Composure of Ancient Offensives

[Mountain Sage]

Originally posted by Yahweh Sabaoth

That is, if you're a warmonger... and aren't we all?

No. I'm not. Even my short wars are just military police operations, including AU206.

[Arrian]

I'm wondering whether the best way to field a large army going into republic is to get currency, marketplaces and a large core pop going first. Something would have to give to achieve this, and I guess it'd be the size of the Rex.

I like having loads of cities during depositism if building a large army, so as to keep the science rate up, but this setup doesn't transfer well into republic. So I'm thinking : fewer but bigger, cash-spouting cities with Marketplaces - and then build the army.

A tactic I often use, actually. Build a solid core of developed cities, and worry about filling in/conquering the rest of the land later. This works best, however, when you have several neighbors busily building cities for you. In my example above, it was just me and the Mongols, and I'd deliberately cut them off, meaning that I had to fill up 2/3 of the continent myself. Like I said, I went about it the wrong way.

-Arrian

[zorbop]

In the ancient age i usually concentrate on improvements and settlers.
I guess i will build a few spearmen for settlers and vulnerable cities (may be 1 spermen for every 2 or 3 cities). i will then build about 6-10 swordsmen or horsemen and simply go and conquer 1 city at a time... sometimes at emperor or diety i will add a few cat's for support

[Shaka II]

Re: Composure of Ancient Offensives

Originally posted by Yahweh Sabaoth

2. Your empire is smaller than the others. You have access to access to iron and horses.

Hi all, just getting back to the the game for my annual fall and winter gaming season. Need to refresh and learn new stuff here.

I'll just relate to my recent game with Zulu. I had access to horses and iron, but horses were very close, so I used them and sent some impis to reserve the numerous deposits of iron and some more horses on my peninsula, preventing the Russians from building swordsman (exploit that I learned from Aeson).

Built probably 1:1 horses to Impis, with half of the Impis staying home as a mobile defense force, while the other half left with my horsemen to wage war with the Russians. Maybe 8 horses and 4 impis in first attack, replenishing and building up along the way from there. It's really a mobile, rugged combo, lots of fun in the Ancient era, that's what I like. Impis with the redraw capability work out well as a backup to the horse attack. I actually think they withdraw more often than horses, but I'm not really sure.

After the Russians were down to last few cities, I sued for peace and connected all the iron for myself and built a few swordsmen, but by then, it was time to move on and learn about about chivalry. So my territory was smaller, now it's larger.

I've just started trying deity, so it is hard and I haven't really tried the REXing to the degree that it may be required. In any case, my tech is always behind and doesn't catch up until the modern era. Makes me want to go back to emperor, unless I learn some new tricks. So, I will poke in and try to learn from the experts. In the end, it may be that Emperor is really the more fun level for me.

Regarding exploits, I wonder if there is a thread that discusses this subject. I prefer to not use exploits, but it is not a clear cut subject. Bombardment units allowed me to reach parity and beyond at Deity playing as the Persians in two previous games, which I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. Those pesky ships that destroy my infrastructure. I just protect my coastal cities with a roving group of cannons and later artillery, until I can fight back. Yes, I use artillery to break down city defenses and in defense mode as well. Exploits, maybe? Where to draw the line? Is palace jumping an exploit? I used a GL to build my FP, never actually tried palace jumping or this OCN corruption exploit.

Two Persian games were just immortals, no need for spearmen after iron IMO. This is great fun as well. At least with the Persian, there is some hope of catching up in tech.

BTW, I don't know about that comment about the AI attacking in dribs and drabs. In 1st Persian game, I watched the Zulu cruise through my territory with at least a 100 knights and maybe another 50 mixed forces (impis, longbowmen, swordsmen, pikemen) on a normal map. Thought I was all done for and then realized that they might not be after me, so I allied with them and it saved me from a fate worse then death. Shaka said to me, "if you offer it, I will take it."