Attack-units with 1 Movement Point

[Oldenbarnevelt]

I am still in the process of learning the subtleties of the game, so forgive my ignorance.

Some players say that they never build attack units with 1 MP, like Catapult and Cannon, because you need a turn to position them next to the target, after which they are like sitting ducks for the duration of a turn and can easily be wiped out by Horsemen or Archer. So should I build C & C at all, and if so, how should they be used esp. when attacking a city?
In another thread, Artillery (10/1/1, 2 HP, 2 FP) is highly praised, so these Move 1 units can't be all bad.

[The Andy-Man]

actually, a veteran big gun of your era will be the most usful weapon (big gun - catapult, cannon, artilaryu, howitzer)

but the movment is a problem. if there are railroads to the city the you are fine. if not (say in ancient times) just put a veteran defensive unit fortified outside a city, and then send in a settler to build a fortress. stack a load of catapults and there ya go.
If they have a catapult inside the city, you will probably loose the settler though

another good startegy is to just have one a sleep in a city. so hen the AI puts on of their units next to your city and you have an easy target.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

It depends on how you're using them. There have been studies posted on this board comparing artillery very favorably to armor for taking out fortified riflemen behind city walls (it's a firepower thing). If you're at the point of the game where most terrain is roaded, or (ideally) railroaded, then you can get your cannons or artillery up to the city and blast away more effectively than you could with, say, dragoons or cavalry or even armor. The 2nd attack/move of a horse/knight/etc is useless if your attacker doesn't survive the first one, and if it's knocked down to the red it can't move away after attacking, either.

Without a road up to the enemy city, though, you're pretty much stuck with putting a good defensive unit on an adjacent hill/forest/river/mountain, fortifying it, and then moving a settler on to the square to build a fortress. Then you load up the catapults/cannons on the fortified square and blast away the next turn, using the defensive unit already there to occupy the city once you've killed all the city defenders.

That's the strategy if you need it. It seems to me most people here would just bribe the city before going through all that trouble... or use hordes of diplomats to take down the walls before attacking with hordes of mounted troops.


STYOM

[Smash]

The best way to fight with 1 movers are with pre-worked settlers and/or engineers.Flash a fort next to your target.Load er up.Next turn attack.Settlers need roads or rivers to move on or they are toast.

Terrain is also more important.Mountains and hills become very important.You can move on these terrains fairly safely(depending on what you have and are facing)

One movers can be shock in MP.Most will prepare early for horsets of some kind with pikes.Legions and cats love pikemen.Unfortunately,2 move defenders love legions and cats

Pre worked settler(s) and/or engineer(s) are key I think.In more extreme cases,an engineer brigade can build the roads and rails needed to attack.

[geofelt]

I like to have some one movement artillery or cannon available for defense. If stationed in a city, the unit can fire at dangerous attackers, and still remain within the city. If you have a two movement unit, it will win the battle, but may advance out of the city and be a sitting duck for attack.
I also like vet cannon and artillery for city bombardment. Unless the city is on defensive terrain, these units can destroy most contemporary units, even behind city walls. I now hardly ever try to destroy city walls.

[Makeo]

if you consider preworking settlers a cheat.
use two settlers to make the instafort

[KrazyHorse]

Mmmm...pre-worked settlers. Yet another of the things I learned about by coming here. I never used to pay attention to settlers. They were set to a task, and forgotten about till they were done.

[ColdWizard]

i use them for defensive purpose, as geofelt posted, and for offensive attacks if there's roads or preferably rails leading to the city. if roads i use 2 settlers for insta-forts with appropriate defensive units.

[Rasbelin]

At least I use a combined army to attack.
One cannon or catapult, backed up with one muskeeters or
knight/crusader. But it depends on the situation and terrain.
Mostly I have 1 MP units when having a large scale campaign and
there's roads. But it's up to you. Try out!

[rah]

geofelt,

"If you have a two movement unit, it will win the battle, but may advance out of the city and be a sitting duck for attack. "

If you attack using the arrow keys, the unit will not advance into the square after winning.

RAH

[geofelt]

RAH, would you please explain exactly how to attack using the arrow keys? I know that I don't use all of the possible key options, perhaps a discussion of the pro's and con's of the various options would be appropriate in another thread.

[rah]

Just use the arrow keys to attack as if you were moving.

Since you retain the movement point (if you haven't been weakened enough to lose it) there really isn't any con. (unless there are some zoc issues that i've forgotten) It's been years since I attacked using the mouse.

RAH

[Smash]

oh my..you must use the numeric keypad for attacking.You should use it for anythng critical.I can't imagine mousing it.That would be difficult.

[rah]

yep, the funny thing is, the first few times I played, I didn't know you could do that, so I built an extra road next to my cities so i could expend a full movement point before i attacked out so there would be no chance of the unit moving out.

Needless to say I felt kinda dumb when I found out it really wasn't necessary and just wasting time.

RAH

[cpemma]

You can also click on any attack units showing the "G" shield and clear their orders before the end of the turn.