Tip Needed

[yqt1001]

I was playing as Songhai, and the runaway civ (there was one in this game), was my neighbour (Germany). There was a city state between us, Vienna, which I stupidly attacked (Iroquois was protecting it and it was Germany's ally..whoops! wont make that mistake again!). So of course I got a chain denouncement, and everyone hates me, and they all declared war against me, besides that, the only one who could actually attack me was Germany.

At this time it's the medieval era, and the Germany UU is a cheap to build Pikemen, and Songhai's UU is a Knight (forget what if it replaces a Knight or a horsemen) with a bonus against cities. Germany is more powerful than me, so to start and hopefully gain peace I take one of Germany's recently captured city that has no units at it (easy to get, especially with the bonus vs cities). Now once I took all those cities he got from the Iroquois not long before, I set into his homeland (he still would refuse peace), when I got there, I found that almost every tile had his UU on it which has a great bonus against my UU, at this point I dont have enough Pikes to go in there and destroy all his units (of course the 2 tiles between every city hurts me a lot too :/ ) without getting killed the next turn.

What am I supposed to do? Destroy all his invasions, and wait for the war to get too long so he requests peace for nothing (if I'm not loosing anything, theres no point giving anything to him!)? Should I just wait until the German UU goes obsolete and invade sometime in the late Renaissance?

[ChrisTheMean]

The only time I played as Songhai, right in early medieval I met Germany who it turned out had a very pointy stick and wanted to be friends. This was about the most fortunate alliance ever as my cavalry were able to run around without fear, and I waited till the end to kill Germany (with mandekalu tanks). So I would say anytime you meet a civ that has a hard counter to your UU, do your best to keep them happy until there is a way around it.

[Jeem]

Sounds like a field day for your siege units.

[yqt1001]

Forgot to mention I have no iron, only horses.

Chris, yeah I learned that pretty quickly, but is there any way out of this? Every time he invades, I always loose more units then I can produce, it wont be long until I actually loose a city (well Vienna).

[ChrisTheMean]

Its hard to say not knowing the whole picture but here are a few possibilities.

-If you have the gold, try to ally with a CS that has iron and put some catapults/trebuchets in the cities he is attacking

-If you have any cavalry left, do some pillaging of his lux and strategic resources (try not to lose any as they keep their cities bonus when upgraded)

-Tech up to gunpowder and chemistry for muskets and cannons if you can't get iron

-Start a new game and don't attack city states or pick fights with Bismark in his prime I think those guys need a balance tweak myself; maybe increased strength by 20% not half price

Good luck!

[the man of doom]

try trading for iron

whether u use horses(u can pick up extra horses from CS, tho CS resources cant be sold), gold, or lux resources for iron

[MadDjinn]

archers... or crossbowmen. not siege units.

the issue he has is the pikes, not the taking of cities... So get some ranged units in there and clean house. get a few pikes of your own up front for defense/ZoC (P, space, P) etc, and only use the Cav when you are sure that the pike will die or you can retreat/heal.

Choke points are also a good spot for this.

[the man of doom]

yeah pikes arnt very stong
just counter units

crossbows can pick them apart

[yqt1001]

Thanks for the tips. I'll try some of them in a few days when my exams are finished.

As for choke points, none, most of this war is happening in desert/treeless plains. I'll try to get some crossbows into it too (havent researched Machinery yet). Thanks again.

[krooner]

That terrain should be a bonus for you. Your mounted units don't get the defensive bonuses for hills/forests, but his pikes would. Getting them out in the open exposes them and will make your ranged units more effective. You should also be able to use your mobility more to your advantage in open space.

[MadDjinn]

Thanks for the tips. I'll try some of them in a few days when my exams are finished.

As for choke points, none, most of this war is happening in desert/treeless plains. I'll try to get some crossbows into it too (havent researched Machinery yet). Thanks again.

well, once you have them, put them in a nice line 3 tiles from his border and then use other units to step forward and come back. That should draw out units into the firing line and you can just pelt them from there. rinse/repeat. (it's also the way to get an archer/siege unit out of an AI city... stupid AI)

[yqt1001]

well, once you have them, put them in a nice line 3 tiles from his border and then use other units to step forward and come back. That should draw out units into the firing line and you can just pelt them from there. rinse/repeat. (it's also the way to get an archer/siege unit out of an AI city... stupid AI)

Wow! Never thought of that, that is brilliant! Thanks a ton!