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The pikeman from hades
I'm posting this here because it seems to be relevant to strategy, and noone seems interrested in the tales from the front thread any more.
Perfectionists, such as myself, may rejoice over this.
Last Friday night I was in a 4 player game.
The americans had the misfortune of meeting the Canadians just before they met me. As my ally was quite a ways away, and I was able to find the American capital, I decided that my best chance was a warmongering approach. Most of my efforts
were directed at preparing to attack America. Washington was on grassland with plenty of access from the sea, and that was my primary objective. I built a city on a coastal mountain with access to the American sea. That city was to build boats.
While doing some city maintenance on Ashur one turn I was surprised to see a new city in it's city radius, on a forested river square. I could have easily taken the city at this point, but I didn't want America to be aware of my war preparations or agressive intentions, as my main target was Washington. Ashur and my other northern cities continued preparations to attack washington, but 2 southern cities that had been built primarily to further colonization began instead to builld elephants to attack the river city.
An embassy revealed American knowledge of feudalism, but not masonry, so mobilization continued. Around 1400 BC the forces were ready. Washington was destroyed easily, but unfortunately at some point I had overtaken America as #1 in population, so no empire splitting.
That same turn I attacked the river city. First vet elephant killed a vet archer, which for some reason defended first. Then a non vet pikeman beat off two more vet elephants. My next two elephants were not veterans, and the first was beaten off by a legion, and the second died at the hands of a now vet pikeman. Had I waited a turn to attack I likely would have destroyed the city, as I would have had 2 more elephants availible, and the city was now size 1. But the point is that a (to begin with) non vet pikeman was able to hold off 3 elephants, 2 of them vets, without city walls.
The strategy point here, even without city walls vet pikemen on good defensive terrain can make the cost of taking a city prohibitive. With walls (and I already knew this), forget it. And as one has to spend about 120 shields on enough elephants or crusaders to kill off a 20 shield pikeman, well, a perfectionist who builds on good defensive terrain can easily afford to beat off a war mongerer, and doesn't necessarily need to worry too much about having city walls destroyed, although that does get expensive.
A question for anyone who might have experimented with this: does a forested river square get 50% defense or 100% (both 50% bonuses added in)?
Perfectionists, such as myself, may rejoice over this.
Last Friday night I was in a 4 player game.
The americans had the misfortune of meeting the Canadians just before they met me. As my ally was quite a ways away, and I was able to find the American capital, I decided that my best chance was a warmongering approach. Most of my efforts
were directed at preparing to attack America. Washington was on grassland with plenty of access from the sea, and that was my primary objective. I built a city on a coastal mountain with access to the American sea. That city was to build boats.
While doing some city maintenance on Ashur one turn I was surprised to see a new city in it's city radius, on a forested river square. I could have easily taken the city at this point, but I didn't want America to be aware of my war preparations or agressive intentions, as my main target was Washington. Ashur and my other northern cities continued preparations to attack washington, but 2 southern cities that had been built primarily to further colonization began instead to builld elephants to attack the river city.
An embassy revealed American knowledge of feudalism, but not masonry, so mobilization continued. Around 1400 BC the forces were ready. Washington was destroyed easily, but unfortunately at some point I had overtaken America as #1 in population, so no empire splitting.
That same turn I attacked the river city. First vet elephant killed a vet archer, which for some reason defended first. Then a non vet pikeman beat off two more vet elephants. My next two elephants were not veterans, and the first was beaten off by a legion, and the second died at the hands of a now vet pikeman. Had I waited a turn to attack I likely would have destroyed the city, as I would have had 2 more elephants availible, and the city was now size 1. But the point is that a (to begin with) non vet pikeman was able to hold off 3 elephants, 2 of them vets, without city walls.
The strategy point here, even without city walls vet pikemen on good defensive terrain can make the cost of taking a city prohibitive. With walls (and I already knew this), forget it. And as one has to spend about 120 shields on enough elephants or crusaders to kill off a 20 shield pikeman, well, a perfectionist who builds on good defensive terrain can easily afford to beat off a war mongerer, and doesn't necessarily need to worry too much about having city walls destroyed, although that does get expensive.
A question for anyone who might have experimented with this: does a forested river square get 50% defense or 100% (both 50% bonuses added in)?
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