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Ancient Era Warfare
This is the beginning of a series I hope to complete covering the entire scope of warfare and combat in Civ 3. I'm starting chronologically and will continue to the end.
Each era will be divided up into 3 sections - General Strategies, General Tactics and Unit Tactics, each looking at a different part of warfare that takes place in each era.
Overview
The Rush is a strategy which is especially liked by most warmongers in Civ 3. The main goal of it is to catch one's opponent off-guard with few defenses, but often costs a great deal to perform early on, and is a risky venture to engage in.
The three units most often used in a rush are the Archer, most often early in the game, Horsemen and Swordsmen. The decision on which type of unit to rush with is often a question of resources - what resources one has access to and what one's opponent has. Having good or poor land can affect the decision of whether to Rush or not, as well has having Horses or Iron.
Additionally, the terrain can change the nature of the rush. Flat land is susceptible to a Horseman Rush, which can be raced around the flat land with relative ease and used to find a weak spot in the enemy's defenses. Rougher terrain will call for Swordsmen, with their ability to uproot tougher defenders which Horsemen aren't capable of defeating.
Finding your opponent early is a must in order to pull off a Rush, especially in MP games. Knowing where to send your often ad-hoc formed army is essential in order to ensure a dead neighbor. If one waits too long to conduct the rush, then they'll be facing their enemy with a significant army and industrial base of their own.
Strengths
The most effective use of the Rush is against an opponent not expecting it. Against a player busy expanding quickly early on in the game (REXing) it can be a devastating tactic. With only a few units and many Settlers rushing around, a player will often not be as concerned with the possibility of an enemy attack as he ought to be.
If one has poor land whereas those of his opponent are quite fertile, then this is a recipe for a Rush. If left to his own devices, the opponent with the better land will grow stronger over time relative to the player. Delivering a quick-kill or a crippling hit can help shift the fortunes back to the player.
Weaknesses
The biggest disadvantage of the Rush is the fact that if it fails, then a huge early investment is gone. You're down on units, buildings, Workers and Settlers that you could have invested in instead. In games with more than 1 player, you'll be far behind if your Rush fails, and even if it succeeds you're still behind… you just have more land and a neighbor that's less powerful or dead. Being able to catch up quickly with a few Granaries (or wiping out another neighbor…) is a must in order for a Rush to be a complete success.
The likelihood of a Rush failing in itself can also be an issue. Depending on when and who you attack, a Rush can be impossible to pull off. A good human player can see a rush coming with sentries and make preparations to meet the threat. Cities on hills with Walls can be very hard to break through, and Swordsmen will be a must in this situation, and with iron more rare than in previous versions of the game the chance of having Swordsmen at all is diminished.
Counteracting Rushes
The best way to stop a rush is to see it coming early enough (sentries) and preparing your cities ahead of time. Building cities on hills with Walls (can be popped when necessary) and a few vet Spearmen will usually be able to stop a rush fast in its tracks. Having a counterattack force is also ideal, as the typical Rush will not include many defensive units and are highly susceptible to being attacked in their own right.
Human vs. AI Considerations
Pulling off a Rush against a human player can be much more difficult than the AI.
Against the AI, your main consideration for being able to successfully conduct a Rush is the difficulty level. On higher levels the AI gets more and more units, and with 12 Spearmen to start with on Sid, rushing an AI civ is pretty much impossible. On lower levels though, the AI tends to spread out a lot and not focus much on military, making rushes rather easy to perform. The main factor is how many units the AI begins with.
For humans though, it depends on the skill level. A knowledgeable player will spot a Rush coming in advance and have an army ready to meet it. The AI is incapable of making the connection and is easily susceptible to Rushes. Some humans though act very similar to the AI with their REXing efforts, and can be caught off balance even easier than with the AI.
The human will also place his cities in more defensible locations, connecting roads, building cities on hills and pop-rushing Walls when they see an army coming. This greatly limits the effects of Archer and Horsemen Rushes, with only 2-attack their shock potential is much less than a stack of 3-attack Swordsmen.
