Defensive Aggression

[roadcage]

Defensive agression is not an oxymoron. Let me give you a scenario in which the concept is very useful.

Imagine that you are playing someone like egypt who has a normal sword unit, and infact all normal units except for it's WC. And as we all know by now, except for GA attempts, the WC is really a way to make Knights for fewer shields but more gold. But I digress. Back to the scenario. Your opponent at the moment has an offensively imblanced sword unit. Does Persia ring a bell?

You want to invade Persia, but you know that when on the enemy's turf, you are plagued by the fog of war. Fortunately Persia just loves to advance those Imortals, so allow them to invade! You may actually have to declare to start the ball rolling, but that is a detail.

Only attack those imortals that you can see back into the enemy formation (it is on your turf) that there is no immediate threat to a wounded victor. In otherwords, do everything possible to keep the Imortal advancing rather than attacking. Frequently this means allowing that Imortal to invade one tile deeper than normal, but we are not going for style points here. Culling a stack down to the last man (so your unit doesn't advance) is also effective. And knock a hit point or two off of those Imortals with catapults, and the wounded Imortal will turn and run more often than not.

Translation: whack that stack with catapults, then kill all the wounded except one. Let him run home and tell what a mean bunch he ran into.

You DO build catapults don't you? While they are more or less worthless against fortified defenders in cities, they do a credible job on 2 defense value units in the open. They won't get that hit point every time, but you will be amazed how often they do! The best part about catapults is that they upgrade all the way up the ladder.

Lesson: 3 attacking 2 is much better than 2 defending 4!
Lesson: consider bombard units of all strengths as free shots. Take them whenever possible. Bombard units never loose, but will often miss.

That reminds me. People asked how I managed to get such huge Artillery stacks I described in other threads. Now you know. I build bombard units for fun and profit. And I occasionally capture one in an AI city.

enjoy the ride!
roadcage

[DaveMcW]

Yes, the AI is a sucker for advancing into a trap.

However, it's more effective to use veteran fast units instead of catapults: they also don't take losses thanks to retreat and the 2 movement is amazing.

If you are fighting a 100% defensive war then catapults are viable because they can use your road network. But offensively catapults are just not fast enough.

[vmxa1]

Well actually, no I do not build catapaults. They are too slow to use in attacking and not very reliable. I may be force to make some for defense at times. When I look at the choice of making a horsemen or cat, I go with the horse.

[Anaximander]

Actually, there is a lovely thread going on in the PTW forum over how to counter a horseman rush. I only bring it up because offensive vs. defensive stratagies has become a large part of the discussion. I'm of the opinion that a strategy that requires me fighting the enemy on my own soil is as being very dangerous. You allow the enemy to dictate the total pace of the war and the time and place of every battle. This is not a very effective way to win, since the best you can hope for is a draw. This is especially true when your enemy is attacking with horsies (or other multiple move units) and not one movers like Immortals or swordsman. So, the best way to counter an attack is, in my opinion, with a few fastmoving attackers of your own.

[vmxa1]

That thread went off the trolley long ago with the talk of nukes as counters to horses.