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Here's a little something to mull over:
Attacking is almost a necessity in this game. The AI ruthlessly attempts to hem you in, stick you with a bunch of marginal terrain, and then mass troops to finish you off. To counter this, we humans REX, and hit them hard, before they have a chance to set up.
But perhaps hitting them hard is not always the best (most efficient) approach to take.
Now, ultimately, the goal of warfare in Civ3 is two-fold: First, to gain GL's, and second, to capture enemy cities, so "defending your opponent to death" will only work to a point....in the end, you will need to take to the field actively and go take those cities.
When to use the strategy
*Note - this would never in a million years work against a human player and is meant only for the AI
Some of this has already been discussed to a degree. The best time to begin using this strategy would be at the outset of a war. Goad your opponent to declare against you and station your troops inside your borders. Ideally, you will have a road network constructed through some rough terrain (hills/mountains) that lies directly in your enemy's path, preferably with fortresses built in at least a few of those areas, and fortifiy your troops there (this then, should spell out pretty clearly when/where to make use of this strategy, as such a situation will not be present in every game).
Immediate advantages: your best defenders are invariably cheaper than your enemy's best attackers, and yet, the combined multiplicative effects of the terrain/fortresses will "boost" the defensive value of your unit to at least on par with the attackers "attack value." This means more bang for your buck. Your cheap unit now has at least as much stopping power as the attacker, who spent more shields than you. Good way to even out those production advantages the AI gets.
Holding the line: Having one fortified troop per tile will draw the AI's attention and fire, but if/when the AI masses for an assault, that lone defender may well be overwhelmed, so it is in your best interest to have some backups...2-3 per tile works best (adjusted upwards depending on the size of the approaching force), which implies that this strategy is best used along choke points, to spare you from having to build silly amounts of units, and further, those forces should be backed up by fast moving attackers to polish off any weakened units (those that manage to kill off some of your defenders, or the AI's own fast attackers who retreat before being killed).
Setting yourself up thusly at the outset of the war (and if you goad your AI neighbor into the fight, you can more or less control the timeing OF the war, and thus give yourself the time needed to arrange your defenses) will see you absolutely CRUSH the AI's attack wave in short order, whereupon you can stroll casually into his turf and repeat the process.
Smother and siege: When you defeat the AI's incoming attack force, that's the time to move out, but you don't want to make straight for the first city. Oh sure, you'll be sending a strike force there, but remember, Civ3 is not a classic form war game, so you don't have to trouble yourself with such things as supply lines....meaning that your forces can penetrate as deeply into the enemy's territory as you wish.
Specifically, what you're looking for is terrain similar to that found in your homeland. Mountains or hills (nevermind the roads, you're now in your opponent's territory, and they won't do you any good, however, if you're playing an industrious civ, it might pay to bring along a couple workers to help construct fortresses on the fly). Your next move is to advance your defensive line to a point that lies beyond the first city you're targeting to hit, posting them in high terrain (hills/mountains), and build a fort for them if possible/applicable.
This gives you the same advantages it gave you when you were defending your home turf, plus a few. First, the AI will almost always make for your defensive units, rather than attempting to save the city that your strike team is moving toward. Second, it gives you expanded LOS. Thanks to controlling the high ground, you can see your enemy approaching, see what he's bringing, and from which direction they're approaching. This facilitates your planning, and you can adjust your at home troop production accordingly.
Finally, when you are ready to assault the city, your strike force moves up to the (now isolated and cut off) enemy gates, and blows them down. This gives you a place to pull back wounded troops to heal, and gives you another place to build reinforcements from (in addition to likely giving you a few new workers to help out with terrain improvements and such).
In the ancient era, no one can do this better than the Greek. Using their Hoplites as "defensive attackers," they can declare war on their enemies and invade, parking themselves on critical resources, hills, and mountains, and laughing all the way to the bank as the hapless AI sends out its archers (the peer of the Hoplite) to attempt to kill off a base 3 defender sitting on favorable terrain. Essentially, this gives the Greek "swordsmen" long before anybody else has access to them.
-=Vel=-
Attacking is almost a necessity in this game. The AI ruthlessly attempts to hem you in, stick you with a bunch of marginal terrain, and then mass troops to finish you off. To counter this, we humans REX, and hit them hard, before they have a chance to set up.
