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I here a lot of people talking about their strategies for all out, dont-stop-till-the-enemy-is-on-fire war. I hardly ever play for the military victory, and the military victory gets harder and harder the longer you wait.
My playing style is based more on my ability to remain semi-self sufficient and be able to outrace the AI in science/production/economics. However, that also means that I must be willing to fight wars to get resources and put some military force down to hold back the AI opponents. It is generally accepted that if you are running for the Science win, then Democracy is the way to go. However, you arent going to be fighting many century long wars under a Democracy. Production loss caused by the need for happiness will slowly but surely grind your empire to a halt. Your wars need to be fast, decisive, and above all, efficient. Even with a large empire, the cost to build an effective fighting force is not trivial.
Thus is born the surgical war. Not to be confused with the surgical strike mission, which can be used effectively to pull off a surgical war.
There are a few possible objectives of this war:
I have used several different attack plans, but there are several good things to keep in mind while waging these:
I recently fought one of my largest battles in the heart of America. It was successful even though it was a much larger scale battle than I hoped for.
The objective was simple: Keep America from using the oil it had to make tanks. America was constantly on the brink of war with me. I would rather fight on their land than mine. So I prepared for a fierce, 10 turn war.
The city with oil access was 3 turns from the nearest coastline across mountains. This means that I have some flexibility. If I need absolute speed, I can advance to 2 turns away before declaring war, but if you have the resources, there are better strategies.
With a 10 turn war, and only 3 turns of travel, we can assume 2 turns of battle to take the city, leaving 5 turns of leeway. You want the 10th turn to be peaceful so you can pull of a decent treaty, so we are down to 4 turns. This is the amount of time you can spend maneuvering.
In this case, I used a slight exploit in the AI, though it would still be somewhat effective against a human. The city was in the middle of the empire, so you want to split your forces into roughly 3 groups. I landed 3 transports on the beach. I sent a group of 4 Infantry, 3 Artillery southeast, and another identical group southwest. The other transports simply waited. Meanwhile, as soon as I was forced to declare war (1 turn later), 14 bombers from 4 carriers in the area (2 immediately nearby, 2 spread out on either side) immediately took out all roads from other cities across the mountains. I estimated, with the slower crossing across mountains, that it would take 5 turns for America to get troops on the scene. After 4 turns, the Infantry/Artillery groups fortified on mountains on either side of the objective.
The fifth turn saw the landing of the main assault force: 4 Tanks, 2 Mech Inf, 2 Infantry, and 2 Artillery. This force is designed to be broken, the Tanks will be taking the city and then pushing through to counterattack the americans while the Infantry take up the garrison of the city. The Mech Inf and Artillery are there to handle any troops that make it around the Infantry/Artillery.
However, the weaker infantry to either side of the objective will actually draw units away from the attacking tanks. When the attacks come, they will come to artillery supported Infantry fortified in mountains, not Tanks moving through the hills to the objective. As soon as the assault force is 2 turns outside the city, bombardment turns from road/defender targets to a full bombardment of the city. By now, the Artillery from the assault force is in range, along with possibly either of the guard forces (though its better if they are farther away). You want to bombard until you are sure there are no barracks, temples, libraries, cathedrals, colloseums or anything that may add to happiness or military strength. Basically, bomb them down as low as you can.
In this instance, I was able to take the city in one turn. This means that I have one extra turn in my budget. With the city taken, and few units making a run on the city, I can garrison the whole force in the city (now down to pop 3). The unrest is over in 1 turn, and the next two turns will result in a bought Temple and Library.
The counter attack took 3 Infantry units, and the rest retreated back toward the city, where the Artillery bombardment areas supplied mutual support.
The next turn I asked for and received a peace treaty as an even trade. Units returned to their side of the new boarders, and I built up fortifications (but no roads) to both of the oil squares (I already had oil). The lack of improvements in the surrounding area has taken its toll on America, who are busy rebuilding their army.
In the end, I lost 3 Infantry to something around 15-20 horsed units (Cav and Knights). Most important here is the fact that few other units were able to make it to the battle before it was over.
I have used this pattern repeatedly, and moderately smart people can make modifications as needed. But this seems to work well against enemies who may even have a technological advantage. More importantly, this style is fast and relatively efficient (assuming you can come up with 4 aircraft carriers for support), and therefore is acceptable for use in a Democracy.
This is not necessarily a blueprint for a strategy. Think of it more as a style: A coordinated, combined unit attack. Rigorously planned attacks like this tend to have a higher probability of sucess than a simple mad dash from the shore, and the resulting counter attack. Either will get the city, but you will lose fewer units with a coordinated attack.