Defending against a rush is also mainly an issue of MP games. In SP you can almost always prevent combat with other AI civs if you play your cards right. In both cases though, the best way to defend against a Rush is to see it coming in advance and having highly defensible locations to hunker down in and counter-attack from.
Overview
The Ultra-Early Rush (UER) has a single thing in mind - speed.
It is similar to the rush in that goal, but throws all caution to the wind to try and achieve it. It is usually only conducted with a few units, and only with ones available very early. The most often-used units in this strategy are Archers and Warriors (and their UU variants) simply because they are the units that civs start off the game with.
A UER usually only includes 3-5 units, all produced from the first city before a Settler or often a Barracks is produced. This often leaves the civ conducting the UER in a very vulnerable position, as it is banking on meeting with major success only a few turns into the game and the failure of the strategy will usually mean the failure of the civ in the entire game.
They key to the UER is speed. The faster a civ finds an opponent to target the better, which means that Expansionist civs are often popular with this strategy. The faster the attacking units get out of the city and towards their destination the greater the chance of success. For this strategy, "success" can mean anything from capturing a Worker or Settler to taking down an entire civ's defenses and conquering them outright. A lot depends on the preparation of the foe, which means this strategy is even riskier than a normal Rush.
Strengths
The UER draws on many of the strengths of the traditional Rush, but pushes them to a new extreme. A Rush seeks to hit an opponent before he can develop his infrastructure to fend off an attack. A UER is designed to hit home before an opponent even gets a 2nd defender or 2nd city.
Because of this goal (and the habits of most players), the UER can be a very devastating attack. 30 shields an opponent spends on a Settler means 30 shields for you on 3 Warriors knocking on his doorstep before he knows what has hit him.
However, even if the UER fails you can usually bet on the fact that your opponent suffered also. Trying to stop 3-5 units so early on will cost the unlucky target, unless he has a very very lucky unit guarding his empire. Sometimes this factor along with the intimidation of having to thwart such an early threat is worth as much as more tangible gains from a UER.
To summarize, the UER takes everything about the normal Rush and raises the stakes.
Weaknesses
Like with a regular Rush, if a UER fails then the civ is basically out a huge number of shields and potential infrastructure. Often a player will work forest tiles early on in the game for additional shields meaning growth suffers quite a bit also.
Unlike a Rush, a UER rarely faces a number of Spearmen which can potential thwart the strategy, but the possibility of failure is still there. Being spotted by a scouting unit usually means the death of a UER, since almost every player knows what a stack of 3 Archers heading for them means. A switch from a Settler build to a Spear and a 2nd, possibly pop-rushed Spear will stop most UERs.
As with the strengths of a Rush, the UER takes the stakes and raises them.
Counteracting Ultra-Early Rushes
While UERs often fail, defending against them can be a very difficult prospect anyways. An early builder, happily working on his Granary or Settler will have to throw away these plans and often many shields to defend against a UER.
Unfortunately, relying on sentries to see one of these coming is usually not possible. So early on in the game, investing in a proper sentry net will usually cost as many shields as having to defend against a UER anyways.
The true best way of dealing with a UER is intelligence - see it coming beforehand and prepare sufficiently. Know who your neighbors are, and watch their military strength compared with your own. In MP games I've always been very wary of this, trying to remain average with all of my neighbors at the very least. If you have 4 Warriors, 1 on MP and 4 Scouting and your neighbor as China is strong compared with you and their capital hasn't dropped population on the F11 screen, then it's time to start thinking defense.
Very rarely will a player bet on having all of its early units in a single stack unless they find you early enough. If you see a Warrior wandering near your border 10 or 15 turns into the game, then you should recognize the threat for what it is - possibly the end of the game for you.
While it may be difficult for most SP-type builders to sacrifice that early Granary, they will be quick to learn the first time they've been on the wrong end of a Rush or UER that your priority should be defense above all else.
