Help with Moderate Game Vs AI Classical Age.

[osros]

Hey,

After easy wins in EASY mode I moved on the Moderate.
The AI is giving me a run for my money now, I can use
some help on how to proceed Im at a stalemate. Heres
the war report:

Age: Classical
Me: Romans
AI: Greeks
Level: Moderate
Map: Land Only - Arena
My Cities: 3
AI Cities: 4 maybe more (2 taken)

At start bulit up defensive Armys to protect my capital
and other cities. Long lines of Fortified Leigons and Archers with
Arty support. This proved to be useful since
I was attacked several times by good sized forces.

During this I was building an Assault Army to take it to
the greeks . I went on the offensive and taken 2 of
the closest cities to me. I was meet with stiff resistance
but was able to spank them down. Heres the trouble
now. My hands are full just trying to hold on to those
2 cities, defening them and my own cities, I keep
getting attacked on 2 or 3 fronts by good sized armies.
All the units I create go to bolster and replace units
lost defending what I got. I cant seem to create another
assault army to push forward. I able to always win each
battle. But Im at a stalemate now, they are keeping me
at bay.

Another piece of bad news Low on Food, its producing
but not as fast as I would like, Metal is low too. I used
up my stock piles.

Any ideas how to break the stalemate?

[AlanKemp]

> Any ideas how to break the stalemate?

Retreat. You are fighting on too many fronts. I would raze one of the cities (you don't want them to capture it), and then retreat to a more easily defended place.

This also means you will be able to build another city. Build it somewhere safe, and get five farms and a mine going.

Alan

[DarthVeda]

Hey attach the save file

[Jaybe]

If you have the gold, PURCHASE your depleted resources on the market. Surely you had already established granaries, etc. at all your cities (universities, also).

[Madine]

My suggestion would be to mass all of your forces and crush them.

[osros]

Holy crap I totally overlooked buying what I need at the market. I will try that.

Madine,

Only problem is Im not getting and chance to breathe as soon as I tend to my defenses after an attack Im
attacked again same place or elsewhere, There is no time to build up a sizeable assault army.

Its a challenge, fustrating but Fun!


Those Greeks will pay!

[Palpatine]

Hmm why do you defend all your citys with troops? I just built a tower in every city and some castles at dangerous places... . My troops are in two main armys. Both for attacking. If the enemy realy dangers a city I take one army back, but that never happend on medium as far as i can think of The best devence ist offense. The ai cant send troops at you if you are attacking

[KenR7A]

one tower in a city isnt enough to fend off a "good sized" force....but yes, you do give some good tips.

[Madine]

My suggestion wasn't so much to build an "attack army", but to mass your "defensive armies" and attack.

In a 1v1 game, having a significant part of your army on full time defense doesn't make sense.

[Carch]

It makes sense if you get attacked on more than one front on a large map!

[Smoking Joe]

First, you need to have at least one general commanding each of your armies, two would be better. Create a manuever force of cavalry and use them to attack the flanks of the enemy. You get a 100% damage bonus for flank attacks and lead them with a general as well. Use a defensive push to move right up to the outskirts of the next enemy city. Build towers out front, leur the AI in and fight a defensive battle in front of the towers. Crush the AI's army with the cavalry force and then either take the closest city or build a new one at the edge of your teritory and keep the defensive push moving. NEVER STOP. You should be able to aquire one city after each such battle. It will take the computer a little time to rebuild his force. And for gods sake don't forget to research as much attrition damage as you can at your towers. The AI will be far less likely to attack your rear cities.

[osros]

I won!

That was a close one! Gameplay from easy to moderate
is a whole new can of worms!

First I went and purchased needed food & metal at the
market. I created more forces of all types and rush them
to two fronts. For some reason the AI was giving be a
break of about 3-4 mins of no attacks which is just what
I needed. I guess we both where at the brink.

With my New Forces and weak defense forces I push
forward to the 3rd city again heavy resistance, but I
won. I saw the next city was the capital! I push forward
with two armies on two fronts. It was all or nothing!!

I lose now and I lose the game. Used my Calvary to
charge enemy Catapults and troops. After heavy fighting
I took the Capital! And quickly setup for a counter
attack, which never came in time.

It was close! But pulled it off, you all are right PUSH PUSH PUSH!

Next game I played Spain Vs Inca in Enlightenment Age
and got spanked pretty hard! Where did the inca get
guns from anyway!

[Hannibal777]

Well, the Inca may be buying their guns and not making them. They have the POWER OF GOLD.

[Mythrandir_SSTW]

The trick to beat the AI on Moderate or Tough is to attack him as soon possible. After you're on the attacking side, the AI won't attack you back but spend all its resources on defense.

In order to keep on attacking be sure to max out your economy and build your military buildings (barracks, stable, factory) as close to the front as possible. Eventually you can raze the far away military buildings to save on ramping costs.

In the end game you should have 3-5 of each military building. I usually have all my barracks on F1, stables on F2 and siege on F3.

Rally point your military buildings directly to the front, in the middle of combat.

If you keep your econ maxed out, and if you keep pumping the units you will be able to beat the AI on Moderate without any use of advanced tactics (generals, spies, flanking, building tactics).

Also build LOTS of siege units, and make sure to have your siege units target buildings at any time (preferably the city itself), since in the Classical Age they're hardly effective against regular units (I think).


Good luck with future games

[Hannibal777]

Well, the moderate AI is not that tough. It seems powerful only because it is an AI and can react faster than human, ie: micro better.

Try to play the game on "very slow" and you will see that you can beat the game almost every time if you have prior RTS experience and basic knowledge of the game.