My playing style is based more on my ability to remain semi-self sufficient and be able to outrace the AI in science/production/economics. However, that also means that I must be willing to fight wars to get resources and put some military force down to hold back the AI opponents. It is generally accepted that if you are running for the Science win, then Democracy is the way to go. However, you arent going to be fighting many century long wars under a Democracy. Production loss caused by the need for happiness will slowly but surely grind your empire to a halt. Your wars need to be fast, decisive, and above all, efficient. Even with a large empire, the cost to build an effective fighting force is not trivial.
Thus is born the surgical war. Not to be confused with the surgical strike mission, which can be used effectively to pull off a surgical war.
There are a few possible objectives of this war:
- Take something you want
- Destroy something you want to prevent someone else from having
- Prevent the building of a wonder/spaceship
I have used several different attack plans, but there are several good things to keep in mind while waging these:
I recently fought one of my largest battles in the heart of America. It was successful even though it was a much larger scale battle than I hoped for.
The objective was simple: Keep America from using the oil it had to make tanks. America was constantly on the brink of war with me. I would rather fight on their land than mine. So I prepared for a fierce, 10 turn war.
The city with oil access was 3 turns from the nearest coastline across mountains. This means that I have some flexibility. If I need absolute speed, I can advance to 2 turns away before declaring war, but if you have the resources, there are better strategies.
With a 10 turn war, and only 3 turns of travel, we can assume 2 turns of battle to take the city, leaving 5 turns of leeway. You want the 10th turn to be peaceful so you can pull of a decent treaty, so we are down to 4 turns. This is the amount of time you can spend maneuvering.
In this case, I used a slight exploit in the AI, though it would still be somewhat effective against a human. The city was in the middle of the empire, so you want to split your forces into roughly 3 groups. I landed 3 transports on the beach. I sent a group of 4 Infantry, 3 Artillery southeast, and another identical group southwest. The other transports simply waited. Meanwhile, as soon as I was forced to declare war (1 turn later), 14 bombers from 4 carriers in the area (2 immediately nearby, 2 spread out on either side) immediately took out all roads from other cities across the mountains. I estimated, with the slower crossing across mountains, that it would take 5 turns for America to get troops on the scene. After 4 turns, the Infantry/Artillery groups fortified on mountains on either side of the objective.
The fifth turn saw the landing of the main assault force: 4 Tanks, 2 Mech Inf, 2 Infantry, and 2 Artillery. This force is designed to be broken, the Tanks will be taking the city and then pushing through to counterattack the americans while the Infantry take up the garrison of the city. The Mech Inf and Artillery are there to handle any troops that make it around the Infantry/Artillery.
However, the weaker infantry to either side of the objective will actually draw units away from the attacking tanks. When the attacks come, they will come to artillery supported Infantry fortified in mountains, not Tanks moving through the hills to the objective. As soon as the assault force is 2 turns outside the city, bombardment turns from road/defender targets to a full bombardment of the city. By now, the Artillery from the assault force is in range, along with possibly either of the guard forces (though its better if they are farther away). You want to bombard until you are sure there are no barracks, temples, libraries, cathedrals, colloseums or anything that may add to happiness or military strength. Basically, bomb them down as low as you can.
In this instance, I was able to take the city in one turn. This means that I have one extra turn in my budget. With the city taken, and few units making a run on the city, I can garrison the whole force in the city (now down to pop 3). The unrest is over in 1 turn, and the next two turns will result in a bought Temple and Library.
The counter attack took 3 Infantry units, and the rest retreated back toward the city, where the Artillery bombardment areas supplied mutual support.
The next turn I asked for and received a peace treaty as an even trade. Units returned to their side of the new boarders, and I built up fortifications (but no roads) to both of the oil squares (I already had oil). The lack of improvements in the surrounding area has taken its toll on America, who are busy rebuilding their army.
In the end, I lost 3 Infantry to something around 15-20 horsed units (Cav and Knights). Most important here is the fact that few other units were able to make it to the battle before it was over.
I have used this pattern repeatedly, and moderately smart people can make modifications as needed. But this seems to work well against enemies who may even have a technological advantage. More importantly, this style is fast and relatively efficient (assuming you can come up with 4 aircraft carriers for support), and therefore is acceptable for use in a Democracy.
This is not necessarily a blueprint for a strategy. Think of it more as a style: A coordinated, combined unit attack. Rigorously planned attacks like this tend to have a higher probability of sucess than a simple mad dash from the shore, and the resulting counter attack. Either will get the city, but you will lose fewer units with a coordinated attack.
. And thanks for your interesting post. 
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