But perhaps hitting them hard is not always the best (most efficient) approach to take.
Now, ultimately, the goal of warfare in Civ3 is two-fold: First, to gain GL's, and second, to capture enemy cities, so "defending your opponent to death" will only work to a point....in the end, you will need to take to the field actively and go take those cities.
When to use the strategy
*Note - this would never in a million years work against a human player and is meant only for the AI
Some of this has already been discussed to a degree. The best time to begin using this strategy would be at the outset of a war. Goad your opponent to declare against you and station your troops inside your borders. Ideally, you will have a road network constructed through some rough terrain (hills/mountains) that lies directly in your enemy's path, preferably with fortresses built in at least a few of those areas, and fortifiy your troops there (this then, should spell out pretty clearly when/where to make use of this strategy, as such a situation will not be present in every game).
Immediate advantages: your best defenders are invariably cheaper than your enemy's best attackers, and yet, the combined multiplicative effects of the terrain/fortresses will "boost" the defensive value of your unit to at least on par with the attackers "attack value." This means more bang for your buck. Your cheap unit now has at least as much stopping power as the attacker, who spent more shields than you. Good way to even out those production advantages the AI gets.
Holding the line: Having one fortified troop per tile will draw the AI's attention and fire, but if/when the AI masses for an assault, that lone defender may well be overwhelmed, so it is in your best interest to have some backups...2-3 per tile works best (adjusted upwards depending on the size of the approaching force), which implies that this strategy is best used along choke points, to spare you from having to build silly amounts of units, and further, those forces should be backed up by fast moving attackers to polish off any weakened units (those that manage to kill off some of your defenders, or the AI's own fast attackers who retreat before being killed).
Setting yourself up thusly at the outset of the war (and if you goad your AI neighbor into the fight, you can more or less control the timeing OF the war, and thus give yourself the time needed to arrange your defenses) will see you absolutely CRUSH the AI's attack wave in short order, whereupon you can stroll casually into his turf and repeat the process.
Smother and siege: When you defeat the AI's incoming attack force, that's the time to move out, but you don't want to make straight for the first city. Oh sure, you'll be sending a strike force there, but remember, Civ3 is not a classic form war game, so you don't have to trouble yourself with such things as supply lines....meaning that your forces can penetrate as deeply into the enemy's territory as you wish.
Specifically, what you're looking for is terrain similar to that found in your homeland. Mountains or hills (nevermind the roads, you're now in your opponent's territory, and they won't do you any good, however, if you're playing an industrious civ, it might pay to bring along a couple workers to help construct fortresses on the fly). Your next move is to advance your defensive line to a point that lies beyond the first city you're targeting to hit, posting them in high terrain (hills/mountains), and build a fort for them if possible/applicable.
This gives you the same advantages it gave you when you were defending your home turf, plus a few. First, the AI will almost always make for your defensive units, rather than attempting to save the city that your strike team is moving toward. Second, it gives you expanded LOS. Thanks to controlling the high ground, you can see your enemy approaching, see what he's bringing, and from which direction they're approaching. This facilitates your planning, and you can adjust your at home troop production accordingly.
Finally, when you are ready to assault the city, your strike force moves up to the (now isolated and cut off) enemy gates, and blows them down. This gives you a place to pull back wounded troops to heal, and gives you another place to build reinforcements from (in addition to likely giving you a few new workers to help out with terrain improvements and such).
In the ancient era, no one can do this better than the Greek. Using their Hoplites as "defensive attackers," they can declare war on their enemies and invade, parking themselves on critical resources, hills, and mountains, and laughing all the way to the bank as the hapless AI sends out its archers (the peer of the Hoplite) to attempt to kill off a base 3 defender sitting on favorable terrain. Essentially, this gives the Greek "swordsmen" long before anybody else has access to them.
-=Vel=-
I think this strat would be great in the ancient ages, but its usefulness will gradually decline. The blunt but effective city grabbing with cavalry is more effective after they are available. You don't need this strat when infantry are available because they are so tough anyway. Tanks and mech infantry can crush cities without this.
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