Human vs. AI Considerations
As far as conducting a UER against an AI, it's pretty much completely relative to the difficulty level you're playing on. The higher up in difficulty level you go the lower the chances of a successful UER. On levels like Deity and Sid it is basically impossible to conduct a UER against an AI simply due to the sheer amount of resources available to these civs at the very start of the game.
As with conducting a UER against an AI, the same pretty much goes for having to deal with one. The higher your level, the more units the AI has to use, possibly against YOU on turn 10 if you're not careful. Appeasing the big boys and begging for mercy when you see those 6 units coming towards your capital before you've built your 2nd Warrior is the only chance at survival you've got. Sometimes, the AI just got laid off at work or is having a case of PMS and you're doomed either way. In that case, that's what the Quick Start button on the main menu is for.
With humans, the playing field is more level. Most of what I said above in the Weaknesses section applies for defending against a possible human UER. Know who your enemy is, know his habits and patterns and read his intentions before you see that stack coming.
Launching a UER against a human can be quite fun and devastating when done correctly. Start with a couple scout units to find an opponent, a Barracks (for militaristic civs if the UER includes at least 4 units), then start pumping out the units for the attack. Usually Archers are best, being the most cost efficient (and least expensive on the unit support pocketbook!) and pack the biggest bang for the buck at this early stage in the game. Send your little army of doom towards your closest friend and watch him squirm and the population of his capital drop once per turn and you home in for the coup de grace.
Don't forget the boot shine, you may need it by the time you're done with him.
Overview
The Stack of Doom (SoD) is the ultimate weapon of the Ancient Era. Designed to be the killer blow delivered to an enemy, these are the hardest armies to combat simply because they're so powerful and flexible.
Typically (and most effectively) a SoD will include units of every type in the Ancient Era - Swordsmen, Horsemen, Spearmen, Catapults, Workers and Settlers. It's designed to be self-sufficient and able to handle any challenge that comes before it.
The general formula that I use for my SoDs is 3 parts Swordsman : 2 Parts Horseman : 2 Parts Catapult : 1 Part Spearman. However, this is by no means a strict design - I will often increase the ratio of Spearmen quite a bit depending on the opponent I'm facing. If I know I'm facing a human Persia player, then you'd better believe I'm going to be stocking up a bit more on the defensive side of things.
The strength of the SoD is in its flexibility. The Catapults are very useful on both attack and defense, helping to soften units up and reduce casualties to the SoD. Spearmen, obviously, defend the SoD from attacks, daring an enemy to send their poor units into the fray - they'll only be counterattacked and destroyed next turn, after all. Horsemen give the SoD range - nobody will keep a juicy target 2 tiles away from a SoD because of these guys. Additionally, Horsemen are good at inflicting Catapult-like damage, charging in before the shock troops to wear down the defenders, retreating most of the time and winning rarely. The final component of the SoD is its most important part - the Swordsman. These guys are the meat of the army, giving it bite. They slug it out with the best of them in the ugliest battles, against units that have hopefully already been worn down by previous Catapult and Horsemen attacks. They are the ones the rest of the stack is designed to protect or prepare the battle for.
Strengths
The SoD is a very tough nut to crack. They can fight other armies very well, are very good at sieges, pillaging and defending. An enemy that attacks a true SoD is a brave one indeed.
They are very effective at besieging enemy cities. Catapults fire off first, Horsemen charge in order to wear down the defenders further and the Swordsmen clean up the siege while the Spearmen deter attacks on the army.
In a pitched battle they are very flexible and scary targets. No one wants to attack a stack that has a bunch of Catapults and Spearmen to soak up any possible damage that a SoD might do.
Weaknesses
The biggest weakness of a SoD is its speed - they can be effectively outflanked or pinned down when approached properly. If a SoD can be pinned somewhere, say, next to a heavily defended city while the enemy's mobile units are sent towards the SoD civ's core, things can get pretty messy.
