Stopping the howitzer

[ColdWizard]

a city with sdi in the mountains would provide adequate defense against nuke use. though the city may not be viable with 1x production.

edit: spelling
[This message has been edited by ColdWizard (edited November 11, 2000).]

[Scouse Gits]

The city itself does not need to be on the mountain - the Mech Inf fortress should be on a mountain within three squares of the SDI protected city - of course then the Alpine Horde comes and eats you - there is no 'perfect defensive strategy'.



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Scouse Git[1]

"CARTAGO DELENDA EST" - Cato the Censor
"The Great Library must be built!"
"A short cut has to be challenging,
were it not so it would be 'the way'." - Paul Craven

[ColdWizard]

nuke the horde while it is approaching

[My Wife Hates CIV]

just park a stealth bomber over the mech fortress on the mountain top... or is this a cheat???

of course if you can build those why not just build a bunch of your own howitzers - fight fire with fire.

upgradeing your city center to hills can help a lot with defense also.

[drake]

Scouse Gits is right about one thing- there definetly is no perfect defensive strategy. A good player should eventually work around any defenese (if they have the resources)

But I'm not sure about this:

quote: of course then the Alpine Horde comes and eats you

The horde better be HUGE if it's going to try and take on a well defended city. A few stacked Vet. Mech Infantry, on a mountain, in a fortress is not going to be taken out by the alpine horde......not unless they have a nuke with them.

[Blaupanzer]

The way to take out the mech on a moutaintop is to take out the city he came from. Poof! No mech. Nuking him is a waste of engineers (to do the cleanup). If your nuking, nuke the cities fill 'em with helos or psrstroops (or surviving alpine units if the city is surrounded. Using explorers, the alpine units can bypass the fortified mechs. That tactic sounds like the Chinese in Korea.

[N35t0r]

quote: Originally posted by Blaupanzer on 11-13-2000 01:38 PM The way to take out the mech on a moutaintop is to take out the city he came from. Poof! No mech. Nuking him is a waste of engineers (to do the cleanup). If your nuking, nuke the cities fill 'em with helos or psrstroops (or surviving alpine units if the city is surrounded. Using explorers, the alpine units can bypass the fortified mechs. That tactic sounds like the Chinese in Korea.

of course, a good fighter can blow the explorer while it advances.

[Blaupanzer]

As to blowing the explorers, he is advancing with your alpine troops. He steps while ignoring ZOCs. Then your troop can step because he has a unit to advance to. Repeat for three steps. Fighter faces alpine unit on a mountain square. (Stacked with an explorer.)

[Scouse Gits]

drake - of course you are correct - I used the Alpine Horde as an illustration because of its currency on another thread - my personal feeling is that the best form of defence is offence - hardly a new concept, but one that is ever so true in this game.

[sermon]
The fundamental problem being discussed here is caused by the inbuilt game inbalance that favours the defender at all stages of the game until the advent of the Howitzer - suddenly all bets are off and the kind of (lazy) defence that has worked like a charm for millenia needs to be reworked - hence this discussion. A proactive mobile defence will always be superior to a 'Maginot Line' approach - it's just that we don't actually need to practice this until the bad guy brings up the howie-powies.
[/sermon]

[East Street Trader]

Very true, reverend Git, very true.

It is in SP and in our hands that Nemesis is just too strong a force. The A1s idea of a mobile defence to the howie seems to be to build yet another railway!

[Captain Psquire]

Might I suggest a possible "work around" for mechs on mountains? Instead of alpine hoards, enough engineers coupled with explorers could concievably in a single turn create a road or railroad bypass, if the terrain is right. Once that's up and running your engineers and explorer create a ZOC bridge and a hoard of howitzers or what have you could come streaming thru any small hole in a city's defense completely unhindered. What I'm not sure of is if what number of engineers, if any, can create a road let alone a railroad on a mountain square in a single turn, if that's called for. Anyone have any thoughts or data on how many engineers to railroad a mountain, or various other terrains for that matter?

-Captain Psquire

[Dissident Aggressor]

I'm pretty sure it's impossible to create a railroad in 1 turn other than in flat terrain (plains, grassland, desert). I think you can get a road in 1 turn in hills, but I don't think you can even get a road in 1 turn in swamp, mountains, or jungle. It is something I have to check. But I have put like 10 engineers on a mountain railroad project. and it takes at least 1 turn- the turn after I mean

very good thread BTW. makes me want to go out and get MGE and play you guys.

but do your games ever get that far? to my understanding some players just use a knight rush, and the game rarely gets past that stage. And I prefer modern warfare to medieval stuff. Plus I would rather play a scenario than spending hours building up.
[This message has been edited by Dissident Aggressor (edited November 15, 2000).]

[Mercantile]

depends on who you play and whether their empire can handle not getting everything *their* strategy needs to win. i wish games were continued further and further but sometimes its pointless. Cunning is what wins, not the first to mikes or leos

[drake]

How very true SG- sitting holed up in your city allows an enemys advance to be un-disturbed... a cake walk. Having a strong battalion of units patrolling the outer borders of the kingdom will almost always be enough to slow the oncoming attack, or atleast give you ample time to send some reinforcements. If you wait until they are in a cities radius, you're in trouble...especially if we're talking howitzers.



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I get up around seven
Get outta bed around nine
And I don't worry about nothin' no
Cause worryin's a waste of my...time

[Scouse Gits]

Xin has posted (about four times) his cunning stunt to utilise any number of Settlers/Engineers on a single square - this would allow two turn railroads through mountains - two turns because the guys have to get there on the first turn and then railroad on the next - leaving a window of opportunity for the defenders to counter ...


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Scouse Git[1]

"CARTAGO DELENDA EST" - Cato the Censor
"The Great Library must be built!"
"A short cut has to be challenging,
were it not so it would be 'the way'." - Paul Craven