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For the first time ever, I've fought a genuine modern-era slugging match. When I was ready to attack China, I planted a spy to see what forces they had, and I knew right then that was one civ my MAs wouldn't just roll over with minimal losses in a handful of turns. On the other hand, with my economy the stronger of the two (and fully mobilized for war) and with a human's superior ability to concentrate forces at the point where they are needed, the outcome was never in doubt. Or wouldn't have been, at least, except for a little wild card I'll mention later.
My forces included 52 mechanized infantry, 75 MAs, 17 artillery, 8 guerillas, 5 cavalry, 15 jet fighters, 7 destroyers, and (last but not least) four armies. Had I managed the Persian war differently, I likely could have had a couple more armies from leaders, but I hadn't thought through how important a role they would play in the Chinese campaign.
Against my forces was a Chinese military of 105 mechanized infantry, 48 conventional infantry, 19 tanks, 19 artillery, 17 guerillas, 8 cavalry, 4 marines, a paratroop, a rifleman and a musketman, a helicopter, 17 cruise missiles, 22 battleships, 9 subs, 9 transports, 4 carriers, 4 ironclads, 3 destroyers, a nuclear sub, 21 jet fighters, 14 bombers, an old-fashioned fighter, and one army. And then there's the wild card I mentioned earlier: three tactical nukes. Fortunately, China hadn't researched Synthetic Fibers yet, but they did have the prerequisites so I couldn't be sure how long until they got it. China also had the advantage of being extremely well dug in, with numerous radar towers (often two and at least once as many as three covering a single city), and most of their core cities were over size 12.
Against such an opponent, I used two main strategies. (1) When practical, I took out radar towers before going after cities. I couldn't afford to bog down my offensive too much because I was capturing cities instead of razing them in spite of China's having about one and a half times my culture. But if I could get to a city's radar towers without significantly delaying my attack, they were primary targets. (2) To the extent that I had healthy ones available, 4-unit MA armies went in first. In most of my games, I've tended to regard armies as a bit of a waste because they can usually just take out one unit. But with most of China's MAs veterans (thanks in no small part to their genius Sun Tsu), I needed the punch. Even armies occasionally died against the kind of defenses China could put up, but with a large reserve of elite MAs from the Persian war, I was able to build up armies faster than China could destroy them. On a couple occasions (including the conquest of Beijing), I also resorted to using artillery to heavily damage cities before attacking, but most of the time, I was in too much of a hurry.
The war bogged down at first as I struck into China's heartland. I lost almost a third of my MAs in the first two or three turns, and most of my cities were still working on peaceful improvements started before mobilization. But as China's heartland fell and my own military production reached full speed, the German tide became unstoppable. Once China had been expelled from the German mainland (and starting a little before), the Aztecs became the center of unwanted attention, but their riflemen stood no chance at all against forces designed to take on a superpower.
Once I finished driving the Aztecs off my continent, I made peace with both the Aztecs and the Chinese. Four turns later, when a peace treaty with Rome expired (a renewal of a previous peace treaty where I'd demanded per-turn tribute), I took them out, and my borders expanded enough for domination a couple turns or so after that (in spite of a last-second flip by an Aztec city).
As for the doubt I mentioned earlier, there were times when I had such a large percentage of my forces concentrated in one place that a well-placed tactical nuke could have been devastating. Fortunately, Chairman Mao cared enough about his people not to unleash such devastation within his own territory. One tactical nuke was destroyed in one of my attacks, and he still has the other two, perhaps on nuclear subs roaming the world's seas somewhere.
Year of victory: 1695 AD.
My forces included 52 mechanized infantry, 75 MAs, 17 artillery, 8 guerillas, 5 cavalry, 15 jet fighters, 7 destroyers, and (last but not least) four armies. Had I managed the Persian war differently, I likely could have had a couple more armies from leaders, but I hadn't thought through how important a role they would play in the Chinese campaign.
Against my forces was a Chinese military of 105 mechanized infantry, 48 conventional infantry, 19 tanks, 19 artillery, 17 guerillas, 8 cavalry, 4 marines, a paratroop, a rifleman and a musketman, a helicopter, 17 cruise missiles, 22 battleships, 9 subs, 9 transports, 4 carriers, 4 ironclads, 3 destroyers, a nuclear sub, 21 jet fighters, 14 bombers, an old-fashioned fighter, and one army. And then there's the wild card I mentioned earlier: three tactical nukes. Fortunately, China hadn't researched Synthetic Fibers yet, but they did have the prerequisites so I couldn't be sure how long until they got it. China also had the advantage of being extremely well dug in, with numerous radar towers (often two and at least once as many as three covering a single city), and most of their core cities were over size 12.
Against such an opponent, I used two main strategies. (1) When practical, I took out radar towers before going after cities. I couldn't afford to bog down my offensive too much because I was capturing cities instead of razing them in spite of China's having about one and a half times my culture. But if I could get to a city's radar towers without significantly delaying my attack, they were primary targets. (2) To the extent that I had healthy ones available, 4-unit MA armies went in first. In most of my games, I've tended to regard armies as a bit of a waste because they can usually just take out one unit. But with most of China's MAs veterans (thanks in no small part to their genius Sun Tsu), I needed the punch. Even armies occasionally died against the kind of defenses China could put up, but with a large reserve of elite MAs from the Persian war, I was able to build up armies faster than China could destroy them. On a couple occasions (including the conquest of Beijing), I also resorted to using artillery to heavily damage cities before attacking, but most of the time, I was in too much of a hurry.
The war bogged down at first as I struck into China's heartland. I lost almost a third of my MAs in the first two or three turns, and most of my cities were still working on peaceful improvements started before mobilization. But as China's heartland fell and my own military production reached full speed, the German tide became unstoppable. Once China had been expelled from the German mainland (and starting a little before), the Aztecs became the center of unwanted attention, but their riflemen stood no chance at all against forces designed to take on a superpower.
Once I finished driving the Aztecs off my continent, I made peace with both the Aztecs and the Chinese. Four turns later, when a peace treaty with Rome expired (a renewal of a previous peace treaty where I'd demanded per-turn tribute), I took them out, and my borders expanded enough for domination a couple turns or so after that (in spite of a last-second flip by an Aztec city).
As for the doubt I mentioned earlier, there were times when I had such a large percentage of my forces concentrated in one place that a well-placed tactical nuke could have been devastating. Fortunately, Chairman Mao cared enough about his people not to unleash such devastation within his own territory. One tactical nuke was destroyed in one of my attacks, and he still has the other two, perhaps on nuclear subs roaming the world's seas somewhere.
Year of victory: 1695 AD.
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Another tactic I used that I had never employed before was the use of settlers to found temporary cities and shrink enemy borders, so that I can get within reach of the next city in the same turn. But founding a city and abandoning it one turn later was also something that didn’t seem right.
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