Additionally, in SoD vs. SoD battles one of them has to move adjacent to the other in order to initiate combat, putting itself open to attack. Terrain is a very important consideration in large battles such as these. A bit of bad luck when in SoD combat can be a very sticky situation.
Lacking a resource can considerably weaken a SoD. Each part of the SoD plays an important role and the entire function of the SoD can be in jeopardy if a part is missing. The most important resource is iron - the crux of this strategy is in the shock troops being able to root out fortified defenders and take down other stacks. With the main component missing it lacks the same destructive vigor.
Counteracting SoDs
The key to taking down a SoD is knowing when to hit it. The best way is to wait until the enemy SoD approaches you on flat land, giving you the first shots with Catapults, weakening Horsemen and Swordsmen. Hopefully you'll penetrate far enough through the SoD's defenses that you can prevent their remaining attackers from inflicting similar damage upon your own SoD.
Many players will be squeamish to attack an opponent's SoD for fear of great losses… and this is indeed a major concern. SoD is a very bloody affair, and even the victor will probably lose at least half of his units. But the key to destroying SoDs is seeing the proper time to hit it and to give it all you've got, whatever the losses.
Oh, and try to keep SoDs off of rough terrain! The defensive terrain bonuses can make attacking a SoD much more difficult.
Human vs. AI Considerations
A SoD can effectively take down an AI civ with hardly a bead of sweat. The AI simply cannot handle large armies such as these, and will usually never attack them because of their strength. The fact that the AI also likes to spread out its forces means that concentrating on a single city at a time for sieges or an AI stack is very easy to do.
Against humans the SoD become almost a necessity when dueling with experienced players. As time wears on and as Rush strategies become less viable, it becomes a race as to who can create the biggest SoD to take down one's enemy with.
FriedrichPsitalon has written a very good article on MP strategies (Dagger, Choke, Sledgehammer, Castle) so I don't really need to discuss that much.
You can find that thread here.
Each era will be divided up into 3 sections - General Strategies, General Tactics and Unit Tactics, each looking at a different part of warfare that takes place in each era.
- General Strategies are overall, encompassing strategies that are the focal point of an entire war. Basically the types of attacking and defending that are possible
- General Tactics are more specific circumstances which a player might find himeslf in, such as Pillaging Groups, Sieges, etc.
- Unit Tactics look at the application and usage of specific units in combat and how they can be most (and least) effective.
General Strategies
The Rush
The Rush
Overview
The Rush is a strategy which is especially liked by most warmongers in Civ 3. The main goal of it is to catch one's opponent off-guard with few defenses, but often costs a great deal to perform early on, and is a risky venture to engage in.
The three units most often used in a rush are the Archer, most often early in the game, Horsemen and Swordsmen. The decision on which type of unit to rush with is often a question of resources - what resources one has access to and what one's opponent has. Having good or poor land can affect the decision of whether to Rush or not, as well has having Horses or Iron.
Additionally, the terrain can change the nature of the rush. Flat land is susceptible to a Horseman Rush, which can be raced around the flat land with relative ease and used to find a weak spot in the enemy's defenses. Rougher terrain will call for Swordsmen, with their ability to uproot tougher defenders which Horsemen aren't capable of defeating.
Finding your opponent early is a must in order to pull off a Rush, especially in MP games. Knowing where to send your often ad-hoc formed army is essential in order to ensure a dead neighbor. If one waits too long to conduct the rush, then they'll be facing their enemy with a significant army and industrial base of their own.
Strengths
The most effective use of the Rush is against an opponent not expecting it. Against a player busy expanding quickly early on in the game (REXing) it can be a devastating tactic. With only a few units and many Settlers rushing around, a player will often not be as concerned with the possibility of an enemy attack as he ought to be.
If one has poor land whereas those of his opponent are quite fertile, then this is a recipe for a Rush. If left to his own devices, the opponent with the better land will grow stronger over time relative to the player. Delivering a quick-kill or a crippling hit can help shift the fortunes back to the player.
