Announcement

**Tattila the Hun** · January 30, 2003, 07:52

Well, you can count. "One infantry down to 2 hp, mark, one regular down to 1" etc, until same units start to appear. Personally, I allways bomb all of them to their reds...

**Jamski** · January 30, 2003, 08:02

Best not to bombard cities that you want to capture as it can destroy the very things you are after - improvements and population. As a rule of thumb I find that 10+ bombard units do the job. Remember that the enemy will heal in its turn, so a prolonged bombardment over many turns will only give the AI time to bring/build reenforcements.

BTW, I reccommend not to use bombard units until artillery is developed, with the exception that catapults can be useful against Greek Hoplites, if you HAVE to attack them before you can get 4 attack units like Knights/Longbowmen.

-Jam

**bongo** · January 30, 2003, 10:23

Remember that units in citys(size 7-12) and metros(13+) have a defencive bonus(50 or 100%) so you may want to take your time and kill some citizens first so that bonus gets lower.

**Jamski** · January 30, 2003, 10:33

I want those citizens, Bongo. I want them to be my citizens. They add to my production, income, science and score. I think its worth taking a few extra casualties from the attacking soldiers for the benefit of getting a population that may have taken years to grow. Also there is the moral question : do I kill civillians to make life easier for my soldiers, as the USA did in Vietnam for example? Hmm, not so easy is it. The lives of my soldiers, who are paid to die if nesscessary, or the lives of innocents, who belong to my "enemy"

-Jam

**tibbits** · January 30, 2003, 10:56

Originally posted by Tattila the Hun
Well, you can count. "One infantry down to 2 hp, mark, one regular down to 1" etc, until same units start to appear. Personally, I allways bomb all of them to their reds...

Where do such messages appear. The only ones I see are when bombardment fails, when an improvement is toasted, and when a citizen dies

**TacticalGrace** · January 30, 2003, 11:11

If you have a unit next to the city then you will see the top unit in the stack defending the city. It is always what is meant to be the best defending unit. If it only has one hit point left (in the red) then stop bombarding and send in the assault squad.

**Catt** · January 30, 2003, 11:42

Originally posted by tibbits

Where do such messages appear. The only ones I see are when bombardment fails, when an improvement is toasted, and when a citizen dies

In the game preferences (ctrl-P) there is an option to "show best defender in city" or something similar -- with the preference on, you will see the best defending unit fortified in the city square.

The "best" defender may then change as you bombard -- for instance, a 4 hp infantry might lose 2 hps and be replaced by another 4 hp infantry; this infantry also loses 2 hps and is replaced by a 4 hp rifleman; the rifleman loses 2 and is replaced by a 2hp infantry -- you now know that the city is defended by 2 infantry (both at 2 hp now) and a rifleman (also at 2 hps). There could also be a healthy but very weak unit in the stack as well -- i.e., an old warrior or something.

Catt

**CerberusIV** · January 30, 2003, 11:49

Originally posted by TacticalGrace
If you have a unit next to the city then you will see the top unit in the stack defending the city. It is always what is meant to be the best defending unit. If it only has one hit point left (in the red) then stop bombarding and send in the assault squad.

Not quite. A vet infantry down to 1HP will appear as top unit but the city could contain a conscript rifleman or guerilla or two. Not that it should make much difference.

**sabrewolf** · January 30, 2003, 12:33

those citizens can cause you a lot of trouble, that's why i usually starve them to city size 1, 2 or 3 and speedgrow the city (with own workers and irigation&railroading of the tiles around).

you might lose some trade and time, but you don't need to worry about lost units caused by flips and cities going into disorder while you still have to pay for those improvements.

however, i do wish precision bombarding would be possible. today, artillery can target small buildings and objects and are very exact (except with strong winds, etc.)

also, radar stations and outposts should be destroyable with shelling

**TacticalGrace** · January 30, 2003, 12:35

Originally posted by CerberusIV

Not quite. A vet infantry down to 1HP will appear as top unit but the city could contain a conscript rifleman or guerilla or two.

well further bombardment might do furth hp damage, yes. But at this point the conclusion that there is nothing better than a 1hp infantry defending the city is a correct one.

Not that it should make much difference.

indeed

**Mad Bomber** · January 30, 2003, 13:12

Originally posted by sabrewolf
those citizens can cause you a lot of trouble, that's why i usually starve them to city size 1, 2 or 3 and speedgrow the city (with own workers and irigation&railroading of the tiles around).

you might lose some trade and time, but you don't need to worry about lost units caused by flips and cities going into disorder while you still have to pay for those improvements.

however, i do wish precision bombarding would be possible. today, artillery can target small buildings and objects and are very exact (except with strong winds, etc.)

also, radar stations and outposts should be destroyable with shelling

I hate to wait to starve a city, the longer that it exists is the more chance of a flip, just get a settler over there and abandon/refound.

As far as bombarding goes, Artillery is still not accurate enough to give it the precision capability (and you should be able to choose your target with precision munitions) A modern artillery unit can use satallite coordinates to target a building but the shells are still unguided, and have a significant margin for error due to atmopheric densities and other factors. I agree with you that radar stations and outposts should be able to be destroyed with bombardment.

**sabrewolf** · January 30, 2003, 14:36

no, it won't flip so easily because if you starve the city, all the residents are entertainers and happy. happy cities (maybe even WLTKD) seldom flip... specially if you've placed 5-6 units to guard

**Mad Bomber** · January 30, 2003, 14:42

but you need approx. 54 units to prevent a chance of a flip for a size 10 city with 3 resistors. Care to know how many for a 20 size city with 13 resistors? Get rid of the city, you can usually keep it for a few turns, long enough to get a settler there but to wait 20 turns to get the city down to one? Waste of time & you still have the foreign civ's culture to factor in the chance of a flip even after the city is starved. Unless the civ is exterminated, you are better off just replacing the city.

**Japher** · January 30, 2003, 16:33

Yup. I generally bomb or bombard the heck out of them until the guy I see in the city is in the red, and then attack.

I don't care if I destroy buildings, becuase the first to usualy go are cultural buildings, and these leave when you take over the town anyway.

I don't care about killing citizens, because they are always really pissy anyway, and increase corruption and odds of a culture flip.

Announcement

Guidance on bombardment

Guidance on bombardment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment