Please help a noob!

[ATOJAR]

Ok as stated im a total noob to the Civ series ... Just bought Civ 5 on a sale yesterday and never played any of the other Civ games in the past, Big RTS/strategy fan though, Play games like AoE, Starcraft 2, C&C & supreme commander etc.

Anyway as said please be patient im a total noob to the Civ series .. Im currently doing the turorials in Civ 5, What i normally do is play the same tutorial over and over until im comfortable with that aspect of the game.

Ive done up to the turorial where you learn to fight ... The one where you have to find and take out the three barbarian camps and then take out the large city!

This is where im stuck i just cant finish this tutorial lol. I mean i can take out the three barbarian compa with eas but i just cant take out the large city .. Nomatter what i attack it with the city/units win again st me!

I just get to the age where you get horse mounted units, I have archers, Warriors and catapults but everything i throw at them they defeat .. I attack them with like 4 - 5 units and the city wins!

What am i doing wrong? Do i need more units? Are my units not advanced enough to take out a city yet? ... Am i attackig with the wrong units.

I really like this game but im stuck here ... Please help.

[sectoid]

Ok, you mentioned having archers and catapults. The idea is to blockade the city you are invading.

Keep warriors at the city gates, protecting your catapults and archers (ranged units). You have to bombard the city to weaken its defences. So keep firing with catapults and archers, you will see citys health bar (on top of citys name) draining. Keep the ranged units behind your melee units where its safe. When the citys defences are weak, attack with your warriors/swordmen (melee units). Preferrably several of them in the same turn.

Its a good idea to keep some melee units out of the citys bombarding radius, when melee units at the citys gates get weaker, you can move them away and replace them with fresh units.

Tip: You can fire over forests if your ranged unit is on top of a hill. So place melee unit to a forest next to city, and a ranged unit behind it on a hill if available.

[ATOJAR]

you say city gates and blockade?

when you say blockade the city you mean with infantry units? I don't get it? how do you blockade a city?

and city gates! where are there?

sorry... told you I was a total noob lol.

thanks for the reply by the way.

[eastkitton]

Im currently doing the turorials in Civ 5, What i normally do is play the same tutorial over and over until im comfortable with that aspect of the game.

I resolutely do the tutorials for new games but it feels as enjoyable as studying for exams. I'm impressed by someone who replays them!

I just get to the age where you get horse mounted units, I have archers, Warriors and catapults but everything i throw at them they defeat .. I attack them with like 4 - 5 units and the city wins!

What am i doing wrong? Do i need more units? Are my units not advanced enough to take out a city yet? ... Am i attackig with the wrong units.

Cities are not a pushover. Probably you do need more.

4 is really minimum. The melee units are the ones who have to bash the door down and with your melee units (warriors) the weakest in the game (except scouts)... yeah, I think you need a little more shove - either more units or Swordsmen. That should do it.

[sectoid]

you say city gates and blockade?
when you say blockade the city you mean with infantry units? I don't get it? how do you blockade a city?
and city gates! where are there?

By "city gates" I mean the tile next to that city you are attacking. You take me too literally, let me try to explain differently. You said that you can reach the enemy city, so let's skip to invading it. Im going to use word warriors since you mentioned them, they could be swordmen, infantry, musketmen or any other melee-units.

1) Move your warrior to a tile next to enemy city. Fortify. Press 'f' on the keyboard.
2) Move your archer/catapult behind that warrior. Set it up. Press 's' on the keyboard.
3) Repeat all of the above with other catapults you might have. Next turn.
4) When next turn begins, select your catapults one by one and bombard the city. Press "b" on the keyboard and click the city with your mouse.
5) You will now see a health bar on top of citys name decreasing. This is the citys health. Your goal is to get that as low as possible. You probably dont want to attack just yet. Reinforce your warriors if they have suffered much damage and are about to die.
6) Move all the other available warriors to the city gates and advance to next turn.
7) Again, select all your catapults and bombard the city. It should be quite weak now. Feel free to attack, or skip to next turn to bombard it some more.
8) When you are ready to attack, attack with all possible units during same turn. The city should now be yours.

I hope that made any sense.

[ATOJAR]

Wow thanks for the advice ... Sounds good.

So basically i put a melee unit then a archer unit the a catapult unit around the "city gates" ... I do this with as many units as i can effectively surrounding the enemy city? ... Then bombard with the catapults all at the same time.

I wasnt aware of this "Fortify" & "Set it up" you can do with the units ... Are all units able to do this or something similar?

How do i select all units at the same time? and make them all attack at the same time in the same turn?

Thanks.

[sectoid]

Not at the same time, but on the same turn. You still have to order all units individually, one after another. Just bombard the city as much as you can, then attack with your melee units during the same turn. Thats the most effective way.

All the units have the same basic commands, melee units (warriors, swordman, infantry) gain a defensive bonus when fortified.
Ranged units its a different story. You want to protect them with your melee units since they have virtually no defence value. Some ranged units like catapults, trebuchets, cannons and artillery need to be set up before they are able to fire.

I uploaded this one picture to another thread just a moment ago. I think it would work here too, as an example.



As you can see, Russian melee units (in this case Infantry) are right next to my city. So I cant attack their ranged units (Artillery) which are a safe distance away, but still capable of bombarding my city.

On top of 'Gwangju' you can see the citys health bar, all red since Russians are bombing me back to the stone age..

I lost that city, btw.

[ATOJAR]

Well i managed to beat the city in the tutorial lol. Taking your advice and looking at beginners tutorial vids on YouTube ive learnt alot ... I found out some nice tips ... Being on a hilltop or in a forest gives you a defensive bonus, Being in the open is bad news.

Ive got alot to learn but this game is awesome! ... Well worth the £7.99 i paid ... I can see me sat for many hours on this lol.

Thanks again for your help and advice, Any other tips welcome lol.