Need Help: No Luck at all on Noble Difficulty Level...........

[MrPhil]

Originally posted by Crossfire
Well, first bombard his defenses to zero, then attack with the cats to cause collateral damage to all his other units. Once you have spent enough cats to damage his units to a level that your units will win, then attack with your other units. The way your main military gets stronger and it only costs you catapults.

Thanks Crossfire, I will do that.

I honestly didn't catapults that much on the Warlord and below levels. I assume the proper, combined use of force is more important as you get into the higher difficulties......

[Solver]

Each culture level adds 20% to defense. The number is displayed visually on each city, it's usually +40% or +60%.

Siege weapons are very necessary. If you don't have them, a couple of Archers can hold off an army of yours. On the contrary, if the enemy has 2 Archers in the city and you have Catapults, then even three infantry units should be enough for you to take the city.

[Willem]

Re: Re: Re: Need Help: No Luck at all on Noble Difficulty Level...........

Originally posted by MrPhil


**hanging head in shame** No, I didn't have any catapults or other seige weapons.........honestly didn't know they were that much of a necessity.

They can be crucial in a battle. First they can reduce the cultural defence of a city, then they can cause collateral damage weakening every unit that's fortified there. You should never attack a city after the Ancient Era without a few bombard type units, at least 4-5 preferably. They can make the difference between victory and slaughter.

[MrPhil]

Solver and Willem, thanks for the education guys!

I don't know why I never saw the importance of the seige weapons.....

[Willem]

Originally posted by MrPhil
Solver and Willem, thanks for the education guys!

I don't know why I never saw the importance of the seige weapons.....

IMO, they're the most valuable unit in the game. Using them effectively, and promoting them properly, can cause enough damage to a city and it's defenders that your melee units should have a fairly easy time of cleaning up. The key is in having enough of them. 1 or 2 isn't going to help that much, but once you have 4+ they make a huge difference. I find that with 4-5, I can usually reduce the cultural defence of a city to 0 in one turn, then each one after that can cause collateral damage to at least 3 units defending the city. Up to 7 with a few promotions. Chances are they won't survive the attack, but they're fairly cheap to build.

[Solver]

Actually, even 1 or 2 helps. Early on, that might be all you can afford to build, but it helps. No one makes you attack the moment you can. If you have 2 cats only, take the 2 or 3 turns you need bombarding defenses down to 0 and attack then.

Rule of a thumb: unless your units are a generation newer, such as Macemen vs. Archers, you have to bombard with siege weapons before attacking.

And only attack with the Catapults directly if you have to. If you have Swordsmen, the city has Archers and the defense is down to 0, you can probably make do without collateral damage.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Solver
Actually, even 1 or 2 helps. Early on, that might be all you can afford to build, but it helps. No one makes you attack the moment you can. If you have 2 cats only, take the 2 or 3 turns you need bombarding defenses down to 0 and attack then.

The problem with that though is the longer it takes, the more you leave yourself open to a counter-attack, which might leave you too weak to take the city. But yes, even 1 will help, though it's not nearly optimum.

And only attack with the Catapults directly if you have to. If you have Swordsmen, the city has Archers and the defense is down to 0, you can probably make do without collateral damage.

Even that can be dicey. With 75% defence bonus (50% City Garrison, 25% fortification) an Archer still comes close to a Swordsman with a 6.6 strength (10% City Raider). And if that Archer has even one extra City Garrison, the numbers are pretty much even. And Catapults at least have the chance of withdrawing. Besides, if you don't attack with them, they'll never get any promotions.

[Solver]

The Archer's city defense bonus is 25%, not 50%. So with defenses down, an Archer typically has a modified strength of around 5.

[gilfan]

Build some cottages, cottages, and cottages.

Then build more cottages.


If you happen to be playing a civ with the financial trait, build cottages all along the rivers. With the +1c for the base level cottage and the +1c from being on a river, your +1c from financial kicks in immediately. Only really matters at the very start of the game, because those cottages would get the bonus after 10 turns of use anyway, but it's a VERY nice boost to your starting 3 or 4 cities. It can easily put you way ahead in the early tech race. Cottages on floodplains are early-game monsters.



