How do you know when to attack?

[Dis]

When do you know "it's time"? I usually misjudge my attacks, although not by much. Most of the time it doesn't make a difference.

I'm usually anxious to make my attack before they build up better tech (better defensive units). In my latest game I wanted to attack before the carthagians got rifleman (or musketmen). But even cavalry against longbowman can be tough. And they had the curvasior whatevers which were tough for my cavalry to take out. And their macemen/crossbowmen were surprisingly tough. Perhaps I should have waited till I had around 20 cavalry? I had around 7 I believe when I attacked, with several more on the way.

this game is frustrating sometimes. I either have a runaway clear victory (which can get boring), or the AI gets out ahead, and I can't seem to catch up.

[wodan11]

When in doubt, DOW and then wait. Yes, DOW them and then do nothing... Let them attack you. Kill their "extra" units on your turf, and then send your (admittedly few) offensive units to wipe out what's left.

Otherwise, a DOW with an instant attack vs the AI works best only when you know they've been at war with someone else. If they haven't, then you're on a fool's errand, to some extent. If you're not hugely ahead already, then you're going to lose out.

My two cents.

[Theben]

Attacking with only 7 units was your 1st mistake. Somehow I doubt you had a balanced stack with seige equipment.

[Jaybe]

Horse is for weakening, not for taking or especially for holding cities.

Personally, I rarely use horse for assaults on cities, preferring them for taking out units in the field and as reaction forces/fire brigades. I use foot, tanks, and siege for taking cities.

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I either have a runaway clear victory (which can get boring), or the AI gets out ahead, and I can't seem to catch up.

When I get far ahead, I do what I can to hold myself back to forestall the boredom of the later game. Actually, I'll often try to keep the AI no more than one generation of units behind (I LIKE air-to-air conflicts).

[trev]

A stack of cavalry backed up with trebuchets and riflemen with city raider (build maces and upgrade) is the way to go. They make a very effective stack at that stage of the game, generally I use flanking2 on the cav so their death rate is low. If you think you are a bit weak then declare war and wait till initial large stack of enemy is destroyed before invading.

[Dis]

Attacking with only 7 units was your 1st mistake. Somehow I doubt you had a balanced stack with seige equipment.

I had about 6 rifleman to support. One of those rifleman was a general with 5 combat promotions. I had 2 trebuchets which I used to weaken the culture defense of their capitol. Their SOD arrived at that point and took out my rifleman guarding the trebs. I took their capitol and razed it, but lost my trebs.

[Dis]

A stack of cavalry backed up with trebuchets and riflemen with city raider (build maces and upgrade) is the way to go. They make a very effective stack at that stage of the game, generally I use flanking2 on the cav so their death rate is low. If you think you are a bit weak then declare war and wait till initial large stack of enemy is destroyed before invading.

yup several of my rifleman had city raider back when they were roman swordsman (for some reason the name escapes me ) and maceman.

[Dis]

The biggest problem was one of the capitulated civs had a small SOD I had to take out close to my border. Not to mention another civ (Saladin) I had to divert rifleman to watch against. I still hadn't upgraded all my macemen yet either. It's an expensive upgrade.

The biggest thing I think here is to have enough units to wipe out their SOD and still achieve your objectives (ie enough troops to take over the number of cities you want). The biggest problem I had was I didn't know how big their SOD was and I felt my units were advanced enough that the SOD posed little threat. Cavalry just aren't strong enough to take out those units. At least not on a 2 to 1 ratio. I'd ideally need one cavalry for every one of their units.

[slnz]

Cavalry can sometimes function very well without siege support; especially if you have spies to revolt the cultural defense away at the right moment.

That situation sounds like you could have won but lost because of a tactical disadvantage. If you had declared and waited for the enemy SOD to step in a vulnerable position and then smashed it with your superior tech the result may have been very different (esp. with Cavalry flanking away the siege).

[Dis]

I'm gonna try the great plains map again. I don't generally like all land maps with no navies. esp. flat ones. But I want to beat all the map types. The thing about this game is I play at the difficulty level I normally stomp the ai at.

This really shows how much improved the AI is on flat land maps. And how much more important diplomacy is. Sure the ai can research well on water maps. But as for military prowess, much is to be desired. They are better than the civ2 days, but you are still relatively safe if you have an ocean separating you and your enemies.

[rah]

Yes when attacking a civ unless I'm in a position to take a few cities quickly I'll just DOW them and wait for their sod so I can take it on, on my territory, on my terms. Less War unhappiness and it make your eventual invasion a lot easier.

Horse is for weakening, not for taking or especially for holding cities.

Personally, I rarely use horse for assaults on cities, preferring them for taking out units in the field and as reaction forces/fire brigades. I use foot, tanks, and siege for taking cities.

Actually since horses are immune to first strike they are very good for attacking cities early.
Horse archers vs regular archers, or knights against longbowman are quite effective after the walls come down.
And untill rifles, (if you're that far ahead) calvary doesn't even need seige engines to take out longbowman. (protective civs on hills cities may be a bit harder) And yes, I'm also learning to appreciate the flanking promos more.

[wodan11]

And yes, I'm also learning to appreciate the flanking promos more.

The first time I had 8-10 mounted units totally wipe out a SOD containing 25+ cats... that's an eye opener.

[Theben]

I'm also learning to appreciate Flanking, espec FL II, as Cavalry aren't immune to 1st strikes normally. But if facing enemy mounts then COM 2, Charge(?- +25% vs. mounted) is the way to go.

[Blaupanzer]

5 knights dissolving 11 cats was the moment when the Flanking light bulb went on. Whoa!

[slnz]

In mounted vs mounted the preferred situation is IMO being the attacker & Flanking promos. Though I usually have singleton Combat+Shock/Formation/Pinch dudes thrown in for defending vs random units when in enemy territory.

If both parties have tech parity and use mounted units, the attacker has an insane advantage, as he often gets that -60% or so less casualties (for Cavalry). If you favor mounted units it's even more important to bait out the enemy SoD before beginning the conquest.

Cavalry vs Cuirassiers is a bit of a gray area; often pure Rifles +siege (& skipping Military Tradition) works better than cavalry due to their inherent +25% vs mounted.

For the OP's initial question, IMO the 3 most important things:

1) Learn how different army compositions fare against one another and how far the enemy is from teching a counter to your army composition.

2) Scout or learn to guess the size of the enemy army based on the Civ's score, land area and personality

3) Think ahead. Pay attention to the AIs tech rates&paths and plan your wars of conquest & army composition accordingly.