Weaknesses
The biggest disadvantage of the Rush is the fact that if it fails, then a huge early investment is gone. You're down on units, buildings, Workers and Settlers that you could have invested in instead. In games with more than 1 player, you'll be far behind if your Rush fails, and even if it succeeds you're still behind… you just have more land and a neighbor that's less powerful or dead. Being able to catch up quickly with a few Granaries (or wiping out another neighbor…) is a must in order for a Rush to be a complete success.
The likelihood of a Rush failing in itself can also be an issue. Depending on when and who you attack, a Rush can be impossible to pull off. A good human player can see a rush coming with sentries and make preparations to meet the threat. Cities on hills with Walls can be very hard to break through, and Swordsmen will be a must in this situation, and with iron more rare than in previous versions of the game the chance of having Swordsmen at all is diminished.
Counteracting Rushes
The best way to stop a rush is to see it coming early enough (sentries) and preparing your cities ahead of time. Building cities on hills with Walls (can be popped when necessary) and a few vet Spearmen will usually be able to stop a rush fast in its tracks. Having a counterattack force is also ideal, as the typical Rush will not include many defensive units and are highly susceptible to being attacked in their own right.
Human vs. AI Considerations
Pulling off a Rush against a human player can be much more difficult than the AI.
Against the AI, your main consideration for being able to successfully conduct a Rush is the difficulty level. On higher levels the AI gets more and more units, and with 12 Spearmen to start with on Sid, rushing an AI civ is pretty much impossible. On lower levels though, the AI tends to spread out a lot and not focus much on military, making rushes rather easy to perform. The main factor is how many units the AI begins with.
For humans though, it depends on the skill level. A knowledgeable player will spot a Rush coming in advance and have an army ready to meet it. The AI is incapable of making the connection and is easily susceptible to Rushes. Some humans though act very similar to the AI with their REXing efforts, and can be caught off balance even easier than with the AI.
The human will also place his cities in more defensible locations, connecting roads, building cities on hills and pop-rushing Walls when they see an army coming. This greatly limits the effects of Archer and Horsemen Rushes, with only 2-attack their shock potential is much less than a stack of 3-attack Swordsmen.
Defending against a rush is also mainly an issue of MP games. In SP you can almost always prevent combat with other AI civs if you play your cards right. In both cases though, the best way to defend against a Rush is to see it coming in advance and having highly defensible locations to hunker down in and counter-attack from.
The Ultra-Early Rush
Overview
The Ultra-Early Rush (UER) has a single thing in mind - speed.
It is similar to the rush in that goal, but throws all caution to the wind to try and achieve it. It is usually only conducted with a few units, and only with ones available very early. The most often-used units in this strategy are Archers and Warriors (and their UU variants) simply because they are the units that civs start off the game with.
A UER usually only includes 3-5 units, all produced from the first city before a Settler or often a Barracks is produced. This often leaves the civ conducting the UER in a very vulnerable position, as it is banking on meeting with major success only a few turns into the game and the failure of the strategy will usually mean the failure of the civ in the entire game.
They key to the UER is speed. The faster a civ finds an opponent to target the better, which means that Expansionist civs are often popular with this strategy. The faster the attacking units get out of the city and towards their destination the greater the chance of success. For this strategy, "success" can mean anything from capturing a Worker or Settler to taking down an entire civ's defenses and conquering them outright. A lot depends on the preparation of the foe, which means this strategy is even riskier than a normal Rush.
Strengths
The UER draws on many of the strengths of the traditional Rush, but pushes them to a new extreme. A Rush seeks to hit an opponent before he can develop his infrastructure to fend off an attack. A UER is designed to hit home before an opponent even gets a 2nd defender or 2nd city.
Because of this goal (and the habits of most players), the UER can be a very devastating attack. 30 shields an opponent spends on a Settler means 30 shields for you on 3 Warriors knocking on his doorstep before he knows what has hit him.
However, even if the UER fails you can usually bet on the fact that your opponent suffered also. Trying to stop 3-5 units so early on will cost the unlucky target, unless he has a very very lucky unit guarding his empire. Sometimes this factor along with the intimidation of having to thwart such an early threat is worth as much as more tangible gains from a UER.
