Hello fellow civers, multiplayer and single player alike.
After playing multiplayer for about 8 months now I have won and lost many battles ranging from every era. But when ever i get to the industrial age and higher, my buddies seem to lack in their war tactics. Maybe it’s because they rarely get to that era or they just dont know how to change battle styles.
So I have decided to write an article on industrial to modern era warfare for multiplayer, specifically online play. This is my first article so hopefully I can cover everything. 🙂 and plz forgive my spelling :wavey:
I can’t possible write down everything at once, so i will be posting in stages.
Todays stage will be; Industrail warfare: game play, transition, the choice between infantry and machine guns,
First we need the settings:
Most games that I play start from ancient era which usually end up being 6+ hour games
No tech trading
No vassals
No barbarians
Balanced map with low sea level
Any size is good, I prefer the big maps
If online play: Blazing or fast speed and simultainious turns
As for picking civs, any civ is good if you start from ancient era as they all have their time of dominance, but when i reach industrial era and beyond
I find that spirtual is extremely powerful. The ability to change civics with no anarchy is awsome.
Ok now the game setup:
When i enter the industrial era these units are usually present on the battlefield or can be built.
Industrial era: cannons, grenidiers, cavalry, riflemen, machine guns, infantry,
I know machine guns (mg’s) and infantry are far more powerful then Rifles cannons grens and cavalry, but this game is being played from the ancient era so there is the key transition period between renassiance and industrial.
One last thing before I begin the tactic talk is i should mention these few things.
1. Your civ should have plenty of land, more land = more mfg and more science
2. Your enemy or enemies should also have lots of land
3. This article assumes the tech is fairly equal, so you both produce the same number of beakers per turn (approximently)
4. Democracy, Rifling, Steel and Astronomy are already researched (maybe corperation if you choose that tech path)
Ok now for the game play:
You have been playing this game for awhile now, civs have ben destroyed, wonders constructed and empires forged. There should only be a few people left by this era with huge armies of cannons grens cavs and rifles.
Here are somethings to consider:
In order to compete you must have tons of mfg. It’s basic, the higher hammers you have the faster you can build an army.
Have plenty of roads between cities to maximize movement.
Keep your science cites, wheter they be cottage or specialist economy, well defended. If they start getting pillaged in war you will be in serious trouble.
Navy drops are always a threat, counter this with a nice stack of units in each coastal city with a mobile stack of cannons. The cannons will soften up any land invasion leaving the enemy units wounded with no retreat.
On each border haev a stack of cannons cause you never know where an attack might come from
Ok now that you have reached steam power (hopefully u have coal), you have to make a key choice in the game; go for assembly line or railroad.
Assemblyline Pro’s: :goodjob:
-You get factories which give even more mfg allowing you to build anything -extremely fast
-Infantry are good vs everything at this point and are very good -defenders/attackers
-Infantry are a core unit in the game which last a long time
-You draft infantry instead of rifles which is a very nice boost
-The pentagon, allows your units to become really deadly :devil:
-Organized builds factoiries very fast
Cons: 🙁
-Factories require time to build and dont reach full potential till u have power
-Your first power source is coal which hurts your health
-Infantry are good but they dont counter mg’s
-Infantry cost a fair amount of hammers for a city to produce without factories
-Factories dont provide the movement your workers can make with railroad
Railroad Pro’s: :goodjob:
-mg’s are effective against every unit and cant really be killed till artillery or marnies show up.
-your workers will start building railroads which provide more mfg and 10 movement! This allows your troops the ability to “warp” from one city to the next, very usefull while on defense.
-you can assualt an infantry army with enough mg’s protecting your stack.
-railroad leads to oil, which is good if you plan to make war in the sea. 😆
Cons: 🙁
-no factories, that alone sucks 😥
-mg’s only defend not attack
-doesnt lead to fascism (free general)
-railroad mfg doesnt match the mfg factories usually provide
-prolongs the drafting of riflemen (not worth it anyways)
This is where the transition phase as i call it comes into play.
Whether you pick railroad or infantry, you have to decide when is the right time to go 0% science and upgrade units or change civics (anarchy not a problem spirtual civs). this move costs you valuable tech, so decide when you think it is appropiate. I usually do so when I get infantry, wheter or not i get assembly line first or railroad.
Overall I prefer assembly line over railroad as you can change to Universal suffrage go 0% science and buy factories and the drafting of infantry is unsurpassed at this stage.
When i decide railroad is more important is when i have a large empire, and I dont tech as fast as my oppenents. Mass transportation allows my army to hold from an infantry attack.
Attacking an Infantry army with mg’s:
this is an important topic that i feel needs to be taught because it can be done, with ease to.
In order to to this u must have a ton of cannons and an equal number of cavalry. Rifles and grens just cant attack and win against infantry.
The idea is that your mg’s will take all the damage from the cannons your oppenent will throw at you. Upgrade mg’s with drill promotions so they take less collaterall damage also the first strikes are really usefull.
You will need numberous healing units to keep your units alive. A warlord unit that wont face combat, should get triple healing so units heal 15% faster then usual. This is very handly surviving multiple cannons.
For promoting cannons, I would give 2/3 of them with collateral damage and the rest with city attack.
So with your huge army of mg’s, cav’s (with pinch promotion and one with sentry so it can see further), cannons, and a few healing units that wont see combatt, you are ready to attack.
In large maps, it is best to do a 2 frontal attack using 2 serpate armies. This forces your oppenent to split his mobile cannon stack into groups and spilt the new units he builds in his cities.
While moving your stacks in (do your best to get hills and forrests), you want to be building lots of mg’s in your front cities and cavalry in your back cities. Cavalry are the killing units after a cannons has caused some damage. But the best trick is the “bitc*” tactic as some people call it.
The bitc* tactic is advancing a single or a pair of mg’s forward with no plan of attack. by doing this you force your oppenent to waste cannons and infantry on mg’s. If they dont attack them, you gain valuable scouting, you can hold land, secure choke points, and the best of all you can pillage roads, mines, cottage, and farms. If it takes 2 cannons to hurt 2 drill promoted mg’s and maybe 3 infantry to kill them, you win on hammers lost. If u really want to be mean, have a cavalry with medic promotion escort them. Cavalry can move and pillage in the same turn. This is really effective for seiging a city where you must cut all roads of access. Just have a cavalry and 2 mg’s go pillaging.
Say you take a front city that didnt mean to much to the enemy. I suggest keeping it and building a railroad to it. It is likely your culture was already near the city so the effect of the railroad will work. If you take any major city from an enemy, i suggest razing it. even if they cant take it back, it destoryes a huge culture radius allowing you to build more railroad.
When you reach a major city and have pillaged roads leading into that city using the bitc* tactic, you can take it. Sacrifce all your collateral damage units first followed by city attaack cannons. Follow up with your cavalry and it should be yours. If you dont have enough units to take the city, just camp around it and wait for more to come. This is why you choose railroad first, mass transportation.
I think that’s all i can manage for the moment. I will follow this article up with
Industrial age: choosing the tech path after physics and how to run a successful defense.
Hopefully this comes in handy, feel free to ask any questions and I will respond asap. 😎
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