(July 14, 2014 at 1:47 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: What era are you in and what units are you using?
At the time I started I was just beginning the medieval era. I had 2 catapults, an archer unit, 2 horsemen units (1 archer and 1 melee) and a swordsman unit. Plus about 3 triremes around the city. I would have probably took the city but (with the stupid way right click and left click works in this game) I ended up sending 2 of my units into the sea inadvertently. That's when an enemy trireme came out of nowhere and destroyed one of my catapults and archer units. I still should have had enough to beat the city but it brought in some spearmen reinforcements which further dwindled my military presence and in the end, it just turned into a stalemate. I had every city producing gold just so I could rush units back into the battle but they just couldn't reach the city quickly enough to put the pressure on. My catapult was doing fine and I had the city at low health, but I didn't have the melee units to finish the job. Like I said, ended up that whenever a melee unit got near they'd be destroyed by the enemy's trireme. Leading me to rush another unit, send it in, have it destroyed and then I'd repeat. I just thought it's better to give in and regroup rather than carry on this cycle of stalemate.
Quote:Myself, if I don't take a city *very* early, I'm not getting serious about city siege until I have artillery - and then I get very serious about it.
It doesn't necessarily take a large force, but it does take the *right* force. You need melee and ranged units to protect your siege units and act as cannon fodder for city ranged attacks. Lay siege until the city health bar is near zero - don't bother attacking it with melee units until then. I try to destroy any defending forces outside of the city before I bother attacking the city proper - they can't flank you if they have nothing to flank you with.
Yeah I definitely learnt a bit about what units work and what units don't, and how to use them. I only went for the siege because I was an ally with the Siamese and they asked me to go to war with the Persians. I'd been eyeing up their capital for a while because it's right on my boarder, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I have a much bigger military now though, I will probably wait for the right moment and I don't think it will give me as much trouble as before. I didn't anticipate the enemy navy punishing me as badly as it did. I won't be making that mistake again.