Advice for my game...

[larsenex]

I am using the apolyton pack. I will give as much info as I can. My gov is Republic. I created four new settlers as i have only 11 cities right now and wanted to get up faster (am I wrong?) by faster I mean a larger prodution and such civilization. I have cease fire treaties with england and america (there are three other civs out there but cant see em yet) I have gunpowder units ( infantryman and cannons). I was going to build invading armies and attack england (whos civ is larger than me by having 14 cities..) No other civs have gunpowder yet. My real question is should I wait for more modern units OR attack now. AND.. what should my attaking/invading forces be made up of. I have seen posts about early attack forces but nothing about infantryman and knights or such. Please help. I am wondering if I should make stacks of say 4 infantryman 4 samurai and 4 knights but I am not sure. and another stack of just cannon for softening up the cities. England currently has three 12 stack units hanging around my borders and I feel I may need to deal with em first. Sorry for such a long post. Please advise as you can, if you need more info please tell me and Ill get it.....

Lars.

[Maquiladora]

Go Fascism then Cavalry Tactics and destroy them with Cavalry.

edit/ i would also get more cities, maybe 25/30 and build mines on hills and mountains to support your Cavalry hordes.

[larsenex]

Ah ok..but...

Ok go fascism and get cavalry. Um do you have advice for attack stacks? I have seen some posts as to 2 knights 4 infantry and 6 cannons. Do you like this stack? By the way would building Pikemen be better than samurai, or neither and stick to knights/infantry and cannons? Thanks Maq....

Lars

[Maquiladora]

Okay if you want to go without Cavalry,

To attack you might use 6 Knight and 6 Mounted Archer or 8:4, this maybe outdated but it moves fast and causes trouble in unguarded cities, of course 12 Cavalry is preferred. Try to keep fast moving units together and slow together.

Pikemen are better than Samurai because they have lower support cost (4 pikemen/5 samurai) Pikemen also have shorter build time and Samurai will get killed fast in big fights. Samurai move 2 but Knights move 4, so Samurai are Ancient age unit.

[larsenex]

hey Maq..um what do I use infantryman for and/or when. Do I use em to attack. For example I know where the capital is and you are planning to attack it. You know that the enemy has units (4catapults 4pikemen and maybe knights or samurai) in there. What would you bring to the party? I have cannons and infantry but was on the fence on when/how to use em. You say ideally I want all cavalry?...hmm

[Maquiladora]

Infantryman is a tricky unit rarely used for me because gap of research between Gunpowder (Infantryman) and Fascism (Fascists) is very short because i go into Fascism gov so i build Fascists instead and then Cavalry when i get it, but if youre stuck you could go 6 Infantry 6 Cannons with another 12 stack of Cannons nearby and bombard, throw some Knights in there to keep them confused and pillage logistic roads.

[larsenex]

Thanks Maq...

I am currently researching 'banking'? Should I change and try to rush to fasiasm and get the fasciast. By the way is the fasciast an offensive ranged unit? So to recap you would rather forgo infantry and head right to another tech and get cavarly asap..correct?

Thanks again

Lars

[Maquiladora]

Make Fascism your research "goal" then go Cavalry Tactics.

Fascists are a defensive unit, think of them as an Infantryman with slightly better ranged ability, which means they can attack from back row in 12 stacks, but they are weak at back so use Cannon. Only build Fascists if you need units fast, otherwise Cavalry.

[larsenex]

Why fasism....

Why fascism.. is it good ..um what are the bennies for getting it. Or is it just to get cavalry faster?

Lars

[Maquiladora]

Fascism is much better than any previous gov, much better production is the main improvement, which means you can support more troops, make more public works and build things faster. When you discover Fascism go to compare government feature in "Empire Manager" and compare it to Republic.

[child of Thor]

Well you should also ask yourself if you want to be in control of a fascist state?

I find i like to stay with monarchy(to get on the road to knights), untill i've got republic or communism. It may mean i get less of a technical advantage, but it sits better with me

[Maquiladora]

and i bet you never once used a slaver either right

[child of Thor]

well i try to avoid the temptation of course(which means i have) - i dont use them in my armies(too powerful an option IMHO), just as standalone units and if the AI doesn't start a slave war on me first i dont slave back. If i have been slaved against, then the gloves are off, although i see it as freeing my caught slaves - i go for the cities with the slave symbol over them

So i would often get my a*se kicked in MP if playing someone less scrupelous than myself(unless i hosted the game and used the 'exclude' options)

[larsenex]

Of what use are slavers? Please elaborate. Why is it something that is overpowered? I have never used slaves nor slavers in any game. What am I missing?

Lars

[Maquiladora]

You can stack Slavers with an army and if that army wins any battle a slave will go to your closest city. Or you can just use Slavers on their own to "Slave Raid" cities, but this isnt as good because it can fail if the city has a city wall especially and the slaver will die.