Advice Needed: Facing the Zulus

[dexters]

I'm playing a 16 civ game on a large map on Regent and sharing a continent with the Germans and the Zulus.

My armies have wiped off the Germans from the continent (more like a big island) but the Zulus to my south immediately declared war. I was able to hold off their attack, lost a small pop 2 city. Thier IMPIs are superior warriors. I'm playing the Americans, with no UU at this stage. I have swordsman, horsemen, spearmen and archers at my disposal.

Their capital city is infact just a stonethrows away from my nearest border city. (a credit to my attempt to cut off their expansion early) Their IMPIs however is a threat , and is difficult to finish off.

After losing several impis on failed sieges on several of my cities, the Zulus have asked for peace, but they remain furious and I have little doubt war will come again.

How should I prepare for the next war? When I go on the offensive, should their capital city be my priority? Should I take it or cut it off and let it wither and die?

[Harovan]

Prepare horsemen. Much of them. They are Impi killers, because the impis can't retreat, when another fastmover attacks. When you attack, take back what's yours and then go for cities you can capture. In the early game, this is usually only their capital. The Zulus aren't religious or scientific, so they probably haven't built culture improvements yet, so flipping probably won't be an issue.

[Pythagoras]

The Zulus, and most civs, but the Zulus especially, will not respect you unless you have a bang-up military. Make them your b***h now or conquer them. Dont worry about IMPIs attacking you, they are just spearman with an extra move. If you are bigger than them (which it sounds like you are) you can easily take them out in a production war. Just start pumping out those units in mass quantities and prepare a huge attack, meanwhile defending, then whip'em out.

[Theseus]

I don;t think the Impis can use your roads if at war, so you might want to build a "defensive" road network along their border while you're still at peace.

Otherwise, the advice above is on target. You can take them out at your leisure, using Horsemen to deal with the Impi-bastards (that's the proper name, btw), and Swordsmen to crack open their cities. You might want to pillage their Iron and Horses too.

Even though they're close, I'd probably lean more on Horseman though. Since you don;t have a Sword UU, and in fact don;t have one much at all, it'll be important for you to depend on Knights and Cavs throughout much of the game.

[Arrian]

I would suggest doing 1 of two things:

Option 1: Build as many horsemen as you can, and wait for Chivalry, upgrading to Knights for the kill.

Option 2: Build 5 catapults, a bunch of swordsmen, some horsemen. Attack, bringing the catapults with you. Bombard the Impis prior to attacking. If you knock off hit points, attack with horsemen. If you don't, either hit with a swordsman, or just wait. Take your time.

I hate Impis. I don't like fighting the Zulus until I have Knights (or my beloved Samurai).

-Arrian