To summarize, the UER takes everything about the normal Rush and raises the stakes.
Weaknesses
Like with a regular Rush, if a UER fails then the civ is basically out a huge number of shields and potential infrastructure. Often a player will work forest tiles early on in the game for additional shields meaning growth suffers quite a bit also.
Unlike a Rush, a UER rarely faces a number of Spearmen which can potential thwart the strategy, but the possibility of failure is still there. Being spotted by a scouting unit usually means the death of a UER, since almost every player knows what a stack of 3 Archers heading for them means. A switch from a Settler build to a Spear and a 2nd, possibly pop-rushed Spear will stop most UERs.
As with the strengths of a Rush, the UER takes the stakes and raises them.
Counteracting Ultra-Early Rushes
While UERs often fail, defending against them can be a very difficult prospect anyways. An early builder, happily working on his Granary or Settler will have to throw away these plans and often many shields to defend against a UER.
Unfortunately, relying on sentries to see one of these coming is usually not possible. So early on in the game, investing in a proper sentry net will usually cost as many shields as having to defend against a UER anyways.
The true best way of dealing with a UER is intelligence - see it coming beforehand and prepare sufficiently. Know who your neighbors are, and watch their military strength compared with your own. In MP games I've always been very wary of this, trying to remain average with all of my neighbors at the very least. If you have 4 Warriors, 1 on MP and 4 Scouting and your neighbor as China is strong compared with you and their capital hasn't dropped population on the F11 screen, then it's time to start thinking defense.
Very rarely will a player bet on having all of its early units in a single stack unless they find you early enough. If you see a Warrior wandering near your border 10 or 15 turns into the game, then you should recognize the threat for what it is - possibly the end of the game for you.
While it may be difficult for most SP-type builders to sacrifice that early Granary, they will be quick to learn the first time they've been on the wrong end of a Rush or UER that your priority should be defense above all else.
Human vs. AI Considerations
As far as conducting a UER against an AI, it's pretty much completely relative to the difficulty level you're playing on. The higher up in difficulty level you go the lower the chances of a successful UER. On levels like Deity and Sid it is basically impossible to conduct a UER against an AI simply due to the sheer amount of resources available to these civs at the very start of the game.
As with conducting a UER against an AI, the same pretty much goes for having to deal with one. The higher your level, the more units the AI has to use, possibly against YOU on turn 10 if you're not careful. Appeasing the big boys and begging for mercy when you see those 6 units coming towards your capital before you've built your 2nd Warrior is the only chance at survival you've got. Sometimes, the AI just got laid off at work or is having a case of PMS and you're doomed either way. In that case, that's what the Quick Start button on the main menu is for.
With humans, the playing field is more level. Most of what I said above in the Weaknesses section applies for defending against a possible human UER. Know who your enemy is, know his habits and patterns and read his intentions before you see that stack coming.
Launching a UER against a human can be quite fun and devastating when done correctly. Start with a couple scout units to find an opponent, a Barracks (for militaristic civs if the UER includes at least 4 units), then start pumping out the units for the attack. Usually Archers are best, being the most cost efficient (and least expensive on the unit support pocketbook!) and pack the biggest bang for the buck at this early stage in the game. Send your little army of doom towards your closest friend and watch him squirm and the population of his capital drop once per turn and you home in for the coup de grace.
Don't forget the boot shine, you may need it by the time you're done with him.
The Stack of Doom (SoD)
Overview
The Stack of Doom (SoD) is the ultimate weapon of the Ancient Era. Designed to be the killer blow delivered to an enemy, these are the hardest armies to combat simply because they're so powerful and flexible.
Typically (and most effectively) a SoD will include units of every type in the Ancient Era - Swordsmen, Horsemen, Spearmen, Catapults, Workers and Settlers. It's designed to be self-sufficient and able to handle any challenge that comes before it.