Regarding attacking cities... Actually, I attack with almost nothing BUT catapults. I take a few axemen/macemen with the +25 vs melee promotion (2nd tier) and/or a few elephants/spearmen with anti-cavalry promotions (that's harder to get, 3rd tier) along with the stack to defend the catapults, plus a medic or two, and a ton of catapults with city siege upgrades. Bombard to 0%, then attack with the catapult stack. The only time I attack with the non-siege units is when everything they have an 70% win chance (you can see the % by hovering over the enemy and pressing alt). Works ridiculously well for me.

[Urban Ranger]

It depends on which civ you play. You may try, for an example, an early Quecha rush, or a somewhat later Jaguar rush. Of course, Praets rock.

It depends on the size of your map and your play style. If you are primarily a builder you may want to try a bigger map with fewer civs.

[MrPhil]

Well guys, I appreciate the advice. I put some of it to use last night in a new game (Noble, Marathon, Large Map, Continents).

At about 1400 AD I am a close second in points to Mansa Musa (about 200 points behind) and I just voted Monty off the island .

I went with the "land-grab" strategy with my cities and denying open borders until I had most of the area. Bismarck and Haspetut still managed one small city each along the coast but, they are isolated and really no threat.

I was worried at first about the gold situation since I had no access to gold or silver. I did have access to two gem mines which helped. I had a boat load of spice and sugar plantations which once developed really helped out in the $ situation. Didn't realize how valuable they were.

I finally started adjusting the cluture sliders slightly and am happy with the results. My tech %is only at 70 but, i hope to improve that I begin to conquer more civs and get the banks, markets and courthouses built.

All in all this has been my most successful foray at the Noble level and I very happy with my experience so far. I can't wait to get back at it tonight. I would have grabbed a file you all to look at but, I was so jazzed up by the game I couldn't stop until it was WAY past my bed time. Maybe tomorrow.

Thanks again for all the advice!

[CreepyD]

a tactic i been using recently - build up an army big enough to defend your cities, as well as building a seperate army for each city you want to attack (keep seperate so you know whats what).

then you aren't left short on defence.
If you cant build up an army big enough to defend AND attack - dont attack.

Like been said, u need units a generatioin ahead at least not to use catapults etc.
Otherwise you are gonna need at least 3-4 units per defender. not worth attacking...

In recent games, having a bigger army has actually meant I have had far fewer wars, AI will only attack those who are weak.

Check your power graph with the AI's - if yours is not near/at the top, u need a bigger army

[MrPhil]

Originally posted by CreepyD
a tactic i been using recently - build up an army big enough to defend your cities, as well as building a seperate army for each city you want to attack (keep seperate so you know whats what).

then you aren't left short on defence.
If you cant build up an army big enough to defend AND attack - dont attack.

Like been said, u need units a generatioin ahead at least not to use catapults etc.
Otherwise you are gonna need at least 3-4 units per defender. not worth attacking...

In recent games, having a bigger army has actually meant I have had far fewer wars, AI will only attack those who are weak.

Check your power graph with the AI's - if yours is not near/at the top, u need a bigger army

Thanks Creepy, well check out the power graph tonight. Pretty sure I am up there, maybe not #1 but up there. This is probably why the only war I was in was started by me (still hold a grudge against Monty).

Bismarck is next for what he did to me in my last game. But as you suggest I have to build an army first.

[jonta]

Just something simple, that you might not know

When you are building your first 2 or 3 settlers
chop wood near your town, to cut down the
"no grow" period, that is very important, if you do
that, you will get ahead of your opponents from the
beginning, making it a lot easy'r to win, no matter
if You want to make War, or win a peaceful game.

Hope this was a help.

Its not cheating - its a part of the game, to use your
"wood" in the optimal way. Anyway, do not "over do" it, you will need some of the wood later.

[Stickyman]

Originally posted by gilfan


If you happen to be playing a civ with the financial trait, build cottages all along the rivers. With the +1c for the base level cottage and the +1c from being on a river, your +1c from financial kicks in immediately. Only really matters at the very start of the game, because those cottages would get the bonus after 10 turns of use anyway,...

Gilfan,

Doesn't the +1 bonus apply throughout the game for financial civs? It seems to me that you are saying that you loase the bonus onces cottages become hamlets.

Anybody know for sure?