The impenetrable city

[Colm]

This is not really a question, but I've just came across a city that I just can't seem to conquer.
The enemy is constantly bringing in more troops to this city, and even though I kill 3 units a turn, it's just not enough. I'm at this city for over 30 turns now and all my units are constanly being upgraded.
The first wave I sent them was using a spy to lower defense, then used 3 catapults to weaken them and then wiped out half his army. But it takes time to make new catapults and heal the troops so they re-inforced themselves soon after.
I'm fortunate that they doesn't attack; they could've wiped out my force with ease, but except for the occasional attack of a horse archer, they burried themselves in the city.
I play on noble and I'm a little bit ahead in technology. I hope that my future macemen will flip the balance.

[The Priest]

Give it up!

Keeping your army in their territory will be costing you gold and building your war wariness, and you are unlikely to ever build up the power to take the city at this rate. meanwhile even if the war is as damaging to this opponent as it is to you, you will be being outstriped by the other AI.

Go home, sign a peace deal if you can, build up your army and then attack by surprise with a fresh army. The AI should have dispersed his army among his cities and so this one will have far fewer defenders. Of, if you are lucky the AI will turn on the offensive and you can slaughter this army by being in jungle etc., meaning that when you then invade he has far fewer troops.

My experience is that you either win a war fairly quickly, or you are never going to (or at least it would be too costly).

[Diadem]

Indeed.

The AI is quite bad strategically, but it is very good at building massive amounts of units. If all it has to do is defend one city, you are never going to outbuild it.

Take another target, or come back later.

[MoonWolf]

But what would that stack do if you pick an other target? It will probably try a counterattack..

[The Priest]

Exactly, and it will be easy to destroy when far from it having defensive bonuses, you are getting 50% from jungle etc.

The AI in my experience thinks fairly clearly in terms of defensive and deployable troops. Once the threat goes from this city, it will only leave a small number of defensive troops (3-4 at most) and the rest it will deploy - probably in a counter attack you can elimiate (particularly because its stack is so unbalanced).

[rah]

Yeah, heck I bet if you backed off those troops back into your territory most of that stack would go on the offensive and you could take it in the field.

[Krill]

This is why a HA stack attacking from another front would take half his empire

[jbp26]

you never, ever want to be in a protracted battle over a city. if you cant take it quickly and decisively, sitting there and chipping away at the defenders is going to cost you a huge amount of gold, hammers, and happiness. i do what the other guys said- either back off, make peace, and come back with a bigger crew, or try to lure them out.

[Colm]

Hey thanks for the replies. Well I finally managed to get the city. I took the second health upgrade so my units healed much faster. So then I could kill 5 defenders a turn. After several turns, I got it.
I then immediately made peace cause another civ started a war with me. Upgraded my axemen to macemen and now I have a stack of 20+ units ready to invade.

[Willem]

One thing I noticed in your screen shot is that you haven't even pillaged the roads leading into the city. That would have slowed down his reinforcements considerably. In the situation you've described, you should be making it as hard as possible for him to get new units into the city, even planting your stack behind the city if possible so it can intercept anything heading there. Though that wouldn't have worked well in this case because of that river. Still, severing the cities connections to the rest of the empire probably would have helped you take the city earlier.

[wodan11]

Besides what ohers have said,

Are you aware that using a spy to lower defenses only works for 1 turn duration?

Wodan

[Theben]

Do catapults and mounted units get defense bonus in a city? 'Cuz if they don't, you should've been able to hit that 'defense' hard with your own mobile units.

[Krill]

Well, I was waiting on someone to say that...

no, they don,t the only units to get defendive boni in that city is the axe. all you need to rape that city are CR swords.

[Theben]

I'm thinking HA, b/c any stack that can only move 1 will get pounded by those cats.

At least have some HAs in your stack to counter the cats.

[Supr49er]

Originally posted by Diadem
Indeed.

The AI is quite bad strategically, but it is very good at building massive amounts of units. If all it has to do is defend one city, you are never going to outbuild it.

Take another target, or come back later.

Well, you could fortify a couple of strong defenders E of the city on the hill with Guerilla promotions or W of the city with Woodsman promotions with a river for them to attack across.

This will occupy them while you march your stack against another city.