or 2 cities to finish off a rival.

But this strategy works well only if I'm able to get the CS early with the Oracle, otherwise at best I can't go with swords and catapults. But without CS the catapults come pretty late and there are only few turns left before Feudalism. and with 1 movement you can't get very far ...

Alternatively I could try going without siege weapons, but swordsman against archers are at best 50% so this means I need a large advantage in numbers - which usually is hard to achieve even if I constantly create troops ...

[uberfish]

Attacking with city raider I swords pre-siege is actually a very strong strategy, but you need to go for iron working pretty early for this to work well. That way you'll frequently run into cities defended by 2 archers with no promotions, which are easy XP. Make sure you have 2 cities with decent production and barracks, preferably a mined hill + food resource, and if you're really in a hurry chop rush the first wave of troops.

Alternatively if you like using catapults + macemen you could try playing Japan, samurai are a lot better than macemen and can actually kill longbow defenders at good odds once the cats have softened them up a bit.

[Hauptman]

If you ever find yourself with a tech edge, it is the BEST time to attack, but except for marathon games your bound to need to keep it short and fast...

However, after catapults come in game, even longbows fall victim to a few cats. you just need numbers.

[xxFlukexx]

There's a lot of great times to attack"
-Early rush with lots of archers
-Chariot rush + resource denial
-Axeman rush
-Swordsman rush (need lots of numbers)
-Elephant rush
-Once you get catapults it is always a great time to attack....if you have a large enough army.
-Post catapults I think a maceman+pikeman attack is good then a beeling to Grenadiers is awesomely powerful. Etc, etc. I could write a really long post about when the best times to attack are, if you need help with any of the above strategies, post and I(and probably others) will elaborate.

[Blake]

I usually make a serious attack at Catapults (possibly escorted by axemen or elephants), then another serious attack at Grenadiers/Cannons.

Catapults are insanely good.

[couerdelion]

Ignore the special unit as a guide to starting wars. It's the tech advantage that wins wars.

[Vynd]

In the early game a lot depends on what kind of units you and your target are making. If they lack bronze and are relying on archers you can hurt them pretty bad with Swordsmen with the City Raider. But if they have Axemen or Horse Archers or their own Swordsmen then it gets much tougher. I'd wait for Catapults under those circumstances. Macemen are much less important than the Catapults. Consider doing as Blake suggests and using Axemen or Elephants with your catas and attacking before Macemen are available.

Like Blake and Fluke I've also found that if you head straight for Grenadiers you can get to them while most AIs are still relying on Longbowmen, which is a huge advantage. Get cannons as well (just one more tech) and you can roll right over entire civs. I haven't tried it yet but I gather that beelining to Cavalry can also be pretty effective.