The general formula that I use for my SoDs is 3 parts Swordsman : 2 Parts Horseman : 2 Parts Catapult : 1 Part Spearman. However, this is by no means a strict design - I will often increase the ratio of Spearmen quite a bit depending on the opponent I'm facing. If I know I'm facing a human Persia player, then you'd better believe I'm going to be stocking up a bit more on the defensive side of things.
The strength of the SoD is in its flexibility. The Catapults are very useful on both attack and defense, helping to soften units up and reduce casualties to the SoD. Spearmen, obviously, defend the SoD from attacks, daring an enemy to send their poor units into the fray - they'll only be counterattacked and destroyed next turn, after all. Horsemen give the SoD range - nobody will keep a juicy target 2 tiles away from a SoD because of these guys. Additionally, Horsemen are good at inflicting Catapult-like damage, charging in before the shock troops to wear down the defenders, retreating most of the time and winning rarely. The final component of the SoD is its most important part - the Swordsman. These guys are the meat of the army, giving it bite. They slug it out with the best of them in the ugliest battles, against units that have hopefully already been worn down by previous Catapult and Horsemen attacks. They are the ones the rest of the stack is designed to protect or prepare the battle for.
Strengths
The SoD is a very tough nut to crack. They can fight other armies very well, are very good at sieges, pillaging and defending. An enemy that attacks a true SoD is a brave one indeed.
They are very effective at besieging enemy cities. Catapults fire off first, Horsemen charge in order to wear down the defenders further and the Swordsmen clean up the siege while the Spearmen deter attacks on the army.
In a pitched battle they are very flexible and scary targets. No one wants to attack a stack that has a bunch of Catapults and Spearmen to soak up any possible damage that a SoD might do.
Weaknesses
The biggest weakness of a SoD is its speed - they can be effectively outflanked or pinned down when approached properly. If a SoD can be pinned somewhere, say, next to a heavily defended city while the enemy's mobile units are sent towards the SoD civ's core, things can get pretty messy.
Additionally, in SoD vs. SoD battles one of them has to move adjacent to the other in order to initiate combat, putting itself open to attack. Terrain is a very important consideration in large battles such as these. A bit of bad luck when in SoD combat can be a very sticky situation.
Lacking a resource can considerably weaken a SoD. Each part of the SoD plays an important role and the entire function of the SoD can be in jeopardy if a part is missing. The most important resource is iron - the crux of this strategy is in the shock troops being able to root out fortified defenders and take down other stacks. With the main component missing it lacks the same destructive vigor.
Counteracting SoDs
The key to taking down a SoD is knowing when to hit it. The best way is to wait until the enemy SoD approaches you on flat land, giving you the first shots with Catapults, weakening Horsemen and Swordsmen. Hopefully you'll penetrate far enough through the SoD's defenses that you can prevent their remaining attackers from inflicting similar damage upon your own SoD.
Many players will be squeamish to attack an opponent's SoD for fear of great losses… and this is indeed a major concern. SoD is a very bloody affair, and even the victor will probably lose at least half of his units. But the key to destroying SoDs is seeing the proper time to hit it and to give it all you've got, whatever the losses.
Oh, and try to keep SoDs off of rough terrain! The defensive terrain bonuses can make attacking a SoD much more difficult.
Human vs. AI Considerations
A SoD can effectively take down an AI civ with hardly a bead of sweat. The AI simply cannot handle large armies such as these, and will usually never attack them because of their strength. The fact that the AI also likes to spread out its forces means that concentrating on a single city at a time for sieges or an AI stack is very easy to do.
Against humans the SoD become almost a necessity when dueling with experienced players. As time wears on and as Rush strategies become less viable, it becomes a race as to who can create the biggest SoD to take down one's enemy with.
MP Strategies
FriedrichPsitalon has written a very good article on MP strategies (Dagger, Choke, Sledgehammer, Castle) so I don't really need to discuss that much.
You can find that thread here.
General Defensive Strategies
Coming soon...
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